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#also it's mostly set in the victorian era
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Period Drama Appreciation Week 2022: Day 2: Favourite Character: Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler, Dracula
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I hope it’s understood that my “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” blogging is entirely meant for an audience of 1. that 1 being me. like if other people see those posts and actually read them and interact with them that’s a-ok too, but I am literally just journaling my thoughts on this show directly to tumblr bc it is the easiest and most fun place to do so. I look like I’m having Important Thoughts but really I’m just doing my typical external processor thing here instead of in the presence of my family members, who usually have to put up with it shdkdhdjfj
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@pastlink tagged me to make a moodboard using the first 9 images that show up on my pinterest feed 🖤
no pressure tagging @thisisntaparty @drippinlou @paleangels13 @theflyingfeeling @ladysorbus @fangirlinglikealoon
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vinceaddams · 9 months
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Early 18th (and late 17th) century fashions are so under-utilized in vampire media and I think it's a damn shame.
I don't actually think I've ever seen a single image of a vampire character in an early 18th century suit. Hardly any movies set in that era either, and hardly any historical costumers who do it. (Even my beloved gay pirate show set in 1717 takes nearly all of its 18th century looks from the second half of the century. Not enough appreciation for baroque fashion!!)
Yes I love late 18th century fashion as much as anyone, and 19th century formal suits are all very well and good, but if you want something that says old, dead, wealthy, and slightly dishevelled, then the 1690's-1730's are where it's at.
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(Retrato del Virrey Alencastre Noroña y Silva, Duque de Linares, ca. 1711-1723.)
There was so much dark velvet, and so many little metallic buttons & buttonholes. Blood red linings were VERY fashionable in this era, no matter what the colour of the rest of the suit was.
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(Johann Christoph Freiherr von Bartenstein by Martin van Meytens the Younger, 1730's.)
The slits on the front of the shirts are super low, they button only at the collar, and it's fashionable to leave most of the waistcoat unbuttoned so the shirt sticks out, as seen in the above portraits.
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(Portrait of Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert, Comte de Richbourg-le-Toureil, 1734.)
Waistcoats are very long, coats are very full, and the cuffs are huge. But the sleeves are on the shorter side to show off more of that shirt, and the ruffles if it has them! Creepy undead hands with long nails would sit so nicely under those ruffles.
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(1720's-30's, LACMA)
Embroidery designs are huge and chunky and often full of metallic threads, and the brocade designs even bigger.
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(1730's, V&A, metal and silk embroidery on silk satin.)
Sometimes they did this fun thing where the coat would have contrasting cuffs made from the same fabric as the waistcoat.
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(Niklaus Sigmund Steiger by Johann Rudolf Huber, 1724.)
Tell me this look isn't positively made for vampires!
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(Portrait of Jean-Baptiste de Roll-Montpellier, 1713.)
(Yeah I am cherry-picking mostly red and black examples for this post, and there are plenty of non-vampire-y looking images from this time, but you get the idea!)
And the wrappers (at-home robes) were also cut very large, and, if you could afford it, made with incredible brocades.
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(Portrait of a nobleman by Giovanni Maria delle Piane, no date given but I'd guess maybe 1680's or 90's.)
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(Circle of Giovanni Maria delle Piane, no date given but I'd guess very late 17th or very early 18th century.)
Now that looks like a child who's been stuck at the same age for a hundred years if I ever saw one!
I don't know as much about the women's fashion from this era, but they had many equally large and elabourate things.
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(1730's, Museo del Traje.)
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(Don't believe The Met's shitty dating, this is a robe volante from probably the 1720's.)
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(Mantua, c. 1708, The Met. No idea why they had to be that specific when they get other things wrong by entire decades but ok.)
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(Portrait of Duchess Colavit Piccolomini, 1690's.)
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(Maria van Buttinga-van Berghuys by Hermannus Collenius, 1717.)
Sometimes they also had these cute little devil horn hair curls that came down on either side of the forehead.
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(Viago in drag Portrait of a lady, Italian School, c. 1690.)
Enough suave Victorian vampires, I want to see Baroque ones! With huge wigs and brocade coat cuffs so big they go past the elbow!
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chere-indolente · 4 months
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At the Theater
It's me again ! I won't rest easy until I'm done filling the gaps in my 1880s wardrobe and evening wear sure was a big one. So here, come and look at these 1870's / 1880's evening bodices, 4 of them ! You're welcome, just don't use them for gardening or the historical fashion police will be on your back ❤️
More pics and download below
This set was inspired by 2 of Mary Cassatt's paintings : as referenced in the title, At the Theater, 1880 and Woman in a Loge, 1879.
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——————— Plain and Bow Bodices ———————
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These 2 bodice are the ones that are most inspired by Mary Cassatt's paintings, but it's also a style I've seen a bunch in other impressionist paintings of the time. It's a simple sleek bodice with off the shoulder sleeves and a low rounded collar as was fashionable in the late 1870s and early 1880s.
It is specially made to be worn over my bustle skirts. An overlay is included to change the bow's color.
74 swatches for the bodices : 22 solids, 10 floral, 6 plaid, 25 striped & 11 polka dot patterns
22 solid swatches for the bow overlay
the bow overlay is in the right wrist section
Disclaimer :
1 -be aware there will be some distorsion in the armpit area, I did my best but armpit weights are tricky.
2 - the patterned swatches will not be seamless in that same armpit region as you can see below it's quite cluncky :
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————————— Rococo Bodice —————————
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This bodice, like the name implies, is inspired by Rococo fashion. The Rococo style dates back to the 18th century and it had a bit of a revival during the victorian era which impacted the fashion as much as the interior decor among other things. This influence, here, results in a squarish neck line and a triangle piece reminiscent of 18th century stomachers.
Like the the plain and bow bodices it has been specially made to be worn over my bustle skirts. An overlay is included to change the trim's color.
74 swatches for the bodice : 22 solids, 10 florals, 6 plaids, 25 stripes & 11 polka dots patterns
22 solid swatches for the Rococo trim overlay
the Rococo trim overlay is in the right wrist section
————————— Flower Bodice —————————
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This bodice was mostly inspired by some fashion plates from 1880.
Contrary to the 3 others, I made it so it sits under the skirt, so it'll work with other bottoms than my bustle skirt too should you want to.
74 swatches for the bodice : 22 solids, 10 florals, 6 plaids, 25 stripes & 11 polka dots patterns
62 swatches with various color combinations for the flower overlay
the flower overlay is in the right wrist section
——————————   Boutonnière  —————————
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In addition to the flower accessories from my previous set, here is a boutonnière that sits lower on the chest to work with lower neck lines. Contrary to my previous boutonnière, this one is also compatible with necklaces. Like my other flower accessories, this is a pretty timeless accessory as evidence by the picture below.
Once again this is an edit of @the-melancholy-maiden's Hair Flowers Through the Ages Part 2 thanks to her very open TOU.
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not compatible with hats
in the nose piercing section (so that it's compatible with necklace)
51 swatches : the-melancholy-maiden's original 29 colors and my 22 colors
available for female frames
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Download : dropbox — simfileshare
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And as a little bonus some of my reference main reference pictures :
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vintagesimstress · 10 months
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1850: Night at the Opera (in collaboration with The Royal Thornolia Chronicles)
After my months-long Celtic spree, the time has come to briefly return to my old era of interest...
May I present to you a small 1850s set, made together with amazing Ali, the author of @theroyalthornoliachronicles! We're both so excited to finally share it with you all 💗 Make sure to check Ali's post for her half of the collaboration - practically necessary if you want your mid-Victorian gentlemen to be properly dressed for the evening!
While Ali dealt with the men, I focused - surprise surprise - on the ladies. And made two evening dresses, both inspired by the same fashion plate from ca. 1850:
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If you follow Ali's story, you probably remember that a certain mademoiselle Eleanor Valery wore the dress on the right to an opera event. The dress on the left also made a short appearance, as it (or rather: its beta version) was worn by my simself Cecile, who was kindly invited to participate in the evening as well (no, that's not my real name. I just asked my husband to give me a random female French name, and that was the first thing he came up with ;)). And so both dresses are named after those characters: Eleanor and Cecile.
Both come in 29 swatches and I swear all of those colour combos come straight from mid-Victorian fashion plates - even if Ali claimed some of them remind her of 1980s Barbies ;)
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polycount: ca. 17K for Eleanor (that's HIGH my friends, you have been warned. Believe me or not, it's mostly the fault of all those tiny deco flowers) and 7,5 for Cecile
Base Game compatible
HQ mod compatible (pictures taken with the mod)
Cecile uses glass shader for lace transparency = won’t work properly in laptop mode
all LODs
custom thumbnails, bump and specular maps, lots of satin shine
tagged as everyday and formal
found under long dress subcategory
colour tagged
disallowed for random
PDNs included if anyone wants to make recolours. You don’t need them for the mesh to work.
You might notice that they vary slightly in style, and that's because I put an insane amount of work into texturing Cecile, as somehow I couldn't get it to look any satisfactory with my usual methods. I love the result, but the whole process was so convoluted that I'm not even sure if I could still retrace all the steps, let alone redo Eleanor in the same style. So we're left with this small discrepancy between both dresses. Hope you don't mind!
DOWNLOAD on my Patreon (free, no ads or early access)!
And now, once again, jump over to The Royal Thornolia Chronicles for the other half of the goodies :)
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omgthatdress · 1 year
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Cécile and Marie-Grace were released alongside the best friends line of dolls, and are a pretty transparent gimmick to get people to buy two dolls at once. That being said, I actually kind of love their collection.
Their story is set in New Orleans in 1853, which is a pretty great way to represent the Antebellum South without having a Scarlett O’Hara doll. New Orleans was one of the few places in the south with a robust middle class. Everywhere else had tremendous wealth inequality with absurdly rich plantation-owners, barely surviving poor Whites, and slaves.
Cécile is of the gens de coleur libre, that is, the free people of color, a class of New Orleans citizens born out of the plaçage system in which White men would take women of color as informal second wives. Plaçees held a really interesting position, as they could legally claim inheritance once their patron died, and the children born of plaçage could be named heir of an estate. Plaçees were also allowed to develop assets and run small businesses. All of this created a level of generational wealth that was unique among African-Americans at the time. Today, their descendants are known as Creoles.
As far as Marie-Grace goes, I don’t think she’s Cajun, just French-American. Cajuns are a specific group, the Catholic descendants of the French colonizers of Acadia, now called Nova Scotia, who were forced by the British out of the home. They settled mostly in the fertile Mississippi delta, and maintained a rural, somewhat insular way of life. Marie-Grace is the city-dwelling daughter of a doctor, so probably just the descendant of regular French citizens who settled in New Orleans.
Hair-wise, this is the era when girls tied their hair up with rags at night to have fat sausage curls in the morning. Most photographs and paintings that I’ve seen of Black girls in the era show them with their hair tied up, but there are a few who had curls.
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Marie-Grace’s face-framing curls are a little bit more Jan Brady than 1850s, but it’s cute on her, so I’ll give her credit for that. The long hair isn’t inaccurate.
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There’s something about Cécile’s dress that keeps saying “wrong” but I can’t quite put my finger on it. A more accurate dress would be more along the lines of something like this:
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(The Victoria & Albert Museum)
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(The Victoria & Albert Museum)
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(New York Historical Society)
Marie-Grace’s dress seems to have been inspired by this portrait of Creole children:
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(credit to @in-pleasant-company​ for finding it)
Cécile’s pillbox hat is a style that was adopted more in the late 1860s and 1870s. A more accurate hat would also have her in a “coal scoop” bonnet.
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Her gloves, however, are accurate and adorable!
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(The Met Museum)
Marie-Grace is wearing a kind of sun hat that was popular for children:
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(The Met Museum)
Marie-Grace’s fan looks typical of the French fans that were popular at the time. They were usually painted with pretty pastoral scenes instead of flowers, however, although Chinese fans at the time frequently had floral themes.
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(The Philadelphia Museum of Art)
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(The Victoria & Albert Museum)
The shoes are definitely late Victorian rather than 1850s. Fine city ladies in the 1850s would be wearing boots made out of silk with leather soles:
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(The Met Museum)
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I'm still not over Taylor's Fortnight MV... to say it's my favorite visual work she's done would be an understatement. As with all things on this album, she did her research. Her incredible DP - Rodrigo Prieto - who has shot The Man, Cardigan, and Willow MVs. As well as, Brokeback Mountain, The Barbie Movie, Killer of the Flower Moon, etc.
There are so many ways to parse the story of the Fortnight video, but I will mostly focus on Taylor's use of mirroring to make some of the video's larger points.
I am a queer former film student so I wanna note that that's the bias I'll be writing from. If that disinterests you, no worries! This just may not be for you.
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Love that we start with silent film era titles. One is black, one is white, perhaps a ying yang visual or simply representing the original album + the anthology. Could also be the light + dark of her two sides represented by Taylor and Post Malone.
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The vertical alignment shift in the word Fortnight is interesting because the other time i noticed her doing this was in the closing poem for TTP with, "Some stars never align." Would be cute to have it like a nod to screenplay scene heading: INT. FORT - NIGHT
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We start with Taylor, virtually still, but singing. She's handcuffed to an askew bed frame - sans mattress - with bars resembling a prison/cage.
The mirroring she's doing here is reminding us of "real life" Taylor's outfit at the 2024 Grammy's, but with the addition of white gauzy gloves + garter belt (like on tour), it reads more bridal, more bed sheet. That similar clock necklace is set to, best as I can tell, 9pm.
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And she's got enough hairpins to... idk... make me spin out? Her make up evokes a little Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, legends of the silver screen, etc.
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Taylor stops lip-syncing. Breaking the fourth wall, with direct eye contact, she's forced a "Forget Him" pill and unshackled from her bed prison. Unlike the next instance we get this match shot, it feels like she's telling the audience she knows we're watching and her look has a "this is what I'm forced to do" anger charged to it.
Also, the pill itself seems to break Taylor's reality from here on out. She "forgets him," but perhaps also becomes a different him herself.
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She walks over, in her wacky funhouse of a prison room - skewed angles, upside down doors (those who enter from the left walk on the "ceiling" - to an actual mirror. But this mirror looks more like a one-way mirror. Meaning that the subject can see themselves, but so can others they can't see on the other side. Usually so the subject can be observed.
Still appropriate to break the fourth wall as though we are watching her in a way she can't return.
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She wipes her face to reveal Post Malone's tattoos under the veneer of her prerfect facade. Once done, she utters the first "I want to kill her." She wants to "kill" Taylor TM?
I'll basically be going forward assuming that Post Malone is established in this mirror shot as a representation of Taylor, perhaps her True Taylor underneath the engineered perfection. This door/portal splits her in two on entry. From one white-clad figure to two black-clad ones. Kind of like the splitting of a prism.
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Instead of exiting this upside down asylum, she goes deep into a department - perhaps the Tortured Poets kind. We get an awesome match cut/panning transition where Grammy dress referential Taylor morphs into a Victorian mourning dress. One very similar to the dresses on stage during Folklore during Eras (at the bottom of post). Perhaps also a nod to Emily Dickinson herself.
The way they design the set to make it so her asylum and office are connected feels like a not so subtle call out on how she feels about her chosen industry. Not quite a cheery take on the Lover House for ex. Time also becomes a little bendy, irrelevant when she does this portal walk.
When she enters she sits at a mirrored desk, morphing into Post Malone's silhouette. To the side we have faceless writers, also dressed in black older fashions, that seem to go on for infinity like a mirror trick.
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Taylor sits down to start writing, Post Malone is already typing. They're both in black with embellished collars. We see that she has a top sheet with typed words, but under they're blank. Post has a pile next to him, along with his fountain pen, which perhaps are fully done b/c placement on the other side of him. Their desks are also arranged ever so slightly different. So Post-Taylor is a typing machine, Taylor needs to catch up...
But then Post Malone looks up to create this awesome mirrored match cut.
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Taylor and Post-Taylor get to work, singing the chorus, camera cutting on their lines in mirror shots respectively.
We see a typewriter jam the same lines from the song, but specifically "I LOVE YOU." Granted, we can't be 100% sure whose typewriter it is, but we see Taylor type "Love You." Perhaps they're mirroring each other in even this task.
Eventually their stories starts leaking blue and orange/gold ether which prisms out to reveal "The Story of Us."
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Really great shot of the infinity vanishing point effect from the unidentified crowd, how they're positioned makes them look like they're mirroring all of us watching/sharing our opinions.
This is where I'll stop for Part 1 because it's not ok how late this album has been keeping me up.
But a couple of things to start:
Taylor using very strong, very consistent mirroring techniques to create distinctions from narrator, character, and audience. Even the music is mirrored in the chorus with Post Malone's repetition.
By both wearing the face tattoos under a perfect exterior (the face we know her by), and immediately separating into two characters - one with her face/gender expression as we know it and Post-Taylor who now wears the face tattoos we just saw/is also sporting the face and gender expression we are familiar with him. It's Taylor TM the Brand vs Hidden (in plain sight) Identity Taylor.
Her typewriter emits an orange/golden glow from all of her repeated "I LOVE YOU'S," while his emits blue. Together they're creating the next story vignette: "The Story of Us."
One basic read for this is that Taylor could be owning her male POVs that come up in her songs (Folklore we're looking at you). Another read I have is that Taylor TM is writing the love song framework expected from her as an artist while Post-Taylor injects the devastation, anger, emotion, the heavy blues we often unearth from a song we originally thought was upbeat, romantic, unassuming. And considering these mirrored halves, I think that aligns with her own messages about her music, that people will always going looking for paternity tests - the publicized romance pulled from what we think we know about her. But perhaps the assumed truths of a song could be, and often are, driven by your gendered expectations - "Girl loves boy, sings about that." The hidden in plain sight Taylor subverts what the surface level shows.
The True Taylor is an unrecognizable author. And that writer is producing the meat of the work.
Additionally, I love that she's wearing a dress that feels taken off the Era's stage.
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Folklore in particular was a really different writing era for her. She presented the characters and stories as fiction and all the sudden an unknown male collaborator — William Bowery — gets credited on it. I'd love if the message, in part, was hey I'm actually my own male writing partner. Regardless, her other half/POV was able to allow her to write truths so long as they remained unrecognizable.
But she's wearing the mourning dress, looking over at her hidden true half, looking over anxiously. And then begins to write. They're half the story that makes up the whole, one needing the other to tell the story they want to tell. Perhaps it's a call out to Folklore in particular as a solution to being limited by expectations of her signature diaristic-like songs' perspectives. Using it as a way to tell a version of the truth from a POV society or the powers that be in her life would accept it from — not Taylor TM as she is/who she's known to be.
More generally, the "male pov" and the male pronouns, just seem to be called irrelevant smoking guns in the game of knowing the unknowable - what her work, a lot of her work, is referencing specifically. These two writers, as presented, are still both Taylor. Them's the rules here. Ok, see you in PT. 2!
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coffeewritesfiction · 1 month
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Welcome to Coffee Writes Fiction!
A Little About Me:
Hello! My name is Coffee, or Jason if you rather. I’m 32yo as of writing, he/him, living on the East Coast about 30 minutes from the ocean. I love cats, coffee and tea, roleplaying, horror games, researching whatever grabs my attention, vintage/nostalgia/kitsch, pretty photos, and a lot more.
This blog is both a place to dump my personal projects [both original and fanfiction] and a source of knowledge and inspiration for my followers! In addition to writing-related posts, you may see art, science, history, queer subjects, BIPOC topics, current events [within reason], poetry, inspirational quotes, really whatever seems like it would help or inspire someone, I’ll reblog here. There will also occasionally be reblogs from other tumblr users who need help, mostly financial. Hell, sometimes I even need help. It’s not easy being disabled in this era…
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What I Write:
My fiction is dark, always has been. Most of my protagonists are trans men, because I write what I want to see. I apply content warnings where needed and I can think of them but please let me know if I miss something.
Here’s a list of my current WIPs
Farewell Vesperos: Book 1 of the gothic fantasy Runner Owen series. In a Victorian inspired world of eternal night, detective for hire Owen Rosedown must unravel the mystery of the destroyed Vesperos family and its missing heir before a killer strikes again. Series features ghosts, evil vampires, dangerous princes, and a gay villainous love triangle.
Hollywood’s Prince [working title]: Erotic Runner Owen standalone spinoff/au set in a fantasy 1950s Hollywood. While investigating a string of thefts, B-movie actor and amateur sleuth Owen discovers Hollywood’s favorite leading man, the tall dark and handsome Aurum, is a vampire. Concept still in development.
Lionheart: Concept under development but it's gonna be gay as hell. With unicorns that are tattooed punk assholes when human. And a 35+ year old protagonist.
Pharaoh Syndicate Investigations: my Cthulhu Mythos project! Features characters borrowed from my friends, with permission. Full summary tbd
Which Image: fanfiction for the super obscure retro-style horror/adventure video game series the Chzo Mythos. No familiarity needed. British gentleman thief turned supernatural government agent Trilby saves the life of a young American woman. It's just an average day for him. He has no idea everything in his life will be turned upside down within hours. Two stories out of ??? written.
[Some of] My Other Blogs:
@afterdarkwithcoffee : the 18+ original fiction and general adult content blog. No minors!
@runner-owen : a blog dedicated to my Runner Owen series and its spinoffs. Contains aesthetic images, reference material, and actual stuff I've written
Everywhere Else I Am:
Bluesky (trying to remember to use it)
Buttondown (ditto)
Tip Jar:
Kofi
Cashapp
Great to meet you! I hope you find something to enjoy here! ❤️
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theresattrpgforthat · 10 months
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this might be a big ask, but do you know of any fantasy adventure RPGs that does idk fantasy napolionics, not nesesarily actual napolionics with fantasy elements, but sorta 18th very early 19th century tech + magic and other fantasy stuff, pre/peri-industrial but only just, whfrpg leans (allover the place but) earlier, and a lot of other fantasy stuff with guns leans eather Piracy, or steapunk?
THEME: Fantasy Napoleonics.
Hello friend, there's a lot of different elements going on here, so I"m casting a pretty wide net to show you what's out there. I hope something in here strikes your fancy! I primarily looked for games that felt like they fell within the right time frame, but I also threw in some games that maybe fall just outside your parameters in the hopes they spark something for you.
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Castle Falkenstein, by R. Talsorian Games.
When computer game designer Tom Olam found himself sorcerously shanghaied by a rogue Wizard and a Faerie Lord, little did he suspect that he would soon become the pivotal force in the struggle to control an alternate Victorian Universe. But before the deadly game could end, he would first have to battle gigantic Landfortresses, outwit Dragons, romance a beautiful Adventuress, and defeat the Evil legions of a Dark Court determined to destroy him at all costs.  Then maybe, just maybe, he could find a way home again …
Originally published in 1994, Castle Falkenstein is set in the Victorian era, but with a magical twist. This is a world of swashbuckling and adventure, complete with elves, dwarves and magic - but also submarines, Sherlock Holmes, and England’s courtly sensibilities.
There’s going to be many different kinds of roleplaying options in this kind of game, including combat, feats of derring-do, and diplomacy! The thing that possibly makes this game a bit far from what you’re looking for is the ruleset. Rather than using dice, this game uses a deck of cards, with different suits being suitable for different tasks, while card value determines skill or difficulty.
When it comes to setting, however, you’re going to have a lot of great things to look at. The supplements for this game include The Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Curious Creatures, Steam Age, and more!
17th Century Minimalist, by Games Omnivorous.
Welcome to the 17th century minimalist.
This is a fast-paced and highly-deadly game with a pinch of black humour that puts characters as wanderers in 17th century Europe. You will play as tricksters, thieves, former soldiers, bankrupt swashbucklers and petty physicians, roaming the Old Continent in search of coin and glory. The system is designed to allow fast character creation, compatibility with other games (mostly in the OSR community) and a reckless style of play. 
The closest thing to magic in this game is an illusionist, but that doesn't stop this game from pushing your imagination. Games Omnivorous is pretty well-regarded in the OSR community. 17th Century Minimalist is meant to be simplified, fast-paced, and deadly, with technology like flintlock fire-arms, and goals like searching for treasure and glory. If you want to see a fuller review of this game, I’d recommend looking at Questing Beast’s video that covers the rules and the layout of the game.
A Guide to Casting Phantoms in the Revolution, by World Champ Games Co.
A Guide to Casting Phantoms in the Revolution is a single-session roleplaying game, in which players work together to summon specters to fight the aristocracy during the French Revolution. Featuring the pentacrawl system, Guide is different every time you play. Played on a story map in the shape of a pentagram, create a cast of characters, interpret symbols to create unique moments, and have the phantoms do you bidding—or you’ll do theirs!
This is a game with a number of physical, in-person components required to play. However, if you just have the pdf, the creator also directs you to online resources that you can print for the full experience. You are members of a secret cabal, casting phantoms to help you fight. This is a game that evokes the feeling of a ritual, and might feel magical or personal depending on how you play. It’s a strange mix of thematic storytelling and complex mechanics, so it might not be for everyone, but if you want to feel like a cult enacting revenge through eldritch rituals, I’d recommend checking this out!
Tales from the Aerosphere, by EfanGamez.
Tales from the Aerosphere is an original steampunk TTRPG that is powered by the Neon Nights system, a system that prioritizes seemingly limitless character creation freedom. From medics, to assassins, to mechanics, to a literal barbarian, there are THOUSANDS of character combinations you can play in Tales from the Aerosphere.
This game has its own setting, but all of the set pieces could be dropped, altered or changed if you like. The focus on this game is on character creation: the creator has outlined a number of discrete parts that you can use to not just put a unique character together, but tell you something about the world you’re in. If you’re a Spy, then there’s some kind of international conflict that hasn’t blown open into full-out war yet - perhaps there’s technology being developed that some nations don’t want others to learn about.
The game is extremely steampunk, with airships, CogWare that gives you exceptional abilities, and Tesla technology. It’s going to be on the more fantastical side of things, so if you really want to immerse yourself in another world, why not give it a go?
Shot & Splinters, by Tom Mecredy.
Shot & Splinters is a tabletop roleplaying game of naval adventure, inspired by Horatio Hornblower, Aubrey & Maturin, and Richard Sharpe. Drawing on history but not beholden to it, the game is set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, thrusting your characters into the heart of the conflict. 
If you want seafaring and piracy, this is probably the game for you. It’s set in a napoleonic time frame, but it has strange creatures located upon uncharted waters. The mechanics are OSR, so expect simple stats, tables upon tables of gear, and a hex crawl map of the uncharted seas. If you want more adventure in this world, you can also check out Beneath the Battlements, a city crawl that brings your characters through a city under invasion. Honestly, I think this game might be the closest on the list of what you're looking for in terms of technology level, and possibly theme.
Games I’ve Recommended in the Past
Lady Blackbird, by John Harper.
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miralines · 1 year
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so, thinking about points of inspiration for the different mechs, it’s not at all unreasonable for quite a lot of them to exist together in a (mostly) mundane historical au that keeps their backstory at least somewhat...
Like I’d say all of them but Carmilla and Aurora* can be traced back to a real Earth time and place, and a lot of those are technically close enough together for many of them to meet within natural human lifetimes. A timeline to demonstrate:
Between 100-1 BCE: Ivy, though the actual ending point of the Library of Alexandria is disputed. Caesar burned it in 48 BCE, but there’s evidence it still existed after that.
0 CE: Brian, if we’re assuming that Brian is space Jesus. Brian and Ivy could reasonably know each other in this case. 
between 1300 CE and 1860 CE: Scuzz, though both these ends are fairly unlikely. From my research, it looks like the height of the ninja era in Japan was between 1400 CE-1640 CE.
1400-1500: Possibly Raphaella? She’s a mystery, but based on the advanced science, the angel imagery, and the name, I think there’s the most evidence to put her at some point in the italian renaissance.
circa 1500-1650: Brian, if we’re assuming Brian is a space witch. Most witch hunts occurred within this window. This would put any combination of Brian, Raph, and Scuzz as feasible friends!
1800s: Marius? Like Raph, he’s a mystery, and I am not an expert on historical menswear, but based on the outfit and the baron/doctor thing I think he’s probably at some point in this century.
1837-1901: Toy Soldier’s origin, assuming it’s a victorian automaton. It also does not necessarily have a reasonable death date, as it wasn’t made immortal by Dr. Carmilla.
1865-1895: Jonny
1914-1918: Tim
1918: The historical storming of the winter palace. If Nastya was irl Anastasia, this would put her as being born in 1901
1920s-1940s: Ashes, based on the timeline of the American mafia, which seems to be the point of inspiration. However, that organization was founded in 1861, and it’s theoretically possible for them to come from a time as late as the 1980s, but based on historical mob peaks and costuming, 20s-40s seems most likely.
So depending on exact times (and places where my information or analysis may be incorrect) it’s completely possible to write a historical mechs au set in the 1930s which features Marius and Jonny (possibly also scuzz) as being older, with Tim and Nastya as adults and Ashes as a young adult, and the toy soldier, as usual, present, all within reasonable human lifespans.
*I have a few vague, barely-formed ideas about Aurora, but those are based on like. a handful of words in the forbidden lore. and Carmilla’s post-apocalyptic origin makes it difficult for me to place her in a historical timeline; the future seems far more likely for her. However, if we’re going by the 1872 novel, she could have been born in the 1700s, and if she’s still a vampire could at least meet the majority of the others.
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niccoughlan · 5 months
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We took our Carol trip!
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December 10, 2023, my good friend Sarah and I piled in my small Kia and made the 1 hr 40 min trip from Indianapolis, IN to see Cincinnati and Chevoit, Ohio shooting locations from 2015's "Carol." It's the only winter movie that matters to me. Here are some of the key locations we visited.
Tagging: @belivet, @pacinos, @lesbin
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Shillito Center and art deco exteriors in Cincinnati.
Shillito Center was a department store with art deco features including the beautiful clock pictured above. This was the exterior of Frankenberg's in the film. The Shillito's department store has closed but the beautiful building has been turned into luxury loft apartments!
The other buildings of note were the Bell Telephone Company's "Cincinnati Bell" building--my friend noticed that the decorative border on the building is comprised of a stone pattern of old rotary telephones! The exterior of the now-Hilton Cincinnati is another Carol shooting site, which doubled as New York City's Drake hotel.
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This is the exquisite Hilton Cincinnati at Netherland Plaza. As you can see, the art deco influence is strong and the rooms are gorgeous and grand. We were hungry and wanted to have lunch but the only available menu was the Dickens breakfast buffet, priced at a formidable $89! So we enjoyed a drink and a bowl of peanuts at the bar. A quartet of professional singers in Victorian costumes sang Christmas Carols beautifully in the background. The bartender was dressed like they used to dress, in a beautiful tailored slacks, shirt, and vest uniform. He did not work at the Hilton in 2014-2015 but was delighted by our quest. The entryway to the hotel is known as the "Hall of Mirrors," inspired by Versailles.
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This is the stone bathroom structure at Eden Park, which was the setting for the Christmas tree farm impromptu photography session. My friend watched Carol to prepare (she called it "fun homework") and I prepared by finding a tam o shanter hat at a thrift store. My parents had the scarf, blonde fur coat, faux fur hat, as part of their repository of items from doing over 25 years of community theater together. The rest of my clothing items are a regular part of my wardrobe. I vacillate between eras but I love 40s, 50s, and 60s best of all. I also think it's likely they filmed the scene of Therese and Richard on bicycle going through a park at Eden Park as well, but can't be totally sure.
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Finally, Maury's Tiny Cove Restaurant in Chevoit, Cincinnati is the setting of the first lunch between Carol and Therese. The booth they used for shooting has been preserved and I reserved it ahead of time, although surrounding booths also have pictures from filming hanging over them. It's been long enough that the server didn't know much about the film but told us that a group of excited college students ate there once and requested the same meal Carol and Therese ordered in the movie. I had lasagna as we had not eaten much all day, and a Santa Cosmopolitan from their holiday menu. The food was wonderful and it was obvious a lot of people are regulars. We noted that there are glass windows over the booths now, unlike in the movie, probably added during the height of Covid.
Bonus, but a disappointment:
Carol & Rindy's beautiful house at Grandin Rd has been completely re-done and now looks nothing like in the movie:
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And, "that's that"! A truly special and memorable experience.
Here is a link to a Google Drive with all of the unedited photos and videos we took if you want to see anything in original quality/detail. We shot video of the photography scene but it was mostly goofy and unusable haha.
We talked about the movie some and Sarah asked me which character was the best fit for my personality. Hands down, Abby. I was wide-eyed Therese once, never glam enough for Carol, but Abby will tell you the truth and not blush from it. My hero!
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goetiae · 9 months
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Black Butler deals with the topic of blood transfusion in the arc(s) centered around O!Ciel's twin brother and Undertaker's experiments in reviving the dead.
While the story is fictional, Yana Toboso does manage to introduce a few concepts about blood transfusion that are historically true to how it was handled in the Late Victorian period that the series is set in. However, like any fictional piece it also features multiple unrealistic episodes which simply would not have taken place in the Victorian era in the way that it did in the series.
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Blood transfusions were still a novelty in the medical field: the procedure dates back as recently as the 17th century. William Harvey conducted experiments on blood and concluded that it circulates indefinitely (Du Motu Cordis, 1628). The matter of circulation in the manga was brought up by Othello, and it is in fact interesting that for Victorians it was still a fairly recent discovery.
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The first blood transfusions were not used to assist people suffering blood loss - instead, they had to deal with attempting to cure damage received by the body after giving birth. Most early transfusions happened to try and resolve the issue of postpartum hemorrhage in women. Despite women being largely in the focus, men were mostly seen as proper donors: Anne Marie Moulin writes that in nineteenth-century transfusion, women were rarely donors, as their blood was held to be less plentiful and vital.
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What we do not witness in Black Butler is the widespread usage of interspecies blood transfusion: delivery of blood to humans from lambs, cows, calves, dogs, and such. Jean-Baptiste Denis was a pioneer of the procedure and conducted his first lamb-to-human transfusion in 1667. However, we are familiarized with the thought expressed by two characters, Sieglinde and Othello: the history of blood transfusion is a complicated one, and for a good reason.
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After being banned for nearly two centuries since its birth in France, blood transfusion revitalized in the 19th century in England with the work of James Blundell who concluded that animal transfusion did not prove to be effective and first worked with a human subject. Some of his experiments were successful, some not, though he persisted.
Interestingly, Blundell was an avid believer in the nourishing, nearly life-giving qualities of blood transfusion. He spoke of it as if introduction of new blood into the body literally had the ability to bring back the dead: a sentiment perhaps reflected in Undertaker's experiments to revive R!Ciel.
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His experiments went far enough to lead to the invention of an "impellor", a tool that is a mix of a pump and a funnel used for direct blood transfusion. He also invented a "gravitator", a chair with an additional tool to collect blood before it's delivered to the patient. Similar tools can be seen being used on the victims kidnapped to supply R!Ciel, and on himself.
R!Ciel seems to remain in elevation for his transfusions, which is something that was believed to be helpful as gravitational flow dragged blood into the vein. The tool that Undertaker is using clearly has a pump, which is also true to how transfusions were done. It should be additionally noted that nasal cannula R!Ciel is wearing in later chapters would not be invented until 1949.
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Further inventions and discoveries in the field were made: Thomas Smith used defibrilated blood for transfusions and M.B. Higginson invented a special syringe that was, however, later used for other purposes. A new leap in transfusion methods was attempted by T. G. Thomas who, knowing of blood's tendency to coagulate, argued that it's best to use milk - a practice that had its roots in Canada and the US. The dangers of blood transfusion due to contamination began to be spoken about only around the second half of the century when Joseph Lister invented (1867) antiseptics.
Interestingly, the phenomenon of blood coagulation is slightly touched upon in the manga: Siegliende marks that mixing two types of blood together leads to the mixture thickening.
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In the very end of the century, medicine saw invention of a saline mixture, which is employed as 0,9% Normal Saline in blood transfusions even nowadays. William Brooke O'Shaughnessy and Thomas A. Latta experimented on both dogs and humans with a saline mixture, remarking that it revitalized their patients well.
The Medical Journal Records of 1883 speak of use of saline in treating cholera patients during the epidemics; multiple cases of use are also marked in the British Medical Journal. These interesting details did not make it to the manga as of now, though it does additionally emphasize how unlikely blood transfusions were by the end of the century and how greatly the practice went into decay. This does, however, explain the secrecy with which Undertaker acts.
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Lastly, Siegliende and Othello both note that not knowing of blood types was indeed a great obstacle in the medical field at the time. The history of transfusions is full of unfortunate cases and failed experiments with many victims: ensuring blood transfusion's success was impossible until 1901 when blood types were first discovered by Karl Lendsteiner.
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gregorovitch-adler · 5 months
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20 Questions for Fic Writers!
Thanks for tagging me, @calaisreno !
1.) How many works do you have on AO3?
-> 69. It's been almost two years since I entered the world of fic writing. Enjoying my time!
2.) What's your current AO3 word count?
-> 204,949.
3.) What fandoms do you write for?
-> I've written for BBC Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Potter, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and Good Omens, so far.
4.) Top five fics by kudos?
-> An Old Photograph
Mysterious Cheekbones
A 'Brief' Case
We're Not a Couple!
Wounded
5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
-> I respond to all the comments, sometimes to say thanks, sometimes to elaborate on something. I love responding to comments, and receiving new comments always brings me joy (obviously).
6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
-> The Fall , I think. Although there are quite a few, but this one is the saddest.
7.) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
-> I mostly write happy endings, so it was a bit difficult to choose. But I think Whisper.
8.) Do you receive hate?
-> Not hate, exactly but rude comments, sometimes. Including bots. But that's also rare.
9.) Do you write smut?
-> Yeah, sometimes. I've written porn both with and without plot. It's fun.
10.) Do you write crossovers?
-> I've written two crossovers by now. One was BBC Sherlock/Harry Potter and the other one was BBC Sherlock/Better Call Saul.
Sherlock/HP: The Hidden Side of London.
Sherlock/Better Call Saul: Better Call Sherlock.
11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?
-> I don't think so.
12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?
-> Yes, three times. Twice in Russian and once in Chinese.
13.) Have you co-written a fic before?
-> No, I haven't.
14.) What's your all time favourite ship?
-> Sherlock Holmes/John Watson.
15.) A WIP you doubt you'll ever finish?
-> I've been meaning to complete A Fashionable Doctor for a long time, but I didn't get back to it for some reason. Not abandoning it, but yeah. It's a slice of life, fluffy fic. Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting. Pairing: Molly Hooper/Irene Adler. I will finish it, eventually.
16.) Writing strengths?
Characterisation.
Dialogue.
Realism in dark topics.
Descriptions in action packed scenes.
17.) Writing weaknesses?
I struggle to write descriptions when I have to set a scene. I'm an impatient writer, and I find it painfully boring.
Sometimes I tend not to follow the "Show, don't tell" rule. I've been trying to avoid this thing in my current WIPs, though.
I sometimes don't have the patience to write anything more than a drabble-length fic.
18.) Will you write dialogue in another language?
-> Haven't done that before, but I might, if I wanted to. Preferably in one of the 3 languages I speak.
19.) What was your first fandom?
-> BBC Sherlock. I started writing in January 2022.
20.) What's your favourite fic that you've ever written?
-> It was a tough choice between two or three works, but I'd say Superficial Wound, Deep Feelings. This is the first fic I wrote in the Victorian era style (for ACD canon fandom). Canon compliant to The Adventure of the Three Garridebs. Bittersweet ending.
Tagging: @helloliriels @topsyturvy-turtely , @lookingforlifeoutthere, @keirgreeneyes , @totallysilvergirl, etc.
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isfjmel-phleg · 1 month
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March 2024 Books
Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot by Janet and Isaac Asimov
This one was a lot of fun! I should track down the rest of the series.
The World's Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson
I was very confused about what era this world was mimicking (are they Victorian? 1920s/30s?), but it was a fun story and I enjoyed the dynamic between the protagonists.
A Dig in Time by Peni R. Griffin
I remember liking this one, but it feels like I read it years ago and I can't remember everything. Time travel with a family emphasis.
The Promise by Monica Hughes
Like Sandwriter, which this is a sequel to, I initially wasn't so sure that I liked this one, and then it went in an unexpected direction that took the themes in a more complex place, and I appreciated that.
The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
I generally like fairy tales well enough, but this one was rather a slog to get through, and I ended up skimming a lot of it. There were some familiar favorites, but a lot of the tales were of the variety that consist of an interesting set-up followed by a seemingly incoherent series of events, and I regret I don't have enough interest in folklore to get much out of that.
The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy
Interesting from a historic perspective mostly, but I didn't connect much with the story.
The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan (reread)
Reread so it would be fresh in my mind before the presentation. You already know how I feel about this one.
The Humming Room by Ellen Potter (reread)
Same as above. I have a post in drafts with some thoughts on this one that may eventually see daylight.
The Making of May by Gwyneth Rees (reread)
Already discussed this one.
A Bit of Earth by Karuna Riazi (reread)
Beautifully written and very readable and develops its themes well. Does fall into the trap of making the story about grief (Maria's late parents were frequently absent from her life, and she resents this, but she did have relationships with them in ways that her counterpart in the original book never did with her parents, so it's a completely different dynamic). I found this Colin to be somewhat underdeveloped, but I did appreciate the concept of his being fearful about failing to live up to family expectation, which is a reasonable translation of the original character's source of shame.
Charley by Joan G. Robinson
I don't remember much of this one. Didn't have any problems, just didn't have as much impact as other books by this author have for me.
Greenwild by Pari Thomson
A very derivative example of the Child Learns That They Are Magical And Special And Enters A Fantastical World Where They Must Take On The Villain sort of story. I wanted to enjoy it, but everything felt trite.
Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time Lords by Steve Tribe
This was a gift from my brother. I am a very casual DW fan and haven't really engaged with the show in quite a while (really should rewatch and catch up on new stuff but that's a pretty big time commitment right now). I think I would have got a lot more out of this if I were more than passingly familiar with Classic Who and all the lore in general.
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
I was interested in this one because it's a retelling of "The Yellow Wallpaper," and the concept of comparing the difficulties of getting difficult-to-trace chronic illnesses taken seriously and diagnosed in today's world to the mishandling of women's medical and psychological conditions in the late nineteenth century intrigued me. However, this book didn't really know what it wanted to be. The young protagonist's struggles with her mystery chronic illness took up most of the book, but there was also a plot about a literal ghost in the wallpaper of her new attic bedroom that needs to be defeated in the end, and neither of these things fitted well together. One or the other of them would have been fine, but the combination left me confused about the nature of this fictional world and the themes of the book in general.
Comics/Graphic Novels
Benevolent Sisters of Charity (Over the Garden Wall)
This is the only one of the OTGW comics that I wasn't able to buy before it went out of print, so I ILLed it and realized that it was for the better that I hadn't. The story was incoherent and pointless and the characters were OOC. The art was much better than the story deserved.
Wayne Family Adventures Vol. 3
I've read these as a webcomic already but wanted it in book form too. These are entertaining; you just have to go into it aware that this is The Fluffy World version of everybody and they are characterized accordingly.
The Flash by Grant Morrison & Mark Millar
Not on a level with Waid's work, of course, but the highlight of this one was the storyline in which Linda dies and Wally manages to bring her back (some good Bart content here) and a delightfully meta short story in which Mark Millar meets up with Wally to figure out what story about him to tell next...and Wally is given a co-writing credit in the end.
The Flash by Mark Waid Books Seven and Eight
An effective end to this run. Waid points out in his Afterword that he's still got another story on reserve, so...anytime he wants to give that to us, that would be great. I'll be waiting.
The Secret Garden on 81st Street: A Modern Retelling of the Secret Garden by Ivy Noelle Weir (reread)
You know how I feel about this one. (I whipped it out at the convention to show somebody who was talking to me about CEN in the present day through leaving one's child to technology that that concept was used in this retelling, and somebody nearby oohed about what a diverse retelling it was as I flipped through pages. Which is, you know, more important than effective storytelling. It should have done both! We could have had both!)
Stephen McCranie's Space Boy Omnibus Volume 5
I've read this in webcomic form already, but it's a pleasure to have a physical copy of the latest omnibus.
Sinister Sons #1-2 plus additional material establishing the backgrounds of Lor-Zod and Sinson
A sort of response to the series Super Sons (which featured Jon Kent at his proper age and Damian Wayne), by the same author. This is going to be about a teamup of Lor-Zod (son of General Zod, was Chris Kent in another continuity, has apparently been Zukoed in this incarnation) and Sinson (a young, apparently orphaned thief who believes that his father must be Sinestro, the Green Lantern's arch-nemesis). So far the boys haven't done much more than fight, but I'm interested to see where this is going. (#3 is in the mail now!)
Lor is a horrid little piece of work, but his parents' recent treatment of him puts him in a more sympathetic situation, and I am hoping he'll get a redemption arc that would move him closer to his original version. Sinson is no angel either, but he's just a child who really, really wants a family and is clinging to the only hope for one that he has--and if that means he's a supervillain's son, then he's ready to follow in those footsteps to gain acceptance.
(Also he drew a mustache on himself with a black marker to look more like his alleged father, and that's so ridiculous and kind of endearing.)
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sebastianthemadlad · 6 months
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(don't read if you don't want to be spoiled for Black Butler or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part 1)
The best thing about being both a black butler AND a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fan is because of the potential the 2 stories have in a crossover fan fiction.
Think about it, JoJo's part 1 (Phantom Blood) and the first few arcs of Black Butler take place IN THE EXACT SAME YEAR (1888), they also take place in the same country and the same city and they both have sort of the same supernatural and horror elements in it.
Not to mention in both stories there's a part where the characters are on a happy boat cruise and suddenly a bunch of zombies start attacking them.
I think the only thing that drives these 2 universes apart is the fact that Jack The Ripper is different in both stories. In Black Butler he (or she) is both Madame Red and Grell working together, in JoJo's he's just a random dude who later is turned into a zombie by Dio (and then is killed within like 5 minutes lol).
But I guess that can just be excused by saying Dio found the wrong Jack the Ripper and just found a random guy who coincidentally also killed prostitutes, and meanwhile Grell and Madame Red were doing their own thing.
I'm honestly very confused why I barely see any JoJo's x Black Butler fan fiction, I'm not sure if it's me just not looking hard enough or if not many JoJo fans are also fans of Black Butler or vice versa. I've met some people who are both JoJo and Black Butler fans (mostly online since where I come from, anime and manga, especially less popular stories like Black Butler, aren't well known) but most of the time when I meet someone who is a fan of one of these, it's just the one and not both.
Anyways, I'd also just love to see the interactions between the Black Butler and JoJo characters. I know a lot of the characters in JoJo's part 1 are less memorable than those in other parts, the only really memorable characters are JoJo, Dio, Speedwagon and Zeppeli, and sometimes people can remember Erina, Poco, Dire and Straizo but they usually only remember the first 4.
(I actually like a lot of the Phantom Blood characters, and despite it being one of my least favourite JoJo parts I still like it, I love the aesthetic of it, plus if Phantom Blood never happened we would have never gotten better parts like Stardust Crusaders or Diamond Is Unbreakable.)
Black Butler, meanwhile, has a wide range of amazing and memorable characters, though this is probably because Black Butler is a lot longer than JoJo's part 1 for obvious reasons:
Phantom blood was the first part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and is the shortest part, in the anime only being 9 episodes long while most parts are 20-40 episodes long, JoJo's is a story told through different parts which usually take place years and eras apart, every part also often takes place in different countries and every part the main character (or as the JoJo fandom knows them as... The JoJo's) changes because each part is the story of someone descendant of the Joestar family.
So therefore in each part we mostly get new characters and only a few reoccurring ones.
Black Butler was designed to only be told within one whole big story line, with the same main characters, therefore we'd be seeing the same characters every arc, the story mostly takes place in one main setting (London city, England) but on occasion the settings can change:
Like when Ciel and Sebastian joined the circus and left the city, the anime only version when they went to Paris, the emerald witch arc which takes place in Germany, we also sometimes get flashbacks to other countries like India.
So how would the Black Butler and JoJo's characters interact?
This question can be interpreted in many ways depending on how you see the characters from both stories.
Ciel and Jonathan are quite similar, they're both rich nobles who live in Victorian era London, their parents died, their mansion burned to the ground, their brother is an antagonist in their story. Heck they both even have blue hair (well in the anime for JoJo's at least because apparently in the manga Jonathan's hair is brown).
Personality wise though, Jonathan and Ciel are very different. Jonathan is a kind, loyal gentleman who just wants to protect his friends, family and the innocent, meanwhile Ciel has experienced a lot of trauma from a young age, his family was killed, he was kidnapped, abused, watched his twin brother die, made a deal with a demon who only wants his soul and so much more I could write a whole other post on.
Because of this trauma Ciel, despite being 12-14 is a cold, miserable, depressed and sometimes a bit cruel.
Of course Jonathan went through a lot trauma during Phantom Blood but since most of it didn't happen when he was a child, him and Ciel react to their traumatic pasts differently.
Jonathan would probably want Ciel to open up to him, but Ciel just isn't having it, this could lead to some interesting dialogue between the 2 protagonists because of how similar but also different they are character and personality wise.
What about other characters, more evil characters such as Dio and Sebastian?
Now I don't think these 2 would get along, because since in my mind Ciel would be an ally to Jonathan, Dio would want to be rid of him as well, so Sebastian would have to protect Ciel at all costs.
However, these 2 are both supernatural creatures (Sebastian being a demon and Dio being a vampire) so they'd probably like.. I dunno tease each other when fighting? Like they wouldn't just be yelling angrily at each other they'd make fun of each other.
(okay maybe Dio would yell angrily if he starts to lose because in Phantom Blood he's a bit of a manchild compared to him in Stardust Crusaders in my opinion, I don't hate Dio, he's in fact my favourite JoJo's character ever but we can definitely see how his character developed after all the mistakes he made in Phantom Blood)
Sebastian probably knows about the existence of vampires, the mask, hamon and the pillar men, he's existed for thousands of years afterall, possibly since time began itself, heck he may have even been friends with some pillar men.
I don't think demons are affected by hamon, since hamon comes from the sun and we see Sebastian and other demon characters are definitely NOT affected by the sun unlike vampires.
Undertaker and Grell would probably both be interested in Dio, for different reasons.
Grell would probably be attracted to Dio romantically and sexually, because...
1: she's a simp
2: Dio is canonically very charismatic and handsome which is why he literally has so many servants and minions in part 3
Dio would probably be annoyed by Grell, but Grell is a fairly useful and strong character with her being a grim reaper and her thirst for blood, so he'd probably manipulate her and just try to put up with Grell being an obnoxious fangirl
Undertaker would probably be interested in Dio's ability to turn people into zombies, I don't think he'd want to join Dio's side but he'd probably do it anyways for his own gain. He wants more knowledge on the cinematic records, he may even kill one of the zombies to see what their cinematic records are like, if they ended when they became a zombie or if they continue since they're neither dead or alive. Undertaker also wants to get inspiration for his own bizarre dolls and how to make them more life like.
The grim reapers in general probably also know about vampires and hamon (though I'm not sure if they'd know about the history with the stone masks and pillar men) and would probably treat them the same way they treat demons, obnoxious creatures who interfere with soul collection.
You're probably wondering "But vampires and demons are not the same, the reason the grim reapers hate demons is because they eat souls, and therefore don't let the grim reapers collect them. Vampires don't eat souls, they drink blood"
Well I feel like when vampires turn people into zombies, it sort of corrupts both of the cinematic records and the soul, the zombies still have records and a soul, but after being turned they're just broken and not worthy of the reaper's time unless it's for experimental reasons when it comes to characters like Undertaker.
I feel like if Black Butler and Phantom Blood were to ever have a spin off crossover anime show (which definitely will NEVER happen because they're both owned by different companies and both Hirohiko Araki and Yana Toboso probably wouldn't have an interest in that, but pretend we're in an alternative time line where Araki and Toboso's works are owned by the same companies and they are both very interested in each others works and have all the legal rights to make a crossover series) It would definitely be a lot longer than Phantom Blood, not as long as Black Butler is but probably about 20 episodes+ , I'm not sure how many seasons or arcs there would be, but I'm guessing 1 or 2 seasons and a few arcs.
So I'm guessing they would be in Japan specifically, in other countries? Well despite me coming from the same country as Jonathan and Ciel (England) both Black Butler and JoJo's are sadly not that popular here, it's a pain in the arse trying to find merchandise for both animes even in anime based shops, the most I usually find of them is manga, and even then they usually don't even have majority of the volumes.
Would it be popular? Well JoJo's and Black Butler in Japan are rather popular (JoJo's is definitely a lot MORE popular with some describing it as around the same amount of popularity as Star Wars does in the West in Japan, but Black Butler is fairly popular as well, I'm guessing JoJo's is more popular because it's been around since the mid 80's and Black Butler has been around since the mid-late 2000's)
I just think this whole concept is really cool and I'll probably talk about it a lot
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