#percival endicott whyborne

[gloomiedyke]

Do you like weird little towns/cities? Do you like mystery and murder with an Eldritch horror/cryptid monster flair? Do you like archeology, linguistics, and magic? Victorian era queer romance? Found family? A surprisingly chill series of mystery adventures despite the horrors involved?

May I recommend: the Whyborne & Griffin series by Jordan L Hawk, starting with the first novel Widdershins (the name of the aforementioned fictional weird little city/town).

We have our introverted, autistic-coded academic main character, a philologist (essentially historical linguistics, it's great) turned sorcerer. We have his love interest, a dashing private detective (with so much trauma). We also have his best friend, a shotgun wielding Lady archeologist (who likes complaining almost as much as she likes discovering artifacts and is ALSO autistic coded but in an opposite way).

These books fall somewhere in the centre of the Sherlock Holmes-Agatha Christie-Dead Boy Detectives-Scooby Doo-HP Lovecraft-The Last Binding by Freya Marske hexagon.

In short:

A tired academic-slash-sorcerer, an angry academic-slash-sniper, and a cheerful detective walk into a bar.

[dandelion-roots]

[ID: a digital sketch in two panels. in the first griffin fixes a blushing whyborne's suit collar and says, there you go. in the second, griffin is kissing his husband's cheek. End ID]

[a-pepper-honey]

Nobody:

Absolutely nobody:

Whyborne in Griffin’s shadowsight:

[mushabon]

WIP - my two favorite Lovecraftian goobers from Jordan L. Hawk's "Widdershins." Its about time I got around to doing a lil something for those books seeing as I've only read the series like 4 times... going on 5...

[sunriseverse]

Gay Victorian magic books?? 👀👀👀

okay so we are going to have to establish some things upfront. the gay victorian magic books are the only erotica i read and i read them for the plot. because the plot is fucking fascinating and is one of the most unique takes on magic and intriguing plots and victorian settings.

i am speaking, of course, of the whyborne and griffin series by jordan l hawk. i've only read the first................two and a half books.............(because i keep getting so fucking busy shhh don't look at how it's been like five years—) but like. okay. let us set the stage. you are percival endicott whyborne. your childhood friend and the man you kind of loved died, and you feel awful about it. you work at a museum, where you lead a quiet life and try and pretend you're not gay and a failure to your father's pride. and then you get caught up in the cult that killed the aforementioned man and an ex-pinkerton detective and also, magic, because that's real, actually, and things are way weirder than you could ever have imagined. also, you're gay again, but it's eighteen fucking something, so it's not like you're being loud about this.

here's the summary for the first novel on amazon:

Love is dangerous. Ever since the tragic death of the friend he adored, Percival Endicott Whyborne has ruthlessly suppressed any desire for another man. Instead, he spends his days studying dead languages at the museum where he works. So when handsome ex-Pinkerton Griffin Flaherty approaches him to translate a mysterious book, Whyborne wants to finish the job and get rid of the detective as quickly as possible. Griffin left the Pinkertons after the death of his partner. Now in business for himself, he must investigate the murder of a wealthy young man. His only clue: an encrypted book that once belonged to the victim. As the investigation draws them closer, Griffin’s rakish charm threatens to shatter Whyborne’s iron control. But when they uncover evidence of a powerful cult determined to rule the world, Whyborne must choose: to remain safely alone, or to risk everything for the man he loves.

the writing is really really good and the characters' interpersonal conflicts are written so well and engagingly and it's a rarely sober take on being a gay man in the nineteenth century, which as someone chronically incapable of not taking things in a realistic direction, is something i really appreciate. i have yet to finish the series (please someone pray for me i need it. i've got all the novels i just haven't fucking read them.) but i have it on good authority that the series is a happy ending. also there's monsters? the entire series is interconnected, it's truly a series and i cannot wait to finish them all and finally be able to understand where all the plot threads are leading.

the only drawbacks to the series in my opinion are 1. it's written first person pov (makes skipping over the sex scenes awkward if you, like me, aren't inclined to read them, because you inevitably catch part of them) and 2. the novels are kind of short.. otherwise i fully recommend them, if you're willing to not be too self-conscious. so yeah, that's the gay victorian novels, do with that what you will! (also the original novel covers are absolutely awful, i really prefer the amazon listing's covers, which while also obviously made on a budget, don't look like something made by a community college student for their first digital arts class on adobe photoshop.)

[unwanted-animal]

Web Weaving - Percival Endicott Whyborne

Shadow - Amigo the Devil // The Last Beat of My Heart - Siouxsie and the Banshees // Arsonist’s Lullaby - Hozier // We’re In This Together - Nine Inch Nails // Prince of Shadows - Inkubus Sukkubus // Lose Control - Evanescence // If I Ever Get Home Before Dark - Gogol Bordello // The Likes Of You Again - Flogging Molly

[pretensesoup]

Queer fiction, day 2/30

Since I mentioned it yesterday, let's talk about Widdershins, which is book one of the Whyborne and Griffin books. There are eleven in total, but they're in a series such that you kind of have to read in order, so I'm going to talk about them as a group.

I only have these as ebooks right now, so I'm gonna hotlink to goodreads for the cover. Hopefully that works.

Okay, so the plot. Let's start by saying these do have a plot. Set in a very gothic town called Widdershins, in Massachusetts (just down the road from Arkham, it seems). As places go, it's very Night Vale--people keep to themselves and don't make eye contact if they're out after dark; the city's museum was designed by a man who slowly went mad during the work; everyone worships at a church called First Esoteric, which has some rather non-standard ritual practices.

The books are set around 1900. At the outset, we meet Dr. Percival Endicott Whyborne (he goes by Whyborne, which makes sense). He's highly educated, a philologist (someone who studies the history of languages). He speaks something like thirteen languages himself, and is also interested in cryptography, so it makes sense that when a private eye named Griffin Flaherty is referred to the museum with an occult, encyphered book, Whyborne is the person who's asked to help him. Together, they investigate a secret brotherhood and also fall in love.

I love a bunch of things about these books: the side characters are excellent; the sense of place (for a place that doesn't exist!) is extremely strong, and it's a funny, creepy place; the way the main characters get a chance to grow, both personally and in their relationship across all the books (unusual to find a series with so many entries in this genre); the explicit ways that Hawk deals with and subverts the ideas of "other" in Lovecraftian fiction.

Key quote: "Although the public areas of the museum were designed to give the appearance of a neat and orderly progression through history, the rest of the building exemplified chaos. Storerooms burrowed deep into the earth, while various wings sprawled off in every direction. The library was a literal labyrinth, and shortly after I'd first been hired, I'd found myself obliged to cross the flat roof of one of the wings as the most direct route from one department to another. Even though the museum was less than forty years old, there were rumors of lost storerooms and offices, and I did not doubt the possibility."

These books have a lot of sex in them, so be forewarned. When I read the first book, I found the use of euphemism in these a little grating to the inner ear ("my length" and suchlike), but over the course of the books I came to appreciate the voice. Then I read all the books and turned into a tiny eldrich creature myself.

10/10 for them.

[otakusapien]

Dr Percival Endicott Whyborne <3

1: sexuality headcanon- Canon gay. Is so gay he can't tell when women are pretty. This is just canon 2: otp- Whyborne/Griffin 3: brotp- Whyborne & Christine 4: notp- IDR his name, but that distant cousin who made pass at Whyborne 5: first headcanon that pops into my head-If he lived in modern day he would refuse to use the internet. Christine would have to force him to use email for work. He touches it for no other reason, and only when he has to. 6: favorite line from this character-There are a lot, but first that comes to mind is when Griffin drives his car a /little/ fast and Whyborne goes, "I'm going to be a widower by sundown" 7: one way in which I relate to this character- The low self-esteem 8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character- His obliviousness 9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?-Not really either, but closer to cinnamon roll if I had to choose

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

Widdershins by Jordan L Hawk received 205 votes total. 16.6% of respondents answered YES, they have read it. 83.4% of respondents answered NO, they have not read it.

A reclusive scholar. A private detective. And a book of spells that could destroy the world. Love is dangerous. Ever since the tragic death of the friend he adored, Percival Endicott Whyborne has ruthlessly suppressed any desire for another man. Instead, he spends his days studying dead languages at the museum where he works. So when handsome ex-Pinkerton Griffin Flaherty approaches him to translate a mysterious book, Whyborne wants to finish the job and get rid of the detective as quickly as possible. Griffin left the Pinkertons after the death of his partner. Now in business for himself, he must investigate the murder of a wealthy young man. His only clue: an encrypted book that once belonged to the victim. As the investigation draws them closer, Griffin's rakish charm threatens to shatter Whyborne's iron control. But when they uncover evidence of a powerful cult determined to rule the world, Whyborne must choose: to remain safely alone, or to risk everything for the man he loves. Widdershins is the first novel in the Whyborne & Griffin series, where magic, mystery, and m/m romance collide with Victorian era America. Buy it today and join the adventure.

PLEASE read this series. It's eleven books long, which I know will feel like a huge commitment to some people, but it's so totally worth it. By the end (and I just finished the final book so this is fresh in my mind), you'll feel like the characters are good friends, and you'll be so sad to let them go. The world is super fun and very Lovecraftian.

[ace-artemis-fanartist]

If you’ve been following me for awhile you might have noticed I’m a huge Jordan L Hawk fan. 

So I’m excited to announce I was commissioned by Omniverse Press to do the profiles for the Widdershins RPG game! Its Kickstarter.

Above we have the two main characters of the Whyborne & Griffin series ;  Percival Endicott Whyborne and his husband Griffin Flaherty.

[shalis-the-artist]

Y’all I just spent the last two months reading the Whyborne and Griffin series by Jordan L Hawk and so, of course, I had to draw a fan art for them! I also read Rath and Rune and loved it, too! The only one I haven’t read is Deosil because I know it’s the last one and I want to savor it! (Side note, jic you couldn’t tell, Griffin is on the left and Whyborne is on the right). Love these boys!

[dandelion-roots]

[Image description: the first image is a digital drawing in a semi-painterly style of Whyborne and Griffin walking arm in arm down the street. Whyborne is holding a red flower and blushes as he looks down at it, and Griffin is looking at him and smiling. The background is painterly and shows the street and lampposts lining it. The second image is a closeup of the drawing. End description]

Valentine’s day stroll through the bestest horrible murder town!

[unseelieships]

Whenever Whyborne or Griffin says “my husband”

[magiclamd]

Just a reminder that Whyborne, despite thinking he’s not attractive, looks quite a lot like his sister Guinevere, who is very beautiful.

I love an unreliable narrator.

[drwhyborne]

Was casually thinking I should make a jokey horoscope post giving characters Weird Al horoscopes, but I only knew Whyborne’s birthday, then I realized he’s a Scorpio and

i’m crying

[anisotropic-blue]

I did a bunch of chibi W&G pics a couple of years ago, while I was still just working on my digital line art, but I forgot to go back and colour them. The Big Art Mood may be somewhat elusive lately (stupid pandemic), but it’s nice to work on something.

Completed July 2020