A. Regina Cantatis's Blog, page 10

Part 2 of my interview with Callidus

And here it is, folks: the conclusion to my epic live interview with Callidus.

We start out talking about MC (and the surprising lack thereof) in the various Marvel franchises. This section includes an impromptu visualization of a scene I'd like to have seen played out on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Listening to the audio again, I realize I actually left Callidus speechless for a couple of seconds. I'm proud of that. ;-) From there we move on to a debate about how to fit MC into the Matrix storyverse, we reminisce about the better plot for Alien 3 that we came up with together, and we gradually veer off into hilarious full-on geekery. I think you'll enjoy it all.

a perfect trance

In case you've been living under a rock and hadn't noticed, YouTube is stuffed with snippets from TV shows and movies of people getting MC'ed. I have no idea who most of the posters are, although I have a hunch many of them are the same person. You don't come up with a nickname like "jbvljkvwlfh" unless you're tapping random keys on your keyboard to create one of many disposable accounts. The snippets themselves have random titles too, things like "Mind Control 37" or an all-caps abbreviation of a TV show/movie title, anything to throw production studios off the scent. Well, hell, I don't mind!

Unfortunately, most of these videos don't do anything for me. I don't like bimbofication, I don't think possession counts as mind control, and I don't like it when I can't can't tell the character is being controlled (i.e., when a good character I'm not familiar with suddenly turns evil. How am I supposed to know they're not always evil?).

On the other side of the coin there are excellent MC videos like the one I'm linking to below. It's not embeddable, but I promise you it's worth clicking. This clip hits almost all my fetish buttons: total destruction of personality and will; a slow, dazed walk with the woman's hands flat at her sides; deep trance in public with no one noticing or helping her; robotic responses in public with people still not noticing or helping her; and as the coup de grace, betrayal of the heroes to their enemies.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Best brainwashing helmet ever

I fell down a rabbit hole on YouTube last night, rummaging through clips of characters on TV shows and in movies being brainwashed. Most of it didn't satisfy my picky tastes, but the one I'm sharing here rocked my socks off.

The first link at the bottom of this post goes to a HD video of the whole movie. This video was only recently uploaded, and I don't expect it to stay put long; so if you like what you see, you'd better download it as quickly as you can. But just in case the full movie disappears, I'll give you a second link to a low-quality clip of the brainwashing scene by itself.

Here's the setup. The main character here is a corporate spy who goes to conventions and secretly records presentations. But during this particular presentation, he realizes the people around him are falling into trance. He's wide awake, but he has to pretend that he's hypnotized too in order to avoid detection. The problem is that once the bad guys activate the helmet, it might not matter that he was awake. That thing is a really powerful, scary brainwashing device.

I deliberately chose a screen grab that doesn't show the whole device in action, or the whole room of zombified convention-goers. To see that, you'll have to follow one of the links below. Trust me, it's worth it:

Link to the whole movie in HD, beginning at the start of the brainwashing scene

Link to the brainwashing scene by itself, in low quality

In the pipeline

Just a short one today since I know a lot of my readers are vacationing this weekend. I'm currently working on my next ebook, which will be a rewrite of "Avatar" - a name I can no longer use, for obvious reasons. It will now be called "Colonized," and the whole second half will be brand spanking new. I was never happy with the old ending, and now I have a chance to change it.

At left is the comp version of the image I'll be using to make my cover. Tell me what you think of it.

Wanna hear Callidus and me chat live?

Well, the first half of his interview with me is now up on YouTube, embedded below (You can also download it from iTunes if you take this link back to Cal's blog). Callidus told me he recorded 139 minutes of us talking, so you have plenty more to look forward to in the next podcast. As for what's in this half, I don't yet know myself because I'm making this post before listening to it. I was just that eager to get the word out about being interviewed on air. ;-) So all I can tell you so far is that Callidus has done a great job of disguising both our voices. I wouldn't recognize either one of us!

What's in store

On Friday I made a brief post just to let you know that Callidus was going to interview me for a podcast. Here's a little update on how that went. It was fantastic: two long-time friends riffing on all the subjects we both love - and that you love too. I don't want to spoil everything, but here are some of the topics we discussed, in no particular order: mind control in The Avengers, Agent Carter, and Agents of SHIELD; a collaboration that the two of us have been plotting; how to work mind control into the Matrix storyverse; the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer, which is soon to become a movie starring just the right actress; and our own, better version of Alien 3, which I hinted about way back here.

I can't wait for the podcast to go live. We had so much fun recording it, and I think you'll have a lot of fun listening to it.

This weekend I have something even *better* than a post for you

Did you know that Callidus now has an official podcast? He's put out two episodes out so far - available to watch on YouTube or to download on iTunes. And tomorrow night, Callidus will be interviewing me for a future podcast. I'm not sure what his turnaround time is, so I don't dare predict how long you'll have to wait between the recording and the publication, but I'm looking forward to the next step in closet exhibitionism.

Callidus has given me some ideas for things we might talk about, but I imagine we'll be free-styling most of it. And I expect lots of laughter, and lots of geeky ooh-ing and ahh-ing about our shared interests - from EMC to books to movies to...hmm...perhaps one or two stories we- oops! I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about those or not. We'll see. };-)

Anyway, enjoy the podcasts below. Callidus has altered his voice a bit, and he'll be altering mine too, but you'll still get to experience both of our stuff in a way you've never been able to do before.

Very nearly all that I'd hoped for

Back in February, I made a half queasy, half hopeful post about the upcoming album from Muse. It's called Drones, and all the hints dropped by the band before the album's debut led me to believe it would feature a lot of brainwashing, hypnosis, and depersonalization. And yes, fortunately, it does. The drones of the title are military drones, but Matt Bellamy has a lot of fun riffing on the dual meaning of the word. Almost every song on the album mentions some form of mind control. Take these lyrics from "The Handler," for instance:



You were my oppressor 
And I, I have been programmed to obey 
Now, you are my handler 
And I, I will execute your demands 

Leave me alone 
I must disassociate from you 

Behold my trance formation 
And you are empowered to do as you please 
My mind was lost in translation 
And my heart has become a cold and impassive machine 

I won't spend much time actually reviewing the album on my blog since I know you've come here to read about mind control, not music. But if you're wondering what I think about Drones overall, I'll say this much: it's very hard and very good. If you want proof, look no further than the lyrics video for "The Handler":

"Dark Spaces" is now live on Amazon

Now you can get four of my stories for the price of one. :-) Here's the link, and here's the book description:

Dark Spaces is composed of four stories (including one never published before) of erotic science fiction ranging from dark, humorously dark, to pitch black - sometimes all within the same story:

Love in a Silver Socket – A slave awakens bound in silver cords and dotted with mysterious sockets. She has no will or memory, just a burning love for her inhuman Mistress; but her old life might still keep her from enjoying her new one.

The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny – In this send-up of classic pulp science fiction, a stalwart adventurer and his sidekick meet their match when they take on a villain who has decided to stop playing by the pulp fiction rules.

What Happens in Decon – Captain Synon has a problem. She has less privacy than anyone aboard her spaceship, but she also has a fetish too strange and scandalous to risk discovery. The only place she can indulge herself is during decontamination, when she's locked tight inside her shuttle. After all, what happens in decon stays in decon…right?

What to Expect from Your Alien Brainwashing – While you’re relaxing in the processing chamber, why not take a moment to learn what your alien overlords have in store for you next?

10...9...8...

It's that time again! Monday morning, June 1, I'll be sending in the "Dark Spaces" anthology for publication by Amazon. Originally I was going to publish three stories in this ebook ("The Final Adventure...," "What Happens in Decon," and "What to Expect from Your Alien Brainwashing"), but late in the game I decided to add in "Love in a Silver Socket" too. Once the anthology goes live, it will sell for $2.99; but as usual I'm giving my blog readers a chance to pre-order for $0.99. I'll add the link to this post, so keep any eye out.

In the meantime, please take a moment to admire the cover art. You might remember that the image below is what I had to work with. ;-)


Finally, here's an easy favor you can do for me or any other Kindle Unlimited author you want to support. If you have a Kindle Prime account, please borrow our books before you buy them. If you borrow them and read at least 10% while still just borrowing, we get a magical "borrow" sale which is often more than we'd get from a straight-up sale. Of course, feel free to buy the book after borrowing and reading 10%, because then we get two sales off that one book. You'll make an author's day if you do that. Remember, most of us have so-called "real jobs" that don't satisfy us, while using our fun little "hobbies" to supplement our incomes.

Thanks, as always, to my friendly, loyal blog followers - and thanks also to my beta readers and reviewers!