Practice to Deceive - so what did you think?

Well, this weekend will mark about three or so weeks since I put Practice to Deceive live on Amazon and later, Gumroad. A heartfelt thank you to all of you who've put down money and actually rewarded me for writing the book - I deeply appreciate it. No, I'm not about to buy a house or a new car, but sales are sales, and every one is welcome!

That said, apart from a couple of Amazon reviews and the odd email... I haven't heard much from people about, well, whether they liked it or not. I'd love to know. And for a few reasons.

1) I'm a little torn on what to embark on next. I have an idea for a female-led masking book, maybe a serial, about a con artist/cat burglar who gets in way over her head. I also have plenty of ideas for a sequel to Practice to Deceive, as well as my half-finished other books. The question is... where to go next? Your reactions to Practice to Deceive might help guide that.

2) Whether I write the sequel next or not, I'd still love to know what you thought of the book; did it work for you? Was it exciting, arousing, thrilling, titillating - all of the above? Where did I mess up? Where did you desperately want more?

3) Last but not least... I really could do with those Amazon reviews! There is, quite frankly a lot of dross in the sub-sub-niche of transgender fiction, and I'd love to get noticed by some people there. I know, of course, that part of the trick is to publish more stuff (and I'm working on that) but in addition, a great review or two will help me stand out! So if possible - go ahead and review the book? Even just a few lines would be great.

If none of that works for you, I still want to hear your opinions! Get in touch, leave a comment, whatever - drop me a line. And again if you bought the book, thank you!

Poser comics?

Actually, here's a thought.

I've been seeing some good work with Poser recently, mostly over at DeviantArt. If you haven't checked out ElenaEvil's semi-regular series that deals with the Baroness from G.I. Joe (well, mostly) then you should; there's whole lot of masking and kinkiness going on in there. With some better captions/writing, I think it'd be really something. (And that's no slight to Elena as author - they're from Italy so I don't think English is their first language.)

Anyway. Is there anyone out there reading who'd be interested in collaborating on a Poser-created masking comic?

I'd supply the plot (although, I'd be happy to collaborate) and the words generally, you'd provide the Poser, the posing, the textures, the rendering and so on. Obviously we'd share credit.

It's something I'm sort of tempted to take on myself, but I just know that learning and working with Poser would be such a massive time-sink, that I could probably finish a novel or two in the time it takes me to make anything good. (I had a version of Poser years and years ago, and it took me forever just to render one image to a standard I was happy with.)

Anyway, consider this a standing offer. If you're a Poser artist already and like the idea of doing something with masks or disguises - doesn't have to be sexually explicit, either - then let me know. Perhaps we can make beautiful comics together.

Update, sorta, and an idea

Hey, at least it's only been a month or so.

My 'big changes' are behind me now, well not entirely but they're mostly dealt with, so slowly I'm starting to try and write a bit more often. I'm nowhere near the output level that will yield new stuff any time soon though, so don't get over-excited.

One thing I have been kicking around in my head - in truth, for months now - is the possibility of a different superheroine series. I may have even mentioned it on here before actually, but to be honest I can't be bothered to go back and check my own archives. I'd like your thoughts on it.

Anyway my thinking is potentially it would be something involving a male-to-female transformation at the heart of the story; a man who turns into a woman to be a superheroine. (This, I should point out, would be a disguise, not a magic transformation. I think you know me well enough by now to realise that's not what I write, but I want to be clear.)

This actually isn't that original an idea - Holly Fairfa, if I remember right, did a short story with exactly that idea waaay back on the original MaskFiction.com.

My thinking on why I'd do this is several-fold as my thinking usually is:

1. It would, obviously, be massively kinky. Man disguised as woman disguised as superheroine? I think you can imagine all the kinds of fun I'd have.
   
2. It could be an original character, but still a superheroine. That means more potential for me - in all sorts of ways.
3. I'm getting just a teeny bit bored with Betty... but still want to write super-stuff. (What can I say, it's the spandex lover in me.)

I've also had a few thoughts on how this can roll out. The idea has been in my brain for a bit, after all:

1. An original story/series with all-new characters. I have the 'origin' plotted out, roughly. It makes some sort of sense, to me anyway...!
   
2. A spin-off series (or mini-series) featuring Batgirl, set after the Spider-Girl 'Crossover' arc... in other words (SPOILER!) with Dick Grayson under the mask(s).
3. My 'Project AC' concept, which... well alright, might as well spill, can be neatly summarised as 'Catwoman is actually a guy'. (There's more to it than that; a lot more in fact... but you get the idea.)

I'll be honest, on different days I think each idea is the best thing ever, but then I haven't sat down and tried any of them on paper. So which would you prefer? And here's the rub: why?

(Your answer would preferably run to more detail than 'Catwoman is the sexiest'.)

I will admit, if pressed, to having something of a preference for the first idea (the original series). Mostly because while I know it'd be easy for me to write Option 2, and fun to write Option 3, I keep telling myself that if I'm going to commit the inevitable amount of huge effort required to produce something, I should really do that for my own original creation, right?

Hmm. Oh by the way, I know a lot of you will shrug and say "Whatever, just write something, please God I need a fix" the more feedback I get in any particular direction, the more likely I am to... errr... do something.

Maybe...

Your opinion wanted

Hello there.

Well, it's fair to say that there's been a fair amount of thinking and perhaps not as much writing as I might like here in the past month or so. I've been tapping away at something new, which may or may not pan out, but has kept me interested. I've stalled on a couple of other things.

What I'm here for now, though, is a bit of research. Call it professional curiosity. On the right you should see a poll (unless you're looking at this post over a week from now; greetings, time traveller). Can you do me a favour and answer it? And leave any additional thoughts or comments you have under this post.

Oh, and just for the time travellers, here's the question: "In mask fiction, what sort of transformation do you prefer to read about?" Options being 'male to female', 'male to male', 'female to female', 'female to male', 'any, if it's right for the story' or 'all if at all possible'. So now even you can answer.

Let me know... vote today!

UPDATE: I moved the poll up top, as that way, you can see the results properly.

Thanks to those who voted so far!

Altogether now... torrent!

Hey guys and maybe even gals... remember these?



Those there are the only clips I've ever seen of The Black Widow, a very hard to find 1947 Republic serial which, in case you haven't bothered to watch the clips above, features quite a bit of female masking.

I've been jones-ing to write a 'serial style story' for quite a while now, with these clips inspiring me to do so. I've even gotten to the point of starting to plot it (harder than it looks, those cliffhangers every episode).

Anyway, all this time I've really, really wanted to see the original serial so I could get some more inspiration, and hopefully see a few more disguise or impersonation sequences! Unfortunately the serial wasn't exactly a landmark, so it's only been available on VHS and hasn't had a DVD release...

... but that doesn't stop the Internet. Some wonderful kind person, understanding my bizarre need to watch old serials that cater to my 'special' fetish, has encoded all 13 chapters of The Black Widow and made a 'torrent for them. You can grab it right here.

(Before I go any further, if you don't know what a 'torrent' is, or what BitTorrent is, go find out. Then come back.)

So why do I tell you all this? Well apart from the fact that you too could now see this serial, the simple fact is... if you download the 'torrent too, then we all get the serial faster. That's how it works. (Sort of.)

So help my inspiration! Download that torrent and let's seed this sucker!

Looking for: Grey Orchid

This'll be short and sweet. I'm trying to track down the Grey Orchid, a writer who's done some excellent mask-related fiction in the past.

I had some excellent conversations with him via email in 2007, but despite several 'Where are you?' emails I've not heard from him since last May.

If anyone knows where he is - or better, if he's reading - get in touch. Ghostly Writer at G mail dot com is the email, except written... you know... like an email address.