C James has released Chapter 47 of Let the Music Play. This chapter, Endgame, is the final chapter of the story with an epilogue to be published in a few days.

Enjoy the finale, goat fans!

Indeed I did enjoy the final chapter. However, I do look forward to the epilogue as it shall tie up some loose ends. Great chapter as always CJ.

Fitting end for bad rubbish!

Thank you for the painful and excruciating death for Scar.

Yet, we knew some one must die as well on our side, Come to think of it, Helen was the only choice, but I still hate to see her go.

There are very few strong lesbian characters written by a gay male author that I liked, well except for Xena, haha.

Finally, I saw it coming through my speculations, I knew Joe would not go out of the storyline just that quickly with such a colorful backstory.

His involvement with the Shadows was hinted from the beginning with his appearance and attire (pale kid wearing black trench-coat, yeah very good).

Thanks for giving the guy another chance, though.

Finally, Please give Eric a boyfriend soon! (I have said a million times and I know shadowgod agrees, hehe)

WL, there is still an epilogue as well as a sequel. Thus, the story is not over yet.

As I said: Please! Give Eric a boyfriend! <on my hands and knees with a hidden dagger behind my back for security, hehe>

Great Chapter, CJ!

I didn't see The Scar's ultimate demise coming at all. It was fitting though, also took care of the issue of that dangerous material.

Great job!

-Kevin

My only plea is that you specifically NOT tie up too many loose ends. Obviously, with a sequel coming up, you don't plan to tie everything together, but I hate it when authors feel the need to package a neat little ending to every problem. Just think about your life: when was the last time you wrapped up all the loose ends going on in your life before the next problem hit? (For that matter, when was the last time anyone wrapped up two or three loose ends in a row before a new issue came up? I can't remember the last time I did ... )

I don't know if this was unique to me, but I really liked Dimitri until the last few chapters. Maybe it was because we never really saw his evil side so much, it was just implied, and his nonchalant attitude towards sexual orientation is such a nice change of pace from most people's.

How official were Helen and Barbra? If there's much legal paperwork around her estate, the paparazzi will almost certainly figure the two out, destroying Brandon's cover ... And likely outing him in a negative ("you lied to us") light, unless they go on the offensive first, outing both couples, and taking the first shot at the media ("hey, we told you all along, they were just friends").

Edit: been away for a while, but nitpicking back (since you got me on the meters/feet thing):

While his control did indeed get looser, I doubt he voluntarily released some slack, and instead began losing his grip.

Also, Brandon's techie job started at 6AM in chapter 2, and 7AM in chapter 4.

And 9.8 m/s^2 = ~32.152231 feet, so Earth's acceleration due to gravity should round to 32 ft/s^2, not 33.

A Fitting ending to the scar

Thinking we will see Barbara in the next chapter, Joe would be a good addition just wishes he will not be afraid to face the crowd though now.

Will Eric find lover? be fun to find out even in the sequel

Barbara have anything to do with the band.

Jim should continue now with them.

Again cj great chapter.

Great chapter, CJ. Lots of things came to a satisfactory ending. Helen's death was sad, but the end of Scar and his last two henchmen were welcome. General Bradson's forced resignation should be no surprise; happens all the time. I applaud his decision to rattle a few politicians.

One thing I wondered about:

Could this possibly mean that Jerry really was gay?

Another Great Chapter CJ Thank you very much.

I have to agree with everyone that it is great to see J/S finally dead. In the way only CJ could use, it was very ironic that Vlad was able to exact revenge from the grave for the person who ended his. I will unofficially declare Vladimir as the unsuspected hero of LTMP .

Now I'm confused...........Help me out here please!! Helen's dead????

CJ Wrote:


The immediate image i got from the opening paragraph was the grim edifice was a hospital. Also, Eric didn't caress Helen's 'lifeless' hand, did he?

Am I mistaken or did CJ leave us with one final cliffhanger at the end of the story? Who knows if this final one will be resolved in the epilogue.

Thanks again CJ

Steve

Hmmm....You are right! CJ has been a naughty boy again with misdirection. We never hear them say Helen is dead.

It seems rather obvious she is. If she weren't this would be a hell of a misdirection. And we all know CJ dislikes displeasing his audience with cheap narrative tricks.

It was not said if Helen was dies or not. She was in critical condition.

Great story CJ... and a last chapter that wrappes up almost everything.
I like that Vladimir got his revenge :-) That was unexpected, and thus another very good twist in the plot !
And Joe joining the shadows ... thats well deserved (and I didn't see that one coming either) !
I agree... the scene with Helen could be at the hospital ! I would expect more happening at a funeral... maybe, just maybe, she is in an ICU in critical condition and still has a chance to survive... we'll hopefully know more soon, the Epilogue should hopefully take care of that. Wouldn't this be a typical "Goat Misdirection" ? I sure wouldn't mind

Good thing the sequel is already "in the make"...

...................CJ using misdirection?? I think it was clearly implied that Helen is dead;

Wilde broke the awkward silence that followed by saying, “I’m really sorry about Helen. We all are.”



Eric had always hated these grim edifices, with their somber airs of fear, grief, and mourning permeating every aspect of the place. The flowers, the austere pillars, hallowed names engraved in endless rows, and above all else, always there, lurking just beyond the carefully projected bright and clean surface, was death, masked and sterilized.

The feel of an imposed though trampled silence filled the halls. Eric caressed Helen’s hand and glanced across the sterile sheets at Jon. Meeting his brother’s eyes, Eric asked in a strained whisper, “Why’d she do it? It should be me laying there, not her.”

Clearly Helen is not lying in a hospital room, more likely a chapel.

J/S just kept on making costly mistakes but at least he is now getting all the rest he needs thanks to an insightful Vlad. Great chapter CJ!! Looking forward to the sequel!

Well, there is no mentioning of Helen being dead ! You are right, it LOOKS a lot like she is dead.. but it is never spelled out. The Shadows can be sorry for Helen being hurt and in critical condition as well as being sorry for her being killed....

It LOOKS more like it is a chapel than a hospital room, but its never spelled out. The "grim edifices" could be a chapel... but could be a hospital as well.

Thats exactly where the "GEGM" (Great Evil Goat Misdirection) comes on the scene . With CJames, i will only believe Helen is dead when he actually spelled it out clearly !

...............Your right, CJ did everything to imply, but never actually said that Helen was dead. Master of misdirection and now master of non-information?? Silence of the Goats.

I agree Kevin. I didn't see that either, even if when it appeared Scar got away too easily.


From the description that I read, I took it to be in a Funeral Home in Tellerude, where everyone there will have a private memorial for her before they take her back home for a more public one.

I'm glad to see that Joe and Chase have made up.

Jan


Great chapter CJ. Can't wait to see how this story ends

Awesome and a fitting end...

I still think that Helen is not dead...

More comments to follow... I am short of time here...

BeaStKid

Great story CJ, as usual !
Now we have to wait, after the epilogue, on your next story
Dont let us wait too long

I LOVED this chapter! So amazing!

Btw, am I sick for laughing like a crazy person while reading the ending? It was so fitting and well deserved.

Following Steve's and Benji's example, I'll quote:



At first read, this is a chapel or a funeral home. If it turns out to be a hospital and Helen comes back to life, this will have been an even meaner trick than the cliffhangers, worthy of contempt, scorn and spit. I'll put on my nicest rabble-rousing costume, and there will be no hill remote enough in all of Arizona to hide.

I took this scene in Chapter 44 to be Helen's death scene. After that I really didn't think that there was anyway for her to be alive.


Great job CJ! Don't leave us waiting too long for the epilogue.

Helen is not dead.

Her bed was transferred from the ICU to the hospital chapel for privacy purposes.



Conner

I have very mixed feelings about this:
1/ I'd be glad Helen's just asleep and recovering.
2/ I'd be quite mad at the Goat for such deception. I even shed a tear as I read this part. And my tears are not cheap (see above...)

I fear saying anything at all... then again the goat will only blame me.

..........Like he's not going to blame you anyway???

All will be well!

Trust the Goat!

It's just that I can't picture a sequel without Helen. In addition to that, if Eric has a gay part to him, he will need Helen's support if he decides to do something about it. One loose end has to be the kiss he gave Cody.

Conner

..........He can do a sequel without Helen, but Scar's demise surprised me as I thought he was an important part of the sequel. Good G_d! one kiss and everyone has made Eric out to be Gay, whatever happened to being curious?? Cody just got lucky, BTW did his Shadowyness cash that check for himself??

I think Cody is a loose end.

I third... All in favor say I

Are you sure he's not a tight end?

I say I as well, long as it means Eric gets someone

Add me to the list of I votes

..................eye!

Aye!

Hi!

Yep, Joe's joining The Shadows was intended from the beginning. His "look" was never a good fit for Instinct, but it does fit The Shadows.



Not everything will be tied up in a neat package, and perhaps some things that appear to be won't be.

And Ooops! Thanks for the catch on Brandon's tech job! I'll fix it!

And Lol; switching loose and lose is a bad habit of mine.

And you are correct on the acceleration rate of terrestrial gravity at earth's surface. I rounded the wrong way.

BTW... on the story index page, there is a listing of the story genres. That might serve as a clue as to some of what remains to be handled in the Epilogue.



ROFL! Nah, Jerry's sexuality, as far as i know, is straight. He's just a little egotistical, and prone to theatrics.



I'll post about that scene after the epilogue. However... I'll say this much... It's not my fault. It can only be attributed to certain dark forces...

Silence of the Goats!

Well, actually, that fits! I am a quiet and sy lurker, after all.



Hi Old Bob!!

You won't have long to wait. I'm currently typing away at Chapter 5 of "Changing Lanes", the sequel to LTMP. I hope to have chapter one online in under two weeks, but Emoe will be unavailable for a while due to the passing of his father on Sunday, so I might need to delay a little (which will help me too, by giving me time to increase the buffer of written chapters).

The Epilogue should be posted soon. Due to Emoe's situation, it is unedited, but Bondwriter has used his keen eyes to catch my typos. I wrestled with the decision, but I felt it best to post the epilogue soon rather than put the story on hiatus at this point.



Thanks!!

The ending was one I planned from the start, sort of. I'd always planned for Vladimer to use a bomb to exact his revenge, and in the section where he's stealing gold it's mentioned that he's also taking explosives. However, I was unsure as to where the bomb would be until I wrote the part where The Scar was saving some of the machinery and shipping it.



You might want to make that Southern California, given the location of the culprit.



I won't! It should be online soon; at a minimum before the regular chapter posting day.



For good reason, oh Shady One...



And here we have the true cliffhanger: what happened to that check!?!? I fear you may be right, the Shady One may have taken the funds for himself!

All can say is; Eric sent the check.

Okay, now is about the time when i release the name of the coming chapter... or in this case, the epilogue. It's entitled "Epilogue."

CJ