The issue of Forum (UK) I talked about last month is out — Volume 42, Number 12, as stated — and the “little article” on body inflation is significantly more than little. When I did the email interview, I expected it would be a 250-word piece in the “here’s a whole bunch of little articles” up-front section that most mags have. Maybe 300 words, tops. A cartoon, pinup, or illustration, with any luck, to drive the point home.

What we got was an eight-page feature and a line on the cover. See it there on her ankle?

Holy shit.

Most of the article is from my e-mail interview with the author, but Critical Volume supplied illustrations as well as added his experiences as a member of the community, how he got into it, stuff like that. It’s a very non-judgmental piece; it’s more “look at this unusual interest” and not the “look at these sicko freaks” approach we sometimes get.

And if you read the article, you’ll see a note about an upcoming project I’m working on, and have been for over a year now. It’s pretty ambitious (for me, anyway) and involves several people working together. I expect it to go live in early 2009. I’ll stop short of announcing it just yet, but the project is going to happen — and if you buy the magazine, the project’s URL is right there on page 61.

Did I mention Volume 42, Number 12 of Forum is currently on sale at fine British smut purveyors everywhere?

In early 2008, someone in the community that I have known for years and respect greatly kinda hurt my feelings. The gist was that he felt I didn’t really deserve to call myself part of the inflatable fetish creative community because I didn’t really generate enough content.

He had a point. I’d been the curator a video website, and even though I’d captured and edited (and even morphed) some of the clips that appeared there, I’d chosen to pass the site on to someone else several years ago, in part to chase some new ideas. I was involved in Cyndi Irresistible’s voice-over projects, but well, even though I instigated that whole thing, I was just the engineer and editor, not the performer or writer. I don’t have the Photoshop skills to do photo morphs. I clearly can’t draw. And when it comes to writing stories, my output has been very weak, maybe one new tale every two years. And I’ve worked on a few projects that were never announced or released — one was a collaboration with LVKane that I still hope to revisit — but you know, nobody knows you’re creating stuff unless you actually release it, so I don’t get any credit for those half-done attempts. Ditto for all the private edits I’ve done for writers looking for direct feedback on their incomplete stories. A good editor is, by nature, invisible, and doesn’t get credit for their work.

So, looking at my visible output over the last few years, his point was, maybe I shouldn’t offer criticisms to other people who were actually making new inflation content, since I’d clearly stopped making new stuff myself.

What he didn’t know — and what I didn’t feel comfortable saying — was that I was already spearheading a large project that had taken several months of development and would take several months more. But what if the project got derailed? Multiple people with different schedules are involved. I wouldn’t want to have talked up a project that was so far away only to have it dissolve and have his accusations basically come true.

But I think we’re out of the woods. A website has been purchased, it’s now being designed, and the content to go with it is in development. I’m happy to say that I will soon be talking more freely about this mysterious creative project. And maybe I’ll earn that creator title after all.

Remember last post when I suggested that Bambi’s lack of response was weird, and might be a sign of the economic hardships? Um, wow, was I wrong — and I’ve never been so sorry to hear the truth: Someone reported Bambi to the authorities — falsely — for child pornography. Bambi explains.

This is not even remotely amusing. I don’t know if someone did it as a prank, as revenge, as a way to kill her business…doesn’t matter, really. Actually, it matters in that the motive might lead to the culprit. But I think the authorities are already on that.

Every so often the words “inflation fetish” and “child porn” get lumped together, and it’s usually because of the Violet scene in Willy Wonka. “Eew, they’re into little girls!” they cry. No, you’re wrong; we’re not into little girls, we’re into the expansion and transformation. You’re being disgusted by the completely wrong thing. And we’ve always worked hard to nip that in the bud when people try to make the connection, since it’s so wildly off-base.

But Bambi? I mean, look at the videos. There are no kids in there. There are no suggestions of kids in there. There are no mentions of kids in there. There is nothing at all to do with children, childhood, underagers, NOTHING. All of the fantasies are of an adult nature and they have never even flirted with the things they were accused of doing. (The authorities now know this, as Bambi cooperated and was cleared; the investigation into who is wasting the sheriff department’s time is now the focus.) It’s a claim without any merit whatsoever — and it horrifies me to think that someone made that baseless allegation, came close to ruining someone’s life (thankfully, she’s not giving up or giving in), and might actually get away with it. They are currently looking for the anonymous tipster with the spoofed internet phone call who started it all.

It’s not fucking funny. If you know who placed the internet tip call, please, come forward and tell them. This isn’t the least bit acceptable. This is not what our community is about.

But at the same time, I want to remind everybody that it’s not a witch hunt, Please don’t throw around more baseless allegations in the form of hunches; only come forward if you have information that can legitimately help. I’m sure they’re already up to their eye teeth in “you know who I bet it was” and “I wouldn’t put it past this person” stuff, and I’m sure they have a list of suspects. But what they need is the perpetrator.

If you can help, I implore you to do so.