#i'd like to think this was decently historically accurate though

[chippedshake]

Cherry and Marcia as second-wave feminists though

Reading the Feminine Mystique as soon as it starts gaining traction

Cherry going so far as to read The Second Sex in the original French version

She didn't understand much but Marcia had read the English translation so she got the basics from her

I saw a headcanon once that Cherry listens to heavy metal, and yes, only it's grrrl riot

They joined the distribution of pamphlets about birth control and such on college campuses once they went

I feel like Cherry would have a stereotypically feminine calling to something like teaching little kids and feel really guilty about it, like she should like something that defies the status quo

Marcia would study biochemistry and work in research

Although, looking at things realistically, I think their feminism would be very heavily centered on white, upper-class women like themselves and they wouldn't really consider WOC or lower class women

UNTIL

One day

At a meeting in a feminist bookstore or whatever (my research was light Wikipedia reading before bed, don't take me too seriously)

They're in a semi neutral location

It's mostly white but across classes

They start talking about birth control and there's this black greaser girl who starts telling them all about Native American and African American and Latina women being sterilised without their knowledge by the same advances they were advocating for

She says they need to do something about that too

But when she said that, she interrupted Cherry and Cherry's proud and hot-headed and started fighting back against her and things escalated and they both stalked off

Marcia got kinda mad on Cherry's behalf because loyalty but also she could see the other girl's point, especially because things like that were so seldom talked about in white (=most well-known) feminist spaces

So they talk it over a while, Marcia and Cherry, and they realise that the other girl had a point and they really had no idea because their version of feminism has been so white-centred

And they're kinda wishing they could apologise and maybe work on something together

And there she is, closing her locker

So they go over to her and apologise and all that good person shit and the girl seems a bit skeptical at first but warms up to them eventually and then suddenly they realise they haven't introduced themselves and the other girl says,

"Nice to meet you, I'm Evie."

[columboscreens]

ive been rewatching columbo eps on prime video (idk where to get the other season after 7 :c) and i'm just done with A Case of Immunity, the one with the Suarian Kingdom and the whitest middle east guy i've ever seen ? And like. I'm not a fan of that episode, but. I feel like i'm missing a lot of political or historical context for that episode ? And I wanted to know if you knew more. Thank u, I'll get back to my little guy show now.

you're not missing much.

the latter portion of original columbo was marked by an increased desire to show him in radically different contexts--between a man on international waters, an arab diplomat, a IRA liason, a CIA agent, and a mexican matador, it suffices to say columbo got around a little more as time went on. and due to the growing US interest in the middle east throughout the 70s (most of europe's imperialist/colonialist tendrils had vacated, cold war alliances were being made, israel, oil, etc.) i suppose they thought people would want to see something topical. they also didn't want to piss anybody off, so the Very Real Country of Suari it was.

the role of hassan salah was originally intended for ben gazzara, but he was scrapped by the network for being too expensive (much to peter falk's consternation). mine too, really, because though hector elizondo did a fantastic job, i think gazzara would've played a better arab. he was sicillian, but i wouldn't be surprised if he had actual arab heritage, as sicilians very often do. his surname is arabic as hell--غزارة is arabic for "abundance", which ended up as a loanward in italian to mean "noisy".

ultimately though, the middle east is an ethnically and geographically diverse region containing a wide variety of looks and skin tones. for one, i and my entire family are lebanese. my skin is rather pale, my grandfather was tan but had pale blue eyes, my aunt is nearly blonde, etc. so elizondo's countenance may not scream "arab" nearly as much as gazzara's, but levant, maghreb, or gulf--he's not all that unbelievable either.

funnily enough, in middle ages arabia, those with blue eyes were associated with duplicitous and untrustworthy behavior....

i guess something that does kinda make me roll my eyes is the treatment of the language. to their credit, the characters do speak and write real arabic in the show, albeit...poorly. obviously it's a 70s tv movie, who cares about accurate glottal stops, but they spent like eight grand to rent a learjet for one of the scenes, and the arabic is real and (mostly) intelligible, so clearly somebody translated it. would it have killed them to hire a dialect coach?

we did get some extremely jewish-sounding arabic out of peter though. so. all is emphatically forgiven

the one thing that truly rubs me the wrong way about the episode is that it's noxiously sympathetic to the american political ethos of the time, which as we well know could do no wrong. watch columbo OWN this EVIL diplomat donned in traditional garb who wants to retain his country's DISGUSTING traditional ways while the new, hip young king who was probably forcefully instituted by american troops in a coup you'll never learn about is COOL and LOVES AMERICA and will lead his oil-filled country on camelback into a beautiful sunset of BEING COOL and LOVING AMERICA. there's NO WAY this could go south. STOP looking at iran NOW

(speaking of which, the state dept. rep who bursts columbo's bubble, kermit morgan, might or might not be a nod to kermit roosevelt jr. who played a central role in the CIA's ousting of iran's mosaddegh in 1953)

...least he's honest

anyway, in retrospect this episode isn't the series' finest moment, but it's a decent watch--and believe me, far and away not the worst treatment of arabs hollywood has thrown at us over the years. i know i'd certainly take a dozen of these over whatever the hell they were churning out post-9/11.

wallahi i could've forgiven the weird culturally inaccurate bowing if they just put columbo in a keffiyeh...

[kerra-and-company]

🥕🥭🍑🥝 for Kerra?

Kerra asks! :D Gladly!! (aaaand I saved this in my drafts forever aklsjd;fsaf I apologize)

🥕 [CARROT] How tough is your OC against certain situations? How weak are they against others?

Kerra has a huge range re: this question. Generally, she's very good at being tough--at least in the moment. She can compartmentalize like there's no tomorrow in order to get through tough situations and then will process those emotions later down the line. If you wanted to break her, though, you put the people closest to her directly in the line of fire. That's historically happened with Trahearne, Aurene, Canach, and Rhi, and it's going to result in extreme desperation to fix whatever the situation is and almost single-minded focus on it. Also probably anger. If you want a very clear and direct emotional and self-sacrificing response, kidnap/threaten/trap someone Kerra cares for. (You're also likely not to survive that, but at that point that's on you.)

🥭 [MANGO] What colors best represent them and why? Does this differ from their favorites?

Kerra's color is and always has been purple, in part because. Well. She is purple, haha. But it's also often associated with royalty and power, and power is one thing Kerra has plenty of, both in terms of position/title and just in terms of magical/martial capability. And is this different from her favorites...kind of? Kerra does like purple, but it's tied with blue and green.

🍑 [PEACH] How do they show their kindness? How kind are they truly?

Answered this one here! :)

🥝 [KIWI FRUIT] How does their outside appearance differ from who they are?

I'd say her outside appearance is decently accurate to who she is. She doesn't really try to hide her physical scars, so you can see some of the things she's lived through over the years. And the fact that she smiles as much as she does is also very much part of her personality. That last bit can trip people up sometimes, though, into thinking she's more okay than she actually is.

[the-golden-ghost]

For OCverse asks: 8, 12, 16, 25?

8.) what inspired your world building, if anything?

Okay so I KNOW this does exist, but I was just kinda thinking... why does so much fantasy either take place in Medieval England (Europe) Lite (but not even a very historically-accurate version of it) OR Just The Modern Day But There's Magic? Like there's SO many time periods I'd love to see covered in a fantasy-verse that are criminally underused. Even medieval-based ones are less Truly inspired by the middle ages and are more just direct ripoffs of Tolkien.

In any case, I picked the (19)20s although I've been debating whether it's really the right way to go. It's definitely going to be US-centric just cause... well, I'm from there. I thought for a ghost story too, the culture of the 20s where they're recovering from a world war and massive epidemic and still spiraling into even worse events to come would be kind of on the nose. I guess it hits home a bit with the modern day, too.

It's not intended to be a bleak story, though. Just a little dark.

12.) okay be honest. pick a favorite oc from this ocverse.

DIFFICULT it changes? I usually say Faith, she became the protagonist after being cast as the antagonist in the last variation for a reason - I just love her a lot.

But Davy grows on me sometimes. He's probably the closest one I have to a self-insert which means sometimes I don't especially like him because we're just too similar, but he's got Vibes. Occasionally he overthrows Faith in my brain for Favorite.

16.) imagine the entire story takes place but in the meantime the characters all also have tumblr. what kind of (terrible) tumblr posts would happen?

Faith is DESPERATELY trying to Do Numbers as a Tumblr Funnyman and it isn't working. Every carefully-crafted shitpost she makes gets 10 notes or less. She doesn't seem to realize that there's no prize for getting famous on here and it's in fact a hindrance.

Davy has a main blog but he doesn't post and gets reported as a bot a lot. He also has a sideblog he runs where he posts as Smudge and it has 50k followers

Lilah has a decent if somewhat niche following and does mostly music recs, songs she's working on, life advice, and aesthetic photos. She has a few fandom blogs as well and has to be careful not to post on main cause it'd be embrassing.

Sam is dead and posts glitchy illegible posts into the void. His blog cannot be followed, but the posts will show up on your dash anyway, somehow. None of them have visible notes.

25. best scene you havent yet written, but have an idea for?

Faith and Davy re(?)union at the beginning hell yeah! I have two separate ideas depending on whether to make them Childhood Friends (the standard) or strangers (new idea, playing around with it)

[liminalpsych-in-teyvat]

Notes for A Matter of Duty - Chapter 6: The depths beckon

Hoooo boy. That only took forever to write. "How about a soft vanilla sex scene," I said. "It'll be great for the story," I said. Well, we see how that turned out. This is about as vanilla as I can write. And about as soft. (Do I get an award for trying, at least?)

It's not meant to be the best pr0n. The rising tension kept getting derailed by Ayato's trauma responses, which is fairly accurate to how trauma can be experienced (and can interfere with sex or other kinds of intimacy), but then figuring out how to get back to the sex and rising tension was a trial every time.

I kept having quotes in the marginalia by medieval monks going through my head the past few days as I banged my head against the wall of this story. Wednesday: "I think I can finish this chapter today!" 2000 words later, still not done. Thursday: "Definitely today though." Nope. Friday: "…if I don't finish the chapter today, I will scream." But I did it, so that's a relief. (Now to repeat the cycle over again.)

I know shogi is seen and mentioned more than Go with the Kamisatos (though both of the games come up), but I have way more access to useful Go analogies and information and I already know the basics of Go. There's a whole shelf of Go books in my house because my nesting partner played very seriously for many years, and I can have them check over my Go scenes which is super helpful. I'd have to do a lot more studying to be able to write Shogi symbolism. Honestly, I feel like Go is a more appropriate game for the Kamisatos anyway, and makes for better metaphors in the political games Ayato is playing. My headcanon is that Ayato plays shogi with Thoma because it's easier for outlanders to get decent at playing it, whereas Go is simple to learn but incredibly complex to master. Ayaka is probably just barely a 1 kyū equivalent at this point in her life; by the time the Traveler arrives in Inazuma she'd be far higher. Ayato's probably around a 3 dan. Thoma would be an unranked beginner. (The ranks probably aren't used in Inazuma at this time, so this is just for conceptualizing handicap stones.)

One of the main areas I specialize in as a psychotherapist is trauma and PTSD. You'd think this would make it easy to find pithy resources on PTSD to stick in the Further Reading section, but instead it's hard because all the shorter, layperson-accessible articles are dissatisfying. I have lots of book recommendations, but that seems outside the scope of this list. (Complex PTSD by Pete Walker is my top recommendation for trauma books. Just ignore anything he says about mental health conditions that aren't PTSD.)

References, resources, and further reading:

Coping with flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts: Explanations of re-experiencing symptoms in trauma, and coping strategies to deal with them. (Ayato was not using many coping strategies, and was in fact just "pushing through" the memories which just meant he kept dissociating. Don't do this if you have other options, because it can complicate the trauma responses and add referred triggers. Ayato is not handling his issues very well, don't do what he's doing.)

Depersonalization: A form of dissociation that Ayato was struggling with.

Symptoms of PTSD and complex PTSD: Pretty decent explanation of the symptoms and differences between PTSD and complex PTSD. (I mostly work with and experience complex PTSD, so that's more of what will show up in my writing.)

Yukata: Some history of the yukata and how it's worn.

Edo Measurements: The mō referenced a couple times is the smallest unit of measurement in the traditional, pre-metric Japanese system of measurement. It equates to 0.03030 mm or 0.001193".

Etiquette, Attitudes, Advice in the Game of Go: Of course Go has ritualized etiquette standards.

Tips and Advice on Go Etiquette: A little more contemporary etiquette but some of it still applies to historical politeness rules.

Go Proverbs: Ayaka referenced a couple of these.

Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go: I just browsed my partner's shelf of Go books, but it turns out one of the better books I referenced is available in .pdf form.

Anal training: This one's a more succinct, direct overview than some of the links from the previous chapter.

Bottoming 101: A reasonably thorough guide to bottoming in anal sex.

How to make bottoming easier: Tips and tricks for safe anal sex.

Summary of the fic itself with content warnings, tags, etc so you can decide if you want to read it or not before you click on the link.

A Matter of Duty

"Back then, I had no choice but to accept the position I was in. While I desperately looked around for powerful supporters, I endured smear campaigns and attempts to exploit me. I had no other choice… I didn't mind what became of me, but my family… No one can ever be allowed to trample over my precious family."

How Ayato secured powerful supporters, endured exploitation, and weathered the storm of the years following the death of his parents… and how Thoma helped him contend with a bunch of self-serving, degenerate public officials.

And how, after much stilted fumbling and well-intended sacrifice, they learned the truth of one another's hearts.

Note: Mind the tags. More specific content warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter, and the story tags will be updated as needed. All characters involved in any sex scenes are adults.

Rating: Explicit. It's porn with plot. Porn as a vehicle for plot, or plot as a vehicle for porn, you can interpret it either way. (I prefer: porn and plot as a vehicle for ~feels~)

Tags that I'm not actually turning into tags here, but it gives you an idea of what you're in for: Kamisato Ayato/Thoma (Genshin Impact), dubious consent but not between Ayato and Thoma, slow burn, sex ed, first time, self-sacrifice, humiliation, exhibitionism, oral sex, anal sex, bdsm, bad bdsm etiquette, rough sex, breath play, impact play, bondage, service kink, abuse, sadism, codependency, shame, guilt, jealousy, possessiveness, trauma, ptsd, dissociation, political sex work, or sex work for political maneuvering, or political survival sex work if that’s a thing, exploitation, blackmail, political machinations, political intrigue, no aftercare, maybe someday some aftercare, hurt/comfort, mostly hurt for a long time but eventually comfort, oblivious disaster gays, for such socially savvy people they are terrible at personal relationships, dominant Ayato, submissive Thoma, top Ayato, bottom Thoma, Ayato is incredibly parentified, Thoma has no sense of self-preservation, self-sacrifice isn't a contest but don't tell Ayato and Thoma that, it's like the snipe-the-check game at restaurants but with sex and politics, Kushiel's Impact, no really this was in my drafts for the longest time as Kusheline Thomato Fic, everyone's an adult in this timeline except Ayaka, she gets protected at all costs, original characters out of necessity, finding appropriate existing Inazuma npcs for some of these roles was impossible, no beta we die like ayato's parents, let Kamisato Ayato say fuck, dead dove: do not eat, no seriously please mind the tags

Full fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47604337?view_full_work=true

Chapter 6 - The depths beckon: A game of Go, gathering strength, and finally: fumbling through more first-time sexual experiences.

Chapter contains: anal sex, first time, teasing, some power dynamics, subspace/topspace (kind of), sex while having a trauma response, flashbacks, dissociation, guilt/shame, self-loathing, dishonesty/lying

[totallynotreadingatwork]

Mini Book Reviews Again

The Cargo from Neira by Alys Clare, book 5 of the Gabriel Taverner series - Been a little while since I read one of this series because I was all caught up to publication, but I don't think that's going to matter now because it felt like this was the last book in the series. If so, it was a fitting sendoff, and a good mystery with a decent little happy ending for all involved. These books aren't sweeping epics or anything groundbreaking, but if you feel like you'd like 250-page historical mysteries then this is as good a place to start as any.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, book 1 of the Inkworld series (of which there's apparently going to be a new book of this year?!?!) - Read this literally over a decade ago and decided to reread it now and god I'm glad I did; for starters, this book captures the joy of reading and love of books so well it's unbelievable. Second; it's just a really good story. I know it's part of a trilogy but honestly you could read it as a standalone if you wanted. Funke is a brilliant storyteller, and even though it's a kids book it's perfect for adult fans of fantasy too.

The Owl Service by Alan Garner - I'm not going to lie, this one was a bit odd in terms of language and sentence structure, but once you get past all that... the story is even weirder. It's sort of exploring one of the stories of the Mabinogion about Lleu Llaw Gyfes and Blodeuwedd, and I just thought it was a really interesting take on it. You see all of these re-explorations of Greek and Roman myths going on at the moment, and for some reason I've never thought to look into similar things going on with Welsh stories, but honestly this one was brilliant, if a bit mad.

Into the Fog by Alexia Muelle-Rushbrook, book 3 of The Minority Rule trilogy - Plagued by a lot of the things I didn't like about the previous two books; supposedly childfree main character gets pregnant and loves it; "xyz system is wrong and immoral and can't work but oh thank goodness it worked for me". I'm not a fan. The ending was also a naff copout, I felt, because half the point of this book was that the government shouldn't get to control your life, and the protagonist kind of ended the series by saying agreeing with that, but only because the goal the government was trying to achieve by controlling everyone will end up being achieved anyway if they stop, implying that if that wasn't the case then controlling everyone would be the correct choice to make.

Unrest by Michelle Harrison - Another reread from when I was younger. It really freaked me out at the time, but didn't have quite the same impact as an adult, partly because I'm not as easily spooked now, and partly because I remembered what happened. Still, I'd recommend it to any young horror fans. I've enjoyed it even the second time around; Michelle Harrison is an excellent author.

Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz, book 1 of the Blue Bloods series - Listen. Listen. This book is trash. It's kind of unbelievably rubbish. But I love it so damn much. It's from the Twilight era, this one being published in 2006, and it shows. It's hastily written, highly problematic, and seems to be a combination of Twilight and Fallen by Lauren Kate because the vampires in this book are actually angels. Like I said, it's trash and bonkers but I enjoy it because I'm trash and bonkers.

Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke - I don't have much to say about this one really. My mum bought it for me off a charity book table for 50p so I read it even though it's definitely aimed at like... 7 year olds? It was okay. I prefer books with more substance but it was good for what it was and I have since passed it on to an actual seven year old.

Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn - A depressing read in all honesty; like you know the medical world is awful to women, but you never quite realise the extent of that, and it's crazy to see it all laid out there in black and white. I know it's not the world's most accurate account of the medical history of women, and some liberties have been taken to make it more dramatic in places, but I feel it should be appreciated for the spotlight it managed to help put on women's health.

The Spook's Revenge by Joseph Delaney, book 13 of the Spooks series - One hell of an ending to the series I'll tell you that. I do wish it had spent less time and effort setting up the next series however; I feel like sewing the seeds for a spinoff is fine, but if you do that too much in a final novel then it detracts from the main story and can make the ending feel a bit hollow because you know the victory won't last. Still, I enjoyed it, and I'm very glad to have come back to this series.

The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman, book 6 of the Invisible Library series - So this one is a heist book. I really enjoyed it. One thing I enjoy about this series is how each book is still introducing new characters and having new adventures. There's obviously overarching plot and you shouldn't read them out of order, but you probably could if you didn't mind missing out on the background stuff. Really, Cogman's books are just a very fun time.

[aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

IWATEX Sol Breakdown!

So adult Sol Breakdown first!

First their pants are pretty simple: find some ripped white skinny jeans. And tbh this is a pattern for most of the ending outfits, they're modern skinny fit pants that are slightly altered. The belt is kinda a dark teal but like any dark colored, matte finish belt should work. Then there's the grey things on the lower shin. My first though is compression socks over the jeans but if that's uncomfortable, knee high ish plain grey socks should work just fine. Might need to pin them up or something to the jeans though. Shoes are pretty plain and like who's gonna bother you about the shoes not being accurate? Just any plain black ones will work.

Now for the tops:

Putting a labeled image of Sol here to make explanation easier. They're wearing 3 seperate layers, the black underlayer, the sleeveless vest thing and the coat on top.

Since they're covered by the coat the black sleeves and collar thing could be seperate but I doubt that (1).There's a lot of long sleeve black boleros that have that neckline, and some of those have the turtleneck too. "Long Sleeve mock neck shrug" got me decent results, "turtleneck" works as well.

Next layer is the vest thing (2). Tbh i'd take a loose fitting sweater vest or something, to steal the neckline and fit from, and just add the cross over bit. Tutorial: https://sewguide.com/cross-over-top-free-sewing-pattern-tutorial/ This isn't super form fitting so just adding that in won't mess things up. Or you could adapt a cross over top pattern, here's a random one https://patternscoutstudio.com/products/romy-wrap-top-dress-pdf-sewing-pattern.

Then the coat (3). I think the pattern could be two things. One it's just mostly rectangles and triangles. Cue my very shitty drawing:

The back is a rectangle with flares, front rectangle, sleeve is just a rectangle. The C is the collar and is a long strip with a typical collar slapped onto it. This kinda of minimal design is common in zero waste/historical patterns. The zero waste thing aligns with the vertumna groups kinda hippy ideals and limited resources. The other way to do this is adapting a loose fitting jacket, or kimono style jacket. Also a little detail I like, the little black stripes on top of the shoulders could be a shoulder strap meant to keep bags in place.

Now robotoicist Sol:

Robotocist and Architect Sol have the same outfit, with just a few accessories color swapped. Hunter Sol is similar, but pants are color swapped and there's a jacket on top. The pants are just skinny jeans or like chinos with hunter Sol. The shirt is similar to your bog standard generic western historical mens shirt. So like search up "medieval mens shirt", "ren faire shirt", etc. Then just cut off the sleeves. It isn't 100% match, there seems to be a mesh panel at the sides of Sol's shirt and it's tighter fitting then those shirts usually are but it's close enough. The thing on top looks like it can be adapted from a bra pattern, and like for Hunter Sol could just be made out of foam and resemble armor.

In general for Sol, especially in the endings their pants are just modern pieces slighly adapted/modified for scifi. Shoes as well. Governer Sol is just wearing white skinny jeans/chinos. Some outfits are reused for multiple endings. Astronaught/Collector/Explorer Sol all have the same outfit and like modified white tights. Athlete/Entertainer/Rebel all have black tights/skinny jeans that have kneepads. Farmer/Rancher probably require sewing the pants up but that's it. Parent/Professor/Hobbiest all have pants with stirrups but it's such a small details that just skinny jeans work.

Last because this is a lot of words: governer Sol.

This is the only ending Sol with a unique outfit. There's a lot going on but at least the bottom half is simple. White not ripped skinny jeans/Chinos. Then the top half. I think Sol is wearing 5 layers on top. There's a purple undershirt with the high collar and asymtrical hem that pokes out on the bottom. You could use an athleticwear shirt like this or make it adapting a turtleneck t shirt pattern. Then there's the dark blue layer on top which tbh confuses me. I think it's supposed to mimic a waistcoat in a 3 piece suit so it's sleeveless and has that opening in the center front? Like it can probably me modified from a side/back opening, cause it doesn't look like it opens from the front, sleeveless top/bodice pattern. Skipping past the next 2 layers the final layer is this genshin looking scarf thing. It looks like a scarf draped with a fancy pin. Layer 3/5 is the coat. Here's a tracing of what I think it looks like. Green is for the collar.

It looks like it's playing on the idea of a tail coat, with how the front is cut short. The lapel/collar also goes all the way from the neckline to the bottom of the front. I'd say get a frock coat/halloween coat pattern that has appropriate amount of swoosh and then just cut the front out. Then there are the transparent sleeve things layer 4/5. It looks like 2 petals for sleeves then a top that follows the same lines as the coat except cropped. Probably follow the coat pattern?

I like doing costume breakdowns and know a okay amount of sewing and patterns so if you want any more specific Sols/endings lmk and i'd by happy to try to figure them out!

ayo, so like I did myself a search of around ten minutes looking for cosplays from the Exocolonist fandom (what I found was hella epic) but I can’t find anyone who’s cosplayed as sol

I wanna try and make/buy parts for one of their outfits (haven’t decided which but ending cards are included) but can’t find any good clothes to use as bases or patterns I could use to sew the thing myself or even just someone else trying to dress as them so I could see their process

If anyone has anything they think might be useful for their adult, teenage or one of the ending card outfits—e.g: performer, governor, astronaut, engineer, etc— drop a link or a name I can search please!

[absynthe--minded]

Okay, because clearly Amazon is doing a crap job, what if the fans made their own show?

We’ve got a large enough fandom to fundraise(I think). We’ve already proven we can make amazing fan films(see Born of Hope). We’ve got cosplayers to make costumes, fanfic writers to write scripts, language experts, etc.

And I bet we can do way better than Amazon.

so I guess I have to talk about Prelude to Axanar and Storm Over Gondolin, huh?

the Tolkien Estate has historically looked the other way on fan films... so long as those fan films are small-scale and low-budget. Born of Hope and The Hunt for Gollum both qualify here - they were labors of love, and even had decent production values, but they don't try and compete with the licensed (aka "moneymaking") properties directly, they focus on different aspects and stories. they do not, however, take kindly to large-scale fan film efforts (or at least they didn't when Christopher Tolkien was still alive)

the biggest and most notorious example of this was Storm Over Gondolin, a fan film being developed in the early 2010s that had some serious preproduction going on before being delivered a cease and desist. nobody at the time really understood why Chris decided to shut this down, since it was entirely noncommercial and entirely fanmade, but it couldn't continue. I was only on the fringes of this, so I don't know all the details, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was just so big that it stopped looking like a fan film and started looking like a low-budget indie movie. and even if the climate is warmer now under Priscilla, I'm not actually sure what would happen if we tried a fan series, because of...

... Prelude to Axanar, a Star Trek fan film that had a truly massive-for-fan-film budget and very good fanmade special effects. now Star Trek, unlike the Legendarium, has a substantial fan film scene and has had multiple long-term fan series and projects, including feature-length stories that bring back actors from the shows to reprise their roles. For a long, long time, CBS/Viacom ignored this and tacitly encouraged it, so long as there wasn't money being made - there were even sequel series to TOS being made and released on YouTube with sets and special effects comparable to the series proper. PtA seemed to signal a regime change, though, because it was so big and so professional-looking that it posed a threat to the brand. As a result, CBS introduced some stringent requirements for fan films, including a length limit, a disclaimer acknowledging CBS's ownership of Star Trek and the fan film status of the project, and rules about the content. This killed the Trek fan film scene dead, and forced some in-production stuff (like Renegades) to change to serial-numbers-filed-off original fiction.

In the wake of PtA, I genuinely don't know what Amazon et al will do. The only way I could see this genuinely working is if it was entirely made and produced in Russia, or other Eastern European countries that have a different relationship with copyright law than America. If you were ever wondering why Russia gets so many very cool Tolkien fan musicals and fan musicians, and why Russian fanfic can get published and sold, that's why - they can basically do whatever they want. Of course, that is an option, but is it one we want to pursue in the name of making an accurate series? I'd say yes, but I'm not sure if it's feasible. Unfortunately. I'd love to move to Russia and do nothing but make Tolkien fan films.

[ashe-wottlin]

Tag 10 People You Wanna Get to Know Better

tagged by @cloudheaded thanks for the follow back and tag!

Doing this on mobile so sorry for the wonky formatting xD

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Relationship Status: single and not looking to mingle because I'm aro af

Favorite Color(s): a purple that's more blue then red, I also like the deeper reds like burgandy

Favorite Food: in the US I'd say it was potatoes or chicken Alfredo, but now that I live away from decent Mexican/TexMex food it's Picodillo xD it's the one dish that I can make fairly accurately every time xD

Song Stuck in My Head: Birds by Kat Cunning

Last Thing You Googled: "George Washington Carver gay?" I read a queer pamphlet yesterday about how queer people in general don't get to learn about famous queer people in the past and how it's extra hard to find the same intersectional type of historical queer too because everyone eventually learns about like Alan Turing but never about how George Washington Carver was gay even though people in the US usually learn of him for Black history month.

Time: 15:09 pm

Dream Trip: I wanna go around south America and just kinda get seeped into the culture and eat a shit ton of potatoes because they are the birth place of the potats and apparently have more flavorful ones

Last Thing You Read: Book: Mort by Terry Pratchett ; Fic: A Bow for the Bad Decisions by Curriositykilled

Last Book You Enjoyed Reading: I liked Mort! The ending felt a bit handwavy but the world building and author voice was really fun!

Favorite Thing to Cook/Bake: I like cooking in general, deboning a chicken and chopping veggies are my fav part during the weekend when I have time and want to cook, but like are the worst during the week when all I wanna do is eat dinner xD I don't care for baking but I like kneading and eating yeasty bread things sometimes

Favorite Craft to do in Your Freetime: not a craft but I got back into piano again so I enjoy making little tunes. But also I make origami roses if I'm bored and have paper.

Most Niche Dislike: I really hate whipped cream. I don't care for bacon or chocolate much but they've grown on me over the years but whipped cream is still just so awful I don't understand the appeal at all.

Opinion on Circuses: I didn't care for them as a kid and I really don't like the idea of the exotic animals being moved around constantly instead of having a proper home :/ I like that French acrobatic circus thing though but like that's not what I think of for a circus.

Do You Have Any Sense of Direction: OH god no, I get lost using Google maps sometimes too xD I accidentally told my favorite singer the wrong direction because she remembered me from the meet and greet and found me in the street and this haunts me to this day it's been like 7 years

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Tagging: @agenderdanvers @architeuthisducks-blog @kat-anni @the-face-in-the-moon @the-sage-of-dissolution @theliteraryluggage

As always if you wanna do it cool if not also cool

[not-poignant]

Can you talk about how you came up with Dogwill Borough's name?

I would love to say that I spent a lot of time on it, but I think I had it in about 10 seconds.

I generally find name creation for characters really easy unless there's a cultural component that requires a deep dive (like Damilola Adayemi's name in Falling Falling Stars required some decent research into name structures and names used in Yoruba linguistics - the one thing I wanted to do least was a mish-mash of words across different African language groups that would make no sense for that character for example).

But otherwise, yeah, I just sat there and thought of a name I thought fit the character, lol. I wanted something more British sounding, and 'Will Borough' sounds completely ordinary, but 'Dogwill' sounded just ordinary/fae enough for the character. I wanted him to have a surname due to the community/area he'd been raised in. Sometimes Fae Tales has too many 'single name' Madonna types, lmao.

Tbh if you asked me to name 100 characters in about an hour I'd find it pretty easy to do. That's one area where I don't struggle much. The names aren't necessarily good, but I find characters tend to grow into their names anyway.

The character I struggled naming most was Mosk. And I'm struggling a bit with some of the side characters in Malloory & Mount, not because I can't think of a name, but because I have too many, lol. It's pretty common before writing a big fic like Stuck on the Puzzle to just make a relatively culturally accurate 'name list' with like 50-70 names on it. I just pick a name when I have a new character that comes up, that seems to suit the character. The name list for Mallory & Mount is truly excessive (sitting on like 300 names) with names from like 1700s Brittany, 1800s Ireland and Scotland etc.

I kind of love names x.x

I wish I had like more deep symbolism about explaining why I chose them though. A lot of the time it's 'I just think it suited them' or 'I liked the sound of it.' I can't imagine calling Betsan anything other than Betsan for example. The root word of that was Betsy, but in Dragon Age, some of the characters have names that are just slightly outside of what's familiar. So characters like Hensley and Betsan etc. have names that are deliberately sort of familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The most research I do tends to be into language groups and historical usage of names at the time.

But since Dogwill Borough was a fae OC that wasn't going to live that long, and I didn't have to fit any canon except my own, I gave him a very quick throwaway name. Hell, the fact that he's a dog shifter is literally in his name. x.x

[mimicofmodes]

Hey, I love your blog! I want to wear more Victorian/Edwardian dresses or maybe even get into historical reenactment but I can't make my own (no equipment or skill lol) so I was wondering if you knew any websites that sell those styles? I know they aren't going to be 100% accurate but I'd appreciate your insight either way, thank you so much ❤️

Hey!

In general, nothing that comes off the rack is going to be very good. Historical Emporium has a few separates that are decent: in the blouses, I would recommend the Margery and Pinstripe styles for a ca. 1905 look, and the Pauline for anytime in the 1910s and early 1920s; in the skirts, the Walking Skirt and Constance are okay for the 1890s and the Suffragist could be used from about 1910 to 1914. Recollections is also generally bad, but the Marta and Bella are passable.

Originals by Kay is a good shop - Kay Gnagey is an expert and knows what she's doing, and she does both custom and off-the-rack work, but she only provides Civil War-era clothes. Vintage Victorian does a larger range, but only custom.

Another option would be to get good patterns (I can help with that if you want more advice there) and take them to a local tailor or seamstress - they don't usually advertise actual dressmaking services because customers just don't want them anymore, but typically they will do the work for you.

The most important aspect of an outfit is the corset you wear beneath it, though. Even a period-original dress will look off without a corset to put your bust and waist in the right places. Redthreaded is the best place to get off-the-rack corsetry.

But I really encourage you to think about learning to sew! You can even do it by hand, without a machine. (I made a regular everyday dress almost entirely by hand a few years ago because I was depressed and the step of getting off the couch and going to the machine was too much.) If you start with simple projects like petticoats and chemises and work your way up, you'll be confident and skilled enough for outerwear in no time.

[marzipanandminutiae]

If you want to talk about it, do you have any thoughts about Kirsten Larsen's outfits? When I was 6 I was obssessed with American Girl books and pioneers in general, but I always thought that her outfits were accurate solely because she had an apron. So as an adult who'd been debating on making myself a pioneer dress based off hers, I'd like to know what you think of her wardrobe!

So first of all, as a kid, I found Kirsten’s outfits the most boring of the entire historical lineup. Oh look, a printed calico prairie dress. And another printed calico prairie dress. And another- you get the idea. Honestly I still stand by this perspective. Regardless of accuracy, the whole Little House homespun pioneer look just does nothing for me. Subjective personal preference.

Just glancing back at her original collection for a refresher, though, I don’t see anything glaringly wrong for the early 1850s. She has her little drawers and her little sunbonnet and her little back-closing dresses in sturdy, serviceable fabrics. I like the touch of having tucks on some of her skirts, a practical choice to “build in” extra fabric so the dress could be let down as its owner grew. And there is SOME variation. I actually like her sweater, blouse, and skirt set in particular. My sister had those and I remember yoinking them from the Big Basket of Family AG Clothes(TM) often for my own dolls.

(Bear in mind that my sister is 12 years older than me, so we never actually played with these things at the same time. But I digress.)

I could probably find some quibbles if I looked long enough, but at a glance, it seems pretty decent in terms of accuracy!

UPDATE: @in-pleasant-company has a tag about this sort of thing on her blog if anyone wants to delve in deeper

[the-busy-ghost]

☕️ It seems like so many shows fumble the ball, but I'd love to hear about a portrayal of Scottish history in period drama that you thought did a good job?

Thank you for asking! I don’t watch that many tbh and so far I’ve never really found one that was really good. I said the other day that Outlander probably can’t be said to be all bad- but I really haven’t watched it, it’s more that it doesn’t at first sight look completely unrecognisable as the eighteenth century (also the soundtrack is dope).

There is also actually very little content about medieval and early modern Scotland to go on. We don’t even have that many televised documentaries to watch (I may be remembering incorrectly but I think it’s something like two in the last twenty years- one of which was appalling). 

Which leaves by process of elimination, ‘Outlaw King’. The plot is not hugely accurate, there wasn’t enough Gaelic in it, and the whole depiction of Edward II was... not that good (I mean it wasn’t as bad as Braveheart but that’s such a low bar). The accents were a bit dodgy. There were also some annoying plotholes and in general it would probably have been much better as a tv series. On the other hand it was somewhat recognisable as fictional representation of fourteenth century Scotland, there wasn’t quite so much silly costuming and nor was the political situation reduced to ‘The Clans Are Fighting’. The Comyns got a bad rap but that’s about par for the course in popular Scottish history.

It was also a genuinely beautifully shot film and actually shot in Scotland for once- and some of the CGI was actually worth it for once, even if not 100% accurate (Stirling Castle, god what a great moment- and it even felt suitably dreich for Stirling. And Berwick was interesting too). One of the things too many people don’t have an appreciation for when it comes to Scotland is the variety of its landscape and the cultural and regional differences. 

Characters who cracked jokes were actually quite funny and not just drunk stereotypes! And attention to detail was good (if sometimes a bit gross- James Douglas’ “Farmers’ Hanky” for example). 

I think there was only one made-up character? I’m not sure I didn’t count- but it was a kid who served to drive home an emotional point about war so I suppose I’ll let it slide, even if Drew is not at all a believable name.

The obligatory sex scene could have been much worse. Also if there has to be a romantic plot at least the two leads felt like they had some chemistry. 

I felt what really sold it for me was that if you watch carefully there are little asides and hints towards characters who don’t have important roles in the movie, but whose own interesting careers can be followed in the historical record. I think that is important because what’s often forgotten about the Wars of Independence is that it was so much bigger than one or two men, it’s not Bruce and Wallace alone against the world. Hundreds of people had their own complex reactions to the conflict and even though the film obviously didn’t have time to show all that on screen, it really gave a nod to some of these characters that showed that the creators had at least tried to build the world (even if some other characters were less well-researched).

From a general medieval point of view it’s not terrible either actually- at least the costumes are more colourful and the religious bits are not all one sided. The sheer level of violence is A Lot to take in, but tbh it can’t really be called gratuitous given how bloody the year 1306-7 was. But no gratuitous sexual violence on screen- even if some is implied.

I would say it was a half-decent historical film, with its fair share of inaccuracies. It’s no Lion in Winter in terms of Pure Class either, but it can still be an enjoyable film for someone who loves studying mediaeval Scotland to watch- and it’s even enjoyable to pick inaccuracies out! So often with Scotland there’s not even much point picking out the inaccuracies, because it’s all so inaccurate it’s practically fantasy. It’s a bit of a luxury with Outlaw King to actually be able to point out where it’s inaccurate for once, rather than just making incoherent whining noises. 

Also if someone knew nothing about Scottish history, it does not have very many hugely misleading stereotypes that would hinder them in finding out anything more (except maybe the portrayal of Edward II).

And I’m not sure it would be everyone’s cup of tea but (aside from a few rather sickening scenes that I will only watch once, even though I know the history) I sort of enjoyed the film. I had issues with a lot of it but I can admit that I genuinely adored the colours, the dry humour, the tiny details and the attention to landscape, buildings, and weather. 

Sorry I ranted a bit, I just have a complex emotional relationship to this film and that’s a new experience for me when it comes to Scottish historical media! I do think, to answer your question in short, it did a reasonably OK job, not sure about plain ‘good’. I just reacted to it with such relief my judgement may be clouded.

Thank you so much for asking!

Edit: Oh I forgot- funny thing is that Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in itself, isn’t that terrible either. The plot’s all wrong, as are the character’s title, but (perhaps because it was written in the sixteenth century) the usual stereotypes are not present in the script and the people in the play are about as human as in any other Shakespeare tragedy. The problem comes more with how most people decide to stage Macbeth rather than the play itself. The same could be said of Douglas’ scenes in Henry IV Part 1 (honestly what were the Hollow Crown thinking with that costuming?). So it’s not a period drama per se but when on screen the reason Macbeth adaptations are bad (in terms of portrayal of Scottish history) is because of the preconceived notions of the modern directors and not because of Shakespeare. But if I talk about Shakespeare too much I’d have to bring up historical novels which can sometimes do a better job too. 

[korolevskiy-sekret]

Hey, I saw your d'Eon shelf and I'm really really curious about your thesis. I'm somewhat of an amateur history buff regarding d'Eon (my own d'Eon shelf sadly only contains The Maiden of Tonnerre, her autobiography, but I'm aiming to add to it). I'd love to hear what you're studying/writing about, and also if you'd recommend any of the books you currently have!

 Hello!! Thank you for your interest! I’m always excited to talk about d’Eon! :’D

My thesis as it stands right now is about the relationship between history and historical fiction, and how they influence each other! D’Eon is a really neat case study for this because of the sheer amount of fiction about her, and also the messy relationship even the most accurate histories about her have with the truth! I’m really just starting and still in the theoretical and source-gathering phase, but I like to think I have a decent collection! It’s actually grown since I posted those pics, and I’ve got a few more in the mail. I tend to buy the fiction, but borrow the nonfiction from my uni library - they have a decent number of books (two), and I have access to a decent number of articles. I don’t actually own any of d’Eon’s (endless - good lord, lady) writing, because all of the ones I’ve found are either super expensive, or were made with that scanning technology that makes everything illegible. 

Recommendations are a little tricky because there’s a) so much, and b) so much of it is bad. My favourite work about d’Eon is the YA series L’agent secret du roi by Anne-Sophie Silvestre, but it’s in French and four volumes long. The Le Chevalier d’Eon anime and manga are two different but related acid trips. There are apparently two different French bande dessinee, and I’m desperately hoping the new one isn’t an erotic because the currently available one is, and it’s a nightmare! There’s a play by Renny Krupinsky on Amazon that looks decent, but also might even have a trans d’Eon (shockgasp!) - I haven’t begun reading it yet, though. If you want to make a drinking game, M. C. Hobbs’ Chevalier is a good excuse to get drunk!

This isn’t really a good recommendation list, mostly because I don’t really have one yet. When I’m further into my research though, I’ll almost certainly make a post with a number of them!!

[euphoniouspandemonium]

OMG YES THIS IS AMAZING THANKS OLEG!! I'd like to add some more resources on Victorian fashion since god knows we need more period pieces with more decently historically accurate fashion and MANY articles and videos to be found out there suck, so-

• Fashion History Timelines: 1830-1839, 1840-1849, 1850-1859, 1860-1869, 1870-1879, 1880-1889, 1890-1899, 1900-1909 (note – this website a great resource I would say, but do use your critical thinking skills since there is slight anti-corsetry and stuff in some articles; otherwise it's accurate though, and very useful)

• How Victorian men taught us to hate corsets

• 19th century - how to tell the decades apart

• Victorian dress for every occasion - 1890s edition

• An overview of Victorian undergarments (in women's clothing)

• 100 years of corset history

• Priorattire. This whole channel, full stop. Not only do you see how historical clothing looks like On An Actual Human but you get explanations for all the layers and the context in which they would be worn.

• The truth about arsenic in the Victorian Era

• Victorian fashion is not what you think it is

Writing Research - Victorian Era

In historical fiction it is important to be accurate and the only way to do so is to research the era. What is highly recommended by many writers is to write your story first. While writing your story, mark the parts that you’re not sure are correct and then do the research after you are done. This is to prevent you from doing unnecessary research that may not be relevant to your work. You want to spend your time wisely! Or you can just research as you go, it’s really whatever works for you since there isn’t a “wrong” way to research.

To begin, the Victorian era of the British history (and that of the British Empire) formally begins in 1837, which was the year Victoria became Queen and ends in 1901 – the year of her death. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities and political concerns to the passage of the Reform Act 1832. [1]

Names

1000 Most Popular Victorian Names

Victorian Era Names, A Writer’s Guide

Victorian Darlings - British Baby Names

Society & Life

Victorian Society

The Victorians: Life and Death

The Victorian Working Life

A Woman’s Place in 19th Century Victorian History

Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian Period

Flirting and Courting Rituals of The Victorian Era

Victorian Working Women

Victorian Life

Glimpses of Victorian Life

Victorian Rituals & Traditions

Victorian Etiquette

Etiquette, Manners and Morals

Almanac - Etiquette and Manners Victorian Era

Victorian Britain - Children at Work

Children in the Victorian Age

Collège Sainte-Barbe - Children in the Victorian Age

University of Victoria - Victorian Childhood

Museum of London - What Was Life Like for Children?

Victoria and Albert Museum - Victorian Children (PDF)

University of Strathclyde - Victorian Children

Daily Life in the Victorian Era

How the Mid-Victorians Worked, Ate and Died

How did the Victorians mourn?

The House of Mourning - Victorian Mourning & Funeral Customs in the 1890s

Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain

Etiquette of a Victorian Lady

Going to School in Victorian Times

History of Working Class Mothers in Victorian England

Life of the Victorian Woman

The Working Class and The Poor

Victorian Women’s Work

Needlework, Knitting and Crohet

Victorian Etiquette - Births and Christenings

Victorian Ballroom Dancing Etiquette

Ballroom Manners and Etiquette

How Prudish were the Victorians really?

Gresham College - The Victorians: Gender and Sexuality

Victorian and Albert Museum - Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century

Why were the Victorians so crazy about public spaces, like parks?

Victorian Homes and Gardens

The Shops and Shopkeepers

Victorian Christmas

The History of British Winters

Top Ten Pet Peeves, or Horse-Related Mistakes to Avoid in your Story

Marriage in the Victorian Era

Victorian Wedding Guide

Husbands and Wives in the Victorian Era

Victorian Technology

History - Victorian Technology

Gresham College - The Victorians: Religion and Science

Household Management and Servants of the Victorian Era

BBC News - Servants: A Life below Stairs

Life as a Servant in Victorian England

What Servants would you find in a Victorian household?

The Servant’s Quarters in 19th Century Houses Like Downton Abbey

Victorian Domestic Servant  Hierarchy and Wages

Australian National University - The Victorian Merchant-Elite and the Chinese Question (PDF)

Project MUSE - The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present: Economy, Transnationalism, Identity

Untold London - The Chinese In Limehouse 1900 - 1940

JSTOR - The Journal of Negro History: Black Ideals of Womanhood in the Late Victorian Era

H‑Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online - Black Victorians

Wikipedia - Black British

History Today - Black People in Britain: The Eighteenth Century

University College London - Black Londoners 1800-1900

The Guardian - The Black Victorians: Astonishing Portraits Unseen for 120 Years

BBC News - Short History of Immigration: The 1800s

Commerce

British Money

Wages and Cost of Living in the Victorian Era

Pricing and Money

Victorian Money

Cost of Living in Victorian England

How Much Is That - Calculating Prices Throughout the Years

Entertainment & Food

Victorian Menu - Cooking and Recipes

A Time Traveler’s Guide to Victorian Era Tea Etiquette (PDF)

The Victorian Pantry

Victorian Era Food Recipes

Victorians Food Facts - Cookbook

Food, Recipes and Tea

Victorian Tea Time Recipes - Sandwich and Cheese Straws

Victorian Era Recipes

Victorian Food, Party & Recipes

Victorian Dinner Parties

19th Century Food and Drink

Victorian Cooking: Upperclass Dinner

eHow - Weekly Meals Eaten in the Victorian Era

Victorian Dinner Parties

What did the Victorians have for breakfast?

Victorian Ladies Who Lunch, Or: Luncheon Places and Tea Rooms for Ladies

History Magazine - What Time is Dinner?

What the Poor Ate

The Arts in Victorian Britain

Victorian Art, Literature and Music 

Music, Theater, and Popular Entertainment in Victorian Britain

Victorian Entertainments - We Are Amused

19th Century Hobbies and Daily Activities

Victorian Pastimes and Sports

Victorian Fun and Games & Other Pastimes

19th Century British and Irish Authors

Gresham College - The Victorians: Art and Culture

What is up with the depictions of half naked Victorian era women fencing in artworks?

Hygiene, Health & Medicine

Health and Hygiene in the Nineteenth Century

Victorian Diseases and Medicine

Health & Medicine in the 19th Century

19th Century Diseases

Victorian Health

Five Horrible Diseases You Might Have Caught in Victorian England

Alcohol and Alcoholism in Victorian England

A Look Back at Old-Time Medicines

Victorian London’s Drug Culture

Victorian - Medical Breakthroughs

Victorian Hospitals

Victorian - Baths and Washhouses

Medicine and Health in Victorian Times

The Victorian Revolution in Surgery

Victorian Science and Medicine

Victorian Health and Medicine

Women’s Health

Questions about Victorian Women Menstruation

Victorian View on Menstruation

Reusable Menstrual Products

Childbirth and Birth Control in the 19th Century

British Maternal Mortality in the 19th and early 20th Centuries

The Historical Horror of Childbirth

Contraception: Past, Present and Future Factsheet

History of Contraception in America, 19th Century Artifacts

UCLA School of Public Health - Anesthesia and Queen Victoria

Science Museum - John Snow (1813-58)

Science Museum - Chloroform

University of Liverpool - The Demography of Victorian England and Wales (PDF)

Gresham College - The Victorians: Life and Death

Colton History Society - Village History in Staffordshire, England (Victorian Health)

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment -  Do you have anything about an asthmatic in the Victorian era?

Science Museum - Nerve Tonics

The Pennington Edition - Victorian Remedies

Fashion

Dressing the Victorian Woman

Victorian Hats

Victorian Jewelry

Victorian Hairstyles & Headdresses

Hair of the Nineteenth Century

How to Dress for Travel in 1852

Victorian Men’s Clothing

How to Dress Like a Victorian Man from the 1860s

How to Dress Victorian

Victorian Era Fashion

Royal Fashion

Victorian Fashion

Boy’s 1860s Fashions

Dressing the Victorian Girl of the 1890s

Victoria’s Real Secret – The Victorians Knew Underwear

How to Undress a Victorian Lady in Your Next Historical Romance

Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 1, luxurious silk hose, colorful stockings, & socks

Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 2, Chemises and camisoles

Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 3, Pantalettes, pantalets, drawers, and bloomers

Victorian Ladies Shoes & Boots

Victorian Swimwear

Victorian Men and Woman Swim Wear

Dialogue

Victorian Language

The Language of Flowers

Victorian London - Words and Expressions

A Dictionary of Victorian Slang (1909)

Victorian Slang

19th Century Swears

Victorian Slang - Lower Class and Underworld

Cliches and Saying of the Victorian Era

The Dictionary of Victorian London

Justice & Crimes

How Safe Was Victorian London?

Crime and the Victorian Household

Danger inside the Train: Crime on Victorian Railways

Railway Mania

How Widespread Were Concerns About Prostitution?

Fallen Women

The Great Social Evil: Victorian Prostitution

University of Massachusetts at Boston - The Great Social Evil: Victorian Prostitution

BBC History - Child Prostitutes: How the age of consent was raised to 16

University of Minnesota - Victorian Era: There are Two Kinds of Women��

University of London - The Real Rippers Street: Pathology, Policing, and Prostitution in Victorian London

University of Brighton - The Fetishization and Objectification of the Female Body in Victorian Culture

University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law - Homosexuality and the Law in England

Sexual Violence in Nineteenth Century England

Victorian Poisoners

Crime and the Victorians

Victorian Crime

Victorian Crime & Punishment

Victorian Women Criminals’ Records Show Harsh Justice of 19th Century

Sentences and Punishments

Types of Punishments - Hanging

Types of Punishments - Imprisonment

Victorian Children in Trouble with the Law

Child Prisoners in Victorian Times

Victorian Crime

Victorian-era Serial Killers

The Development of a Police Force

The Metropolitan Police

A Work-Life History of Policemen in Victorian and Edwardian England (PDF)

How The Victorians Cracked Crime

Tracking a 19th-Century Serial Killer

Schaffer Library of Drug Policy - The Myth of the Opium Den in Late Victorian England