Disillusionment

Perhaps I should break my silence.

EMC has steadily lost its allure for me over the past year. Posting here and interacting to what little extent I do with the community feels more like a chore than a hobby. I lost interest in new writing some while ago, and the media and discussion I encounter on the forums never held much allure. I still have a mind control fetish, but that isn't enough to make me want to post here or interact with the community.

Nothing has changed about my interest in hypnosis or my loving D/s bond with Madam. I would continue posting about slave life and hypnosis were they not so connected with MC given the context of the 'blot. Those themes are already covered extensively by others in the community, and I don't think I have anything novel to contribute. Teaching about hypnosis when those with training are already doing so feels pointless. I also feel much less comfortable posting about my personal experiences given some of the ignorant and dehumanizing responses I've received. My primary audience for those posts has no conception of loving D/s and is unlikely to view anyone writing about it submissively as more than mindless entertainment. I don't want to put my experiences on display for this audience. I'm sick of being viewed as not even a person.

This entire milieu of concepts and activities is supremely disheartening.

More accurately, the MC community and most of the material available has lost its allure, but that feels rude to say.

Believe it or not, I agree with those who think Madam's spin-off series is redundant, tepid, and in need of a twist (she does, too). I think EMC lost some allure for her, as well, at least writing-wise. She still enjoys trancing just as much as I do.

If I get a whim, I'll post here, but don't expect much from me in the future.

~Valbot

Slave Life: Blue Screen of Obedience

Madam has an adorable tendency to accidentally trigger me due to forgetting the triggers she doesn't use often. Recently, I spent what felt like hours sending myself progressively deeper as I struggled to let her know she'd put me under.

During a trance designed to get around some of my issues with amnesia, she programmed a “blue screen of obedience.” Any stray thoughts, attempts to analyze, or lingering awareness contrary to what she wanted me to experience would trigger a blue screen, a literal flash of blue within my mind that would kill the entire process tree sans the root of my trance. This blue screen also deepened my trance, leading to the paradox of solving the problem by encouraging me to do more of what created it: the blue screens felt lovely, and I wanted to go deeper, so I tried to trigger them. She continually used the phrase “blue screen of obedience.” Once or twice after that trance, she put me under by surprise with that phrase.

ANY thought contradictory to trance triggers the blue screen . . . including thoughts of telling Madam she put me under since typing or speaking would lighten my trance state! Early last month, I nudged her about text trancing since that works well for me and we were talking through text. She responded, “blue screen of obedience . . . doesn't that sound nice?”

My vision blurred. My head drifted to rest against the monitor. I slackened in my chair. My fingertips felt numb and I didn't realize my lips were parted until I felt warm breath against my wrists, which triggered a blue screen since that thought wasn't about melting. Each time I thought, “I should tell Madam she put me under . . .” or “I should verbally say something to get her attention . . .” I got a blue screen.

Madam was on the couch not even a yard away. Sinking was safe. I knew she would eventually look over and bring me back to the world of the thinking. Blue screen.

“Mmmaa—“ blue screen.

I felt like I'd been under for hours by the time I distantly heard what I thought might be my na—blue screen. “Vaaaaaal! Are you okay?” Blue screen.

Snap.

Urgent, louder snap.

I couldn't read for about a minute after her second snap. When I could, I realized Madam had been asking me through text to respond for the past ten minutes. Only ten minutes! She was distracted by a show and hadn't thought to look over at me. When she did look over, I was slumped against my screen and appeared passed out rather than tranced. When I explained what happened, she smacked her forehead and hugged me. I was sending myself progressively deeper to a point well past somnambulism by trying so very, very hard to let Madam know what was going on! Even though my thoughts were about her, they were not about going deeper, and they would have required me to do something that would have lightened my trance state. Since I knew she was in the same room and would eventually notice me, my safety programming didn't need to abort the experience. Plus, those blue screens felt damn lovely. I vaguely remember reaching a point where I saw only silver and was silently mewling “obey” over and over. That really did feel like a matter of hours. I was shocked by the time distortion when Madam brought me out of what almost felt like a self-induced cascading systems failure. I was fuzzy for the rest of the night. My typing was near-incomprehensible for the next hour.

Well . . . she definitely succeeded in getting rid of my ability to maintain any kind of internal narrator during trance! I rarely interpret suggestions so literally.

Technical imagery has been so deeply reinforced for me that she can type or speak to me in a highly computerized way and achieve good results, often the best results. She blends this well with an organic, gentler, nurturing style that makes me feel adored and cherished. Sometimes she goes with one or the other, but she most often combines them. She didn't simply tell me to blue-screen: she told me the blue screen would feel nice, and I could imagine her gentle, inviting tone over the text. Feeling that gentleness made the melting even yummier and made it even harder to want to come back on my own. I felt so . . . loved and warm while I was sending myself progressively deeper. Silver is obedience. Obedience is warmth. Of course I would only obey someone I love, and I love Madam more than any one, or thing, else.

Obedience is also blue. I have deep and delicious associations with the color blue, which Madam made its own trigger (said in a specific tone of voice, of course), but blue so easily melts into silver. Silver has blue in it, so I don't really perceive a difference when I'm as far gone as I was during that chain of blue screens.

I think I might have ended up on the couch with her that night. I think we were snuggling. I don't remember that night particularly well. The blue screen of obedience is some of my strongest programming. I can override it if I really feel threatened or uncomfortable, but I have yet to experience the need.

This post segued into a five-page ramble about experiences from the hypnotist side, trance logic, technical bits about hypnotism, and general advice. I cut that and saved it in another file for another post. Would anyone find such a post interesting? I might make general hypno-posts, time to time. What would you all find most interesting? I am a hypnotist, though this might not be the most obvious thing in the universe given how easily Madam can make me slump against my screen with a single line of text. I wish she would make hypno-posts.

Also, the embarrassing error on Madam's site is fixed. Some of the blog links pointed to the Kistublot's old address, which is now a redirect page. I really, really, really wish people would actually make use of the web mistress link at the bottom of her main page! Madam found this error by accident earlier tonight. I will not torture anyone for reporting site errors or inconveniences to me (unless the person reporting them is an adorable technophile that begs cutely . . .).

Anyway, educational hypnosis posts? I enjoy explaining things. I especially enjoy explaining things that fall within my passionate geek areas, which hypnosis certainly does.

Now, I cater to the egress of coffee and its intrinsic delight of argent inner-wanderings.

~Valbot

Slave Life: Technophilia

Technophilia, defined most simply in a fetish context, is a sexual enjoyment of technology. I am a technophile. My primary sub-fetish is robots, but just about any form of detailed tech will delight me. Cybernetic implants, nanites, AI, wires, shiny precision instruments: anything artificial that exerts a direct effect on human perception can turn me on in the right context. Mind control is what makes technophilia hot for me. I don't want to be given a robot body or watch two robots making love. I want to control, be controlled, and enjoy others doing the same, all through deliciously detailed technophiliac means.

If you're curious about technophilia in general, Winter Rose's detailed FAQ is a good place to start your research, along with Fembot Central for those into robots. There are as many slants on technophilia as there are technophiles. This post is a reflection on mine.

My first clear technophiliac memory is of being left immobilized on my childhood best friend's bed as he scribbled imaginary calculations at his desk. He was a scientist and I was his deactivated robot. I could barely turn my head to watch him. My eyes were hooded of their own accord, and the unfamiliar warmth between my thighs made me feel languid. I couldn't move until he chose to reactivate me.

So poignant were these sensations that I no doubt had myself in a trance. My senses, especially tactile, were heightened; each pulse, each breath, each light twitch felt like slurred ripples in the fuzz. I definitely didn't understand arousal at four years old, but I knew something about my situation felt inexplicably tingly, a gooey slipping shifting warmth that made it extremely difficult for me to focus through my dim gaze. I wanted to close my eyes and let the fuzz take over. These feelings were so much stronger than the image of my friend at his desk who had likely forgotten our game and was drawing instead. The wispy realization that he might have forgotten me thickened the fuzz. My sentience was subject to his whim. If he wanted to forget me and leave me deactivated, I would remain there. Robots didn't have choices.

Eventually, he reactivated me. The dissipation of the fuzz was almost physically painful. He didn't know how I was affected; he didn't know I had been subconsciously rubbing my thighs together or that I wouldn't have minded him giving me direct commands. He was not the focus of my arousal, it was the process and the concept. This little game haunted my masturbation fantasies throughout much of my early childhood: the figure at the desk was always blurry, devoid of gender and tangible identity. What always made me orgasm was the realization anew that I was, in that moment, a machination of dispassionate regard to be commanded or rewritten at another's whim.

Sixteen years later: "Awww...does my little valbot have a robot fetish?"

Madam's playful question sparked my conscious awareness of a fetish I had been sublimating in absolutely every way possible since that fuzzy afternoon with my friend.

My early fetish research helped me realize robots were actually a very strong sub-fetish. Cybernetic augmentation, artificial intelligence with the ability to control organic beings, elaborate circuitry and other techie aesthetics as eye candy, technology as simplistic as a wrist watch exerting hypnotic influence . . . I realized, blushingly, that precision itself counts as a fetish for me. I found my mother's medical and psychology books when I was far younger than she liked. Reading some of those descriptions of human physical and mental processes reduced to seductively simplistic mechanical terms made me tingle. Electrophysiology? Frames of reference? Humans were nothing more than organic machines, it seemed, and I didn't consciously realize why that thought tingled. The same exquisite level of precision I saw in surgery videos threaded through psychology, programming, electronics, and even elaborate forms of analysis in the humanities. I didn't understand why all these things tingled. I certainly wasn't sexually attracted to internal organs or to critical essays, but something about the approach to each, something about the methodology, made me clench if I thought about it deeply.

Madam's playful question made so many things sizzle neatly into place.

Once I consciously realized my fetish as such, Madam began indulging it directly. She teased me with hints of my origin story and made the process of discovery fetish-wise the process of realizing I really am a robot and adjusting to that realization. She updated my programming through several delicious text and phone trances, and she let me spend quite a bit of time wonderfully fuzzed as I savored being able to appreciate these feelings consciously.

The origin story Madam tells me is that an older version of herself went back in time to engineer me so that I would be born seemingly human, able to grow up living a human life acquiring human experiences only so that she, in the present, could enslave me. Of course there are myriad logical and scientific fallacies in this story, but the story is loose enough that my mind can play with it, and fetishes don't need to rigidly adhere to reality. Also, this satisfies the part of my mind that needs to always have a direct link to my real self: my real experiences, by default, are part of my programming. This infuses the vanilla aspects of my life with a relishing frisson: I am an extremely elaborate humanoid robot living among humans that don't possess the slightest inkling regarding my origin and purpose. Even an act as simple as making Madam a sandwich or getting the mail can tingle when I think about it in this context.

Hypnosis and literature are my primary methods of experiencing this fetish. My technophiliac story preferences will get their own post (I don't want to flood the blog with mini-reviews since Madam and Eri posted their own so close together), and hypnosis will, too. Technophilia is a subject of extensive contemplation and indulgence for me. Condensing all I have to say about it into one post would be impossible! Expect many posts on this subject. I think next week I will actually make that technophiliac hypno-post I mentioned last month. I'll structure my posts based on the responses to this one; I still feel somewhat embarrassed by this fetish, so I want to see how others respond before I write more.

I can't think of anything else to write that wouldn't add three more pages or reveal more than I'm comfortable with at the moment, so I'll curl back up in the Mug and finish reading a particularly intriguing story from this week's update.

Yes, 8-bit, we're reading and enjoying! One or all of us might venture (back) into reviewing the updates at some point in the future. Either way, sizzling work! Everyone should read "Haiku." That really has nothing to do with this post, but it's another yummy 8-bit story. I don't think this guy could write a bad story if he tried.

Should I make more (and more specific) technophilia posts? I apologize for the awkwardness of this one. This really is an extensive and elaborate subject!

~Valbot

Slave Life Post: One of Many!

Slave life is a difficult topic to pierce. There's really no introduction and conclusion, no discernible middle. I tried tackling it like a standard essay when my normal posting style didn't suit. I think snapshot-style posts and random textual meanderings are the best way to approach the topic. So, every week, I'll make a general slave life post covering a particular facet or just talking about it in general. Trying to tell it like a story or summarize everything in one post simply does not work!

I segued near the end of this post into a yummy experience I had from the Domme side, so I think I'll focus my next slave life post on the technofetish things I share with Madam. Wow, this format is already working better! I have clear, attainable ideas for future posts!

This is a rambling post inspired by some inaccurate perceptions and personal pet-peeves, but it's really not a rant. I wouldn't even classify it as snark. This is one decidedly Not Normal slave's directed free-association regarding how others view her and how it is to be a Domme who was lovingly tempted to submit.

I don't come across as particularly slave-like beyond my dealings with Madam. I've been told I seem "more vanilla" in public than Dominant, which makes sense; it's not a matter of opposites, simply a matter of facets. I don't perceive myself by default as a slave. Oh, there's always a wisp in my subconscious that knows it's owned and never lets me forget, but it's not binding. Submissive ecstasy is an experience I cherish, but it does not define me.

In the past, I wondered if my lack of identifying strongly as submissive and my lack of presentation made me less of a slave or perhaps not a real slave, but that was a silly worry. Madam can have me melted and on my knees with a simple glance of the proper type: I am owned and I do respond immediately and with alacrity when this reality is brought to my awareness anew.

I don't have anything against those who identify by default as slaves or those who present much more openly as such. That simply isn't me. The only reason this difference bothers me is that so many people don't understand that a slave, a real slave, can be anything else or can possess a real, primarily self-defined personality. More than one person has told me seriously that Madam owns my words and is responsible for my actions. One went so far as to continually ignore me while referring to me in third-person as she/he/it addressed Madam. Never mind she and I were saying the same thing: I'm owned but not devoid of self. That entity had its mind made up that, since I'm a slave, I had no voice and no opinions of my own.

Bullshit. I chose to submit to Madam and I submit in my own way. This pleases her and it's no less valid than the submission of those who prefer her to sculpt them. She sculpts me sometimes in beneficial ways, and we have sessions where she overwrites quite a bit. She just doesn't leave me overwritten. I know, if she really desired, she could sculpt me much more and make it last. She could tinker with my personality and she could rearrange my dreams. I trust her enough for that to be possible if she were to get such an urge. But a large part of my trust in her comes from knowing she wouldn't try. I wouldn't be happy if I were consciously aware of her doing such a thing and she wouldn't be happy having me as anything but myself.

One of my biggest fears when I first consciously entertained the thought of submission was that, especially with a HypnoDomme, I might end up a different person, perhaps as someone I wouldn't, as myself, approve of. I didn't want to literally lose my mind or have it rewritten. I didn't want to lose my freedom or individuality. Madam taught me that submission doesn't have to be about a loss of self, at least as more than a loving dissolution. I know she could do anything she wanted with me, and I delight in it when she does—I don't always know during those sessions that it's temporary—but she gave me underlying programming that lets my subconscious know it's not permanent so I can consciously believe it is for a short while and still enjoy the experience.

Of course opening myself to her like this means she influences me deeply. I've no doubt acquired bits of her personality and ideas and incorporated them deeply into myself. I cherish this. But, I took quite a while to examine that to which I was going to submit. I knew Madam extremely well, for over a year, before I submitted. I knew I wanted her influence and that I wouldn't mind introjecting bits of her.

I do have the right to say no. Madam could take that away, of course, but why would she? She doesn't want to hurt me. Allowing me to say no is another form of trust. A Domme needs to trust her slave as much as the slave needs to trust her Domme. Madam knows I won't abuse this allowance. I won't say no if something is a little uncomfortable or I'm not feeling my best that day. I will say no if I really need to say it, if something terrifies me or is really going to hurt me in a non-yummy, non-healthy way. She knows I am the best person to know what's going to damage me.

I know many say slaves are not people, but that's flavor text. Slaves ARE people: we still have basic human needs, minds, and personalities. Sure, a Dominant can tinker with these things, but we're still the ones that live inside our heads and thus know them best!

I am not bratty. I am not shallow. I am not pretending. I am simply not the brand of slave most people around here are used to encountering.

Madam is not a typical Domme!

Although I don't present as dominant most of the time, I am definitely a Domme. I have a submissive side and I cherish indulging it with Madam, but that's only with Madam. I don't feel submissive urges outside of her and the thought of submitting to anyone else, or acting submissive toward anyone else, makes me physically ill. Aside from getting me a little hot behind the ears: that's not my inclination and I'm still wondering how Madam inspired those feelings in me. She does have a reputation as being a Domme that dommes Dommes, perhaps because she's loving and open? She doesn't have that ugly arrogance or inherent sense of entitlement so many Dommes possess. That would help just about anyone feel safe to explore the other side, I imagine. That's what helped me feel safe taking that first step a little over two years ago.

I've mentioned before that Madam sometimes submits to me. We explore our submissive sides with each other while being Dommes to everyone else. That definitely helps me feel safe submitting to her. Though this does sometimes cause infuriating issues such as other Dommes who are unaware she is . . . well, not quite owned, as we haven’t explored that in a while, but definitely not available that way . . . trying to trance or dominate her. They assume, since she's a Domme, she doesn't have any ties they'd be infringing upon by doing such a thing. That’s a bit of an arrogant assumption, really, but understandable since most Dommes probably don't allow themselves to be owned. If the most recent example hadn't been someone so friendly and genuine, I would have gone out of my way to make her miserable for trying to trance my little girl. Even though she is quite good at resisting: she turned the tables on that other Domme and ended up trancing her deeply. She does this frequently when others try to trance her. I know she can handle herself, but it still gets me really annoyed when others presume to have the right to interact with her that way. She's MINE, damnit.

I suppose others doing that to her makes sense given that it happens to me even though it's a well-known fact that I am her slave. Many try to treat me like I should be a slave to them, too. One brute of a Dom insisted he could give me trance amnesia and got really upset when I told him I didn't want to trance with him. He leaped on me for not trusting him and was, in general, a huge ass about the issue. Madam was in the channel when this happened and told him to back off. He still persisted. Uhm . . . the love of my life and the only person I've trusted even in a vanilla way to really take me under . . . if SHE can't do something with me, what the hell made that guy think he could? Especially when he doesn't have anywhere near the experience with trance Madam does and doesn't know me nearly so well? People are silly!

I've had a few Dommes try similar things. They don't seem to understand "I'm owned" or "I am not interested in playing with you." "I am a Domme exclusively" only gets them arrogantly thinking they can break me. I'm already broken, thank you, and by someone likely infinitely more skilled since you don't know better than to foolishly flaunt your non-existent prowess. I really hate dominants of either gender who think they're so special and that, if only I saw them in action, I'd be weak in the knees wanting them to play with me. Sorry, I found someone better, especially since she doesn't have that kind of attitude. Also: I am not a submissive by default!

I'd stop submitting in a heartbeat if Madam expressed that attitude toward me or anyone else.

What's the point of having a docile, blank, spineless, meek slave? Seriously? You may as well get an Eliza program and teach it to parrot the proper arousal-inducing responses if that's your desire. The mind is precious and should not be wasted on weakness. I don't enjoy playing with weak submissives. I like fire. I like personalities. I like strong minds. I like knowing the person submitting to me actually took the time to find out who I am and made a conscious choice to give me the gift of their submission. That gift means so much more when it's not blindly offered. I want to know my worth to such a person is not based solely in the word "Domme." Many dominants are NOT worthy of such precious gifts, so it's really insulting when, five minutes after I meet someone, she’s begging me to own her and rewrite her as I see fit. Yeah, I'm not any other Domme . . . I'd like you to get to know me first and see if you really want me in your head.

I want to feel proud of dominating the people that submit to me. I played with a lovely older engineer a few times and that was one of the rare times the act of trancing someone other than Madam actually turned me on. That woman was brilliant. She had passion and radiance. She got to know me a bit and she wanted ME to trance her. That was such an honor, taking her under. We didn't get to real D/s, but I wanted that and I wish real life hadn't interfered. I really wanted to get to know her better and have something special with her. Knowing someone so brilliant and with so much fascinating life experience and twisted creative spark was consciously allowing me to play with her mind . . . that itself was enough to get me close to the edge. I've worked on a few sluts for the sake of practice, but it was incredibly tepid.

If I had been able to share real D/s with the aforementioned woman, I wouldn't have dimmed her spark. I would have encouraged it to grow. I would have, temporarily, sculpted it the way I wanted to see it, but I wouldn't have left it that way outside of perhaps making her feel it that way when she was alone. She still would have been herself. I would have savored exploring such a rich, deep mind and I would have savored knowing it knelt to me. The thrill would have been knowing I could mind-wipe her at whim but that I'd so much rather see what all that delicious robotics knowledge could do to twist her deeper into submission.

That first trance was delicious in a techie way; I might write about it some time in a non-revealing way. She's not around anymore due to real life getting hellish, so I can't exactly get her permission. Nothing I've written in this post could lead anyone to discover her identity.

Anyway, I'm an odd case and I wish my preferences weren't so rare. I was blessed to meet Madam. I've met a few other good dominants—Doublefine, for one—but they do seem incredibly rare. People who understand slavery and submission as something other than depersonalization are also sadly rare. Good slaves are rare, too! I adore discussing D/s and trance with others. Few things thrill me more than meeting like-minded people who understand and cherish the process.

I really don't have anything against those who ENJOY the blanker sort of slavery. Some people really want that, on both sides. That's fine. Just understand that not all of us are like that and that being a slave does not, by default, imply a lack of personality or spark.

Maybe I submitted to a mad woman with equally mad conceptions of D/s, but I don't think so. I felt this way before submitting deeply to her once I got over my initial aversion to all this. I used to think submission was weak and that dominants were arrogant fuckups who presumed entirely too much authority over others. I know now how wrong and disgusting that was to believe. Perhaps some of my irritability regarding this topic is knowing I got over my inaccurate perceptions and thus wish others could get over theirs.

Tune in next week for something trancier! My next post will probably be more along the lines of what certain people who really want me to write about slave life want to see. I'll explain how I became Madam's Valbot and relate a few particularly yummy experiences of that sort.

I am so thrilled to see Madam posting more!

~Valbot

Coming up for air . . .

I HATE Internet Explorer.

Micro$oft, seriously . . . ? Fuck yourself. I could rant about how broken IE really is—and even CSS in certain ways—but that's not the purpose of the Kistublot.

Fantastically annoying code snafus aside, it's done. Madam has a new site! Same address, MadamKistulot.net, with a lovely new design. I'm reasonably sure everything works, but please let me know if you find any broken links or if anything displays awkwardly for you (especially any Mac users in the audience).

Madam wanted some things, such as the splash page, to remain the same. Almost everything else is new.

The 'blot got another makeover, too: a real one this time.

Slave life post? Right . . . I sort of got lost in code. I now refer to the Silververse "lovingly" as the God Damned Mother Fucking Silververse due to the overwhelming hassle it was to organize and link!

Goddess, I really am tired. But it's DONE! That's really the entire point of my post, to say this is done and to tell you all to go look!

My next post really will have something to do with real-life MC beyond the technical administration of Madam's web presence.

~Valbot

Style Sheets and Ethics and Buggy Code, OH MY!

Scroll down for Eri’s post about her aspects. I know some of you have waited a long time for that.

My post turned into a bit of a ramble concerning the ethics and misconceptions of slave life, albeit a ramble in gloss. Also, I’ve had little sleep. You have been warned.

* * *

Before realizing I didn’t want to fight with IE to get CSS and JavaScript to work cross-browser, I made a few fancy layouts that looked wonderful in Firefox. Pulling them up in IE nixed my enthusiasm in short order. A blog doesn’t require something nearly so pretentious, anyway! So, I tweaked the default layout a bit and cobbled together a banner with some inky fonts along with the eye and pendant from Madam’s main site.

Before coding, I started working on an editorial style sheet for Madam’s spin-off series. Stylistic grammar won’t change between chapters anymore, and no one will experience a random dye job! Madam was genuinely perplexed and a hair disturbed that I got so excited over the idea of making one. I’m a nerd: I joyously admit this. What’s not to adore about niggling over the tinniest facets of stylistic grammar while arranging in definition-list form the less flexible aspects? This isn’t only about grammar, of course; there will be character notes, too.

Slave life? I’m working on my own post, but it’s going to take a while. I’m not sure how much I want to detail. Some of this is fairly private, and I don’t always realize how much is private to me until I’ve blanched upon rereading it the next day. Also, I don’t want to give the impression that I have no mind of my own. I’m owned, but I very much think for myself! Eri does, too, even though she enjoys getting lost in what we like to call magic. Even the darkest-sounding things she wrote about in her last post had layers of safety programming interlaced to ensure nothing contradictory to her genuine wants would be able to work. Madam gave me the same programming. If I don’t like something, or I can’t handle something, nothing short of her literally robotizing and rewriting me is going to make it happen!

I know I’m not really a robot, and Eri knows she can think for herself just fine when she wants to. The thrill is knowing Madam could do whatever she wanted, that we love and crave and trust her enough to open ourselves this deeply . . . but knowing all the while that we’re safe because she would never abuse that trust. Sure, I sometimes find myself singing the Folgers song and literally orgasming at the end (I ABHOR Folgers "coffee" and I find the jingle equally repulsive), but that’s hardly mindwiping me and turning me against my nature.

My point? I want to write about my experiences, but I don’t want to scare people or give the impression that Madam is doing unethical things when she’s actually being meticulous and frequently double-checks to make sure I’m happy with this.

I cringe and sometimes feel physically ill when I read the experiences of other slaves who sound, well . . . like they really couldn’t give a damn if they tried. So many HypnoDominants really are doing questionable things without checking, or they check while the submissive is under (which is a rant post all by itself). Often submissives don’t bother to look at their fetishy surroundings to see what’s going on because they blindly trust their dominants. Blind trust in this sense is a bad thing since they haven't taken the time to see what they're trusting. Really, it’s not disobedient to ask questions or even to firmly say “no!” It’s not disobedient to say something might happen later but that it’s not comfortable right now. It’s not disobedient to expect privacy, mentally and physically. Madam encourages me to do that. I find it incredibly offensive when others say she needs to keep me on a tighter leash or that I am merely an extension of her name (or, in one case, that she owns my words). Madam doesn’t want drones; she wants complex personalities she can explore and savor and play with beyond merely rewriting or giving commands.

But those reading might interpret my anecdotes as yet another weak hypnoslave with an egregious Mistress who toys with and controls every aspect of her slave without a passing thought (or allowing her slave a passing thought). Even a close real-life friend sometimes gets needlessly worried about what goes on between us. He called Madam’s playful “time travel!” explanation of how I was built “Voodoo doming.” That made no sense. Madam isn’t allowed to be playful? I know that’s not really what happened! In fact, I know I was born human and am human right now. But I like getting lost in the magic, too, and Madam is good at making it thick and exquisite so that one gets lost to the point of forgetting reality. Even so, I never forget reality in ways that could be harmful. I always revert easily to normal at the slightest provocation.

Obviously Madam will do things with me that she wouldn’t do with others. She didn’t do some of what she does with me now until I moved here. Madam is my life partner first, my Madam equal to that—but my life partner above everything else. If I felt like I could no longer submit, she’d still be my partner. So I feel comfortable with things a slave who is only a slave probably wouldn’t, and she feels comfortable trying things with me she wouldn’t try with others. We know each other well enough for that to be safe. Also, she submits to me sometimes. I find it easier to trust her since I’ve been in her head and have experienced her in the same vulnerable, sublime, tenderly trusting way she experiences me.

I would get lost in the magic while writing about my experiences. I would sound like I don’t know reality from fantasy. I would sound like I’m controlled to the point where I really don’t have a choice about what happens to me. None of that is true, but my writing would convey that impression. So this post is a mini-rant on slave life and ethics, and a preface to my next post, which will be my slave life post: I am indeed self-aware and in control of what happens to me, and it is this self-awareness and control that allows me to safely get lost in Madam’s magic.

Perhaps I didn't need to ramble about this, but I felt the need to make my situation clear before writing about my experiences. Given some of my visceral reactions to others I've read, I wouldn't blame anyone who read mine for making the same judgment. D/s experiences, especially hypnotic D/s, can appear scary when observed from the outside. I'm not judging anyone with this post, though I do think anyone writing about this sort of thing should detail the precautions they've taken and provide some context as to the relationship they have beyond D/s. Such details make these things much easier to enjoy and understand. Few things make me feel worse than reading what could be a yummy experience if it didn't lack that context. There are quite a few people in this community I don't respect because they can't provide this context honestly and they try to dress up what they're doing while making the rest of us look awful. But I know most people are not like that. Most of us just want to enjoy ourselves, and we're ethical about it.

~Valbot

June 1st Reviews, Somewhat

Eri’s latest post has me thinking I should do something similar. What would you like to know about my life as a slave or about my experiences in general with hypnosis and D/s?

* * *

Reviewing is more stress and obligation than enjoyment, so I’m going to step back from doing anything but brief mentions and shorter thought-oriented summaries. I’ll still occasionally make highlight posts such as the one I did of Nexis Pas.

* * *

"Helpers" definitely makes up for the lack of "Undertow!" I can tell 8-bit enjoyed writing this. "Helpers" is a refreshingly different kind of story coming from him. This is campy in a good way: I could see this being a short made-for-TV movie or an episode of The Twilight Zone.

8-bit writing tech is . . . drool-worthy. His sharp, stark style is a perfect medium for technical themes. He messaged me before sending this off to ask if he should recommend the rb tag. My final answer was a tentative "yes," though it would have been a strong one had I read this first. This isn’t robotisation or even AI (at least not yet), but the human-machine interaction with the machine completely in control sizzled over my robot fetish just as much as if the robot element had been closer to what most think of upon seeing the rb tag.

Archeology students, an underground brainwashing facility, anachronistic mind control—only 8-bit could turn that into a unique and engaging story! His settings are always so tangible. He uses just enough cliché to create familiarity without making things tepid.

Already the beginning of the overarching ethical and moral-but-not-preachy themes his work explores is evident. I adore 8-bit’s ability to explore touchy themes so casually in his writing without preaching or making such things the focus.

The ending could be darker than most would find comfortable, but I think that’s a jump perceptually: this is 8-bit! Something logical and fascinating is going to happen. This installment screams for elaboration. I can’t wait to see where 8-bit takes this story!

* * *

Recently, I started doing some face-to-face hypnosis with a male friend (most assuredly vanilla), so maybe I’ll write about that if he consents. If he happens to see this before we talk: I’m sorry! Most of yesterday was spent without a keyboard due to Madam using mine since Asher (our insane kitty) destroyed hers with soda. I also needed a nap. My sleep cycle wasn’t nearly so corrected as I thought. I think things are under control, now . . .

~Valbot

Review Post: May 18th Update

Briefly, purely for the heat, I want to mention Cafetray's "Chocolate Milk." I don't have much to say about this as a story, but it's well-written stroke with a premise one can buy long enough to get off on it. This is a very short read. The backstory is pleasant, the subway ride edges slightly into exhibitionist territory, and the sex at the end is only lacking in that it's too short. Cafetray does write good, believable, intense sex. Even valbot can appreciate stroke, sometimes.

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As usual, these are my opinions. Spoilers are in black text.

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"Fragments from the Violet Hour"
by Bad Penny mc mf md (2,990 words)

Classic Bad Penny. “Fragments from the Violet Hour” is worthy of praise as a title alone for the mood of curiosity and confusion it set. Every word of this casual masterpiece was sharp and gritty. Mixing memory with desire in a marriage tested by a fire sermon? Recognizing which part of “The Waste Land” so heavily inspired this story was not difficult. Bad Penny winning Michelle's April writing contest on the MCF came as no surprise to me. Eliot’s influence on “Fragments” was not so readily apparent as it was on Virginia’s story, but it was no less poignant and I think the subtlety lent the imagery greater strength.

**begin spoilers**

This was an intense, gritty, lewd, disorienting, and utterly smirk-worthy masterpiece. A casual masterpiece: there is no grace or refinement to this story in the traditional sense. Graphic descriptions abound, but Penny wrote them with a finesse atypical of erotica in general. The story itself was deceptively simple: Lil and Albert had a troubled marriage and sexual relationship due to Lil’s out-of-control rape fantasies. Albert paid their counselor to alter her perceptions and to find suitable candidates to rape Lil so Albert could be in control of a fetish he knew he could not stop Lil from pursuing. Albert’s career would have been jeopardized by his wife soiling his reputation, and that’s exactly what she tried to do (at least, it’s very strongly implied Lil did that at the end). Doesn’t that sound like any other stroke piece? Well, it’s a Bad Penny story, and the tightly interlaced layers of control and disorientation matched the skill and complexity of any trilby story.

Graphic descriptions: I would have been reading one-handed had this been an FF story. Despite the MF pairing, despite the MF oral sex which is normally a horrible squick for me, I still got a pleasant buzz purely from the twisted power exchange and the intensity of Lil’s reactions to such a dangerous fantasy-turned-reality. Only at the end of the second rape scene did the rapist’s identity as an extension of Albert’s control become clear; before that, Lil was being raped by who she thought was a random stranger, which definitely increased the thrill. The revelation that her assailant wasn’t random was its own thrill: Lil was being more than physically controlled, and the mental side of things wasn’t a mere lapse in perception. What was tampering with Lil’s perception of time and place? I initially guessed telepathy since that is the common theme of Bad Penny’s writing, but who was controlling her? The rapist didn’t seem like he would care enough about his victim to invest that extensive of an effort. Albert didn’t seem important at first aside from being the disgruntled husband. Maybe something was actually wrong with Lil. But her assailant revealing that he had a connection to her husband slammed this story into unwittingly fierce perspective: the tables had been turned on Lil by the last person she would suspect of turning them, and his hold on her, as shown by the perceptual lapses and her "daydream" of oral sex, was quite firm.

Shock can be an effective deprogramming agent. Shock paired with anger can break programming altogether. Lil’s moment of clarity and her ability to hold on to her memory enough to be able to tell Albert’s boss was believable given how well Penny detailed Lil’s reaction to Albert’s smug and dispassionate admission. Lil’s desire was being used against her to control her. When Lil’s desire was redirected through her anger at being played and her shame over allowing such a thing to happen, the control was also redirected at least in part into her own hand. Or was it? There was another possibility: the exchange Lil had with Albert’s boss took a flirtatious tone at the end. She told him to just come find her. If he wasn’t the same man who raped her in the alley (her perception was being altered; he could have been disguised), then he could have at least been her next fetish encounter. Was Lil about to play into her husband’s hand yet again? Was she experiencing yet another loop of seemingly fresh experience that she had actually repeated multiple times without recollection? Maybe she was being led to think she could remember and break free. Either ending is believable. Both are deliciously smirk-worthy: one for its comeuppance, the other for the firmness and depth of its control. This was left open-ended enough that I think either guess could be correct. This made the story even better, another layer of perception left entirely to the reader: true reader-writer interaction beyond the already vividly engrossing narrative.


**end spoilers**

Even without the outside assistance, Lil would have been firmly controlled by her own desire. She was never in control of herself. A strong fetish can drive a person to destruction. Anyone who has spent any length of time in the fetish community has heard of or known at least one person whose life, or at least sense of self, was blurred or destroyed by the pursuit of erotic fulfillment. Instances like this remind us that we can still easily become chattel to primitive urges and that our attempts to intellectualize and romanticize them are laughable at best. This is where erotic mind control comes in: intellectualizing that which is primal; applying mental, spiritual, and emotional themes to something that used to be a simple matter of the natural order of things. Some of us were stronger than others. Now, in this context, some of us think we are mentally stronger than others while the rest fall victim to their own urges to be shaped and directed. Those who perceive themselves as stronger are really victims of their own urges, but they are harder to recognize as such since they take a decidedly outward and dominating tone. This is a crude and simple way to put it, and is definitely not the case overall, but “Fragments” incorporated and exemplified it to an extreme. This is why I think “Fragments” is a masterpiece for the modern age. This is art imitating life as it has evolved in this present day in a very specific and very primal context.

Every scene transition was just abrupt enough to prick without startling me out of the story. In fact, these abrupt pricks drew me deeper into the narrative through surprise and curiosity. I didn’t anticipate any of them, even the later ones after I knew abrupt scene breaks were being used as a device. Normally things like that are gimmicky, or I at least see them coming after the first or second time, but this narrative was so vivid that I forgot about the process of reading and savored the process of visualizing. There are not many authors on the Archive or in general who can write vividly enough to make me forget analyzing! Upon reading the last word, I was startled to remember I was sitting in my apartment with a mug of coffee. So far as I could tell, within what felt like the mere minute reading this took, the warmth against my hand was the sting Lil felt while holding her mug. Escapist literature is difficult to find, escapist erotica even more so. “Fragments” was definitely literature—prose artistry and a deep sense of empathy that happened to incorporate and refine the lewd and gritty edge so common to porn.

I had to spend a few minutes thinking about negative things to mention. This was such a wonderful story! The storytelling was holographic; the writing was polished and tight; the heat was scalding; the thematic elements were subtle yet pristine in their clarity. The few things I found were laughable. Some of the dialogue read as though it had been punctuated more grammatically then stylistically. This is a frequent snag for me since I hear what I read; this didn't snag horribly in "Fragments," but it stood out a little more than it would have otherwise given how smoothly written the story was overall. One homophone briefly confused me: “To bring you to heal since you act like a bitch in heat.” They were in counseling. Lil had a severe issue. She did indeed need to heal. This didn’t snag for more than a second, and I wasn’t thrown out of the story, but even small things like this can nick a masterpiece given the contrast. There were several missing particles and a few typos, but none snagged enough for me to remember. All of this feels like nitpicking given how wonderful this story was, but I wanted to be balanced. I honestly can’t think of anything beyond purely personal taste that could have been done better with the characters and story. Maybe a little more punch to the dialogue during the rape scenes? Now I’m grasping at straws. This was a fabulous story, period.

My biggest problem with this story was that it wasn’t RED! But that is definitely personal taste. I have a bit of a rape kink, and those descriptions were absolutely scorching. I would adore reading something so skillfully written and biting from a lesbian perspective. Finding quality rape stories is difficult. So many of them are gritty and nothing else—tasteless, needlessly cruel juvenile power fantasies. But “Fragments,” truly, is a masterpiece. This will definitely be one of my yellow nominations for next year’s Spiral Awards.

“Fragments from the Violet Hour” was graphic in physical descriptions and in its alteration of memory and perception. If you don’t like rape descriptions, or if extensive disorientation of the controlled sort bothers you, save yourself the squick. This was a fabulous story, but the descriptive writing is more than sharp enough to cut in an unpleasant way for those easily squicked by such themes. Otherwise, regardless of what color you prefer, READ THIS. Read this to see how good, actually story- and character-enhancing sex scenes are written. Read this to see how gritty and uncouth themes can be written classily. Read this for the sake of admiring a literary masterpiece for the modern, rushed sexual age. I don’t gush often. This is an intriguing and aptly titled erotic escape, or at least an enlightening story for those who don’t share these grittier kinks.

* * *

Suggestions on how to review better are welcome. I want to get better at this.

I also want more "Undertow." *sigh* Who am I to nag about online things when I chronically neglect e-mail? I am reading "A Story for Mike," though, as I said I'd get around to: great thus far, something I've been savoring along with my coffee in smaller bits. Coffee is definitely my cigar equivalent . . .

Madam, I will go get you your own huge bucket of Neapolitan if you post more. I can add sprinkles and chocolate syrup. POST MORE! Or get Quillspawn/Eutrepe to post more.

~valbot

Where was I going with this?

Madam is finally going to rewrite the first three Silververse stories! Don't worry, the originals—typos, waffle continuity errors, and grammatical mishaps—will be preserved on her site. She is only rewriting for polish and clarity, not to change the plot. I remember reading The Adventures as she wrote it; she posted it on DeviantART before sending it to the Archive months later. I think I mentioned proofreading would be a good idea. But, Madam being Madam, she took a while to break that write-and-hit-send habit.

I had no clue I would eventually fall in love with her (let alone that I would move from Florida to OREGON to live with her), and that I would get to edit these stories. She didn't know there would be stories after the original. I'm astonished by how elaborate and lengthy this series ended up and, speaking honestly, I'm surprised this series got so popular given how muddled the first story is on a technical level. Let alone how LONG it is. Those who suggest new authors should post shorter stories as their debuts raise a very good point! Perhaps people were less scared of new authors two years ago. Either way, I'm proud of Madam for creating something so gorgeous and elaborate, and I'm overjoyed that she's finally going back to apply the polish these earlier stories deserve. I think her series deserves to be popular, but I'm just a bit surprised some of her more intelligent fans were willing to read through it when she was a new author and they had no basis upon which to have faith in her storytelling ability. Apparently these are good stories, and I'm not the only one who saw that!

Our relationship is only slightly older than the Silver series (we met on May 22nd, 2005; she sent the first three chapters to the Archive in November of that year). I'm still trying to get my head around that, and around the reality that I'll be editing what was my first exposure to the world of MC fiction. As much as I bitch about the community, it really has changed my life in unexpected ways. Meeting and bonding with Carin; Doublefine moving here and becoming a wonderfully close in-person friend; another woman I truly hope will become a close friend if only for how much I enjoy geeking out with her; Erika meeting Madam through her podcast post; the various people I've been able to explore hypnosis with from the hypnotist side. Even my earlier time in the Garden was mostly positive. I wouldn't have discovered some of my MC sub-kinks or so quickly grown comfortable talking about this with anyone but Carin had it not been for my encounters there.

Whoops. I didn't mean to get sentimental! Our third anniversary is close, and the Silververse is closely laced with it. Carin is what drew me to this community, and she is what helped me to branch out reading-wise beyond her work while helping me to get over so many of the squicks being sheltered had given me regarding fetishes and sexuality. She is what inspires my life overall.

Writing and editing of the spin-off series is going better than she makes it sound. Writing is slow, but she's broken a new tier of quality and nothing will be posted until November, anyway. Some of the arcs she has planned . . . One infuriatingly vague but yummy hint I can give is Massive's song "Dissolved Girl." I have a shivery, painfully erotic music video in my head of Sylvia and Aurora to that song, and it's definitely not just sex.

Anyway! Madam really does need to post more, preferably when she's awake. I keep bribing her with ice cream. At least make a review post? You did read and enjoy some things in the past few updates. Erika should post, too.

Madam keeps teasing me about having a fetish for semicolons. What can I say? They're cute.

~valbot

Blotting Cloth Plans =/= Reality

Well everyone, I slacked again. Sorry. It happens.

Writing has been slow. Things have felt slow. I now sleep at midnight instead of six am. Feels... odd. Not quite acclimated.

After discussing the blotting cloth mroe with val, we agreed that it only would foster to encourage negativity, annoyance, and well... we're not funny in the way Maddox is funny. We don't need a funny hatemail section for this blog. So . . . we're not having one. Val wrote up a post on the topic to be posted along with mine, and is as follows:

This is Valbot.

The Blotting Cloth was a bad idea.

Drama and derailment will be deleted. I will not tolerate receiving belittling lectures, being called an abuser, being indirectly told I'm going to be a bad doctor, and being called nuts over my literary opinions. My response to Jo was idiotic and rash; I'm not proud of that. Not responding would have prevented the rest of that drama.

I know I've crossed the line between snarky and nasty. Sans direct provocation, I haven't been nasty lately. I don't appreciate people searching for the faintest bits of negativity to pontificate against. The only promotion beyond Madam's website has been word of mouth. No one has to see the Kistublot.

Also, why should I care about opinions from people too cowardly to own them? I feel annoyed even by positive anonymous comments. Madam finally got around to disabling anonymous commenting. You need a Google or OpenID account to post. Those are not difficult to obtain.

I understand my snark went past constructive and was dominating the blog. Of course that drama was my fault. Am I not allowed to move forward? Restrained nipping is not vicious mauling.

I find it amusing that we never heard from some of these people until they had negative things to say. None of these people commented on the positive posts. In fact, lately, these people have been picking the tiniest negative things out of overall positive posts and textually blaring at us. Some of them have such lacking lives that they are niggling over blog comments I make to others to find things to lecture us about.

Perhaps deleting drama and derailment is shushing or heavy-handed, but restraining negativity is difficult when comments such as the ones removed from a previous post show up in my inbox.

I don't expect everyone to agree with my posts. Please do voice your opinions! But drama, derailing comments, and provocation will not be tolerated.

~Valbot

Well, there you have it! I agree with her, and she's much more articulate in the past (she wrote this days ago) than I am in the present... enjoy, and thanks for reading. Will have more news soon, but I'm just too tired to be entertaining.

~Madam Kistulot

Review Post: May 4th Update

Before my review, I want to mention a non-Archive short story that recently delighted me: “Eat the Peach,” by Virginia Plain (a very short read, by the way). Virginia is a formal poet who is new to prose, and her poetic background helps her greatly. This was a contest story based on T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” Hers, more than any of the other entries I read, truly engaged the poem and in fact wove the story from its threads of lyrical insight and haunting resonance. Read the poem, then read her story. The parallels are absolutely ardent. The story itself is a lovely read for its vivid descriptions of place and personality even without an understanding of the poem. I hope Virginia polishes this and submits it to Simon. Apparently she was rushed with edits and wanted to work on this more, but it still came out wonderfully despite the rush. This, truly, is lyrical prose.

* * *

As always, these are my opinions. I do review critically. If you don’t want honesty, don’t bother reading. Spoilers are in black text.

* * *

8-bit, I will hurt you if there's no "Undertow" next week!!!

* * *

“Errant”
by The Once And Future Kim
mc ff sf rb (1,970 words)

Well, I don’t like cyberpunk, at least unless there is a unique spin or exceedingly good writing to hold my attention. Kim emulated the style of another cyberpunk author a little too well for me to deeply enjoy "Errant." Most of this was standard cyberpunk description written with a glowing violet pen. Despite this, the writing had redeeming qualities I desperately hope emulation won’t squelch in future stories. The dialogue almost read like timid, erotic whispers, and there were a few places where the purple phrasing actually worked (the temple, for example; the purple really helped to convey Jacqui’s sense of unreality).

I found the description of the reefs alluring for the pleasant introverted feeling. This whole thing read like a soliloquy of emotions that was pleasantly broken when Jacqui met her goddess. Jacqui's infantile perception was gently echoed through this soliloquy. Her goddess’s tender though deliberate approach added a dynamic I would have enjoyed reading more of, but the body of the story was devoted to the redundant techie description that is the standard for this genre.

Kim is an author I really want to like. He does wonderful characterization, and I adore the wandering introverted headspace his narratives conjure. But he spends so much time emphasizing the draw of the Machine and the ridiculously cliché techie surroundings in such a derivative way that, sans very short pieces such as this one, I can’t force myself to read his work.

There’s a genre labeled “post-cyberpunk” that focuses on the social struggles of advanced societies as opposed to the doom and gloom of the inevitable drowning of humanity by technology. I think “Errant” falls into this genre, which is a plus.

I find myself struggling to work out the emotions Jacqui’s infantile view of reality and her interactions with Chiron stirred in me. There was poignant emotion in their encounter, and Jacqui’s limited view of reality was almost tearfully beautiful in its dangerous innocence. Please focus less on writing a genre piece and do more of this gorgeous characterization and interaction!

The cyberpunk description felt clunky because it screamed of setting up a genre piece instead of actually helping the story. A little of that was helpful, such as the reefs and Jacqui’s method of clothing herself, but the rest felt like a constant tap on the shoulder to remind me what genre I was reading. I thought I smelled a hint of video games and some of another author's specific fixations, but the characterization and headspace were almost unmatched in poignance so far as my reading on the Archive (and certainly of cyberpunk stories) goes.

* * *

Tell Madam to post more! At least she has been writing, lately. And Fru won a Spiral! I knew she would. I'm sad that Gasman didn't, though, and I'm actually vaguely annoyed that "Go Team Porn!" did. At least red was a tie—though a horribly insulting one to Iago and 8-bit. I would have been happy to see either of them win, even over Madam, and I was secretly hoping for the niftiness of a three-way tie (though I knew it was incredibly unlikely). In the end, I find the awards themselves horrendously amusing and am glad true quality was recognized in a few areas, including cyan: congratulations, Nex! Apparently sex isn't the primary interest of all cyan readers. ^.~

~Valbot

Review Post: April 20th Update

"Undertow"
mc ff (20,564 words)
by 8-bit

I won’t do a full review since this story is a work in progress. I might not ever since I read a preview and talked with 8-bit enough to bias my perception.

I want to briefly mention that, despite the slow start, this is a delicious, intriguing, comfortable narrative. I think the pacing thus far contributes to the comfortable feeling—comfortable in the sense of enjoyable to read, not content! 8-bit’s controllers are often conflicted and some of the interactions in this piece explore rough ethical territory. 8-bit has a distinct "southern novel" style to his storytelling. Slow starts and character development often seemingly for their own sake are common. This is a valid style and one I deeply enjoy. Regardless of your color preference: READ THIS! Start now before it becomes an even longer story.

Believable, rounded characters are 8-bit’s forte. Getting lost in his stories is effortless for me. June’s sensual, literally hands-on control method could easily be something ethnic. Perhaps she’s practicing an ancient tantric or healing art without realizing it. I’m not sure if 8-bit knows what June is doing, but what she’s doing is easy enough to believe in this fictional universe just close enough to our own to be that much more approachable. I don’t think he’ll disappoint with future chapters, and I’m sure he’ll take this story in a good direction (and I’m seething to know where!).

My only real criticism thus far is that the "this limb did this while the other one did that" description of actions feels a bit clunky. Is this level of detail really necessary? 8-bit uses some interesting punctuation and sentence structures in those descriptions. This is a bit odd to read sometimes. This is a small niggle within an amazing story.

* * *

That’s all for this week. The Updates really haven’t held my attention, lately. I did read the two recent trilby stories (I enjoyed them, mostly), but I’m still pondering them and I’m not sure what I think of them. I might post reviews or at least rambling comments about them in the future.

~Valbot

This quick shout-out became a review, of a sort . . .

Skip to the post below, if you haven't read it, for a preview of the first Silververse spin-off story!

* * *

I am thrilled to see Gasman's "Trailer Park Tango" as a green finalist. He truly deserves the encouragement and recognition for this honest, well-crafted, touching, and delightful story.

Daisy is the most poignant Domme I've read in a very long time. I abhor hicks, but this one grew on me as she cleverly and tenderly broke Mike of his prejudice and helped him to embrace his submissive nature. This was not a typical mean-and-green story; this was savoring and gentle. This could have been a cliché story—Mike is a football player and Daisy is a bit of a slut—but the clichés were spun well, background coloring instead of driving elements, and the focus was entirely on the D/s interaction. The control method isn't my favorite, but it works well in this case: Daisy does the real work to solidify and enhance the control it facilitates. Gasman weaves in his foot fetish enough that any foot fetishist reading this would be happy, but that isn't even the primary element. This is about submission: sweet, but firm, Femdom submission. Daisy is the gentle but incisive Domme most straight submissive men likely dream of meeting. This story is wonderful process: thoughts and motivations are detailed enough to enhance the story without lapsing into rambling or shifting the focus. This is about the process of submission, emotionally and mentally as much as physically.

The worst criticism I can think of for this story, aside from the phonetic handling of Daisy's dialogue being a bit much, is that it does look like the work of a less-experienced author . . . but one with real talent. One of my favorite things, period, is watching talented authors emerge fully into their gifts. I want to watch this with Gasman.

"Trailer Park Tango" is a beautiful story. I've always enjoyed Gasman's Garden flashes, so I was happy to see his name while sifting through the 2007 archive in search of Spiral nominations. I'm not sure how I missed this one originally! Please consider giving this story your green vote. Penny's "Bound by Name and Blood" is a good story, but her other three nominations are much better representations of her talent, I think. Sara's two stories in this category are good compared to the (other) dreck surrounding them in green overall, but they're really not shimmering. I think the synopsis says it all about "Chain of Command." Truly, Gasman's story is the stand-out story of this list. His would be worthy of a nomination or vote in any color.

Red? I can't talk about red or I will snark viciously. If you abhor Madam's work, please vote for "Gospel" or "The Happily." I did read the other two finalists . . . one is good, but not Award Good. The other, I really would viciously snark if I even mentioned the title. How these two excuses for quality got in over thrall and Tabico, I truly do not know!

Anyway! Encourage good writing. Encourage lesser-known good authors. Vote for "Trailer Park Tango!"

~Valbot

I am a Lesbian, and I Read Cyan!

Blame a lovely woman named Virginia for this post.

Cyan deserves more attention as literature if not as sex appeal.

Read "Making Jeremy", a touching first-person narrative that twists blunt description and purple phrasing to hilarious effect. I think this is Nexis’s most approachable work, despite the graphic male/male sex, given its lighthearted humor and pathos. Saying this story is cleverly constructed is almost a spoiler. Read this as a good piece of short, piquing literature. Looking at it this way should make the sex scenes less squicky.

"Before I Forget" is a tech-centered story with glimpses of detailed conditioning and a creepy conspiracy. This one diverges from humor and clever wordplay in favor of a minimalist narrative with a trilby-esque flavor. I can't say much about this one without spoilers, either. "Before I Forget" is a succinct take for this niche of the genre. Usually these stories are redundant or serpentine; even trilby frequently writes into that trap. What little "sex" there is in this piece shouldn't squick any who read it as literature.

"Mac's Vacation" could be read as stroke, but it’s good stroke. This is a great, nicely paced sci-fi piece, succinct where it needs to be and obsessively detailed where the target audience would likely most appreciate it. This one really isn’t about the sex either so much as the kinks: tickling, teasing, freezing, drugging, milking, massage, technophilia, and androids. This probably won’t be enjoyable at all to non-cyan readers unless one is looking for a story to read only as mind control through physical manipulation. The entire point of Mac’s trip is to experience orgasm after orgasm with detailed play in between.

These stories are worth reading purely for the quality of their construction and content. “Making Jeremy” and “Before I Forget” were two of my cyan nominations for the Spirals. My other was A Dark and Stormy Night. A literature professor reads several stories from a student with subtle (to him) hypnotic ability. There’s a hilarious, intentionally awful writing assignment starting this piece, a detailed and emotionally engrossing account of Holmes and Watson as a gay couple, and an alluring vampire. This one is a little creepy and sexually graphic. Nexis has a thing for biting! This one is also worth reading purely for the story.

Nexis understands writing. All of his stories are distinct in tone. All of them are solidly constructed. He actually uses literary devices masterfully, and his attempts at wordplay are actually clever. His fetish writing is obsessively elaborate. His characters are poignant and believable. He writes strong, natural dialogue. He already writes better than all but the Archive's almost universally agreed upon masters. Based on some of what I read from last year while looking for Spiral nominations, he stands among them.

Nexis does write good sex, at least what looks to me like good sex for those who enjoy male/male sex. He can write tender or rough, sappy or dispassionate, tailoring the language expertly to the type of situation and personalities involved. Sex is the vehicle for mind control, or an adjunct to other methodology; sex is not the destination or the bulk of the stories. He enjoys underwear, biting, massages, and slow hypnotic patter. His enjoyment of the themes he covers is evident from the obsessive detail and the seamless way in which he interlaces them into narratives often unrelated to them.

Nexis's characters are always poignant. Thought processes, visceral reactions, minor quirks, distinct voices: this writer understands people and knows how to vividly write them! Character voice varies magnificently from story to story and within each story. He knows how to incorporate natural dialogue. The social dynamics threaded through many of his stories feel organic; these could be case studies as easily as they are stories. Nexis isn’t afraid to be blunt, but he’s good at being subtle and eerie, too.

Nexis writes better short stories, I think, but what glows in his longer stories makes me think he’ll eventually master that style, as well. I didn’t get far with Brighton Rock, but I’m extremely picky with comic book stories, and this was his first EMCSA posting. His recent work shimmers. Those who don’t mind arrogance in writing might be able to appreciate his reality-based writing. He does explore his interest in writing as an art in fascinating ways. I read those stories as case studies, which is pretty much what they are since Nexis is speaking clearly as and about himself.

I advise avoiding Nexis’s stories about writing. Nexis gets downright masturbatory in an extremely unflattering way when he writes about the craft itself. "A Story for Mathew," "Whatever Happened to What's His Name?": these works paint him as disgustingly arrogant and a touch sardonic. One of these stories details an unappreciative fan who may or may not be a real person being trained to, well, appreciate him. As much as I adore this man’s talent, I find this side of his work appalling. He’s great so long as he’s not writing about himself. These stories explore fascinating points, but the tripe and arrogance makes them extremely difficult to appreciate. Edit: An e-mail exchange with Nex leaves me rather ashamed of this assessment. He really is disturbingly good at intense characterization! These stories are not based in reality; they are merely explorations of a different kind. If anything, my reaction is a reflection of his talent as a writer and of my lacking talent as a reviewer.

A smaller flaw is his minor technical errors. Missing particles, tense errors easily attributed to typos: these things are hard to catch without a proofreader. Sometimes his writing gets a bit gimmicky (obvious twists, verbatim repetition of an earlier scene to show hypnotic change, scene arrangement itself used to pull a story along), but not nearly so gimmicky as most of the stories I snark. Nexis has enough talent for me to notice these things more than I would in most stories on the Archive. I think he will attain the level of skill for which he is obviously striving. He improves dramatically from story to story, sans the ones about himself, and even those (he tends to place full, shorter stories within longer ones to show various points) sometimes contain good shorter stories.

Some other stories to consider:

"The Magic Words" This is a beautiful, short, well-spun D/s exchange. Nexis writes particularly interesting submissive characters!
"Dreamwork" Not all of his writing-about-writing stories are bad. This one has a turning-the-tables slant, and I think Nexis might be a switch (this would explain his ability to write so well from both sides).
"Dear Robert" This gets a little pompous, but the twist is done well enough to make this a good read. Nexis really does seem to have a thing for turning the tables. This one gets a little creepy.

I'll post from time to time about good cyan finds. I read this color purely as literature. Some of Nexis's stories would probably turn me on to no end if they were red. Erotica rarely turns me on in anything but an engrossed intellectual way, so this, to me, truly says something about Nexis Pas's ability to tell a good story.

* * *

Also: visit #argentgarden on bondagenet! Madam's IRC channel is growing. This is really a geeky hangout where the geeks happen to enjoy EMC, or at least erotic hypnosis. We play Scrabble, give ourselves headaches by discussing temporal mechanics, share hypnosis experiences, geek out over D&D and video games, and discuss the weekly updates. #argentgarden is busiest in the evening (PST). Darksong and his infamous Shelley were there earlier tonight. Some of the regulars don't even visit the forums: one doesn't need to be aware of community politics or events to fit in with us. Why not visit our odd, geeky corner of IRC? (One doesn't need to be a geek, but the Madam is a touch insane. Beware!)

Madam's first Silververse spin-off story is sizzling. She is much better now at tightly braiding heat with complex plot, and her worry about Aurora sounding too much like Sarah is a silly one. Aurora's first story is dark in a way Madam hasn't explored previously. This series will be readable without knowledge of the previous series. Please comment on her post below, if you haven't already, so she'll post a preview! She's going to make everyone wait until November for the entirety of these stories (but they'll be much more thoroughly edited, at least).

~Valbot

Spiral Awards! (and other things)

Love them or hate them, the Spiral Awards are back. Only stories ending in 2007 are eligible. More details can be found in this Garden post.

Frustrated's gorgeous "Melted Music" definitely will be the first of my yellow nominations for 2007! 8-bit's "The Happily" springs immediately to mind for red.

Madam, as much as I love you, I am NOT nominating "Go Team Porn!" for purple! That was hilarious upon first reading, but merda.

Real Life is to blame for my recent lack of posting. I haven't read much in the last three updates, sans one obvious red story. "Legacy" was delicious on its own, but I wish trilby would explore less predictable avenues. Certain themes that aren't tired genre-wise are tired coming from him since readers know what to expect.

Maybe we should post about something other than writing and the MC community. Would any of you find hypno posts interesting? Hypnosis is one topic we can ramble about happily with little snark.

I am faintly shaking from the amount of coffee I've consumed. OH! Welcome to Portland, Doublefine! Belatedly. *glances about shiftily* What else . . . ? Madam is slowly working on the first Silververse spin-off story, though that won't be publicly available until many months from now. She's been indulging hypnofun and working on the MC-themed game she'll be putting up as a demo soon.

Ideas for future posts are welcome. What do you want to read from Madam, or from me? Maybe we should hypnotically turn Erika into Quillspawn and have her do reviews . . . Coffeegasm. ^.~

Oh, triggers. Few things are more fun than hitting two coffee-possessed souls at once! The two programmed to coffeegasm experience the sweetest, darkest espresso imaginable sinking into their tongues as a wave of euphoria momentarily melts them.

I think I need to shut up. Happy Spirals, and do consider nominating some of Madam's work if you find her stories enjoyable. (Why did "Coping Mechanism" have to end this year?!) I guess I'll have to go with Ink Soaked Penumbra or one of its lead-ins.

~Valbot

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

We sit sometimes in the wayside nook . . .

Kistulotican Industries can't stay healthy. I am sharing a delightful case of the flu with Madam, and most of our friends are sick. Erika's restored health is a recent development. Doublefine is the only one within our circle of friends who hasn't been sick! Perhaps he's the one orchestrating all of this . . .

That explains our neglect of this blog.

Perhaps I'll post the reviews I have finished after thinking over them a little more. I'm a touch embarrassed by them. Who am I to be harsh, or to declare something brilliant, even if I do explain why?

No new writing from Madam likely for another week or two. Her 21st birthday is coming up, February 19th: a glittery Pisces-Aquarius cusp. Send her love!

~Valbot

Scribe and Sickness

Well, I finished editing the second chapter of “Scribe and Shadow” before I realized I'd caught a stomach bug. I must have been sick yesterday, but I didn’t realize it until a frigid, rainy walk made it noticeable today. Most of this day was spent sleeping! No review post, in other words. “Humanity” (from the previous update) is the only non-MK story I intended to review, so you're not missing much. “Paradise” wasn’t entirely glowing, either, but MK is actually a decent writer with an editor who understands the difference between clauses and masturbation.

Small things like this, people. Small things like this.

Maybe some of the yellow and purple stories were good. I’ll glance at more colors in tomorrow’s update.

I realized while trying to fall asleep earlier that “Scribe and Shadow” has unusually slow pacing for an MK multi-chapter standalone. She isn't making an arc of this story. Chapter three must contain a cruelly sensible twist! I really hope so, at least, because the pacing really is slow and odd if things continue like this. Characters bonding and developing through well-written MC sessions is fine; characters doing that throughout the bulk of a story intended to relate their showdown with a major villainess is clunky.

She’ll probably finish chapter three before the middle of next week. I don't think she'll disappoint.

There were holes. Our lovely toddler of a Madam covered them up by constructing part of the shelf backwards.

~Valbot

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