#David Blaize

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

I made Penguin Classics covers for some old gay novels.

(Part 2)

#book covers #penguin classics #penguin covers #david blaize #david of king's #brideshead revisited #the charioteer #memoirs of hadrian #e. f. benson #evelyn waugh #mary renault #marguerite yourcenar #gay literature #lgbt literature #gay #mlm #books #booklr #long live leyendecker!

[renaultphile]

Little bit of AU head-canon on Ralph, Laurie, The Phaedrus and David Blaize

There was something you did for me once. I expect you'll have forgotten long ago; but it made all the difference. I just wanted to tell you." He groped in the leg-pocket of his battle-dress, found what he wanted, and held it out. "Do you remember? You gave me this." It must be true, he thought, that Ralph had forgotten; for he stared at it dumbly, almost stupidly, and only reached out to take it just as Laurie was about to put it away again. He carried it over to the table and held it under the shaded reading-light, standing up so that the light only fell on his hands and on the book.

Ralph squinted at the cover - he made out the words 'Plato' and 'Phaedrus'. He stared and stared, in disbelief. The Phaedrus, he thought The Phaedrus. No. It's impossible. But after all the two volumes looked similar, and must have been next to each other in the jumble of books in the box. The box had long since been mislaid. All these years, Laurie had been treasuring this copy of Plato, when Ralph had meant to give him 'David Blaize'.

"Well," said Ralph with his back turned, "after all, seven years." He put the book down on the table, and looked abruptly at his watch. "Look, Spud, I'm sorry, I have to phone the station now. There's a man I have to give a message to. It's all right. I shan't be long."

#David Blaize #the charioteer #Think about it though #ralph lanyon #laurie odell #Plato #The Phaedrus

[mildredmost]

I’m in the mood to write this weekend, if anyone has prompts or suggestions! Any canon I’ve written before - my asks are open ❤️

(I also want all of you to write something too. Can’t wait to see it!)

#writing #my fic #the charioteer #dickensian #david blaize #vienna blood #jane austen

[rheaitis]

Hello! I’m reading David Blaize after you mentioned it in a reply to a post and I’m really enjoying it. It’s by turns hilarious and moving. Am seeing lots of echoes of themes in The Charioteer and wondered if you had any thoughts about this and the relationship between the two books? Or even what you enjoyed about the Blaize novel? Thank you! ☺️

Oooh, yes, so I actually read it in connection to The Charioteer, and see (anti)parallels absolutely everywhere, especially in relation to Lanyon and Maddox. There are also some delightful bits of fic that have people across those two novels meet, with some further bringing in the cast of Maurice and other Renault & Benson novels.

#the charioteer #david blaize

[mademoiselle-red]

On Boring Angelic Characters

When I first read The Charioteer, I had this perception that Laurie’s relationship with Andrew was more intellectual. But as I am going through my most recent reread of novel, I was a bit surprised by the dearth of actual conversations we get on the page. (Ralph and Laurie actually exchange more words in the novel!) And the conversations we do get are all focused on pacifist ethics, which seems to be the only topic that Andrew is interested in, but one that Laurie really doesn’t care about, as much as he tries to.

And those conversations also fail to engage me intellectually as a reader. I find them quite childish and simplistic, especially in their treatment of politics. Andrew is also quite dull as a character, especially upon reread, quite lacking in the wit and humor that makes our protagonist, Laurie, a joy to read. A large part of what makes him so boring is his apparent lack (going by what is shown in the novel) of any personal hobbies and interests besides religion.

At least David from David Blaize is obsessed with cricket and studies the way Frank wields his power as a prefect so that he can do it too. I enjoy characters with a “will to power” (in a Nietzschean sense) and a zest for both the big and small things in life.

Another impression colored by Laurie’s perspective in The Charioteer is this sense that Andrew is supposed to be this extraordinarily good and virtuous person. And the thing is, he’s just normal! No better and no worse than the other C.O.s we get to know (Derek and Dave), no better and no worse than Laurie himself. Just different.

After reading The Charioteer, I read David Blaize, which features a chaste romantic relationship between two schoolboys, an older more sexually experienced prefect and the younger religious protagonist. It confirmed to me my dislike of “angelic” coded characters that “must be protected at all costs”.

Frank, the love interest, is a very interesting and engaging character, with his scientific aspirations, his intellectual sensibilities, his butterfly collection, his self-hatred and struggles with internalized homophobia and his own sexual urges. The rest of the book, however, was a drag to read because David, the protagonist, is boring, and I found his ‘holier than thou’ attitude infuriating. I basically got through the novel by skimming over all the parts that didn’t have Frank.

There is a sequel to David Blaize featuring David and Frank at university where, apparently (going by online summaries), Frank chooses to suppress his sexual desires in order to continue his chaste romantic friendship with David (who remains averse to the idea of physical intimacy between men). I’ve decided to avoid subjecting myself to the sequel since I really can’t stand the protagonist and the summaries of his eventual relationship with Frank don’t appeal to me.

Andrew and David are basically cut from the same cloth, and I despise these kinds of characters because they are often used to prop up an idea of purity (moral, sexual, etc) that is then used to disparage and condemn other, more interesting characters who don’t fit into the mold.

And they are usually paired with love interests who don’t fit the mold, and it is always their love interest who has to compromise his physical and romantic needs in order to fit into the stringent religiously motivated standards these “angelic” characters impose. It’s never the other way around. The angel-coded characters don’t compromise, they don’t give an inch, because if they did, they can’t be angel-coded paragons of chastity anymore. By the conventions of this trope, they cannot retain their “purity”, “chastity”, and “innocence” if they met their love interest half way. It is all or nothing. That’s how the trope works. And because of this narrative convention, the romantic friendships they end up with are always lacking in true equality. One partner in the relationship is always the morally superior one while the other partner has to suppress essential parts of their own humanity in order to become palatable for their beloved.

#the charioteer #David Blaize

[bi4bihankking]

We Ride Upon Sticks Summary:

A high school girls field hockey team is really tired of sucking so they make a deal with the devil to win as recounted by the team 30 years later. Simultaneously exactly what being IN high school is like and what looking back on high school is like. Idk how Quan Barry did it either.

David Blaize Summary:

Memorably evoking the joys and torments of boyhood, from midnight feasts and glorious days on the cricket field to waxy masters and hilariously embarrassing parental visits, E. F. Benson follows young David Blaize from prep school to Marchester College.

#we ride upon sticks #quan barry #david blaize #e. f. benson #lgbt books #lgbt literature #queer books #queer literature #lgbtqia #poll

[phantomato]

Frank / Hugh for the ship ask game!

What made you ship it?

Oh, definitely the prior fic in the tag. For example: But only agony, and that has ending, in which Hughes and Frank Maddox spend a great deal of time flirting around each other, and A Cleansing Steam, in which they do exactly the opposite. I had not thought much about Hughes when I read David Blaize initially, as he’s not a very prominent character and the David-Frank relationship takes center stage. Reading fic opened me up to the possibility of Hughes getting a bigger role, as he is interesting in his own right: expulsion for a homosexual romance, military school, and then what? That could be a story on its own, and not the kind we would ever have gotten from an actual Victwardian public school novel, so it’s compelling to figure out his character and fill in the gaps.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

The reunion! I adore reunions as a romantic trope. When Hughes and Maddox run into each other again, how old are they? What are the circumstances? How does each of them feel about seeing the other one again? What else has gone on in their lives, and how much of that are they willing to share? Some of my favorite things to do and see in a romance are the reconnections, wherein each character must navigate that their old friend is familiar and is changed, and that they themselves are some of the old and some of the new. They both must learn to see those changes at the same time that they respect their shared history. This is very very compelling to me.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

It’s likely not so much unpopular about this ship specifically as it is unpopular in the context of the wider David Blaize fandom, but I think Frank Maddox would have a better romantic relationship with someone other than David. They are very very close friends in canon and the attraction is undeniably present, but David is very good at repressing his desire, and Frank struggles so much more with that, and I find it very sad to imagine Frank faced with a lifetime of trying to live under David’s asexual ideals. Some fans are happy to imagine that this is only a phase for David, and something which he can overcome, but I have a hard time believing that. I have to read David/Frank as essentially an AU of David of King’s wherein the final year didn’t quite happen as it does in the novel. Maddox/Hughes, or Maddox/Original Character, or various crossover ships, are happier to me.

#david blaize #ask game

[carrotcakecrumble]

Hi guys I’ve seen some of you reading David Blaize and being confused by all the cricket so i found this diagram, hope it helps <333

#so simple and easy see!!!

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

I have just been reading David Blaize and think it lovely — the best school story yet written bar none. Here we have a continual stream of young officers to train as scouts and snipers and there has been a great run on David, as many as three copies of him on one course. Many of the lads who have come have few if any memories of anything but home and school as this is a young man's job. I think you would perhaps like to know the pleasure your book has given to these very fine and gallant lads who come to first army training school from the trenches.

A letter from WWI's Major Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard to E. F. Benson over David Blaize's popularity in the British army.

#david blaize #e. f. benson #literature #lit #booklr #history #world war i #world war 1 #ww1 #wwi #1910s

[renaultphile]

EF Benson - Fred, David and Frank

Greetings, miniscule David Blaize fandom! Very much enjoying Brian Masters' biography of EF Benson. I've often wondered how much of our Fred is in David Blaize so I was intrigued to find these two snippets from his early life:

So, a bit of both, maybe?

#david blaize #EF Benson #Brian Masters #Biography

[mildredmost]

Frank Maddox meets crossover character of your choice!

(pretend the timelines work for this one! We can workshop it *handwaves*)

Frank Maddox/Edmund Pevensie and a magical apple tree.

Frank had always thought the apple tree in their garden was rather jolly - it had grown so quickly from an apple that had fallen from their neighbour's garden, and now looked positively ancient even though it was only a few years old. He felt he could believe in fairy-tales again sitting there, listening to the boughs creak though there seemed no wind to stir them. One year it seemed to die entirely; it seemed frozen stiff and didn't bud that spring. Mother would wonder now and again if they should cut it down because it seemed unsafe - especially after their neighbour's tree blew down one stormy winter - but they neither of them could give up the sweet little apples that came in the autumn.

He had Michelet open in his lap when the apple fell on it, narrowly missing Frank's nose. He laughed and picked it up, holding it to his face and breathing in its fragrance. The sweetness made him feel alive in a strange way; he wanted to run and jump or...

His mind danced over the other things he wanted.

Instead, he ate the apple. And then closing his eyes against the low autumn sun, he let his mind wander.

He often thought, while sitting here, of a boy-king. Or rather a king who began as a boy and grew to a man. He'd thought he was remembering a legend at first, but he'd never found it in a book. He should write it down really: the boy, the betrayal, the redemption, the coronation, but he couldn't ever quite pin down the story in the way he could pin down a butterfly.

He drifted. With the taste of the apple still fresh in his mouth he felt he almost walked alongside King Edmund as he strolled in his own Palace orchard. The King was alone - he was often alone.

"You're older than last time," Frank said to himself.

"And so are you," King Edmund replied, making Frank start. He was looking directly at Frank, and was so close that Frank could see the freckles on his nose. "Where hast been? I wish I knew when you'd likely appear."

"At Cambridge," Frank said, stupidly.

The King looked curious for a moment, as though straining to hear far away music.

"I know it, I think," he said after a moment. "But I do not remember."

He reached for Frank's hand, and Frank let him take it. It felt entirely real - warm and strong.

"Truly thou art almost here this time," Edmund said. "But not fully."

Frank didn't speak. Edmund put his other hand against Frank's cheek.

"Thou are for me, I think," he said. "But not yet. Thou art tied to another."

Frank blinked, his eyelashes brushing against the edge of the King's finger.

"Coming untied rather jolly quickly," he said softly.

"Jolly good," Edmund said, sounding almost like an English schoolboy. He looked surprised at himself for saying it too, and began to laugh.

Frank laughed too, and was still smiling when he opened his eyes again under his own apple tree.

#edmund pevensie #narnia crossover #frank maddox #david blaize #narnia

[galadriel1010]

Fanfic pattern

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

AO3: Galadriel1010

Following On - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Phryne could think of many better ways to spend her last night at home for heaven alone knew how long, most of them involving Jack Robinson.

Day Tripping - Will Darling Adventures: “Oh good, a rough crossing,” Will observed. “Just what we wanted.”

Against the Clock - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Jack looked over towards the secretaries’ office again, and this time didn’t feel like he was going to combust from blushing too hard.

A Testing Experience - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: For the first time in a week, Jack walked into the station without any clear sense of what his day was going to involve.

Happy Birthday, My Love - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Miss Fisher had outdone herself once again.

The Legal Assistant - The Great Ace Attorney: “Surely that isn’t a real place?” Kazuma asked his legal assistant. “Ramsbottom. That cannot be real.”

The King and the Watcher - A Song Of Ice And Fire: The King of the Keep stretched, arching his back and digging his claws into the pile of worn blankets he’d accumulated since claiming this as his new home.

A Christmas Gift From The Universe - David Blaize: A sudden squall of rain lashed the front of the house out of the general persistent deluge, and found its way with unerring accuracy down the back of Frank's neck.

We're Only Having One! (We're totally having two) - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: "Oh, she has socks!" Rosie crooned, and Mac rolled her eyes fondly.

Us And The Roses - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: She was in London longer than she had intended.

Thanks to @eternally-conflicted for the tag. Open call for entries

[black-bentley]

Fic writer asks #6, 10 and 21, please. :)

6. What ship(s) captured your heart?

I've acquired a few this year, sadly no new ones in the Biggles fandom though...

Oskar Rheinhardt/Max Liebermann (Vienna Blood - I'm pretty sure I watched it for the first time in January, so I'm counting it for this year!)

David Blaize/Frank Maddox (David Blaize by E. F. Benson)

Henry Gaunt/Sidney Ellwood (In Memoriam by Alice Winn)

Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane (Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy L. Sayers - I wasn't hugely into Peter/Harriet until I read Have His Carcase, and I have been converted)

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

I've answered this one already but I cited two unposted fics, so I'll pick one of the ones that I've actually released into the wild!

I'll go for À la Tarte, because I had a ridiculous amount of fun writing it :D

21. Share your favourite piece of dialogue

I've already answered this one too, but again I'd used unposted dialogue, so I'll go for something that's actually out in the world this time around...

This is from Nicotine:

"You do owe him your life," Algy agreed bluntly. Von Stalhein looked surprised, having clearly expected Algy to parrot Biggles's usual insistence that von Stalhein owed him nothing. "I won't argue with that. And, however little you might value it, taking every possible opportunity to try and throw it away looks pretty ungrateful from where I'm sitting. Biggles didn't go halfway around the world and put all of us—including Fritz, I might remind you—at risk for that; he saved you so that you could live." He paused, before adding, "So you'll bloody well do it."

For a long time, von Stalhein was silent. "Only you," he said, "could order me to live while implying you would kill me if I didn't."

"It's a skill," said Algy lightly.

#fic writer asks

[mademoiselle-red]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💙

Thank you 😊! Here are 5 fics I am very proud of:

Au Revoir But Not Goodbye

In this canon divergence AU, Bunny never confronts Andrew and Laurie successfully breaks up with Ralph in chapter 14. He gets a room near the EMS after his discharge, reads his books for Oxford, and gets occasional visits from Andrew. Now that he has his ideal chaste life with plenty of time to sit alone and think, Laurie finds that all his thoughts and dreams lead back, inevitably, to Ralph 💭

For Want of a Smile

In this canon divergence AU, Laurie wasn’t invited to Sandy’s party and is reunited with Ralph seven years later than in canon. Both this fic and the fic above give Laurie a chance to have a romantic friendship with Andrew and let that relationship die a natural death. When Laurie meets Ralph again, they are both quite pleased with and proud of the careers and communities they’ve found for themselves. Rather than attempting to achieve an ideal life through a romantic relationship, they find a relationship that fits into the lives they’ve build on their own. I also managed to sneak in cameos for Maurice from Maurice and Frank from David Blaize ❤️

As Luck Would Have It

Seven years after the end of TC, Laurie runs into Andrew while waiting for a friend. He helps Andrew get some closure, goes to dinner with his friend, and then goes home with Ralph. This is a Laurie who is in love with the life he has built over the last seven years —his partner, his friends, his career, his hobbies. He is no longer a lost young man trying to escape a directionless, untethered life through dreams of ideal love as spiritual salvation. This is my personal favorite. It was extremely satisfying to write 😎

to me the entirely beautiful

This is a summer fic I wrote in spring, inspired by conversations with my girlfriend about blooming flowers, egg sandwiches, strawberry cream cakes, queer poetry, and summer travel plans. In the fic, I tried to capture the feeling of summer’s arrival, fresh and playful like a young love, but also old and familiar, imbued with intimate, nostalgic memories 🍓

Transatlantic

This is my first attempt at an epistolary fic, featuring Ralph and Laurie exchanging letters while Ralph is away fighting the Battle of the Atlantic. I wanted to depict a long distance relationship filled with intellectual musings interspersed with accounts of daily life, an awareness of the need for discretion due to the mail being read by censors, but also a sense of complete comfort and openness in the exchange of confidences, thoughts, and feelings 💌

#the charioteer #my fics #phantomato

[phantomato]

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms, 10 Tags

Thank you for the tag, @yletylyf 💖💖💖

Tom Riddle - Harry Potter series

Clive Durham - Maurice (Forster)

Silas Octakiseron - The Locked Tomb

Edmund Pevensie - Narnia

Sakurazuka Seishirou - Tokyo Babylon

Nathaniel - Bartimaeus trilogy

Frank Maddox - David Blaize (Benson)

Bunny - The Charioteer

Edgar Portsnell - The Poe Clan

Ciel Phantomhive - Kuroshitsuji

This was really tough! I limited my school novel answers since those are fandoms of like one or two people, but I could have built an entire list of them. Edgar’s the newest and Edmund is the oldest in the blorbo list. I… like Eds?

(The actual theme is repression and schoolboys.)

Tagging: @mildredmost @graymm @kireia @yorickofyore @half-infinite @moscca @black-bentley @vestiges-of-light @galadriel1010 @aspengray and anyone else who wants to join in!

#tag game

[ralphlanyon]

For the trope ask game: crossovers?

I give this a B (like it)! I love a well-done crossover when the fandoms and characters naturally mesh well together, such as crossovers between various 20th century british queer(-ish) novels (TC, Maurice, David Blaize, etc.), or when the characters have interesting parallels or potential for interesting interactions/dynamics if they were to meet! Though of course if I don't know or particularly like the other fandom(s), the crossover usually doesn't do much for me at all.

#ask meme #ask #phantomato