stjohnstarling - Tumblr blog

[stjohnstarling]

I've started to read What Manner of Man tonight.

Dearest author its almost 1 am and I cannot bring myself to stop this is FANTASTIC INCREDIBLE SHOWSTOPPING

Ahh thank you!! 💜🦇 I’m so glad you’re having a good time :’) I hope you managed to get some sleep!

[stjohnstarling]

my blog is a safe space for me. the rest of you are in danger i think

[stjohnstarling]

She insisted she didn’t know that sex existed until she was almost married and was so horrified by the discovery that she immediately broke up with her fiancé. Yet she was a master of the rare art of clown drag. An enigma.

One of my favourite things about being a romance novelist is that one of the pioneers in the field was a woman who dressed and talked like a drag queen who’d made an over the top posh lady stage persona and then was cursed by a witch to never break character.

[stjohnstarling]

Silas in What Manner of Man, Walton in Frankenstein, the captain of the Demeter in Dracula, Ishmael in Moby Dick -

If there's one thing I know is essential to good storytelling, it's that: at some point, whether very briefly or for the entire length of the novel, you need to hear from a sailor about what he thinks of all this

[stjohnstarling]

I said this in the last newsletter but I haven’t mentioned it on here yet so consider this the world’s softest and most whispery announcement that I’m hoping to run What Manner of Man for a second time starting next month (like Dracula Daily), plus serialize the re-edited draft for Patrons.

[stjohnstarling]

😭💜 These are such huge complements. Thank you both so much!!!

Now complete and free to read!

Father Ardelian has been summoned to a distant, secluded island to perform an exorcism. What will happen when he begins to suspect his host — the mysterious, nocturnal lord of the manor — of wanting him for another reason entirely? Will the piously celibate priest be able to resist his host’s diabolically seductive charms?

Read What Manner of Man here! 🦇

The tags do not lie:

[stjohnstarling]

I SWEAR my haunted manor isn’t a trap for waifish young men. Yes I know they can’t resist the allure of the silk bedsheets but I promise I am NOT trapping them here and using their bodies in my experiments. STOP asking me about the mad science lab in the basement. You know I’m sensitive about that!

[stjohnstarling]

Esteban Maroto - La bella y la bestia

[stjohnstarling]

Hi! I have caved and subscribed to your novel (and what I've read so far is fantastic, I am in LOVE. Queer gothic vampire romance!) is it still gonna be sent out weekly?

Funny you should ask! The novel is complete but (and this is all top secret hush hush for your ears only anon) I am planning on running it again as a serial, since it was so much fun the first time round. Probably next month (ideally to coincide with Dracula Daily.) Details and official announcement tbd.

[stjohnstarling]

my apologies if this has already been posted here but im sharing this. here is what someone said on twitter along w this image:

the central image text reads: “@everyone I HAVE BEEN RELIABLY INFORMED GUARDIAN JOURNALISTS ARE SNOOPING AROUND ASKING FOR TRANS PEOPLE TO TALK TO THEM ABOUT DIY HRT. THEY ARE PARTICULARLY LOOKING FOR UNDER-18S DOING DIY. SHOULDN'T NEED TO BE SAID, BUT DO. NOT. ENGAGE. SPREAD WIDELY. DO NOT ENGAGE. WE NEED THIS NOTICE SPREAD OUT VIA EVERY GRASSROOTS SUPPORT GROUP AND SOCIAL CIRCLE IN THE COUNTRY.

URGENT. IF THEY GET EVEN ONE TO TAKE PART IT BECOMES A NATIONAL CONVERSATION. TOP ALERT.

Guardian journos are apparently asking trans people about DIY. Trans followers: DO NOT SAY ANYTHING TO THEM. NOT A WORD.

I also know I’ve got cis mutuals who have written for the Guardian. Please know I’ve always thought less of you because of that.

- https://x.com/TownTattle/status/1781045092049928551

[stjohnstarling]

The only valid motivation for becoming a Catholic priest is if you’re gonna use it to get dommed on the church altar. 

[stjohnstarling]

something very lgbt just happened to me *visibly shaken, haggard and covered in blood *

[stjohnstarling]

You ever think about how vampires have all their senses heightened? Well. I do. 

[stjohnstarling]

I think that Barbara Cartland's wardrobe and estate should be distributed among you and any other people who can be trusted to put it to this purpose, instead of being left to support her racist cats in perpetuity or whatever they actually did with it.

One of my favourite things about being a romance novelist is that one of the pioneers in the field was a woman who dressed and talked like a drag queen who’d made an over the top posh lady stage persona and then was cursed by a witch to never break character.

[stjohnstarling]

Now complete and free to read!

Father Ardelian has been summoned to a distant, secluded island to perform an exorcism. What will happen when he begins to suspect his host — the mysterious, nocturnal lord of the manor — of wanting him for another reason entirely? Will the piously celibate priest be able to resist his host’s diabolically seductive charms?

Read What Manner of Man here! 🦇

The tags do not lie:

[stjohnstarling]

You were the caretaker for the mythical beasts of the royal family. Yesterday they decided to replace you with some incompetent noble, before kicking you out of the castle. You then spent the night in a nearby forest. However today you were awakened by the beasts who chose to follow you.

[stjohnstarling]

Gay/lesbian hostility. Gay/lesbian antagonism. Gay/lesbian enmity. 

What’s the opposite of gay/lesbian solidarity? That’s what Danny and Lord Vane have going on.