I've given up on the map thing, but here's something new

Check down at the bottom of the page, then let me know what you think. More tomorrow....

A Bonus Sunday Post

My habit is usually to blog twice a week: once on Wednesdays and once over the weekend. But I just seem to have a lot to say these days; I've actually pre-written several entries for posting later on down the road, including more recommendations for free fetish stuff, a sweet little story (to me, anyway) about my first crush, and "Erotic Art History 101." I'm not sure what order I'll post them in, so if any of you fine folk out there have a preference, feel free to post a comment or drop me an e-mail.

Meanwhile, I'll let you in on a little secret. A little over a week ago, I added a hidden stat counter to my website, and let me tell you, I've been very pleasantly surprised by the results. I was expecting maybe ten hits in a week, but it's been more like fifty a day - and from five of the seven continents. I guess all those scientists down in Antarctica can't defrost their fingers long enough to type their way in; I don't know what the Africans' excuse is. ;-)

Meanwhile, here's a toast to my single persistent fan in Iceland; and a heartfelt salute to the brave souls in Turkey, India, and even China who somehow found their way through all the firewalls and cultural taboos to visit my humble home on the web. Stay safe, my friends.

And now, a question for everyone. I know Blogger at least used to have a function that let you display a visitor map on your blog, but now that I know I have enough visitors to warrant one, I can't find the darn thing. Can anyone out there point me in the right direction?

More Fetishy Goodness from Deviant Art

Earlier this week I discovered another fetishist (this one a photographer) who has accounts on both Model Mayhem and Deviant Art. On the former, he goes by what I assume is his real name, Michael Andrews; but he only has 20 pictures there. At Deviant Art, on the other hand, he has eleven pages of pictures under the name roperookie.

Actually, I found him on Deviant Art first, but was only interested in a few of his pictures since I don't find rope and gas masks nearly as appealing as he does. But I liked the pics he posted on Model Mayhem much better, and even included a couple of his images in my first Ecstasy of Surrender collection. Then, when I went back to roperookie's DA page looking for a specific pic I remembered, I had an "aha" moment as I noticed some of the shots from Model Mayhem were there, as well. So I took a closer look than I had the first time around, and ended up saving many more images to my hard drive.

There are soooo many pics I could share with you, but I think these three are the most appropriate for my blog, since they have such an obvious brainwashing vibe:











Now, if you really like what you see on Model Mayhem and Deviant Art, you can find even more of it on his website. Get it now, before he decides to start charging for it. ;-)

Another Peek Beneath the Duct Tape: Willing Subject

I have a lot of MC dreams; unfortunately, I don't have a lot of satisfying MC dreams. Most often, I find myself wandering around in a semi-trance looking for my Mistress, who never shows up to give me actual commands. I don't know why my subconscious mind can't seem to generate a decent domme; my conscious mind certainly doesn't have that problem! Maybe someone out there with a better understanding of dream psychology than I have can help me figure it out.

Anyway, it was one of those unsatisfying dreams that gave me my jumping-off point for Willing Subject. I was wandering bleak, puddled streets at night, endlessly searching for the woman I wanted to control me but never seeing another living soul. Upon waking, I realized it might be fun to build a story around someone who wants to be enthralled right from the start, but who has to "earn" her slavery through a long and arduous quest (trilby else started a similar story once upon a time but never finished it. I still pick at him about that sometimes.)

Well, once I had the idea in my head, I didn't have much trouble fleshing it out with personal fantasies and events from my real life story. I've been to several hypnosis shows, some in college and some afterwards. Unfortunately, unlike Missy, I never found the courage to go up onstage because (as I told Sara Castle in an interview not long ago) it would have felt too much like stripping naked in front of a bunch of strangers. But boy, was I tempted - especially when some of my sorority sisters got up there and I saw how much fun they were having.

Yes, I was in a sorority - and yes, more than one of my sisters was named "Missy." But please don't get the wrong idea about me. I've never been part of the popular crowd and would never even have considered pledging a sorority at most schools...nor, most likely, would any sorority have pledged me. But the situation was a bit different at my college; all kinds of people joined the Greek system, not just your typical golden girls and boys. Yet even there, my sorority was pretty much the Omega Mu of the campus - which is especially funny when you consider that, nationwide, it's one of the most popular. And which one was it? Sorry, but I'm not going to tell you...though perhaps you can figure it out from the one genuine big clue I dropped in amidst the red herrings.

Anyway, suffice it to say that I know what it's like to be part of a group that concerns itself heavily with public image. There are so many things you can and can't do, especially when you're wearing the letters. Partying yourself into a stupor is just fine, of course, as is sleeping around - as long as you don't get caught doing it in public. But I can just imagine the reaction I would have caused if I'd marched across campus like m did, bound and pierced and totally expressionless; then jilled off in a professor's class and on top of the administration building. Mmm, even the thought of it now has me grinning and sighing wistfully. ;-)

Aside from Karen in Mirrored in Your Eyes, Missy/melissa/m is closer to the real me than any other heroine in any of my stories. Night after night, I seek unsuccessfully after my perfect domme. My fictional alter-ego just found her for me.

Tolkien for MC Fetishists

I can still recall the thrill I felt back in my early teens, reading The Silmarillion for the first time and coming across the passage where Tolkien describes Morgoth (the original Big Bad of Middle-Earth, of whom Sauron was only a minion) capturing Elves and turning them into "thralls" who, for the rest of their immortal lives, were bound to his will in some frustratingly indeterminate way. I'm sorry to say that, as I read on, it became clear that Morgoth's brand of thralldom was more about intimidation than actual mind control.

Fortunately, a little further into the book, I ran across the tale of Turin (now also available in a longer version in the "new" Tolkien novel The Children of Hurin, but why should I buy that when I already own The Sil?) and the passage below. All you really need to know going in is this:

The heroine Nienor has been traveling with her mother and a bunch of soldiers in search of her brother Turin, whom she hasn't seen since she was about five. Their party is attacked by bad guys, including the dragon Glaurung, who lays a reeking fog over the whole area. And then....

"But Nienor, being thrown by her steed, yet unhurt, made her way back to Amon Ethir...and came thus above the reek into the sunlight; and looking westward she stared straight into the eyes of Glaurung, whose head lay upon the hill-top. Her will strove with his for a while, but he put forth his power, and having learned who she was he constrained her to gaze into his eyes, and he laid a spell of utter darkness and forgetfulness upon her, so that she could remember nothing that had ever befallen her, nor her own name, nor the name of any other thing; and for many days she could neither hear, nor see, nor stir by her own will. Then Glaurung left her standing upon Amon Ethir, and went back to Nargothrond."

Well, naturally, Nienor eventually regains enough of her senses to tear off all her clothes and run away naked into the woods. And naturally, Turin finds her later on, but neither recognizes the other. And naturally...well, you can probably guess. :-/ This ain't your mother's Hobbit. Anyway, here's a lovely picture of Nienor being mindwiped. If you want to see the naked followup, you're on your own. ;-)

Well, as you can imagine, that one little paragraph spawned all kinds of private fantasies in me over the years. Unfortunately, none of them are even close to publishable at this point, but I have my hopes. Any time at all, my Muse could sweep me up in Her jeweled talons and carry me away to Her deep, dark cave for a bit of draconian ravishing. I'll be sure to let you know if She does.

"Sometimes you control the machine, and sometimes the machine controls you"

So, what finally made me break down and rave about the (relatively) new SF blog io9 well ahead of schedule? Their article on an upcoming Mexican movie about cyber-slavery called Sleep Dealer, featuring the above quote, body plugs, and (for no reason discernible from the trailer) milky contact lenses. This is the first I've heard of the movie, but it seems to be getting great buzz.

Anyway, about io9....First of all, it's got the cutest little cyborg-zombie mascot I've ever seen. Second, it's updated several times daily with news about SF and fantasy movies, TV shows, comics, and novels (along with the occasional VIP interview), plus a sprinkling of interesting science and astronomy stuff. Second, it dabbles, from time to time, in just the kind of fetish-y stuff that sends our collective motors into overdrive. Here are just a few of my favorite articles from recent days:

• Vote for Nurglon - the title kind of says it all, doesn't it?
  
• Frankenstein Man Love - Robert DeNiro and Kenneth Branagh wrestling in lube. Oddly enough, I actually saw this whole movie when it came out - and rather liked it. But this scene is definitely the highlight of the film.
  
• In this UK commercial an already-fairly-hot scientist discovers a miracle bra that transforms her into Dita Von Teese.
  
• Cute Time Machine Overload - don't ask; just go see for yourself
  
• Space Pirates and Sex Mechas: The Best Sci Fi Hentai Without Tentacles - the two clips of the green-haired girl are my favorite. ;-)
  

My apologies to those of you on dial-up; I've tried to include a few video-free links for you to enjoy, but the best stuff on io9 usually does involve video. :-/

It's About Time

I've mentioned Asudem Latex's blog on this site once before, and now that I've become a regular visitor, I thought it was high time I added her to my sidebar links and did a little feature on her. Besides, she's pointed several visitors my way, and I'd like to return the favor. :-)

AL's blog is called "Dolls Realm," and she is a doll fetishist; but she's also a huge fan of latex and has gone where I dare not by actually purchasing various latex garments and wearing them in public (as she mentions frequently). Here are a few of my favote entries from her blog, just to get you started:

• a Robert Palmer-esque video for the '00's with no smirking man to get in the way of all the curvy female flesh and skimpy uniforms. Not exactly my style of music, but who cares when the video looks like this?
  
• some very fetishy photos from a very non-fetishy source. Warning: the original shots are very large and hi-res.
  
• some vintage kink from your grandparents' day
  
• ooooh, depersonalized in public!
  
• a lovely shot of that famous Thierry Mugler gynoid costume on tour and, if you follow the links, more pictures of that costume and various cool (if you're into that sort of thing, and I sort of am) superhero-y stuff.
  

And now, before I go, here's a general heads-up. I have gotten into the habit of posting twice a week, once on Wednesday night and once over the weekend. But there's another wonderful site I'd been planning to showcase soon, and after what I found there just now, I can't bear to wait much longer. Asudem Latex deserves her moment in the spotlight, so I'll hold off until tomorrow; but do stop back by on Thursday for a bit of SF deliciousness.

The Ultimate Geek Goddess

If you've visited my second Ecstasy of Surrender picture list, you've already seen the photo at left. The model has a small gallery at Model Mayhem, where she goes by the name "Revel." Now, I'm not a girl-in-glasses worshiper like some folks, but I don't mind glasses at all and think they add a nice element to many of the pictures in which Revel wears them, especially this one. To me, this is the perfect representation of the Goddess of All Geekdom.

Anyway, Thursday night I discovered, totally by accident, that Revel has a much, much larger gallery at Deviant Art, only she goes by the name "silvergrey" there. All the pics from Model Mayhem are also available on DA; and there are over 100 others, as well.

Now, I must admit that not all the DA photos are to my taste (though they might be to yours). Revel's a bit more fond of the Victorian look than I am. But there are also plenty of latex, fantasy, and cyberpunk pics that more than pique my interest, including the following:











This, however, is my favorite picture - as much because of the commentary text as because of the photo itself. You might think the italics and underlining are my own; but as a matter of fact, that's they way the text appears on Deviant Art. I've only corrected a typo:

In Irish folklore the Dana O'Shee are a fae, elven people that live in a realm of beauty, their nobility akin to that of our own Age of Chivalry, eternally beautiful and eternally young. They surround themselves with the pleasures of the Arts, they live for the hunt, and to this day can be seen riding in procession through the Irish countryside at twilight, led by their King and Queen. However, the Dana O'Shee are not benevolent creatures, despite what their unearthly beauty may imply. They are vengeful and treacherous and possess a streak of mischievous malice, and many have whispered that their true home lies deep in the shadowed groves of the Realm of the Dead. Hearing even a single chord of their otherworldly music leaves one stunned and lost to the mortal realms for ever, finding themselves prey to the Dana O'Shee's hunt or enslaved in their Court as servants or playthings.

A Friday Quickie

First, don't worry: I still plan to make another, much longer post over the weekend. Last night I discovered that a model with a few quite lovely pictures on Model Mayhem has a very large, lovely gallery on Deviant Art that I can't wait to share with you all. But in the meantime, I just had to find some way to to squeeze in this little one-shot eyegasm.

This is a picture I stumbled across last night while surfing a gossip rag, of all things. I was so taken with it that I never made it to the rest of the site. Enjoy.

Word from Middle-Urth

Have you heard about it yet? The joint Iago/Tabico/Callidus project that finally went live last weekend after much teasing from the various participants? If you're an EMCSA regular and/or a regular on either the MC Forum or MC Garden, then you probably already know what I'm talking about. If not, let me fill you in.

Iago and Tabico are two of the best-known F/f writers on the EMCSA. They've collaborated on a few stories set in the fictional world of Middle-Urth - which is, as you can probably guess, a bizarro version of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. Sauron has become Sauriann, and there's a Witch-Queen who makes her debut in this new collaboration, but all the other characters are original. No messing with Eowyn or Frodo or any of your other sacred icons (though I can tell you where to go if you do want to see those folks messed with ;-)).

Well, now Iago and Tabico have joined with MC photomanipper and fellow blogger Callidus to produce a multimedia series called The Witch-Queen of Ashur. There are four short prose pieces about the descent into slavery of various characters including a schoolgirl and an Elf warrior, and then there's a photo series about a group of captives being brought before the Witch-Queen herself. Both halves of the project are quite delicious, featuring all the lush prose and immaculately selected, ordered, and captioned images you'd expect from these three artists.

My only complaint, and it's a small one, is this. Being a person of (very liberal) faith, I was made uncomfortable by a few passages in the prose section where ideas and invocations from real religions are perverted into the worship of a being who pretty clearly represents capital-E Evil. I'm sure this just adds to the enjoyment of most folks who read MC erotica, so it shouldn't bother too many others besides me. And, as you can see, it wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying the collaboration overall. ;-)

This is the Queen's thrall, and I approve this message.

Another Peek Beneath the Duct Tape: "Octopus Vulgaris"

First, a quick note about the title: Octopus vulgaris is the official scientific name of the common octopus; once I learned that, I knew I'd never find a more perfect title.

As for the story itself, if you've been reading my blog, you know it was inspired primarily by several pictures from the Cthulhu Lhust list on Model Mayhem - which was, in turn, inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. It's not necessary for you to have read any of Lovecraft's short stories to enjoy "Octopus Vulgaris," but if you know a bit about the Cthulhu mythos, you can appreciate my story on a deeper level. If you're interested in learning more, this Wikipedia article is a good primer.

As you can see, I'm playing pretty fast and loose with the original material, but let's face it: for the most part Lovecraft tended to ignore females, both human and nonhuman, in his stories. And considering what a big stick he had up his ass about race, I shudder to think what he would have thought about sexual minorities. So naturally, I had to make a few...tweaks...to fashion a Cthulhu mythos story suitable for my particular audience.

I also took inspiration from a number of other sources:

• Megan's beach house is a slightly fancier version of one I actually stayed in as a child. I only realized after I started writing that its octagonal shape made it that much more perfect for my story.
  
• The scrapbooking bit arose from a series of reunions I've had in recent years with some college friends, two of whom had developed an interest in scrapbooking and who dragged the rest of us, much against our will, into a scrapbooking store once and only once. And yes, I did titillate those friends with the news that I wrote fetish erotica and posted it online. But you know me; I absolutely refused to provide details or a URL. They're still wondering today. ;-)
  
• The barroom flirtation was inspired by a scene from Kissing Jessica Stein, which played much cuter than mine and which concluded, as you can imagine, rather differently. Still, in the long run, I think the men in my story ended up more satisfied than the ones in Jessica's. ;-)
  
• Clark Ashton Smith was a friend and contemporary of Lovecraft's who, like many of Lovecraft's friends, adopted and expanded the Cthulhu mythos in his own works. In fact, I actually discovered him several years before I discovered HPL. The Abominations of Yondo is a real book that I loved as a teen, though I have no idea whether or not it would hold up to my adult scrutiny. I had to use Wikipedia to remind myself of the story titles and this page to reconstruct the cover I remembered. Anyway, if you're interested, I've discovered that pretty much Smith's entire oeuvre is now available online at The Eldritch Dark. One of these days, I'm going to check back in there and see if I still like him as much as I used to. If you get there before me, let me know what you think.
  
• I had only decided on earth's ultimate fate a few seconds before I remembered that Peter F. Hamilton used a similar plot device in a six-book SF epic called the "Night's Dawn" series. Now I have no idea whether I came up with my version on my own or whether I was subliminally influenced by Hamilton. Don't you hate it when that happens? Anyway, if you're interested, the books are very much worth reading even though Hamilton isn't very gay-friendly. The only non-straight characters in his entire vast universe are the 27th-century version of Satanists. :-/
  
• Now here are a handful of odds and ends that weren't cool enough to post as Tentacular Teases but which did aid me in my research and which you might enjoy if you have a few minutes to spare: a photo of strands of octopus eggs,a video of an octopus chasing down and eating a crab, then inking, a video of - no kidding - the Vampire Squid from Hell (okay, so it's not an octopus, but it's still a very cool video once you get past all the annoying title cards). As for the reverse-giraffe look Howard sports in one scene, I honestly did see a picture of an octopus with that pattern; but I can't for the life of me find it anymore. Sorry.
  

And finally, serendipity has just brought me back to this fondly remembered but long-lost Cthulhu religious tract. What a perfect way to end your Sunday, eh?

The Final Tentacular Tease

Yes, folks, "Octopus Vulgaris" is in the pipeline to publication. I sent it off to Simon this morning after getting thumbs-ups from my girlfriend and my long-suffering e-mail bud trilby else, who has somehow become my default proofreader but doesn't seem to mind a bit, bless his heart. So here's one last tentacular tease to tide you over until Sunday when, hopefully, the story goes live on the EMCSA. Then you can stop back by here afterward for a "Peek Beneath the Duct Tape" on it.

For now, just enjoy watching what happens when an octopus the size of a man attacks said man - and also, incidentally, gain a better understanding of how an octopus bites its prey and injects venom, which is an important plot point in my story.

This particular video has embedding disabled, so you'll have to follow this link to see it.