I really had bad luck lining up a fun update for Valentine’s Day, didn’t I?

“Mr Rainworth leaned more heavily upon his cane. ‘I once had great hopes of you, Richard.’” forthenby.com/2026/02/11/2...

Chapter Seven kicks off today, in which we perhaps discover why Dickie is Like That: forthenby.com/2026/02/11/2...

I spent the afternoon listening to archive sound recordings of a regional accent and trying to inflect a character’s dialogue with it, without going in to the “hurrr burrr oi” of a Redwall novel. How was your day?

this is the most Queer As In FUCK YOU story I've ever read in a mainstream magazine I'd describe it to you, but that would violate bsky's terms and conditions, so you should just go read it instead

My next job is making the accent of a character who is going to appear shortly in to… a recognisable regional accent. I’m happy have the Forthenby lot with Mummerset accents because… I get to do what I want, frankly… but I don’t want *every* rural character to have one.

It was clever of the dressmaker responsible for this early #1850s ensemble to choose green silk fringe as a trim. The shot silk, a warp and weft of different colours, shimmers between green and purple with some hazy shape shifting, @jbrightcollection.bsky.social #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

Alexandra Byrne’s costumes for the 2020 adaptation of Emma offered a beautiful interpretation of dress. They were informed by extant objects although not intended to be faithful recreations. This homage to a c1817 pink spencer was especially memorable @chertseymuseum.bsky.social #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

“Please, I’m drunk and I’m tired and everyone’s angry at me.” We’ve all been there, Teddy. A low point for everyone this week, and something almost like an apology: forthenby.com/2026/02/04/2...

You very nearly got a Quite Serious poem from my non-smut persona instead of today’s update, as I’d forgotten to copy the link, so that’s what was on my clipboard… I’ll let you decide which would have been preferable.

Betrayal, alcoholism, and heartbreak as we conclude Chapter Six. In which Peaches… Peaches does her job: forthenby.com/2026/02/04/2...

“Don’t you play the little Lord with me, Teddy, I made you cry when we were children and I can do it again.” Lotte is Having None Of It: forthenby.com/2026/01/28/2...

Gods save me from a *worthy* romance.

Chapter Six begins this week, with a confrontation between cousins - in which Lady Charlotte makes her feelings known: forthenby.com/2026/01/28/2...

If you give my characters a praise kink I’m coming to your house and taking the stuffing out of your pillows while you sleep. (Except for Serafina. She’s allowed one.)

"Romance is a shit genre, only zero talents write romance, so predictable too with the compulsory HEA, ugh! zero suspense!" Meanwhile my readers of my talentless weak ass romance books with obviously HEA...

“Don’t let me put you off, though. Mad old spinster with her dogs. I’m just one of the fixtures of the place.” The whole of Chapter Five is now online and available to read! In which we (finally) visit Forthenby, and meet Lady Charlotte: forthenby.com/2026/01/07/2...

“Nice view of the dear old place from up here. Though it was better from the treehouse at midwinter time. Sunsets, you know.” Lady Charlotte gives us all the tour you’re going get. I’ve spent enough time traipsing around National Trust properties: forthenby.com/2026/01/21/2...

I always say “Georgette Heyer meets P.G. Wodehouse” but I don’t think either of them would approve of the product… But Heyer characters and bounce, told frim a sort of haplessly comic perspective. Look, the “with bedroom farce” aspect is doing a lot of lifting.

In which Lady Charlotte takes charge - today’s update brought to you by dashing, titled lesbians disrupting the narrative: forthenby.com/2026/01/21/2...

Slight error on today’s update - appears to be locked and for subscribers only. Will fix this when I get a mo.

The temptation to stretch this scene out (pun intended) so the *really* filthy bit updates on my birthday…

The trouble with breaking this novel in to updates is… I suck at writing scenes that can be thus broken.

Screaming panic of realising my history might be out… I like anachronism, but I like to *choose* the bits I don’t give a fuck about.

“Coming home – for that was still how it felt – was always a shock to Edward.” The whole of Chapter Four is now available to read, for free, online - in which we have family reunions, Teddy being dreadful, and his mother showing us all who he got it from: forthenby.com/2025/12/10/2...

“Into the room sailed a most tall and majestic personage, dressed like a huntswoman, and attended by a what could only be called a swarm of dogs…” I am delighted to introduce you to the Lady Charlotte Valance. forthenby.com/2026/01/14/2...

Working on my content note buffer and… there’s a big difference between writing an angsty thing and having to list all the ways in which it might be a nope for people. Anyway, stay tuned for Teddy’s extended manic episode.

*stares hard at Teddy Valance* So… do you wanna explain why you’re about to marry a woman who believes you to be a LOT of things that you are not?

Y’know, I really am quite proud of this book. When I was first writing it in 2016 - when it felt like the world was falling apart, and my life with it - it was a real slog, and I considered it the runt of the litter. But after 10 years, with everything then coming back around… I’m proud of it.

Chapter Five continues, in which your humble author finally allows you to visit the eponymous Forthenby (and remembers about the A Plot). forthenby.com/2026/01/14/2...

“Well, one can hardly remain a model of Grecian purity one’s whole life…” Teddy only ever leverages the bisexuality for shock value. Chapter Four concludes: forthenby.com/2025/12/31/2...

I HAVE ACCESS TO THE WEBSITE! Which is good because I only have content notes written up to the end of the current chapter!

As the other Otherside poetry editor, I can't stress this enough. "Please fuck us up. Please make it gayer and more trans and stranger and more unabashedly you than you think would usually be accepted. WE want that kind of shit. We want the othered queer pieces that take forever to find a home 💜

i know we're all busy but i just overheard a plumber say "parlez-vous français ? non ? you motherfuckers don't even speak french, do you" to a pair of french bulldogs

Sorry for the late post - bad pain and fatigue, besides which being locked out of the back doors of my own website is beginning to tell on my scheduling. If you sign up, however, I can deliver Forthenby to your email inbox more reliably.

Chapter Five part one is now online, and brings some high society swanning about. In which Miss Tooting meets her fiancé socially and talks beaux with Miss Dunning. forthenby.com/2026/01/07/2...

Want to wish a happy New Year from Forthenby! This is all done on a shoestring by your humble scribe (me) and my occasional tech support (my partners.) It’s a passion project, and I will continue to run it until the story is told, or it gets wiped from the internet for obscenity.

I am Team Write The Thing You Want To Write. Too many people will tell you that you will only sell fiction if you follow the Hero's Journey, or if you outline with a beat sheet, or if you make your characters cosy and 'likeable'. Ignore them.

This entire thread, seriously! Spot ON! 🤌❤️

For anyone still stuck with… challenging… relatives, here is the Forthenby Festive Guide to winding them up through obnoxious queerness. Or, in which Teddy spends a pleasant evening with his brother: forthenby.com/2025/12/31/2...

Christopher Lee for the Telegraph magazine, 1975.

“The highest compliment that anyone had ever paid Sir Charles Valance was that none of his neighbours spoke any ill of him.” We meet Teddy’s little brother, and I am sure the two of them are going to get on SPLENDIDLY. forthenby.com/2025/12/24/2...

I really thought I’d put the site on hiatus over the holiday but APPARENTLY NOT. And I currently can’t log in, so it’s all running through my lovely support team (my long suffering partners.)

A Christmas Eve update?? What could be more festive than a show of fraternal affection, and deliberately driving your relatives up the wall? forthenby.com/2025/12/24/2...

Teddy and Dickie… www.tumblr.com/leguin/80306...

“I am to be married.” “Oh, Edward, how could you?” A filial scene in this week’s update, and a very Merry Festive Friday, from all at Forthenby: forthenby.com/2025/12/17/2...

Ah yes, Wordpress telling me I don’t have a account on the email address they send me all the admin for my site on… Fml.

In which Teddy’s mother withholds her blessing, and Peaches considers an offer of employment. Chapter Four continues in this week’s update. forthenby.com/2025/12/17/2...

Hmmm. Update has not dropped. Troubling. I’ll have a look when I can get to the Big Computer…

Inspo: www.tumblr.com/kitfoxart/17...