Saturday, December 10, 2011

Feedback / Q'n'A for "A Succubus for Halloween"

A Succubus for Halloween has been out for a month or so now. Thanks to everyone who bought it, I hope you enjoyed it.

I thought I'd use this post as a general request for feedback. Let me know your favourite/least favourite story from the collection and what you liked/didn't like. This will give me a chance to tighten the screws on my internal filth compass and make sure it's still pointing in the right direction.

I'm going to continue killing 80% of my protagonists off regardless of what's requested. It's an addicton, I can't help it. :D But I do want to make sure the stories are still sexy and entertaining, and I haven't been tempted down the dark and dangerous path of trying to write fancy-and-pretentious-like.

Also if you have any questions about any of the new stories fire away right here (or to my email address manyeyedhydraATgooglemail.com if you'd rather not comment in public).

Ta

8 comments:

  1. I don't mind the fact that you kill most of your protagonists. The fact that your succubi (and other creatures) are actually *dangerous* yet alluring makes the stories that much more intriguing. As I see it, the horror element comes from inducing conflicting emotions in the reader. On one hand, the reader thinks "Damn, having sex with a succubus sounds hot!" But on the other hand, the reader knows that it's often fatal. Now obviously succubi aren't real, but it makes the reader question whether he would really *want* to encounter such a creature. More generally, it makes the reader question how much he'd be willing to sacrifice for ultimate pleasure.

    Or maybe I'm just reading too much into these things.

    Anyway, given what I said above, I don't really like it when your stories get into more violent or gruesome territory. A story like Halloween Nyte doesn't induce any kind of conflicted response from me because the whole scenario is just downright awful (although I *do* like Nyte's appearances in SS101.) Similarly, your more bizarre monsters (from The Orgy of Pink Flesh, Capramendes, Crab-Centaur girls) just strike me as off-putting, even if they do induce immense pleasure in their victims.

    I know you really like the twisted stuff, but personally I prefer more psychologically-driven horror.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with C. Let those protagonists get what's coming to them. I get my kicks partially by seeing the fight for survival, and putting myself in the part of the prey. Setting up a scenario that the reader can toy with in their mind is a good way to ensure the story is engaging. Look at the Harry Potter books. They're not good writing, but the setting is so _fertile_ you can come up with better stories even while reading them. That's what I like about your H-space. It's mysterious, but we know enough about it to imagine our own stories set there.

    In contrast to C I loved the crab-centaur girls (and the way they discarded their still-living meals was more horror than porn). Capramendes was one of my favourite stories of yours, not least because I wondered about the invasion. (The idea of her "processing" him was particularly shiver-making, also.)

    I have to mention a particular low point, which was the priest story. The protagonist was not well characterised---first I thought he was corrupt, then he was a saint---and at no point did he ever release his death-grip on the Idiot Ball. I mean, he was sitting naked in a bath with a succubus and saying, in effect, "the power of denial compels you".

    That said, the notion that she didn't _need_ his consent and could just take what she wanted was thrilling. It just came out of nowhere, that's all. If there had been more of a theme of free will/obligation leading up to it I think that the crowning moment of uh-oh would have been far more satisfying.

    Also, why no love for pretension? :P I for one would like to see what an H-space invasion of Earth would look like, and how we humans could possibly fight back, along with a high-concept metaphysics, and possibly Russian-inspired character palette. Or Persian. Your call.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @C - I like to push that conflict between "this is going to feel really good" and "this might kill me" as much as possible. It's much more fun to blur the erotica into horror than the straight cut from sex to girl-turning-into-monster-and-eviscerating-protagonist favoured in horror films.

    The weirder stories are more divisive. I know they're not to everyone's taste, but some people like them and I like to bare my fangs from time to time to stop readers getting too complacent. I think I should make the reader a little uncertain of what they're going to find on the next page. ;)

    I'll try and avoid the weirder stories taking over. Like the "nicer" stories with Nicole, they're best deployed in moderation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Andrew - the priest is corrupt through and through. He might think he's a saint in his own mind, but what he's doing is still abuse. I wanted the succubus to come out of nowhere for that one. We're conditioned to horror monsters having rules. His own faith tricked him into thinking this was a test he had to withstand. As with the tragic knight from the previous "Vs" story, sometimes the correct action is to run away. :)

    I'm glad you liked the Crab-Centaur story. That was the one I thought I might have mucked up with the rewrite.

    As for the H-Space invasion...there's a larger arc being played out through these stories... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just got all three of your books from Amazon a few min ago :)

    Had all your stores dl from Literotica as text files since they started, but i liked them enough to want the actual paper and ink *books*.

    I know you haven't finished the Succubus Summoning 201 series, but when you do, are
    you going to release the entire series in book format?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks @cat!

    I'm still waiting for a piece of cover art, but Succubus Summoning 101 should be out as both print book and ebook Feb next year.

    I'm writing Succubus Summoning 201 right now. If all goes to plan that will come out summer/fall 2012.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love your stories! I've got all three books, and it's nice to see one or two in there that aren't available for free on the Literotica - makes me feel like I'm getting more than just convenience for my money. :-) As far as story-wise... I'd like to see where the "Foam Succubus" thread is heading, particularly with it now in a male body... does this mean we might finally see female vic-.. er... protagonists?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks Jimmy. Yeah, that Foam Succubus thread hasn't played out fully yet. I don't think I'll write the follow-up from a female PoV (as I know I wouldn't make a good job of it), but someone will be observing a female victim. (The question then is whether they will be able to escape Brite's other succubi...)

    ReplyDelete