#gothic hunting lodge

[accidentalslayer]

[marzipanandminutiae]

i really like crimson peak by the way! i don’t enjoy horror, i sometimes get scared just by reading wikipedia summaries of horror movies, but i went to see it in cinemas (alone!) because i love del toro, so i was actually relieved that it turned out to not be a horror. i definitely found it really scary though

That is entirely fair, and I'm glad you like it!

I like some things that fall more clearly under the general Horror umbrella- Mama (2013) comes to mind, if we're focusing on Del Toro, and about half of Cabinet of Curiosities -but I, too, am more likely to see a Gothic than a straight horror movie.

I almost didn't see CPeak- I'm not usually aware of coming attractions unless they breach containment onto my Tumblr dash, because I don't go to the movies often and thus miss a lot of trailers. But some friends saw it and said, "no, you NEED this in your life," so...I went! Alone, just like you. I actually remember the theatre (AMC Times Square) because of its gorgeous old domed ceiling covered in murals.

I also remember leaving afterwards and feeling like I just got hit by a bus full of Seen(TM).

It was a good day.

[astralnymphh]

⤹ okay but on the topic of vampire!ellie, which one do you guys personally like?? has nothing to do with what i'll write next, just a curiosity + headcanons. MDNI 18+ enjoy this free vamp!ellie brainstorming content with a random side of nipple fixation!

¨༺ ♱ ༻¨

teenage dirtbag vampire!ellie in a modern realm who can't stand being in her parents suburban hell born house, tired of their cockalorum and urging for her to engage more in the vampiric branch of her family. attend the parties, go human–hunting with the other blood–ingesting addicts, try this, do that. it all irked ellie the wrong way, made her psyche boil, cause all she wanted to fucking do was you. she craves only your blood, your taste, the metallic ribbons pumping your lifeline was like a goddamn nectar to her. and you let her feed, because you loved her. you let your meat sack of a body replace her breakfast, lunch, dinner– first and final meal.

that's why you let her move in with you. cause you fucking can. now, every itty–bitty token of her life tangles with yours on the walls. pictures and awards, a manifold of knickknacks cluttering the window sills, even her clothes tend to blend with yours– an illusive invitation for you to wear her clothes without the question ever pressing her lips apart. you both are madly besotted in each other. no denial objects to that.

and, fuck, this version of ellie is hot. fitted tanks absent of a bra– pale brown pierced nipples erecting the thin fabric into a small mound. gray wash skinny jeans that fit her lean legs well, waistband cruising nicely under that peek of a v–line, fraying at the ankle hems that contrasts into those battered up converse of a similar hue. oh, and usually cloaks her shoulders up in a sable leather jacket– with your name patched in. a jacket, so prized, alwaaays winds up hurled to some isolated and cimmerian corner of your room, purely cause she lacks the care to hang it up whenever she returns home in a scramble, fangs unsheathing for blood. her knees would find themselves pressing hard into the mattress beneath both of you, centering a large gully of weight where her half–unzipped crotch and your butt meet, thirstily rutting to the point of numbing your clit through the hard denim of your pants. her zinc button just kept pounding that shit, keeping you spread wide. while dry humping you, she'd moan and groan hot on your earlobe, fangs partial hooking on the rim, "mhh– fuck n' suck, babe– can i? fuuck.." 'fuck n' suck' was just some made–up code for, well, it should be obvious. times like those, where she intends to fuck her pussy rough on you without remorse, whilst drying your organs of blood.

ohh, but i'll write that in detail one day~

gothic vampire!ellie who lodges high on a hill, deep in the mighty fathomage of her grandoise palace, steeples scaping high into the howling sky– torn asunder by a network of lightning above. you're nothing but meat and blood, princess, a feast inside regalia. every freshwater pearl, every satiny reflection of light off your dress, only made your flesh more supple in her fluorescent fern eyes. those lucifer–damned pupils though, well, let's just say you can't even measure the green pool of her eyes anymore. dilating, big black saucers, ballooning the milken white away whenever she snags a glimpse of your blood. that phantom heartbeat of hers races madly, mad of love for that color. for that glisten of liquid. so divine, she thinks. a gulp bolts down her gullet when within a measly foot of you, or, more specifically, a mere gate between the two of your noses. how else is she supposed to store her cache of sustenance?

yes, that's precisely what i'm hinting at. a holding cell. dusty and decrepit, rats abundant skittering the stone ground, and you swore cobwebs began to web themselves in your hair– now loose and unbraided. that brute of a girl would crouch on the opposing side, dangling keys on a loop sat upon her finger, ploddingly wagging like a swinging great axe. taunt, taunt taunt taunt.. is all she would skip about and do. slip into your cell quickly and play with you. kitty–cornering you and blocking you in her arms, cooing how terribly sorry she feigns to be, for jailing you up and treating you like meat. however, tides turn, and so do emotions. could it be, the dracula upon the misty cliff– has fallen in love?

turns out, witty princesses with a snakish tongue and spit to spare really turned her on. fuck, even you cursed yourself for rending your guard and feeling a magnetic pull to that hunk of a beast, clad in her midnight black, puffed sleeves and collar drawstring shirt. finely sewn black trousers and shiny black boots, curse you, for finding something about that hellishly horrid outfit so handsome on her. there's– oh, this particularly noticeable asset tp her garb as well. the black dye was nearing translucency, and if you loitered your vision directly on her chest long enough, caught in the right cosmic light, you could see that waxen bosom and her nipples, light brown contrary to her vampiric skin. haha, how humiliating it was when she caught you staring at them as she stood in front of your sat stature, being so brazen enough to ask, "something caught your eye princess? shall i strip myself of this, then?" whilst her hands mindlessly tucked under the loose hem anyway, wringing the fabric over her head and banishing it aside. "here, feel my dead heart–" swirled her voice, thrusting her hand out to grasp yours, cold as the ice age, her mitts froze your wrists and yanked them forth, pressing them flat against her breast and swiping her thumb across your contrasting warm skin, leavening with excitement as you fondle. she stows her knee on the bed adjacent to your thigh, whispering, so.. so, hauntingly, "feel that? no pulse, no life, not a spark lives within me, dear." and it was nothing vastly far from the truth. beneath her erect nipple, was no beat. eyes widening to a moon, and lips parting to steal simply too much air, you shudder. was it fear, you shuddered for, or arousal? that's a tale, for another day.

[sumeria]

riverdale characters as different vampire archetypes?

the blossom family are the classic gothic vampire archetype: carmilla, dracula, etc. it ties into their entire gothic narrative and aesthetic

the lodge family fit, to me, pretty neatly into, forgive me for my crossover here, the vampire the masquerade clan ventrue. more modern, sleek vampires who see themselves at the top and any other kind of vampire as lesser, acting as rulers of both the supernatural and mortal underworlds

the coopers are a suburban gothic modern extension of the blossoms. hal is a gothic serial killer of blossom descent who turns a normal suburban family into perfect immortal porcelain dolls for him to play with. more than the family on the whole, hal falls into the puppetmaster vampire archetype

archie is not a vampire he is an unwilling vampire hunter pushed into the calling because the people he loves so dearly are being devoured by this ancient evil

jughead is also not a vampire his family are van hellsings as are most of the serpents like thats a vampire hunting clan if i ever saw one. toni as a hunter who falls in love with vampire cheryl 👍🏻

the tates are not vampire hunters but they would run the equivalent of the local church or something like idk if you know castlevania but tabitha would be the equivalent of sypha belnades imho

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

What Feasts At Night

gothic horror novella, sequel to What Moves The Dead

Alex returns to kan’s family’s hunting lodge in Gallacia as a favor to Miss Potter, and find that the caretaker has died and the grounds are uncannily silent

ka just wants to rest after the traumatic events at Usher house and disbelieves the superstitions from the villagers about a breath-stealing monster, but the new caretaker’s grandson falls ill and ka starts to have strange dreams…

[transbookoftheday]

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

SPOILERS FOR "WHAT MOVES THE DEAD"!

The follow-up to T. Kingfisher’s bestselling gothic novella, What Moves the Dead.

Retired soldier, Alex Easton, returns in a horrifying new adventure.

After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home. . . or in their dreams.

[ninja-muse]

February was a pretty good month! I read some books I really loved (and a couple that were simply meh), I got in a father-daughter visit and had really good luck at Scrabble, the weather was mostly not awful, and even if inventory at work took longer than expected, I survived it without brain mush, which has happened before. I am still the fastest scanner! My title holds.

Regular readers will be unsurprised to learn that Eve by Cat Bohannon and Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse were my top reads of the month, or that What Feasts At Night by T. Kingfisher ranks third. My T. Kingfisher problem is at least a year old, after all. (Also I read a couple delightful picture books, so be sure to click through to find them!)

I'm personally more surprised by my lowest picks, because they both sounded so up my alley but fell flat for nearly completely different reasons. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store ended up feeling disjointed and like it was trying for a theme it couldn't quite grasp, and A Market of Dreams and Desires hit all kinds of tropes I love, right down to random Dickens references and weird steampunk machines, but tied everything together a little too neatly for me. Ah well.

And right in the middle of my list is my sole physical TBR read of the month: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. This managed to tick off "Canadian author" and "classic" at the same time, so I get triple points. (This might have had a hand in me picking it.) Duddy has aged surprisingly well, in that it's still pretty fast-paced and amusing and also in that Richler wrote it with the understanding that scam artistry, hypermaterialism, and misogyny were bad and y'know what? They still are. I would recommend if you're looking for a Canadian teen anti-hero, more than anything. Duddy is a trainwreck and you can't look away.

I managed to get through the month with only three books hauled. (We won't talk about ARCs but the book fairies were kind.) The Unfortunate Traveller and Under a Pendulum Sun were bought during the habitual father-daughter bookstore date, and both because I never thought I'd see them and figured I might never see them again. The Unfortunate Traveller is essays and travel writing by a guy who co-wrote with Shakespeare and I didn't know it even existed. Under the Pendulum Sun was recced to me somewhere (here? bookish website algorithms?) and since it's essentially a gothic novel with properly weird fairies, it's been on my list.

The third book was a total surprise. Apparently I helped crowdfund it in 2019 and they've only just managed to get it printed and also I said I wanted a physical copy? The things we learn. Anyway, it's essays on aromanticism, agender identity, and asexuality so that tracks.

And I know I said I wasn't going to talk about ARCs but I got some good ones this last month and also in January, and there's a lot of them that are out or soon to be out and I'm having that problem where I want to be reading all of them at once. March is going to be interesting and probably a little panic-inducing.

Click through to see everything I read this month, in the rough order of how glad I was to have read them.

Eve - Cat Bohannon

A history of human evolution, through the lens of the female body.

8.5/10

warning: touches on sexism, mental illness, suicide, miscarriage, and rape

reading copy

Mirrored Heavens - Rebecca Roanhorse

The fractures following the eclipse have deepened and no one can see a way back to peace that doesn’t involve bloodshed. Out in June

8/10

Indigenous cast, 🏳️‍🌈 POV characters (bisexual, third gender), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (third gender, sapphic), Black-Pueblo author

warning: war, torture, mentions of child abuse

reading copy

What Feasts At Night - T. Kingfisher

Alex Easton has returned to kar hunting lodge to relax. Unfortunately, the locals claim there's a monster on a property.

8/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (third gender), protagonist with PTSD

Library ebook

The Twilight Queen - Jeri Westerson

Will Somers, jester to Henry VIII, is caught up in another mystery, this time of a corpse in Queen Anne’s bedchamber.

7/10

🏳️‍🌈 main character (bi), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (gay)

digital reading copy

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz - Mordechai Richler

A delinquent teen grows into a hustler, against the backdrop of mid-century Jewish Montreal.

7/10

largely Jewish cast, Jewish author, 🇨🇦

warning: racial slurs, misogyny

Off my TBR shelves

The Woman With No Name - Audrey Blake

Lonely and craving war work, Yvonne signs up to be the first female spy for the Allies in occupied France. Out in March

7/10

half a 🇨🇦 author

reading copy

The Frame-Up - Gwenda Bond

Ten years ago, Dani turned her art thief mom in to the Feds. Now her mom’s mentor has given Dani an offer she can’t refuse: use her magic to pull an impossible heist, get her life back.

6.5/10

Black secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic)

reading copy

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

The Black and Jewish residents of a Pennsylvania neighbourhood are (mostly) in it together, not least of when the government decides to take a local Deaf kid to an asylum.

7/10

Jewish and Black cast, major character with chronic illness and a limp, secondary Deaf character, Black author

warning: ableist characters and institutions, racist and anti-Semitic characters, sexual assault and molestation, (largely) reclaimed slurs

library book

The Market of Dreams and Destiny - Trip Galey

Deri may have a chance to buy out his indenture early when he meets a princess looking to sell her destiny. But in the goblin’s Untermarkt, nothing’s ever easy.

6.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 main character (mlm), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (mlm, genderfluid), British Indian secondary character, 🏳️‍🌈 author

warning: child abuse, enslavement

borrowed from work

Picture Books

No Cats in the Library - Lauren Emmons

Cats aren’t allowed in the library but that’s where all the books are!

🏳️‍🌈 author

Read at work

Family is Family - Melissa Marr

Chick gets a note before kindergarten, telling him to have his mom or dad walk him to school. Except that Chick has two moms.

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters and themes

Read at work

Currently reading

Knife Skills for Beginners - Orlando Murrin

Paul Delamare is filling in at a cooking school when the resident celebrity chef has a, erm, "accident."

🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (gay), Black British secondary character

Reading copy

True North - Andrew J. Graff

The Brechts move to Wisconsin to restart a rafting business. They hope it’ll save their young family, but it might do the opposite.

library book

Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century - Richard Taruskin

A history of early written European music, in its social and political contexts.

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

Victorian detective stories

disabled POV character, occasional secondary Indian secondary characters

warning: racism, colonialism

Monthly total: 9 +2 Yearly total: 20 Queer books: 4 + 2 Authors of colour: 2 Books by women: 6 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 1.5 Classics: 1 Off the TBR shelves: 1 Books hauled: 3 ARCs acquired: 6 ARCs unhauled: 4 DNFs: 0

January

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

What Feasts At Night by T. Kingfisher

goodreads

Retired soldier Alex Easton returns in a horrifying new adventure.

After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home... or in their dreams.

Mod opinion: I haven't read this book yet, but I quite liked the first and I'm excited to return to this dark gothic story. Update: I returned to this gothic horror and actually liked this sequel a lot more than the prequel. I want to return to this world! Also I forgot that Alex pronouns are ka/kan (read the first book a few years ago & only remembered that Alex is nonbinary and became a sworn soldier as a gender affirmation) and it is really kinda sucky that a rare instance of neo pronouns (even if they are explained as a societal third gender in the book, so not neo pronouns for the story, but neo pronouns for us) gets ignored and replaced by they/them in the summary :/ cowardly & kinda boring tbh.

[zhoras-bitch]

Different anon but I think the author only use Siberia, Oxford, North Carolina, etc merely for the name, the background, and the setting. And I was just as confused as you when it comes to geographic places in hsr maybe because of the lack of description or explanation? It's like the hidden room in Romanov hunting lodge. How someone could build a hidden stairs in 2nd floor?

There's kind of this duality with all locations in HSR (Siberian town Rotkov, Oxford, the train etc.) where they have enough similarities to connect them with their real world counterparts, but then stripped off a lot of identifying elements as if the story is too shy to say what it means with its full chest lol. Like, Oxford is a gothic-looking ex university, which is located in a grey rainy area, where you have to travel by train. What do you mean UK? I never said UK. Who said UK? Lol.

HSR is always kinda vague on where things are. In season 1, I never really figured out where the town, the monastery and the ex-base were in relation to each other. Not that it was super important, but a little more clarity would've been nice to me.

I guess some of the ambiguity could be intentional, as to not accidentally create a discrepancy or a plot hole within the broader HS universe.

[san-demetrio-corone]

Palace and hunting lodge of the House of Schönborn in Zakarpattia.

Built in Neo-Romantic style which combined Romanesque and Gothic motifs.

[lahilden]

Tyntesfield Mansion is located near Wraxhall in North Somerset, England. The Victorian Gothic Revival house is named after the Tynte barons who owned the estate since the 1500s. A 16th century hunting lodge once sat on the site and was leased as a farmhouse until the 19th century. In 1813, the farmhouse was demolished, and a Georgian mansion was built on the site. In 1843, the English businessman William Gibb purchased the estate. He enlarged the house by adding an extra floor, two new wings, and towers. He even added a fully fitted bathroom for his wife. The mansion has 23 main bedrooms and a total of 47 rooms, which includes the servants’ wing. The interior boasts gilded paneling, woodwork, moldings, and decorative chimneypieces in the Gothic style; the craftsmanship of the pieces are considered works of art. The contents of the house were vast and numbered over 30,000, which included paintings, books, a jewel-encrusted chalice, a 20th century washing machine, and even an unexploded WWII bomb. The interior includes a library, drawing room, and billiard room. Gibb’s final addition was the Gothic chapel, constructed in the 1870s. The Gibb family owned the house until 2001. The National Trust purchased Tyntesfield in 2002. The National Trust preserved the house and its contents but sold off some of the land. The once 3,000-acre estate now sits on 150 acres. Interestingly, ten of the seventeen species of bats in the U.K. are found on the property, with some on the rare species list. The estate is open to the public and has a farm visiting center with a café and a restaurant, gardens with an aviary converted into a playhouse, an orangery, glasshouses, a sawmill converted into a learning center, and a bat palace.

[asmeninas]

favorite moments in riverdale and why

oh god you’ve opened a cursed vault that will devour the entire world… we’re all going to hell and it is your fault I hope you’re happy…

Starting from the fact that this is an impossible question to answer I will simply be listing things here as they come to mind until I reach z I cannot stress enough that I did not sit down and try to think of the correct answer to this

a) Cheryl’s twin brother Jason who was also two years older than her dies and he’s Archie because everyone just compares Archie to him and Jason’s mother cries at how much they look alike and Cheryl has a vision that Archie is Jason at homecoming and then Archie is nice to Cheryl as no one but Jason had ever been nice to Cheryl so she kisses him. Cheryl lives in a gothic novel what else can I say.

b) Jughead kisses Betty for the first time and has a nightmare with a bunch of married straight people and Betty is wearing a huge ass ring and Jughead wakes up from this nightmare in the closet where he’s been sleeping.

c) Can't pick one craziest Jarchie moment but I'll narrow it down to three: (1) You know I had this stupid idea the two of us could live together in new york. what, our girlfriends? Yeah they can be in new york just far away from us. (2) Jughead leaving Betty's empty fully furnished house with electricity because it didn't feel right to be there after they've broken up because she cheated on him with Archie and then moving in next door to Archie's completely empty house to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor of Archie's completely empty bedroom and then they cut the electricity and he was there reading Dune by candlelight, this after just finding Archie literally made out with his girlfriend AND (3) the statue

d) 3x05 the great escape when jughead writes archie's escape from leopold & loeb juvie by being the dungeon master of the evil dungeons and dragons game

e) cheryl starting a religion based around her brother and ending up thinking she's a living saint then finding out the town burned her ancestor abigail in a late 19th century witch hunt which leads her to curse the whole town which works

f) when archie saw only the eyes of the serial killer who almost killed his dad who later died anyway because real life and went around town looking for him and he told hiram lodge this and said "i've been going house to house to" and hiram lodge said "stare into men's eyes?" and then two seasons later Archie tells the school counselor that he's been going out at night and she instantly just says oh you're going cruising at the gay forest.

g) when archie is attacked by a bear and his fever dying dreams are the best thing that's ever happened to archie understanders

h) when s5 jughead was stuck inside Taylor Swift's right where you left me (he's still at the restaurant!!!!!!)

i) anything Percival Pickens ever did I love you Percival I'm a s6 understander to the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

j) when Cheryl said they needed to sacrifice Archie for the maple trees to make maple and said "the most powerful kind blood is that of a--" and Archie said "Cheryl, I'm not a virgin!" and Cheryl is like "yeah I know you slut" and then she cut his heart out of his chest

k) when chapter one hundred the jughead paradox was sent down to us from the gods

l) when betty got a concussion from falling from her bike when she was 8 and the hospital just did a 23andme on her dna and found the serial killer genes which even her father, who's literally a serial killer, doesn't have

m) when veronica and cheryl made out to save the world and it didn't work actually but it worked for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

n) whenever someone tells archie he's a good boy and he's not dumb and has a good heart but without like. putting a bunch of heroic pressure on him. just hey archie. you don't need to do all this you're such a good boy!!!!! has this actually ever happened or did I dream I went into the show and said that. probably dream! anyway

o) OUT OF THE WAY BERT AND ERNIE

p) forget it, jughead. it's riverdale.

q) when tabitha

r) both times kj apa freely decided to kiss casey cott even though no one asked him to. I think the first time it might have been casey who decided but I still bet on kj.

s) when betty's literary hero, toni morrison, told her to not rush this time of her life because it all goes by so fast at her age, you know, like toni morrison would, and archie said wow that is so true @waystarbuttco knows what I'm talking about

t) greg araki directing an episode and thinking "wow yeah this is pretty gay that's crazy"

u) when there were three jugheads

v) hedwig's the origin of love

w) when cheryl gets to kiss women other than her show longterm girlfriend because I think she was made to just hook up with women and not be in one mostly boring relationship no offense

x) when part because of the storyline part because of real life it looked like Betty hated Jughead's guts and it was plausible she would have killed him even to her friends and tbh also plausible that she would kiss his best friend because she hates him as he later told her through voicemail coming up with my favorite description of betty, "cold fake duplicitous bitch" like yeah that's betty!!!!!!!!! that's betty at her best.

y) when they had superpowers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEOPLE HATE FUN AND THEY HATE ACTUAL COMIC BOOKS.

z) when i just turned 17 i'm master of my scene still something's sorta not completely cool yes i'm talking about the problem that i've got when things get chilly that is when i want them hot, it might sound silly but it bothers me a lot archie going left archie going right archie running any road that he can find archie never making up his all american mind making up his all american mind I LOOK AT OTHER GUYS with fire in their eyes they know the way their whole lives will play out me i don't have a clue of what i'm gonna do or even what my story is about i think it's time i make a big decision attack my problems with a sleek precision only then can i get rid of the vision of ARCHIE GOING LEFT ARCHIE GOING RIGHT ARCHIE RUNNING ANY ROAD THAT HE CAN FIND ARCHIE NEVER MAKING UP HIS ALL AMERICAN MIND MAKING UP HIS ALL AMERICAN MIND MAKING UP HIS ALL AMERICAAAN... MIND!

[richwall101]

Tyntsfield House by Richard Walker Via Flickr: Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival house and estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England. The house is a Grade I listed building. The house is named after the Tynte baronets, who had owned estates in the area since about 1500. The location was formerly that of a 16th-century hunting lodge, which was used as a farmhouse until the early 19th century. In the 1830s a Georgian mansion was built on the site, and this was bought by English businessman William Gibbs. In the 1860s, Gibbs had the house significantly expanded and remodelled; later, a chapel being added in the 1870s. The Gibbs family owned the house until the death of Richard Gibbs in 2001. Tyntesfield was acquired by the National Trust in June 2002 after a fundraising campaign to prevent it being sold to private interests and to ensure it would be open to the public. The house was opened to visitors for the first time just 10 weeks after the acquisition, and as more rooms are restored they are added to the tour. The mansion was visited by 189,329 people in 2012, a fall of 8.5 per cent on the previous year. The Gibbs family made their fortune by importing bird guano from South America to be sold and used as garden and farm fertiliser.

[cmrosens]

ART ALERT

Ok look at this brother/sister duo by Georgina Donnelly, who is going to do the 3rd member of the unholy triad and bring Ricky Porter to life next!!

Katy Porter (17F) is making a List, and checking it twice... and once she ascends to eldritch godhood, you'd better pray you're not on it, because she's coming for you whether you've been naughty or nice. A girl's gotta feed, and if she thinks you're worth it, she will hunt you through space and time and devour you whole.

Where to find her: Briefest of cameos in The Crows, MC of Thirteenth, secondary MC of The Day We Ate Grandad, by C. M. Rosens

Hobbies include: reading, cross country running, and collecting cat pins/badges

Wes Porter (29M) is impossible to remember most of the time, but this is definitely how he WANTS you to see him. Is this really his face? Nobody knows for sure. What is certain is that he can lodge his image in your brain like an addiction, a permanent itch you can't scratch, and drive you into orgiastic frenzies of destruction.

Where to find him: Brief cameo in The Crows, secondary MC of Thirteenth, antagonist/love interest in Overexposure, and MC of The Day We Ate Grandad, by C. M. Rosens

Hobbies include: recreational drugs, clubbing, the sex club/kink club/swinger/hook-up scenes (yes, as a hobby rather than a lifestyle, he doesn't commit to anything if he can help it), fashion, make up, driving and collecting sports cars, listening to Classical music, collecting expensive brooches... look, he has undiagnosed ADHD, ok? There are a lot more.

You can get all the eBook files in the whole series for £9.99 right now in my holiday sale!

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: During a brutal winter, a young woman longing for love finds more than she expected in the woods, in this wickedly sensuous short story by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

Judith knows her sister, Alice, is the pretty one—but that doesn’t stop her from wishing for love. When a handsome and gentlemanly hunter appears in their village, seeking lodging from the cold, she believes her lover has finally arrived. He does, indeed, choose to stay—but as Alice’s husband, not her own. When another stranger comes out of the woods, looking every bit a vagrant, he offers Judith something mysterious and enticingly strange. Against reason and decency, she welcomes both men into her life, in different ways. As forbidden longings ensnare each of them, an unrelenting winter storm and an evasive wolf on the prowl have everyone on edge…and ravenous. By spring thaw, will any of their hungers be satisfied?

Review:

Judith was prophesied to have her lover come from the woods... and when a handsome huntsman comes... he marries her sister yet she can't keep her eyes off him... and then there is the wolf that lurks the woods and a new stranger in town who draws Judith in... who is her lover? Judith yearns for love, she knows her sister Alice is the pretty one, but she hopes to find her love soon. When a handsome and gentlemanly hunter comes into the village and starts staying in Alice's inn, Judith hopes he is the huntsman from her prophecy and begins to fall for him... yet he marries her sister. When another stranger comes out of the woods he looks like a vagrant, but he offers Judith mysterious and enticingly strange feelings.... Judith, against her own reason and decency, welcomes both men into her life in different ways... yet only one of them is her love. With the winter storm coming and a wolf howling and hunting around the village, people are becoming ravenous... and these hungers need to be satisfied... This was such a unique short story. I was so entranced while reading it and curious about where it would go and that ending, oh gosh, did I love that ending. It's the perfect short fairytale story with a touch of gothic and darkness.

*Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review*

[thisdancingheart]

I have clicked on the horrid website so you don’t have to. 

First article, last year:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/18077960/benedict-cumberbatch-4million-castle-fronted-mansion/

Exclusive Benedict Cumberbatch eyes up £4million, castle-fronted mansion with 300-acre farm in south-west Laura Armstrong, Hannah Hope Published: 21:46, 26 Mar 2022 Updated: 9:49, 28 Mar 2022

NOMINEE Benedict Cumberbatch has been eyeing up a real-life role as a rancher – like his character in The Power Of The Dog.

The British actor is up for the Best Actor Oscar award on Sunday for his portrayal of troubled cowboy Phil Burbank in the blockbuster.

And we can reveal he’s showing an interest in a £4million, castle-fronted mansion.

The historic property has more than 300 acres of land attached to it and even boasts its own organic farm.

Benedict, who owns a home in London, where he lives with theatre director wife Sophie Hunter and their three children, is said to have been thinking of buying a bolthole in the South West for some time.

And a source in the village said: “Everyone around here is talking about it.

“Benedict has been seen here a few times in the last few months, either in the village or the market town nearby.

“He’s been wanting to buy a place down here for a while.

“If he buys the house it will be fantastic for the area and give everyone a real boost.

“The manor house and land have certainly seen better days so it would be brilliant if he injects some love into the property.”

If The Imitation Game actor buys the mansion, he will be able to relax in its extensive library and store vintage wines in the sprawling cellar.

There is also a swimming pool, cider orchard and land for grazing cattle — just like his film character Phil did.

He will also be able to bring his own features to the manor as it comes with extensive planning permission.

Benedict will be battling it out for the Best Actor award at the ceremony with Will Smith, Javier Bardem, Andrew Garfield and Denzel Washington.

And he is certainly a formidable contender after the movie won 12 nominations from the Academy.

Perhaps his recent house hunting is an optimistic bid to secure a grander location for his gong.

This weekend’s follow up and confirmation:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/21046724/benedict-cumberbatch-buys-8-million-mansion/

EXCLUSIVE

BEN'S NEW HOLME Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch buys £8.1m mansion with 355 acres of land Michael Hamilton Published: 21:50, 14 Jan 2023 Updated: 21:50, 14 Jan 2023

SHERLOCK star Benedict Cumberbatch has bought an £8.1million mansion with 355 acres of land.

The actor and wife Sophie Hunter agreed a deal on the country spread last May after eyeing it for two years.

Sources say the Somerset estate, which has an organic farm and cider orchard, is “totally private”.

The historic house has a Grade-II listed lodge built to impress King George III, who was a regular visitor in the late 1700s.

Cumberbatch, 46, distantly related to Richard III, also has a Gothic–style entrance arch, library and wine cellar to show off.

A source said: “It’s really lovely, secluded and peaceful, perfect for getting away from it all.

“Although the house is historic, it has all mod-cons.

“Locals in the nearby village know about the purchase.

“Everyone is excited about their new neighbours.”

Cumberbatch, who played Holmes in Sherlock, also has a home in London with theatre director, playwright and actress Sophie, 44.

The property was sold by estate agents Savills.

The Land Registry has only recently released the documents.

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Conclusion, Benedict saw a property he liked in Somerset while he was there filming some scenes for DSITMOM. Just a guess.