#not being able to dress up ernest is a crime
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#not being able to dress up ernest is a crime#but sherl gets different clothes#why?#professor layton#katrielle layton#ernest greeves#katnest#laytons mystery journey#lmj#katrielle and the millionaire's conspiracy
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For the ten line drabbles, would you do 20 for any combination of Kat, Ernest, and Sherl (either two of them or all three of them together)? Thank you!
[[Apologies, this ended up being more than ten lines and didn’t even include the quote, though it definitely inspired it! Thank you for giving me the chance to finally write a fic about my Sherl theory!]]
20. “If you feel safer with me being there, you know I will always be there.”
“Aurora, our messenger, do you wish for this human to be reborn as a beast?”
“Yes, please. He has brought a great deal of suffering upon the world and to the fabric of time. And he hurt the professor… Also, can you take away his memories, like you did for me?”
“We were able to accomplish that as you were an Azran golem—“
“I was a sentient being with a beating heart. Surely you can do this same for this man?”
“…Very well. We will grant your wish.”
—
Kat had gone out for dinner with her inspector brother and her chef sister, leaving Ernest and Sherl to ‘manage’ the agency by themselves. (Or rather, stall any clients until Kat got back.)
Sherl thought this would be the perfect time for a dognap, but then Pipstripes decided to switch on the television while he was dusting.
Uuugh, that stupid black box! Why did Kat have to bring it in here, and place it on the drawers right above Sherl’s bed? Why couldn’t she find another way entertain herself when it was raining cats and dogs outside?
Sherl covered his ears as the droning voice of a news reader came on.
“—on this day, seven years ago, that the St. Herald Hotel collapsed during one of the worst storms in British history—“
“Who cares what happened seven years ago?” Sherl groaned. “That’s... forty years ago for a dog...”
“Shush, Sherl,” Ernest said, his gaze glued to the television.
“—While the establishment had received five star ratings in the past, it was undergoing maintenance work at the time, making some rooms unstable—“
“That thing will rot your brain,” Sherl warned. You would never catch Sherl gawking at a screen.
He couldn’t see in full colour anyway...
For him, it was mainly grey with some shades of blue and yellow. Pinstripes stood out like a sore thumb with his waistcoat and his trousers. Sherl could distinguish Kat’s yellow coat and her hat, but her dress just looked... dull. (Kat had nearly thrown a fit when Sherl told her this.)
As far as Sherl could tell, the news reader was a lady with long blonde hair, a grey suit and a solemn expression.
“All of the hotel staff and guests were able to escape, expect for one—“
“Poor sod,” Sherl snorted.
“—Former Prime Minister, Bill Hawks.”
Sherl’s ears perked up. “Who?”
“Shhhhh!”
“Did she say Prime Minister?” Sherl persisted. He stumbled out of his bed to get a closer look at the T.V.— at the photo of the man the news people had put up.
He was probably in his late fifties or early sixties, judging by his balding head, deep frown lines, droopy eyes and glasses... Sherl squinted, wondering if dogs could get glasses.
“Yes— from about twenty years ago,” Pinstripes informed him, frowning slightly. “If you listen, they’re going to talk about his life soon...”
Talk about him they did. Bill Hawks: Born in London, squeaked his way in to university, became a scientist at the Institute of Poly-something or other... until there was an explosion at the lab he worked in. An explosion, it turned out, that Hawks had caused with an experiment gone awry.
Sherl hummed. “Why does that sound so familiar?”
“The... explosion?” Pinstripes fiddled with the end of his feather duster. “It sounds like something out of a sci-fi film, doesn’t it?” He closed his eyes for a moment. “But it really did happen, over thirty years ago... and there were terrible repercussions ten years after. You might have heard Miss Layton discussing it...”
Sherl shook his head. He would have remembered if Kat had mentioned something like that. His short term memories were clear as crystal. It was his long term memories that were murky— at least, those prior to joining the Layton Detective Agency.
All he could remember from his past life was a tower falling down, and lightning flashing across the sky... but with each passing day, the details felt less precise and less important. Kat seemed to have given up on solving his case of amnesia altogether!
“Oh...” Pinstripes glanced out the window and back at Sherl. “Do you— surely you know about the Mobile Fortress attack? From a man called Clive Dove?”
For some reason, that name made Sherl shudder. Still, he answered, “No...”
“He tried to destroy London? There were crushed buildings and a gaping tear left in the ground?” Pinstripes said, his eyes wide with disbelief. “It took them years to repair—“
“I might seem older than you kids,” Sherl interrupted, “but I can’t have been alive for more than six or seven years.” He was a ‘mature dog’ (according to the vet), but that couldn’t compare to a human lifespan. Kat’s grandmother, Rosa, was in her seventies!
Pinstripes waved his hand. “Right, sorry... Anyway, Clive Dove was put in prison— thanks to Miss Layton’s father— and he remains there to this day.”
“Good,” Sherl huffed. “Sounds like this Dove was barking!”
“That’s really not funny...”
“What made him go round the bend?”
Ernest winced. “He, um... he wanted to get revenge... because his parents died in that lab explosion.”
Sherl stuck out his teeth. “But if Bill Hawks was behind the explosion... then why didn’t Dove just go after him? Why take it out on everyone—?”
“I don’t know!” Ernest dropped the feather duster. He sighed heavily and crouched to pick it up. Turning his back on Sherl, he resumed his dusting around the television.
The news reader was exposing more about Bill Hawks; by sweeping his crimes under the rug and making shady deals, Hawks had climbed the political ladder to the very top.
Then he was kidnapped by one of his former scientist colleagues and taken to an underground fake ‘Future London’...
“So that’s what she meant...” Sherl breathed. When he’d first arrived at the agency, Kat had asked if he had a ‘letter from the future’. Had her father been sent such a letter?
Sherl’s heart pounded at the next part of the news report. Clive Dove had imprisoned Bill Hawks in the Mobile Fortress, using Bill’s heartbeat to power the machine... That was intense!
Fortunately for Hawks, Professor Layton had saved him and shut down the fortress.
After they all escaped, Hawks had ensured Dove was arrested, put on trial immediately, and locked up for life.
During Dove’s trial, however, Hawks’ disreputable past had been brought to light. Hawks wasn’t put behind bars, but he had to pay a lot of compensation money for the victims of the institute explosion and for the Mobile Fortress attack.
A clip from an interview was shown— a man from Barkleys Bank described Hawks’ loss of financial backers as his approval ratings dropped. (Poor Barkleys, having to represent Bill Hawks...)
Disgraced, Bill had resigned from his post as prime minister and disappeared from the public eye. His wife had divorced him and he had started mooching off his parents’ inheritance.
“Good-for-nothing fat-cat...” Sherl grumbled. You wouldn’t catch his pups leeching off their families like that. When Kat’s father went missing, she had set up a detective agency. When Ernest’s mother died, he had worked his way up to university— and taken an unpaid job on top of that!
Sherl hoped there were assassination attempts made on Hawks’ life after everything he had done.
But no... It seemed that the world had forgotten about Bill Hawks as soon as he left office.
By all accounts, his death at the St. Herald Hotel had been deemed an accident. He had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, asleep when the roof above him collapsed.
“...Did he wake up in unbearable pain or did he die peacefully in his sleep?” the news reader lady pondered.
“Oh, come on, woman!” At this point, Sherl was standing on his hind legs with his paws pressed up against the television screen. “I need to know! That skid mark deserved to suffer—!”
“We may never know for certain,” the news reader went on, smiling impassively. “But some might say that justice was served on that day... Thank you for listening! And now, over to Puzzlette for the pollen report...”
“Waste of time...” Sherl flounced away from the television and looked around. He spotted the T.V. remote on the settee. “Turn it off, will you, Pinstripes?”
With a huff, Pinstripes turned off the television. He tossed the remote back on to the settee.
Sherl flicked his tail. “What’s got you so hot under the collar?”
“N-nothing...” Pinstripes crossed his arms as if he was trying to contain something in his chest. Whatever it was— anger, grief or uneasiness— Sherl reckoned Pinstripes wouldn’t be able to hide it for long. (He had broken down the minute Kat accused him of being Lord Adamas.)
“You might as well tell me,” Sherl prompted. “Kat’s out, and it’s not like anyone else can hear...”
Sherl prided himself on being a good secret-keeper. He hadn’t told Kat about Pinstripes’ crush, besides a few snide remarks. He hadn’t turned that street dog, Yapper, over to the pound. And he hadn’t ratted out that mouse who would occasionally nip in to steal Kat’s food...
Pinstripes whispered, “You... you can’t tell Miss Layton. She and her family would hate me...”
“Is it worse than what you did at Richmond Court?” Sherl asked. He made a furtive glance at the door.
“N-no!” Ernest exclaimed, his voice rising a pitch. “It doesn’t even involve me directly... but it does involve... one of my family members.”
Sometimes, Sherl was glad that he couldn’t remember his relatives. He didn’t have to deal with any of that family drama— unless Kat and Ernests’ issues counted as drama.
“Just spit it out,” Sherl growled.
“I... I’m related to Bill Hawks,” Ernest burst out. “Distantly!”
After all the cases Sherl had solved with Kat, that wasn’t too surprising to hear. Sherl cocked his head to the side. “How ‘distant’ are we talking?” He had heard that a lot of Europe’s royal families were related. Did it work the same way with lords and politicians?
“Quite distant... He was my grandfather’s second cousin!” With the cat finally out of the bag, Ernest sighed shakily. He sank on to the settee and tucked his knees under his chin, pulling himself into a tight ball. He looked more like a child than a lanky young man, but then again, he was only nineteen. That was still young by human standards.
“Pinstripes...” Sherl murmured when he heard sniffling. Sherl padded over to the settee and jumped up beside him.
“P-please don’t tell Miss Layton,” Ernest repeated with a whimper. “I nearly— she let me stay... even after what I did. I don’t want to— to hurt her again...”
Knowing Kat, she had probably already discovered the connection between Ernest and Bill Hawks.
It was possible that she had figured out Sherl’s identity as well, but she was keeping quiet. Honestly... Sherl didn’t really mind at that moment.
What would he do if he knew about his past? Track down his family? Would they even be able to understand him? And what if he had left his loved ones on bad terms? He would struggle to make amends with them, and they might be even more upset.
It wasn’t like he could return to his old job, either... unless it involved police work, assisting people with disabilities, or herding sheep. There was always performing— who didn’t love a good dog act?
But even then, it would be lonely if he couldn’t communicate with anyone.
At least if he stayed here, at the Layton Detective Agency, he could make a difference. He would do his best to help their clients... as well as Ernest and Kat.
Sherl curled up next to Ernest on the settee. After a while, Ernest’s sniffs stopped and he started stroking Sherl’s head.
Maybe one day they would find a way to transform animals into humans... but until then, Sherl didn’t mind being a detective’s dog. There were fates far worse than this.
#Answers#Sherl O.C. kholmes#Ernest Greeves#answers#Bill Hawks#My writing#my fics#layton’s mystery journey
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LMJ Anime Thoughts so far
Cookie: This is what I think about the show in general, I might post some thoughts on each episode individually, but this is how I feel about the show, and I know it’s a bit early but I’m kinda confident my opinion won’t change. I’m also gonna compare it with Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy to see how it’s changed.
So, without further ado-
I really like the anime. But what makes it especially nice is that I think that Level-5 managed to hit the tone that they were going for that they missed in Millionaire’s Conspiracy. They talked about comedic episodic mysteries, and while Millionaire’s Conspiracy didn’t quite hit the nail, this anime delivers. Plus things like Kat’s behavior, and Ernest “playing out the crime scene” is also present in the show as well, and I really like it. I guess, with the way Level-5 talked about Katrielle’s saga, it makes sense how well it works for a show.
The small mysteries, are an upgrade from the mysteries in MC. I remember how bored I got and tried going as fast as possible because I wanted something interesting. With the anime, I’m not as impatient as the small cases are pretty fun. It still irks me a bit that they’re trying to make you cry every episode(ever since Unwound Future it seems that they’re trying too hard to keep the appeal, but seriously, use it where it fits and stop pouring water in my face in hopes I’ll cry) But in general it seems like they’re using these episodes to fully establish what Katrielle’s series is like, similarly to how they established Alfendi’s Mystery Room.
While it kinda sucks how we haven’t seen any really recurring characters. yet. Hasting’s only appears once and even popular ones like Emiliana aren't there. The Dragons, bakery bois, or even npc’s. The background characters in the anime are nameless new people who we’ve never seen, and it’s not much of a problem, but one thing Level-5 hasn’t been able to establish was having Katrielle be in one location, around familiar faces. They set up those familiar faces, but they’re no being used. Thus, it doesn’t feel like a tight-nit London like in MC. But the main cast seem to be developing a lot better(excluding maybe one but I’ll get there. Kat is a lot funnier and it’s easier to see how her personality is like and what Level-5′s going for. Her “instinct” seems to be more natural than the “oh let’s stop doing detective stuff and look at this dress” spiel that MC did. Ernest is pretty amazing. I liked Ernest in MC, but he didn’t do much for most of the story, and he seemed to act similar to Luke. But seeing him in the anime is hilarious, and he’s developed more as his one person. Nowadays on Tumblr everytime a new episode airs people are always talking about Ernest(including me), and it’s great. In fact, it feels like since the anime, or at least a little bit before, the fandom seems to like and appreciate Katrielle’s series a lot more, even though we are all still fond of the original Layton with the top hat and cheeky assistant. I will say that Sherl is a bit in the background though, not quite as sassy as the game and it kinda sucks but it’s not like his personality downgraded, he just isn’t shown as much.
I still anticipate Layton and Luke’s appearance in the anime; there’s so many ways they could be introduced, I don’t really have any speculations with how Level-5′s gonna do with them. However, my anticipation has changed a bit. With MC it kinda felt like I was impatiently waiting for Luke since I didn’t think Layton would show up, and got my fair share or grievances with how little cameos there were(and in my opinion I didn’t like Granny Riddleton’s portrayal). But here, I’m obviously excited to see them, but I’m also enjoying the ride. In the end I really enjoy Professor Layton and will always love it’s deep mysteries and complex stories, but I‘ve found stuff to enjoy with Katrielle Layton as well. Now I just wanna see how these two formats of story and character are going to meet in the middle, and hopefully bring all the things I like about both series. And even though I never got into Mystery Room, I’m sure all the stuff I said in this paragraph applies to it as well.
I really like the anime. There’s some issues with it, but, just like Katrielle’s , I feel like the series is starting to find it’s own identity and trying to put it’s best foot forward.
#professor layton#Cookie Rambles#lmj anime#I kinda want to review/talk about the individual episodes#what do you think?
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Read A Lesson Before Dying (Oprah's Book Club) PDF
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“This majestic, moving novel is an instant classic, a book that will be read, discussed and taught beyond the rest of our lives.”—Chicago Tribune Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, A Lesson Before Dying is a deep and compassionate novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to visit a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting. From the critically acclaimed author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.
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Let's be real: 2020 has been a nightmare. Between the political unrest and novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it's difficult to look back on the year and find something, anything, that was a potential bright spot in an otherwise turbulent trip around the sun. Luckily, there were a few bright spots: namely, some of the excellent works of military history and analysis, fiction and non-fiction, novels and graphic novels that we've absorbed over the last year.
Here's a brief list of some of the best books we read here at Task & Purpose in the last year. Have a recommendation of your own? Send an email to [email protected] and we'll include it in a future story.
Missionaries by Phil Klay
I loved Phil Klay’s first book, Redeployment (which won the National Book Award), so Missionaries was high on my list of must-reads when it came out in October. It took Klay six years to research and write the book, which follows four characters in Colombia who come together in the shadow of our post-9/11 wars. As Klay’s prophetic novel shows, the machinery of technology, drones, and targeted killings that was built on the Middle East battlefield will continue to grow in far-flung lands that rarely garner headlines. [Buy]
- Paul Szoldra, editor-in-chief
Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli by Max Uriarte
Written by 'Terminal Lance' creator Maximilian Uriarte, this full-length graphic novel follows a Marine infantry squad on a bloody odyssey through the mountain reaches of northern Afghanistan. The full-color comic is basically 'Conan the Barbarian' in MARPAT. [Buy]
- James Clark, senior reporter
The Liberator by Alex Kershaw
Now a gritty and grim animated World War II miniseries from Netflix, The Liberator follows the 157th Infantry Battalion of the 45th Division from the beaches of Sicily to the mountains of Italy and the Battle of Anzio, then on to France and later still to Bavaria for some of the bloodiest urban battles of the conflict before culminating in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. It's a harrowing tale, but one worth reading before enjoying the acclaimed Netflix series. [Buy]
- Jared Keller, deputy editor
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett Graff
If you haven’t gotten this must-read account of the September 11th attacks, you need to put The Only Plane In the Sky at the top of your Christmas list. Graff expertly explains the timeline of that day through the re-telling of those who lived it, including the loved ones of those who were lost, the persistently brave first responders who were on the ground in New York, and the service members working in the Pentagon. My only suggestion is to not read it in public — if you’re anything like me, you’ll be consistently left in tears. [Buy]
- Haley Britzky, Army reporter
The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry
Why do we even fight wars? Wouldn’t a massive tennis tournament be a nicer way for nations to settle their differences? This is one of the many questions Harvard professor Elaine Scarry attempts to answer, along with why nuclear war is akin to torture, why the language surrounding war is sterilized in public discourse, and why both war and torture unmake human worlds by destroying access to language. It’s a big lift of a read, but even if you just read chapter two (like I did), you’ll come away thinking about war in new and refreshing ways. [Buy]
- David Roza, Air Force reporter
Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 by Antony Beevor
Stalingrad takes readers all the way from the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union to the collapse of the 6th Army at Stalingrad in February 1943. It gives you the perspective of German and Soviet soldiers during the most apocalyptic battle of the 20th century. [Buy]
- Jeff Schogol, Pentagon correspondent
America's War for the Greater Middle East by Andrew J. Bacevich
I picked up America's War for the Greater Middle East earlier this year and couldn’t put it down. Published in 2016 by Andrew Bacevich, a historian and retired Army officer who served in Vietnam, the book unravels the long and winding history of how America got so entangled in the Middle East and shows that we’ve been fighting one long war since the 1980s — with errors in judgment from political leaders on both sides of the aisle to blame. “From the end of World War II until 1980, virtually no American soldiers were killed in action while serving in the Greater Middle East. Since 1990, virtually no American soldiers have been killed in action anywhere else. What caused this shift?” the book jacket asks. As Bacevich details in this definitive history, the mission creep of our Vietnam experience has been played out again and again over the past 30 years, with disastrous results. [Buy]
- Paul Szoldra, editor-in-chief
Burn In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution by P.W. Singer and August Cole
In Burn In, Singer and Cole take readers on a journey at an unknown date in the future, in which an FBI agent searches for a high-tech terrorist in Washington, D.C. Set after what the authors called the "real robotic revolution," Agent Lara Keegan is teamed up with a robot that is less Terminator and far more of a useful, and highly intelligent, law enforcement tool. Perhaps the most interesting part: Just about everything that happens in the story can be traced back to technologies that are being researched today. You can read Task & Purpose's interview with the authors here. [Buy]
- James Clark, senior reporter
SAS: Rogue Heroes by Ben MacIntyre
Like WWII? Like a band of eccentric daredevils wreaking havoc on fascists? Then you'll love SAS: Rogue Heroes, which re-tells some truly insane heists performed by one of the first modern special forces units. Best of all, Ben MacIntyre grounds his history in a compassionate, balanced tone that displays both the best and worst of the SAS men, who are, like anyone else, only human after all. [Buy]
- David Roza, Air Force reporter
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
The Alice Network is a gripping novel which follows two courageous women through different time periods — one living in the aftermath of World War II, determined to find out what has happened to someone she loves, and the other working in a secret network of spies behind enemy lines during World War I. This gripping historical fiction is based on the true story of a network that infiltrated German lines in France during The Great War and weaves a tale so packed full of drama, suspense, and tragedy that you won’t be able to put it down. [Buy]
Katherine Rondina, Anchor Books
“Because I published a new book this year, I've been answering questions about my inspirations. This means I've been thinking about and so thankful for The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender. I can't credit it with making me want to be a writer — that desire was already there — but it inspired me to write stories where the fantastical complicates the ordinary, and the impossible becomes possible. A girl in a nice dress with no one to appreciate it. An unremarkable boy with a remarkable knack for finding things. The stories in this book taught me that the everydayness of my world could become magical and strange, and in that strangeness I could find a new kind of truth.”
Diane Cook is the author of the novel The New Wilderness, which was long-listed for the 2020 Booker Prize, and the story collection Man V. Nature, which was a finalist for the Guardian First Book Award, the Believer Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction. Read an excerpt from The New Wilderness.
Bill Johnston, University of California Press
“I’ve revisited a lot of old favorites in this grim year of fear and isolation, and have been most thankful of all for The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara. Witty, reflexive, intimate, queer, disarmingly occasional and monumentally serious all at once, they’ve been a constant balm and inspiration. ‘The only thing to do is simply continue,’ he wrote, in 'Adieu to Norman, Bon Jour to Joan and Jean-Paul'; ‘is that simple/yes, it is simple because it is the only thing to do/can you do it/yes, you can because it is the only thing to do.’”
Helen Macdonald is a nature essayist with a semiregular column in the New York Times Magazine. Her latest novel, Vesper Flights, is a collection of her best-loved essays, and her debut book, H Is for Hawk, won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction and the Costa Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction.
Andrea Scher, Scholastic Press
“This year, I’m so grateful for You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson. Reading — like everything else — has been a struggle for me in 2020. It’s been tough to let go of all of my anxieties about the state of the world and our country and get swept away by a story. But You Should See Me in a Crown pulled me in right away; for the blissful time that I was reading it, it made me think about a world outside of 2020 and it made me smile from ear to ear. Joy has been hard to come by this year, and I’m so thankful for this book for the joy it brought me.”
Jasmine Guillory is the New York Times bestselling author of five romance novels, including this year’s Party of Two. Her work has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, and Time.
Nelson Fitch, Random House
“Last year, stuck in a prolonged reading rut that left me wondering if I even liked books anymore, I stumbled across Tenth of December by George Saunders, a collection of stories Saunders wrote between 1995 and 2012 that are at turns funny, moving, startling, weird, profound, and often all of those things at the same time. As a writer, what I crave most from books is to find one so excellent it makes me feel like I'd be better off quitting — and so wonderful that it reminds me what it is to be purely a reader again, encountering new worlds and revelations every time I turn a page. Tenth of December is that, and I'm so grateful that it fell off a high shelf and into my life.”
Veronica Roth is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Divergent series and the Carve the Mark duology. Her latest novel, Chosen Ones, is her first novel for adults. Read an excerpt from Chosen Ones.
Ian Byers-Gamber, Blazevox Books
“Waking up today to the prospect of some hours spent reading away part of another day of this disastrous, delirious pandemic year, I’m most grateful for the book in my hands, one itself full of gratitude for a life spent reading: Gloria Frym’s How Proust Ruined My Life.��Frym’s essays — on Marcel Proust, yes, and Walt Whitman, and Lucia Berlin, but also peppermint-stick candy and Allen Ginsburg’s knees, among other Proustian memory-prompts — restore me to my sense of my eerie luck at a life spent rushing to the next book, the next page, the next word.”
Jonathan Lethem is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including The Fortress of Solitude and the National Book Critics Circle Award winner Motherless Brooklyn. His latest novel, The Arrest, is a postapocalyptic tale about two siblings, the man that came between them, and a nuclear-powered super car.
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Riverhead
“I’m incredibly grateful for the magnificent The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer. This book — a mélange of history, memoir, and reportage — is the reconceptualization of Native life that’s been urgently needed since the last great indigenous history, Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It’s at once a counternarrative and a replacement for Brown’s book, and it rejects the standard tale of Native victimization, conquest, and defeat. Even though I teach Native American studies to college students, I found new insights and revelations in almost every chapter. Not only a great read, the book is a tremendous contribution to Native American — and American — intellectual and cultural history.”
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, is author of the novel Winter Counts, which is BuzzFeed Book Club’s November pick. He is also the author of the children’s book Spotted Tail, which won the 2020 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. Read an excerpt from Winter Counts.
Valerie Mosley, Tordotcom
“In 2020, I've been lucky to finish a single book within 30 days, but I burned through this 507-page brick in the span of a weekend. Harrow the Ninth reminded me that even when absolutely everything is terrible, it's still possible to feel deep, gratifying, brain-buzzing admiration for brilliant art. Thank you, Harrow, for being one of the brightest spots in a dark year and for keeping the home fires burning.”
Casey McQuiston is the New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue, and her next book, One Last Stop, comes out in 2021.
"I'm grateful for V.S. Naipaul's troubling masterpiece, A Bend in the River — which not only made me see the world anew, but made me see what literature could do. It's a book that's lucid enough to reveal the brutality of the forces shaping our world and its politics; yet soulful enough to penetrate the most recondite secrets of human interiority. A book of great beauty without a moment of mercy. A marriage of opposites that continues to shape my own deeper sense of just how much a writer can actually accomplish."
Ayad Akhtar is a novelist and playwright, and his latest novel, Homeland Elegies, is about an American son and his immigrant father searching for belonging in a post-9/11 country. He is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Vanessa German, Feminist Press
“I'm most thankful for Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether. It's a YA book set in 1930s Harlem, and it was the first Black-girl-coming-of-age book I ever read, the first time I ever saw myself in a book. I appreciate how it expanded my world and my understanding that books can speak to you right where you are and take you on a journey, at the same time.”
Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. She is also the co-author of Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Two Households After Divorce, written in collaboration with her ex-husband. Philyaw’s writing on race, parenting, gender, and culture has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, McSweeney’s, the Rumpus, and elsewhere. Read a story from The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.
Philippa Gedge, W. W. Norton & Company
“As both a writer and a reader I am hugely grateful for Patricia Highsmith’s plotting and writing suspense fiction. As a writer I’m thankful for Highsmith’s generosity with her wisdom and experience: She talks us through how to tease out the narrative strands and develop character, how to know when things are going awry, even how to decide to give things up as a bad job. She’s unabashed about sharing her own ‘failures,’ and in my experience, there’s nothing more encouraging for a writer than learning that our literary gods are mortal! As a reader, it provides a fascinating insight into the genesis of one of my favorite novels of all time — The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as the rest of her brilliant oeuvre. And because it’s Highsmith, it’s so much more than just a how-to guide: It’s hugely engaging and, while accessible, also provides a glimpse into the mind of a genius. I’ve read it twice — while working on each of my thrillers, The Hunting Party and The Guest List — and I know I’ll be returning to the well-thumbed copy on my shelf again soon!”
Lucy Foley is the New York Times bestselling author of the thrillers The Guest List and The Hunting Party. She has also written two historical fiction novels and previously worked in the publishing industry as a fiction editor.
“The books I'm most thankful for this year are a three-book series titled Tales from the Gas Station by Jack Townsend. Walking a fine line between comedy and horror (which is much harder than people think), the books follow Jack, an employee at a gas station in a nameless town where all manner of horrifyingly fantastical things happen. And while the monsters are scary and more than a little ridiculous, it's Jack's bone-dry narration, along with his best friend/emotional support human, Jerry, that elevates the books into something that are as lovely as they are absurd.”
T.J. Klune is a Lambda Literary Award–winning author and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries.
Sylvernus Darku (Team Black Image Studio), Ayebia Clarke Publishing
"Nervous Conditions is a book that I have read several times over the years, including this year. The novel covers the themes of gender and race and has at its heart Tambu, a young girl in 1960s Rhodesia determined to get an education and to create a better life for herself. Dangarembga’s prose is evocative and witty, and the story is thought-provoking. I’ve been inspired anew by Tambu each time I’ve read this book."
Peace Adzo Medie is Senior Lecturer in Gender and International Politics at the University of Bristol. She is the author of Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence against Women in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2020). His Only Wife is her debut novel.
Jenna Maurice, HarperCollins
“The book I'm most thankful for? Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. My mother and father would read me poems from it before bed — I'm convinced it infused me not only with a sense of poetic cadence, but also a wry sense of humor.”
Victoria “V.E.” Schwab is the bestselling author of more than a dozen books, including Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and This Savage Song. Her latest novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, is BuzzFeed Book Club’s December pick. Read an excerpt from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
Meg Vázquez, Square Fish
“My childhood best friend gave me Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle for Hanukkah when I was 11 years old, and it's still my favorite book of all time. I love the way it defies genre (it's a political thriller/YA romance that includes a lot of scientific research and also poetry??), and the way it values smartness, gutsiness, vulnerability, kindness, and a sense of adventure. The book follows 16-year-old Vicky Austin's life-altering trip to Antarctica; her trip changed my life, too. In a year when safe travel is almost impossible, I'm so grateful to be able to return to her story again and again.”
Kate Stayman-London's debut novel, One to Watch, is about a plus-size blogger who’s been asked to star on a Bachelorette-like reality show. Stayman-London served as lead digital writer for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and has written for notable figures, from former president Obama and Malala Yousafzai to Anna Wintour and Cher.
Katharine McGee is grateful for the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. Chris Bailey Photography, Firebird
“I’m thankful for the Redwall books by Brian Jacques. I discovered the series in elementary school, and it sparked a love of big, epic stories that has never left me. (If you read my books, you know I can’t resist a broad cast of characters!) I used to read the books aloud to my younger sister, using funny voices for all the narrators. Now that I have a little boy of my own, I can’t wait to someday share Redwall with him.”
Katharine McGee is the New York Times bestselling author of American Royals and its sequel, Majesty. She is also the author of the Thousandth Floor trilogy.
Beth Gwinn, Time-Life Books
"I am thankful most for books that carry me out of the world and back again, and while I find it painful to choose among them, here's one early and one late: Zen Cho's Black Water Sister, which comes out in 2021 but I devoured just two days ago, and the long out-of-print Wizards and Witches volume of the Time-Life Enchanted World series, which is where I first read about the legend of the Scholomance."
Naomi Novik is the New York Times bestselling author of the Nebula Award–winning novel Uprooted, Spinning Silver, and the nine-volume Temeraire series. Her latest novel, A Deadly Education, is the first of the Scholomance trilogy.
Christina Lauren are grateful for the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Christina Lauren, Little, Brown and Company
"We are thankful for the Twilight series for about a million reasons, not the least of which it's what brought the two of us together. Writing fanfic in a space where we could be silly and messy together taught us that we don't have to be perfect, but there's no harm in trying to get better with every attempt. It also cemented for us that the best relationships are the ones in which you can be your real, authentic self, even when you're struggling to do things you never thought you'd be brave enough to attempt. Twilight brought millions of readers back into the fold and inspired hundreds of romance authors. We really do thank Stephenie Meyer every day for the gift of Twilight and the fandom it created."
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Dream Daddy Head-canons No One Asked For.
It’s Hurricane Time and I got bored. ( Keep in mind I’m still finishing the game)
Robert’s been to jail before, misdemeanors and petty crime.
After getting bailed out he was made to work at the shelter with Mary and Damian.
His first reaction to seeing a shih-tzu was to shake it repeatedly because “What the fuck? Is this a dog or a rat?”
Damian had a talk with him about different breeds and “please refrain from shaking the living creatures in this facility, especially the small ones. We..kind of need them alive.”
That’s actually where he got Betsy. For all his hangups about smaller dogs who “don’t look like dogs” Robert wound up turning into a marshmallow around them.
Mary may or may not have arranged for him to adopt Betsy after seeing how good the volunteering did for Robert ( he drank and smoked less, tried to show up on time, he was always happy around the dogs)
She kinda wishes she had given him a bigger dog when the first thing Robert did was try to hunt for cryptids in the dead of the goddamn night. (Betsy’s a tough pup though. She does okay at keeping her human safe.)
Brian makes lasagna for Daisy every first day of school ( it’s her favorite dish)
Both Brian and Joseph have very...open reactions to anyone who suggests parents with Neuroatypical kids are burdened or need a support group.
They might or might not have egged the car of the last person who said that.
Brian and Daisy go on a camping trip the week before school starts every year.
Daisy’s first fishing rod was this tiny pink for-toddlers-rod that she still keeps to this day.
Amanda tutors Daisy in Social Studies, Daisy ends up helping her with English. ( that kid is smart)
Lucien has the best English grade in Hugo’s junior class.
No one but Mary knows that it’s because when he was little he and Damien would have readings of Victorian novels.
Sometimes Mary and her kids would come along.
Lucien actually winds up babysitting the Christiansen kids a lot.
It is entirely possible that he’s the one who taught them to amp up the creepy twin factor to keep bullies away.
It is also entirely possible he makes sure he scares off the ones that the twins don’t creep out.
Not that he’ll ever fess up to it.
Christopher's middle name is Robin ( because Mary couldn’t resist)
Christian and Christie’s middle names are Matthew and Ruth respectively.
Mary and Joseph may or may not have been trying to outdo each other on who could come up with the most religious name.
Mary’s still not sure how much morphine she was on that she allowed that but she’s decided her kids just need enough confidence to carry the -slightly ridiculous- names.
Crish lucked out -sorta?- and didn’t get an uber religious name.
Chris spends a lot of time with Crish while the twins wander off. He almost prefers to hang out with his baby sibling over anyone else.
Carmencita and Ernest switch to Spanish at near every social gathering and it drives everyone up the wall.
Robert always eggs them on, he likes the chaos.
Robert also refuses to tell just where the hell he learned Spanish “it’s classified”
Robert has G.A.D. which he self-medicates for both by drinking and smoking
The dads have actually talked about getting him to quit because “Jesus Robert you’re not even like a chill stoned person. You get outright paranoid.”
Having Betsy helps him with it a lot. He has to keep things away from her so she won’t get into them and sometimes it leads to him even forgetting he has it.
Robert has a weird rule about smoking in front of the kids. He just won’t.
Lucien finds this hilarious and kind of annoying because “I’m your provider!”
“Well yeah but you’re still a kid”
Daisy learned to read when she was four. Brian found her hoarding t.v. manuals and car magazines and fishing books and..basically if it had letters in it she had it in her room.
She at one point made a fort out of them. He still has the pictures.
Chris scripts and stims a lot. He usually sings songs he hears on the radio and rocks on his feet. He’ll occasionally repeat lines from his favorite movies.
The real reason the twins were quoting The Shining was they grew up around Chris scripting and...also started talking in t.v. quotes ( since to them it just looked like A Thing Chris was doing)
The three of them can actually speak to each other in t.v. quotes and understand each other completely. ( everyone else, however, is clueless. No one’s figured out how to get them to stop. Robert also thinks this is hilarious.)
No one can figure out if it’s better or worse than Ernest and Carmencita's bilingual shtick.
Both Hugo and Mat slip into Spanish from time to time.
Hugo has family in the Dominican Republic and P.R. but also in New York. ( it’s where his parents emigrated to)
Ernest actually really doesn’t like his name.
He went up to his dad once with a two-page long list of Hispanic Authors and asked why he couldn’t be named after one of those.
Hugo and went on to answer that he had family members named Usnavi and Usmail and Hugo’s middle name was Valentino and “honestly, just count your blessings-no you’re not drinking coffee.”
He was secretly really impressed because damn these were good authors and his kid knew about them? Since when? ( why isn’t he getting better grades?)
Craig spent a good amount after college just...drifting. He went there because he was told to and didn’t really find his drive for doing something until much later in life.
Because of that he kinda gets Robert. He can tell he’s kinda lost too.
Lucien used to have a baby cape.
He still dresses up in Victorian clothes for his dad’s birthday and special occasions.
A lot of conversations about media analysis between Mat and Hugo usually wind up with their kids weighing in.
Ernest tends to take Mat’s side just to be contrarian but he’s learned a lot about his dad from listening to his side of the conversations.
Mary has a favorite dog at the shelter. It’s this scraggly looking greyhound mix she named Stella.
Damian’s the only one who knows, she’s sworn him to secrecy.
She’s that volunteer that checks out all adoptees and flirts her way into convinces people to take “risky” cases home.
Damian wants to be mad but...well it’s not like it doesn’t work. He hates that they can’t use a kill-free policy, with Mary terrifying everyone they kinda do.
Damian Mary and Joseph all go way back. They met a youth service.
Mary was notorious for getting into and starting fights back then. She had opinions on how Christianity saw a lot of things and no actual fucks to give about arguing with teachers and preachers and other students alike.
She usually wound up kicked out of Youth Ministry/Religion Class ten minutes in. You could set your time by it.
“Oh nooo now I get to do whatever the damn hell I want for thirty minutes whatever will I do with myself”
If Damian hadn’t been there, no one’s sure how long she-or the church would have lasted.
Mary was that Christian girl. The one that rebels hard and parties harder. The church was small, and every knew and talked about what she did and who she did it with and it made her smile.
When Damien started transitioning anyone from the Youth Group who so much as looked at him crooked inherently made things physical. ( but damn if Mary didn’t scare everyone just by looking at them. )
That’s where Joseph meets her. Joseph, who looked the part of the rebel, with black leather and piercings but whose biggest act of rebellion itself is sneaking rock music past his Very Christian Parents.
Mary takes one look at him trying to be “bad” and nearly bursts out laughing all the same feeling fondness for the kid. She figures if she doesn’t keep an eye on this dork, someone’s gonna eat him.
Friendships can come from a lot less.
It’s the softness in Joseph that really gets to Mary, the same softness she found in Damian. It’s the fact that he refuses to judge her, it’s the fact that he nearly bursts out laughing at every argument she starts with other people. That’s where the friendship’s really born. That’s when she starts trusting him. By the end of the year, he’s as close to her as Damian. ( and she’s just as willing to tear people apart for him)
There’s a lot of conflicts and tears for the three of them on their orientations ( because no, Mary isn’t straight either) and their religion and their faith and those who share it. There were nights spent at couches where Mary couldn’t stand to be with her parents and long silent months were Joseph just went radio silent. ( Damian’s parents were actually hella accepting and the main crashing place but Damian had things to deal with too)
It’s what made Joseph want to be a Youth Pastor. He wanted a church that was friendly, he wanted to keep his faith. He wanted to keep other children from not feeling safe in a place where you’re supposed to. He wanted to tell kids that things always get better. He signed up for a degree in Biblical Studies the moment he was able to.
They moved to the same neighborhood on purpose, the three of them ( and Lucien eventually) like it always was.
Mary started dealing with depression after having Chris.
A big contributing factor was that Joseph had the ministry and Damien had Lucien and Mary...Mary didn’t have anything. She had no life outside of being a housewife. Eventually, Chris went to school and she had nothing to do but keep house.
It started slow but it grew, she was told having more kids would help ( and when she held the twins, she was happy.) but of course it didn’t make things better.
It’s really what killed her relationship with Joseph. It killed her a little each day too. She was told she’d be happy if she married and had kids, she wanted to be happy ( so why wasn’t she?)
She started resenting him, resenting her life, feeling trapped in it. This is around the time she befriended Robert.
Robert, who also hated himself, and his life, who was also miserable. Robert who she could tell her worst thoughts to ( “sometimes I wish I wasn’t a mom. What kind of parent am I” “Trust me I’ve seen worse”) things she wouldn’t want to tell Joseph, things she couldn’t even tell Damian.
Their friendship is based on wasted chances and miserable thoughts and an unabashed acceptance of both.
When she found out he slept with Joseph she gave him the silent treatment for a month. ( Damian of all people told him off. Mary’s still his best friend. This isn’t done.)
Eventually, Robert wears her down, begs her to get a drink and says he’s miserable and sorry and miserable and the next morning he makes her a hangover remedy at his house and they bury the hatchet.
Robert tries to bury an actual hatchet in the backyard, Mary laughs calls him an idiot and “where did you even get a hatchet” “shh don’t worry about it” and that’s when they actually make up.
Joseph took up carpentry as a hobby ( he thinks it’s funny how it plays into his name.) he built the kids a treehouse in the backyard and has made them a couple of toys.
Mary always loved horses. It’s something she shares with Christie, who she’s indulged in exactly 245 My Little Pony dolls.
One of Chris’ special interests is fishing lures ( not even fishing just the different kind of lures you can use) he’ll talk Brian’s ear off about it whenever he can find him.
One of Daisy’s special interests is marine animals, she’ll talk Hugo’s ear off whenever she can find him.
Ernest is absolutely not jealous about his dad talking to this other kid. Nope.
Mat’s coffee shop became The Place Where All The Kids hang out ( a few of them want to work there) and he’s somehow become the person they all talk to if they ever have a problem they can’t talk to their dad about. ( Also Pablo’s there and Pablo’s hot, and the older kids can appreciate that)
Unlike Ernest, Carmencita doesn’t mind sharing her dad. She’s actually gotten really good at advice and conflict resolution because of all the problems the others ( including Pablo) ask Mat’s help with.
Because all the parents get together so often -apparently- for barbeques and stuff the kids have kind of made up their minds that they’re all their parents. They have a dad for each occasion. If someone picks on you? Go to Brian, he’s the one who will tell you ( and teach you to throw a punch, just ask Daisy) Homework problem? Go to Hugo. Fashion advice? Go to Damian.
There have also been talks had by some of the kids about whose parents could end up with whose. ( except for the Christiansen kids.)
They might or might not be keeping an eye on Dadsona and who xe winds up dating.
#DDADDS#Acey writes#hey look a new tag!#you're not gonna see it ever again maybe#...do listicals count as writing?#I dunno#religion mention#please don't yell at me I'm just a random blogger#I wrote half of these during macroenconomics class#it's a 3 hour class#the mind wanders#I might come up with more during the hurricane#Last time we had a cat-five I actually...wrote my first fic#goddamm that was a while ago
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WELCOME AMY, YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED FOR THE ROLE OF DAHLIA GREENGRASS
Admins Note: Perhaps one of the hardest decisions of the night seeing as so many talented and wonderful applicants vied for Dahlia’s role! I’ve struggled between two in particular! But what I found so entrancing within your application was the subtle nuances of Dahlia’s quiet rebellion, the struggles she faces with her siblings flaws as well as her own. Her cowardice being subtly woven under layers while still striving to escape the chains she’s been shackled in. It is these things that ticking beneath the surface waiting to explode that really painted a portrait of who Dahlia, left me intrigued and wondering, I can’t wait to see what she shall become. Your faceclaim request to use Zoe Barnard has been approved. Congratulations on your acceptance again, please make sure to head your way to the checklist and submit your account within the next 24 hours!
OUT OF CHARACTER
Name / Alias: amy
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 20
Timezone: pst
IN CHARACTER APPLICATION
Full Name: Dahlia Maeve Greengrass—and they called her Dahl for short, her family did. Was it by sheer coincidence that it sounded like Darl, short for Darling, their little angel, their little captive?
Sexuality: Dahlia had never been a wallflower when it came to matters of the heart. Her family prohibited her from committing the ultimate crime—relations with a Muggleborn—but aside from that Dahlia was always enamoured with people and prizes of every make and design. As such, I’d describe Dahlia as pansexual, panromantic.
Gender/Pronouns: cisfemale, she/her.
Hogwarts House: The Sorting Hat was always fond of saying things with the utmost vagueness, such as ‘lots of potential here, my dear’, or ‘you could do great things in any House, you know’. But for Dahlia Greengrass, the Hat would be decisive. She was much too cowardly for Gryffindor (her family was proof of that), much too silly for Ravenclaw (her temperance was proof of that) and she would not have known Hufflepuff’s humility if it had marched up and bit her on the nose. And, to be quite fair, Slytherin was not altogether a bad house. Dahlia’s whole family had gone there, bar a Ravenclaw relative or two, and there was nothing more comforting (particularly to an eleven year old) than the familiarity in following old footsteps down a well-worn path. The Hat shouted SLYTHERIN! a mere thirty seconds after the brim touched her hair, and little Dahlia Greengrass went off (quite happily, I might add) to a hollering table, with the distinct knowledge that her family would be very pleased with her.
Head canons:
“I KISSED EACH BULLET, SIMPLY BECAUSE I LOVED THE PERSON THAT WAS HOLDING THE GUN.” — Donte Collins
Klaus Graves was, in a very certain and predictable manner, dearly beloved in the Greengrass household. How pleased Dahlia’s parents were when they learned of the matter, always inviting him over for tea and banquets. Father liked his reputable wealth and status; Mother adored the way he brought dahlias over on every house visit, like clockwork, like it wasn’t a symbol (freshly watered and placed in an ornate vase) that he owned her daughter’s heart. Velda thought he was very handsome and even Ernest had little to say about the whole affair, as he was often wont to do. And, while all of this was inexplicably true, none of these qualities would much have mattered if he wasn’t of a suitable blood status. As it was, he was welcomed into the Greengrass family and encouraged into Dahlia’s heart, and, in the eyes of Dahlia’s family, that would be that. The end all of everything. A resolution for their pretty little girl, tied up with a handsome bow. But there was something about Klaus that made Dahlia a little bit drunk when she was with him, something that couldn’t make her see straight. With him, Dahlia felt impossibly, awfully small in her love—although she would not come to realise this until later, when craving Evander left her light on her feet; left her feeling like she could do anything, everything, the impossible. That, of course, was a dangerous feeling. But Evander Lupin was another matter entirely, and besides the point. For when Klaus left, her family mourned. Dahlia mourned drinks at the club and dancing until morning. She did not miss him, she was quick to say. She was afraid to convince herself otherwise. She was frightened at what might happen if he deigned to return (which he would), and if she let him (which she would).
“WHERE IS YOUR HEART, GIRL? YOU WERE THROWN TO THE WOLVES, AND NOW YOU ARE ONE.” — Unknown
Ernest and Velda Greengrass were Dahlia’s guardian angels, and nobody ever dared to suggest otherwise. Dahlia was the littlest, which translated—in Greengrass terms at least—to the weakest, the most delicate. Something to be protected. Admired, certainly, but at a respectable distance. Ernest excelled, as far as elder brothers go. He held her hand in large crowds, and sat with her on the Hogwarts Express until she grew old enough to be embarrassed of him. Velda played older, silly sister equally brilliantly. She dolled Dahlia up and took her out dancing; she indulged her in petty gossip and brought her the latest robes for her birthday. They were good at playing protectors. But late at night, when the manor was all asleep, Dahlia would hear them talking over whiskey. We mustn’t tell Dahlia this, and We’ll write to him on her behalf. It was in the little things, like how Velda told her which suitors to like, and how Ernest never let her smoke (although that never stopped her). When, exactly, had her guardian angels become prison guards? And when, exactly, had she committed a crime worth imprisonment?
“GOD, IS THIS ALL IT IS, THE RICOCHETING DOWN THE CORRIDOR OF LAUGHTER AND TEARS? OF SELF WORSHIP AND SELF LOATHING? OF GLORY AND DISGUST?” — Sylvia Plath
America was all the latest fashion. The Abbott brothers had gone over last summer, and Dahlia’s aunts had come back gushing about the dancing, and the accents, and the fashion. The Prophet had posted an article declaring New York City as “A Must-See For Any Socialite”. Dahlia, who grew tired of the faded greys of England, of watching her every word and following Ernest’s detailed expectations, went out and dusted off the leather suitcase under the bed. Ernest and Father worried so, but Mother was all aflutter at the handsome prospects abroad - and Mother was awful persuasive when she wanted to be. Naively, Dahlia thought America would be different. New York City was the city of dreams - and it was also where hopes went to die. Blood supremacy was the same everywhere, it seemed. Cruelty was a universal language, founded in the arms of the Pride Society. Still, there was a certain liberty Dahlia had never really afforded before. Out here, her jail seemed brighter, wider, the locks a little looser, her diamond handcuffs jingling a little quieter. Just another pretty, petty face in the crowd. And, one day, New York would be the hearth that kept her embers glowing and stoked the flame. She was quite sure of it, if only she could find a lighter.
“BELIEVE YOUR HEART, YOUR MIND, AND YOUR DELUDED MORALS.“ — Song of Achillies
Dahlia Greengrass was a woman of many talents - but there were very few she came by honestly. As a little girl, the Greengrasses indulged in all sort of tutoring, just like they always had and always would. Ballroom dancing, perfect table etiquette. A little bit of painting, piano lessons, memorising trustworthy pureblood families. Fluent French and a touch of Latin on the side. The Greengrasses covered every superficial art under the sun (or at least, they tried to). Dahlia was good with languages, dancing, telling real jewels from fake. But she was mediocre at the piano, awful at the flute, she always picked up the dessert fork first and she always thought the (rumoured to be) disowned members of pureblood families looked the most interesting to talk to. But anything could be learned in time - and as the owners of Dahlia’s stopwatch, the Greengrasses could dedicate all the time in the world to mending her flaws. But for all they smoothed over her jagged edges, they forgot to fill in the fundamental cracks; deep-rooted, unshakable. They locked her flaws (or what they perceived as flaws, anyway) in a gilded cage and did away with the key - her cowardice, her willingness to ask questions. Quiet rebellion, a need to look twice. But they could never drown the hope. And as long as she had that, she could have anything. As long as she had that, she would never be the perfect daughter, and no amount of tutoring could prove otherwise.
In Character Paragraph:
Mother liked to throw the ritziest of all parties. There was always ludicrous amounts of smuggled liquor, raucous music enchanted from the record spinner, lust so thick and tangible one might even be able to taste it if they dared open their mouth. Greengrass parties had always been a luxurious affair, and August 12th was certainly no exception. It was, like all the parties before it, and all the ones that were to come, what the Pride Society would have called an affair to remember.
But for Dahlia Greengrass, who had been afforded these parties for as long as she could remember (and possibly a great deal before that), the parties had kept that ritz, but lost the thrill of something new.
She nursed a wide-brimmed champagne glass between her slender fingers, observing the scene with quiet trepidation. Anyone who knew her—really knew her, beyond the glittering dresses and priceless head pieces, beyond the bubble of innocence her family had cultivated for her—could have seen it. Heloise could have seen it, Dahlia thought, and Evander too. But her own brother sidled up with a glass of his very own, and saw only boredom.
“It’ll be over soon, Dahl,” he assured her. His gaze fell on her other hand, which cradled a cigarette, rim smudged red with smeared lipstick, and his expression took on something that was not quite a frown, but a look she was very familiar with nonetheless. “You aren’t smoking, are you?”
“Should it matter if I was?” she replied absently. Out dancing, she could see the people she’d known her whole life, bathed in new light. Sweet old Mrs. Krasinski from across the road, who liked to regale the Greengrass girls with stories of her youth. She’d been involved in the mysterious disappearance of her nephew’s squib daughter. And handsome Mr. Baudelaire, who was always perfectly charming and extraordinarily nice, was speculated to have caused that Muggle automobile accident not too far back. The Abbott family, with their sweet little twins and their pretty estate garden. Their meddling fingers in politics had made the Daily Prophet the other day. They were not any different people than they’d always been. In fact, they were exactly the same. Consistency was not their flaw, but blindness was Dahlia’s, and under a new truth, nothing quite seemed the same anymore, nor would it ever again.
“Dahlia,” said Ernest, this time with a bite of impatience. “Don’t work yourself into a tizzy. Mother would faint if she saw you with that.” His finger twitched, and Dahlia realised, all in that instant, that he expected her to hand over the cigarette. There was no hesitance in his mind. No universe in which Dahlia would not give up the cigar. He might as well have reached over and snatched the smoke himself.
Dahlia’s hand twitched too, moving infinitesimally up, towards her lips. The problem was, she thought, nobody was devoid of flaws. Velda was brainwashed. Ernest had delusions of grandeur, everyone partook in the mistreatment of house elves, and Dahlia was a coward. A blind coward. Only, blindness could be cured, if only you stuck with the right sort of people, and she could see the truth as well as anyone else now.
But the cowardice. Cowardice ran deep. It always does. Almost always incurable, and most definitely, precisely fatal. Dahlia Greengrass was, perhaps, nobler than those she kept in company with, and that inspired a certain kind of hope. But cowardice was the sort of thing that doomed a girl. Cowardice was the sort of thing that stuck around.
“Dahlia,” warned Ernest. Cowardice, thought Dahlia. And she did not take a drag of smoke.
Instead, she handed over the cigarette, and said, “Don’t tell Mother.”
Extras: My inspiration for this interpretation of Dahlia came from a few known characters. She reminds me of Andromeda Black, except perhaps not as shrewd or brave, not quite so end-all for love. I was also inspired by Susan Pevensie (Narnia), who is the most sensible of her siblings, and is perceived as silly for caring about boys and lipsticks and nylons, and as punishment has her whole family taken from her for following her own beliefs. Other honourable mentions include Wendy Darling (growing up and out of fairytales), Nina Zenik, and Blair Waldorf (spoiled daughter, vindictive and protected). You can also find her Pinterest here.
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10 Of The Most Shocking Murder Cases That Happened During The Holidays
1. Ashland Tragedy, 1881, Ashland, KY
On the night of December 23, 1881 on a small town near the Ohio River in Ashland, Kentucky, three teenagers were staying at the Gibbons household while the father was off working in another town and the mother was away until the next day visiting her eldest daughter. 17-year-old amputee, Robert Gibbons, his 14-year-old sister Frannie Gibbons, and their friend 15-year-old friend Erica Carico (Thomas) were fast asleep when three assailants entered to wreak havoc.
Emma’s mom, a nearby neighbor, looked out the window earlier in the night to check the kids and the house, everything seemed normal normal then. Later, the sound and sight of flames caught the attention of neighbors. The three victims were found dead inside. An axe and a crowbar, the murder weapons, both saturated in blood and hair, were also found on the scene. The physicians that attended the crime scene reported that the victims had died been bludgeoned to death, their skulls smashed to pieces. There was also evidence that the two girls had been brutally raped. It was concluded that the arson was committed in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Dawn broke on Christmas Eve and word of the gruesome murders spread through town. Although crimes like robbery and drunken fights were of the norm in this town and in this era, homicides of this nature were not and the townsfolk were left shocked and appalled. After days of investigation and questioning various people, George Ellis, after displaying signs of guilt, soon confessed to the crime, thinking it would buy him leniency, and implicated William Neal and Ellis Craft.
He claimed that they had been discussing the crime for months. William Neal had supposedly claimed that he was going to have “carnal communication” with Emma before Christmas day. In his first confession, one of a few and one recanted, he said, “A few evenings prior to the 24th I met Craft who stated that he was going to see Fanny Gibbons and take her some black candy and that he was going to have intercourse with her and he wanted me to come along. About midnight, the fatal night, we all started Craft, Neal and myself and when we got to the house Craft raised the window with an old axe and stepped in first. Neal followed and I stayed behind on the porch and afterwards I went in. Robbie was the first aroused and started to get up when Craft said ‘you had better lie still.’ Craft then went to the bed where the two girls were sleeping and began to take improper liberties with them. Robbie said, ‘you had better stay away from there’, when Craft hit him with the axe. He fell back on the lounge then plunged forward and fell fully six feet from the bed under the stairs were he was found. The girls screamed when Craft jumped on the bed and they both said ‘George Craft, what are you here for?’ Emma also started to jump from the bed when Neal choked her and pulled her onto the floor. She fought him and I held her while he outraged her. Neal then struck her on the head with the big end of the crowbar and she instantly died after throwing up her hands. Craft also had some trouble with Fanny Gibbons and called on me to come and help him. He then outraged her and killed her. Neal proposed killing the girls and after they were dead I took some coal oil, poured it over the bodies, and set fire to them with a match. We then left the house.”
Though we may never know the real story after numerous versions of confessions, William Neal was executed in 1883 and Ellis Craft was executed in 1885, both by hanging. George Ellis was given a life sentence, but was later killed by a lynch mob.
2. Lawson Family Massacre, 1929, Germanton, NC
Wikimedia
Today, the last and one of the only portraits the Lawson family took remains infamous. Just a few days before Christmas, 43-year-old Charlie Lawson, a rural and working class sharecropper, took his family shopping for new outfits to get their portrait taken. Back then this wasn’t a normal occurrence for someone of his social standing and financial means. Some in that era may have even called it peculiar and odd, which would later go on to surmise that what happened had been a premeditated act on his part. Fast forward to the afternoon of Christmas Day, and all but one of the Lawsons would be dead.
Waiting by his barn for his two daughters, Carrie (12) and Maybell (7), to head out to their aunt and uncle’s, Charlie saw them walk out and shot them both with a 12-gauge shotgun and proceeded to bludgeon them almost unrecognizably. He moved their bodies into the barn and then stalked towards his other family members, shooting his wife Fannie (37) who was on the porch.
Alerted by the shotgun, his sons James (4) and Raymond (2) tried to seek refuge and escape him by hiding. He shot his daughter Marie (17) and then both boys. He then bludgeoned his youngest 4-month-old infant baby girl Mary Lou to death. He then walked into the woods and killed himself. His oldest boy, 16-year-old Arthur had been the sole survivor as he had been sent into town to run an errand. Had he wanted to spare his life? We will never know.
The bodies of each family member were found with rocks beneath their heads and their arms crossed. To this day the motive and reason behind the murders remains a mystery. It has been speculated, due to statements by relatives of the family about Fannie voicing concern, that Charlie carried an incestual relationship with Marie. Whether this had something to do with this familial massacre, we will never know.
3. Los Feliz Mansion Murders, 1959, Los Angeles, CA
YouTube
L.A. is no stranger to grisly murders, but in December of ‘59 it became home to one of its biggest murder mysteries with the Perelson family murder-suicides at a Spanish revival home at 2475 Glendower Place in Los Feliz.
At around 4:30 AM on December 6th cardiologist Harold Perelson struck his sleeping wife Lillian with a ball peen hammer and bludgeoned her to death before she could even know what was happening and before she could even scream for her life. She died by asphyxiating on her own blood.
The case would be different for his teenage daughter Judye, who wailed and wailed, screaming for her life as he made his way into her bedroom. Neighbors could hear as she yelled, “Don’t kill me.” Reportedly they could also hear her father instructing her to lay still and keep quiet. Using the same hammer he did on his wife, he struck his daughter, but not with good enough aim.She was able to escape and after seeing her mother lying dead in a pool of her own blood, she ran to a neighbor’s to get help.
The two younger siblings, Joel and Debbie, had by now woken up. The patriarch of the family told them to go back to sleep and said his last words to them, “This is only a nightmare.” He then took two doses of Nembutal and 31 pills believed to have been a tranquilizer or some form of codeine. By the time emergency responders arrived to the scene he was dead.
The estate was sold at a probate auction to husband and wife, Julian and Emily Enriquez. Here is where it gets even creepier. The Enriquez family apparently never moved in. After their deaths, their son Rudy inherited the house and he is quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying, “I don’t know that I want to live there or even stay here.” The house reportedly sat uninhabited and still in time for 50 years and was only used as storage by Rude Enriquez. Those who peeked and those who had been inside the house say that the house remain unchanged, and appeared abandoned in time and in place as it had been before the murders.
Rudy died in 2015. Before the house went up for market and was cleaned up, pictures were taken of it as it was by photographer Alexis Vaughn. One word: eerie. The house looks lived in, things seeming to be left as they were before the murders, the mail still piled together even. There is even cat litter from the long gone family’s pet. Though the origins are unknown, gold ribbon for presents could be found inside the house. You can find these pictures online today, with even video footage taken by the photographer.
4. JonBenét Ramsey, 1996, Boulder, CO
Wikipedia
If you don’t know this story, or this name, I don’t know what rock you have been living under. Use the internet, please, and inform yourself, and be prepared to be sucked into one of the biggest murder mysteries of American history. I, myself, have become lost for hours in the vortex that is the death of JonBenét Ramsey. This one is a world of its own.
5. The Wholaver Murders, 2002, Middletown, PA
Murderpedia
On Christmas Eve in 2002, Ernest. R Wholaver, Jr. broke into his former home with help from his brother, after being prohibited entry from the courts after being charged with sexual offenses involving molestation of his own daughters, Victoria (20) and minor Elizabeth (15). He had been evicted after his wife Jean obtained an order under the Protection From Abuse Act. And although this also prevented him from purchasing, possessing and carrying firearms, this didn’t stop him from using one to slay his family.
His brother waited about a block away and acted as a look-out as Ernest approached the house and cut the telephone wires and forcibly entered the home. He shot his wife Jean and two daughters Victoria and Elizabeth. He left Victoria’s infant daughter unharmed.
Days later, Wholaver was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. His brother who aided him, Scott Wholaver acted as a Commonwealth witness aiding the prosecution. Ernest Wholaver has sat on death row since 2004, while his brother was sentenced to serve 15-25 years.
6. Covina Massacre, 2008, Los Angeles, California
Wikimedia
Dressed as Santa Claus, Bruce Pardo knocked on his ex-wife’s family home’s door on Christmas Eve 2008, where 25 people were gathered at a party to celebrate the holiday. The 8-year-old niece of his wife answered the door and as she attempted to greet him, he shot her in the face.
He had come prepared with a gift-wrapped package containing a homemade flamethrower and with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, and three additional handguns. He then began to shoot senselessly at everyone in attendance, and purposely executing some. His ex-wife’s parents, two brothers and their wives, her sister, and her nephew were killed. The 8-year-old girl survived with injuries.
After he was done shooting he unwrapped his “present” and used the flamethrower to set fire to the home. One of the survivors that managed to escape ran to a neighbor’s for help. After the attack, Pardo changed into his regular clothes and took off his Santa ensemble, and drove to his brother’s where he died from a self-inflicted gun wound.
The fire reportedly took approximately two hours to extinguish and victims were so unrecognizable that dental and medical records had to be used for identification.
7. Texas Christmas Massacre, 2011, Grapevine, Texas
Another Santa Claus tainted Christmas for another family in 2011 in Texas. Aziz Yazdanpanah, in the same manner of Pardo, knocked on his estranged-wife’s door on Christmas, dressed in a Santa Claus suit as the family was in the middle of opening presents.
Opening fire on his family, he killed his wife Fatemeh Rahmati, their 14-year-old-son, Ali, and their 19-year-old daughter, Nona. Also victims to his rage were his wife’s sister Zohreh Rahmaty, her husband Mohamad Hossein Zarei, and their 22-year-old daughter Sahra. At some point before all the slayings finished taking place, someone had called 911 from inside the apartment. After spreading bloodshed and committing the murders Yazdanpanah committed suicide.
When the family was found dead by police that Christmas morning, wrapping paper lay scattered throughout with opened and unopened presents splattered in blood.
To add to chill to the tragedy, the last text Sahra Zarei would send would be to her boyfriend, just as her uncle had shown up, expressing annoyance at him doing so and his Santa ensemble saying, “Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year because he fucked up before.”
8. Dead Body Hidden Beneath Christmas Presents, 2011, Jacksonville, FL
Murderpedia
Michelle O’Dowd (67) never imagined that her giving and welcoming spirit would be what would lead to her death when she offered her friend Patty Michelle White (41) a place to stay after she had found herself homeless.
By early December of 2011, somehow the friendship had gone awry, and things had began to sour between the two. O’Dowd’s twin brother was always suspicious of White and grew concerned when she failed to show up to work or answer her phone. He went to her home to check on her and found her foot sticking out from beneath presents under the Christmas tree. Her dead body laid there, buried beneath masses of Christmas presents intended for her family and grandchildren, her face bloodied.
White had strangled her and beat her to death and hid her body there. She also stole her debit and credit cards and was arrested in South Carolina after being found when she used two ATMs.
Family members said that White was part of the family and couldn’t begin to comprehend what had transpired. They were sickened that she would bury the body beneath gifts meant for children and under the Christmas tree O’Dowd took so much pride in. Christmas was her favorite holiday and she put much effort and time in decorating for it.
White was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
9. Valdez’s Christmas “Present”, 2013, Chicago, IL
18-year-old Alexis Valdez lived with his aunt and her boyfriend Silvestre Diaz when the two males got into an argument in late December of 2013 about him living there rent-free and not contributing to the household. After this, Valdez was told he would have to move out if he continued this way.
On Christmas eve, while his aunt was out, and after drinking, Valdez, angered and in an unjustified uncivilized rage, smashed Diaz’s head with a hammer. He reportedly shut the windows, closed the blinds, played some music and jammed while he used a butcher knife to cut off Silvestre’s ears, nose and mouth. He also cut off his arms and used his bare hands to pull out his eyes. He then decapitated him, leaving his head on his aunt’s pillow as an “early Christmas present.”
After becoming tired of mutilating the body he called 911 to report a dead body. Upon arriving, police found him saturated in blood. He confessed to the murder and said he would have killed his aunt too had she been home. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
10. Star Baseball Teen Snaps, 2013, Gulf Breeze, FL
YouTube
On Christmas Eve 2013, 17-year-old star pitcher for Gulf Breeze High School, William Brandon Aydelott, killed his mother, Sharon Aydelott, in what would be described later by his defense in a moment of insanity.
The teen swung at her with a baseball bat, striking at her head and her body. Using a knife, he slashed her throat, then later stabbed her in the eye plunging it in. The mother was later discovered by a friend in an huge puddle of blood.
When confessing to the brutal murder, the teen reportedly did so as a matter-of-factly and with a smile on his face as he described how he killed her. When explaining to authorities why he committed the crime he said that he was angry his family placed him in a substance abuse program and for mistakenly believing he was on drugs. The relationship between mother and son had been strained due to divorce between the parents.
Detectives asked Aydelott how he felt about killing his mother and he simply replied, “Like I did the right thing.” Despite his demeanor and the savagery of the crime, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity after psychiatrist Dr. Robert Scott Benson testified that he suffered from schizophrenia, He claimed that in the moment of the crime the teen believed he was doing the right thing as he had “auditory hallucinations” commanding him to kill his mother. The psychiatrist also told the judge that he would be a danger to society if let free.
Aydelott was ordered to be involuntarily committed at a state mental hospital. His case is to be reviewed periodically. Although the State Attorney’s office is said to oppose any effort that will take place for him to be released, he could technically be a free man in the future.
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