#philip somerset

[fischerfrey]

fankids appreciation, bonus day: co-parent appreciation

a little shoutout to my talented fankid collaborators!

(i wanted to pick a kid whose custody i don't share from everyone but emile told me to pick him or else💀)

yvonne dubois, daughter of isabelle dubois and penny haywood @endlessly-cursed

emile belrose, son of colette belrose and gael romero @gcldensnitch

reva rovere-parsons, daughter of angelo della rovere and georgie parsons @unfortunate-arrow

oaklan enfield, son of kit enfield and odessa avery @potionboy3

philip somerset, son of vincent somerset and margaret taylor @camillejeaneshphm

and a big thank you for @endlessly-cursed for hosting this event!

[endlessly-cursed]

fankids appreciation week: family dynamics - the somerset family (920-present)

featuring: odalric the red, denegifu of scotland, juliana of york, akelda the tragic, cuthfelda of ireland, hilda the smith, agatha of kent ( @that-scouse-wizard ) vincent somerset, alexandra somerset, lenore somerset, jocelyn somerset, morwenna somerset, gia somerset ( @gaygryffindorgal ) lawrence somerset, philip somerset, elizabeth somerset, gia somerset ii, ruby somerset ; diana somerset & beatrice somerset ( @camillejeaneshphm ) felicity, constance & meredith somerset

[fashionbooksmilano]

Isabella Blow : Fashion Galore!

Caroline Evans, Alistair O'Neill, Nick Knight

Rizzoli, New York 2013, 160 pages, 24,4x32cm, ISBN 978-0-8478-4172-1

euro 40,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

A beautifully photographed insider’s look at the highly influential personal style and wardrobe of Isabella Blow, one of fashion’s most courageous, outrageous, and imaginative muses. Isabella Blow was said to have been a one-off of her own creation in a world of copycats. She had a gift for spotting fashion genius her discoveries included Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, and Sophie Dahl, all of whom became instantaneously iconic. Her eye put her at the center of the high fashion scene, yet Isabella s pedigree, intoxicating energy, wicked sense of humor, boundaries-pushing aesthetics, and her willingness to wear the outrageous made her into a fashion icon. This elaborate volume published with Somerset House and in association with the Isabella Blow Foundation and Central Saint Martins to accompany the fall 2013 exhibition is an exhaustive survey of Isabella’s personal collection. With over 100 gorgeous full-color and black-and-white photographs shot exclusively for this publication by Nick Knight, this volume is the first to catalogue her own famous wardrobe that includes thousands of pieces by the most important contemporary designers, including McQueen, Philip Treacy, and Manolo Blahnik. The impact of Isabella’s influence can be seen within this captivating and inspiring volume, an essential addition to libraries of the fashionable, cultured, and eclectic.

29/02/24

[vox-anglosphere]

When travelling in England, you can always find room at a George Inn

[grahamfiles]

The George Inn, Norton St Philip 2014

[sesiondemadrugada]

The Razor's Edge (John Byrum, 1984).

[msclaritea]

Man, I just love finding out how much the Europeans have lied about the presence of Black people in their history. Queen Elizabeth, Walsingham, Black German nobility, Black Scottish nobility, Black Jacovites. Outlander is a lie, and so much more. It's no wonder racists like #GregAbbott go after Black Hair. It reminds them of what they worshipped.

[alternatehistoryworlds]

AU House of Tudors: Children Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

Mary(1496 - 1558). Queen of Spain and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Wife of Charles V. Mary and Charles fell in love with each other at first sight. Charles loved his wife, he never cheated on her and had no children out of wedlock. The marriage produced 9 children: Philip II, Juana, Ferdinand, Maximilian, Mary, Isabella, Juan, Elizabeth and Henry. She was beloved by her subjects.

Edmund (1499 - 1560). Duke of Somerset. Husband of Isabella of Portugal. He was very pious and lived away from court, because court life wasn't for him. The married life of Isabella and Edmund was happy. The marriage produced 11 children: Elizabeth, Thomas, Mary, George, Owen, Arthur, Dorothy, Anne, Margaret, Henry and Richard.

Catherine(1503 - 1567). Queen of Navarre. Wife of Henry II of Navarre, mother of 5 children: Jean IV, Jeanne, Francis, Claude, Pierre. Not finding happiness in marriage Catherine devoted herself to music and literature.

AU: Дети Генриха VII и Елизаветы Йоркской.

Мария(1496 - 1558). Королева Испании и императрица Священной римской империи. Жена Карла V. Мария и Карл влюбились в друг друга с первого взгляда. Карл любил свою жену, он ей никогда не изменял и не имел внебрачных детей. В браке родилось 9 детей: Филипп II, Хуана, Фердинанд, Максимилиан, Мария, Изабелла, Хуан, Елизавета и Энрике. Такжа она была любима своими подданными.

Эдмунд(1499 - 1560). Герцог Сомерсет. Муж Изабеллы Португальской. Был очень набожным и жил в дали от двора, так как придворная жизнь была не для него. Супружеская жизнь Изабеллы и Эдмунда была счастливой. В браке родилось 11 детей: Елизавета, Томас, Мария, Джордж, Оуэн, Артур, Дороти, Анна, Маргарита, Генрих и Ричард.

Екатерина(1503 - 1567). Королева Наварры. Жена Генриха II Наваррского, мать 5 детей: Жан IV, Жанна, Франсуаза, Клод, Пьер. Не найдя счастья в браке Екатерина посвятила всю себя музыке и литературе.

Part 2.

[bookquest2024]

100 Books to Read Before I Die: Quest Order

The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

Under The Net by Iris Murdoch

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

A Passage to India by EM Forster

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

1984 by George Orwell

White Noise by Don DeLillo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Oscar And Lucinda by Peter Carey

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Ulysses by James Joyce

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Herzog by Saul Bellow

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes

A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul

A Dance to The Music of Time by Anthony Powell

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Little Women by Louisa M Alcott

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

Watchmen by Alan Moore

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Money by Martin Amis

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

[aswrm]

Geoff Rickly in ‘Negatives’ by Amy Fleisher Madden

Transcript below

An Introduction to the Third Wave

Geoff Rickly

Thursday / No Devotion / United Nations

Everything is hardcore. Snapcase is hardcore.

Obviously. Strife and Chain of Strength and Bad Brains are hardcore. Sick of It All is hardcore, and they're from New York, so they spell it NYHC.

Shelter is hardcore and 108 is hardcore, and they're both Krishna, which means people call them Krishnacore. Earth Crisis and SSD are hardcore, but they don't do drugs; straight-edge hardcore.

There are so many little signifiers in place to help people know what's up, but each one of these bands does actually have something in common: They are all hard as nails. They're hardcore.

It was the mid-'90s. I'd moved out of the dorms at Rutgers and into a house on Somerset Street with my old roommate, Clay, and my new housemate, Louis. We were a good twenty-minute walk from campus, but the house was weirdly small on the inside; it got bad light. But it had a big basement.

Big enough to have shows in. Hardcore shows.

Luckily, by the mid-'90s, hardcore was everything, and everything was hardcore.

Converge was hardcore-full of guitars and drums that sounded like broken glass in a blender. But so was Rainer Maria, with twinkling clean guitars and dual vocals whispering and shouting in a joyous conversation. So were Ink & Dagger, in their corpse paint, smashing Aphex Twin electronics into Black Flag riffs. Fugazi was hardcore with a rhythm section that sounded like James Brown and a no-slam-dancing policy. Texas Is the Reason had twangy vocals and the most beautiful guitar parts that anyone had ever heard, and they were fucking hardcore-with the pedigree to prove it. They were one of the groups that inspired the latest wave of bands who were all playing shows in our basement, and in other basements like ours all over America: The Get Up Kids, The Promise Ring. Jimmy Eat World. They were all catchy and sweet, and full of youthful innocence. And they were all hardcore, too. Everything was. The basement show was like an Olive Garden:

If you were there, you were family-you were hardcore.

But holy shit, did we love to tease those bands— "You guys are so emotional, you're so fucking emo." Stick a tap in them and let the tears flow. That's all emo was to us: a taunt, a ribbing, a genre label that had never really stuck. I remember seeing Fugazi in the early '90s and someone yelled at lan MacKaye, "You are so emo!" His reply was simple and seemed to shut down the label forever. He said, "Emo Philips?" —forcing the crowd to think of the awkward comedian, with his strange bob haircut.

So, years later, when we had a great young hardcore band from Princeton play in our basement, we shouted at them, "Oh my god, Saves the Day are so emo." Their singer, Chris, acknowledged it dryly: "Boo hoo." Or that time when At the Drive-In destroyed the Melody Bar in front of a crowd of five people. I told them, "That was so good, I could have cried. but I didn't want anyone to thinkI was emo."

We didn't know we were already part of it. A joke or not, we were already emo. When we started Thursday, we thought we were just another hardcore band in the wave of hardcore bands that we looked up to: Saetia, You and I, Usurp Synapse, Orchid, Reversal of Man, The Locust, Charles Bronson.

Our friends. Our heroes. We were playing the same basements and VFW halls. We were buying the same vans and using the same dialers to get free calls on pay phones. We didn't know that, even as our own band took off, we were already emo, and we were about to be part of something new.

After Full Collapse came out on Victory Records-a very hardcore label —we spent a lot of time tracing the footsteps of all those who d come before. We played to five or ten people a night, occasionally landing a festival where we'd do anything to get people to stick around. "Yeah, we have a three-way split with Joy Division and Swing Kids, but we're sold out of them right now... Still, we're playing after Dragbody if you've got the time to watch us."

Then Saves the Day offered us a spot opening for them on a national tour. Our friend Dan from the band Joshua explained to us that Saves the Day was the biggest band in hardcore. They'd hit the indie glass ceiling-they'd sold 100,000 records without being on a major label. We took the tour - first of four in front of 1,000 people every night-and something clicked. The very next tour we went out on, we were the headliner, and it was entirely sold out before we even left home. Something was happening. We broke through the 100,000 record glass ceiling, shooting to 400,000 records. All our friends were right behind us, in the next couple years, hitting a million records sold and more.

The press has always been a little tone deaf, and they'd already been using the term emo for years, so they tried to find something new and catchy for this rapidly developing phenomenon. They tried screamo, except not everyone was screaming- and the bands hated it. Emocore, except that term somehow sounded even wimpier than just emo-and the bands hated it. They even tried the term xtremo, and tried to line us up to play X Games-type events, with cans of Mountain Dew stacked on our amps, but the sponsors weren't sure about the crossover appeal-and the bands hated it.

[photo id: geoff leaning back into the crowd. he is shouting, with one arm raised above/behind his head and crowd members’ arms round his torso]

In the middle of all this, I had the chance to produce the first album from a scrappy bunch of hard. core kids who loved Placebo and Queen and comic books. They were called My Chemical Romance, and by their second record, they would solidify something that had been becoming apparent for the last couple of years: The 2000s were the decade of emo. It was everywhere. It was fashion and TV and billboards. It was celebrity. It was gossip.

And when money gets involved, things can quickly go to shit. Emo got increasingly commercial. It was codified. It was slick. It had songwriters and mega producers. It had A-listers directing music videos.

The only thing it lacked was sincere emotion. The feeling was gone. A pretty tough break for a genre called emo.

By the 2010s, being emo was about the uncoolest thing in the world. The heavy hitters started breaking up. Not just the early torchbearers like us or our West Coast buds, Thrice, but the big guns, too.

My Chemical Romance called it quits, and suddenly bands started dropping likeflies. Pop singers dropped the emo haircuts. Things cooled off.

But then, half a decade later, something strange started to happen. The young kids began to go back to the roots of the genre, appreciating the earnest sincerity and adventurous musicality that made emo break out in the first place. The Hotelier, Teen Suicide, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Joyce Manor, Hop Along-these bands brought emo out of the boardroom and back into the basement, bashing away at a glorious noise until the world started to notice. This

"emo revival" was actually the birth of something new. It inspired Thursday to start playing again, and it inspired so many of our peers to do the same.

We've gotten the opportunity to see this thing that we gave our hearts to through newer, purer eyes.

Watching Pianos Become the Teeth and Title Fight and Touché Amoré burn with passionate intensity has reignited our fire. Seeing these photos, through Amy's eyes- seeing the vitality that has always been there-is much the same. It's changed everything, allowing us to restore a true relationship to our past work.

Recently, I had the opportunity to stand on stage with Thursday and watch a sea of kids scream along to these words from "War All The Time":

All those nights in the basement,

The kids are still screaming

On and on and on and on and ...

And it was pretty hardcore-emotionally speaking.

[endlessly-cursed]

Riddle Era- Lawrence Somerset

"𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚."

Name: Lawrence Noah Somerset 

Nicknames: Laurie 

Birthdate: 12th of March 1931 

Zodiac Sign: Pisces 

Personality Type (MBTI): tbd 

Blood Status: Half-blood 

Nationality: British 

Physical Appearance

Hair: Brown 

Eyes: Blue/green

Height: 1.88m 

Weight: 78kg 

Body Type: Average build 

Skin Tone: Fair 

Distinguishing Marks (scars, birthmarks, etc.): tbd 

Background

Hometown

Lawrence grew up as the heir of Winbourne and had a faily normal childhood as a nobleman. Despite the contant wars, his parents did their best to raise him as a normal child. 

Family

Mother: Margaret Odette Somerset, neé Taylor ( @camillejeaneshphm​ ) 

Lawrence adores and admires his mother. Both of them have a great relationship and he always shows her great respect. He also has in high regard her counsel and does his best to make her happy 

Father: Vincent Alexander Somerset 

He became the Viscount of Winbourne in 1952 after his mother, the famous and widely beloved Primrose Gray stepped down and allowed him to take her place. He admires and loves his father despite his past sins and is his best friend apart from his brother. 

Younger brother: Philip Charles Somerset ( @camillejeaneshphm​ ) 

He and Lawrence are very close, and are the definition from the sun and the moon. Where Lawrence is persuasive, social, charming and a lady’s man, Philip is shy, awkward, introverted and homosexual. He was always overprotective of his brother -even more than any of his sisters- to the point of giving him the house in Madeira to protect him from the harsh laws against homosexuality of the time, safe and away from danger. 

Sister nº1: Elizabeth Primrose Somerset ( @camillejeaneshphm​ ) 

Lawrence loves and admires his sister. Her strenght and cunning helped them bond and he was very fond of her. The two of them were friendly rivals at Hogwarts and would always join him in training, for she, as the eldest daughter, had her duties. Though the moment she could, gave up her rights and moved to the USA where she worked as an Obliviator at MACUSA and met her future husband. 

Sister nº2: Gia Alexandra Somerset II 

The most beautiful of the three sisters, she was very much like her grandmother and he was very protective of her, and she took over Elizabeth’s role and did it to perfection. She also trained Laurie’s future wife and was very respected until the end. 

Sister nº3: Ruby Celestia Somerset 

The youngest and Laurie’s favourite, they had very much in common and he adored her and saw her as his baby, and was thus the most overprotective when it came to his sisters. They were the closest despite the age gap and held her in high regard, often spoiling her. 

Hogwarts

House: Slytherin 

Best Class: DADA, Alchemy and Arithmancy 

Worst Class: HOM, COMC 

Boggart: Losing his claim to Winbourne like his father did once 

Riddikulus: He instead loses his trousers 

Patronus: Lion 

Patronus Memory: Getting drunk with Phil and laughing about it for the first time at Winbourne’s winery 

Mirror of Erised: Having his family with Millie and in Winbourne 

Amortentia (what he smells like): peppermint, pine trees, freshly baked cake, gillywater and smoke 

Amortentia (what he smells): chanel nº5, cherry blossoms, meadow grass, strawberries and milkshakes 

Career

11-18: Hogwarts student 

19-35: Philantropist

36-Death: Viscount of Winbourne

Personality & Attitude

Priorities: His family, his claim, Millie 

Strengths: Cunning, smart, loyal to the end, ambitious 

Weaknesses: Proud, haughty, a bit of a prat 

Stressed: During exams, riding those bloody brooms 

Calm/Comforted: With his family, reading the ledgers of Winbourne, in Millie’s arms 

Favorites

Colors: Red, green, golden and black 

Weather: Heavy raining on a winter night 

Hobbies: Reading the ledgers of Winbourne, golf and reading 

Fashion: Laurie dresses according the 1940s/50s England fashion, rarely never missing trends 

Relationships

Significant Other/Love Interest: Millicent Daniela Abbott 

Witty, beautiful and from the Sacred Twenty Eight, she minded little that Laurie was a half-blood and was a third daughter of the Abbott family. She was a Ravenclaw and a year younger than him and was smart, creative and with a gift for people. They fell in love after WW2, especially during the celebrating of its end and were soon betrothed. Millie and her mother-in-law got along greatly and educated her to be the next viscountess. They had three children: Charles, Tatiana Primrose and Meghan Marie. 

Friends: tbd 

Rivals: tbd 

Trivia

He proposed to Millie on Christmas Eve night in the same field of primroses as his father and grandfather did 

He’s a confident man and rarely blushes or is shy, contrary to Phil 

He can play the piano 

Like his many ancestors, he doesn’t like being away from Winbourne for long and did his honeymoon on English soil (the colonies at the time) just in case while Gia II was in charge for a while 

He was top of the Slytherin class and helped Slytherin win the prize of the House Points 

He also got a degree on Oxford of Law, Economics, Political Science and History 

He also hatched a plan just in case any of his children were squibs: his son would go to Eton College meanwhile his daughters would go to St. Paul. This plan was passed onto his son until nowadays 

His brother Philip was meant to inherit Harrendale, but he gave up his claim and instead gave it to their cousin Julia Fersen 

He also didn’t enjoy big events and did only two, which were one of the hottest events, for it was a very exclusive list 

[james-vi-stan-blog]

Do you prefer Robert or George for James? Idk why I like Robert more

Robert has the appeal of the romantic tournament story: accidentally break your leg in front of the king's box, he leaps from it and takes you into his arms*, nurses you back to health and teaches you Latin, and then you become the most powerful man in the country.

But honestly, every single favorite is a terrible person and bad for James. Of the major ones:

Esmé Stewart (Lennox) was Esmé Stewart

George Gordon (Huntly) constantly used James's favor to wiggle out of consequences for his rebellions and feuding

Francis Stewart (Bothwell) (less clearly a favorite but there's some evidence) was an all-around horrible person

Alexander Lindsay (Spynie) sided with Bothwell

Philip Herbert (Montgomery/Pembroke) was known for randomly physically attacking people

Robert Carr (Somerset) was a dumb jock who abused his position and was really nasty to James by the end

George Villiers (Buckingham) is like the ur-example of corrupt courtier and did so many dumb, selfish, and destructive things

I guess James Hay (Doncaster/Carlslie) never particularly stabbed James in the back, but it's not like he's a particularly great guy.

I'm moved by the sweetness and affection of the James-George letters but like, all these relationships are kinda terrible. As they inevitably are, because they involve ambitious nobles struggling for power in court. It was sadly simply impossible for someone in James's position to have a healthy wholesome relationship.

Of course, we don't need to pick our favorite historical ships for wholesomeness, but I am james-vi-stan after all, so I feel bad for him. Maybe if he had had, against all odds, just a stable supportive guy at his side for a long period, he wouldn't have been so subject to grasping favorites, and maybe had a happier life. But... not possible in the 16th-17th century court.

*probably not how that actually went down

[talesofpassingtime]

Philip knew very little about women, or he would have been aware that one should accept their most transparent lies.

— W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage  

[formerlibrarian]

Tagged by @castrahiberna to list 10 books that have stuck with me in order that they popped into my head.

(Warning: #spoilers in my comments to each book.)

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham (Just a really beautiful well written book that I could 100% relate to and see myself in.)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (Maybe one of the most well-written beautiful books I have ever read.)

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon (The end of the world has always fascinated me. )

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Really, it is the image of the final paragraph that has stuck with me since I read the book back in high school.)

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert (Just like Brave New World, it is the death at the end that has stuck with me.)

Nathaniel by John Saul (I remember wanting to read a horror novel around the time I was 13 or 14 in 1984/85. And as I scanned the paperback rack at the store, I bought the 3 or 4 horror novels that they had. This was the only book from that bunch that I finished and I proceeded to devour everything that John Saul had written until 1986. Why did I stop reading him in 1986? Probably a combination of things, I got tired of his repetitive formula (I had just read ten of his books within a year or two.) and I also discovered the Beat Poets and started reading Jack Kerouac instead.)

The Forsaken by Cameron Read (This was the first "adult" book I read - meaning not written for children or teens. I was probably 12.)

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (The concept of going to war with God, and God being a decrepit old man.)

The Last Days of Christ the Vampire by J. G. Eccarius (The book is horrible, but the idea of "Christ the Vampire" has stuck with me. I have a long gestating story idea around this concept - including how he was turned into a vampire and where he is now.)

Grendel by Matt Wagner (I'm including one comic book series that has stuck with me as well. Back in 1988 I saw issue #1 for sell on the newsstand at a grocery store. I knew nothing about it, except for the idea of starting a new comic book series with issue #1. It changed who I am and became a big part of my DNA. If I were to get fictional characters tattooed on my body: Godzilla, Ponyo, and Grendel would be three of them.)

[firstprince-ao3feed]

Noble Blood

Noble Blood https://ift.tt/Ps86Mcn by OrchidScript Henry breathed slowly, willing himself not to be intimidated, but it was a task. He never liked attracting attention, being at the very center of a spectacle. That was all court seemed to be for the moment – a spectacle; men and women clustered and dressed in rigid finery, to play at being Titania and Oberon for a night. And when one was gazing through the haze of candlelight and midnight, who was to see the gaps that made the truth of them? ________________________ November 1609: Arthur Fox has passed unexpectedly, leaving his two youngest children without plans for the future. On orders of their grandmother, Bea is sent to the court of James I of England, a seventeen-year-old Henry her escort. After catching the eye of the king, Henry becomes a court favorite, playing advisor, poet, companion, and lover to James. Years later, when a Spanish entourage arrives to negotiate the betrothal of the English prince to the Spanish infanta, Henry meets Alexander Claremont-Diaz. Faced with the realities of both their positions, will Alex be able to see past Henry's title as The Favorite and love the man underneath, or is their affair doomed from the start? Words: 5591, Chapters: 1/12, Language: English Fandoms: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M Characters: Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Alex Claremont-Diaz, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Percy "Pez" Okonjo, June Claremont-Diaz, Queen Mary (Red White & Royal Blue), Philip Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Martha Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Arthur Fox, Historical Figures - Character, James VI and I of Scotland and England, Robert Carr 1st Earl of Somerset, Lady Elizabeth Hatton, George Villiers 1st Duke of Buckingham Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor/Original Male Character(s) Additional Tags: You think I'm kidding but no I am not, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Historic Setting, Stuart England, "The King's Assassin" AU, Mary & George AU, Court Favorites, Royalty, Canonical Character Death, Explicit Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, tags will change via AO3 works tagged 'Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor' https://ift.tt/XzmAyLY November 21, 2023 at 03:39PM

[lollytruecrimeworld]

Melanie Hall Murder

A Cold Case from Bath UK

This is a case that my team are currently reviewing in hope that we can put out a documentary about it. This murder seems to have been committed in 1996 but the victim’s remains were not found until 2009. This murder has to date never been solved.

This is one case that we as a team believe can be solved and in fact, should have been solved a long time ago.

Melanie Hall was born on August 20th 1970 and disappeared on June 9th 1996 after a night out at the Cadillacs Nightclub in Bath, UK.

Melanie had graduated from from the University of Bath in in 1995 having achieved a degree in nursing. She went on to get work as a clerical officer at The Royal university Hospital in Bath.

On 8th June 1996 Melanie had made arrangements for an evening out with her boyfriend Philip Karlbaum and then spent the night at his home afterwards. Her mother dropped her off at Philip’s home amd it was from there that they set out with another couple to Cadillacs nightclub in Bath city centre.

During the course of the evening Philip apparently saw 25-year-old Melanie dancing with another male and as a result an argument ensued. He left the club upset and headed home. She was last seen sitting on a barstool at 1.10 am in the early hours of June 9th 1996.

There was an unconfirmed sighting of a woman arguing with a man between 1.45am and 2am on Old Orchard just around the corner from the nightclub. Whilst police say that they cannot rule out that the woman was Melanie but at the same time there is no way to confirm that it was her.

There is also a report of a male seen talking to a woman matching Melanie Hall’s inside the nightclub. He was described as white, around 27 years old, 5ft 10ins tall, medium build, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, bushy eyebrows and clean shaven.

His clothes were described as black trousers, black shoes with a brown silk shirt. The person who gave the description could not be certain but it seems quite possible the male had a gold hooped earring in his right ear and a flashy gold watch on his wrist.

Despite a massive police operation Melanie was not found and she was declared legally dead by a court on November 17th 2004 but without her body being found

Now before we go any further it is right to day that it has been suggested that a serial sex offender who preyed on women in the Bath area between 1991 and 2000 could potentially have been responsible for Melanie’s disappearance and death but thus far this has never been confirmed.

Officers from Avon & Somerset Police have said that they cannot rule out that the ‘Batman rapist’ was responsible for Melanie’s murder. The rapist is known to have attempted to carjack a woman at knifepoint in the same area of Bath as the club where Melanie was last seen just a few hours before Melanie is believed to have been abducted.

The victim of the attempted carjacking was left wouded when she fought her attacker but managed to escape.

Coming back to Melanie Hall’s murder the night of her disappearance is a night that may stick in some people’s memory as it was the evening of the opening game of the Euro 96 football championships, England played Switzerland and drew 1–1.

Melanie was wearing quite distinctive clothes and shoes on the night that she disappeared namely a pale blue silk dress with a round neck, black suede mule shoes with straps across the front and an open toe, size 5 or 6, a cream single-breasted, long-sleeved jacket and a black satchel-type handbag. Her jewellery consisted of a Next watch with expanding bracelet and silver drop earrings.

She was also known to have had her Midland bank cheque book and cheque guarantee card with were in her handbag and have never been recovered.

Maybe you were in the club that night? Did you speak to or recognise Malanie Hall? She was a very pretty young lady with very distinctive blonde hair. Were you a can driver in Bath in 1996? Did you take Melanie and a male somewhere in the early hours of June 9th 1996?

Were you offered the items of jewellery to purchase? or even the high quality handbag?

If you know anything at all that could lead police to solve this heinous crime, please contact the police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

If you are willing to discuss the case were a friend or colleague of Melanie and would be willing to speak to one of my research team then please get in touch.

Our contact details:

Email: UCMTUK@protonmail.com

or: lolly.truecrime@gmail.com

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