Four more years! Elect LaSilvas!

Okay, so work has calmed down, so why so slow now eh? Good question. This morning the max broke down, more details on what a max is at the Trimet Website, but previous to that? Exhaustion and writers' block. I've capped 55 stories in four years on the archive. Four years.

Its quality though, not quantity, but I'd like to think I've got that, too. Maybe not every story, and the earlier could use a rewrite . . . but I'd like to think they're worthy additions.

I'd have a mite fewer if I hadn't played with story conventions a little. Lead-ins were fun. After a nearing event, Nebula will revert to a more classic multi chapter story. Electrum seems to work best this way - but feel free to chime in if you dissagree.

Four years . . .

That's highschool. Thats a bachelor's degree. Thats longer than most marriages . . .

Sarah was born in June, so she's been four for awhile. Old enough to go to preschool, and get ready for kindergarden. She'll make an adorable school girl in a year or two.

She still has years before her chronological existence is jailbait, but we know how she'll turnout. Mmm.

Okay verge of creepy There. Sorry! Regardless, more should be coming, but I'm not promising as rigorous a schedule. I just can't keep up with it. I'm not going to purposefully go slow, but I don't know how well these deadlines are working for me or for story quality. So, apologies, but things might come a little slower. Probably not much than as of late, but hey . . . at least I'm posting, and rather regularly.

Gotta have something else in the update besides lisa teez in red, eh?

That's all for now,

~Madam Kistulot

A little late, but more than Simons got!

I know, the guy works nearly year round - he deserves a vacation. Hell, I appreciate the slacking time. I have a backlog that admittedly will appreciate the extra work I'll be doing it, and the break. Breaks are nice. Unless they're broken computers, but that goes without saying.

When I get home, I'll take a shot or two of Atma. Atma Genji. Oh my precious computer. Way more than I need . . . but isn't that the whole point?

I'm on the new commuter train right now, the WES. For more details, go to www.trimet.org. Its a pretty awesome train, thats not actually run BY trimet, but for it. Which means it actually works, on time, and so forth. I think its the best thing trimet has ever made, even if it is at times a little bumpy. Awesome seats, no need to stand, and the chairs recline slightly! Plus? Free wifi, which I am using now to type up this blog post.

Game fuel is back again by the way. Stop by your local soda dealer and pick some up. Tell them MK sent you. They wont do anything special, but I'd appreciate it.

I've resisted myspace, but I can be found on hypnotize me! a social networking site for hypnosis. Its honestly better to poke me by instant messenger, but I know I'm not always on. Also, I am migrating to madamkistulot@live.com as opposed to my ancient hotmail that no longer works for email anymore, anyway.

There is lots more planned for Aurora and Sylvia, but I find myself more and more wanting to do something more visual with them/other characters. Maybe I just need to write something else and more often, but maybe also my visual artist friends and script writer friends are rubbing off on me. Both are equally likely as far as I can tell.

In other news, the flash cartoon that I am essentially co-creator of is all but finished. After some menus are action scripted, and I finish the subtitles, it'll be finished. Its about 22 minutes, which is about the same ammount animated of a half an hour cartoon. Its "The Legend of Link: Oh god yes, and spiders". The title is amusing as hell, and so is the actual comic. I only have one line, two words, but I am responsible for lots that has been done for it, including the originam remade theme that I'll need to link to here some day, even if its less Madam Kistulot and more Carin McLeoud. Under the Cowl is fine time to time I hope, as it tends to kill people just like it killed batman. Poor batman. poor batman superman from the planet of the capes.

I havent had any more trips to the comic store, mostly because I realized I am a highly impressionable writer, and those comics were not good for me. Especially not with some of the things going on. The Dark Reign, the Blackest Nights . . .

And people complained when I killed Olivia.

Another thing worthy of note, is that today is my first day going to work completely without the aid of crutches. This might not be interesting to you, but I've been on them for nearly half a year.

Goddess, do I hate crutches.

So, until next time, aka tonight . . .

~Madam Kistulot

p.s. god damn it, Batman is dead and the Phoenix is coming back to life. Does anyone see a problem here?

Touchy Hypotheticals

Madam told me I should post about 8-bit’s situation, but I have no idea what to say. I think he crossed some lines, but he didn’t do anything to warrant the belittling responses of Wiseguy and several others. 8-bit presented a hypothetical situation. He used a good example from the community. The responses varied from someone insinuating he’s sore over a negative review Wiseguy gave him to someone I used to respect calling him a little punk trying to pick a fight. Something is lopsided, here.

I know, I know: “it’s the WAY he went about this whole thing!” I didn’t see a surly tone from him until Wiseguy threatened to sue him. That would get most people surly. 8-bit wasn’t even that surly. His first post bothered me because I will eventually work in a field directly overlapping with some of my fetishes. I have a fetish for the field itself. I still didn’t get a hint of malice or aggression from any of his posts. He was presenting a hypothetical. Maybe he should have left the name out of it, but that would have been twisted in other nasty directions likely by the same people twisting this one.

I told him he should leave it alone, for the record. I don’t see anything productive coming from this. I see someone proposing an honest thought and getting lambasted in response. Not all of this is happening in public. Wonder where he got the idea his account would be deleted when that wasn’t directly stated in the thread?

My own incident around the time I left the Garden was worse than this and I got some belittling responses. They weren’t so bad as what 8-bit is getting slammed with over a HYPOTHETICAL. Madam pulled no punches in her own parting thread. The responses to her weren’t this ugly. I won’t conjecture over why 8-bit is getting these responses. I don’t care, actually. This is ugly. This is ridiculous. This could have been an interesting discussion. People can’t tolerate uncomfortable hypotheticals related to their sexuality, apparently.

~Valbot

Lawsuits, Communities, and Assholes oh my

Hullo everyone! This will be another rant, and not much about writing. Other projects have been sapping me, and though I have been working on the next generation of Midas quite a fair bit, it hasn't had a lot of forward momentum.

it took awhile for SG to get that, if anyone recalls. It took until the ass end of The Memory Remains for me to keep up regular updates. As for tAoSG? It was written before I posted it. So hah!

Anyway, this isn't about me. Well, its always about me. Otherwise me wouldn't be talking and you wouldn't be reading. So on to the meat of the article.

A lot of people know I have several times debated becoming one of those hypnotists who throws MP3s up onto their site, and has people pay to be hypnotized. Mostly, because money is good, I enjoy things, and things are also good - and require a fair amount of money. However, if you know anything about who would be my . . . competition, you know the net is full of them, and they're about the lowest you get on the filth level of fetish town.

People charging 35$ for a sub par, nonspecific induction. I don't see why someone would buy it much less why someone would sell it. It's not unusual for financial domination to come up sooner or later. For people to be drawn back.

Whatever people want to say, hypnosis can be a very addictive hobby to those with certain issues. Charging for something like hypnosis, and it being used unsupervised, with not a lot of people who would lose themselves to such an addiction/suggestions caring about warnings, well... you have a powder keg there. People who put people under and call them worms. Figuratively. Turning someone into a chicken isn't harmful. Degrading one's sense of self and making it need you? Yeah. That's another matter.

There are a rare few out there who don't earn my ire, but as said, thats few. If you don't treat people like shit, don't try and attach money to someone's sense of well being, and you give warnings, you might not be a shit in my opinion.

However, some of you seem to think your shit doesn't stink, and it does.

One thing that earns a little bit of my distaste - though not necessarily dislike or hatred - is when people avoid terms such as Hypnodomme, slave, subject, so forth, just because they want to avoid a stigma. If you want to use a different term for yourself and you think it works better, fine, whatever works for you. Who calls themselves Madam Kistulot? Seriously. I have no problem with unusual titles/names. I encourage them. It's when you start pretending not having "slaves" even though you condition women into obedience to your word, and start saying you would never make a "slave" that you piss me off.

You insult everyone who has ever used the word as I do. Slaves, thralls, pets, are all very sacred to me. They are people with whom I have shared a very special gift that I care for in my own special way. Those that enjoy calling themselves slaves are not insulting themselves or reveling in some inflicted harm- they are reveling in the love that comes with being enslaved, a special kind of affectionate warmth.

Saying otherwise just makes you an asshole.

Don't just use another word for what you do to make yourself sound better, while insulting the rest of us. Sorry, but not all of us are puritans. We can deal with a little bit of "harsh" wording. We revel in it. If you can't play in the fetish pool without being an ass, maybe you shouldn't.

Now, before going any further, I'd like to segue for a brief moment. We've gotten assholes somewhat covered. Let's hit communities.

The erotic MC community somewhat depresses me. Photo manipulations with swirly eyes and a somewhat clever caption - usually stolen from bad cheerleader stories - does not make a truly hot piece of fetish porn. Myself, I hunt down normal porn and just mentally add my own manips. I don't see how adding a pendant makes it MC. I don't see how writing a shitty sideline makes it MC.

I see how that makes it crap, but...

Same goes for MC stories. I love the site, I truly do, if only for the backlogs, but so many stories on there... I just wonder. I know its free publishing. I know its the net. All get in. All can be shown. But why post such dreck? If its already been covered a thousand times...

Lately, in the #ArgentGarden Mesmerr has come up a lot due to his horrible use of metaphors. Do not compare a woman's genitals to jade gates of the Nile. Please. Do not switch metaphors fifty times during a story.

I don't know what to say really. Know that old recess peanut butter cups commercial, chocolate in my peanut butter? Well, heres a thought: keep your crap out of my porn. I know I can choose not to read it, and I do, but theres so precious good that sometimes i will branch off and try the unknown. If only the unknown didn't suck 9/10, this wouldn't be so bad. Just a small little request...

So, moving on to lawsuits.

Recently, 8-bit dropped by said IRC channel, and mentioned he was going to ask why people like Wiseguy, a hypnotherapist and mcporn writer, don't strike the community as a conflict of interests. I saw his point, and agreed. I consider myself a pretty good tist, but I'll admit, therapy? I do what I can to help people in my own way, but it arouses me to no end just to put someone under.

Doing it to help someone, I could do. Doing it without getting helplessly turned on by every session? I could probably keep my ethics solid. I have so far, knock on wood, with the few mistakes I think every beginner a little over eager has made.

But day in, day out? I'm not about to give myself that kind of credit, because I don't think I'm owed it.

S0 8-bit raised the question. Is it a conflict of interests? Is it ethical? I have my point of view, as does he, but he proposed the question to the community.

And Wiseguy threatened outing his identity and suing him for libel.

Wow.

Just an FYI Wiseguy, I don't think you're honorable or trustworthy as others have implied. I find your writing tepid and stunted, and your people skills greatly lacking. Mind, I don't think you're reading this, but I just had to say it. So I think you're an unskilled ass, and the thought of you as a hypnotherapist makes me groan and glad not to be compared to you in that way.

Another FYI: My name is posted all over this site. Carin Rhyanna McLeoud. Ain't much I hide. All of my friends in person know of my fetish. I'm kinda nuts. Its well known. Amazing how much more honest one of us is, of a sort.

So, moving on since I ranted my hatred a little long.

I don't follow the MC Garden anymore - its a shitty site and I've made my peace with that. But, Val reads update threads, and thats where all of this shit went down.

You know who else threatens a lawsuit for libel soon as you say or do anything against them?

Scientologists.

Think about that.

L Ron Hubbard couldn't write for shit either.

I'm just being an asshat in this post, but seriously, the community's lack of caring for skill, for people not being huge assholes, and for siding against someone just bringing up a point . . . its made me consider that maybe I should stop giving my stories to these people for free. Midas and its attached worlds, things I've already begun to write for MC Stories will continue. My next original idea unattached to those? I find a publisher and I sell the shit out of that short story.

There's only so much a gal can take.

~Madam Kistulot

Mesmerr, and Lady Ru'etha, and Lisa Teez - OH MY!

To the tune of lions and tigers and bears oh my.

Red only by Sara Castle and Jukebox. Sigh.

It's like the update is mocking me. MOCKING ME! With it's moxy. Oh well.

I finally gave the Eye of Serpent ancient series another try. It previously scared me off with a lovely story wherein our protag avoids assassination by smelling urine. A very faint spot of it at that. It was more than enough to turn me off from the whole damned thing for months. The later stories, especially... well I would say especially the Petal series... but really, the whole damned thing rules.

I recommend it during this drought of quality and avalanche of shit.

My own writing is coming back and I'm nearly well. Tomorrow is my b-day - rejoice!

~Madam Kistulot

Another unimpressive update, sigh

Hullo everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed Paradise, along with Scribe and Shadow! They're two different stories, showing just how different my style can be I think. Looking back stylistically Paradise feels like Rose Miracles minus the Marianna-like introduction with a dose heavier of purple - as in prose not EMCSA color codes. Big difference.

Scribe and Shadow is a fun one to write because I always love going into the head of different characters. Admittedly Yana feels a lot like Sarah which makes it feel safe, but I hope she doesn't sound too similar. They're quite different characters for flaws, passions, and what drives them.

That is one thing I worry a lot - I try to stress different vocabulary, uses of phrase, and just different voices for my characters . . . but in the end they all do have MY voice. I'm channeling them after all, and while I try to sound like different people sometimes it's hard. I need to start using a thesaurus more.

I know using a thesaurus just to force a character to use different words is strange - but learning new ones so that your characters talk different is a trick that I personally enjoy. Plus it broadens the vocab! But then you need to keep notes if you ever go back . . .

Some day I'll write a noncynical first person POV. That'll be new.

Well, I probably should explain the title. I don't really read colors beside Red unless the concept, author, and tags at least vaguely appeal. I also have many red authors I avoid.

Some of these red authors are avoided for being men writing lesbian fantasies. In some of those, you can practically tell which one of the women should have a dick.

Some of these red authors are avoided for having the literary skill of a mongoose. If I'm going to get off to a story, it needs to be a story, not just poorly written sex.

Some of them are avoided because they are only halfway there. That might sound rude, but allow me to explain: Make a peanut butter and banana sandwhich. Now remove the peanut butter. Tell someone you're making them the former sandwhich, then offer it to them. They will be very unhappy. Some writers simply can't follow through on their promises, and still don't realize they're missing ingredients. Some just can't understand tense, originality, or character voice.

Sara Castle does not hit on all of these flaws, but she is a name I dread to see on the update. When she was a new writer, I read her because she had promise. She wrote stories. She wrote FF, which was also a plus.

Then she got an editor, and joined a clique. Her work went so massively downhill, and lost all of the feeling of "this could/is improve(ing)" and became "wow, this is dreck*"

There is nothing worse than a good concept, almost good quality writing, and just... no follow through. A feeling of supreme disappointment. I know that even with editors - I still make mistakes, but I can get tense right. If someone's fault comes from editors, shouldn't she be able to do that? Maybe use commas appropriately?

So, suffice it to say, you will never see me reviewing a Sara Castle story unless something in the world massively changes.

Fuck do we need some Tabico in 2008.

Going back to writing on Scribe and Shadow chapter 2. Hope to get it done before Friday, start on Secret Origins Vol.1: Dust. Probably give it a better subtitle.

Suggestions welcome!

Till Wednesday, best wishes!
~Madam K

*=haha, valbot. Feel good. I used your favorite word.

Drowsy Snarking: Reviews, Polishing, and STANDARDS!

This post was written by a very sleepy valbot. I didn't bother to sleep last night. Apologies in advance for a post that doesn't look anything close to what an editor should write.

My problem with many reviews is not the reviewer's like or dislike of a story. My problem is the apparent lack of understanding regarding statements such as “brilliant,” “professionally written,” “a standard we all strive for,” and “I’m the best person to understand this story, because . . .”

A story muddled by appositive commas and faulty parallelism (especially one that has been "edited"), minimal creative tinkering with heavily derivative concepts, .05 dimensional characters, signposted plot twists, and cumbersome levels of blurriness throughout the narrative is NOT professionally written, brilliant, or a viable writing standard. This (well-educated, ironically) author has a chronic issue with all of the above in most of her work. Her earlier work, while not timeless, is noticeably clearer and more creative than her recent efforts. She also handled the technical aspects better before a certain proofreader got involved. This proofreader’s writing isn’t much better, but it garners the same level of glowing praise and is considered a standard.

“Professionally written” has lost much of its prestige as a compliment over the centuries. Publishers want the familiar, something they are certain will sell. Even the technical standard has loosened over recent decades. New territory, even brilliantly written new territory, is unlikely to get published by a new author. Publishing is a business, after all. Much of the groundbreaking things published these days come from authors who establish themselves with familiar, mainstream work. That is what gets an author in the door. Even so, there is a level of quality in (most) published work that is not even timidly hinted toward in this story.

Many stories garnering this compliment fall achingly short of real standards. “I loved this!” “I’d buy this if I saw it at the bookstore.” “Great work!” Aren’t those more reasonable things to say? They convey the same affection without the grating distortion or the unintended deception. Also, such statements need to be supported, even though the process is heavily subjective. WHY is a story brilliant? SHOW, using quotes and at least minimally elaborated points concerning flow and content, why a story is professionally written. EXPLAIN why a given story should be a writing standard. If you absolutely must assert yourself as the best person to understand a given work, explain why (preferably in enough detail to soften the aura of ignorance you will indelibly attach to yourself)!

No one is the “best person” to understand a story, not even the author. We all approach reading with our own backgrounds and expectations. A story may speak particularly clearly to a person if the content relates strongly to that person’s experience, but saying in a review that you are the best person to understand something is severely discrediting to the author, implies more ignorance than understanding, and is a level of arrogant I think few people wish to associate with themselves. Authors can‘t truly claim this, either: the story one intends to write and the story one actually writes often differ enough that the assessable result is more often an inkblot than a snapshot.

Internet porn is not subject to harsh criticism or to high standards, you say? Then don’t take yourself seriously as a writer. Don’t act as though you know something technical about writing. Don’t review a story of this type in the same manner as you would a novel in a literary criticism journal. So many people around here (myself included) fail to remember the difference between literature and porn. Much of what we read and enjoy within this community is porn. There are excellent writers, though, writers who craft literary erotica that is belittled when a work of porn is reviewed as a work of elegant literary art.

How insulting it must be for those who write literature to see their work adored in precisely the same terms as the work beside it that doesn’t so much as tentatively convey the same level of dedication, precision, technical skill, or creative effort! Few things piss me off more than seeing a work such as "Yellow" or "White Slavery" mewled over in the same review post as, say, something written by Lisa Teez. That is one name I have no reservations about clearly mentioning. She even acts as though she knows something about writing . . . literature. A narrative focusing on the testicular discomfort of a unicorn that a “premed” student (this student wanted to be a veterinarian!) at Fairy Tale Land University is inflicting for her own amusement is NOT literature! That is not even supermarket porn. Lisa's writing is often worse than her plots.

Those two stories and that author have never coincided in a review post, but similarly jarring juxtapositions happen in almost every update.

Many stories in the updates qualify as literature, but they are not good literature. They deserve praise for showing more effort than the pervasive, redundant porn, but that praise needs to be tempered! My grievances with the prevalent review style on the two MC forums apply also in reverse: rending a story needs to be done with support.

Hypothetically, as a technosexual, I should have squirmed with a compulsion to read one of this update's stories based on an absolutely dazzling review. I attempted to read that story. I sincerely tried to lose myself in the narrative, but I ended up getting a headache and feeling mentally drained from the boredom and irritation the experience inspired. That story is not professionally written or brilliant any more than my coffee mug is sentient! A little explication in this review might have either shown me it was a highly individualized perception not suitable as a general guide, or helped me to respect the framework of a genre I mostly dislike.

I dislike cyberpunk because most of it is startlingly horrible and clumsily derivative of itself in ways that don‘t even attempt to twist the concepts into something personal to the authors. What few good stories I’ve read have made me wish other competent writers would contribute to this genre. I am a lesbian who will read male/male cyberpunk stories that are well-written, which means I must actually adore this genre. Finding anything good is simply difficult! This is also a depressing trend for robot stories, transformation stories (robot and otherwise), and for just about any story including technophilia. What is good is glowing; what is awful—the bulk of the selection—makes me embarrassed to tell people I have these fetishes.

Privately, various people have said (even about this story): “fills a niche tolerably well.” This does fill the cyberpunk niche on the Archive tolerably well. This does not fill it brilliantly. Why don’t reviewers say these things in their actual reviews? Wouldn’t any serious writer appreciate feedback like this? Instead, the reviews are often unclear to the point of seeming to say things contradictory to what they intend. A work of “publishable quality” really meant “could fit the Fall line-up, mainstream,” not “This is such a good story!” (I asked for this reviewer’s permission to include these statements, by the way, and clarified with him that this is what he meant.)

Usually when I tell people about my mind control fetish I find myself quickly explaining that I am aware most of the stuff on the Archive is trash, even the stuff that gets glowingly praised.

Believe it or not, I don’t even like seeing my Madam’s work reviewed in this style, mewling or grumbling. A review simply mewling that her current story is glowing, well-written, or hot doesn’t really tell her anything about the story. A review saying one of her stories is better than another, or that it didn’t hit the mark, also doesn’t tell her much. Why is her story glowing? Why didn’t it hit the mark? I don’t appreciate those who delight in her work reviewing it vapidly. I would appreciate reviews even from those who dislike it if they explained why. I’d actually be grateful to them as a fan and as an editor. One review of "Coping Mechanism" (the original version, not the one linked here) did this negatively and I was glad to see the honesty. This actually helped to show the difference between the two versions and highlighted some writing weaknesses MK has since corrected.

"Unit 9" is a good example of how even negative reviews often say little about a story, to the author and to potential readers. I spent four hours tediously editing this heavily revised two-year-old story. Many of the things I found were obvious revision errors. There were immature sentence constructions and embarrassing grammatical blunders left over from her less cautious, less skilled days. That draft was a nightmare to edit but the edited version allowed the well-constructed, creepy story to shine through unencumbered. Erika also spent a while combing over this story. MK did an editing pass with my edits, then another with Erika’s.

Two passes should have been more than enough to make this story easily readable. I can’t even read the posted version because she edited it so pitifully. The massive revision errors, leftover bits of immaturity, self-indulgent lines she refused to cut, and general lack of caring (at least the posted version appears as though its author doesn’t respect it enough to clean it up) make her look ten times less skilled than she was two years ago! The STORY is intriguing, creepy, and meticulously done in some aspects. The writing severely disfigures this story.

Most of the reviews were positive; only one even lightly mentioned the decline in quality (not nearly in so much detail as might have been helpful). This is far from MK’s best work, but one would never be able to tell from most of the reviews. I suspect those who read this based on reviews, those with standards, were a bit miffed. Some solid feedback would have shown MK how this lovely story suffers from poor handling, as well as to what degree she succeeded in revising an older work into something reflecting her current writing and storytelling ability.

This incident did lead to a better editing procedure. Eri and I see each other’s edits, now, and I get a final pass after MK goes over our draft. Sometimes I get two passes after she goes over our draft if what should be my final pass reveals too many new niggles. This procedure came about mostly through my offline snarking. Some informative reviews would have done wonders to nullify the need for me to be the one to nip MK. I felt guilty for doing that even though I knew it was necessary. That story was written for me; being the one to come down so harshly about it was a bit uncouth. I was grateful for Grey's honest, even if not unquestionably clear, review. His reviews are brief. Others do lengthier reviews while failing to touch the blunt points he at least mentions.

Several people make the effort to review every story. If they would do this more clearly, and honestly, this could drastically improve the overall quality of the updates. Two reviewers do have a blunt style, but one is the unclear example from earlier and the other has a tendency to mewl if the name is one she relishes. I do admire both of them for sometimes cracking down on the Lisa Teez rung of authors, though!

Please respect your work enough to polish it. I’ve read some less-than-well-written stories I could still respect for the obvious amount of effort and passion the author invested (Omega Girl, for one). There is NO excuse for a skilled author who does have tools and experience to post something so unpolished as “Unit 9.“ A few honest, well-thought reviews would have served as a good lesson to MK, and to other writers, on the need for clarity and caution.

This really was going to be a review post!

My review of "Paradise" is mixed; I see my review of "Scribe and Shadow" being the same. I should try reading other colors. I can sometimes appreciate purple and, as previously mentioned, cyan. Cyan doesn’t seem appropriate to review in a lesbian HypnoDomme’s blog, though. I’ll save that for the next remarkably good cyan technofetish story. Maybe I should review the two that made me pay attention to that color in the updates. I mostly read red, but the recent red has been tepid.

I rant like this because I adore this fetish and the good writing devoted to its lavishing and exploration. Fiction is a medium in which these often dark and unethical concepts are safe to explore as fully as one can fantasize. I want to do in my own reviews what I feel the others lack. I want to provide detailed feedback, positive and negative, and I want to be honest!

My review style will likely be clumsy at first. I will start with MK’s work; I can use something familiar to me so that my focus can be on working out a good style while not having to worry so much about understanding the stories. I work with them enough to not have the need for rigid concentration reviewing other stories will demand. This is a service, I think, not a cop-out. MK knows how I feel about her work. Using it to form my style means other authors will get better feedback in a refined format instead of the awkward early format I’ll likely need to adjust.

I would love feedback on what types of reviews authors would find helpful. I am a snarky bitch, I can’t tame that, but I will be honest in a constructive way. Tell me if you don't want me to review your work. You probably don't need to worry if you don't write red or anything related to science fiction or robots. I will niggle a bit over technicality—I'm always in editor mode, I can't help it!—but not as the focus.

I’ll make a post at some point following the general format of the Readers' Picks section on the Archive. Some of the stories I crave to praise in detail are obscure.

My introduction post did note my proclivity for rambling.

A real review post will come this Saturday. Madam can spark what little remains of my mind into oblivion if not! Bedtime for valbot.

~Valbot