Visiting Browsers

Got an email from Blogger mentioning some of the recent features they've added, so I decided to check out the "Stats" page they mentioned. Encountered one curious point there. It turns out that just over half of the people reading my blog are using Firefox as their browser, while only a quarter are using IE. This made me look up some statistics on browser usage in general - I hadn't realized that Firefox had gained so much ground on IE, although still behind IE by most people's counts. I wonder if there's any reason other than statistical anomaly for the lower percentage of IE users coming here?

For those who are curious, the next three most common browsers were Chrome, Opera and Safari, at roughly five percent apiece.

Painful Reading

This is more or less a response to MSA's review of 2010-12-17 on AFFnet.

I understand that feeling of rage, upset, or just sick awfulness that can overcome one when reading a story where something bad happens to a character, or some character behaves in a particularly appalling fashion. I too have had the experience of reading a story only to be upset, in an extreme fashion, by events within it - upset to the point of wanting to step into the story to do something about it. Upset to a degree where I can't get my thoughts away from it, for hours, even an entire day.

But I don't believe that I've ever had that feel when reading pornography. It's like I have two different mentalities for reading stories. In the "ordinary" mode, reading about abuse of a character, particularly a character I like, can be very distressing. But in "pornography" mode such events are more expected, and also feel less real, more like they're "just" fantasy.

My story Moxibustion Violation is definitely intended as pornography. If I were a reader (instead of the author), and I approached MV as ordinary fan-fiction instead of pornography, I seriously doubt I would ever have gotten past the first chapter. I would have been in a frothing rage at the author for daring to write such a brutal rape of a character I like. But approached as pornography it's completely different, it's not merely less upsetting - I can actually find it arousing. I believe that something similar is true for me as the author (instead of reader), except that I believe I'm even more insulated by the act of creation.

So I'm glad to hear that people feel emotionally invested in the story. But I hope that everyone keeps in mind that MV is intended as erotica, and that of a pretty dark kind. Reading it on any other basis, well, it just seems to me that doing so would be far too painful.

Kazuma Review of 27

I just read Kazuma's review of chapter 27:

I've been keeping up with the story since it started, but i really got to say that the idea of adding Ukyo to the equation is a terrible idea. would of prefer that you killed her off, but then i just hated Ukyo in a general since since she was first introduced in the manga. I look forward to what you plan on doing but I have ideas and not too fond of 'em.

Everyone has their own tastes in characters of course. For each reader, only time will tell whether what I do with the character will be interesting or not. For what it's worth, I don't expect Ukyo to become as much a main character as, say, either Ryoga or Gosunkugi. Still, she will be around.

The real reason I'm making this post in reply to the review is because of a fascinating coincidence. Immediately prior to reading this review, I was watching an episode of the anime Kaze no Stigma on Hulu. The male protagonist of that show is named ... wait for it ... Kazuma.

MV 27 Posted

Okay, chapter 27 is posted. I didn't make you wait too long after last chapter's cliffhanger, a couple days past a couple of weeks, but that was a bit longer than I was planning to make you wait. Well, it's there now. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Sunday Night

As suspected, I won't be posting the chapter tonight. I had to take care of some chores. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it up in the next few days.

MV 27 Complete

I've just completed the final scene of chapter 27 of Moxibustion Violation. Now I've got to go back through the chapter and clean it up before I can post it. I'm not too hopeful I'll be able to manage that tonight, but I'll give it a shot. At any rate, I'm getting close to getting the chapter out there.

MV 27 Majority Done

I made the right decision to cut chapter 26 off where I did. Chapter 27 is getting fairly long, and it all has to be there. It's currently up to more than eleven thousand words, and there's more to go. I think there will only be one more scene, or at any rate, just one more significant scene. It might turn into a fairly long scene however.

By the way, there's plenty of sex in this chapter.

Unfortunately, it's late Sunday night, and I don't anticipate having much time to write on the weekdays. I hope I'll get a chance to do so, but I probably won't. So I'm crossing my fingers I'll finish writing the chapter next weekend. I really need to make an effort, because the closer we get to Christmas, the less time that I'll have on the weekends as well.