Community Profile

This is a chat and fanworks community centred around making the most of the gay subtext abundant in a lot of vintage horror and classic ghost stories, namely of the Victorian through the Edwardian era and towards the middle of the 20th Century.

Another main purpose is to actually find the relevant stories within the plethora of horror fiction from the olden days, so a main focus of this community will be to let each other know what we simply must read/listen to at the first opportunity!

We write and gossip about gentlemen haunted by spooks and secret urges alike, so in the fashion of all gentlemen's clubs, Kindread Spirits is members-only. You must be 18 or older to become a member, as some content posted may well be explicit. (Please make sure your profile contains some kind of age statement. Note also that I may reject membership requests of brand new journals, journals with no public posts at all, or journals with basically empty profiles; I like to know who's knocking at the door before I open it.)

The RULES are simple:

* Play nicely.
If you don't like something being posted, simply don't comment and move on; rudeness is never excusable.

* Chat is very much encouraged!
Post about anything related to M/M slash potential in your favourite stories and novels - your chosen pairings and most beloved characters, quotes, plot points (please use spoiler cuts as needed). Post about authors you admire, ask for research or writing help, share interesting story finds and information, tell us about exchanges upon which we might want to descend, moan about your WIPs, ask for beta-readers, suggest challenges, post playlists or icons or mood boards you've made, etc.

* Posting Fic and Fic links, as well as Fanart, is VERY welcome. Please check below for the few but important details on that.

* Tags
To keep things tidy and relevant posts easy to find in future, tags can only be created by the mod. Some already exist, most will be created as needed, such as member tags, title tags, pairing tags, medium tags, etc. Members are able to add existing tags to their own posts, so if you make a post and logical tags for it are available, feel free to use them; if they're not available, I'll obviously create them right away and add them for you.
Please don't be deterred from posting because you don't know how to tag something. It's not a big deal to post untagged!

* Adaptions
This community is created specifically for literary canons. As such, it doesn't encompass adaptions, old or new, in any medium. Obviously, audio readings of stories are more than fine, radio plays or abridged versions - no.

* Intentionally posting content entirely outside the purview of this community will result in the post being deleted; if it happens again, it may result in a ban. Examples would be politics and current affairs, or a rant about the supposed lack of female representation in vintage horror; I shouldn't have to tell you that the historical remoteness of the settings and other frequent hallmarks of this era in horror are among the reasons we're here.


If you're unsure about anything - and please keep in mind this community is brand new and still being fine-tuned - just ask the mod directly or on any post. Asking anything is never a problem and no question is silly!


FIC POSTING:

Format fic posts to your heart's content, but please ensure your Subject line contains at least:
Fandom, Pairing(s), Rating... and the Title, that would make a lot of sense too

Please warn in either the subject line or at the very beginning of your fic post for any of the following:
major character death, non-con, dub-con, underage, graphic violence; basically, the usual AO3 content warnings.
Other warnings are up to you, but if in doubt, please consider that no one will ever be upset about a warning they didn't need, and different readers have different triggers and squicks.

You're welcome to link to your fics wherever they're archived or post them directly here; if you go for the latter, please use a cut unless you're posting something that's no longer than a drabble. And please, do post older fics, because what does the date of their creation matter when our canons are antique? :D

Do NOT post fiction that is not M/M (or M/M/M, or M/M/M/M if you're feeling very ambitious). This is not the community for F/F or het content (and no mixed-sex multiples either). That goes for main pairings as well as side pairings. It's not for Gen either, but platonic M & M affection and pre-slash are absolutely welcome.

Here's an entirely optional header template to make fic posting easier:

<b>Title:</b> <b>Fandom:</b> <b>Pairing:</b> <b>Rating:</b> <b>Word Count:</b> <b>Summary:</b> <b>Warnings/Notes:</b>


And now, pull up an armchair (all the loveseats are taken), get comfortable, and help yourself to a pipe or cigar and your tipple of choice - we have everything from the finest port to the most reviving brandy for those ghost-induced shocks!