The Master PC Universe

Writing Journal: Well, I've more or less wrapped up The Adjusters #30—and thus Book II—at least in draft form. And now I'm left slightly empty. As one commenter pointed out last week, maybe I do need a bit of a rest.

One of my goals over the Holidays was to try to outline more precisely The Adjusters's overarching story line. I mean, I know the broad strokes of the story, the beats if you will: where it starts, where it ends, who does what and why, the key events that will shape each character's arc, that sort of thing. But the details, well, the details, they are nebulous. Not that I'm complaining, really—part of the fun of writing for me is uncovering those details. But there are a couple of things that are nagging me like annoying chihuahuas barking at my heels. Things like worrying that one thing I want to introduce the readers will not buy, or figuring out how to present something complicated in a way that's dramatically satisfying. I think what I have will work, I just need to convince myself of that. Then again, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, right?

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Earlier this month, over at MC Forum, JR Parz said some nice things about Book II of The Adjusters, in a thread devoted to readers' favorite 2011 stories. I recommend you check the thread out for links to good recent mind-control smut.

One of the reason that this kudos pleased me to no end is that I've been a fan of JR Parz for a long time now, ever since I first read through his definitive Master PC story: “Adam discovers a computer program that allows him to become a virtual god to the people around him, allowing him the power to bend their reality to his specifications.” The hallmarks of JR's writing are all there: short scenes, no-nonsense descriptions, and lots and lots of sex. In a setting where the hero gets his hands on something that lets him change everything around him to satisfy his perverse desires. Sweet indeed.

Master PC is special because it touched a collective nerve in the MC community, and subsequently spawned a whole universe. Everyone and their mothers wanted to contribute something to that stone soup. And the result is pretty amazing. JR in fact has collected most of the stories set in the Master PC universe and maintains a web page for it.

For the record, the second Master PC story I read was OBOne's Master PC: Creampie Edition: “In addition to the women around him, Chris uses the Master PC program on himself so that he comes a lot.” Not only is this tale pretty hot, I've also found it oddly sweet.

What's especially interesting about the Master PC universe is that several top-notch MC authors have contributed to it. Here are three of my favorites, but I urge you to go and investigate what's available. There is something for every taste in the collection.

First, we have Bobwhite's The Ornithologist: “Michelle has the Master PC program, but she would rather have someone else take control of her.” A beautiful subversion of the original story line, and a crisp tale as Bobwhite tends to write them.

Second, we have The Sinner's Opening the Box: “Jason attempts to write an open-source clone of the Master PC program.” A tale up to The Sinner's phenomenal standard. Choosing the protagonist's girlfriend's point of view for this one is just genius.

Finally, we have Abe Froman's Gaps in Time: “Maria goes through a set of changes after she disciplines an employee for looking at porn and downloading strange programs from the Internet.” This is an exceedingly hot tale, again told from the victim's perspective. Here, the Master PC program is used more as a MacGuffin than anything else—it is just a device to control the protagonist, but it really could have been anything. But the result is excellent, so who am I to argue such finicky details?

Dare I say it? I've thought about adding an entry to this universe. I still do. Maybe one day...