The point, dear reader, is that I had a lot to be thankful for in the way of mc fiction last year but I was just a bit too busy to say so at the time. So, I’m saying so now; which in a sense isn’t such a bad thing, because now there’s even more naughty stories to discuss from the aforementioned authors as well as some delightful prose both new and classic from one of my absolute favs: Sara H and an especially hot-n-naughty tale from Flibinite. So without further delay, lets examine these fine authors and their work in a bit more detail.

Since I first discovered The Archive all those years ago and my tastes began to develop, there’s been a short list of authors on my watch-list and thrall has always been on that list. On the other hand, though I’ve written about him before, I’ve only really begun diving into Jukebox’s catalog in the last year or so. Jukebox is particularly prolific, unveiling a new story on an almost weekly basis since…well since I started looking for his name on the Most Recent page.

I’ve found plenty to love about Jukebox’s work, but I must say that I’ve always longed for a bit more…literally. Many of his stories are brief vignettes which, to be clear, I love, but I’d often day dreamed about a series from this extremely talented scribe. So when A Hazy Shade of Winter debuted in late August as a joint venture between he and thrall, it was a pretty enjoyable read.

If you haven’t perused it, then hit yourself in the back of the head and do so; followed, in rapid-succession, by A Whiter Shade of Pale and Love Like Winter. Now, assuming we’re all familiar with the tryst between the wife-and-wife duo of Abby and Carly and the increasing influence of the vampy (but not necessarily vamp) Dalila I’d like to take a moment to say something.

Betrayal is fucking hot.

Specifically, the brand of pseudo-consensual betrayal that thrall and Jukebox navigate here. A person cheating on their spouse barely registers for me. A person who is mind-controlled into cheating on their spouse might warrant a glance. A person who is mind controlled -along with their significant other- into a liaison with outside parties has my attention. But a nefarious mind-controller who draws both halves of a couple into their thrall while secretly manipulating one of them against the other…and we have a Pompeii situation developing.

Here, in this story, we have two of the finest authors in the community charting this incredible journey through their protagonists. From the first guilty glances through absolute submission, they keep it so honest and compelling that the final moments have more impact than almost anything in recent memory. For a genre that is ostensibly concerned with eros, this tale is rife with authentic pathos as well.

This is one of the reasons I’m so enamored of the non-canon story mentioned-prior by Vanderbilt. Although I’ve really enjoyed his on-going series of stories dealing with Rebecca McCandliss, I sometimes long for the heat of relate-able settings and characters; Woody Allen kitchen-sink drama meets mind-melting mind control hotness (three times fast). So if you take that and the aforementioned mini-essay on betrayal, then you can see why I’m such a big fan of Sculpt.

Its the story of a married woman who meets an alluring stranger and almost at once begins to compromise her relationship with her wife for the erotic thrill found with her new acquaintance. Of course if you haven’t read the story I won’t spoil anything but its wonderfully-handled. The mind control is quite subtle; there’s no overt trance sequence, just the ever-present influence of Mallory and Allison’s increasing submission to that influence. The progress of the characters, their relationship, and most of all the self-deception that keeps Allison moving forward is some of the best I’ve ever read. Its a lesson in how a true master finds depth in simplicity.

Speaking of masters, you know I’m unlikely to post any discussion of mc fiction without a mention of Tabico. Having experienced it myself, I sometimes pick up on an artist who’s working on a particular idea through various permutations. In Weapon Ready, I see several themes that Tabico has explored previously in her work. The behind-enemy-lines scenario is always a great tool for drama and tension, and its played here to fantastic effect. Moreover, Tabico has a finely-honed talent for walking the line of leaving a person wanting more without ever making them feel like they didn’t get enough.

Weapon Ready follows several women who find themselves in the clutches of an alien race using a myriad of delicious mind-control implements to bend their wills. The story kicks of with a series of vignettes that become more clearly related as the tale weaves on. In addition to featuring all the sci-fi, squick, and other hallmarks that make Tabico such a cornerstone author, I’m particularly fond of several moments throughout the story that had me whispering ‘what the fuck?” as I read. She’s an author that doesn’t insult the intelligence of the reader by hitting you over the head with a baseball bat labeled ‘foreshadowing.’ Rather, she gives you just enough info to ask the right questions and that just makes the payoff, when the big reveal finally hits, all the more enjoyable.

Perhaps its fate, or synchronicity, or the like that prevented me from posting this entry when I had originally intended. One of the things I’m most pleased about is that by writing it now, I have the opportunity to mention an author who’s been an enormous inspiration for me. Sara H has been absent from the scene for a little while, but she’s back now and has been regularly adding to The Archive both with new and classic tales from her catalog.

The most recent update saw a revised edition of Absolute unveiled and, for sheer heat, its got to be in my top-five-fav Sara stories. Its got witty banter between extremely fun protagonists, a delicious hypno-domme with a bevy of mind control gadgets ready to be unleashed on our heroines, and enough dirty-hot-girl-sex to melt the pencil cup sitting next to your computer.

I think one of the many reasons I’m such a big fan of Sara’s work is that she is able to navigate the actual moment-to-moment progress of submission in a way that few can. Riding the waves as a character has their will re-molded is easy to screw up with either being too gimmicky, too brief, or just cliche. Sara’s talent shines through by forging those moments into something erotic, compelling, and honest. And she makes it look so easy; the sign of a master. I, for one, am very happy to see her posting material with some regularity and am desperately hoping for Harmonic Conversion II to make its way into an update in the near-future…but that’s just me.

And I’ll round the corner here with one of the pillars of the mc community, the marvelous, and talented Flibinite. Jo has a delightfully decadent addition to this week’s update in the form of When Words Collide. A femme-fatale with a voice just made for bending girls to its sultry influence is stalking her latest prey at a forgettable LA party. The tables get turned when it turns out the lady she’s sighted in on has similar designs and the ensuing battle of wills is just one of the hottest things you’ll read this year.

Flibinite has such a gift for exploring the submissive mindset and to watch her chart course through those waters with two dominant characters who are so heavily influencing each other that neither is sure how much they really want to keep resisting, is just such a treat. Jo is a phenomenal author and this story is quite a gem. Don’t miss it.

In closing, and going back to my original intention to post this in late November, the thought I’d like to leave you with is this: I think few of us would debate that The Erotic Mind Control Story Archive is the cornerstone of the mind-control-fetish community. Its filled with thousands of entries by hundreds of authors. And not a single one of them is making a dime from it. The only currency that changes hands is feedback.When you think about how large a fixture in the community The Archive is, and the quality of some of the work there, that’s really quite a remarkable thing.

So, please, make it a point to give thanks to the authors that you follow and thank them for their contributions. Thank Simon for all the work that goes into updating and maintaining the site. Letting these folks know that you’ve connected with their work is a great way to show your appreciation for all their talent and hard work.

I’m working on some new manip material and desperately trying to return emails this evening; hopefully if I owe you correspondence, you’ll have something in your inbox soonish. I’m also doing some housekeeping on the site and trying to fix some broken things. Incidentally, the rss feed should be functional again.

Lastly, I had time earlier tonight to read a couple items from the new update at mcstories. Betrayal, by zorkmeister was quite good as was the always delicioius Jukebox with Play the Game. There’s still several I haven’t gotten to yet (including sara castle’s newest chapter to XXX4 which I’m dying to check out), but hopefully I’ll make up for lost time tomorrow night.

The announcement this week of the The Beatles Rock Band video game has me thinking about the greatest band that ever was and reminded me of a story I’ve been meaning to tell you all about the Beatles break-up and how some nefarious mind control may have played a part. But I’ll leave that as a tease for next time.