stjohnstarling

[stjohnstarling]

Cooper later recalled, ‘Vincent was in his element because he had me on a leash… I said, “Don’t be afraid to yank the leash. Make this like one of your movies where I’m just like this little pet of yours that you’re showing around!” 👁️👁️

Vincent Price and Alice Cooper -

Welcome to my Nightmare; Black Widow (1975)

[stjohnstarling]

It can be tough to love a man who keeps trying to dissect you.

The doctor's devoted assistant knows his master isn’t dead, because he brought him back with his own hands — but he can't say that to the police...

🧪 Witness a man transformed against his will in a manner both monstrous and sublime.

🧪 Accompany a lost soul as his search for the object of his obsessive devotion leads him into a labyrinthine network of conspiracy and murder.

🧪 Revel in villainous excess as they conduct unethical yet homoerotic experiments on each other.

A COMPANION IN VICE is a gothic-noir hybrid novel about hazardously toxic queer romance and mad science — a chapter per week, sent (for free!) directly to your inbox — beginning SUMMER/FALL of 2025!

SIGN UP HERE →

[stjohnstarling]

Symphoniacus broadwayii, commonly the “Broadway musician.” The collective noun is “orchestra”. Once ubiquitous on the island of Manhattan, Symphoniacus broadwayii has suffered a precipitous decline over the last few decades. One reason is habitat destruction; S. broadwayii is highly specialized for its habitat of specific depressions or ditches (known as “orchestra pits”). Increasingly, orchestra pits have been filled in or walled over to create more room for the highly desirable cash crop Credulus payola, also called “audience members”. As a result, S. broadwayii has been forced to seek open space behind the scrim or even on platforms high above the stage, far less hospitable environments for their development.

Another cause of population decline has been the incursion of aggressive invasive species. Symphoniacus syntheticus, the “synth player,” is the main culprit. Related to S. broadwayii, S. syntheticus has evolved a refined ability to mimic the calls of many different subspecies of S. broadwayii, threatening to entirely replace them in their ecological niche. Fortunately, many groups are fighting back against the proliferation of this species.

[stjohnstarling]

Oh noooo you fell into the vat of experimental, highly-potent topical aphrodisiac that someone left out in the middle of the mad science lab. :( Guess I'd better strap you to the evil experiments table for safety. Also it dissolves clothes btw.

[stjohnstarling]

Quick studies of Eddie Constantine in Alphaville. His craggy face looks straight out of a noir comic to me

[stjohnstarling]

@pomegranateteeth

I’m trying to more comprehensively address all of this in the essay series I’m writing, but my basic recommendation is to start by writing something well within your comfort zone, and write it for the people you already know. If your mutuals circle is all people into Age of Sail stuff, write about sailors; if it’s people into 70s bands, write a tragic love story about rock stars; etc. etc. You know what they like, and presumably you hang out with these people because you’re also into these things.

Keep a tight leash on your ambition. Design a novel that’s fully within your ability to write - keep the cast small, the word count short, the plot relatively straightforward. Rely on plot beat templates if you have to. Swallow your pride during the writing, make the humiliation of realizing the limits of your abilities happen at this stage (before you have to deal with it in public), and do whatever it takes to ensure the final product is something you are rock solid confident in. No ambitious beautiful messes, you need to be unshakeable in your feeling you wrote a book that lives up to its aim and that people will enjoy, so that you can be excited about being loud about it in public.

Getting people to read your novel is an undertaking almost as difficult as writing the novel itself, and it’s worth approaching with the same care and thoughtfulness. If what you’re doing feels humiliating, you should probably rethink your strategy. I can assure you that you have more agency over this than you think.

[stjohnstarling]

Yeah they actually did the great work sometime around the mid century. Putrefaction, purification, rubedo, the whole deal. Formed the prima materia into three philosopher's stones and then there was the rising of a red sun, the turning of lead into gold, the merging of male and female. It all happened.

[stjohnstarling]

If you’re self-publishing, it’s a good idea to know what real, existing people you’re writing your novel for from the very first stages of conceiving of your story.

Getting people to read your novel is an undertaking almost as difficult as writing the novel itself, and it’s worth approaching with the same care and thoughtfulness. If what you’re doing feels humiliating, you should probably rethink your strategy. I can assure you that you have more agency over this than you think.

[stjohnstarling]

If you can’t bear spending time reflecting in a practical, material way on who you want to read your novel and how you’re going to get their attention, you’re likely going to fall backwards into whatever the marketing trends of the moment are, and slowly be dragged by the undertow of online social pressure into becoming the same as everyone else

Getting people to read your novel is an undertaking almost as difficult as writing the novel itself, and it’s worth approaching with the same care and thoughtfulness. If what you’re doing feels humiliating, you should probably rethink your strategy. I can assure you that you have more agency over this than you think.

[stjohnstarling]

Getting people to read your novel is an undertaking almost as difficult as writing the novel itself, and it’s worth approaching with the same care and thoughtfulness. If what you’re doing feels humiliating, you should probably rethink your strategy. I can assure you that you have more agency over this than you think.

[stjohnstarling]

Transsexual Action Organization's newsletter artwork by Susan David. Features Trans Women as robots and extraterrestrials. 1974 & 1975 (source)

[stjohnstarling]

I've been astonished by how much people seem to love my weird and experimental project held together by duct tape and string, especially since so much of it flies in the face of the way I've been taught publishing is supposed to work. The conventional way authors survive online is to release books for sale as frequently as possible - whereas I've been focusing on giving each project as much time as I can, and releasing them slowly (so far I've done a Dracula-inspired novel.) I’ve been making the sort of transgressive queer writing that mainstream publishing is too nervous to touch right now, and I've been giving it away in my newsletter for free.

I want to keep telling stories for free, forever. Only there's one problem: I'm going to need A Lot more subscribers to my newsletter. I have just under 5000 readers right now - I’m going to need at least double that.

Conventional wisdom also says that Tumblr is a dead end, but I'm convinced that this is one of the last places on the internet that capable of fostering real, counter-cultural queer expression - precisely because we are so often left out and forgotten by the mainstream. Half the reason I'm on this website is because of the culture of absolute resistance to advertising. Unfortunately, that also makes my job here rather hard. If things continue to go well, between Patreon, sales of special editions, and a couple small ads, I think I can just about get away with doing this. But I need your help.

If you're someone who's hungry for good stories and:

❧ You're sick of being sold superficial, safe, and sanitized queer stories that shy away from genuine expressions of socially unacceptable desire

❧ You see sexual freedom as inseparable from queer liberation, and you want to see that explored in metaphor via a vampire seducing a priest

❧ You want to read modern queer fiction that's aware of the deep and rich history of queer culture

❧ You want to help foster a project that would create new avenues for underground and transgressive forms of queer expression

Then you should subscribe to What Manner of Man! It's sexy and boundary-pushing and kinky, with fire in its veins.

If this works, I'll be able to take on bigger and more ambitious projects than I ever have before (it's mad scientists next, and I have some pretty mad ideas!)

Thank you for your time! Reblogs deeply appreciated.

[stjohnstarling]

Do you like queer history? Do you like video essays? Do you like learning about historical figures you've never encountered before? Then boy howdy do I have news for you!

This video essay has taken me NINE MONTHS to make, but it's finally here! Sit back, relax, and learn all about The King of Australian Television™ and how he was gay as hell.

[stjohnstarling]

I’ve been reading back over what’s finished so far of A Companion in Vice and there’s no doubt in my mind that this is by far the best thing I’ve ever written.

[stjohnstarling]

Call me a demon the way I am possessing the body of that holy man.

[stjohnstarling]

Sister Sunrise - 21x30” acrylic on canvas. Sold.

[stjohnstarling]

You really have no idea how rare good writing is, out there in the wild - when you’re taking the plunge on random online novels like I do for professional reasons. If you can write, we need you more than you realize. It’s bad out here.