Congratulations to Wiseguy!

Getting ready to head off in the morning to a wedding–that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the long-time stalwart of the EMC community, legend in his own lifetime, excellent cook, and all-around great guy known as Wiseguy is tying the knot this weekend! (And possibly tying several more knots on the honeymoon, but I certainly have no plans to pry. 🙂 )

So let’s all give him and his bride-to-be, Dani Fantom (that may not be her real name) a big round of congratulations for their forthcoming wedded bliss! Wiseguy has done a lot of great things, both as a writer and as a member of the hypno-kink community, and he deserves all the happiness in the world.

Well, okay, maybe he could leave a little bit for the rest of us. But the point is, he deserves a lot.

In Praise of Sue-Chan

I really don’t say it enough, because it just seems so obvious, but: Sue-Chan is awesome. Seriously, she is an absolute gift to the entire hypno-kink community who really doesn’t get as much praise as she deserves, simply because she’s one of the bedrocks of it. Imagining hypno-art without Sue-Chan is like imagining ice cream without chocolate; sure, it’d still be there, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

Now, I’m not an artist myself, so I probably don’t have the terminology to really capture what makes Sue-Chan so great, but I’ll try. Her art is gorgeous, with smooth, clean lines that manage to show their manga inspiration without becoming slavishly devoted to the style. Her women are beautiful, even the non-human ones, and her men capture a certain vulnerability to them that’s just perfect for her chosen genre. In fact, “vulnerability” is one of Sue-Chan’s strengths, full stop; she captures that facial expression perfectly, that moment when the eyes go glassy and the will collapses and it just seems like too much work to resist.

Some people might prefer it if she drew nudes. (I’m guessing that mainly because she has “Do you draw nudity?” in her FAQ.) But I think that’s part of what makes it hypno-fetish art, not just erotic art. To someone who is genuinely thrilled by hypnosis, it doesn’t matter if the clothes stay on–what’s happening is an erotic encounter, every bit as romantic and enticing as a sex scene to someone else. We can look at the art and appreciate what’s happening on an emotional level between the characters, because Sue-Chan pulls it off so well. That’s impressive, and she deserves a lot of praise for it.

So, in the comments, go ahead and add your shout-out to Sue-Chan!