#Elizabeth Yates

[theresabookreviews]

Black history month

Book Review 15 of 29

[dandelionjack]

my first Ever review on tardis.guide! decided to fully letterboxd it up. harrowing episode of a show that everybody told me was lighthearted childhood nostalgia. liars

[soulless-angel25]

Please reblog for a larger sample size <3 (next part will be up in a moment)

[dw-companion-bracket]

DW Companion Bracket - Round 1

Pick your favourite of these, and remember, the top three from this poll go into the bracket, not just the winner!

[wipbigbang]

WIP Big Bang 2023 Round Starting April 1st!

What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your fanfic drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Please read our FAQ/check out our schedule for more details.

[bethanydelleman]

AITA for getting into a little debt?

u/MyHorseGunnaWin

I am the heir to a large estate, so of course I engage in some of the best pleasures of life, why not? I might as well get out when I'm young. I am not half so bad as most of my friends too! I don't get in that much debt. Nothing crazy.

My father is always a huge killjoy and bore about such things, and he actually took me aside and told me that my most recent debts (my horse had a bad run, well streak of runs) would need to be paid for out of my brother's inheritance (he sold the presentation of a family living). Now this is only half his inheritance, not all of it, and he's still going to have 700/year, which is really good for a younger brother.

Also, the dude who took over my brother's other living really looks like he's going to have a heart attack any day now. He'll pop off and my brother will get his living back, no fuss required! This is really such a minor problem. My aunt agrees that I did nothing at all wrong.

AITA for getting in a little debt even though everything will be totally fine?

Top Comment:

u/AllTheWorldsAStage

No regrets! You've got to make the most of your youth before it's dragged away from you. Carpe diem man!

NTA! Live your dreams!

u/RocksAndMountains How is this the top comment? He is clearly YTA

u/RationalCreature u/RocksAndMountains This subreddit is like 50% idle heirs who are in debt and cheating their younger brothers themselves. They can't all admit that they are AHs. (the other 45% is bored housewives and teenagers)

u/RocksAndMountains Yeah, that tracks.

AITA Jane Austen Masterpost

[natromanxoff]

Daily Express - April 22, 1992

Credits to Roberto Macchi.

[Photo caption: CUDDLING: Paul Young and wife Stacy]

[ADMIRING: Brian May and Liza Minnelli]

Women who sparkle like Mercury

THE LADS may have been the stars of the show at the Freddie Mercury Wembley tribute. But it was the girls who glittered at the lavish party at Browns nightclub later. Flake advert girl Debbie Leng, long-standing girlfriend of Queen's Roger Taylor, topped the fashion stakes in clinging catsuit and elaborate necklace. And Paula Yates showed her husband Bob Geldof it's possible to be colourful without wearing the sofa covers. Model Stacy Smith, wife of Paul Young, was in sparkling form, and superstar Liza Minnelli found that Queen guitarist Brian May — accompanied by former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson — is one of her greatest fans.

[Photo caption: SPARKLING: Debbie Leng in catsuit and necklace]

[Photo caption: CLASHING: Chic Paula Yates and Bob Geldof]

[MRS LINDA JAMES A picture on Page 3 of yesterday's Daily Express was incorrectly captioned as Mary Austin. It was, in fact, of Mrs Linda James, who attended the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. We apologise for any embarrassment.]

[Pictures by RICHARD YOUNG • JILL PARKIN]

~~

First Lady of AIDS

Taylor takes on a new role

LIZ TAYLOR touched down at the airport looking slim and sensational at 60. The caption writers reached for the "age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety” quote from her most famous role — Cleopatra.

What is it that's brought the smile back to the Queen of the Nile? Putting it straight: AIDS. Her flagging reputation has been given the kiss of life by the virus.

There she was on Monday night in front of an audience of 72,000 for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, giving the hammiest performance of a hammy career.

She all but went into a Bohemian Rhapsody about condoms and generally urged the youth of today to encase itself in rubber and not share needles.

"Protect yourselves," she pleaded with tremulous voice and quivering lip. "The world needs you to live.

Arguable, if the evidence of several hours of Def Leppard and all the other sound-alikes these 72,000 paid to hear were anything to go by.

“You are the best and brightest, the shining light that will illuminate a better world tomorrow…" Good grief, let's hope she didn't pay a scriptwriter for that.

Close at hand was Larry Fortensky, her seventh husband but her first from the construction industry, who now escorts her round the AIDS charity circuit on both sides of the Atlantic.

And what a party it has been for Liz ‘n’ Larry so far. Thank goodness she picked an exceptionally enlightened brickie, not one likely to share an anti-gay joke over the hod with his mates.

AIDS has given Liz a whole new starring role. After all, it has been a long time since Cleopatra.

Who said not long enough? Unlike the dewy eye, the parts dried up long ago.

Liz was forced to star in her own drama of drink, men and self-destruction. All very well, but costly in terms of drying-out fees.

And being pushed about various airports, bloated and wedged into a wheelchair, must have been losing its novelty as a photo-opportunity.

She had tried the last refuge of a Hollywood legend — bringing out your own scent and touting it round the promotional counters — when she was saved by the arrival of the incurable disease of the late 20th Century.

AND not just any old disease, but a high-profile one with a heavy presence on America's West Coast, handy for her Bel Air home. Thousands of victims in Africa but, more importantly from the PR point of view, a few glamorous names nearer to hand.

But in the case of Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS last November, is glamour a big enough word? Should we be talking greatness here?

One of his few profundities not set to music was: "New York is Sin City. I just slut myself. My sex drive is enormous. I've got a big bed and it can sleep six."

Another shining light, eh?

Still, it has all been great PR for Liz, whose Tinseltown tiara was beginning to tarnish.

Now she's the First Lady of AIDS and she may soon be more famous for that than for getting married. And how well she looks on it.

Every cloud, as they say, has a silver lining for someone.

[Photo caption: EXIT: Liz leaving London last night with granddaughter Naomi and Larry / Picture: Dennis Stone]

[bumpxnthenight]

Tag drop 1

[belle-keys]

The Ultimate Dark Academia Book Recommendation Guide Ever

The title of this post is clickbait. I, unfortunately, have not read every book ever. Not all of these books are particularly “dark” either. However, these are my recommendations for your dark academia fix. The quality of each of these books varies. I have limited this list to books that are directly linked to the world of academia and/or which have a vaguely academic setting.

Dark Academia staples:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum

Vita Nostra by Maryna Dyachenko

Dark academia litfic or contemporary:

Bunny by Mona Awad

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

White Ivy by Susie Yang

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates

Attribution by Linda Moore

Dark academia thrillers or horror:

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

Dark academia fantasy/sci-fi:

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

Dark academia romance:

Gothikana by RuNyx

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Dark academia YA or MG:

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Dark academia miscellaneous:

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip

[best-star-trek-character]

Official DS9 Character Bracket

And here’s the final bracket! Round One will go live tomorrow, 4/13 at 10 am EST!

Full List:

Round One:

Left Side:

Alexander Rozhenko vs. Keiko O’Brien: poll here

Mora Pol vs. Lwaxana Troi: poll here

Vedek Bareil vs. Captain Benjamin Sisko: poll here

Sirella vs. Molly O’Brien: poll here

Mirror! Garak vs. Gilora Rejal and Ulani Belor: poll here

Curzon Dax vs. Quark: poll here

Martok vs. Ishka: poll here

Brunt vs. Maihar’du: poll here

Kai Winn vs. Chief Miles O’Brien: poll here

Rom vs. Mila: poll here

Joseph Sisko vs. Joran Dax: poll here

The Klingon Chef vs. Mirror! Kira: poll here

Elim Garak vs. Jennifer Sisko: poll here

Goran’Agar vs. Weyoun: poll here

Enabran Tain vs. Shakaar: poll here

Sarah Sisko vs. Vic Fontaine: poll here

Right Side:

Leeta vs. Female Changeling: poll here

Solok vs. Dr. Julian Bashir: poll here

Natima Lang vs. Legate Damar: poll here

Grand Nagus Zek vs. Keevan: poll here

Sarina Douglas vs. Gul Dukat: poll here

Admiral William Ross vs. Lt. Commander Worf: poll here

Kasidy Yates vs. Pel: poll here

Nog vs. Morn: poll here

Michael Eddington vs. Tora Ziyal: poll here

Jack, Patrick and Lauren vs. Constable odo: poll here

Tekeny Ghemor vs. Lenara Kahn: poll here

Dr. Elizabeth Lense vs. Jake Sisko: poll here

Luther Sloan vs. Counselor Ezri Dax: poll here

Major Kira Nerys vs. Kor, Kang and Koloth: poll here

Mirror! Worf vs. Grilka: poll here

Baby Changeling vs. Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax: poll here

Round Two:

Left Side:

Keiko O’Brien vs. Lwaxana Troi: poll here

Captain Benjamin Sisko vs. Molly O’Brien: poll here

Mirror! Garak vs. Quark: poll here

Martok vs. Brunt: poll here

Chief Miles O’Brien vs. Rom: poll here

Joseph Sisko vs. Mirror! Kira: poll here

Elim Garak vs. Weyoun: poll here

Enabran Tain vs. Vic Fontaine: poll here

Right Side:

Leeta vs. Dr. Julian Bashir: poll here

Legate Damar vs. Grand Nagus Zek: poll here

Gul Dukat vs. Lt. Commander Worf: poll here

Kasidy Yates vs. Nog: poll here

Tora Ziyal vs. Constable Odo: poll here

Lenara Kahn vs. Jake Sisko: poll here

Ezri Dax vs. Kira Nerys: poll here

Grilka vs. Jadzia Dax: poll here

Round Three:

Left Side:

Lwaxana Troi vs. Captain Benjamin Sisko: poll here

Quark vs. Martok: poll here

Chief Miles O’Brien vs. Mirror! Kira: poll here

Elim Garak vs. Vic Fontaine: poll here

Right Side:

Dr. Julian Bashir vs. Legate Damar: poll here

Lt. Commander Worf vs. Nog: poll here

Constable Odo vs. Jake Sisko: poll here

Kira Nerys vs. Jadzia Dax: poll here

Quarter-Finals:

Left Side:

Captain Benjamin Sisko vs. Quark: poll here

Chief Miles O’Brien vs. Elim Garak: poll here

Right Side:

Dr. Julian Bashir vs. Lt. Cmdr. Worf: poll here

Constable Odo vs. Jadzia Dax: poll here

Semi-Finals:

Captain Benjamin Sisko vs. Elim Garak: poll here

Dr. Julian Bashir vs. Jadzia Dax: poll here

Finals:

Captain Benjamin Sisko vs. Jadzia Dax: poll here

[unitchiefs-blackbirdphoenix]

17x06 Reaction/Spoilers Pt. 1 (aka the Jemily Episode of S17/Of All Time)

TW: not much however, there is a blood/gunshot wound warning (around 03:20-03:46) and drug use (edibles in each jemily scene pretty much)

Also if you want my jemily watch thoughts, I bolded them in this post haha (also thanks to @blackbirdsaltzman for our predictions for jemily stuff this ep haha!) I had to split this into two posts bc I have so many thoughts about this ep especially with jemily haha

Tara and Rossi teaming up together again!

Voit's cell

LUKE! MY BOY!

Tara's voice omg 😭

Noooo nooo omg Emily's singing 😭😭

Fuck it's not what we think!!

Voit fuck off!

You let go of her you fucking son of a bitch

Emily's singing is breaking my heart fuck nooooo

I know it's a dream but noooo Emily's pained singing broke me 😭

Why do they have to repeat her singing on the title card?? Damn it CME

Love Paget's voice but fuck

Aww Penelope leaving a bucket for Emily. She was drinking the other night hahaha

I've been wanting to say this since the promos came out but JJ's hair is wavy again, but her sleeves are still long and covering her hands :(

Rossi's seeing a bunch of Voits around the bullpen, including him as the others

Zach Gilford, I hate your character but I love you as an actor

JJ already being worried about Emily and her looking at Penelope

Not Emily's singing again fuck. I swear if her singing this song is foreshadowing the next eps...

JJ following Penelope to her lair. Omg JJ and Penelope's bestieism in this very lair 🥰 I miss them! It's like the early seasons them!

"You profiled that. I did not tell you" but JJ knows Emily inside and out hehe

JJ's little look at Penelope's keys

"Please I'm a mom. I've seen worse" hahahaha

Oh- Tyler's ex huh? Teresa Campos

Garvez!

Hahahaha Tyler calling Luke to talk to his ex

Exes in a room, whatcha gonna do

"She's the woman I dated.... right before you."

The walls shaking in Rossi's office. I'm sorry but the effects is kinda making me laugh

Tara being the second one to call out Rossi on not going to mandated trauma therapy lol

Tara just being there and holding Rossi's hand and talking him through 😭 I liked that moment

Tara's voice is so soothing, hold my hand next please.

Jemily scene #1 wooo!

JJ's cheetos obsession never dies! Also a mutual and I predicted before this ep on something that happens with JJ with these very things... 👀

Damn it. JJ I know you're making Emily comfortable but I needed the lights on!

The sneak peek!

Emily, although high, loves salt and vinegar chips!

Chopsticks is definitely going to be a jemily thing now. I may or may not have a one shot idea about that 👀

"Sooo what have you been drinking?" AJ's giggle is so cute

"Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, are you high?" "I'm not not high" "Oh my god" god I love them

"I didn't know super-hot Latina was your type. My name is Garcia..." Garcia um... I hate to tell you this...

Teresa's got a thing for army guys oh- is this... Luke's also an army guy

I have a feeling that they might set up Luke and Teresa together to try and stop Garvez from happening I fear 😔

Tommy Yates is all I could think of for Rossi rn

It's risky but I guess it might help Rossi

Tyler did that from last season and it got Penelope somewhat in trouble when her uh... predicament with him happened

"Message in a bottle" title mention!

"Sticky chemistry" omg 😭 Penelope

Teresa and Penelope and Luke and Tyler. Ooooh this should be fun!

Jemily scene #2

"I can feel your disappointed stare on my back" Emily knows her wife so well

JJ eating more... cheetos... omg girly you're gonna get fucked up

"Not disappointed, just... didn't know you smoked" JJ, you already knew Emily had some sort of a past with smoking and yet this surprises you? 😂 But also the way she sounded so amused with a huge smile like ahhhh I love them so much

When you need to focus or contemplate life, you just have a bag of cheese puffs with you, Emily? Like at any time JJ comes over to your place or something, you think she wouldn't try to go for that bag??

"tame the PR beast" liaison JJ hello??

JJ the voice of reason yesss

Not Emily talking about the Catcher in the Rye like she doesn’t know wtf that is omg 😭

"We need to talk"

Oh shit. "Why are the walls closing in?" JJ's realization and Emily's realization 👀

JJ's "Emily?"

That bag was like full earlier. Omg JJ 😭😭

Not Emily taking the last one omg. She said "solidarity" lol

"Those are edibles? 🥺" "You're gonna need to lie down" "Nooo" I just- they're so funny and adorable

JJ's on for a ride (or a trip if you will hehe)

Also I'm taking it that Emily has a bag of edible cheetos and a bag of regular cheetos, and hides the edibles from JJ hahaha

Back to Rossi. And this is the elevator scene from the trailer with the walls closing in on him. Ooooh JJ just said that earlier too

"past paramours" Penelope-

Pheromones? I swear... do not cm

Hahaha that's a long story Teresa

Luke and Tyler oooh 👀

Not to be encouraging ideas... but why do I have a feeling some people might start shipping/making fanfics of Tyler and Luke now? hahaha

Ooh they're bonding over movies now??? I might like this actually

I hate hearing Emily's pained voice :( hasn't she been through enough?? Apparently not in this season or ever

Tommy Yates

"Am I haunting you?" Yes

Subtext ok Elias

So only three people know about Gold Star: Voit, Doug, and possibly Gideon’s ex-wife?

Damn. "We build a profile" Zach Gilford

Sebastian Gasper from 17x03

Jemily scene #3

JJ is soooo out of it omg

Her little dopey (stoned) smile when she hears that Emily's reinstated as unit chief. JJ's still a supportive wife through her high world lol

JJ: "hell yeah let's goo🤘" that was 1000% AJ for sure like girl we know you've been high before irl hahaha

JJ already shaking her head and going "no" when Emily said she’s sending an email to reject the offer back

Gideon, Morgan, and Hotch mention

"the longer you stay in this job, the odds is that you're going to lose yourself or someone you love or your sense of honor. It just takes and takes and takes" Emily :(

Omg BAU-Gate mention!

Oh 😭 JJ's deep-seated fear is exactly what we thought. That Henry or his friends come across the website.

I appreciate the mention and I swear if it wasn't the website, I love AJ's delivery of "yeah I found out" like "yeah duh", that was kinda funny actually

"You know what bugs me the most, is that you- you didn't tell me." JJ wasn't mad at her (or maybe she was but not enough to hate her of course) but she was just more hurt that Emily hid it from her since she found out. JJ just wanted answers!

AJ's little shaking hand when JJ says "you didn't tell me."

"Did you think I couldn't handle it?" I had a feeling JJ would say this when she confronted Emily

"No, I knew you could handle it. That doesn't mean you had to." I know I saw some opinions on how Emily said that, but I don't think she made it about herself tbh. I think given their state of mind rn, Emily was trying to say she thought she could try to protect JJ by doing what she did. Ik there's been discourse on if Emily did the right thing or not and I don't wanna get into that either but I think if they were both sober, then it would've delved into a more emotional conversation about the website and Emily could've explained in full why she chose that decision. That's at least my thoughts on it for now.

"It's not about protecting us. It's about being honest with us. With me." JJ 😭 She was so hurt that Emily had to do that and just wanted her to be honest with her. I might have some thoughts on her saying this

Also the way she says "with me." Ohhh I love them 😭 Also the fact that JJ's more worried about Emily having to lie and hide from her. JJ hates when people lie and hide stuff from her (funny enough when she does the same lol)

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in February 2024

🌈 Good afternoon, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

❤️ We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson 🧡 The Paper Boys by D.P. Clarence 💛 Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada 💚 Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine 💙 A Vicious Game by Melissa Blair 💜 Clarion Call by Cayla Fay ❤️ Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories edited by Sandra Proudman 🧡 The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton 💛 Truthfully, Yours by Caden Armstrong 💙 Outsider by Jade du Preez 💜 Cross My Candy Heart by A.C. Thomas 🌈 The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

❤️ An Education in Malice by S. T. Gibson 🧡 The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Ann Older 💛 Never a Bridesmaid by Spencer Greene 💚 The Rewind by Nicole Stiling 💙 Good Christian Girls by Elizabeth Bradshaw 💜 The Fox Maidens by Robin Ha ❤️ The Terrible by Tessa Crowley 🧡 Blood Rage by Ileandra Young 💛 Call of the Sea by Emily B. Rose 💙 Sign Me Up by C.H. Williams 💜 Ways and Means by Daniel Lefferts 🌈 Peaceful in the Dark by A.A. Fairview

❤️ We Are Only Ghosts by Jeffrey L. Richards 🧡 Dead Ringer by Robyn Nyx 💛 Somacultural Liberation by Dr. Roger Kuhn 💚 Stormbringer by Erinn Harper 💙 A Saga of Shields & Shadows by A.J. Shirley 💜 Ghost Town by R.E. Ward ❤️ I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante 🧡 The Night Alphabet by Joelle Taylor 💛 Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr 💙 Bloom by N.R. Walker 💜 Entwined by Alex Alberto 🌈 Queer Newark edited by Whitney Strub

❤️ Tristan by Jesse Roman 🧡 How to Live Free in a Dangerous World by Shayla Lawson 💛 Daniel, Deconstructed by James Ramos 💚 Of Socialites & Prizefights by Arden Powell 💙 Lost Harbor by Kimberly Cooper Griffin 💜 Hannah Tate, Beyond Repair by Laura Piper Lee ❤️ Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid by Ngozi Ukazu & Mad Rupert 🧡 How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly 💛 Blackmailer’s Delight by David Lawrence 💙 Tile M for Murder by Felicia Carparelli 💜 Impulse Buy by Jae 🌈 Live for You, Die With You by Kalob Dàniel

❤️ Fairest of All by A.D. Ellis 🧡 Goddess of the Sea by Britney Jackson 💛 A Taste of Earth by Nico Silver 💚 The Moorings of Mackerel Sky by M.Z. Emily Zack 💙 How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith 💜 V is for Valentine by Thomas Grant Bruso ❤️ Crushed Ice by Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James 🧡 When Tomorrow Comes by D. Jackson Leigh 💛 Bugsy & Other Stories by Rafael Frumkin 💙 The White and Blue Between Us by Kiyuhiko 💜 Guide Us Home by CF Frizzell & Jesse J. Thoma 🌈 The Friendship Study by Ruby Barrett

❤️ Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender 🧡 Heart2Heart edited by Annabeth Albert 💛 No Time Like Now by Naz Kutub 💚 Bless the Blood by Walela Nehanda 💙 Vengeance Planning for Amateurs by Lee Winter 💜 Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops ❤️ Prove It by Stephanie Hoyt 🧡 Mewing by Chloe Spencer 💛 Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault 💙 Born of Scourge by S. Jean 💜 Disciples of Chaos by M.K. Lobb 🌈 To Cage a God by Elizabeth May

❤️ Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly 🧡 What Feasts At Night by T. Kingfisher 💛 You Had Me at Merlot by Melissa Brayden 💚 Turning Point by Cathy Dunnell 💙 For the Stolen Fates by Gwendolyn Clare 💜 Season of Eclipse by Terry Wolverton ❤️ These Haunted Hills by Jana Denardo 🧡 Samson & Domingo by Gume Laurel III 💛 Lies that Bind by Rae Knowles & April Yates 💙 We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller 💜 The Diablo's Curse by Gabe Cole Novoa 🌈 Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh

❤️ Out There by Iris Eliot 🧡 At Her Service by Amy Spalding 💛 Green Dot by Madeleine Gray

[anghraine]

I saw a post the other day about the absence of aristocrats in Austen's novels (in the sense of British peers of the realm, or at least people with titles, and not merely a social elite). I see this raised as a point pretty frequently, both in fandom and academia, and I find it intriguing that it comes up so much because the premise is ... wrong?

There are actually quite a few peers of the realm or immediate relatives of peers in Austen's novels. And that's even considering that knights and baronets are not included in this. Knights and baronets are technically not nobility, and knights especially could be quite low-status compared to the extended families of peers—e.g., look at the dynamic between Fitzwilliam Darcy, untitled grandson of an earl, and Sir William Lucas, a tradesman turned knight.

Some examples of canonical Austen characters who would generally be considered aristocracy in a fairly narrow sense:

Lord Courtland (unknown rank)

Lord Longtown (a marquis)

A viscount and his wife Eleanor (née Eleanor Tilney)

Lord — (Darcy's uncle, an earl, and one of the only peers in Austen's published novels with an openly redacted title, IMO as a reference with plausible deniability to the RL Earl Fitzwilliam)

Lord —'s son, Colonel (the Hon.) [?] Fitzwilliam, and his older brother, the heir

Lord —'s father, the previous earl

The previous earl's daughters, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Anne Darcy

Lord Ravenshaw, the host of the aborted theatricals mourned by John Yates, and Lady Ravenshaw

(The Hon.) John Yates

A duke also at the theatricals

Lord Stornaway and his wife Flora, Lady Stornaway

Lord St. Ives, a newly-made peer scorned by Sir Walter Elliot

Lady Dalrymple, a relative of the Elliots and widow of a viscount, and her daughter, the Hon. [?] Carteret

Lady Susan Vernon, the spectacular villain of "Lady Susan" (her rank tells us she is the daughter of an earl or above)

Some of these figures (and others) are familiar to most readers. Quite a few aren't. I don't think this is on the readership. Many of the noble characters in Austen are entirely offstage figures, mentioned once or twice. So why is the question even worth bringing up?

Well, I think it's interesting that she does include them in the social world she depicts, but largely relegates them faaaar to the periphery of that world. And the noble or noble-adjacent characters who do appear in person are overwhelmingly the relatives of peers, not peers themselves.

Part of this, I think, is avoiding trouble. I mean, if the person who confronted Elizabeth at the end of P&P was not Lady Catherine, but Lady Catherine's brother the earl (complete with the allusion to Lord Fitzwilliam!), that might register to contemporaries as a lot more confrontational towards the nobility. Aiming the critique of snobbery at the earl's sister (and nephew) threads that needle carefully.

But apart from that, although the nobility of Austen's novels differ in character and background, from Lord St. Ives (son of a curate) to the performing duke, there is something that most have in common.

Most of them simply do not matter very much. They're generally over there, somewhere, doing something that the more major characters don't really care about. Or they simply exist. The ones we know something about either fail to impose their wills on the world around them, or aren't in a position to try. The gathered nobles' play in MP is disrupted by the course of nature, Lady Catherine and Lady Anne's plans for their children fail, Lady Susan has to scrape quasi-victory out of the wreckage of her schemes, etc.

And that's the minority that we know much about at all. Most are just part of the wallpaper of Austen's world. And I feel like that's the point. The nobility are integrated into the background of Austen's novels for verisimilitude. Their existence is part of that social world, as it would be in life. But it's hard not to come away feeling that she neither likes nor cares much about them. And if you exclude just one of her novels, Pride and Prejudice, the impression of the aristocracy's presence in her world goes way down.

I think this is partly why there's a sense that fandom is way more into the nobility than Austen herself was. Partly this is the influence of Regency romance/Heyer tropes. But partly it's because ... like, 90% of Austen fanfic is P&P fic and a bunch of it essentially has to deal with the Fitzwilliams. In Austen's larger oeuvre, though, the shadow they cast is largely an exception to the rule.

Normally, she includes them only to shove them off the stage. And that's kind of fun.

[dream-beyond-the-fantasy]

OC Pride Month Challenge

OC Pride Month Challenge 2024

Day 1: Lesbian

Emily Elizabeth Yates

I know this comes a day late, but I've had a busy weekend. This is my first time doing a Pride Month Challenge. I haven't written much about Emily, as I'm still developing her. Em is the younger sister of Molly Yates in The Molly Yates Chronicles, which I'm currently reworking. While Molly can be drawn to the more magical and fantastical elements and strange occurrences in the Whoniverse, Emily tends to follow science and technology. Her love interest will be Sky Smith.

Tagging @oc-challenges @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @themaradwrites @curiousdamage @witchofthemidlands

@cecexwrites @arrthurpendragon

[ao3feed-mfmm]

Back to Where the Heart Lies

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/QA0onOj by Elly (cozyluv) The return of Phryne and Jack to Wardlow, and how will they navigate their relationship after a year overseas Words: 4233, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F, F/M Characters: Phryne Fisher, Jack Robinson, Hugh Collins, Dorothy "Dot" Williams, Albert "Bert" Johnson, Cecil "Cec" Yates, Tobias Butler, Elizabeth MacMillan, Jane Ross (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries), Rosie Sanderson, Prudence Stanley Relationships: Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson, Hugh Collins/Dorothy "Dot" Williams, Elizabeth MacMillan/Rosie Sanderson Additional Tags: Post-Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, Jane has a cat, Baby Collins is also part of the family now, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/QA0onOj

[thefudge]

Drfudge, I remember you have some book recs posts but I can't find any, so I'd like to ask you what are your all time fave books, if it's okay. Thank you <3

you should check out my "books", and "book rec" tags on my blogs, but here is an updated list of some of my favorites (including essays and short stories):

what a carve up, by jonathan coe

excellent women, by barbara pym

restoration, by rose tremain

invitation to the waltz, by rosamond lehmann

journal d'hirondelle, by amelie nothomb

oblomov, by ivan goncharov

kiss me first, by lottie moggach

the idiot & demons, by dostoevsky

the idiot, by elif batuman

revolutionary road, by richard yates

the girl in the flammable skirt, by aimee bender

out of the woods, by chris offutt

hygiene de l'assassin, by amelie nothomb

memoirs of a dutiful daughter, by simone de beauvoir

chevengur, by andrei platonov

the master and margarita, by bulgakov

the corrections, by jonathan franzen

hamlet & king lear by shakespeare

richard iii & henry vi, part 1, by shakespeare

a midsummer night's dream, the taming of the shrew & as you like it by shakespeare

i capture the castle, by dodie smith

point counter point, by aldous huxley

arcadia, by tom stoppard

stoner, by john williams

eugene onegin, by pushkin

paradise lost & samson agonistes, by john milton

the age of innocence, by edith wharton

katherine mansfield's diaries & short stories

axel's castle, by edmund wilson

the dead, by james joyce

the heat of the day, by elizabeth bowen

pride and prejudice, by jane austen

franny and zooey, by salinger

the stranger, by albert camus

seduction and betrayal, by elizabeth hardwick

the beguiled, by cullinan thomas

girl with a pearl earring, by tracy chevalier

the wine of solitude, by irene nemirovsky

dark entries, by robert aickman

capitalist realism, by mark fisher

the blizzard, by vladimir sorokin

karate chop, dorothe nors

go, went, gone, by jenny erpenbeck

the blind firman, by ismail kadare

actress, by anne enright

genius and ink, by virginia woolf

real life, by brandon taylor

the world of yesterday, by stefan zweig

doce cuentos peregrinos, by gabriel garcia marquez

selected stories by anton chekhov

stories of your life, by ted chiang

ornament and silence, by kennedy fraser

the accompanist, by nina berberova

there are many others, including some romanian faves that i won't mention in this list, but this should give you a good overview!