This was nothing like an apology from Sharon, but neither was this most recent bout of menacing up to her usual calculating standards. I can't escape the conclusion that Sharon didn't expect Mandy to try to kill Peter, and her own complicity (and lack of foresight) in Mandy's assault bothers Sharon on a level she can't quite access. She can't own up to it, of course, to Peter or to anyone else. I can't remember if Amy or Kimmy are also in Peter's English class, but Sharon seems to have dismissed her coterie while she collects herself. Insisting on her superiority, she reflexively contrasts her care of Peter both with Mandy's callousness and Lisa's negligence, with no other apparent goal than to reassure herself. Feeling on the defensive, she ends the encounter with a derisive barb at the most visible instance of Peter's popularity.

I've lost sight of Sharon's preferred endgame, and perhaps she's shaky on it now, too.

C'mon, Sharon, you're smarter than to conspicuously keep your seat while everyone else is standing and applauding.  You can still eye-fuck Peter while politely clapping.  Better not to attend at all and establish a solid alibi elsewhere.  Mandy's already been questioned by the authorities, and you can't be sure she didn't name you as a provocateur.

I haven't been this frightened of a basement since Buffalo Bill's. While Peter's been doing a fair job keeping Mandy in a non-punitive mood, there's still a lot of accidental peril. I doubt that basement is arthropod-free.

My favorite thing about petplay is the intrinsic humiliation.  Even Lisa would have to stifle a giggle at the sight of Peter in a hamster ball.  I doubt Mandy is deliberately trying to humiliate Peter, but indifference to others' dignity is only one of her many social failings.  Good thing she's not interested in setting up a YouTube channel.

He's gonna hafta apologize and ask to see the movie with her.  And he has to mean it.

Mandy frowned, processing the sudden re-emergence of Peter’s hardiness.  Had to read that one twice.

Excellent rising tension.  Peter's been through so many perils and survived, it's difficult to keep the menace immediate, but Mandy's "nobody's little bitch" zeal is genuinely terrifying.  Stabbing the airholes with Peter in the jar is an image that will stay with me for a long time.  It's gonna be fun in the morning when Mandy discovers she forgot to let him use the outhouse before bed.

Excellent sensory details.  I hope she remembered to record it with her phone.

I'm glad Peter is developing more internal resources for surviving such experiences, because he'll never be able to escape them entirely.

I'm not sure if I was aware of Giantess World back in 2011, but the curious fact is that even if I had been aware of the site back then, I probably would have taken one look at the tags and/or synopsis for Julia and given it a pass.  At that time, I had a much narrower appreciation of size-fantasy, and I had already seen plenty of underdeveloped psychotic giantesses tormenting tinies without care or nuance.  If any of my fantasies had featured "evil" giantesses, I typically wanted a "gentle" giantess to intervene (and triumph).

Since then, however, I have reflected deeply on where my desires might come from and allowed all sorts of ideas to surface.  I have also been exposed to talented creators in the size-fantasy community (I still marvel at how far we've come and how many interesting people have popped up), and this has really broadened my tastes.

I think I first took a good look at Julia sometime in 2014, after I first tried my own hand at writing size-fantasy stories and was looking around for other examples of thoughtful writing. The story came highly recommended, and I went back to the beginning and was immediately drawn in. The connection between horror and eros is well-understood, but it was oh so gratifying to see it applied to size-fantasy.  Being held in the hand of a giantess can be viscerally arousing, and it can be sickeningly terrifying.  In Julia, you showed how it could be both at the same time.

Thank you for picking this back up and seeing it through, although as someone who has spent months thinking about his own characters, I imagine you could hardly abandon Jack and Julia after investing years in them.

Your writing is a spectacular example of how complex-yet-consistent characters, tight plotting, smart dialogue, and evocative-yet-subtle imagery can ring the cherries even if one's favorite fetish tags aren't represented (although if you want to throw an insertion scene into The Freshman, I won't complain).

-- Olo

"I can't believe I missed out. Was that just a one-time offer?" Yah, they had too much fun with the taunting part of the plan. And a smart Cyclops Julia would have turned around after the clothesline.  Just goes to show that at this point no one's at the top of their game.

I hope the finale's appropriately gory. You can't raise the stakes and then leave us hanging. I think that principle is called Chekhov's Guppy.

This is an excellent example of your talent for portraying conversation with depth and nuance.  I really appreciate it when dialogue is leavened with body language and internal asides, and you always deliver.  The entire story hinges on this encounter, and reading it made my guts as icy as Jack's.

That said, I don't think Julia's the only one engaging in desparate wish-fulfillment here.