Editor’s Note: The trick in fiction is for the author to keep control of his characters. This is harder than most think, because each character is jockeying for position in the forefront of the author’s mind hoping it will be his or her story that is told. It’s the author’s job to choose which character’s story fits best within the scope of the tale, for everything that happens in a novel should in some way move the story along and keep the reader’s attention. When I read a novel, it intrigues me to consider what storylines authors might have tucked away that didn’t make it to the final version . . . fortunately, sometimes we get a peek at the character’s tales. Following are some stories that made it all the way to paper, but did not make it into The Final Storm.