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The one thing I can promise is that I'm always working on it. Even when there aren't words going on paper, I almost always have a few minutes each day where I'm working through how the various threads of the story are going to play out, and refining them. Believe me, I hate that it's languishing unfinished just as much as ( if not more than ) everyone else. I changed my whole posting philosophy because of that to never post a single word of any story that I haven't already penned "The End" for, with the exception of SOTM itself.

This ticks me off to no end, and lately, people whom I thought were smart enough to avoid such tinfoil hat theories have jumped on the bandwagon, so I'm going to rant a bit. The current theory is as follows: A cabal of authors ( fewer than 20 ) is engaged in the following practices, which give them an unfair advantage in the contests. Entering at the last minute. Voting and commenting on each other's stories as soon as posted. Maliciously choosing a category with fewer readers than the "proper" category. Adding an off-putting scene a certain distance into the story for the sole purpose of making all but the most hardcore fans back-click. Let's begin with "Entering at the last minute". http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?p=69412239&highlight=day-1#post69412239 This is the most recent example of me demonstrating that this is complete and utter hogwash. Throughout the entire history of the contests, there is a general parity of early and late entries placing. When asked to narrow the timeframe to the last five years, early entries actually gained a statistically significant advantage over late ones. And no matter how you slice it, stories entered near the middle of the contest win more often than stories on either end. There is a full week of voting following the end of the submissions period. Most of the voting on a story happens within the first two days. A week is more than sufficient for a last-minute entry to have the same pattern of voting as a day-1 story. The secondary element of this complaint is that "Late entries avoid some of the sweeps." The problem with that is that few to no sweeps happen before the end of the submission period. Those sweeps that do occur may very well be related to other causes, such as toplist manipulation, author requested sweeps, etc. This theory too is complete nonsense. Now, let's move on to the cabal voting for each other to boost their ratings early. Most of the people making these allegations have in excess of 2000 people listing them as a favorite author. Considering this "cabal" has fewer than 20 members, it takes only 1% of the people who have listed them as a favorite author to exceed the number of members in this "cabal". So, first and foremost, the "advantage" being decried is myopic. Authors with large fanbases can easily exceed the number of votes and comments alleged to be left by the "cabal" Why would gaining early votes be advantageous? First, early five votes get you a Red H earlier, which attracts more people to your story. Because of the lag between when the story is live and it appearing on the new story list, it may even show up with a red H. This can be quite good for picking up more readers than you might have otherwise. Problem with this theory? It's in direct opposition to another portion of this ridiculous nonsense, which says that the authors are purposely attempting to minimize the number of people reading and voting on their story. So, to subscribe to this, you have to believe they're cheating by trying to get people to read them, while simultaneously cheating to keep people from reading them. Comments are the same thing. A string of positive comments may very well attract more people to your story. How does that jive with saying that the authors are attempting to limit the number of people reading and voting? It doesn't. And discouraging people from commenting on stories by telling them that it paints a target on their back that may result in relentless slander? Fuck that. Every time I see one of these people complaining that people don't vote or comment, I want to tell them to enjoy their shit sandwich, because they made it. Everything else is completely subjective. It's claiming that creative choices are actually manipulation. Every time I've looked at the story list of an author accused of this ( including myself ) I've found that the supposed "manipulation" is actually the author's normal style. I was accused of entering Sci-Fi&Fantasy stories in order to score easy wins. It takes about three seconds to see that Sci-Fi&Fantasy is not only my dominant preferred category, it's also the category I started out in and didn't deviate from for quite some time. I was accused of writing fluffy feel-good romances in order to score easy wins. It doesn't take much longer to see that this is likewise my preferred type of story. By writing what I always have and daring to win, I was cheating. The same has proved true of other authors accused of similar "tactics". One was lambasted for throwing a m/m scene into a story in order to make readers back-click. The author has m/m scenes in a large percentage of his stories, including those not entered into contests. One was accused of writing ditzy, cock-crazy, barely-legal teens as a tactic. His list has a lot of such stories. It's something he enjoys writing. It's nothing more than repeatedly throwing everything including the kitchen sink on top of someone. People are badgered on a daily basis, across every thread where it can be shoe-horned in, or where that person dares to make a post on the topic of the thread. None of the individual pieces of the theory hold water when subjected to scrutiny, which means the entire pile is nothing but bullshit piled high in hopes of hiding what it is. It's mob justice. Assholes with torches and pitchforks looking for witches to burn.

I have a couple thousand words of the next chapter written, but I keep stalling every time I open it. Just checked, and it's 2019 words exactly. That's after umpteen revisions, cuts, and rewrites. I probably have three times that much saved in cut-scene files, and five times that much completely abandoned with backspacing. Looking at where I left off is almost making my fingers itch, but not quite. I'm on a important scene with Meckataur, which leads into a important scene with Danica and Marlena, and one with Celes, Andrea, and Ashley, and one with Zoraster and Ebonar... I'm at a critical juncture, and It just doesn't want to come out right. This is the first time I've looked at it in a while, because obsessing on it only makes it worse. I'm slowly beginning to realize that, though every time I have a spurt of creativity and hit a wall, I end up fighting it -- at least for a little while. It will never be abandoned, so long as I'm breathing and can get words into the computer somehow. I started writing it for my wife, and she'd hate me not finishing it.

Here's an excerpt from the upcoming Mindblind ( Blackhawk Hall ) history story: "Lowborn" * * * * Delly moaned in approval as his thick cream filled her mouth. She continued to suck and swallow, draining him dry, until he jerked her away from his oversensitive organ. She gathered up a few dribbles that had escaped from the corners of her mouth with a finger, and licked it clean. Cerebus let out a growling chuckle, his head falling back to the bed. Delly crawled over him to kiss his neck and chest, rubbing her moist folds over his stomach. She continued to tease him, caressing him with her entire body as he recovered from the explosion in her mouth. She rolled off of him, and then wormed her way between his legs. She bent his knees so that she could sit between them, facing away from him, and looked back over her shoulder. He knew what she wanted. A deep moan escaped Delly as he sat up and pulled her against him, nestling his softened cock in the cleft of her buttocks. He kissed her neck, squeezing her breasts and pinching her nipples, causing her to arch her back and gasp. His right hand released her breast and dropped between her legs even as she sucked air into her lungs. Cerebus curled two fingers and thrust them deep into the redhead’s clinging sheath. He pulled her even tighter against him, holding her in place as his fingers plunged into her pussy. With her arms pinned at her side, she was helpless in his grasp. A steady stream of whimpers, yelps, and moans bubbled up from her lips. He let his thumb slide over her clit, rubbing it with every stroke of his hand, building her fires even higher. She writhed against his strength, not really trying to escape, but unable to sit still in light of the pleasure he was giving her. Mindblind’s hot breath stirred her hair as she drew ever closer to final ecstasy. She knew it was coming, but she still whimpered in frustration when his fingers slipped from inside her. He held her tight, keeping her from finding any relief that could push her over the edge. She pleaded with him to make her come, as she always did, but he denied her until her fires cooled. Then he buried his fingers inside her once more. Over and over again, he brought her to the pinnacle of pleasure, only to deny her release. Her begging turned even more desperate, her body hot against him and beaded with sweat. His cock hardened against her ass, foreshadowing things to come. As the trembling – almost weeping – prostitute neared the point of no return again, Cerebus’ other hand left her breast and centered over her clit. After only a few quick circles of his fingers, she erupted into orgasm. He kept one set of fingers buried inside her, the other still mercilessly rubbing her bud. Delly’s tight-throated scream of ecstasy filled the room. He kept her within the grip of her orgasm, growing more excited as she writhed in his grasp. She was still coming when he dug his slick fingers into her hips and lifted her to her knees. Her hands dropped to the bed to support her, and his right hand left her hip just long enough to guide his cock inside her. A loud wail that trailed off into a croak accompanied his thick cock invading her depths. He grunted when he hit bottom, and pulled back to thrust again, several weeks worth of pent up desire fueling his ardor. The bed creaked in protest amidst the loud smacks of two bodies colliding, and Delly’s screams. Her first orgasm from his fingers never really ended before a second took control of her body. Her intimate muscles clamped down, but were no match for the strength of his thrusts. Caught in a near constant state of exquisite agony, she couldn’t tell where one climax ended and the next began. Cerebus drank in the sight of her rocking forward every time he slammed his cock home. She was soaking wet, her juices spurting out around him – so unlike the other prostitutes who had just gone through the motions. He felt his seed surging up, and gave in to the inevitable. He buried his cock with a thrust so powerful that one of her hands slipped out from beneath her, and she fell face down into the sheets. He erupted with a growling cry of release, filling her full of hot cream. In the midst of the cacophony, neither of them heard the sounds of struggle downstairs.

A quick shoutout to the site I used to visit all the time, where my Baileykins worked as a model and I'm still technically a chat admin. www.peekshows.com Free sign up, and plenty of free chats + free tokens on sign up, if I remember correctly. http://lisbella.peekshows.com Lisbella is the model that's got me popping back in. Gorgeous, and she actually chats with the room *gasp* Far too many models never figure that out. If you can catch her online, she's a fine example of the best Peeks has to offer. I'm DarkenOne there -- or, if by some chance I'm logged in as an admin ( haven't for years ) it will just be Darken. Just don't act like a jerk or beg for free peeks if you go *laugh* If I have to log in as an admin and kick your ass off chat, it will not go well Join in the conversation, make fun of the desperate beggars ( just don't get too evil. Let the model set the tone of the room ) and enjoy the scenery. If you do happen to come across another model who engages the room, let me know. Can't stand the boring ones who just sit there ( no matter what they're showing off ) or say nothing but "go pvt bb"

Here's a couple more fun models I've happened across in my travels: http://Alicemoon.peekshows.com http://LilyValley.peekshows.com

Here we are, less than 8 months since I added checks against the new database to the forum, blog, and my contact forms. As of today, those have officially reported 1000 instances of spammers. And that's really just a drop in the bucket. My contact forms don't report by default, they simply block. Only spam ( none so far ) that gets past the checks provides me with the information to manually report them. Ditto on the blog. There are hundreds of instances of blocked spam. The only ones I've reported are the ones that made it through the first lines of defense -- only to get caught by Askimet. Even if Askimet hadn't caught them, I don't let comments auto-approve until at least one comment has been approved, so they still wouldn't get through to the public. All this on a low-traffic website where little of the effort put forth by the multitude of spammers has borne the fruit of a single post that actually saw public display for a limited amount of time. I don't even want to think about the spam hammering a site with a lot of activity gets, when mine draws such an onslaught.

Darkniciad, install our hook. If you ever get another spammer, it will be rare ( a new startup spammer not in the stopforumspam DB yet ). (JG32) Forum Spammer IP & Email Check via stopforumspam 1.1.0

Too long in coming, I know. Here's the teaser for the next chapter, as I'm nearly finished with it and ready to send it off for editing =================== As the images of Danica and Marlena hovering over the table faded, Celes clapped her hands, rubbed them together, and turned to her sister witches. "Shall we give this a try?" She nodded toward the mirror sitting on a nearby table. One of the first half dozen completed, it would serve to test the magic of the items. The mirrors were scattered in order to test their capabilities. One remained on Darkni’s isle with the master wizard. Danica’s sister Devan had another within her tower in Egoria. Ashtar had plans to take one to Blackhawk Hall. Celes had used the mists to deliver the remaining pair to Evelyn and another witch from a coven nearby. Everyone gathered around, and Celes touched the tiger’s eye gemstone in the lower part of the frame to activate the magic. The mirrors harmonized with those who possessed them, so a thought was all that was necessary to direct the enchantment. "Evelyn, can you hear me?" An image of the short-haired witch formed in the mirror. She was smiling, and replied, "Perfectly." The image expanded, revealing the blonde witch from Evelyn’s neighboring coven. "I can see and hear you as well." Evelyn shook her head and chuckled. "I hadn’t really even thought about Veronica yet." "The magic is fairly sensitive," Celes explained. "The mirrors should sense anxiety as well, and open channels to us, Darkni, and Devan." "Speak of the devil," The newly congealed image of Devan interjected. "I figure these things will get more than their fair share of that, Dearie," Celes said to Danica’s fire-topped sister. Darkniciad’s voice rang out as the image of the silver-bearded wizard joined the rest. "Splendid. Splendid. Everything appears to be as expected." "Mine’s working fine, even though I’m walking around outside with it," Evelyn said. Darkniciad said, "We’ll return to our work on the primary mirror immediately. Once the rift enchantment is complete upon it, it will connect to all the others, granting them the magic." "I don’t know how to thank you – any of you," Evelyn said. "No need. I will return to my work." Darkni bowed his head, and vanished from the mirror. "Same goes for us, Dearie," Celes said. "And we have a lot of potions to make," Evelyn agreed. "Here’s to hoping we don’t need these any time soon," Celes finished, and winked before touching the gem a final time. **** From its perch in a tree some miles away, the Jihark watched Evelyn walk back into her new residence and let out a hiss of satisfaction. It’s former prey might very well serve as bait to lure its new prey.

Can't wait to read more!!!