#now and forever 1934

[boydswan]

NOW AND FOREVER (1934)

[szynkaaa]

reason 1934 why I'm sad the Old Monk Set did not make it into the final cut of the game:

the peak we got at the fur on his neck and backside 😭😭😭😭😭

I will forever be sad about this loss. It genuinely feels like the final model in the game doesn't have much or any fur on the neck. idk if it's because most armors have a high collar so they removed the fur on the neck there?? But ugh, I love how much fur we got see in this old set.

just close your eyes and imagine wrapping your arms around him and kissing that fur exposed spot on his back ok. and now open them and weep at the loss.

[citizenscreen]

Gary Cooper engrossed in “What Every Young Mother Should Know” in Henry Hathaway’s NOW AND FOREVER (1934)

[girlactionfigure]

“Chanukah, 5692. 'Judea dies', thus says the banner. 'Judea will live forever', thus respond the lights”.

A Jewish Hanukkah menorah defies the Nazi swastika, 1931

It was the eighth night of Chanukah in Kiel, Germany, a small town with a Jewish population of 500. That year, 1931, the last night Chanukah fell on Friday evening, and Rabbi Akiva Boruch Posner, spiritual leader of the town was hurrying to light the Menorah before the Shabbat set in.

Directly across the Posner’s home stood the Nazi headquarters in Kiel, displaying the dreaded Nazi Party flag in the cold December night. With the eight lights of the Menorah glowing brightly in her window, Rabbi Posner’s wife, Rachel, snapped a photo of the Menorah and captured the Nazi building and flag in the background.

She wrote a few lines in German on the back of the photo. “Chanukah, 5692. ‘Judea dies’, thus says the banner. ‘Judea will live forever’, thus respond the lights.”

The image, freezing in time a notorious piece of the past, has grown to become an iconic part of history for the Jewish community. But until just recently, not much was known about the origins of the photo.

Both the menorah and photo survived World War II, with the Hanukkah finding its way to Yad Vashem through the loan of Yehudah Mansbuch. Mansbuch is the grandson of the woman who took the picture, and he retains the original snapshot.

When Yad Vashem was putting together its plans to open the Holocaust History Museum, a team of researchers set out to learn more about this famous photo. Their inquiries led to Mansbuch, who explained how his grandmother and grandfather had lived under Nazi oppression in Kiel, Germany, eventually fleeing to then-Palestine in 1934.

Yehudah Mansbuch, the grandson of the family who took the photo, remembers:

“It was on a Friday afternoon right before Shabbat that this photo was taken. My grandmother realized that this was a historic photo, and she wrote on the back of the photo that ‘their flag wishes to see the death of Judah, but Judah will always survive, and our light will outlast their flag.’ My grandfather, the rabbi of the Kiel community, was making many speeches, both to Jews and Germans. To the Germans he warned that the road they were embarking on was not good for Jews or Germans, and to the Jews he warned that something terrible was brewing, and they would do well to leave Germany. My grandfather fled Germany in 1933, and moved to Israel. His community came to the train station to see him off, and before departed he urged his people to flee Germany while there’s still time.”

The couple’s prescience saved an entire community; only eight of the five hundred Jews perished in the Holocaust, with the rest fleeing before the systematic slaughter began. Today, Yehudah Mansbuch lives in Haifa (Israel) with his family. Each Hanukkah, Yad Vashem returns the now famous menorah to the family, who light the candles for eight nights before returning the piece of history back to the Holocaust trust.

“Death to Judah,” the flag says – “Judah will live forever!” the light answers.

[cosmic-crybaby]

Break My Heart Again - Tommy Shelby x Reader

Part 5

Summary: After being childhood friends, you and Thomas made a promise one day to get married, but when he returned from France, he came back a completely different man.

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending.

1934, soon after Tommy's' battle had ended. Three more Shelby's' dead, and one less evil he had to worry about right now. His second wife, Lizzy Stark, was nowhere to be seen and was never found. Neither was his son, Charles. After the alleged affair with Diana Mosley, she left Tommy behind. As he did with the rest of his family.

So, where was he now?

Ireland. Finding himself knocking at the door of the home he knew she resided in. The sun was barely breaking through the forever gloom of the grey clouds, he shoved his hands in his pockets as he turns around, looking at the green grassy hill, cattle grazing the lawns minding their own.

"Who are you?" The voice came from behind him. Tommy moved his body, eyes snapping down in front of him to see a young girl. Around the age of four or five, standing in the threshold of the doorway. Her head was slightly tilted, as she peered up at him with her big eyes. Tommy tried to find the words, as he was speechless. She looked almost identical to Charles.

"I...I am um..." He began to speak, but footsteps cut him off and made him look up again. The front door was pulled open.

And then she appeared. His last breath got caught in his throat when his eyes fell on her. She looked even more beautiful than the day he saw her. The day she left and the day he found her, all those months later. Seeing her up close again, made him feel like he was frozen. His mind was buzzing with a myriad of questions, apologies, excuses. She wore a house dress, her hair was pulled into a bun, pieces of hair framing her slim face.

"[Name]," Tommy said. His voice made her eyes quickly snap up from the young girl to him. She froze for a moment as she saw who was waiting for her. She never thought she would see THE Thomas Shelby...ever again. Everything else seemed to disappear when she locked eyes with him.

"Mummy...who is this?" The girl pulled on her mothers dress, breaking the silence.

[Name] managed to break her eyes away first to see her daughter, Maeve, looking between the two adults in confusion.

"Darling...this is an old friend...Tommy Shelby,"

Old Friend was an odd way to put it. Knowing they were nowhere near that title, it made Tommy chuckle a bit. But the label would do for now. The young girl nods once and smiled up at the tall man.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Shelby," Maeve spoke before turning to her mother.

"You as well, darling," Tommy managed a small smile. [Name] cleared her throat and kneeled down a bit to talk to Maeve.

"Maeve, can you be a big girl and go check on Cian for me? make sure he's still asleep," She suggested, knowing that she didn't want the children to be around while she talked with Tommy. The girl nods with determination, exiting the area and down the hall. [Name] takes a deep breath and moves away from the door.

"Come in,"

The inside of the Byrne estate was large, clean, and full of light. Nothing compared to what Tommy had at Arrow house, but it somehow had the same comfort. The two sat across from each other at the dining table. Tommy would tell it was well crafted and made from the hands of the Tall brunette man he saw before. Neither Tommy nor [name] knew what to say to each other. It felt like hours had passed as they were locked in each others gaze.

"You found me..." She stated.

"I did...I came looking for you, everywhere...Turing to every connection I had...I had to find you [name], " He answered her, not bothered how desperate he sounded.

Because deep down he knew he was.

"Why now?" She questioned. "After all these years,"

"I wanted to apologize, for everything I had done and put you through...I'm sorry for lying, for the things that I left out, for leaving you...everything. You deserved to know, more than anyone," Thomas answered, his words rang in your ears, holding as much sincerity as they can.

The woman across from him nods, her face didn't change as she stared at him. Her glaze bouncing from his eyes to his lips to the worn hands he placed on the table.

"I had wished you well and vouched to never lay my eyes on you again, yet here you are apologizing to me again...You sure made a name for yourself Tommy," She commented, a small smile forming on her face. She couldn't lie, she was proud of him. "It wasn't uncommon around here, my late husband would speak of it every now and then, I would have to pretend like I didn't know who you were,"

"Late husband?...my condolences,"

[Name] nods once and held her hand up for a moment to stop him from going on further.

"He passed just last year, consumption...Maeve was only four and Cian was barely a year," She informed him, a lump caught in her throat and a gloss in her eyes. A knowing look formed on Tommy's features, he would know all about loss.

Greta, Grace, John, Polly, and Ruby.

"Do you have anyone for yourself now?" She asked, changing her subject.

"I did...remember Lizzie Stark?"

[Name] nods, and refrained from rolling her eyes. After she had exposed Tommy for who he really was, she found out about his secret relationship with his assistant. Leaving her spiraling under the realization that again, he chose another woman that wasn't her.

"We got married and had a daughter, Ruby...she's gone now, also consumption, after everything had happened, Lizzie took Charles and left,"

Silence had fallen between them, but it wasn't daunting...it was comfortable. She didn't know what else to say...what else could she really say? She looked at the dining table, her nail slightly digging into its' surface while Thomas held his gaze on her for a moment, admiring her beauty and how, even now, she still looked as youthful as ever. He ultimately made the decision to break the silence between them.

"I don't want to waste any more of your time...Just know what I am still sorry," He said to her, shifting as he felt the heartbreak hit him and standing from the dining table. She said nothing as she heard his chair scrape against the floor, and his footsteps leading him to the foyer. An inch away from grabbing the door handle before he caught her voice calling for him.

"Tommy wait!"

He quickly turned around. Their hearts pounding as she stood in front of him. She looked like she wanted to spill something to him. Tell him everything that she had held away. Her eyes searched his until he asked a simple: 'what is it?' in a breathy tone. Her lips quivered as she tried to find the words. For once, she was speechless in front of him.

"Maeve...she's not..." [name] started. She took a deep breath and Thomas found himself holding her shaking hands in his. She swallows and nods once as he looks into her eyes. 'Breathe'.

"My husband, Andrew, he didn't know...For Christ sake I tried to keep it from him all these years and after he passed, I feel guilty even now...but, Maeve she's not his...she's yours Tommy," Tears pricked her eyes. Tommy stared with wide eyes. He couldn't question her, the time added up, he saw what her late husband looked like and he saw what her daughter looked like. He could recognize those ice-like eyes anywhere. Licking his dry lips, he sighs heavily.

"I know..." He mumbled. "I could see the Shelby resemblance in her when I saw her...I didn't want to believe it at first...but after looking at her again, I saw it,"

She wanted to call an objection to his words but decided to keep her mouth shut, knowing that the Shelby's liked to keep their pride.

Even if it was an exaggeration.

Silence fell between them once again. Tommy steps closer, grabbing one of [names] hands. His hands were ice hold and hers were warm like the flames that roared in the fireplace.

"I'd like to see you again, [Name]" He told her, a ghost of a smile forming on his lips.

"There is a lot of catching up that we need to do...," She looked down at their intertwined hands. Thomas reaches for the woman's other hand. His gaze softened as he drew in closer, her lids closed slowly as his cold, cracked lips connected with her soft and plump lips. Her heart ignited, that small flame that slowly gave out when her husband passed suddenly blew up. Except this time, it was a different type of love. This version of Thomas Shelby was...new.

The woman tried to keep calm as the gangster pulled away from the kiss, afraid he wouldn't be able to stop once he got started.

"Very well then," Giddy on the inside as she kept her smile small.

"I'll see you tomorrow," He told her calmly, one hand rubbing up and down her arm before he took his leave.

The days and weeks to come, Tommy got along well with Maeve. The more the two got along, the more [Name] saw the resemblance. Cian was more attached to his mother by the hip, usually shadowing her until he was familiar enough with Thomas's presence. With the two in bed together one night, [Name] lifts her head as she felt Thomas digging through his nightstand.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously as she tried to look in the drawer as well. Thomas held the object in his hand, closing his hand into a fist as he laid back down and looked at his beautiful girl.

"I found this, a few months ago...before I came to see you," He started. "Everything else was destroyed, but I kept this because I knew I would find you again one day, and give it to you..."

"Come on, Tommy what is it?" She asked, sitting up on her knees, trying to reach for his hand. He pulled his hand away and gave her a look. 'Wait' It said.

"No matter what happened between us, I knew I would come back to you, even after all these years...all of this pain...it has always been you...I'm so sorry it took me all this time to realize it," He told her. He grabbed her hand with his free hand and slipped the gold ring on her finger. It still fight like a glove, maybe even more-so now. In awe, she watched as he slipped the ring on her finger. It was cold on her warm skin, causing goosebumps to form on her arms.

"Thomas...?" She gasped. Looking at him, then at the ring, then at him again as her eyes were wide, tears forming in her eyes.

"[Name]…will you do me the honor of marrying me?" He asked. It made her think back to their childhood and that promise they made for each other.

"Oh Thomas...yes," She nods happily. Not hesitating to jump into his arms and kiss him like there was no tomorrow.

"I've loved you from the start,"

---

[Tag List]

@mysticalbouquetwolf-posts @milljane @cyphah @diosa-ahre-blog @badlandsbrunette @adaydreamaway08 @namelessghoul0 @deltamoon666 @cherryslyce @calmingmelody96 @bruher @galactict3a @soulmates8 @angelofdarkness2468

[blueshistorysims]

March 1934

Montgomery couldn’t remember the last time he felt this free, sighing lazily.

The woman’s voice, the one stroking his hair, laughed. “Don’t fall asleep on me now.”

“How can I when I am yer arms?”

She giggled.

“Besides,” he whispered, “this is a dream. Canna sleep in a dream.”

Edeline smiled. “If it is a dream, then it is a good one.”

“I wish I could stay here forever.”

She laughed again as he heard the cries of a baby.

He sat up, confused. “I hear a bairn.”

Edeline scoffed, and when he turned to face her, she was holding a baby girl with his red hair and blue eyes. “Well, I would hope so, considering Maggie is sitting right with us.”

“Maggie?”

“Our daughter, darling. You’re acting quite strange, you know.” She looked around, unfazed by his shocked expression. “Bernie! Come here!”

“Bernie? But-but-” He cut himself off the moment a boy of around fourteen ran toward the blanket, his face a mix of his and Edeline’s.

“Yes, Mum?”

“I think your father has some sort of temporary amnesia.”

Bernie turned to Montgomery. “Ya alright, Da?” He had a faint Scottish accent. 

The Scotsman stood up, looking back and forth. “This-this isn’t real. Yer not real. It’s only a dream.”

“Of course it’s not real, Montgomery,” a voice he recognized well replied, and he turned to see Samira with Miranda in her lap. “It’s only a dream.”

He panted heavily, trying to force himself awake.

He closed his eyes tightly until everything was black, but when he opened them, he found himself surrounded by darkness, and in front of him, his two dead wives, dressed like a cabaret act in a giant v-shaped glass in their favorite colors, red and green.

“Do you remember?” Samira asked. “The cabaret shows we used to go to in London? The girls dressed like this, didn’t they?”

Edeline smiled like a shark as the pair posed seductively. “We never went to shows like this when we were together. You only told me you had loved men when you proposed. Were you ashamed of your proclivities? That I, a sheltered English girl, could not understand the decadence of it all?”

He swallowed, equally disturbed and transfixed. “No, I-It’s not that. It weren’t like that. I… were ashamed of meself, wanted to lock that part of meself away from ya, from… everythin’.”

The women were suddenly embracing one another, still making intense eye contact. 

“I wonder if you would have left me if I had lived and you still had met Samira. You loved her passionately… until she died in your arms.”

Samira finally turned her head, gazing at Edeline with an emotion Montgomery didn’t recognize. “I always stared at her photographs. She was beautiful. Pale, blonde, thin… I’d wonder what I’d do if I ever met her.” She caressed the blonde woman’s face. “Do you think she would love me the way you did? Would she let me kiss her lips?” She whispered before kissing her gently.

Montgomery watched, entranced as his wives ravished one another with a creeping feeling of dread falling upon him as if he was privy to something he was not meant to see. 

Samira looked up from her neck, her dark brown eyes twinkling with malice. “How do you would tell her? Tell Edeline that you fell in love with her brother, and he doesn’t love you. That the only reason you have yet to take your life is because of some foolish wish that he will return those feelings, and you won’t be alone anymore—someone to hold you in your sleep and whisper soothing words when you have nightmares of your dead. All you have is your daughter. Our daughter.”

He opened his mouth and found he could not speak. He felt faint, his vision blurring, bleeding into color, and Montgomery found himself in his bedroom, held by Edeline as Samira watched with the same enigmatic expression from before.

“Hush now, Edeline whispered, “it shall be over soon. I have you in my arms.”

“But it’s not real.”

“It could be,” Samira mused. “Do you wish it?”

He did not answer, letting his two wives touch and kiss him as he closed his eyes. Perhaps he could enjoy it, enjoy them, even if he knew he was in some sort of dream or nightmare or somewhere in between. He felt their touch on his body and wondered how he’d managed five years of no romantic love. But then perhaps he hadn’t, thinking his quitting of everything that mattered to him, staying shut up in a house owned by a duke and duchess, who were supposed to be everything he opposed about the class system, but instead, he was hopelessly in love with one and cared too deeply for the other. 

The touch suddenly stopped, and he opened his eyes, his vision perfect for once, to see Edeline and Samira staring at him from the foot of his bed, looking exactly as they did when they perished. Blood covered Edeline’s chest and mouth, staining her olive green nightgown she loved so dearly as the blood from Samira’s navy skirt and legs dripped onto the floor. Overwhelming guilt racked his body as they stared with lifeless eyes, boring into his soul.

“It is funny your face was the last one we ever saw,” Edeline muttered.

“Do you want it to be real?” Samira asked again. 

“No-I dinna ken—aye,” he finally confessed.

He gasped awake, finding himself in his bedroom once more, the morning rays pouring in from the window. He was awake. The dream was over. But it was not a consolation, he quickly realized as tears welled up in his eyes, and he fell back into his bed, beginning to sob.

By the time Miranda, still in her nightgown, wandered into his room, looking for her father, Montgomery was completely unaware of anything else other than his hammering heart and aching cries. Miranda watched him, too shocked to do anything else.

[canmom]

Animation Night 188: Gisaburo Sugii and his cat films

Let me introduce you to a fellow.

Gisaburō Sugii, born 1940, is one of the oldest school animators still working in the industry. His early filmography is something like a history of anime, or at least MushiPro: he started on Hakujaden [AN149] (where he did inbetweens), but he was one of the leaders of the Toei exodus over the rubbish working conditions and union busting (Sugii's close friend Rintarō was among the first to follow him), especially when Tezuka appeared on the animation scene with a place to land.

So from the earliest days of Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom, Sugii was a core Tezuka guy. (Thanks as ever to Matteo Watzky for presenting such detailed histories in English!) He helped clean up Tezuka's rough animations in an early form of the layout system, moving to his own satellite studio, worked on all sorts of projects. In fact, we saw a number of them when we watched Tezuka's short fims on Animation Night 83. For example, Sugii animated the moth in Tales of a Street Corner.

Before too long, Astro Boy was wrapping up, and the time came for Sugii to direct his own series: this was Goku no Daibōken and in the words of Matteo Watzky, it represented "a complete and unconditional rejection of everything Mushi - or rather Tezuka - had done so far" - gags over story, extremely limited animation. Adapting Tezuka's manga version of Journey to the West, the project had some rather grand ambitions:

It was rather in the writing and direction. Sugii was extremely ambitious: not only did he want to do a complete break with what Mushi had done before, he wanted to broaden the general “animation culture” in Japan [14]. He therefore focused entirely on the gags, trying to make them all as absurd as possible and breaking all sense of narrative continuity. This was the reason he had chosen Boku no Songoku in the first place: the road trip structure made it possible to completely change the setting each episode and make things different each time [15]. He refused to compromise on anything and was an extremely harsh director: he himself admitted how many conflicts he had with scriptwriters and storyboarders, whose work he kept rejecting until it had lost any semblance of sense or continuity [16].

Goku no Daibōken's story touches on another major figure of anime history: Osamu Dezaki (AN95) appears here as an episode director, though you'd likely not recognise his work - he closely followed his mentor Sugii's wacky style. Unfortunately, the show did not really do much to broaden anything, and was pretty roundly rejected by audiences, and even Tezuka himself publicly said it was too avant-garde and needed to change and the show ended up a sore memory for everyone involved.

But Sugii did not quit, and continued to work with the increasingly ailing Mushi Pro up through Belladonna of Sadness (AN69). This last-ditch effort was not enough to save the troubled studio (a story told elsewhere, check Watzky's articles for a very detailed version) and MushiPro went under. So, coming into the 70s, Sugii left the anime industry to go travelling.

But not forever.

Now, let me introduce you to a book.

Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜, Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru) - written in 1927, and published posthumously in 1934 - is a classic Japanese fantasy novel by Kenji Miyazawa in which two boys go on a strange journey across the galaxy. It soon becomes apparent that the train that the boys ride on is kind of a psychopomp train. It has that fascinating blend of early science and odd religious overtones you often get in novels from the early 20th Century, with such themes as the difference between Buddhist and Christian ideas of heaven, as well as all sorts of odd adventures.

It does not star anthropomorphic cats. But then again, it doesn't say anywhere that its characters aren't anthropomorphic cats, right? If you're Gisaburō Sugii, that's enough!

In the early 80s, Sugii returned to Group TAC, a studio largely consisting of former MushiPro staff, full of memories of travel. He started out directing adaptations of the baseball manga Nine, but soon he ended up directing an cataptation of Night on the Galactic Railroad, which came out in 1985.

Jokes aside, the book is deliberately ambiguous about what its characters look like, so Sugii came up with the cat thing as a way to preserve Miyazawa's intent. His approach to direction heavily emphasises the landscape, embedding the characters in dark spaces that reflect their feelings and build the generally omnious mood as they journey into death. And it works! The result is a film widely regarded as a classic by those who've seen it.

One notable feature is the film's fascination with the constructed language Esperanto, among the earliest aspiring universal languages. The film features all kinds of Esperanto text and an esperanto subtitle track, and even has an alternative Esperanto title, Nokto de la Galaksia Fervojo. This was a fascination of Miyazawa's, though I don't believe it features in the novel particularly prominently, but Sugii evidently wanted that to be part of the tribute...

In the wake of that, Sugii... went back to directing sports anime, this time the series Touch about Tennis, as well as a number of other projects including a Street Fighter film in 1994. He didn't abandon literary subjects though, adapting the Genji Monogatari, a foundational work of Japanese lit, in 1987 - though I can find little more about this adaptation. He even directed a Lupin III film! But none of those films are about cats, so we're gonna skip right over them.

In 2012, Sugii - now 72! - returned to books and cats with The Life of Budori Gusuko, adapting another novel by Miyazawa - this time at MushiPro successor Tezuka Productions. The animation is certainly more elaborate...

The film follows abandoned child Budori Gusuko in a world frozen by strange storms. Left to fend for himself, Budori's problems mulitply as his sister his kidnapped, leading him on a journey into dreams as he tries to get to the bottom of all of it.

The story is notable for anticipating the idea of the greenhouse effect, albeit in a way that rings rather odd in the context of present climate change. It generally doesn't seem to be viewed quite as favourably as Galactic Railroad but it's too good a thematic pairing not to do, so tonight the plan is to watch both films! Elaborate old weird anime, we're so back. And not a boob in sight, so twitch should chill out.

All being well, Animation Night 188 will be starting at 22:00 UK time, which is about two hours from this post - we're back on twitch.tv/canmom, thankfully they didn't ban me for long. Hope to see you there!

[the-uncharted-cookbook]

Descendant

Demerara rum, pisco, cachaça, pineapple juice, lemon juice, lime juice, honey syrup, grenadine, and a dash of bitters

"No, they weren't zombies. They were people, or they used to be."

Nathan Drake pulled out his journal and flipped to a page labeled Scare O' Meter. He turned it to me and pointed to a drawing right between a "demon sasquatch" and Sully's mustache: a crudely sketched rendition of a terrifying creature hunched over and baring sharp teeth, aptly labeled "slippery naked guy."

He explained that the legendary El Dorado wasn't a city of gold at all, it was a golden sarcophagus. Whoever was buried inside had some kind of viral infection that changed people, mutated them into terrible, rage-filled monsters. This mummy was worshipped for its great "power" and sealed in gold inside a place of reverence. Spanish conquistadors found El Dorado in the heart of the Amazon in the 16th century and stole it away, bringing it halfway across the Pacific Ocean to an uncharted island as far away from civilization as possible. They paid greatly for their theft. The sarcophagus was opened and the Spaniards were infected, mutating into creatures no longer human. Over the past 400 years, with each new generation born, the descendants of those Spaniards devolved further away from humanity.

A shudder ran through me as Nate finished his tale. El Dorado is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean now, hopefully lost forever. But the descendants... they're still out there, somewhere.

Naturally, the Descendant is a riff on the infamous and dangerously delicious Zombie cocktail. The Zombie was invented by Donn Beach in 1934 and was an immediate sensation, jumpstarting the tiki craze of the 1930s. Its original recipe was a closely guarded secret until relatively recently which forced imitators to improvise, often to disastrous results. The Descendant is based primarily on the midcentury Zombie recipe written by Donn for Louis Spievak's 1950 book Barbecue Chef. Three different South American spirits are used in the Descendant to showcase El Dorado's Amazonian roots: Demerara rum from Guyana, pisco from Peru, and cachaça from Brazil.

DESCENDANT

1 oz. aged Demerara rum (El Dorado 12) 1 oz. Peruvian pisco (Barsol) 1 oz. cachaça (Novo Fogo) 1 oz. pineapple juice 1 oz. lemon juice 1 oz. lime juice 0.5 oz. honey syrup 0.25 oz. grenadine 1 dash Angostura bitters Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with pebble ice or crushed ice. Shake and dump directly into a Zombie or chimney glass. Garnish with fresh mint, slapped to express the oils.

As always, the types of spirits you use are important for the flavor profile of the cocktail. For the aged Demerara rum, I use El Dorado aged 12 years but Pusser's British Navy Rum, Hamilton 86, or other aged El Dorado rums will serve just as well.

A Peruvian pisco is preferred over a Chilean one. Each country has specific requirements for pisco production and distillation. Chilean piscos are often distilled multiple times and then watered down to proof while Peruvian piscos are bottled directly from the still. This means Peruvian piscos often have more depth and flavor than their Chilean counterparts. However, if you find the flavor of Peruvian pisco too potent, a Chilean pisco may suit your taste better. If you'd like other uses for pisco, I recommend a pisco sour.

For cachaça, my number one recommendation is the fantastic brand Novo Fogo. Their Silver cachaça is what I use and is the easiest to get your hands on, but I wouldn't hesitate to try the Chameleon or Barrel-Aged expressions if you can find them. Not only does Novo Fogo make delicious spirits, but they operate the Un-endangered Forest Project and are dedicated to rehabilitating the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, which has been decimated by deforestation.

As mentioned previously, store bought grenadine will be much more syrupy and sweet than making your own, so homemade is recommended. It's a fast and easy process and all you need is pomegranate juice and sugar (although pomegranate molasses and orange blossom water help provide more depth and texture). If you do use store bought grenadine, adjust the amount of honey syrup you use to balance out the sweetness.

The Descendant uses honey syrup and grenadine in place of the Demerara syrup and passionfruit syrup (or fassionola) used in the midcentury Zombie recipe. I chose these ingredients for the Descendant because they taste great, they can be found in other recipes in the Uncharted Cookbook, and they're more readily available and easily made. However, if you have Demerara syrup or fassionola on hand, feel free to swap those in instead and see which you prefer.

The recipes for honey syrup and grenadine can be found here.

[haggishlyhagging]

Now: in 1934 Jean Rhys published a book about women as sexual commodities; sophisticated and brilliant, it showed the loneliness, the despair, the fear, and by showing how men look at and value and use women, it showed how all women live their lives in relation to this particular bottom line, this fate, this being bought-and-sold. And in 1934, Jean Rhys published a book that described an illegal abortion, showed its often terminal horror, and also showed how it was simply part of what a woman was supposed to undergo, the same way she was supposed to be used and then abandoned, or poor, or homeless, or at the mercy of a male buyer. Jean Rhys is one of many "lost women" writers rediscovered and widely read in the 1970s because of the interest in women's writing generated by the current wave of feminism. People are happy to say she was a great writer without much meaning it and certainly without paying any serious attention to the substance of her work: to what she said. She wrote about the loneliness of being a woman, poor and homeless, better than anyone I know of. She wrote about what being used takes from you and how you never get it back. Women who should have been reading her read The Catcher in the Rye or Jean Genet instead because her books were gone. We had books by men on prostitution and street life: Genet's broke some new ground, but there is a long history of men writing on prostitution. In fact, at the beginning of Voyage in the Dark, Rhys makes a writerly joke about those books. Anna is reading Zola's Nana: "Maudie said, 'I know; it's about a tart. I think it's disgusting. I bet you a man writing a book about a tart tells a lot of lies one way and another. Besides, all books are like that—just somebody stuffing you up.'" Well, Voyage in the Dark, a book by a woman, doesn't just "stuff you up." It is, finally, a truthful book. It is, at the very least, a big part of the truth; and, I think, a lot closer to the whole truth than the women's movement that resurrected her work would like to think.

Sometimes I look around at my generation of women writers, the ones a little older and a little younger too, and I know we will be gone: disappeared the way Jean Rhys was disappeared. She was better than most of us are. She said more in the little she wrote—with her twenty-seven-year silence. Her narrative genius was just that: genius. We expect our mediocre little books to last forever, and don't even think they have to risk anything to do so. Yet, the fine books of our time by women go out of print continually; some are brought back, most are not. I wish I had grown up reading Jean Rhys. I did grow up reading D. H. Lawrence and Jean Genet and Henry Miller. But her truth wasn't allowed to live. To hell with their fights against censorship; she was obliterated. I couldn't learn from her work because it wasn't there. And I needed Jean Rhys a hell of a lot more than I needed the above-named bad boys: as a woman and as a writer. I don't know why we now, we women writers, think that our books are going to live. There is nothing to indicate that things in general have changed for women writers. I know the children of the future will have a lot of sexy literary trash from men; but I don't think they will have much by women that shows even as much as Jean Rhys showed in 1934. This disappearance of women writers costs us; this is a lot worse than having to reinvent the wheel. When a woman writer is "lost," the possibilities of the women after her are lost too; her true perceptions are driven out of existence and we are left with books by men that tell "a lot of lies one way and another." These are lies that keep women lost in all senses: the writers, the Annas. We have not done much to stop ourselves from being wiped out because we think that we are the exceptional generation, different from all the ones that came before: the lone generation to endure male dominance (we say we are fighting it) by writing about it. Our dead sisters, their books buried with them, try not to laugh.

-Andrea Dworkin, Letters From a War Zone

[kingoftheclaudes]

Claude Rains Character Masterlist!

Here's a handy-dandy guide of all the wonderful characters Claude Rains has portrayed over a nearly seven decade long career. We encourage all to have a gander at all these invisible men, prefects of police, fathers, criminal masterminds, otherworldly beings, and men of history alike! Each link will take you to a picture of that specific character, so even if you're not familiar with them, you can send in propaganda anyhow (such as 'what a lovely wig!', 'astonishing facial hair!', or even 'such a beautiful hat!'). We also realize that two of these characters share a name - John Stevenson (from The Last Outpost and Strange Holiday, respectively), so when submitting propaganda for these characters, please indicate which one! We will try our best to sort through the submissions regardless!

List is in chronological order, however, we are omitting for reasons explained in the pinned post the characters of Clarkis from Build Thy House and The Mayor from The Pied Piper of Hamelin!

(1933) The Invisible Man - Dr. Jack Griffin/The Invisible Man

(1934) Crime Without Passion - Lee Gentry

(1934) The Man Who Reclaimed His Head - Paul Verin

(1935) The Mystery of Edwin Drood - John Jasper

(1935) The Clairvoyant/The Evil Mind - Maximus

(1935) The Last Outpost - John Stevenson

(1936) Hearts Divided - Napoleon Bonaparte

(1936) Anthony Adverse - Marquis Don Luis

(1937) Stolen Holiday - Stefan Orloff

(1937) The Prince and the Pauper - Earl of Hertford/Edward Seymour

(1937) They Won't Forget - D.A. Andrew 'Andy' J. Griffin

(1938) White Banners - Paul Ward

(1938) Gold Is Where You Find It - Colonel Christopher 'Chris' Ferris

(1938) The Adventures of Robin Hood - Prince John

(1938) Four Daughters - Adam Lemp

(1939) They Made Me a Criminal - Detective Monty Phelan

(1939) Juarez - Emperor Louis Napoleon III

(1939) Sons of Liberty - Haym Solomon

(1939) Daughters Courageous - Jim Masters

(1939) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - Senator Joseph Harrison Paine

(1939) Four Wives - Adam Lemp

(1940) Saturday's Children - Henry Halevy

(1940) The Sea Hawk - Don José Álvarez de Córdoba

(1940) Lady with Red Hair - David Belasco

(1941) Four Mothers - Adam Lemp

(1941) Here Comes Mr. Jordan - Mr. Jordan

(1941) The Wolf Man - Sir John Talbot

(1942) Kings Row - Dr. Alexander Tower

(1942) Moontide - Nutsy

(1942) Now, Voyager - Dr. Jaquith

(1942) Casablanca - Captain Louis Renault

(1943) Forever and a Day - Ambrose Pomfret

(1943) Phantom of the Opera - Erique Claudin/The Phantom

(1944) Passage to Marseille - Captain Freycinet

(1944) Mr. Skeffington - Job Skeffington

(1945) Strange Holiday - John Stevenson

(1945) This Love of Ours - Joseph Targel

(1945) Caesar and Cleopatra - Julius Caesar

(1946) Notorious - Alexander Sebastian

(1946) Angel on My Shoulder - Nick

(1946) Deception - Alexander Hollenius

(1947) The Unsuspected - Victor Grandison

(1949) The Passionate Friends - Howard Justin

(1949) Rope of Sand - Arthur 'Fred' Martingale

(1949) Song of Surrender - Elisha Hunt

(1950) The White Tower - Paul DeLambre

(1950) Where Danger Lives - Frederick Lannington

(1951) Sealed Cargo - Captain Skalder

(1952) The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By/The Paris Express - Kees Poppinga

(1956) Lisbon - Aristides Mavros

(1959) This Earth is Mine - Phillipe Rambeau

(1960) The Lost World - Professor George Edward Challenger

(1961) Battle of the Worlds - Professor Benson

(1962) Lawrence of Arabia - Mr. Dryden

(1963) Twilight of Honor - Art Harper

(1965) The Greatest Story Ever Told - Herod the Great

[thisisyourdriverspeaking]

Well, this took me a lot of online digging & a lot of patience but this is the top songs in the charts/most popular songs for each of the winners of the Indy 500. I hope you guys enjoy the effort 😂

30th May 1911 - Ray Harroun - Arthur Collins - Steamboat Bill

30th May 1912 - Joe Dawson - Enrico Caruso - Dreams Of Long Ago

30th May 1913 - Jules Goux - Harry Lauder - It's Nicer To Be In Bed

30th May 1914 - Rene Thomas - Heidelberg Quintet - By The Beautiful Sea

31st May 1915 - Ralph DePalma - Alma Gluck - Carry Me Back To Old Viginity

30th May 1916 - Dario Resta - John McCormack - The Sunshine Of Your Smile

31st May 1919 - Howdy Wilcox - Henry Burr & Albert Campbell - i'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

31st May 1920 - Gaston Chevrolet - Al Jolson - Swanee

30th May 1921 - Tommy Milton - Marion Harris - Look For The Silver Lining

30th May 1922 - Jimmy Murphy - Al Jolson - Angel Child

30th May 1923 - Tommy Milton - Carl Fenton - Love Sends A Little Gift Of Roses

30th May 1924 - Lora L Corum & Joe Boyer - Al Jolson - California Here I Come

30th May 1925 - Pete DePaolo - Ted Lewis - O! Katharina

31st May 1926 - Frank Lockhart - Gene Austin - Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue

30th May 1927 - George Soulders - Ben Bernie - Ain't She Sweet?

30th May 1928 - Louis Meyer - Gene Austin - Ramona

30th May 1929 - Ray Keech - Rudy Vallee - Honey

30th May 1930 - Billy Arnold - Rudy Vallee - Stein Song (University Of Maine)

30th May 1931 - Louis Schneider - Bing Crosby - Out Of Nowhere

30th May 1932 - Fred Frame - Louis Armstrong - All Of Me

30th May 1933 - Louis Meyer - Leo Reisman ft Harold Arlen - Stormy Weather

30th May 1934 - Bill Cummings - Duke Ellington - Cocktails For Two

30th May 1935 - Kelly Petillo - Guy Lombardo - What's The Reason (I'm Not Pleasin' You)

30th May 1936 - Louis Meyer - Benny Goodman - The Glory Of Love

31st May 1937 - Wilbur Shaw - Teddy Wilson ft Billie Holiday - Carelessly

30th May 1938 - Floyd Roberts - Shep Fields - Cathedral In The Pines

30th May 1939 - Wilbur Shaw - Benny Goodman - And The Angels Sing

30th May 1940 - Wilbur Shaw - Bing Crosby - If I Had My Way

30th May 1941 - Floyd David & Mauri Rose - Deanna Durbin - Waltzing In The Clouds

30th May 1946 - George Robson - Denny Dennis & The Skyrockets - Mary Lou

30th May 1947 - Mauri Rose - Bing Crosby - Among My Souvenirs

31st May 1948 - Mauri Rose - Bing Crosby - Galway Bay

30th May 1949 - Bill Holland - Burl Ives - Lavender Blue

30th May 1950 - Johnnie Parsons - Billy Eckstine - My Foolish Heart

30th May 1951 - Lee Wallard - Les Paul & Mary Ford - Mockin' Bird Hill

30th May 1952 - Troy Ruttman - Jo Stafford - A-Round The Corner

30th May 1953 - Bill Vukovich - Frankie Laine - I Believe

31st May 1954 - Bill Vukovich - Doris Day - Secret Love

30th May 1955 - Bob Sweikert - Eddie Calvert - Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White

30th May 1956 - Pat Flaherty - Ronnie Hilton - No Other Love

30th May 1957 - Sam Hanks - Andy Williams - Butterfly

30th May 1958 - Jimmy Bryan - Connie Francis - Who's Sorry Now

30th May 1959 - Rodger Ward - Elvis Presley - A Fool Such As I

30th May 1960 - Jim Rathmann - The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown

30th May 1961 - AJ Foyt - Temperance Seven - You're Driving Me Crazy

30th May 1962 - Rodger Ward - Elvis Presley - Good Luck Charm

30th May 1963 - Parnelli Jones - The Beatles - From Me To You

30th May 1964 - AJ Foyt - Cilla Black - You're My World

31st May 1965 - Jim Clark - Sandie Shaw - Long Live Love

30th May 1966 - Graham Hill - The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

31st May 1967 - AJ Foyt - The Tremeloes - Silence Is Golden

30th May 1968 - Bobby Unser - Union Gap - Young Girl

30th May 1969 - Mario Andretti - The Beatles with Billy Preston - Get Back

30th May 1970 - Al Unser - England World Cup Squad - Back Home

29th May 1971 - Al Unser - Dawn - Knock Three Times

27th May 1972 - Mark Donohue - T.Rex - Metal Guru

30th May 1973 - Gordon Johncock - Wizzard - See My Baby Jive

26th May 1974 - Johnny Rutherford - Rubettes - Sugar Baby Love

25th May 1975 - Bobby Unser - Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man

30th May 1976 - Johnny Rutherford - J.J Barrie - No Charge

29th May 1977 - A.J Foyt - Rod Stewart - I Don't Want To Talk About It

28th May 1978 - Al Unser - Boney M - Rivers Of Babylon

27th May 1979 - Rick Mears - Blondie - Sunday Girl

25th May 1980 - Johnny Rutherford - Hot Chocolate - No Doubt About It

24th May 1981 - Bobby Unser - Adam & The Ants - Stand & Deliver

30th May 1982 - Gordon Johncock - Madness - House of Fun

29th May 1983 - Tom Sneva - The Police - Every Breath You Take

27th May 1984 - Rick Mears - Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

26th May 1985 - Danny Sullivan - Paul Hardcastle - 19

31st May 1986 - Bobby Rahal - Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

24th May 1987 - Al Unser - Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

29th May 1988 - Rick Mears - Wet Wet Wet - With A Little Help From My Friends

28th May 1989 - Emerson Fittipaldi - Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson & The Christians - Ferry Cross The Mersey

27th May 1990 - Arie Luyendyk - Adamski - Killer

26th May 1991 - Rick Mears - Cher - The Shoop Shoop Song

24th May 1992 - Al Unser JR - KWS - Please Don't Go

30th May 1993 - Emerson Fittipaldi - Ace Of Base - All That She Wants

29th May 1994 - Al Unser JR - Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around

28th May 1995 - Jacques Villeneuve - Robson & Jerome - Unchained Melody

26th May 1996 - Buddy Lazier - Buddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seed - Three Lions

27th May 1997 - Arie Luyendyk - Eternal ft Bebe Winans - I Wanna Be The Only One

24th May 1998 - Eddie Cheever - Tamperer ft Maya - Feel It

30th May 1999 - Kenny Brack - Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate

28th May 2000 - Juan Pablo Montoya - Sonique - It Feels So Good

27th May 2001 - Helio Castroneves - DJ Pied Piper - Do You Really Like It?

26th May 2002 - Helio Castroneves - Eminem - Without Me

25th May 2003 - Gil De Ferran - Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body

30th May 2004 - Buddy Rice - Frankee - F.U.R.B (F U Right Back)

29th May 2005 - Dan Wheldon - Akon - Lonely

28th May 2006 - Sam Hornish JR - Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

27th May 2007 - Dario Franchitti - Rihanna ft Jay-Z - Umbrella

25th May 2008 - Scott Dixon - Rihanna - Take A Bow

24th May 2009 - Helio Castroneves - Dizzee Rascal & Van Helden - Bonkers

30th May 2010 - Dario Franchitti - Dizzee Rascal - Dirtee Disco

29th May 2011 - Dan Wheldon - Pitbull ft Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer - Give Me Everything

27th May 2012 - Dario Franchitti - Fun ft Janelle Monae - We Are Young

26th May 2013 - Tony Kanaan - Naughty Boy ft Sam Smith - La La La

25th May 2014 - Ryan Hunter-Reay - Sam Smith - Stay With Me

24th May 2015 - Juan Pablo Montoya - OMI - Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)

29th May 2016 - Alexander Rossi - Drake ft Wizkid & Kyla - One Dance

28th May 2017 - Takuma Sato - Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber - Despacito

27th May 2018 - Will Power - Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa - One Kiss

26th May 2019 - Simon Pagenaud - Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber - I Don't Care

23rd August 2020 - Takuma Sato - Joel Corry ft MNEK - Head & Heart

30th May 2021 - Helio Castroneves - Olivia Rodrigo - Good 4 U

29th May 2022 - Marcus Ericsson - Harry Styles - As It Was

28th May 2023 - Josef Newgarden - Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding - Miracle

26th May 2024 - Josef Newgarden - Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso

And yes, this wouldn't be a post from me if I didn't create a playlist 😂

[oasisbreakup]

Shirley Temple and Gary Cooper in Now and Forever (1934)

[citizenscreen]

Shirley Temple, Gary Cooper, and crew on location at Lake Arrowhead filming Henry Hathaway’s NOW AND FOREVER (1934)

[blueiscoool]

Spy Satellite Photos Reveal Hundreds of Long-Lost Roman Forts

Declassified photos captured by United States spy satellites launched during the Cold War have revealed an archaeological treasure trove: hundreds of previously unknown Roman-era forts, in what is now Iraq and Syria.

Many of those long-lost structures may be gone forever at this point, destroyed or damaged over recent decades due to agricultural expansion, urban development and war. Nevertheless, the discovery of the forts’ existence challenges a popular hypothesis established in the 1930s about the role of such fortifications along the ancient Roman Empire’s eastern border, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Antiquity.

Based on the satellite views, the high number of forts and their widespread distribution hints that the forts may not have been erected to keep enemies out, as the decades-old theory suggested. Rather, the structures were likely built to ensure safe passage for caravans and travelers along routes that saw plenty of nonmilitary traffic. These forts, according to the study authors, were outposts and havens, not hostile barriers.

High-resolution images analyzed in the new study were taken during flyovers by multiple satellites belonging to two US military programs: the Corona Project (1960 to 1972) and Hexagon (1971 to 1986). Corona’s images were declassified in 1995, and Hexagon’s photos were released to the public in 2011.

Images from Hexagon and Corona are invaluable for archaeologists because they preserve snapshots of landscapes that have since undergone significant disruption, said lead study author Jesse Casana, an archaeologist and professor in the department of anthropology at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

“Agriculture and urbanization have destroyed a lot of archaeological sites and features to a shocking degree,” Casana said. “This old imagery allows us to see things that are often either obscured or no longer extant today.”

Spy satellite photos vs. the Poidebard survey

Satellite images are especially helpful for searches across the northern part of the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East — from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to western Iran — because of the area’s archaeological importance and high visibility of the ground in photos, Casana added.

The research team pored over the images for signs of Roman forts, which have a distinctive square shape and walls that usually measure about 164 to 262 feet (50 to 80 meters) long. The scientists began their search using reference maps from an aerial survey of the region conducted in the 1920s and 1930s by French archaeologist and Jesuit missionary Father Antoine Poidebard. That survey was among the first to photograph archaeological sites from the air, and in 1934 Poidebard reported finding 116 Roman forts.

It was an unprecedented achievement. But nearly a century later, mapping Poidebard’s forts to satellite photos was challenging. Because his map wasn’t large-scale, it contained numerous spatial errors, Casana said. Poidebard also did not provide names or numbers for most of the forts he found, identifying them instead by their proximity to geologic features.

Those forts were aligned north to south along what was once the easternmost boundary of the Roman Empire, according to Poidebard. This arrangement, he claimed, was surely intended to guard against invaders from the east.

But Poidebard’s survey provided only a partial view of Rome’s ancient infrastructure, the researchers found. What he overlooked — and what the satellite photos revealed — was that the north-to-south line of 116 forts was actually only a narrow sliver of a cluster spreading from east to west and containing 396 fortified structures.

The forts spanned approximately 116,000 square miles (300,000 square kilometers), “extending from Mosul, on the Tigris River in Iraq, through Ninawa province, across the Khabur and the Balikh valleys, continuing to the semi-arid plains west of the Euphrates River, leading to western Syria and the Mediterranean,” according to the study.

Oases of safety for ancient Rome

When the archaeologists performed a second survey of an image subset, they found 106 more fortlike structures, hinting that further investigations will yield many more Roman forts. Based on excavations of other Roman sites in the region, the scientists estimated that the forts were built between the second and sixth centuries.

While Poidebard’s row of forts along the Roman Empire’s eastern front looked like a military fortification, this new evidence suggested that the forts collectively served a different purpose. Rather than presenting an impassable wall on a violent frontier, they provided oases of safety and order along well-traveled Roman roads.

Borders in this world “were places of dynamic cultural exchange and movement of goods and ideas,” not barriers, Casana said. And perhaps that perspective holds a lesson for the modern era, he added.

“Historically, as an archaeologist, I can say that there have been many attempts by ancient states to build walls across borders and it has been a universal failure,” Casana said. “If there’s any way that archaeology contributes to modern discourse, I would hope it is that building giant walls to keep people out is a bad plan.”

By Mindy Weisberger.

[bxbbysoxer]

SHIRLEY TEMPLE in NOW AND FOREVER (1934) dir. henry hathaway

[hlficlibrary]

✤ Historical Fics ✤

A series of posts with the top five fics of each category by kudos plus five more hidden gems from that category! Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.

- Top 5 H/L Fics -

1️⃣ Here In The Afterglow by fondleeds / @harrybridgers (NR, 88k)

“If you hadn’t noticed, I don’t have many friends,” Louis whispers, the blossom of insecurity in his stomach unfurling and clawing its way into his throat.

Harry is silent for a long time, and then he speaks; a soft, slow uncurl that makes Louis’ stomach shake. “I’ll be your friend.”

1970’s AU. In a tiny town in Idaho, Louis’ life is changed forever by the arrival of a curious stranger.

2️⃣ Chasing Empty Spaces by Lis / @domestic-harry (E, 79k)

The year is 1934 and Harry Styles was to inherent the largest tobacco firm in the south. His parents have picked out the “perfect” girl for him to marry and he has the privilege of receiving the highest education possible. The problem was, Harry hadn’t realized he didn’t actually want any part of that future until he met a mechanic named, Louis Tomlinson.

3️⃣ And down the long and silent street by whimsicule (M, 86k)

The year is 1881 and if you’re alone in this world you might as well be dead, because starving dogs have no mercy.

Or: Wherein Louis and Harry are on the opposite ends of the social ladder, but their paths still cross on the filthy streets Louis calls his home. The odds are staked against them from the beginning, and even more when Louis' past finally catches up with him.

4️⃣ A Rose, By Any Other Name by iwillpaintasongforlou / @canonlarry (E, 10k)

“I don’t understand, Mr. Tomlinson,” Harry says quietly.

“You don’t have to understand, sweetheart.” Louis reaches over and runs his thumb across Harry’s cheekbone, watching the boy’s breathing pause as he dares not move beneath the touch of this strange, imposing man. “All you need to know is that you work for me now, and that I’m going to keep you safe from all the bad people in this city, you hear?”

Louis Tomlinson is the head of New York City's mafia, and Harry is the beautiful boy from Texas who falls in with the wrong crowd (which turns out to be the right crowd).

5️⃣ Paint The Sky With Stars by kiwikero / @icanhazzalou (M, 62k)

On 10 April 1912, Harry Styles boards the finest ship the world has ever seen. Still grieving the death of their mother, he and his sister are being sent to America to live with a callous uncle who cares more about his business connections than family. Harry prepares himself for a long, disappointing voyage alone in his stateroom.

Louis Tomlinson has borrowed and saved, and finally has enough to purchase a Third Class ticket to America. With all of his belongings in a single ruck sack, he boards the Titanic filled with hope for a brighter future. Never one to sit still, he can’t resist exploring the massive ship, and soon goes sneaking into First Class in a stolen steward’s uniform.

By a twist of fate, Louis finds himself in Harry’s stateroom, entranced by the most attractive man he’s ever laid eyes on. He keeps returning day after day, even if he doesn’t understand what it is about Harry that continues pulling him in. That’s all right; Louis has a week to figure it out, and Harry is plenty willing to help.

Except they don’t have a week. They have four days. Because on 15 April, their entire world will be turned upside down.

Or, the historically accurate Titanic AU with a happy ending.

HIDDEN GEMS:

💎 After Dark, After Light by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird (E, 71k)

Harry Styles is the laird of Clan Edwards who is just trying to keep his clan afloat when they get word that the Mackenzies have been cutting a swath through the Midlands and beyond, and their sights are set on the northern Highlands next. In an attempt to garner extra protection for his clan, Harry sets out to mend his father's past wrongs and ally with their neighbors to the west, Clan Sutherland.

Louis Tomlinson is the mysterious commander of the Sutherland army sent back with Harry on orders from his laird to help shore up Clan Edwards' defenses. As the winter draws nearer by the day, the two are thrown together to prepare for the invasion that they expect as soon as the ground thaws.

💎 fondre ton absence by @scrunchyharry (T, 41k)

Harry had never really given much thought to the future. He preferred to let life steer him forward and to follow in the footsteps of Louis, his best friend from as far as his memory went, his lover, his everything. Louis knew better than he did what was good for him.

It changed drastically when Louis was ripped away from him, drafted and sent to the front to fight in a war that Harry had always been sure would never reach him. Too young and too sickly to follow, Harry was left on his own for the first time in his life.

When he thought things could not possibly get worse, Louis went missing at the Somme and was declared dead. While everyone buried and mourned him, Harry never moved on. If Louis were dead, he was sure that he would know it. Their lives were too entwined, he would know if half of his heart had died.

Determined to find Louis, Harry did everything he could in his quest to be reunited with him, except prepare for the state Louis might be in.

He did not prepare for the harsh truth he would have to face: was love possible without memories?

💎 You Smiled by @taggiecb (G, 9k)

Just then, the man looks up, and catches Harry's eye. Harry freezes, feeling as though he's the one trapped. The man doesn't smile, just watches Harry watch him, until finally he lifts his eyebrows in question, and Harry somehow manages to release himself from the spell that he feels he's under.

It's 1758 and on the eve of a battle with the French, Captain Harry Styles of the British army has just begun his appointment as a prison warden in Louisbourgh, Nova Scotia. Harry prepares himself and his guards for their prisoners of war, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight of the most beautiful man he has ever seen- who is now his prisoner.

💎 Under Electric Candlelight by @littleroverlouis (E, 5k)

Well we drank champagne and danced all night Under electric candlelight She picked me up and sat me on her knee And said little boy won't you come home with me?

💎 nobody knows like me by enbyharry / @non-binharry (G, 3k)

Harry does his best to cope with a secret life in the summer of '74.