Imagine a movie filmed with the entire cast under hypnosis

Some of you might already know about the Werner Herzog movie Heart of Glass, but I didn't, not until last night. I think I was searching for something related to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari when I stumbled across a reference to Herzog's movie. What I said in the title is true: almost the entire cast was hypnotized for the duration of their performances. Apparently Herzog chose to film the movie this way because he wanted stylized, inward-turned performances to reflect his story of a whole village going mad. You can watch the full movie on YouTube here, but I'm hesitant to recommend that yet. I've only skipped around in it so far, and it's really, really fucking weird. I don't know if I can take a whole hour and a half of lunacy, but I'm going to try it...later. For now, I've just enjoyed a few random bits of trance-face and statue-fication like what you see below. This clip shows the end of the movie, so if spoiler warnings apply for a movie which came out in 1976 and makes no sense anyway, then warning: spoilers ahead.

Here's all you need to know: the narrator in the clip is Hias, a mystic who's been watching the town go crazy without being affected by their madness himself (In fact, the actor playing him was one of the only cast members not hypnotized - to highlight his difference from the villagers). In the scene below he's describing their final fate.



Oh, and before I move on to another movie with a genuinely hypnotized lead: Yes, the island in that clip is Skellig Michael, a.k.a. Luke's secret hideout in the two latest Star Wars movies.

The second movie I want to talk about is the early-90's horror classic Candyman. I remember watching this in the theater when it first came out and thinking it was one of the scariest horror movies I'd ever seen. What I couldn't have known then - and what I only found out decades later when Callidus told me - was that Virginia Madsen performed all her scenes with the Candyman (Tony Todd) under hypnosis. Once again, it was the director's idea; he wanted to make those scenes extra surreal -- and it sure as hell worked. Candyman became a cult classic, and you can see for yourself what hypnosis did for Virginia Madsen's performance. When you watch this clip, you'll be able to tell the instant the director gives her the trigger word.



Oh, but I said something up top about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, didn't I? Well, I'll keep this short since it's just a teaser for a later post. The original Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was a silent movie that basically involved a mad scientist keeping a hypno-slave locked up in a box and taking him out only for exhibits and for killing people. I first read about the movie back in my teens, when my MC fetish was already well formed, and you can imagine how excited I was by the storyline. Apparently I wasn't the only one. Recently I discovered a short story anthology called The Madness of Dr. Caligari, which I'm reading it now. It has Ramsey Campbell and a bunch of my new favorite Lovecraft authors riffing on the ideas of hypnosis, mind control, betrayal, twist endings, and all the other stuff we MC fetishists love. I'll blog about the book once I finish it, and although I'm only about a third of the way through, I'm already happy to recommend it to anyone else who'd like to check it out. It would be fun to get some feedback in the comments when I do make that post.

Callidus and I discuss Annihilation

Usually I try to think of a catchy title for each post, but I figured that with this one, the catchiest title is the simple truth. Last week Callidus and I each saw Annihilation in our separate hometowns, and then we got together on Skype to discuss it. He's just posted the podcast (which runs just over one hour), on his website, and you can listen to it here.

Stay tuned for more posts about my writing plans for the future and how you can help me decide where to go from here.

*tap tap tap* Is this thing on?

Hello again, everyone. Some of my problems are beginning to resolve, and the writing bug is biting again - just nibbling right now, but I think it's going to start chomping in earnest pretty soon. I'll be sure to keep you updated as I start writing again. Oh, and I also had a truly mind-blowing vampire dream last week that I have to tell you about because it's just too hot to keep to myself.

But this post is about a new podcast I literally just finished recording with Callidus. When he first interviewed me for his show The Black Room a couple of years ago, we talked about Annihilation, a book we'd both enjoyed which was - at that point - in pre-production to become a movie. Back then, we talked about how much fun it would be if we could see it together and record a podcast about it afterwards, and we sort of managed to do that. We didn't get to meet in person, but we did watch the movie at the same time in our separate hometowns and then got right onto Skype to compare notes. I don't want to spoil anything for those of you waiting for the podcast, but I can tell you that we both loved the movie - although we each had different small issues with it - and that we had lots to discuss. This is one of those "watercooler" movies that people will be arguing about for years.

Unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties with the recording - which Callidus can certainly work out - but the release of the podcast might be delayed a bit while he does his magic. In the meantime, you can look forward to that post about my vampire dream and more posts about where my writing is headed.

And to whet your appetites about the movie, here's a sinister little clip where Natalie Portman's husband (Oscar Isaac) comes home and he's not...exactly...himself...

Update on the MC/hypno-themed movie Annihilation

Remember the book Annihilation, which I've raved about several times on this blog? I even included some lengthy quotes to demonstrate just how heavily it relied on MC and non-consensual hypnosis. I loved it and recommend it highly. If you missed my  old posts, or if you just want to see them again, click on the link above. I also discussed the story at length in my podcast interview with Callidus (Start at 1:00:26) because we'd recently learned that it was going to be adapted into a movie by Alex Garland of Ex Machina, 28 Days Later, and Dredd fame.

But after the news that Garland was making a movie, there came a long stretch where we heard nothing but crickets. Fortunately, Paramount has finally released a few snippets of footage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Don't ask me why they chose that con. In fact, if you know why they chose that con, tell me. (Better still, if you were there, give us all a full report!)

Anyway, it really was just snippets, but even the people who hadn't read the book and didn't know what they were looking at still came away excited. I'd hoped the footage would find its way online, but it hasn't; all I've seen are lots of articles describing that footage. io9 has the best, most MC-ish take, so that's the one I'll quote from:

The setting is a typical suburban house. Inside it is Natalie Portman’s character, and she’s crying. She’s lost someone and seems to be packing up or fixing the house to move out. Then, a man starts to walk up the stairs. It’s Oscar Isaac’s character, who just so happens to be the man Portman thought was dead. She’s stunned, excited, confused, and runs up to kiss him. But he’s almost not there. Unaware. Cold. Not kissing her back.

We move downstairs to the kitchen table where Isaac is sitting absolutely still with a full glass of water in front of him. She explains that he’s been missing for a year. No one knew where he was or what happened. He just disappeared. She asks if his mission was covert and he says “Maybe,” then “Yes.” She asks where he was and he says he doesn’t know where he was. “How is that possible?” she asks. “You must be able to tell me something,” she adds, now getting frustrated. “Does it matter?” he asks in a super creepy way. That shakes her but, finally, he’s about to open up.

“I was outside the room. The room with the bed. I saw you and recognized you. I recognized your face,” he says, which is very confusing to everyone. He takes a sip of water and says he’s not feeling well, which is when we see the blood. Portman’s character calls and ambulance and they’re off to the hospital. Isaac is convulsing, obviously very sick, and then three black SUVs stop the ambulance.
They break in, take them both out, and knock out Portman. She wakes up in some kind of hospital or prison with Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character. “Where’s my husband, I want to see a lawyer!” she says. We get a quick shot of Isaac’s character and it looks like he has silver makeup around his eyes in the hospital. Finally, Leigh’s character tells Portman’s what going on.

She explains there was an event. Maybe religious, maybe alien, they don’t know. Now there’s a mysterious area of the planet. They keep sending people there but no one has come back, she explains. “Now something has,” Portman says, referring to Isaac. “I need to know what’s inside.”
Portman then joins a team as they head into the area. This is when the footage sped up, mostly because I’m sure these parts of the movie are still being worked on. But here are a few of the images I remember. We see her and the other cast members walking towards almost like a blurry section of land. There’s a shot of Portman with a machine gun. A shot from inside some kind of big creature’s mouth of Jennifer Jason Leigh. People in a yard that seems to be made of vines. A vine-like substance growing on someone’s arm. Lights and colors and flashes that kind of looked like 2001. And that was that.

And now I'm going to share a video I did find on YouTube, of two very enthusiastic guys who didn't read the book but were nevertheless blown away by the teaser. Put their dialogue next to the quote above, and you might get an idea of how close or far the movie the movie might differ from the book. Also, if you have read the book, these guys' crazy theories will make you fall off your chair laughing.

This, that and the other

Here's what I've been up to lately.

As I said last week, I am now taking story commissions. I should have added that I'm also taking commissions for creating ebook covers, proofreading/copy editing other people's stories, and photo restoration/colorization. So far I've had takers on the first three of those four options, and while I can't share the clients' names, I can tell you they've all been very happy with my work. I'm especially surprised that the story commission came off well, since what the client asked for was waaaaay outside my wheelhouse. It's nice to know that I can take someone else's ideas, which are very unlike my own, and turn them into a full-fledged story that the pleases the person who asked for the story. And writing it went very quickly, too. I'm normally a slow writer, but I turned out this commission in less than a week.

I'm more than halfway through the first draft of "Transfixed," and it's coming along very well. I'm in the zone and writing fast. I've also decided to follow it up with a "Choose Your Own Adventure" that will be set after the events of "Transfixed"and will allow you to [spoilers ahead, so highlight the text if you really want to know]save some or all of the characters who've been brainwashed and even stop the alien invasion[/spoilers]. Of course, writing a CYOA takes a lot more time than writing a straightforward story, but I'm going to try to zip through this one pretty quickly. I learned a lot from writing What Do You Give the Alien Who Has Everything?, and I think I'll be able to turn this one out a lost faster. I might also take suggestions from fans of the "Transfixed" short story as to what I should include in the CYOA. If I go that route, I'll be sure to give credit to anyone whose ideas I use. There will also be opportunities for several beta readers, who'll get cameos in the story as a reward.

I also have an idea for updating and sexing-up a lesbian vampire story called "Christabel." The original version is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whom some of you might remember as the opium addict who got interrupted in the middle of writing his best poem ever ("Kubla Khan"), lost his high, and was unable to recover the dream. Well, "Christabel" is a lot longer and sexier than "Kubla Khan," and I've already figured out how to turn it into the kind of fetish-filled EMC story you've grown to know and love (I hope) from me. I plan on writing "Christabel" and the CYOA at the same time so I can get the former on the market quickly while still working on the latter.

Finally, speaking of markets, here's something I threw together that you might or might not be interested in. I've been keeping track of all my sales over time, and I wanted to see which books were most profitable and why. The chart below includes everything I've written except Slave-Bride of the Sidhe, which hasn't been out long enough to take a proper measurement, and the two anthologies I took part in. For those of you who publish your own ebooks, or who are thinking of getting into publication, here are my biggest takeaways: 1) CYOA's sell like hot cakes, and 2) sexy covers make all the difference in the world (Colonized has only been out since August, and it's already in third place, beating out books that have been on the market since 2013; and Willing Subject is still raking in the money after three years on the market - thanks, as always, to Callidus, who is also taking commissions BTW). I can't help wishing Sleepwalkers was higher up the list since it's my baby, my epic, and the story that got me into self-publishing. But what can I do besides encourage you to buy it if you haven't already? If you like my stuff, Sleepwalkers is quintessential thrall.

I don't know if this info or the pie chart will interest anyone besides me, but I'm throwing it in here just for the hell of it.

This and that

My postings might be irregular lately, but don't worry: I've been very busy behind the scenes. I told you recently that I was working on a new story called "Transfixed," which began life in 2009 as a collaboration that fizzled and was recently resurrected by me as a solo effort. I'm still working on it, and I'm having great ideas; but I'm putting it on hold for about a week. I decided that it would be a good move to publish something quick during the layover before "Transfixed" lands. So I've polished up "Ethna Redux," retitled it "Slave-Bride to the Sidhe" (total clickbait, I know), and am preparing to release it on or about November 2. Be on the lookout, as I'll be offering my usual 25% off coupon here.

On a different subject, I was recently pointed toward a collection of Lovecraft audiobooks adapted and narrated by a professional named Julie Hoverson. I've heard her narration, and she's excellent; I've read her writing, and it's also excellent; and I've spoken with her about her take on the Lovecraft stories, which is pretty brilliant. For instance, as much as I love HPL's stories, I can't get past his racism or his ignorance of the fact that women exist; and one of his best stories, "The Rats in the Walls," has a (very) offensively named cat in a critical role. Well, Julie found a very interesting way around both problems. If this piques your interest, and if you want to hear some great free narration of Lovecraft stories and other interesting stuff, click here.

Finally, on a third subject, Callidus has shared a clip from a video game featuring sexy drone women wearing half-Borg/half-bikini outfits. It's cool, but it's also kind of hilarious the way the "camera" zooms in on their tits and asses. Their armor is anything but practical...but since they're lightning fast and seem to be able to teleport or something, I suppose they'd be just as safe if they were naked. Anyway, here's the clip. Enjoy.

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.

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.

Tattling on Callidus

Are you aware that Callidus has begun production on an actual EMC short film? This isn't just a flash presentation; he's getting ready to direct a live-action short with two actresses who sound just right for the parts he's scripted.

Yes, Callidus did write the script - and if you follow his blog, you already know the kind of stuff he's capable of. But until now he's been limited in the execution of his ideas because he was working from other people's photos and videos. This time around, he'll have full control of all his material from start to finish.

Now, I have to make a confession. I have a bit of insider information on this project....Okay, well, I have more than just a bit of information; I've read the script. But despite the title of this post, I wouldn't dare spoil any of Callidus' secrets. I'll just invite you to imagine what a guy of his talents could do with a live-action film, and then I'll tell you that's exactly what he is doing. You will not be disappointed in the finished product.

Keep an eye on his blog. He's just posted a new entry on the production (the third so far), and in it he introduces you to his cast and drops more hints about the plot than I've done here. He's also happy to answer questions, so ask whatever you like, and maybe you'll get more secrets out of him!

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. 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!

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.

Chamber is 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 Alpha for 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.

Nickelodeon might 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. ;-)

A Peek Beneath the Duct Tape on Sleepwalkers, Chapter 9

I was probably just as relieved as you were when Shara when came back to life. After all, I built my original fantasy around her. She's a completely different person in this version of the story, but that doesn't make her any less important to me. I hated killing her. I just felt like I had to do it.

Here's how the decision came about.

Almost exactly a year ago, Callidus and his wife came to visit me. I hadn't yet begun to write Sleepwalkers, but I was pretty far along in the brainstorming. My main dilemma, at that point, was figuring out what to do with Shara. I knew that Paul would be wracked by guilt because he'd imprinted her, and that when Shara Awoke she'd forgive him; but it couldn't be that easy. Callidus was the first to realize Shara had to feel guilt of her own. Justice is her driving force, and she's done some horribly unjust things (not least to Wizard). Now she'll have a chance to try and make them right.

I probably already knew, when I met Callidus in person, that Shara would guess Paul was Awake; but I didn't know how she would confront him. That came much later. I bounced a lot of ideas off Callidus via email, and gradually I homed in on the idea of her testing Paul's loyalty by making him kill her. It was such a shocking idea, and such an impossible thing for him to do if he were Awake, that I knew it would work perfectly. I just had to figure out how to revive Shara afterwards. I toyed with the idea of faking her death; but in the end I decided, just as she and Hawthorne did, that the test wouldn't prove anything unless it demonstrably killed her (BTW, this is a good place to clarify that Shara didn't expect to be revived). But since she had to come back to life afterwards, that let out a gory death. Thus I settled on a lethal injection. Paul's test of the ingredients proved to him, and to my readers, that it really worked. But then (You see what a complicated thought process this was?) I had to figure out how Shara could be revived after the lethal injection. The magic ingredient in the saline is what the fine folks over on io9 call "handwavium."

So anyway, Shara's alive, Awake, and in a better position than anyone else to bring down Hawthorne. That's not to say she'll succeed, or whether anyone else will come along for the attempt. But at least you get to see the real Shara again after a long, dark stretch with her evil twin.

Don't look here. Look *there.*

If you follow Callidus' blog, you already know he and Tabico have been working for some time on an insanely hot video (yes, a full-on video, not just a Flash animation) called "Decisive Results." Well, it just went live today, and I encourage you to head over there right this minute (or, I suppose, as soon as you can get time alone ;-) ) and revel in the full glory of of what he and Tabico have wrought.

Here's a fairly spoiler-free synopsis: two snarky dommes have quality time with a public official, unwittingly played by Holly Heart. The induction scene is jaw-dropping, the newly enslaved politico is delightfully self-abasing, and even the closing credits are a trip (They're sort of a porn version of the opening credits to Monty Python's Holy Grail).

The best way to enjoy it, IMO, is to watch the video on Callidus' blog first, then download a high quality version from one of the mirror sites he links to. The standard-quality version is pretty damn excellent for a first viewing, but a second viewing in HD reveals lots of fun Easter eggs.

Thanks to both artists for sharing their talents with the rest of us. I know this video was a monster to put together, but it is sooo worth it.

I'm not dead yet!

I didn't post anything last week because I was so intent on polishing "Sleepwalkers" - and getting it out to you fine people - that I couldn't stop long enough to think of a blog topic. This week the writing bug is biting me even harder, but I'm making myself pause because I think you deserve a story update.

The whole first draft is finished, and I had a little laugh yesterday thinking about how, in my introduction, I thank my proofreaders (Lady K, Callidus, and the friendly neighborhood orc) for helping me keep the volume turned to eleven - and then I actually ended up with eleven chapters. I hope that number will give you that extra push over the cliff.

In the meantime, I apologize for being too obsessive-compulsive to publish the story until I have several chapters polished to my satisfaction (I'll probably still end up with a few typos despite that, because I always do - and I can't tell you how much it drives me crazy). I'm not waiting until it's all done, though. I'll post the first chapter on the EMCSA after I've finished polishing chapter 6. That way, I can feel confident of having each successive chapter ready to go live the following week. I'm polishing Chapter 4 right now, so that gives me a rough time frame of three weeks before Chapter 1 goes live. If - and only if - I unexpectedly croak before then, Lady K has my permission to post the rough drafts she's been proofing. I'd hate to leave you all hanging ;-P

And now I need your input. Like I said before, I plan on posting each chapter of "Sleepwalkers" on my blog a few days before I post it on the EMCSA. That's my gift to everyone who takes the time to stop by here. My question to you is which of these options you'd prefer in the meantime. Let me know in the comments section. I've set up this blog so that you don't need a Google account to make a comment, and you can post in total anonymity. I won't delete anything that's not trolling or spam.

So, now, tell me what to do. I am your obedient thrall. ;-)

1. I can tide you over until EMCSA-posting time by giving you the first half of Chapter 1 right here, next weekend. That would give you plenty to get excited about even though it would mean you had to stop reading just short of the induction.
2. I can wait until just before posting Chapter 1 on the EMCSA and then give you the whole chapter in its entirety here so that you don't have to stop before the induction...However, I should warn you that the chapter itself ends on a cliffhanger. Most of the chapters in "Sleepwalkers" do.

Weigh in below.

An MC-Flavored "Top Twelve" List for 2012

When Callidus visited me in September, one of the things we did together was brainstorm a list of our top ten favorite MC scenes in movies and TV. We were thinking about publishing a single list of picks we agreed on, but later we decided it would be easier to each make our own list and publish that in our own time. So here's mine, just in time for the end-of-year retrospectives. In honor of the year (and because that's how many clips I found on YouTube out of all the ones I searched for), I'm giving you not ten, but twelve of my favorites.

If you like what you see, you'd better download these clips immediately, because there's no telling how long they'll stick around. Already, some of the videos I'd featured previously on this blog are gone; so I've had to make do with lesser quality versions or, in a few cases, interesting remixes. Then there was one (Eve Plumb in the "Pied Piper" episode of Wonder Woman) that I couldn't find at all. If you've seen that episode, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It would definitely have been in my top five.

Anyway, here's my "Top Twelve for 2012" MC countdown, minus Eve Plumb. Download while you can.

12. Lily's Seduction in Legend: Mia Sara is by far the best thing about this movie, and this is by far her best scene. Who or what is really seducing her here? No telling, but it's probably female...and Mia definitely loves it.




11. Emma Peel's Brainwashing in The Avengers: Brief and to the point, which is a blessing since this is supposedly an execrable movie. Thankfully, the only bit of it I've watched is this scene, which Callidus shared with me on his visit. I can't imagine what the poor guy suffered to bring us this brief moment of transcendence.






10. "I Want It" from Looker: Haven't we all been hypnotized by TV once in awhile? Too bad most of us don't look at hot as Susan Dey when it happens.





9. Close to You/Mirrormask: Neil Gaiman comes through again, this time with clockwork robots dancing to the very last song you'd ever expect to hear in an MC context.





8. Picard Gets Assimilated: I couldn't find a clip of his assimilation isolated from the rest of the plot, but I found something that might be even better: a chronological mashup of several MC-related moments from both parts of "Best of Both Worlds." Not only do you get the full horror of Picard's assimilation, but you also get the thrill of watching him betray the people he loves, all without having to wait on an actual plot. [Edit: I've replaced the original embedded video with a better, more atmospheric one - though oddly enough, both feature music by the same band. Even if you don't like Linkin Park, I recommend keeping the sound on because of all the horrified muttering by the Enterprise crew.].





7. Mannequin - Mutation: Here's something I stumbled across several years ago (via Asudem Latex, IIRC). I'm surprised and delighted to find it still online.





6. Carmilla Seduces a Young Maiden: I had thought this scene was gone from YouTube, but maybe I just needed to be logged in to see it. I found it today, anyway, in the middle of a ten-minute segment. If you don't want to wait around, just drag the slide bar over to 4:46. Carmilla smolders wonderfully, and her victim's expressions are almost as lovely as her pale, helpless body.





5. Fleurs du Mal: This video is technically an advertisement for Agent Provocateur lingerie, but in reality it's oh so much more. Xenia LaFleur linked me to the original clip on the AP website, and today I found a copy on YouTube that I could embed here. If you want the link to the original in its great big .mp4 glory, it's available here; and if you want to download that .mp4 but don't know how, you can find my instructions here.





4. Fright Night Club Scene, 1985 version: Here's another of those cases where I had to use a remix because the original video has disappeared. The shots in the remix are out of order, but at least the video is high quality. Plus, you get to see some nice bits from other parts of the movie. Nothing beats the club scene itself, though.





3. Eve's Virginity Test: Here's a clip from The Lair of the White Worm by famously wacko director Ken Russell. There's some extraneous stuff before and after the MC scene, but somehow I don't think you'll mind watching it. ;-P





2. Dana Scully's Hypnotic Orgasm: This scene comes from the X-Files episode "The Red and the Black." She's being hypnotically regressed so she can remember an alien abduction, but damned if it doesn't look like she's remembering something else! Unfortunately, there are no clips of the episode itself on YouTube and I've had to settle for dailies. Well, at least they're good enough to show you why this scene pushes my buttons the way it does.








1. Big Trouble in Little China: When the Calliduses visited me, we quickly agreed that "Big Trouble in Little China" is the right answer to anything. Best exploding heads of the 1980's? Big Trouble in Little China. Least convincing straight character in a fantasy film? Big Trouble in Little China. Shortest Neanderthal hockey player in the Brazilian league? Big Trouble in Little China. Anyway, if you're reading this blog, chances are you've already discovered that scene for yourself....and also that scene, and that one. At the moment (no guarantees how long this will last), you can watch the whole movie on YouTube with great quality video but out-of-synch audio (thankfully not much of an issue with that scene) and subtitles. Blogger won't let me embed it here while simultaneously starting the video at the right point, so you have two paths to choose from. If you want to jump over to YouTube and start at the right point, click here. Alternately, if you want to watch from here and scroll to the right point on your own, just enjoy the following pictures on the way down, then pick up the action at 1:07:25.

Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?

Callidus and Mrs. Callidus are fantastic people (though he does look more than a little like the Techno Viking. Don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.), and we had a fantastic visit. I am sooo glad I got to meet this online friend in person after years of emails, and I look forward to meeting him again in the future. We could have talked all through the night - and probably for several more days - if time had allowed. I wish I could tell you all about everything, but a) I have to leave some things for him to blog about, and b) we'll both want to keep other things to ourselves.

So let's see, where should I begin?

We had lunch at a nice local restaurant where I got so exciting telling Callidus about my next story that I sat for five minutes with a forkful of salmon in my hand and never brought it to my mouth. He asked a lot of incisive questions and gave me all kinds of great ideas to flesh out one of the character's arcs. It was great having the chance to share my ideas with him at such an early stage of the process. This story is going to be huge, probably six chapters and maybe more, and more complex than anything else I've attempted for the EMCSA. Having Callidus' input was fantastic. (BTW, because it is so huge and complex, it's going to take an extra long time to complete. I'll post updates from time to time, but it might take me a year to finish the thing. I just don't know yet.)

Anyway, back to the current narrative. I gave the Calliduses a tour of the city, including some quirky shops where I dropped tentacle in-jokes that made Callidus snigger. Mr. and Mrs. C. found some nice souvenirs and we all had a great conversation about the Coen Brothers' movies with a store clerk who heard me quoting the "Her womb was a rocky place in which my seed could find no purchase" line from Raising Arizona. We also toured some local landmarks, took pictures, talked about ghosts and UFO's, got rained on hard, and ended up back at my place for Round 2 of the epic Meeting of the MC Minds.

Somewhere in the middle of that discussion, Callidus suggested we make a Top Ten list of the best MC scenes in mainstream media. One of the ideas he offered was this scene from the otherwise execrable 1998 Avengers movie starring Uma Thurman and Rafe Fiennes. Prepare to pause and start screen grabbing in earnest at 0:53. ;-)

We brainstormed our list for awhile and came to instant, enthusiastic agreement about #1 and #2, then did a lot of forehead-smacking as we tried to remember other scenes that should have been right at the forefront of our brains. One of my ideas, James Spader's hypnosis scene from the mostly forgotten Jack's Back, turned out to be harder to track down than I thought. Last night it looked like we'd found the whole movie on YouTube and I started downloading it while we talked about other things; but when I tried to watch it after the Calliduses left, I realized I'd just captured some damn kids' movie with the same title. :-/ Apparently, the Spader Jack's Back isn't online anywhere safe and you can only buy it in VHS format unless you live in the UK, where it's available in PAL. If any of my readers can give me that one scene (just not via a link to a sketchy torrent site, please), I'd be eternally grateful. I'm almost positive that that clip would still push my buttons. Plus, Spader was a steaming hot young thing at the time. If you don't believe me, just follow this link.

Besides our Top Ten list, Callidus and I talked about real life friends and adventures, online friends and adventures (Tabico's ears must have been burning like crazy, but don't worry, Tabs: it was all good. :-)), and our continuing amazement at internet culture in general. It was such a great conversation, like we'd been friends all our lives and were just catching up after a year or two apart. I'm sure it will be the same when we meet again, which we almost certainly will.

And that's all for the moment, I think. Again, if anyone out there can find me a clip of the Jack's Back hypnosis scene, you'll have my undying gratitude. And if anyone out there has suggestions for our Top Ten list, just post them below. We are still smacking our foreheads to remember some of them.

A Sunday school teacher and a Hell's Angel walk into a bar...

So...here I am with Callidus. He told me ahead of time that he looked like a biker, and I told him ahead of time that I looked like a Sunday school teacher. Actually, he looks more like a roadie for a death metal band, but I do still look like a Sunday school teacher. ;-)

We'll be off in a little while for lunch and touring, but until then, we're at my place chatting about Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and comic books.

And now, over to Callidus....

I'm sitting at thrall's computer trying to reconcile the blog I visit regularly, the EMC fiction I've enjoyed for years, and the epic email discussion I've shared with the clever, cheerful person sitting next to me. In some ways she is exactly what I expected and still a complete surprise. It is so...fun to finally be connecting in-person with this lady I've known for years through her messages and website.If the past hour is any indication, one day isn't going to be nearly enough to talk about all the things we have in common and all the things we want to share.

-Callidus

thrall again. I'm having just as much fun getting to know the real-life Callidus and Ms. Callidus. They're very sweet and funny people and clearly have a wonderful relationship with each other. I'm looking forward to spending the day with them. So now we're off (after I give them a quick tour of my Virtual Hypnotist setup). More to follow.