I May Work At A Desk So Deeply Buried In Paraphernalia That I Only Have One Small Square Of Surface Where

Ooh goodness, thank you so much for reading and poiting it out, I will edit it. That is quite an on-the-nose title, I can't believe I forgot it!

Blog post: 5 most Unhinged Sherlock Holmes Stories

Purrlock Holmes Books

5 most unhinged Sherlock Holmes stories

Sherlock Holmes doesn’t always live up to his reputation of being a thinking machine. Or rather, he has a few bugs. Spoilers ahead! The Adve

My apologies for my radio silence. As the Victorians may say, I have been suffering from delicate nerves (that is to say, miserable for no definite reason that anybody could identify).

I have had this post in the backroom ready to go for a month now, but could never bring myself to finish it - here it is, in all it's chaotic glory.

Spat out my tea reading my Dracula annotation.

[Ha! That's rich, talking like you have a coachman!]

Context: the great Count Dracula has no servants. Blood-slaves? Thralls to his hypnotism? Nah. Just little old him and three vampire ladies who don't help with the chores and try to steal his snacks (and/or his lawyer).

Yes, very convincing, Cherik. Oh well, he tried. And hey, it worked! Apologies for messing with Kerik again, it's this or put him in prison, sooo...

Anyway, new reaction picture?

All POTO cats here! Prompts from this list still welcome!

Blog post: The Freedom to be Grotesque and Gothic Authoresses

Purrlock Holmes Books

The Freedom to be Grotesque: Gothic Authoresses

Reclaim authorship over “grotesque” writing. Writers have long been forced to deny the impact of their writing for fear of frightening reade

"I shall thus give a general answer to the question, so frequently asked me—How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and to dilate upon, so very hideous an idea?"

- Mary Shelley, Introduction to Frankenstein

In the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explained how she, as a 19-year-old young woman, wrote a work that shook contemporary intellectuals.

“I didn’t mean anything by it; it’s only flight of fancy,” the writers who defined gothic literature said to a world that was not prepared to accept that women with no formal education were capable of the intellectual prowess woven into these tales of dark, profound, terrifying worlds.

We have long lived in a society that is quick to denounce, demonise and deny the voices that speak in a different tone. Even if you never show it to a single soul, write. Write, because to write dark, terrible things is to accept that they exist inside you without shame.

-

Unedited post - with a short piece I published years ago - linked above!

Susan Kay's Phantom // L'Opéra des Vampires by me. (Full except and context below cut)

I haven't yet uploaded this part of Gothic Tales because this "tale" is undergoing severe redrafting, but this scene stands thus:

(Anyway, chapter one of Gothic Tales is up on AO3!)

My Erik is very talkative. I also had to take care to make him more gremlin, since he's often too wise and sad.

I think a lot about how Madeline swore to change when it's too late. Maybe it wouldn't have been different anyway. Maybe it would have been too late even if Erik didn't leave that night.

Somehow, these long minutes make me depressed instead of impressed because usually when I put my headphones on, it means something is feeling too much.

The rest of my top songs list has no significance because I'm stuck on free shuffle mode, but Fortnight I did play on repeat. It's the song I sing to myself when I'm panicking.

Of course my comfort song contains lyrics about murder.

Very proud that Webber made the list. After all, I only recently became Phantom-obsessed.

Voilà, lots of sillies and... other things. If you wish me to elaborate, let me know 🤣

@vladimirsangel @blackforrestpunk @whyisthereacentaur @blackghostm2o @nalesnik-z-morela @ruvyn29 @greenfinchwriter No pressure tags, if like me you hesitate to post photos because you live in a gremlin nest and can't take any pictures without getting photo bombed by A) rubbish or B) demons, never mind!

First 3 photos are from past posts: Blood Box Bandits, Pharoga Kitty Kisses, Camp Vamp.

tagged by @bossboudicca

six non-selfie photos from my camera roll

tagging a few babies don't feel compelled to do this if you don't wanna

@rockygetsrolling @ethantheannus @terrasilvershade @windforkthewriter @pandapool @moosekababs

I've read very few romance books because it's bad for my health. I swear it makes that one happy braincell in my brain start wheezing and sputtering for dear life.

One thing that gets my goat is those female leads who are trying to hard to be weird. The author wants them to be 'just a girl' but also 'not like other girls.' The love interest from It Ends With Us used that exact words 'You're not like the other girls' many times.

Author, that is a painfully normal - I won't say boring but oh look I just did - human being.

The message these romances are trying to send is: 'You can be weird and still get noticed by a tall, dark and handsome man with a high income (that last point is just coincidence because we don't care about money)!' But the message I'm receiving is: 'You can be weird in a conventionally understandable and acceptable way and still get noticed by...'

Because all of the 'weird' leads are exactly like the people around me who I never fit in with. So if THEY'RE weird, what does that make me? Frankenstein's Monster?

(This is not me comparing myself to the expectations set by the romance genre. This is me saying its portrayal of people is skewered.)

I challenge romance authors to be locked in a Gothic castle cellar with me. They won't use the phrase 'not like other girls' lightly after that.

Time to return to vampires and gloomy fog, I need a pick-me-up. Dracula, my friend, is it Zoo Theft today or Stupid Sunhat Day?

Thank you, @frommarshtheycome @blackghostm2o & @vladimirsangel for the tags, I'm honoured 😭 10 favourite films in GIFs:

How's the writing going, you say?

I was typing out my novel on my phone, looked up, and saw this. To clarify, I meant satin-LINED cavity, describing a casket.

Well, I hit my head on a toilet water tank today, so I can't expect myself to act rationally.

The story is about a vampire opera house. I played with the idea of adding Erik into it, but I didn't expect him to pop up out of nowhere to give one of my characters a house tour.

I think he wants to kill the vampires now, and I don't know what to do. How little control I actually have over my writing never fails to surprise me.

(More gremlin sphynx cat Erik here, fancy hat cowboy Phantom here)