#john and bryn

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Immortal Beloved - Chapter Fourteen.

Well then, besties. The tale concludes here! I apologise for it taking the best part of a year to complete, but I loved these two so much that I knew their end had to be fitting to the rest of the story, and as such did not want to rush that. I hope you enjoy it :)

Previous chapters - Prologue One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen

Tag list - In the comments

Words - 4,333

Warnings - 18+ only. Adult themes + vampire content throughout. Minors DNI!

The shock of it hit him in waves, cold and sharp, like an arctic wave surging through his guts with no relent. “My brother? What the fuck do you mean?” 

“It was, sir. I swear it on my life. This is why I let him and his cohorts into the house! I thought that I could trust Thomas, sir! Please, please see that I did not think I was doing any wrong. I did not think for one moment that ma’am was his target!” 

This was the plan? This? Tommy had looked him in the eye not six hours before and asked for his trust. And John had freely given it, without knowing of the deceit that lay dormant in his brother, to kidnap his wife. How could he do it? How could he have betrayed him and Bryn so brutally as to capture her, likely now delivering her right into the clutches of those who hunted her? 

Releasing Albert, he unfastened the coils of rope that had bound him to the seat he was tied to, stalking from the room with his head and heart fractured. He had no clue who to turn to, for was this Tommy acting alone, or were his other family members involved? Storming back into the kitchen, he had further questions. 

“What time was it, when he took her, and how did he fucking take her?” 

Albert rubbed his wrists, looking honestly heartbroken by it all. “A little after four, sir. They ambushed her silently while she was still sleeping, had silver chains and a heavy sack they must have bundled her in, to protect her from the daylight.” 

Two hours; it was long enough a time for Tommy to have returned to Warwickshire, John striding for the telephone. If there was one person he could trust, she was already there at the house.  

“Good evening, Mr. Shelby,” answered Wallace, Tommy and Grace’s butler. “How may I be of service?” 

“Can I speak with me daughter, Wallace?” he asked, keeping his tone jovial, like there was nothing wrong whatsoever. After all, he had no idea how far the roots of Tommy’s deceit stretched. 

“Certainly, sir. Young Miss. Shelby is in the playroom, I shall fetch her at once.” A few minutes passed. 

“Hello, daddy! Are you and mommy coming back soon?” Katie chirped, sounding nothing but her usual self. At least that was something. 

“Not sure yet, pige. We’ve got a few things to sort out,” he began, stuffing the wild energy of his concern down, well away from where it could afflict his tone. “Listen, can you do somat for me, bab? Can you tell me if your uncle Tommy has come home yet?” 

“No, daddy. He went out early this morning. It’s just me, Charlie and auntie Grace. Uncle Arthur and auntie Polly left after we’d had lunch. All the cars are gone.”  

That told him everything he needed to know. “Alright, thanks for that. If he does come back, though, don’t you tell him I called, right? I’m planning a surprise, so you’ve gotta keep quiet. Can you do that for me, pige?” 

“Yes, I can! Will you be back for dinner? We’re having pork chops!” 

He smiled through his panic, biting his lip. “Might not be, bab. But you get ‘em ate and be a good girl for Grace, right? I’ll see ya soon. Love you, Katie.” 

“Love you too, daddy!”  

Placing the receiver down, he could only think there was one other place he’d take Bryn to; the one he’d left just under an hour before. Back to the Blinder’s stronghold, for even if he was about to give the Rasmussen’s what they wanted, John had to wager that it would be on both Tommy’s terms and turf.  

He just had to hope he wasn’t too late.  

While driving as fast as his Austin would physically go, the anger within him burned with the ferocity of a forest fire. How dare he do this. How dare Tommy be so reckless as to take his wife from him, to cave, even! 

“When the fuck have we ever backed down, eh, Tom?” he bellowed aloud, thumping his palm against the steering wheel, his foot jammed to the accelerator pedal. His thoughts spiralled, many conflicting emotions whizzing around in his brain, the only shining light being that perhaps, maybe, Tommy’s kidnapping of Bryn wasn't all it seemed. After all, he had gone about their business in a way that had underhandedly left his brothers in the dark before for their own good. What was stopping him from doing the same this time?  

“Don’t ask me how. All I ask of you is that you trust me as your brother, and never let that trust waver. Do you understand me, John boy?” 

The words he’d delivered to him only hours before came back to him, but truly, could he muster up that trust? Arriving at Charlie’s yard, he picked out a gaggle of cars through the inky evening dusk – Tommy's included – his heart pounding in fear as he parked up and got out, gun primed and ready. His feet crunched over the frozen gravel, his breath clouding in the freezing air, seeing his family on one side, the Rasmussen’s on the other, Arthur picking him out and moving swiftly.  

“Tommy!” he bellowed, aiming his gun. “You’ve got some fuckin’ nerve!” 

“John boy, put it down, come on,” Arthur spoke, walking directly in the line of his fire, hands held up as he shook his head. “Let it play out, brother. It’s gotta happen.” 

His eyes didn’t even meet Arthur’s, seeing his wife standing there, Tommy holding onto the chains that smouldered her wrists and neck. “Fuckin’ turned on her, the lot of ya! How the fuck can you do this to her, to us! Everything else aside, you really want Katie to lose another fucking mother, do ya?” 

“Back it up, John! Come on!” Arthur rasped, grabbing his younger brother by the chin and forcing him to meet his eyes. He widened them, sharing a look that said to trust him, wrapping his wrist in a strong grip and lowering his gun arm. “Stay back here, with me.”  

While his body stood to the side, his heart was with his wife, his eyes not leaving hers. Her face was wet with tears of blood, her expression just a thunderous as one might expect. After all, she was being sold out to the enemy. Or was she? John didn’t know any longer. All he understood was that it better not be how it appeared. He’d slaughter every last Rasmussen himself and turn his back on his family completely if it was.  

Edward Rasmussen jerked his head in John’s direction, his hands neatly folded in front of him. “You said your brother wasn’t gonna be a problem, like?” 

Lifting his chin, Tommy looked between John and Edward a few times. “He won’t be, that I can promise you. Now, we have come here tonight to broker an agreement, gentlemen. The turf war ends, you allow us to continue our business at the race meets in the north, and in return we hand over Brynhild. All of the fighting, it ends now. No more of our kin dragged into this, no more bloodshed. It ends tonight.”  

Edward sniffed, a crooked smile playing his lips. “And what’s to stop me from gunning every last one of you down here where you all stand? You didn’t even bother searching us prior to this meeting, somewhat of a cock up, if you ask me. Especially now your greatest asset is bound in silver, meaning she can’t help you. Not that she’d want to after you offered her up, though, eh?” 

At those words, the Rasmussen’s all drew arms, their associates, too. Tommy didn’t even flinch. In fact, the only people there in nervous tatters were John and Bryn. 

“Well, fellas,” Tommy shrugged, looking around into the black night’s sky, “I think you brought the wrong guns, personally.” 

Edward cackled, scratching his head upon the barrel of his revolver. “Have we, lad?” 

“I’d say so. Because the bullets in yours are led when really, they should be silver.” Drawing on his cigarette, he turned to Bryn, winking, his final card about to be laid out on the table, his last chess piece moved in checkmate. “See, you might think you’ve had your prize delivered to you here, with no fight from us either. But the fight, Edward, it weren’t ever coming from us.” He paused, drawing on his cigarette before pointing his finger circularly. “It was coming from the fifteen vampires hiding in the shadows.”  

Edward’s eyes widened as Tommy let out two piercing notes in whistle, standing tall with a smile. He hadn’t seen it coming, as the night was suddenly a flurry of movement, the Rasmussen’s casting their eyes all around as the fifteen who appeared from nowhere stepped out of the darkness.  

John’s heart thundered as he watched them walk forward, eyes swivelling to Arthur. “Told you.” he smiled, a smirk tilting the corner of his mouth.  

Through the dark of the night, Bryn’s eyes took in a sight her heart had yearned for, in all the time they’d been parted. Walking towards the group, fangs bared, were Alexander and Joy. If her heart could have beat again in that moment, it would thumped out waves of pure, unwavering motherly love. 

Taking the chains that bound her, Tommy unravelled them, placing a kiss to her cheek. “It had to look real, sweetheart. I’d never betray you. Know the depth of my apology, though. For now, I think you have a war to win.”  

Offering her his wrist to replenish, Bryn bit into it, drinking from it quickly before her eyes snapped to Edward, standing frozen, unravelled and very, very scared. Her bloodied grin grew wide, an inhuman growl rattling in her throat. Finally, after centuries, her revenge would be delivered. Bloodily. 

Stepping to him, she eyed him with all the venom, all the heartbreak and all of the fear his family name had stirred within her for as long as she’d been vampire, watching him tremble in her presence. The hunter had become the hunted, Bryn’s eyes leaving him briefly as she watched two ravens fly overhead, landing neatly upon a large mooring post on the other side of the canal. How very fitting. 

“Two ravens flew from Odin’s shoulders,” she began, her head moving in slight nod to their location, her hauntingly chilling grin growing. “Huginn to the hung and Muninn to the slain.” 

He gulped, her hand coming up to rest upon his throat, every single person there present feeling the breath hitch in their throats, Edward gulping. Closing her eyes, she remembered the pain of the silver, the binding of his ancestors, the torture, the agony. Peter, Marcheline and Lucious, her precious children. This was for their memory as much as it was her. 

“I will enjoy this.”  

The remaining vampires advanced faster than the human eyes there present could detect, the sounds of screams and flesh ripping filling the air, the Shelby family and their associates all standing back, letting the undead do what they did best; eviscerate the enemy. The Rasmussen’s and their associates were picked off at speed, all apart from Edward, toyed with by the ancient power who threw him around, relishing in the opportunity to hand back to him his own bitter medicine. 

“I could keep this up for days, weeks, even,” she spoke, holding him aloft by his throat, his clothes torn and body battered. “I will not, though, for I am better than your ancestors, those who imprisoned and tortured me for years. This I do in the name of my children they took from me, though, and in the names of my children your kind will never harm. This is for Alexander, Joy and Katie.”  

Tossing him into the air, she caught him by the arms and then swiftly ripped his entire body in half, his guts dropping into a pile upon the floor, her face sprayed with a fine mist of sanguine. Turning then, the glacial stare melted from predatory to kind, sobbing as she opened her arms to receive her children, holding them to her tightly. It had been too long in the coming.  

“I have missed you both beyond comprehension!” she cried, red tears slipping down her face, looking to a shellshocked John, who was as stunned as everyone else at her method of dispatch as he rushed to her side at speed. It was, to put it mildly, the most horrific thing anybody there had witnessed. None of them blamed her, though.

“Darlings, this is your stepfather, I suppose you would call him.” 

Alexander held out a hand, smiling graciously. “John, it’s a pleasure.” 

“Hello, John,” Joy spoke, yet to actually release the hug she held her mother in, not having seen her for so many, many years. “I will speak with you in due course, but...” 

“Ya missed your mom, bab,” he spoke warmly, “I understand that.” As Joy nodded, they were joined by Tommy, Bryn’s demeanour changing rapidly, John drawing himself up. “You’ve gotta fuck load of explaining to do, Tommy.” 

“I concur,” Bryn gritted, gently extracting herself from Joy’s embrace, moving to stand in front of Tommy. “Your plan was quite masterful; I will give you that. It also led to the total decimation of my enemies, I shall give you that, too. But to bring my children into this without consulting me, to take me from my home like that and make me think I was about to meet my end?”  

“Bryn, I...”  

That was as far as he got before her forehead met his nose rapidly, shattering the bone, sending a shooting pain akin to a lightning strike into his sinuses. “You are fortunate that I do no worse to you, Thomas Shelby!”  

He looked to John, his brother shrugging. “Don’t fuckin’ look to me, Tom. She’s bloody right, ain’t she? You knew she didn’t want Alexander and Joy anywhere near this, and you brought ‘em into it without asking her first.” 

Tommy pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, holding it to his gushing nose. “With good reason, John. I knew as their mother; you’d be looking at it from a mother’s perspective rather than that of a tactician. Should they not have been your kin, you likely would have seen it from the point of view I did, that they could assist, and bring more of their kind with them.” 

“How did you even get in touch with them?” she demanded, Joy stroking her arm as she felt her mother’s powerful blood flaring wildly in her own veins.  

“New Year’s Eve, when I went to call the fire brigade and police. I found their names in your diary. I apologise for snooping, but I had to have something to fight back with, Bryn. For the sake of our family. Took me weeks to figure out the coded way you’d written their details down, save that diary ever falling into the wrong hands, but once I had, I called them and explained the situation. They were only too happy to come and help with the ambush, along with the seven total vampires they’ve made between them, and the six friends of theirs who came along, too.”  

She looked to be accepting of that, but her eyes did not view him with any kind of warmth. Feeling his sincerity in his blood as it swirled her veins, she knew of his honesty, yet she remained in a state of agitation. “I will deal with this at a later time. John, Alexander and Joy will escort you home. I shall fetch Katie. I can have her home to Little Aston in moments as she sleeps. I want my immediate family around me and nobody else.”  

“Bryn, love...” Arthur tried to broach. 

“Not now, Arthur. I need to calm down.” 

He looked to John, who’s jaw tensed. “You heard her. Yeah, this plan saved us all, but bloody hell, you need to give her time to not be pissed off to the root of her fangs for doing it all behind her back. Me an’ all, for that matter.” 

John, Bryn, her children and the vampires who had made the journey with them all departed swiftly, leaving Tommy, Arthur and the others all standing, wondering how long it would be before they saw that particular branch of the family tree again.  

An hour passed, by which time the vampire’s all connected with Alexander and Joy had checked into the hotel they were staying at, the siblings collecting their possessions before meeting their stepfather back in Little Aston. Bryn had managed to wash, change her clothes, grab Katie and travel silently through the night without waking her once, not until she was tucked up in her own bed again at Georgian House. 

“Mommy?” she muffled, Bryn placing her teddy bear into her grasp. “Why are we home?” 

“I came to collect you a little while ago, and you slept right through the journey. Daddy and I wanted to come back here, be a family of just us for a little while,” she explained, her fury still burning brightly as she thought of Tommy.  

“Oh. Okay then. Night, night. Love you.” 

She smiled, stroking her hair as she pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. “I love you, too.”  

Moving from her daughter’s bedroom, she paused at the top of the stairs, gripping the banister, the cold wood steadying as her insides swam in angry turmoil. Oh, how right Tommy had been, that she had viewed it all through the eyes of a mother rather than the brilliant tactician she had once been. That was probably what angered her the most, she realised. He’d been right, but that did not mean she had to like it.  

Arriving at the foot of the stairs, she saw John exit the sitting room, his arms held wide. 

“C’mere, me bab.” Those warm brummie tones. How close she’d thought herself to never hearing them again. “You alright? Stupid question, I know, but I gotta ask, ain’t I?” 

“You have, and I am not,” she began, pressing her face against his neck, his scent flooding her nose like a comforting potion. “Beneath this calm facade, I am seething.” 

He could well tell that without her verbal confirmation. “I know, love. I know. Me an’ all. Proper fucking angry with him, I am.” Leading her into the sitting room, she took a seat beside Alexander, Joy in one of the two armchairs, John taking the second. “At least we can say it’s all over now, but I really do get it, Bryn. You know I do. I ain’t gonna be happy with Tommy for a long bloody time cos’ of this.” 

“Mother, may I offer a little perspective?” Alexander spoke, tossing his mane of long, black hair over his shoulder. She nodded, the vampire continuing. “When Tommy reached out to me, his fondness for you was very clear. I want to expressly state that I felt wretched, going behind your back with this plan of ambush, but his method was faultless.” 

Bryn snorted, her jaw tightening. “Yes, aside for me thinking I was about to meet my end, Alexander. Perfectly fucking faultless. Mm.” 

He should have expected that. His mother was, when vexed, a coldly sarcastic vampire. “You have faced much worse and survived, and now, thanks to Tommy’s cunning, their bloodline is ended.” 

“They still have children, children who could grow up to be all that they were, and once again hunt be down,” she stated coldly, her eyes snapping between her children. “You two too, and your vampire children.”  

“Or, mother,” Joy began, folding her hands neatly in her lap, “this will be enough to make them realise this feud must come to an end indefinitely, save the future generations perishing at our hand. For they surely will.” 

Lifting her head, Bryn knew the discomfort inside was the truth sitting uneasily within her, standing up. There truly was only one place and one person she had to speak with about this in order for it to settle correctly. “If you will excuse me. I shall return later.” 

Without word, she vanished from the house, exiting Little Aston in a blur, arriving at her destination within a couple of minutes.  

He knew she’d come, Tommy standing out on the rear patio of Arrow House, a whiskey in one hand, a cigarette in the other. “I wondered how long it’d take, Bryn. Never thought it’d be this soon, though, before you arrived to chew me ear off.” Taking her in, a small smile thinned his lips. “I hope that’s more figurative than literal, all the same.”  

“Why didn’t you trust me with your plan?” 

He sniffed, drawing on his cigarette again. “Because of what I told you. You were looking at this though the eyes of a mother, terrified of her kids becoming hurt in the crossfire. The Viking warlord who laid waste to many an Englishman battling upon these shores wasn’t anywhere near your line of thought. She should have been, though.” 

Her face contorted at his audacity, her growl rattling eerily through the night air. “You choose now to mock my disposition, Thomas?” 

Sipping his whiskey, his eyes found hers. “Never, Bryn. I respect you too much for that. I did what I did not because I never thought you capable, I did it to remind you of who the fuck you are. Back in the echoes of time, you were the one whose name made all the hairs on the back of your enemy's neck’s stand on end, the one who when they saw her charging at them with her heathen army, knew they breathed their last breaths.  

“You were – and still are – a force to be reckoned with. All I did was facilitate that reckoning by reminding you that you’re still her, underneath the fear that your children would be hurt. I knew they wouldn’t.” 

“How?” 

He reached for her then, hand gripping her arm softly. “Because they came from you, and you, love, are by far the most menacing adversary anybody is likely to face.” His face softened, cocking his head a little. “You’re also my sister-in-law, and I speak that with much, much pride.”  

Tommy was not a man for sentiment, nor was he particularly grand with his declarations of love towards anybody who was not linked to him by blood. For him to have stated what he just had – and so poetically – Bryn understood the depth of his respect and affection for her.  

“So, am I about to lose my ears to a thorough vampire chewing, or was breaking my nose enough?”  

She was thoughtful for a few seconds, reaching to her mouth and piercing her finger on a fang, letting the blood drip into his glass. “To fix the aforementioned broken nose.” He drank it back in one gulp, feeling the ancient power of her blood shoot through his veins, coursing like wildfire. “As for anything else, we are good, Tommy. All is well. You must understand, I am old, ancient, even, and I do not take lightly to, ah...” 

“Having to swallow your pride?” he offered. 

Her nod was deep. “Exactly that.” Stepping closer to him, she took his face in her hands, her chilly lips placing a kiss upon his forehead. “Like I stated, we are good now. However, if you ever keep something like this from me again, family or not, I will turn you inside out. Literally.” 

His eyes widened a fraction. “I don’t doubt it, sweetheart.” After all, he had witnessed her tear a man in half with her bare hands only hours before. Smiling, he winked, Bryn returning the same before in his next blink, he found himself alone once more.  

Returning to her home, she felt better for hearing Tommy’s words. In her place as a tactician, the voices of those on her side in battle must be listened to, and this instance was no different. It still burned her somewhat, that he had gone behind her back with it, but she had to at least concede his decision had been the right one. With all of them coming through their ordeal unscathed, she had little ground to hold him further in contempt. 

“It was big of ya, to go hear him out, bab,” John told her after she’d arrived back, Alexander and Joy left to go and check in with their offspring and friends. “Can’t say I ain’t gonna be a little bitter still, but I’ll get over it, I’m sure.”  

Smiling, she sank into his embrace happily, loving the feeling of his hands smoothing her back. This man, this wonderful, beautiful man truly was her sanctuary. He breathed new life into her ancient heart, made her old bones feel brand new, gave her purpose, gave her love.  

“What now then, eh?” he asked after a few silent moments, the fire crackling beside them. 

Looking up at him, he watched the flames dance in her eyes, her hands stroking his face. “Now, for happiness. For peace.”  

“Ar,” he nodded. “Sounds alright to me, that.” Ducking, he lifted her into his arms, his grin positively devilish. “But not too peaceful.” 

“Oh no, darling,” she chuckled, happy to be carried upstairs to their bed. “A little friction is necessary here and there.” 

He showed her just that until the small hours, exhausting himself to sleep long before his wife would join him upon the breaking of dawn. Lying there staring down at him, Bryn stroked his face before resting her head against his chest, his warmth as intoxicating as ever.  

Peace, at last. She’d been looking forward to it for just over a millennia. It was, by anyone’s standards, a very long time to wait.  

The End.  

[darklydeliciousdesires]

My sweet Anna, you are so very, very talented. I love them so much, a thousand thank you's! <3 <3

@spaghettificationandpretzels @cillmequick @zablife @lovemissyhoneybee @chokeanddagger @daydreaming-belle @call-sign-shark @theesirenteller @newlibrary @babaohhhriley

Look how beautiful they are together, guys! Such an attractive couple.

JOLLY HOLIDAY EXCHANGE

Brynhild Leifsdottir & John Shelby for @darklydeliciousdesires

COLORING

I hope you like it!

[snootlestheangel]

She got ass, she got thigh, she got Captain Price on his knees begging for mercy

[flannelandcocoa]

[singeratlarge]

MONDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO: “Hold On” by Rupert’s People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYbrxbXH5bs. Rupert’s People was a “made in the studio” band formed around members of Fleur de Lys. In 1967, Rod Lynton was a “rising star” songwriter, so managers and record companies got behind him to record his songs by using bands-for-hire—in this case it was Fleur de Lys with Chris Andrews on lead vocals. To avoid confusion over the Fleur de Lys “brand,” the band re-named themselves “Rupert’s People.” “Hold On” was the B-side to the single Rupert’s People “Reflections on Charles Brown,” which received positive response in 10 countries. However, many said “Hold On” is the stronger track, amped up with muscular organ by Pete Solley (future sideman w/Eric Clapton, Al Stewart, Whitesnake, etc.) and edgy lead guitar by Phil Sawyer. The song was co-written with bassist Gordon Haskell (later of “Harry’s Bar” and King Crimson) and guitar hero Bryn Haworth (not credited on the record label). On a cosmic jukebox “Hold On” plays next to the soulful hard-edged blues-rock fusions of Spencer Davis Group, Pretty Things, and Brian Auger & The Trinity.

Lynton went on to collaborate with John Lennon, and Rupert’s People tracks have been reissued on soundtracks and compilations celebrating the best of 60s British rock. Fleur de Lys became a launching pad for several careers, with Chris Andrews going on as a solo act and collaborator with Roger Daltrey, David Essex, Davy Jones (Monkees), and other notables. This video was made in 2023 with remastered audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYbrxbXH5bs

#chrisandrews #rupertspeople #charlesbrown #psychedelicrock #britishrock #classicrock #britpop #fleurdelys #rodlynton #johnlennon #brynhaworth #gordonhaskell #kingcrimson #spencerdavisgroup #prettythings #brianauger #rogerdaltrey #davidessex #davyjones #monkees #singersongwriter #bluesrock #britishinvasionrock #60srock

[baronessblixen]

Saw this and thought it'd be right up your alley! :DDDD

Hollywood's "Fake" Mid-Atlantic Accent DEBUNKED! (youtube.com)

That was so interesting, thank you! I knew about the Mid-Atlantic accent, but I had no idea it was supposedly invented by Skinner and Tilly. I always thought it was used by people like Cary Grant cause they were torn between British and American English - and that isn't too far off from what the guy said 😂

[greenelectricsky]

First day of Cats 1998 Anniversary Celebration! I'm so happy! Today prompt: favourite actor.

And after first excitment I'm sad now. I don't have a fav! I don't know them personally, so I can't say "That one I like, that one don't". I love all of those wonderfull people, because they changed my life. Because of their hard, unusual work they together created somethin amazing, something... well, lifechanging. So, I want to say "Thank you! You are the best! I love you!" to all of them!

next>

[simulation-machine]

Okay, so the Strand save? Borked. So I am testing to see if I could just save the lot and the families (like maybe four total) associated with The Strands. A bit more play is required before I can determine it ~*~Officially Fixed~*~ but it’s looking promising so far! Maybe! AHH~!  And if I managed to save even just a bit of this family I am going to happy-cry FOR REAL.  Still going to go forwards with the idea of fast-forwarding Bryn and Syd to college but I wanted to do a like, montage of what their teen years were like.  Very, very tentative hope that I saved them! I don’t think I’ll do a legacy for them, maybe some short story snippets? I have ~*~ideas~*~.

[gotosleepmyman]

[thefundiemuseum]

Gutted to learn the Bontrager-Bowers couples didn't keep up their letter name themes! I was hoping to see some really wacky names from them. But... another Spurgeon?!?!?! The mind boggles.

Breaking News: Bontrager/ Bowers baby names

She named them along with gender in groups from the siblings

Chelsy:

1. Axton

2. Elliott

3. Madelyn

Mitchell:

4. Micah

5. Tucker

6. Brynleigh

Carson:

7. Jubilee

8. Jemima

9. Spurgeon

Joshua:

10. Wallace

11. Winston

12. Lillian

Allison:

13. Malachi

14. Gemma

[darklydeliciousdesires]

So, I have no idea how many of you remember this or were hoping on it being finished, but I am currently writing the final chapter of John and Bryn's tale for Immortal Beloved...

Coming soon, besties! Yet to read it? Masterlist is here.

Tagging: @daydreaming-belle @daybreak96 @newlibrary @babaohhhriley @green-eyedladywrites

@zablife @lovemissyhoneybee @murderousginger @call-sign-shark

[snootlestheangel]

Bryn: *existing*

Price: *look of longing and adoration*

Soap, Ghost, and Gaz: *understood shared look of operation "Get Price A Girlfriend" is a go*

Nik and Laswell get in on it

@stuffireadandenjoy @midnight193 @deeptrashwitch

[disabled-dragoon]

The Disability Library

I love books, I love literature, and I love this blog, but it's only been recently that I've really been given the option to explore disabled literature, and I hate that. When I was a kid, all I wanted was to be able to read about characters like me, and now as an adult, all I want is to be able to read a book that takes us seriously.

And so, friends, Romans, countrymen, I present, a special disability and chronic illness booklist, compiled by myself and through the contributions of wonderful members from this site!

As always, if there are any at all that you want me to add, please just say. I'm always looking for more!

Edit 20/10/2023: You can now suggest books using the google form at the bottom!

Updated: 31/08/2023

Articles and Chapters

The Drifting Language of Architectural Accessibility in Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, Essaka Joshua, 2012

Early Modern Literature and Disability Studies, Allison P. Hobgood, David Houston Wood, 2017

How Do You Develop Whole Object Relations as an Adult?, Elinor Greenburg, 2019

Making Do with What You Don't Have: Disabled Black Motherhood in Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Anna Hinton, 2018

Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2003 OR Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2019

Wasted Lives: Modernity and Its Outcasts, Zygmunt Bauman, 2004

Witchcraft and deformity in early modern English Literature, Scott Eaton, 2020

Books

Fiction:

Misc:

10 Things I Can See From Here, Carrie Mac

A-F:

A Curse So Dark and Lonely, (Series), Brigid Kemmerer

Akata Witch, (Series), Nnedi Okorafor

A Mango-Shaped Space, Wendy Mass

Ancillary Justice, (Series), Ann Leckie

An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon

An Unseen Attraction, (Series), K. J. Charles

A Shot in the Dark, Victoria Lee

A Snicker of Magic, Natalie Lloyd

A Song of Ice and Fire, (series), George R. R. Martin

A Spindle Splintered, (Series), Alix E. Harrow

A Time to Dance, Padma Venkatraman

Bath Haus, P. J. Vernon

Beasts of Prey, (Series), Ayana Gray

The Bedlam Stacks, (Series), Natasha Pulley

Black Bird, Blue Road, Sofiya Pasternack

Black Sun, (Series), Rebecca Roanhorse

Blood Price, (Series), Tanya Huff

Borderline, (Series), Mishell Baker

Breath, Donna Jo Napoli

The Broken Kingdoms, (Series), N.K. Jemisin

Brute, Kim Fielding

Cafe con Lychee, Emery Lee

Carry the Ocean, (Series), Heidi Cullinan

Challenger Deep, Neal Shusterman

Cinder, (Series), Marissa Meyer

Clean, Amy Reed

Connection Error, (Series), Annabeth Albert

Cosima Unfortunate Steals A Star, Laura Noakes

Crazy, Benjamin Lebert

Crooked Kingdom, (Series), Leigh Bardugo

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, (Series), Cat Sebastian

Daniel, Deconstructed, James Ramos

Dead in the Garden, (Series), Dahlia Donovan

Dear Fang, With Love, Rufi Thorpe

Deathless Divide, (Series), Justina Ireland

The Degenerates, J. Albert Mann

The Doctor's Discretion, E.E. Ottoman

Earth Girl, (Series), Janet Edwards

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily R. Austin

The Extraordinaries, (Series), T. J. Klune

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, (Series), Trenton Lee Stewart

Fight + Flight, Jules Machias

The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix

Finding My Voice, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The First Thing About You, Chaz Hayden

Follow My Leader, James B. Garfield

Forever Is Now, Mariama J. Lockington

Fortune Favours the Dead, (Series), Stephen Spotswood

Fresh, Margot Wood

H-0:

Harmony, London Price

Harrow the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Hench, (Series), Natalia Zina Walschots

Highly Illogical Behaviour, John Corey Whaley

Honey Girl, Morgan Rogers

How to Become a Planet, Nicole Melleby

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager, (Series), D. N. Bryn

How to Sell Your Blood & Fall in Love, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites, Joy Demorra

I Am Not Alone, Francisco X. Stork

The Immeasurable Depth of You, Maria Ingrande Mora

In the Ring, Sierra Isley

Into The Drowning Deep, (Series), Mira Grant

Iron Widow, (Series), Xiran Jay Zhao

Izzy at the End of the World, K. A. Reynolds

Jodie's Journey, Colin Thiele

Just by Looking at Him, Ryan O'Connell

Kissing Doorknobs, Terry Spencer Hesser

Lakelore, Anna-Marie McLemore

Learning Curves, (Series), Ceillie Simkiss

Let's Call It a Doomsday, Katie Henry

The Library of the Dead, (Series), TL Huchu

The Lion Hunter, (Series), Elizabeth Wein

Lirael, (Series), Garth Nix

Long Macchiatos and Monsters, Alison Evans

Love from A to Z, (Series), S.K. Ali

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses, Kristen O'Neal

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

The Never Tilting World, (Series), Rin Chupeco

The No-Girlfriend Rule, Christen Randall

Nona the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Noor, Nnedi Okorafor

Odder Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Once Stolen, (Series), D. N. Bryn

One For All, Lillie Lainoff

On the Edge of Gone, Corinne Duyvis

Origami Striptease, Peggy Munson

Our Bloody Pearl, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Out of My Mind, Sharon M. Draper

P-T:

Parable of the Sower, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Percy Jackson & the Olympians, (series), Rick Riordan

Pomegranate, Helen Elaine Lee

The Prey of Gods, Nicky Drayden

The Pursuit Of..., (Series), Courtney Milan

The Queen's Thief, (Series), Megan Whalen Turner

The Quiet and the Loud, Helena Fox

The Raging Quiet, Sheryl Jordan

The Reanimator's Heart, (Series), Kara Jorgensen

The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Joan Parrish

Roll with It, (Series), Jamie Sumner

Russian Doll, (Series), Cristelle Comby

The Second Mango, (Series), Shira Glassman

Scar of the Bamboo Leaf, Sieni A.M

Shaman, (Series), Noah Gordon

Sick Kids in Love, Hannah Moskowitz

The Silent Boy, Lois Lowry

Six of Crows, (Series) Leigh Bardugo

Sizzle Reel, Carlyn Greenwald

The Spare Man, Mary Robinette Kowal

The Stagsblood Prince, (Series), Gideon E. Wood

Stake Sauce, Arc 1: The Secret Ingredient is Love. No, Really, (Series), RoAnna Sylver

Stars in Your Eyes, Kacen Callender [Expected release: Oct 2023]

The Storm Runner, (Series), J. C. Cervantes

Stronger Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Sweetblood, Pete Hautman

Tarnished Are the Stars, Rosiee Thor

The Theft of Sunlight, (Series), Intisar Khanani

Throwaway Girls, Andrea Contos

Top Ten, Katie Cotugno

Torch, Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Treasure, Rebekah Weatherspoon

Turtles All the Way Down, John Green

U-Z:

Unlicensed Delivery, Will Soulsby-McCreath Expected release October 2023

Verona Comics, Jennifer Dugan

Vorkosigan Saga, (Series), Lois McMaster Bujold

We Are the Ants, (Series), Shaun David Hutchinson

The Weight of Our Sky, Hanna Alkaf

Whip, Stir and Serve, Caitlyn Frost and Henry Drake

The Whispering Dark, Kelly Andrew

Wicked Sweet, Chelsea M. Cameron

Wonder, (Series), R. J. Palacio

Wrong to Need You, (Series), Alisha Rai

Ziggy, Stardust and Me, James Brandon

Graphic Novels:

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability, (Non-Fiction), A. Andrews

Constellations, Kate Glasheen

Dancing After TEN: a graphic memoir, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Vivian Chong, Georgia Webber

Everything Is an Emergency: An OCD Story in Words Pictures, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Jason Adam Katzenstein

Frankie's World: A Graphic Novel, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The Golden Hour, Niki Smith

Nimona, N. D. Stevenson

The Third Person, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Emma Grove

Magazines and Anthologies:

Artificial Divide, (Anthology), Robert Kingett, Randy Lacey

Beneath Ceaseless Skies #175: Grandmother-nai-Leylit's Cloth of Winds, (Article), R. B. Lemburg

Defying Doomsday, (Anthology), edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, (short story) (anthology), Seiko Tanabe

Nothing Without Us, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Nothing Without Us Too, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens, (Anthology), edited by Marieke Nijkamp

Uncanny #24: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction, (Anthology), edited by: Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Dominik Parisien et al.

Uncanny #30: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy, (Anthology), edited by: Nicolette Barischoff, Lisa M. Bradley, Katharine Duckett

We Shall Be Monsters, edited by Derek Newman-Stille

Manga:

Perfect World, (Series), Rie Aruga

The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud, (Short Stories), Kuniko Tsurita

Non-Fiction:

Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education, Jay Timothy Dolmage

A Disability History of the United States, Kim E, Nielsen

The Architecture of Disability: Buildings, Cities, and Landscapes beyond Access, David Gissen

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism, Elsa Sjunneson

Black Disability Politics, Sami Schalk

Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations: The Pursuit of Love, Admiration, and Safety, Dr. Elinor Greenburg

Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, Eli Clare

The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, Barker, Clare and Stuart Murray, editors.

The Capacity Contract: Intellectual Disability and the Question of Citizenship, Stacy Clifford Simplican

Capitalism and Disability, Martha Russel

Care work: Dreaming Disability Justice, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Catatonia, Shutdown and Breakdown in Autism: A Psycho-Ecological Approach, Dr Amitta Shah

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays, Esme Weijun Wang

Crip Kinship, Shayda Kafai

Crip Up the Kitchen: Tools, Tips and Recipes for the Disabled Cook, Jules Sherred

Culture – Theory – Disability: Encounters between Disability Studies and Cultural Studies, Anne Waldschmidt, Hanjo Berressem, Moritz Ingwersen

Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition, Liat Ben-Moshe

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally, Emily Ladau

Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World, Ben Mattlin

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories From the Twenty-First Century, Alice Wong

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space, Amanda Leduc

Every Cripple a Superhero, Christoph Keller

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness and Liberation, Eli Clare

Feminist Queer Crip, Alison Kafer

The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Growing Up Disabled in Australia, Carly Findlay

It's Just Nerves: Notes on a Disability, Kelly Davio

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Language Deprivation & Deaf Mental Health, Neil S. Glickman, Wyatte C. Hall

The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability, Elizabeth Barnes

My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick, Lyndsey Medford

No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, Sarah F. Rose

Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment, James I. Charlton

The Pedagogy of Pathologization Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-prison Nexus, Subini Ancy Annamma

Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature, Essaka Joshua

QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology, Raymond Luczak, Editor.

The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability, Jasbir K. Puar

Sitting Pretty, (memoir), Rebecca Taussig

Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black & Deaf in the South, Mary Herring Wright

Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness: How to Stay Sane and Live One Step Ahead of Your Symptoms, Ilana Jacqueline

The Things We Don't Say: An Anthology of Chronic Illness Truths, Julie Morgenlender

Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, Scott T. Smith, José Alaniz 

Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman, (memoir), Laura Kate Dale

Unmasking Autism, Devon Price

The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe, Ellen Clifford

We've Got This: Essays by Disabled Parents, Eliza Hull

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, (memoir) (essays) Alice Wong

Picture Books:

A Day With No Words, Tiffany Hammond, Kate Cosgrove-

A Friend for Henry, Jenn Bailey, Mika Song

Ali and the Sea Stars, Ali Stroker, Gillian Reid

All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold, Suzanne Kaufman

All the Way to the Top, Annette Bay Pimentel, Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, Nabi Ali

Can Bears Ski?, Raymond Antrobus, Polly Dunbar

Different -- A Great Thing to Be!, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

Everyone Belongs, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

I Talk Like a River, Jordan Scott, Sydney Smith

Jubilee: The First Therapy Horse and an Olympic Dream, K. T. Johnson, Anabella Ortiz

Just Ask!, Sonia Sotomayor, Rafael López

Kami and the Yaks, Andrea Stenn Stryer, Bert Dodson

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay, Cari Best, Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship, Jessica Kensky, Patrick Downes, Scott Magoon

Sam's Super Seats, Keah Brown, Sharee Miller

Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster, Manka Kasha

We Move Together, Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Eduardo Trejos

We're Different, We're the Same, and We're All Wonderful!, Bobbi Jane Kates, Joe Mathieu

What Happened to You?, James Catchpole, Karen George

The World Needs More Purple People, Kristen Bell, Benjamin Hart, Daniel Wiseman

You Are Enough: A Book About Inclusion, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

You Are Loved: A Book About Families, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

The You Kind of Kind, Nina West, Hayden Evans

Zoom!, Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

Plays:

Peeling, Kate O'Reilly

---

With an extra special thank you to @parafoxicalk @craftybookworms @lunod @galaxyaroace @shub-s @trans-axolotl @suspicious-whumping-egg @ya-world-challenge @fictionalgirlsworld @rubyjewelqueen @some-weird-queer-writer @jacensolodjo @cherry-sys @dralthon @thebibliosphere @brynwrites @aj-grimoire @shade-and-sun @ceanothusspinosus @edhelwen1 @waltzofthewifi @spiderleggedhorse @sleepneverheardofher @highladyluck @oftheides @thecouragetobekind @nopoodles @lupadracolis @elusivemellifluence @creativiteaa @moonflowero1 @the-bi-library @chronically-chaotic-cryptid for your absolutely fantastic contributions!

---

Submit a Book:

[severalpossiblemusiks]

There's a beautiful rendition of this poem into music by Roger Quilter, performed here by baritone Bryn Terfel, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau on piano:

Poem of the Day 24 September 2024

Weep You No More, Sad Fountains BY Dowland, John (1563 - 1626)

Weep you no more, sad fountains;

What need you flow so fast?

Look how the snowy mountains

Heaven's sun doth gently waste.

But my sun's heavenly eyes

View not your weeping,

That now lies sleeping

Softly, now softly lies

Sleeping.

Sleep is a reconciling,

A rest that peace begets:

Doth not the sun rise smiling

When fair at even he sets?

Rest you then, rest, sad eyes,

Melt not in weeping,

While she lies sleeping

Softly, now softly lies

Sleeping.

[singeratlarge]

MONDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO: “Hold On” by Rupert’s People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYbrxbXH5bs. Rupert’s People was a “made in the studio” band formed around members of Fleur de Lys. In 1967, Rod Lynton was a ���rising star” songwriter, so managers and record companies got behind him to record his songs by using bands-for-hire—in this case it was Fleur de Lys with Chris Andrews on lead vocals. To avoid confusion over the Fleur de Lys “brand,” the band re-named themselves “Rupert’s People.” “Hold On” was the B-side to the single Rupert’s People “Reflections on Charles Brown,” which received positive response in 10 countries. However, many said “Hold On” is the stronger track, amped up with muscular organ by Pete Solley (future sideman w/Eric Clapton, Al Stewart, Whitesnake, etc.) and edgy lead guitar by Phil Sawyer. The song was co-written with bassist Gordon Haskell (later of “Harry’s Bar” and King Crimson) and guitar hero Bryn Haworth (not credited on the record label). On a cosmic jukebox “Hold On” plays next to the soulful hard-edged blues-rock fusions of Spencer Davis Group, Pretty Things, and Brian Auger & The Trinity.

Lynton went on to collaborate with John Lennon, and Rupert’s People tracks have been reissued on soundtracks and compilations celebrating the best of 60s British rock. Fleur de Lys became a launching pad for several careers, with Chris Andrews going on as a solo act and collaborator with Roger Daltrey, David Essex, Davy Jones (Monkees), and other notables. This video was made in 2023 with remastered audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYbrxbXH5bs

#chrisandrews #rupertspeople #charlesbrown #psychedelicrock #britishrock #classicrock #britpop #fleurdelys #rodlynton #johnlennon #brynhaworth #gordonhaskell #kingcrimson #spencerdavisgroup #prettythings #brianauger #rogerdaltrey #davidessex #davyjones #monkees #singersongwriter #bluesrock #britishinvasionrock #60srock

[storyweaverofgondor]

Bryn Walters did not have to be that horny for Tugger for those two seconds in 98. He did not have to look up at John Partridge shaking his hips with this THIS expression

while clawing and kicking his leg.

It just isn't necessary but man am i so glad it exists