#polidori my dear

[phoenixkaptain]

The Vampyre, by John William Polidori, is two things.

ONE: a love letter to a man Polidori holds in high regards and considers better than all others and thinks is super cool and dreamy smart. Honestly? Polidori is a sad existence, sitting between two couples, trapped in a mansion in a storm, pining over the absolute worst person to pine over. I’m so sorry you fell for Lord Byron, Polidori, may your soul find rest and may you forget all about him.

TWO: the most compelling evidence anyone will ever conjure that Lord Byron is, in fact, himself, a vampire. And we should all really be more worried about those women he was sleeping with, as well as the men he was driving insane.

[luxmoogle]

I've just seen the post about being visceral horror fan and need to ask: what are your favourite horror titles? 💜 Do you have any recommendations? 💜

Beware, long post below..

This is honestly quite a hard question, and recommendations hinge on what kind of horror one would prefer, and in what medium..! Books, movies, manga, audio tales even! A lot of my personal horror tastes weigh on the side of psychological horror or ones with supernatural or mystic features, less of slashers and violence, though I do enjoy quite a few of such titles as well.. I'll try not to mention all of the most obvious stuff everyone's already seen.

When it comes to games, I always say that if Kingdom Hearts didn't exist my favorite game of all time would be Bloodborne. The gothic style, vague storytelling and existential horror really speak to me. The Project Zero (Fatal Frame in the US) -series is dear to my heart, specifically the third one. The Forbidden Siren -series was also quite a treat in it's time. Honorary meantion to ObsCure, a great game to play with multiple people at a time, but unfortunately I think it's one of the rarest games ever now, so finding a copy/playing it might be quite the challenge..

In literature, I'd recommend getting into classic horror short stories, especially from the eighteen-hundreds! The setting and time they were written in often give them an automatic edge for a spooky tone.. They're fun stuff to read on a moody afternoon, and don't require the bandwidth that a full book might, if you're not such an avid reader. Some suggestions:

The Vampyre, John William Polidori (1819) The Monkey's Paw, W. W. Jacobs (1902) The Room in the Tower, E. F. Benson (1912) Kerfol, Edith Wharton (1912) Afterward, Edith Wharton (1910) The Empty House, Algernon Blackwood (1906) Sir Edmund Orme, Henry James (1891) The Body-Snatcher, Robert Louis Stevenson (1881) The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

With horror movies, I think anyone with an interest in horror already know all the typical classics and modern favorites, so I'd recommend something a tad more obscure.. The asian horror scene, especially in the late 90's and early 2000s was littered with great techno ghost punk flicks. Many of these are favorites from one of my best friends, who really has a taste for this type of movie, but I'll highlight the one's I'm also very into and would especially recommend.

Kaïro / Pulse (2001), Whispering corridors -series, Dark Water (2002), Saiko! The Large Family (2009), A Tale of Two Sisters (2009), Bunshinsaba, The Wailing, The Complex, One Missed Call (2003), Shutter (2004)

This one's probably a very tired answer but with manga I just have to say the obvious, which is Junji Ito. His body of work just really scratches the itch I have for a nice tight scary story and gives a vague uneasy vibe.. Both his storytelling and art is something I love.

One of the main features of horror is suspense, so I would recommend always going in blind, stop with trailers, synopsis etc. and really sit in a dim room on a calm day or evening and get into it! You can only be horrified if you let yourself be.

[burningvelvet]

On November 8th 1820, Claire Clairmont wrote some satirical stories in her journal about Lord Byron and Percy Shelley—they were written as ideas for caricatures (the Regency era term for what we would now call editorial cartoons or comic strips):

Wednesday, November 8th.

Caricature for Albé. He, sitting writing poetry, the words “Oh! faithless Woman” round the room, hearts are strewed, inscribed, “We died for love of you.” Another—he catching a lady by her waist, his face turned towards her, his other hand extended holding a club stick in the act of giving a blow to a man who is escaping. From his mouth,

“The maid I love, the man I hate

I'll kiss her lips and break his Pate.”

Three more to be called Lord Byron's Morning, Noon and Night. The first: he looking at the sky, a sun brightly shining—saying: "Come, I feel quite bold and cheerful—there is no God.”

The second towards evening, a grey tint spread over the face of Nature, the sun behind a cloud—a shower of rain falling—a dinner table in the distance covered with a profusion of dishes, he (with a Wallup) says—“What a change I feel in me after dinner; where we see design we suppose a designer; I'll be a Deist—I am a Deist."

The third—evening—candles just lighted, all dark without the windows (a cup of green tea on the table): and trees agitated much by wind beating against the panes, also thunder and lightning. He says

"God bless me, suppose there should be a God—it is as well to stand in his good graces. I'll say my prayers to-night, and write to Murray to put in a touch concerning the blowing of the last Trump."

Pistols are on the table, also daggers—bullets—Turkish scymitars . . .

Another to be called “Lord Byron's receipt for writing pathetic History.” He sitting drinking spirits, playing with his white mustachios. His mistress, the Fornaria, opposite him drinking coffee. Fumes coming from her mouth, over which is written "garlich;" these, curling, direct themselves towards his English footman who is just then entering the room and he is knocked backward. Lord B. is writing, he says.

"Imprimis, to be a great pathetic poet. First prepare a small colony, then dispatch the Mother, by worrying and cruelty, to her grave; afterwards to neglect and ill-treat the children—to have as many and as dirty mistresses as can be found; from their embraces to catch horrible diseases, thus a tolerable quantity of discontent and remorse being prepared, give it vent on paper, and to remember particularly to rail against learned women. This is my infallible receipt by which I have made so much money."

The last his death. He dead extended on his bed, covered all but his breast, which many wigged doctors are cutting open to find out (as one may be saying) what was the extraordinary disease of which this great man died—His heart laid bare, they find an immense capital “I” grown on its surface—and which has begun to pierce the breast—They are all astonishment. One says, “a new disease.” Another. “I never had a case of this kind before.” A third what medicines would have been proper, the fourth holding up his finger (A desert island.)

Caricature for poor dear S. He looking very sweet and smiling. A little Jesus Christ playing about the room. He says:

“Then grasping a small knife and looking mild

I will quietly murder that little child.”

Another. Himself and God Almighty. He says:

"If you please God Almighty, I had rather be damned with Plato and Lord Bacon than go to Heaven with Paley and Malthus." God Almighty: “It shall be as you please, pray don't stand upon ceremony."

Shelley's three aversions: God Almighty, Lord Chancellor, and didactic Poetry . . .

Sources: The Journals of Claire Clairmont edited by Marion Kingston Stocking, Harvard, 1968, Archive.org. “The Lord Byron / John Polidori relationship and the foundation of the early nineteenth-century literary vampire” by Matthew Beresford, University of Hertfordshire June 2019. Byron: A Biography by Marchand, Vol. II, 1957.

[buildarocketboys]

Just a couple of notes from things I've highlighted in Frankenstein chapters 4-8:

Chapter 4:

The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying consummation of my toils.

I think the use of the phrasing "painful labour" is super interesting here - obviously labour can just refer to work, but the double meaning of giving birth, coupled with the description of it being "painful" definitely implies Frankenstein "giving birth" to his creation. Shame he's a terrible father.

Talking of Frankenstein being a terrible father...

No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.

The idea that the species (thinking big there, Victor!) will and should be grateful to him just for being the cause of their existence is uh..very interesting. I think the fact that Victor is a man is very pertinent here, since women are expected to give birth to new life, but since Victor is a man, him creating life is a big and amazing thing the species should be grateful for. Even if you're a deadbeat dad.

(for whatever reason I didn't highlight anything in chapter 5 or chapter 6 even though they're pretty fucking important)

Chapter 7:

“Come, Victor; not brooding thoughts of vengeance against the assassin, but with feelings of peace and gentleness, that will heal, instead of festering, the wounds of our minds. Enter the house of mourning, my friend, but with kindness and affection for those who love you, and not with hatred for your enemies.

I just think Frankenstein should listen to the wisdom of his father, who's actually a parent. He knows what he's talking about.

I considered the being whom I had cast among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes of horror, such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me

I thought the use of vampire was interesting here - I had a quick Google and in fact, Frankenstein was published a year before the book considered the first vampire story - The Vampyre by John William Polidori. However, The Vampyre was based on a story Lord Byron told as part of the same contest in which Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Anyway, previously to the popularity of the vampire novel, vampire basically just meant a dangerous spiritual entity that people believed could appear at rituals for the dead. So essentially a synonym for spirit, but specifically bad/dangerous/evil. Idk I could probably have some more coherent thoughts about this if I tried but it's just... interesting

Chapter 8:

The tortures of the accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold.

I mean like, I get what he's saying here, but he really does sound like a massive twat. Like, poor Justine is facing execution for a crime she didn't commit, and that you know she didn't commit, and you're all like "boo hoo I feel even WORSE than her because it's MY FAULT!" like maybe if you didn't immediately abandon the child you'd made because he was kinda creepy looking then none of this would have happened. My sympathy is limited for you here, Vicky boy.

Anyway, that's where I'm at for now @tumbleclub! It's fun to reread this after so long. Looking forward to the creature's chapters.. 👀👀

[mylilgothcurl]

Blas Polidori's Song..

*I like this version better than the original, plz don't fight me*

"What will become of my dear friend?

Where will their actions lead us then?

Although I'd like to join the crowd,

In their enthusiastic cloud,

Try as I may, it doesn't last,

And will we ever end up together?

No, I think not, it's never to become..

For I am not the one.."

♡

[cleolinda]

Varney the Vampire: Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Blood everywhere; a lightswitch rave.

Chapter 4: Originally posted on Livejournal, December 8, 2010. Revised and expanded from the original recap to talk more about literary vampiring.

CHAPTER IV.

THE MORNING. -- THE CONSULTATION. -- THE FEARFUL SUGGESTION.

No, I didn't skip it—there wasn't any "offer of assistance from Sir Francis Varney" in the previous chapter. Not even so much as an apologetic plate of cookies left on the garden wall. Was there any revision involved in writing this, or did James Malcolm Rymer just... put the pen to the paper and wait for the check? Not that I don't feel you, my guy, but "I'm just gonna seat-of-my-pants 667,000 words" is a terrifying prospect (I had thought he'd at least write each chapter once and then revise it to be worse). I'm pretty sure I've put more revision into this blog post, for free. Side note, my man James Malcolm:

What wonderfully different impressions and feelings, with regard to the same circumstances, come across the mind in the broad, clear, and beautiful light of day to what haunt the imagination, and often render the judgment almost incapable of action, when the heavy shadow of night is upon all things. There must be a downright physical reason for this effect -- it is so remarkable and so universal. It seems that the sun's rays so completely alter and modify the constitution of the atmosphere, that it produces, as we inhale it, a wonderfully different effect upon the nerves of the human subject. We can account for this phenomenon in no other way. Perhaps never in his life had he, Henry Bannerworth, felt so strongly this transition of feeling as he now felt it, when the beautiful daylight gradually dawned upon him, as he kept his lonely watch by the bedside of his slumbering sister.

Bram Stoker:

No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth.

I'm not pointing this out to say that Stoker did or did not Steal Like An Artist from, perhaps, a collected serial he read in his boyhood, and then wrote it better. Honestly, if he did? Good for him. I'm pointing this out to say, I only have one short life to live, and for some reason, I decided to spend it reading this.

So. In the light of day, Henry finally looks over at the spooky portrait and thinks to himself, you know, that right there is a Spooky Portrait and it gives me a scare:

He tried to keep himself from looking at it, but he found it vain, so he adopted what, perhaps, was certainly the wisest, best plan, namely, to look at it continually.

I don't know why this makes me laugh so much. Sure, that's a plan. And, Henry notes, it's even one of those paintings where the eyes follow you around the room. Maybe we should, you know, take it down. And then he goes, eh. It's a rare work of art, it's painted onto the panel and we'd have to call a contractor out here, we were out all night watching that vampyre fall on his ass, I'm kind of tired, whatevs.

Meanwhile, Flora is still (quite reasonably) traumatized: "My brain is on fire! A million of strange eyes seem to be gazing on me." Like, I'm not actually trying to compare this sentence by sentence (god forbid) to Dracula, but I know it well enough that I remember Jonathan using the same "brain on fire" wording—how common an expression was this? I even went back to check Polidori's "The Vampyre"—"his thoughts were bursting from his brain," an oddly specific throughline of brain-centric disturbance. Just Vampyre Things, I guess.

Despite having chased the vampyre to his own garden wall, Henry is utterly baffled as to why Flora would be so upset—physically weakened, even! She was fine yesterday! What, oh what, could have happened??, he inquires of Mr. Marchdale. Henry is probably saying this while a housekeeper bustles past with a huge bundle of blood-soaked sheets. What do we think was in Flora's room, even though we all saw it gnawing on her throat and we're pretty sure what it was? I mean, we just saw someone making a hideous repast of her, I am completely baffled. But wait! says Marchdale. I've thought of an answer! Now—hold on for this— (I'm holding on—) Because this is gonna blow your mind— (Okay, keep going—) Are you ready for this? (I'm totally ready for this—) I think it was—I can hardly bring myself to say the word aloud and will continue not to say it for another 100 words— (SAY IT GODDAMMIT—) A VAMPYRE!

Well, why do you think this?

"... my pistol bullets hurt him not; and he has left the tokens of his presence on the neck of Flora." "Peace, oh! peace. Do not, I pray you, accumulate reasons why I should receive such a dismal, awful superstition. Oh, do not, Marchdale, as you love me!" "You know my attachment to you," said Marchdale, "is sincere; and yet, Heaven help us!" His voice was broken by grief as he spoke, and he turned aside his head to hide the bursting tears that would, despite all his efforts, show themselves in his eyes.

For shame, Henry, you made your mom's... someone... cry! (Don't get me wrong, I love Weepy Masculinity, and we'll talk about it more another time.) But Henry is shocked, I tell you, shocked! that Marchdale should come to such a conclusion! To believe would drive him mad, I tell you! MAAAAAAAAD!

And then George comes in all like, "Guys, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but—hold on for this—I think it was a—" "VAMPYRE, WE KNOW." And now George the "frail reed" is crying, Henry, see what you've done?

Unfortunately, Henry is pretty much the only person in a hundred-mile radius who is having trouble with this concept; the servants, we are told, immediately ran out and told everyone about the vampyre flumping over the garden wall. Henry rides into town to fetch a doctor and immediately runs into Some Gentleguy on Horseback. "Bro, what's this about your sister getting bit by a vampyre?" "Uh... no. That was... a thief. That was totally a thief." "No? Seriously, the whole town's talking about it. You sure? Like fang marks and everything—" "MAAAAAD, I TELL YOUUUUU!!"

At last Henry gets to the doctor—who starts out as "Mr. Chillingworth" and mysteriously becomes "Dr. Chillingworth" some five hundred pages from now. (In fairness, many doctors, particularly surgeons, were merely "Mister" long into the nineteenth century. Side note: The Scarlet Letter would not be published until 1850, and on a different continent at that. I checked, because I immediately thought the name was an allusion.) So Mr. Dr. Chillingworth listens to Henry's story, and I'm getting all clappy because this has got to be our Van Helsing figure, and I have always loved the Kindly Old Doctor Who Knows All the Legends type, and so Henry finishes and Chillingworth declares—

"I don't care if [the facts] were ten times more glaring, I won't believe it. I would rather believe you were all mad, the whole family of you -- that at the full of the moon you all were a little cracked."

(*record needle scratch*)

Well, Stoker certainly didn't run off with that.

So Henry gets back to Bannerworth Hall and he starts telling Flora that it was totally a thief who was chewing on her throat. Totally. But he'll just keep sitting by her bedside. You know. Just in case more thieving is a-fang.

"Then I shall rest in peace, for I know that the dreadful vampyre cannot come to me when you are by." "The what, Flora?" "The vampyre, Henry. It was a vampyre." "Good God, who told you so?"

She was… there? The holes in her neck? Keep up? Maybe Henry has that Memento thing where he can't remember anything for longer than five minutes, which—well, that would explain a lot about the writing style, actually. Flora replies,

"No one. I have read of them in the book of travels in Norway, which Mr. Marchdale lent us all."

So--a møøse bit his sister?

"They do say, too, that those who in life have been bled by a vampyre, become themselves vampyres, and have the same horrible taste for blood as those before them. Is it not horrible?"

For those of you keeping score, in-story popular belief at this point is that it takes only one bite to turn you into a vampire. This is contradicted later, because of course it is, but it's worth noting; it fits with the idea that the less sexually permissive a society/era is, the more easily you get punished by the contagion. You'd think, then, that this bodes ill for Flora, but as far as I know, either Flora has a Purity Override, or fuck continuity, that's what.

Enter Mr. Dr. Chillingworth, who wants to know about Flora's "dream." "It wasn't a dream, it was a vampyre!" "Is that what you call a dream?" NO, IT'S WHAT I CALL A VAMPYRE. She shows him the bites on her neck, and he's all, pshhhh, those, those are totally insect bites. You know, giant seven-foot insects with scratchy fingernails and hypnotic tin eyes. Bit of Raid's all you need, take care of that in a jiff.

Chillingworth and Henry say nothing in particular for 300 words, at the end of which Chillingworth finally declares that vampyres are "a degrading superstition," and that Flora seems to be "labouring under the effect of some narcotic." You know, those narcotics you staple into people's necks, leaving two (2) holes. Or: blood loss, but that's far less likely, in his medical opinion, so he's just confused now.

"You have, of course, heard something," said Henry to the doctor, as he was pulling on his gloves, "about vampyres."

"I certainly have, and I understand that in some countries, particularly Norway and Sweden, the superstition is a very common one."

And he thinks Let the Right One In was much better than the remake.

WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?

I don't know why I didn't mention this in 2010, but I'm guessing Henry is referring to the Old Norse draugr—like, I know there are Scandinavian vampires, it's just that... I've never seen English-language vampire literature of the 1800s mention them? LeFanu mentions "Upper and Lower Styria, in Moravia, Silesia, in Turkish Serbia, in Poland, even in Russia" in "Carmilla" (1872), and Andrew Lang wasn't talking about draugr until late 1897, "with the idea further pursued by more modern commentators." Polidori's "Ruthven" is a Scottish name, and its bearer goes vampiring in Greece, for that matter. In fact, when Henry chimes in, "And in the Levant," Rymer may be alluding to Polidori. But he just throws "Norwegian vampires" in like, well, obviously. What, haven't you read Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar, published in English, uh, twenty years from now?

However Rymer came by this, whatever travelogue he did read, the draugr doesn't seem to have caught on quite the way Dracula, or even Ruthven, did. Who knows, maybe "Transylvanian vampires" sounded equally random in 1897, but that's the lore that won pop culture.

Mr. Dr. Chillingworth also mentions "the ghouls of the Mahometans." The word "ghoul" comes directly from the Arabic word ghūl, which is "associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh," although the concept seems to be pre-Islamic Arabian, not specifically "Mahometan" (i.e., Mohammedan, an archaic or even offensive term; TIL). Rymer would have known the word from the influential 1786 Gothic-Orientalist novel Vathek, and may have even used it here as a specific callback, because it would be a shame to just go on and have a vampyre without blaming it on Those Foreigners. Chillingworth continues,

"All that I have heard of the European vampyre has made it a being which can be killed, but is restored to life again by the rays of a full moon falling on the body."

Here we go. It's worth noting here (no, I swear it is) that the idea of sunlight instantly killing vampires is a complete invention of the German film Nosferatu (1922), an "unauthorized adaptation" of Dracula. I love bringing this up as often as possible, because Dracula being slain by a convenient blast of light (Horror of Dracula, 1958, reporting for duty) is such a deeply ingrained pop-culture thing, and it is 10,000% not in the original novel. Which all you Dracula Daily regulars know, I'm sure. Stoker plays as loose with his Vampire Rules as Rymer does, but Dracula does appear in daylight at least twice that I can remember off the top of my head, although it's said to weaken him. I feel like the functional point of this is to have Any Time At All When The Heroes Have A Shot In Hell At Not Getting Eaten, and so this is why the literary vampire of the 1800s sometimes has to scamper off to its coffin at the stroke of dawn. Carmilla has to do this, but she also strolls back to Laura's house at... one in the afternoon; clearly, sunlight is not terribly crucial to the lore. Rather, it's moonlight that's associated with vampires earlier in the century—as a means of reviving them. It's actually a key plot point in Polidori's "The Vampyre" (back in 1819), and one of the stand-out elements in the popular awareness of vampires at the time.

Oh! By the way, tonight happens to be the night of the full moon. Even Chillingworth says, "If now you had succeeded in killing —. Pshaw, what am I saying."

"To-night," [Henry] repeated, "is the full of the moon. How strange that this dreadful adventure should have taken place just the night before."

Indeed. And the serial really wants us to notice this. You'd think a vampyre might avoid a bright night when they'd be more likely to be seen, but, on the other hand, maybe that's Moon Insurance in case they get capped on someone's garden wall. To confirm, Henry gets Travels in Norway off the bookshelf, and—after a thorough, paid-by-the-word description of how books sometimes open at certain pages, right down to the way the binding gets stretched—

"With regard to these vampyres, it is believed by those who are inclined to give credence to so dreadful a superstition, that they always endeavour to make their feast of blood, for the revival of their bodily powers, on some evening immediately preceding a full moon, because if any accident befall them, such as being shot, or otherwise killed or wounded, they can recover by lying down somewhere where the full moon's rays will fall on them."

There it is. Since we're going chapter by chapter, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture, but what I think the serial is getting at is, Varney probably is "dead" somewhere on the heathy landscape after getting his hapless ass shot. Except—EXCEPT! for the moonlight that just so happens to be in place to revive him. Because, while the FULL MOON. IT'S A FULL MOON might seem kind of randomly gothic to us, everyone reading this in 1847 would have been chortling in anticipation.

(Chapter 5 will go up on Friday, March 24.)

[speakingskies]

Good evening, dear colleagues!

I am Happy to say that I am now in possession of Polls, and inspired by my Delightful colleague @fol-de-lol‘s Advent Trivia Questions, I am Proud to Announce:

THE GREAT JOHN-OFF OF ENGLISH MAGIC

38 Johns, Jonathons, Johnsons &c. from both Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and The Ladies of Grace Adieu will, over the next few days, battle it out to become The Ultimate John!

The brackets were chosen by a mixture of random number generator and personal choice on my part to make the different rounds as interesting as possible.

This post will link to all active polls, once they are posted.

ROUND ONE MATCHES: Preliminaries

Match 1: Sir John Sowreston vs Jonathan Barratt 56%:44%

Match 2: John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe vs Captain John Kincaid 54%:46%

Match 3: John Waterbury, Lord Portishead vs John Brassfoot 76%:24%

Match 4: John Ford vs Jonah Montefiore DRAW! REMATCH!

Match 5: Jeremy Johns vs John Longridge 87%:13%

Match 6: John Aubrey vs Rev John McKenzie 88%:12%

ROUND TWO MATCHES

Bracket 1

John Hyde vs [Sir John Sowreston or Jonathan Barratt]

John McKean vs Johnson (Beggar)

John Copperhead vs John Alfreton

Jonathan Strange vs John (Waiter)

Bracket 2

John Napier vs [John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe or Captain John Kincaid]

John Windle vs John Harker

John Segundus vs John Upchurch

[John Waterbury, Lord Portishead or John Brassfoot] vs Black Joan

Bracket 3

John Childermass vs [John Ford or Jonah Montefiore]

Dr John Willis vs John (Servant)

John Hollyshoes vs Clara Johnson

John d’Uskglass vs John Cockcroft

Bracket 4

John Uskglass vs [Jeremy Johns or John Longridge]

John Wheston vs Captain John Ayrton

John Polidori vs John Purvis

[John Aubrey or Rev John McKenzie] vs John Murray

ROUND THREE MATCHES

TBC

QUARTER FINALS

TBC

SEMI FINALS

TBC

THE FINAL JOHN-OFF

TBC

[seemsablur]

i neeed to know ur favorite lesbian vampire novels. i need recs because there are few and like i need to expand my base from something other than carmilla and the confines of my imagination. i need lesbian romantic vampirism.

i am quite literally reaching through time and space to kiss your forehead for asking this question and allowing me to talk about my favorite things. prepare to get so much more than you asked for because i have no self control.

Lesbian Vampire Fiction

(other than Carmilla, which is so so dear to my heart and I return to it every single October)

A Long Time Dead by Samara Breger: Based in 19th century England; deliciously gothic, moody, and thrilling without being too highbrow or pretentious. The book also doesn’t waste much time on context, the book opens to our delightfully blunt and funny sunshine MC being cared for by a mysterious brooding vampire (also gets smutty by page 10 if you’re into that ✨) if you want entertainment without particularly demanding prose, found family, and the most entrancing sapphic love story i literally can’t recommend this enough.

La Petit Mort by Olivie Blake: Steeped in New Orleans romance and intrigue, MC is bequeathed a house that comes with bizarre terms and conditions attached. TECHNICALLY the MC is not a lesbian and there is a temporary male love interest, but the emotionally unavailable bloodthirsty vampire antagonist is so magnetic I barely even noticed him to be honest (for best experience, use any maladaptive daydreaming tendencies to make him into a butch as you read). I adore Olivie Blake’s writing style, very blunt and easy to put down in a single sitting. I inhaled this book

these are all the ones I have actually read and enjoyed, but my TBR is a mile long so if you’d like more please send me a message and i’m happy to send those over as well x

Honorable Mentions for other Vampire Lit

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda: Young intersectional vampire trying to fit into society despite her bloodlust. heartwrenching depiction of the alienation and anxiety of being a girl in your twenties that is only magnified by the supernatural lens

The Vampyre by John Polidori / Dracula by Bram Stoker: cornerstones of the genre, required reading blah blah blah

Honorable Mentions for other Lesbian Lit

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield: Just finished this and it absolutely destroyed me. Surreal body-horror about a woman’s wife going off on a research trip and coming back wrong. the portrayal of how love persists against all reason and logic was so devastating

This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone: dystopian time traveling sci-fi centering around two queer MCs on opposing sides of a war and also basic ideology. FASCINATING and short read that was made indescribable by the representation. i finished this book and then immediately started it again from the beginning.

Final Honorable Mention: A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers. not queer nor vampiric but romantic cannibalism done so well it had to be included. if you want “i support women’s wrongs” and to be inserted into the mind of a brilliant, vicious, sociopathic female misandrist you need to read this.

There’s a million others that fall into these categories but for the sake of keeping this -relatively- succinct i will stop there. thank you for such a lovely ask, this made my heart sing <3

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

For the send a fic idea ask:

What are your thought on a Phantom of the Opera vampire AU? 👀

OMG OMG OMG

I do not have the brain to write one, but I WISH I did and I am SO excited to share why.

About two years ago I got into a minor debate about whether "sexy" vampires are a "modern" invention or if there's any basis for it.

Now my standard for "Modern" as far as vampires go is BD and AD ("Before Dracula" and "After Dracula")

So the answer to that was "Yes and No".

No, because "original," vampires of Slavic folklore are mainly zombie-like.

Bram Stoker's classic Gothic novel is largely considered the birth of the modern vampire in pop-culture, and that's TRUE

BUT

He is NOT the first example of the Vampire as a fantastical erotic stalker in media.

Now most people probably do know that Dracula was predated by John Polidori's The Vampyre and Varney the Vampire or the Feast of Blood by several decades.

But the ORIGIN of the erotic vampire predate THEM by more than a century.

Widely considered the first appearance of a vampire in media is the 1748 poem Der Vampire by Heinrich August Ossenfelder. (Read more about that here)

The poem is notable, not only for being the first recorded appearance of a vampire in fiction, but also for its intense erotic subtext.

So how does all this relate to a PotO Vampire AU? Well because when I rediscovered this poem after getting into PotO I discovered in it a few things that connect it, albeit loosely, that connect it to Phantom, some things I think will probably jump out to you as well, including, what I think, is the ideal title for a PotO Vampire AU.

Here is the text of the poem's English translation, which is, like the first translation of Phantom of the Opera, flawed but iconic:

My dear young maiden clingeth Unbending. fast and firm To all the long-held teaching Of a mother ever true; As in vampires unmortal Folk on the Theyse's portal Heyduck-like do believe. But my Christine thou dost dally, And wilt my loving parry Till I myself avenging To a vampire's health a-drinking Him toast in pale tockay. And as softly thou art sleeping To thee shall I come creeping And thy life's blood drain away. And so shalt thou be trembling For thus shall I be kissing And death's threshold thou' it be crossing With fear, in my cold arms. And last shall I thee question Compared to such instruction What are a mother's charms?

If I ever DID work up enough of an actual story to write a PotO Vampire AU, I would, without restraint entitle it "But My Christine, Thou Dost Dally"

But the other section I highlighted you'll notice is the mention of Tockay.

Now Tockay appearing here is not an astonishing thing. It's a sweet Hungarian wine, and as the poem alludes to the Eastern European origins of vampiric lore, the likening of a maiden's blood to this particular wine is not at all shocking.

What does make me smile to myself a bit is the fact that Tockay is also mentioned in both Dracula and The Phantom of the Opera. Its not really a massive bombshell in either of these places either, because Dracula himself serves Jonathan Harker at his castle in Romania, with his tasty roast chicken dinner; and Gaston Leroux has Erik serve Christine a duvet of Chicken with tockay during her stay in his house by the lake.

(Also not too much of a stretch in the case of PotO because Tockay was very in vogue in the early 20th century and only fell out of favour following the Great War when availability became scarce. But Gaston Leroux was a noted admirer of Dracula, and even mentioned Erik reading vampire serials in the original Gaulois serial.)

Tl;dr I have the perfect title for a PotO Vampire Fic

I just don't have the brain to write it.

Yet.

[kseniya-ars281-fall2024]

Final Project Proposal: Fragility of Memories

One of photography's main goals is to capture and preserve memories. The reason we need to do so is that our own memory is not always reliable and accurate: many experiences are lost to the passing of time, the faces of people dear to us begin to lose detail, and the most vibrant emotions turn duller as we forget. People have always tried to prevent important memories and experiences from getting lost by preserving them visually and capturing the moments through keepsakes, art, and words.

I aim to use light and shadow to juxtapose the themes of forgetting and preserving memories: I hope to use darker and deeper lighting for memories getting lost in the shadows and use softer and brighter lights to accentuate the clarity of preserved memories.

Outcomes:

3-4 images portraying forgotten memories using shadows or blur

3-4 images of clear memories using sunlight or brighter lights to contrast with the photos of forgotten memories

Methods and Materials:

Nikon D40x

Adobe Photoshop 2025

References:

Forgotten Memories by Thomas Vanoost

Chernobyl by Robert Polidori

My Mother's Clothes by Jeannette Montgomery Barron

[biromanticwritergal]

The demon Faust's Introduction to the Regency/Romantic era AU for this project...

"Perhaps the Dr. Polidori of your world had called Byron a vampire to mock him, but this world’s Polidori wouldn’t be insulting My Lord if he said the same, he’d be merely speaking the truth.

When you’re ready, take my claws in your hands, and I’ll spirit you to my world. Then you can meet Lord Byron yourself and decide whether or not he was a monster."

-V.B. Lavender, Dear Reader: Faust's Introduction, To be The Hunter or The Hunted (via Youtube)

Yes, there's subtitles on my videos too (it's an audio book). That will take some time to update the individual videos (and add the later chapters). But I decided to put this project up, after some debate.

[enlitment]

oh dear 😅 I'm not sure thanks is the right word to use here, but thanks for the tag @chaotic-history!

Behold, my Hear-me-out cake:

Denis Diderot - a pretty lousy husband but 1700s no. 1 girldad (maybe along with Aaron Burr). Every source I've read went on and on about how charming he was. His writing's pretty funny. Plus someone I could bitch about Rousseau with. Letters to Sophie are still among the most beautiful ever to be written. Plus relevant grasp of female anatomy confirmed by primary sources. Do you see my vision?

Mark Antony - look, if we take Plutarch's word for it, there's potential. Whatever dynamic they had going on with Cleopatra - the horribly un-Roman one - seems genuinely fun. Plus there's the whole Curio story to keep in mind. I bet he'd look good in a stola.

Gaius Valerius Catullus - sigh, you knew this was coming. Whiny, but by all accounts a great poet. Takes no prisoners with his writing. Plus his daddy's rich.

Camille Desmoulins - he seems to have been really charismatic and I do share a lot of his views? Plus, a talented writer. Plus, I'd trust that Lucile would have had a decent taste.

John Polidori - underrated. A doctor. Has that early 1800s romantic look down. And the sad wet cat energy is all there.

tagging @edwardscissorfeet @trzepotttt @marcusagrippa @theghostofbean @tunathena (no pressure ofc!)

Calling history nerds 🚨🚨🚨

Which historical figure(s) would you put on your hear me put cake?

I would put Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Ulysses S Grant on ofc :) (They can also be someone just for goofiness)

hear me out cake example:

Tag people!!! @allysah @tommy-288 @tompoose @maip--macrothorax @rosemeriwether @pranklinfierce @chaotic-history and everyone else :)

[werewolfetone]

Terrible Geneva Squad meme that I’m sure has been done before

Also I am forever haunted by what happened when I sent my dear dear friend pictures of Byron and Polidori

[burningvelvet]

Byron and Shelley chronicle their 1816 sailing trip in Lake Geneva — Days 6/7, June 28th/29th — preview: they get stuck in Ouchy due to the rain, go sightseeing in Lausanne, and visit Edward Gibbon’s former home.

Percy Shelley, History of a Six Weeks' Tour:

“The rain detained us two days at Ouchy. We however visited Lausanne, and saw Gibbon's house. We were shewn the decayed summer-house where he finished his History, and the old acacias on the terrace, from which he saw Mont Blanc, after having written the last sentence. There is something grand and even touching in the regret which he expresses at the completion of his task. It was conceived amid the ruins of the Capitol. The sudden departure of his cherished and accustomed toil must have left him, like the death of a dear friend, sad and solitary.

My companion gathered some acacia leaves to preserve in remembrance of him. I refrained from doing so, fearing to outrage the greater and more sacred name of Rousseau; the contemplation of whose imperishable creations had left no vacancy in my heart for mortal things. Gibbon had a cold and unimpassioned spirit. I never felt more inclination to rail at the prejudices which cling to such a thing, than now that Julie and Clarens, Lausanne and the Roman Empire, compelled me to a contrast between Rousseau and Gibbon.

When we returned, in the only interval of sunshine during the day, I walked on the pier which the lake was lashing with its waves. A rainbow spanned the lake, or rather rested one extremity of its arch upon the water, and the other at the foot of the mountains of Savoy. Some white houses, I know not if they were those of Mellerie, shone through the yellow fire.”

Byron in a letter to John Murray:

“Ouchy, near Lausanne, June 27th, 1816.

Dear Sir

I am thus far kept by stress of weather on my way back to Diodati near Geneva from a voyage in my boat round the lake - & I enclose you a sprig of Gibbon's Acacia & some rose leaves from his garden - which part of his house I have just seen - you will find honourable mention in his life made of this ‘Acacia’ when he walked out on the night of concluding his history. - The garden - & summerhouse where he composed are neglected - & the last utterly decayed - but they still show it as his ‘Cabinet’ & seem perfectly aware of his memory. - My route - through Flanders - & by the Rhine to Switzerland was all I expected & more. - -

I have traversed all Rousseau's ground - with the Heloise before me - & am struck to a degree with the force & accuracy of his descriptions - & the beauty of their reality: - Meillerie - Clarens - & Vevey - & the Chateau de Chillon are places of which I shall say little - because all I could say must fall short of the impressions they stamp.

Three days ago - we were most nearly wrecked in a Squall off Meillerie - & driven to shore — I ran no risk being so near the rocks and a good swimmer - but our party were wet - & incommoded a good deal: - the wind was strong enough to blow down some trees as we found at landing - however all is righted & right - & we are thus far on return.

Dr. Polidori is not here - - but at Diodati - left behind in hospital with a sprained ancle acquired in tumbling from a wall - he can't jump.* ——“

*This is a reference to the instance where Byron (probably jokingly) suggested that Polidori should jump off a balcony in the rain to impress Mary Shelley. When Polidori actually did it, Byron was shocked and helped him inside to prop him up with a pillow. Polidori was then furious with him. See: Mary Shelley’s contributions concerning the Villa Diodati in Thomas Moore’s Life of Byron

UPDATE: I took my dates from Shelley, but his dates must have been confused and Byron's must be more accurate. Because I'd been confused by Byron's dates in the past, since he often wrote past midnight (thus often referring his prior day as "today"), I had assumed Shelley was more trustworthy. According to Shelley and His Circle vol. 4 pp. 700-701, they left on June 22nd which was a Saturday, and so I believe each day of their trip would be one earlier than I and Shelley stated in these posts.

Taken from Shelley and His Circle:

"TIMETABLE OF THE LAKE GENEVA TOUR

June 22, Saturday: Sailed from Montalègre, slept at Nernier.

June 23, Sunday: Sailed from Nernier, slept at Evian.

June 24, Monday: Sailed from Evian, encountered storm off Meillerie, slept at St. Gingolph.

June 25, Tuesday: Sailed from St. Gingolph, saw the mouths of the Rhone, visited Chillon Castle, landed at Clarens, visited bosquet de Julie, slept at Mme. Pauly's house (Place Gambetta) at Clarens.

June 26, Wednesday: Visited Le Châtelard, and the bosquet de Julie, sailed from Clarens, visited Vevey, slept at the Hotel de l'Ancre at Ouchy.

June 27, Thursday: Visited Gibbon's house at Lausanne, slept at Ouchy.

June 28, Friday: Remained at Ouchy.

June 29, Saturday: Sailed from Ouchy, slept at [?Rolle].

June 30, Sunday: Sailed from [?Rolle], arrived at Montalègre."

[jbhofstee]

Dear Dracula Daily people,

You should read The Vampyr by John William Polidori. It was written by Lord Byron's physician at the same gathering that Frankenstein was written. Also read Carmilla. Varney the vampire from penny dreadfuls is questionable, in my opinion, though.

Signed,

A 19th century vampire lit nerd

[stranger-nightmare]

I believe with my whole chest that Eddie Munson would prly love reading vampire books if he enjoyed reading older literature

Like I'm not even talking just Stoker's Dracula. I'm talking Polidori, Carmilla, Varney the Vampire, and he would also love Interview With The Vampire (ik it wasn't published until the 90s but I still think he'd love it).

And then this makes me think of Modern!Eddie devouring vampire media, although maybe not Twilight bc those books and films are v poorly written (we'll pretend that I'm not studying them for uni next year). Like I definitely think he'd watch Buffy and enjoy it. He'd have all the boxsets and get you to watch them with him bc vampires are v cool and v metal.

Also he'd have a Lost Boys poster in his room, you can't change my mind

- 💀🦄

ahhhhh please the literature major in me is going nuts over this!!! especially bc I specialised in horror literature (granted I specialised in ‘modern’ horror so I’m talking from the 80s onwards specifically )

but anyways I bet that’s exactly the kind of stuff Eddie would love, like he doesn’t read books too often but when he does it’s something horror / gothic related, and he loves horror films, especially those wonderful cheesy horrors of the 80s

like just imagine dates to the cinema with him to watch the latest horror movie and the two of you clutching onto each other for dear life lmao

and you’re right absolutely he’d be into vampire stuff, I just think he’d be into any and all kind of fantasy and supernatural literature and films

please he’s really just a man after my own heart

- hope