Everyone stop what you're doing and go read KJ Charles. She is a master class in queer historical fiction and writing diversity authentically.

Absolutely crushed that I can't contribute to this fandom without wrecking these perfect stats

Revisiting all of my KJ Charles favorites

Re-reading Society of Gentlemen. A Fashionable Indulgence is my favorite of the three...Julius and Harry are adorable

Devoured The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, before my re-read, which was wonderful. And it was great to be reminded about how much I love KJ's work!

The Will Darling Adventures is up next!

I wrote fic yesterday! And posted it immediately because I am impatient, and then forgot to promo it anywhere. I just really needed a modern au for dom and silas, but don't expect any plot, it's basically just smut lol.

one throat to choke

Dominic/Silas (past Dominic/Richard)

explicit, 4k

tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dom/sub, Rough Sex, Dry Humping, Bruises, Scratching, Risk Aware Consensual Kink, Verbal Humiliation, Canon-Typical Behavior, Alternate Universe - Corporate, Background Ash/Francis, Past Dominic/Richard, Kink Shaming

summary:

Disaster strikes at the office. Dominic spends some time with Silas and Richard isn't pleased by anything.

thank you for re-posting the heritage minute that is the modern au discussion 🌈

<3 truly a heritage minute! (heritage. . .several months.) my and @inclineto's masterwork I think, we put so much thought & effort into putting these guys into the twenty-first century and I think we did great at it.

If I had a nickel for every time an author wrote a happy-ending gay Regency romance where the characters don’t fuck anyone else and then wrote a coda about the characters having a threesome, I'd have two nickels - which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

best KJ Charles novels? I have a bunch of long flights coming up…

best standalones:

Think of England - mystery! intrigue! it's safer to be caught in flagrante delicto by one's hosts than to be caught spying, so take your trousers off, my good sir!

Band Sinister - a series of unfortunate events introduces country virgin and landed scoundrel. NO MURDER AT ALL in this one. lowest stakes KJC novel by far (if you don't care about A Lady's Reputation!).

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting - fortune hunter gets sniffed out by his mark's uncle, loses fantastically to him at cards, offers to pay in kind. this one is just. so. horny.

best series:

The Doomsday Books (2 books) - these are so fun. smugglers, hidden treasure, Kent accents, beetles?!, terrible relatives, romance, murder, etc. all that good KJC shit.

The Will Darling Adventures (3 books) - post-war secret society shenanigans, ft. current bookseller, previous vicious killer in the trenches. splashes of PTSD, Bright Young Things, gangsters, the secret service, communists, sidecars. truly rip-roaring. and the sex scenes are top notch.

I finished all the Will Darling books and want to cry. I NEED MORE OF THESE CHARACTERS. I need more Charm Of Magpies. I need more Sins Of Cities and Lillywhite Boys. I need more Society Of Gentlemen. I NEED 75 BOOKS OF EACH OF KJ CHARLES'S SERIES. IT'S LIKE DEVELOPING A DIFFERENT DRUG ADDICTION EACH TIME KNOWING YOU'RE GONNA GET CUT OFF

Characters I’d love to lock in a room together and observe from a distance (top to bottom, left to right): Nicky Rook from “Death in the Spires”, Kim Secretan from “The Will Darling Adventures”, Daniel da Silva from “Think of England”….and technically also the will darling adventures I guess,, and last but not least - anachronistic grandpa Julius Norreys from “A Society of Gentlemen” In other news: Ive got the KJC brainworms. again.

ehe

Heathcliff?

It’s me, Kathy!

Let me in your window

An elegy is a way of accepting the loss of some precious thing. It rejoices in the fact that the precious thing was given. If it is sad, it is with an accepting sadness. An elegy says: This we were given, and it is gone, but we should be grateful for it, and try to live up to its memory.

- Sir Roger Scruton

So touched by the Reform Club - of which I am member - to put out these simple and understated black drapes over its balconies to mark the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II. It is an elegaic gesture of respect and quiet appreciation.

This is how it should be done. 

Oh Gods I love how much KJ Charles can make me care about characters and couples that I am initially deeply unconvinced by.

I mean, having now read the Society of Gentlemen books...

Really wasn't sure about Julius at first. Absolutely adore him by about a quarter of the way through, however much I was exasperated by his initial not getting Harry's need to resolve the different sides of himself. By the end: wanted to protect him oh Gods. Also if that man is neurotypical I will eat my hat.

DAMN YOU KJ CHARLES YOU MADE ME CARE SO SO SO MUCH ABOUT DOMINIC FREY HOW ABSOLUTELY DARE YOU. UGH. Only valid Tory in anything ever. (Sorry Julian from Ghosts fans. ;-) )

But the actually hardest sell for me was Sir Richard Vane because omfg he's absolutely insufferable (and also because as aforementioned once I started seriously caring about Dominic Frey, being pissed off at Richard is inevitable). I was still rooting for Richard and David Cyprian by halfway through their book. By the end... well. I still reckon David is way too good for Richard but at least Richard knows it, and oh my life he really does do a hell of lot of changing for the better. Respect. <3

Can I also say though: fuck everyone who thinks the Regency was a utopia. I love KJ Charles for writing queer romances set during the Regency that absolutely get how horrifying it was on so many levels. <3