A. Regina Cantatis's Blog, page 21

My latest e-book, "Willing Subject," is now online with an insanely hot cover by Callidus

Willing Subject is a dark hypnosis/mind control fantasy complete with a ridiculously hot cover by the great Callidus (who does take commissions folks :-)). I've just published it on both Smashwords and Amazon, but it normally takes about 12 hours to show up on Amazon. I'll add that link in when it becomes available.

In the meantime, here's a coupon code to purchase the e-book from Smashwords at 25% off: AD43K.

And here's the synopsis:

Missy is a typical sorority girl in every respect but one: she has a fetish for mind control. She’s always dreamed of exploring it in real life, although she’s been too embarrassed to indulge herself. But now an exotic hypnotist has come to town, and she proves just too tempting to resist. The Black Pearl of Thailand is charismatic and beautiful, and her outlandish back-story feeds right into Missy’s kink. She seems like just the person to help a skittish college girl play out her fantasy. The problem is, Black Pearl’s back-story isn’t a fantasy at all. She really is an ancient sorceress, and under her spell, Missy will spiral into deeper and deeper levels of submission until she loses herself entirely.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

"Found" MC: The Voice of Saruman

I'm still rereading The Lord of the Rings, going at an intentionally leisurely pace, taking it like a stroll through the Shire...and Lothlorien...and of course, eventually, Mordor. But it's still a stroll. Anyway, I was kind of surprised when I got to the "Voice of Saruman" chapter to realize I'd forgotten Saruman was an expert at mind control. I'd known it once upon a time, but it had been ages since I'd read the books, and his MC powers weren't obvious in the movie. But here they are, plain as day, in Tolkien's text:

The window closed. They waited. Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spoke to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler's trick while others gape at it. For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; but for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them. But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it.

Now let me invite you to play a game that might make this passage even more enjoyable for you. Tolkien describes the voice as nothing but a voice until the very last sentence, when he mentions its "master." Until then, we could just as easily assume a woman was speaking. So why not Galadriel? Remember the scene where Frodo offers her the Ring? What if she'd taken it? The words in that passage would remain just the same, only now we would see them as prediction rather than temptation. Read it that way now, and tell yourself something I half believe to be true: If she cared to do it, Galadriel could control minds just as easily as Saruman, without or without the Ring. But if she accepted it from Frodo and put it on, she could use the power of her voice to make this fantasy a reality:

For many long years I have pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp....You will give me the Ring freely! In place the Dark Lord you would set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!"

Can you see them groveling around her? Picture the mithril collars around their necks, and the leashes of hithlain. Picture even the mightiest of the Elves kneeling before her with their naked, sweat-sheened flesh reflecting the lamps of Lothlorien. See them twining around Galadriel's ankles and begging her to draw them upwards, just a little, just under the hem of her gown....

"Found" MC: The Voice of Sauron

I'm still rereading The Lord of the Rings, going at an intentionally leisurely pace, taking it like a stroll through the Shire...and Lothlorien...and of course, eventually, Mordor. But it's still a stroll. Anyway, I was kind of surprised when I got to the "Voice of Saruman" chapter to realize I'd forgotten Saruman was an expert at mind control. I'd known it once upon a time, but it had been ages since I'd read the books, and his MC powers weren't obvious in the movie. But here they are, plain as day, in Tolkien's text:

The window closed. They waited. Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spoke to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler's trick while others gape at it. For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; but for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them. But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it.

Now let me invite you to play a game that might make this passage even more enjoyable for you. Tolkien describes the voice as nothing but a voice until the very last sentence, when he mentions its "master." Until then, we could just as easily assume a woman was speaking. So why not Galadriel? Remember the scene where Frodo offers her the Ring? What if she'd taken it? The words in that passage would remain just the same, only now we would see them as prediction rather than temptation. Read it that way now, and tell yourself something I half believe to be true: If she cared to do it, Galadriel could control minds just as easily as Saruman, without or without the Ring. But if she accepted it from Frodo and put it on, she could use the power of her voice to make this fantasy a reality:

For many long years I have pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp....You will give me the Ring freely! In place the Dark Lord you would set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!"

Can you see them groveling around her? Picture the mithril collars around their necks, and the leashes of hithlain. Picture even the mightiest of the Elves kneeling before her with their naked, sweat-sheened flesh reflecting the lamps of Lothlorien. See them twining around Galadriel's ankles and begging her to draw them upwards, just a little, just under the hem of her gown....

One for the snake fetishists

For the rest of you, don't worry: I have a 100% MC-themed post coming later in the day. But when I ran across this article about snake massages just now, I had no choice but to post it. You know how these things go. Anyway, it's sooo easy to imagine that the snake in this GIF has hypnotized its victim and is caressing him deeper into trance.

I had a hard time deciding which of the GIFs in the article to use here. There are several jaw-droppers, and also one that might make you laugh out loud: a warning that no sex is allowed with the snakes. And after all, that's why I'm posting this anyway. People like us (well, like me, anyway) can see the sexy side of snakes.

After all, how many of us love Kaa?

skeevy assholes on Facebook

I've been posting erotica on the EMCSA for about eleven years, and in all that time, I've been hit on exactly twice. I've been posting on Facebook for about a month, and I've been hit on three times. What the fuck? Just because I write erotica, that doesn't mean I'm into cybersex.

Everyone who's commented here has been polite and respectful of boundaries, so this seems like a good place to gripe.

Interview with Callidus, Part 2

Here's the conclusion to my interview with photomanipulation master Callidus. He and I have been having a lot of discussions lately, and not just about this interview! Yes, that is a hint - and here's another: he's a lot of fun to work with. };-)

Anyway, back to the interview. In this section, he tells you more about his techniques, his artistic influences, and advice for other would-be photomanipulators. Enjoy!


12. What software do you use for your manipulations?
Primarily Adobe Photoshop and After Effects. Animations have traditionally involved a little use of Flash, though these days I’m transitioning to doing everything in native HTML with the help of a tool called Hype. Video editing and sound work happen in Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro respectively.
The little bit of 3D work that I’ve done has happened in Lightwave and Sketchup 3D.
13. I've been using the freeware Photoscape ( easy to learn) for a while now and have recently started learning Gimp (a bitch to learn). How familiar are you with these programs, and what do you think about them? Would you recommend either of them, or any other freeware, by name?
I’m not familiar with Photoscape but I did try out GIMP years ago. I remember it being a bit clunky at the time, though I imagine its improved since then. I’ve recently read something about GIMPshop, its a facelift for GIMP that is supposed to make the software more accessible to Photoshop users so…perhaps it will ease the learning curve.
If you happen to be on Mac, there’s a really impressive piece of software called Pixelmator that costs something like $30. It isn’t a total replacement for Photoshop but its incredibly powerful for the price. I think the new version will be adding Layer Styles which is the secret weapon Photoshop has that most other apps don’t. I’ve used it and I can heartily recommend it. 
Probably the most impressive free alternative to Photoshop that I’ve seen is Pixlr.com. Its a free photo editor that runs in your web browser and the feature list is pretty amazing. It has the five most crucial Layer Styles that I use in Photoshop, and almost all the tools I utilize on a regular basis. I’m right at home in the interface as its very similar to what I’m accustomed to and they have a community of users providing tips and answers to questions. I recommend it without hesitation.
14. You do everything from single, static images to Flash animations to elaborate videos, and I know your projects take different amounts of time. But how much time do you spend on a typical piece of each type?
I used to measure project-length in days, but years of practice have shortened that time a bit. A single, static image usually takes a few hours, and an animation might take a full day or several depending on the complexity or if it’s a series. Video projects run much, much longer. Orientation was about three months of work, Decisive Results was over a year.
In all cases, writing usually eats up a third to half of the total project time.
15. I had no idea you spent so much time writing your scripts. Do you enjoy that part of a project as much as you do the manipping, or is it more of a chore for you? Would you ever consider doing a piece that had no script at all?
I do enjoy writing, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a chore at times. When I feel inspired, when I have an idea I want to execute, the writing is very enjoyable. When I don’t feel inspired or have an idea…its drudgery. Thief is an interesting case study here because, with that piece, I started with nothing and worked through a couple hours of said drudgery before breaking through and finding a story that I really liked. It was an instructive moment in persistence.I have done a few images that didn’t feature any sort of text caption, but it feels like cheating. I’d love to play it off as though I felt the image was soooo good that I couldn’t write anything to make it better, but the truth is sometimes I just run dry. 
16. Who are your favorite professional erotic artists, and what do you like about their work?
Hajime Sorayama is a god among mortals. In addition to his astonishing skill as an illustrator (I’ve done some illustration so I can appreciate how good he is) I am in awe of his fearlessness as an artist. There are fantasies I have that I’m not brave enough to explore in my work. I’d like to think that one day I might be as bold as he is. The diversity of his work and the seemingly endless number of fetishes he’s rendered are also quite amazing.
I’m also quite fond of Boris Vallejo. His work is endlessly inventive and has that sense of drama and narrative that I mentioned earlier. I also find his use of color really fascinating. He finds ways to make primary/secondary colors work together where I’d never even think to attempt the same combination.    
On the photography side, I’m a very big fan of Frederic Fontenoy at the moment. I love black & white photo work and his sensibilities and unique style are perfectly suited for that format. I think his work is very exemplary of the maxim that great photographs are created, not captured. His work eschews any sense of direct cinema in favor of an obviously-produced and highly-stylized aesthetic.
I should go count how many of the pictures in my gallery have been shot by Suze Randall. She’s an extremely prolific photographer and has a way of capturing erotic heat that I don’t find equaled very often. I’m also watching her daughter Holly’s work with great interest. 
17. Who are your favorite amateur erotic artists, and what do you like about their work?
The name that has to be at the top of this list is trilby else. More than anyone else, he’s been the biggest influence on me. I’ve always been impressed by his ability to inhabit the mind of a character moment by moment as the hypnotist is gaining control. It’s something I struggle to convey, even now, and he makes it seem effortless. There’s also the fact that there are EMC tropes that he basically invented. I think most of us, directly or otherwise, owe a debt to his brilliance. I have stolen from him so often I couldn’t begin to count.
One of the things I am most gratified by is that, before he left the community, he and I exchanged a few emails and he paid me a very kind compliment on my work. I got the chance to tell him that I wouldn’t have done any work if not for him.
Another name that cannot go without being mentioned is Tabico. Her talent is great, her imagination is without bounds, and, having worked with her several times, I can verify that she is every bit as brilliant as you think she is. I’m extremely fond of the subtlety in her work. I will re-read her stories and find bits of dialog or exposition that I hadn’t noticed before; little hints of what’s going on behind the scenes that she leaves to the reader to suss out.
The fact that she and I have become good friends and that I’ve been able to collaborate with her as much as I have leaves me pinching myself. Examining her craft has really inspired me to better myself as a writer.
emilymoss is one of my favorite manip artists. She’s developed such a unique style and I love the visual flair she imparts to her work. She also has a penchant for brainwashing and kaa-hypnosis which are both right up my alley.
Sleepy Maid is an illustrator that has been on my radar for a number of years now. Her singular illustrative style and love of squick and brainwashing always makes her gallery a fun place to poke around.
4F’s digital art was a profound early inspiration of mine. His dedication to quality and the technical achievement of his work is quite remarkable.
Back on the writers’ side, I’ve also been very taken with the writings of cat_slave, Arclight, Aerosol Kid, Zorkmeister, and Sara H. 
18. You’ve collaborated with other MC fetishists, including writers and voice artists. What has that been like, and how do you divide the labor? Do you stick to image manipulation and let the other person handle the story?
I love collaboration provided that you and the other party each bring something unique to the table while also having enough in common to avoid friction over the most fundamental choices. There’s nothing worse than having a project break down because the collaborators can’t agree over whether the character turns left or right. Those are painful experiences.
As for division of labor, it varies project-to-project. In the case of The Witch Queen, my first collaboration, with Tabico and Iago, I had found the images and put together a draft sequence with an outline of what I thought the story might be. Then I concentrated on the imagery and let Tabico work on the writing with input from Iago.
With Decisive Results, I did most of the actual writing and all the video work, but that was after several months of Tabico and I brainstorming ideas and figuring out the story together. So, while I did type up the script, the narrative was something that had been developed in close collaboration.
19. Which of your pieces are you most proud of, and why?
I am so self-critical that it’s difficult for me to enjoy my work as a viewer; mostly I just see mistakes and misspellings. I find it’s easier to enjoy my own stuff the more time has passed since completing it.
Nurse was the first time I really tried to pull off something technically challenging with the puddle underneath the model. It took many hours of trial and error, but in the end, I succeeded in what I’d hoped to accomplish. That filled me with confidence and drove me to push harder in future projects.
Chamberis a piece I’m fond of because I found writing it so satisfying. I had to keep trimming down my story to physically fit in the manip but I was very happy with what I’d developed and it bolstered my confidence as a writer moving forward.
I’m very proud of Alphafor the technical savvy it took to pull off. The complex geometric pattern that had to be animated, the virtual 3D set I built to form the brainwashing chamber, the 3D models of computer equipment that I added to the control room... every part of that series required some different discipline to execute and, I think, the story ended up being pretty hot too.
Nickelodeonmight be my favorite bit of work from my own catalog. I had long wanted to do a manip set in the Victorian era, and that picture set was simply perfect. The process of writing and manipulating the imagery was sheer joy. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun working on something.
I’m quite proud of both of the video manips I’ve released. They both involved a lot of work and pushed me to innovate in terms of how to tell a complete story. They were demanding but very rewarding.
20. If you had all the time and resources you wanted, what would your dream project look like?
Wow, what a fun question to ponder. I’d like to write and direct a series of erotic mind-control films. Bring to life some of the characters and stories from my manips. Maybe adapt a piece of EMC fiction from one of my favorite authors.
I think, stylistically, I would be aiming for something akin the late Zalman King’s erotic series like Red Shoe Diaries and Kamikaze Love. I’ve also been very fond of some of Andrew Blake’s more narrative-focused films. Recently, I’m very impressed with Graham Travis’ Wasteland in terms of both production and acting quality. I also look at Kink’s satellite site Cruel Romance and see how I could adapt some of their methods to a mind-control-specific tale.
I’ve made films in vanilla life, so combining both of my hobbies is a very compelling idea for me. Perhaps one day someone will trust me with a budget and turn me loose. Or I’ll put together a crowd-funding project to bankroll the production. Either way, the idea of bringing my strain of mind control erotica to life is something I think about often.
21. What advice would you give an MC fetish who wants to get into image manipulation?
My personal maxim is “good manips start with good source material.” Find images that speak to you, that inspire a story in your imagination, and then work on bringing that to life for your audience. Technique is important, but always put creativity first. Don’t stop yourself from doing something because you can’t afford Photoshop or don’t know how to do anything other than add text to a picture.
High-quality and lower-cost photo editors are slowly gaining ground and offering really powerful tools to more people. You can subscribe to Adobe Photoshop now for a fraction of what buying it used to cost. There are free alternatives that are limited, but still offer a way to get into manip creation.
Most of all, listen to your own inspiration. Create something that YOU love. Your passion will be evident in your work and, in my opinion, that’s what will attract others to your art.

Introducing a man who needs no introduction: Callidus

Callidus is well-known in EMC circles as one of the premiere image manipulators of our fetish. He creates still images, flash animations, and occasionally full-on videos (Check out his most recent masterpiece, Decisive Results, to see him at his best).

Recently I asked him if I could interview him for my blog, and he was happy to oblige. I already knew he was a great person with a keen wit, and that he can spin a yarn like nobody's business, so it was no surprise that he turned out to be a fantastic interviewee. As you'll see below and next week, we talked about subjects like how he got into EMC and image manipulation, where he finds inspiration, and what advice he has for other aspiring EMC artists. 

Here's the first half of the interview. I'll post the conclusion next Saturday or Sunday.

1. How did you become interested in mind control?

 I’d love to know the answer to that myself :)

I’ve been fascinated by hypnosis and mind control from my earliest memories. It seemed to be a popular trope in TV when I was young and I can vividly remember being captivated by its use in the TV shows and cartoons I watched around age five. 

The biggest example that looms in my memory was from a Disney-produced film called The Misadventures of Merlin Jones. There was, as I remember it, a lengthy and relatively legit relaxation induction performed on the title character. That was followed by him being programmed to eat a raw potato but believe he was eating an apple.

That scene became a game that I played with several friends at school when I was probably eight or nine. We’d re-enact the induction and then ‘program’ each other to do things like go down the playground slide head-first or the like.

Interestingly, I can remember my parents being uncomfortable with mind control “hypno chips” featured in an episode of Transformers and the entrancing song of mythological sirens in Ducktales. They would tell me to watch something else whenever those episodes came on and I can remember being even more interested to see what they didn’t want me to.

Somewhere in all that, a fetishist was born.

2. What are your favorite MC scenes in otherwise vanilla books, movies, TV shows, etc?    Well, I tend to divide my list of ‘favorites’ into two periods: before and after mind control became a fixation of an erotic nature.

A few specific beats that I remember making an impression when I was a young child were the Kaa hypnosis scene in Disney’s adaptation of The Jungle Book; an episode of Inspector Gadget where several characters were mesmerized by a cobra; and a mind control room with multi-colored lights that was used to brainwash a group of people in the 70’s live-action Spider-Man movie/pilot.

My post-sexual awakening list goes something like this: that famous episode of Hart-to-Hart where Jennifer is hypnotized into stealing jewels; a Jon Pertwee-era episode of Doctor Who where Sarah Jane Smith is captured and placed in a re-education room; and, finally, there’s the scene in the terrible Avengers remake where Uma Thurman, as Emma Peel, is drugged and hypnotized by a multi-color spinning disc while restrained in a chair.

Honestly, it’s the only reason to even watch the film.

3. So that none of us are forced to watch the Avengers movie for ourselves, please tell us what happened to Emma Peel after she was MC'ed. Did she do anything interesting naughty? Did she at least betray her partner at a critical moment?

As I recall, and bear in mind I’ve watched the complete film once, the point of her being programmed was to forget something or other. So there was almost no consequence from the procedure whatsoever. I recall Emma wandering around a mansion in a drugged state afterwards and that’s about it. Unfortunately, I don’t think there was anything as spicy as what you’re asking about. Of course its possible I’ve blocked it from my mind...

4. How long have you been a part of the online mind control fetish community?

As an audience member, I trace my origins to the early days of the world wide web; probably ’96 or ’97. I had discovered a fan fiction archive with a list of links to stories on other sites. I remember reading that multi-part Perils of Batgirl series and some X-Files stories. From there, I eventually stumbled into the Alt.Sex.Fetish.Robot community and read RC’s Mandy. In the description for that story was the phrase ‘erotic mind control.’

I read that and felt my insides leap. I immediately plugged it into WebCrawler (ah, pre-Google days) and discovered The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive. At long last, I discovered what this thing I had felt all my life was called: I was an erotic mind control fetishist.

5. How did you become interested in manipulating erotic photos and animations?

Around the same period I discovered The Archive, I had stumbled across PrivatePages’s web site. At the time, it was free to access and featured a section for leg-fans and another for hypnotized ladies. That was the first time I’d ever seen any images that had been manipulated to make a woman appear to be hypnotized. PrivatePages eventually began to show work from other artists and I discovered the art of William Lee, Maddy Rose, and Winterrose.

At some point, I began to collect images of my own. I had a whole folder of girls with ‘trance faces.’ Some of them, I had whole story lines dreamed up. At this point, I had discovered the EMC fiction of authors like trilby else, thrall, and Tabico. I imagined scenarios in the same fashion as their stories.

In early 2005, I took one of my images into Photoshop and typed up a caption of the story I had imagined for it. I was hooked pretty much immediately. At that time I was a member of the Hypnopics Collective site and one evening I uploaded four or five of my images into the gallery and made a post on the forums. I received some positive feedback from the community and started working on a second update.

That turn of events set me on the path I’m still following.

6. Who or what was PrivatePages?

PrivatePages was the web-pseudonym for an early pioneer of mind control manipulations. His website (of the same name) was the first repository of EMC photomanips that I discovered. At some point around the turn of the century he set up a pay-gate for his site, and I think that was ultimately his undoing. I believe cease-and-desist letters soon began showing up once someone found out he was making money from photographs he didn’t own the rights to, and he had to begin removing content. Eventually, he closed his doors entirely.

7. What comes first for you: an image or a story idea?

In almost every situation, the image comes first. It’s very, very rare that I have a story idea and then go hunting for a picture to match it. Occasionally, I’ve started working on something and written a caption only to go hunting through my vast collection of porn and finding an image that works even better with my story.

I think the closest I’ve come to the story happening first is a few situations where I’ve wanted to do a particular kind of manip  (a woman standing in front of a mirror, a succubus hypnotizing the viewer, Victorian-era mind control) and eventually found an image that fit the idea.

But the pictures still directly inspired the story in those situations.

8. When it comes to an image or video you want to manipulate, what do you look for?

It’s changed over the years. When I first began manipulating pictures, I was looking for images of ‘trance eyes’ or the like; basically anything that presented the opportunity introduce mind control. Over time, I started getting more selective and, in fact, I began to steer away from those sorts of images for being ‘too easy.’ I’ve actually gone through phases where I selected images that needed a lot of alteration as way of challenging myself.

For the last few years, I’ve been attracted to drama. I look for images with a sense of tension that I can enhance with a mind-control twist. What appeals to me about manipulating images, and still photography in general, is seeing a moment frozen in time and extrapolating what preceded it and what will follow it.

If I look at an image and can imagine that narrative, that’s something worth saving to my raw material folder.

Because videos involve so much more work to accomplish even basic changes, I tend to triage a bit more heavily there. I need to find material that has narrative possibilities AND  will allow for a relatively simple approach to manipulation.

9. Where do you find your best material?

Some of my best pieces came by way of a now defunct porn TGP site called babe-envy. They collected links to galleries of ‘curvy women.’ Many of my manips started with pulling up that site.

I still use a lot of TGP sites to find images. Often, you’ll click a thumb that won’t lead to a gallery but yet another TGP site. That actually isn’t a terrible thing as often times I end up being surprised with something I didn’t initially set out to find. Happy surprises.

I’ve also found a number of recent manips through Tumblr though I find that to sometimes be a bit frustrating. I often use multiple images from the same series in a finished piece. Tumblr is great for finding a single image but not a whole set. I usually end up saving a pic there and then doing a reverse image-lookup to find the gallery it was pulled from.

10. What’s TGP?

I think it stands for "Thumbnail Gallery Page." It’s a site filled with thumbnails, each leading to a porn gallery, and the links are usually organized around a fetish or genre of porn. Try Googling ‘gas mask tgp’ or ‘rubber tgp.’ I bet you’ll stumble across something interesting. ;)

11. How do you develop a story to go along with your manipulation?

Typically, the basic story for an image forms the moment I lay eyes on it for the first time. For example, with the base image for Ladies Room, the notion of a woman masturbating in a restroom stall while a Domme hypnotized her sub on the other side of the door immediately popped into my head. Sometimes the narrative is more complete than others, but in general, I look at an image and get a flash of inspiration that serves as the basis for whatever writing will follow.

There have been occasions, though rare, when I will manipulate a picture with no idea of what the story will be. I’ll usually stare at the finished piece for a while, write a bit, delete it, and start again until I break through and find an idea that excites me. Sometimes that takes an hour or two, sometimes a few days.

Often a big part of the story development is editing. I usually write far too much to include in a caption and have to end up trimming a lot to make things work. For example, in Dessert I had written this whole D/s social hierarchy along the lines of softi’s Melting. The idea was that Justine was way down the ladder and had been invited to a dinner party by one of the community’s preeminent Mistresses. She’s too busy being flattered to realize that she’s going to be the after-dinner snack.


So, those bits of exposition sometimes don’t make it in.


And that's the end of Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 next weekend - and possibly for some other stuff in between, depending on what strikes my fancy during the course of the week. ;-)

Synchronicity

I hadn't meant to make a third post this weekend. I hadn't even meant to make a second post, really. But a comment from Uzobono led me to the website of a really amazing digital artist who goes by Android Jones. I admired his work for awhile, and then I opened a new tab and went over to the EMCSA because I'd been meaning to re-read Tabico's Yellow for ages. Now seemed like a good time.

Well, I reread "Yellow" and enjoyed it even more the second time around because even though I didn't remember much about it, I knew not to get attached to any of the characters. If you decide to read it, take Tabico's warning seriously: people do die, and in some pretty nasty ways. "Yellow" is as much a horror story in the Clark Ashton Smith vein as it is an EMC story.

Now back to my story. I finished "Yellow," closed the tab, and found myself back on Android Jones' page. Right in front of me was the video I've embedded below. The synchronicity was exquisite.

You don't have to have read Tabico's story to enjoy Android Jones' video; the pleasure here comes solely from watching a great artist at work. But if you have read "Yellow," the video will have some extra resonance for you.

Your opinions, please?

As long as I've been writing fetish erotica, you'd think I'd have no trouble coming up with sexy covers for my books. Sadly, I've been too prudish on that front. I've also been struggling to learn how to use Gimp, which has been a bitch and a half, but I've finally brought her to her knees. Tell me what you think of my new cover for Love in a Silver Socket.

And while I'm at it, I'll also offer you a 25%-off coupon for LIASS, good at Smashwords until November 19. Just purchase it with the code "CS52S."

Enjoy!

Total enclosure, vac bed, faux-latex heaven

I just found this series via Oddee, and it's much better than what I planned to post today. That one will wait another week...or three, depending on what I hear back from a certain someone in the coming week.

The photographer is Julien Palast, and you can see his whole amazing series here.