Demosthenes: Blog

(Potential spoilers for chapter one follow.)

I've long enjoyed mind control / persuasion stories, but I often find there's something lacking in them: so the protagonist has the ability to control the thoughts of everyone he meets… then what? (Well, usually a lot of torrid sex, but you get the idea). Where's the challenge?

Which brought me to thinking: what if the central character of a mind control story wasn't a sociopath? What if he wrestled with the ethics of controlling people, while also knowing that there were times and places where his powers might be used for good? How might he avoid the temptation of getting his way at every moment?

Resonance is my answer to that, in prose. It will also be the longest story I've ever submitted here, by a significant margin. There's still plenty of sex, but it takes time to build up, and the couplings are (perhaps surprisingly, given the genre) more realistic than my other work so far: at this stage, tags are mostly for things that haven't happened yet.

There's also much more action, emotion and intrigue, which I hope you will enjoy too. As always, your comments, corrections and feedback are very welcome.

It's been quite some time since I've had the opportunity to contribute anything to SOL, but this story came to me in such perfect clarity that I felt compelled to write it down. Three thousand words and a few hours later, here we are.

The parody is very much inspired by what is happening right now: the football World Cup is constantly on the television, watched avidly by my family, and I am doing some work in sports journalism myself, so this is a kind of venting of frustration, on several levels.

I hope you enjoy it… and I hope that I have the opportunity this summer to finish off a third story, which has long been in the editing process.

I'd estimate that Mike, Cindy and Katy have another two, and possibly three, chapters to experience in A Mutual Understanding. My evenings have been occupied with writing, rather than responding to the many wonderful eMails I have received from SOL readers; it is my intention to write back to everyone at my earliest opportunity. In the meantime, thank you very much for your ongoing support, and please keep your votes and feedback coming!

I hope everyone enjoys chapter four, just uploaded to the queue.

I have been very impressed with both the SOL story management system - a far more sophisticated publishing process than I had appreciated, even as a long-time reader of SOL - and the amount of feedback I received in response to the first chapter of A Mutual Understanding. Motivated and inspired, I have just uploaded a second chapter to the story queue.

Previously, I have written solely for my own pleasure, or that of a chosen few, which has left many half-finished and outlined stories in my proverbial writer's trunk. I shall endeavour to continue to add a chapter to A Mutual Understanding every few days, until the story is complete. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to vote and/or send me your opinion, and please keep the feedback coming!