Daphne

The Characters of Evelyn Westcott’s Diary

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This is a nearly complete list of the people, real and imaginary, who populate the eight parts of Evi Westcott's diary. Hugs, Daphne

(actual historical figures are indicated by an asterisk)

In Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Evelyn Tucker Westcott (Evi), née Edward Tucker
Enid Tucker Bonner Westcott (Aunt Enid), born 1852, Evi’s father’s older sister
Captain Joseph Westcott, Aunt Enid’s third husband
* Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Aunt Enid’s friend and patron

Daphne

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BigCloset TopShelf Featured Author Daphne

Daphne lives in a closet at an undisclosed location and subsists on feedback and pickles. She is fond of all her stories and tries never to write the same thing twice.

Balthasar's Extract went on and on, a lot farther than she'd ever imagined, but for Daphne the trip was well worth it.

Daphne wonders why more people haven't read Palukhistan.

How do I delete a redundant posting?

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By the time I posted the final instalment of my historical novel Balthasar's Elixir (The Titanic-era Diary of Evelyn Westcott), I had also posted two different lists of the characters, real and imaginary, who populate the book. I'd like to delete the first of the lists, but I can't figure out how!

Hugs to everyone,
Daphne

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Balthasar's Extract - Concluded

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BALTHASAR’S EXTRACT
(The Final Chapter of the Diary of Evelyn Westcott)Evi Westcott is a turn-of-the-20th Century Alpha female, impatient with the roles polite society has assigned to women — including accidental women like herself — and in a hurry to set things straight.

Now twenty, Evi’s had a rough few months. Gynol, the wonder drug on which Evi and all the rest of ‘Tottie’s Girls’ depend for their happiness, harbors a deadly contaminant, to which Evi’s dear friend Dorothy has already succumbed. Compounding Evi’s misery, she has bid adieu to her true love. There’s but one ray of light through the lowering clouds — Evi’s deepening friendship with Doctor Nathan Weiss.’

The Penultimate Chapter of Evi Westcott's Odyssey at Long Last

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Hi, all. I didn’t imagine that 14 months would pass before I posted another chapter of my book-length story, Balthasar’s Extract. Blame it on a serious case of writer’s block aggravated by real life — the usual excuse. It seemed to me important that the story come to a full, complete and convincing close.

I leave it to you, dear readers, to decide whether I’ve succeeded or not. Jan S, my muse and most faithful proofreader, has already chastised me for not carrying Evi Westcott’s story onward to about 1940, but that’s just her opinion.

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Balthasar's Extract - Part 7

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BALTHASAR’S EXTRACT
(The Titanic Era Diary of Evelyn Westcott) Part VIIEvi Westcott is a turn-of-the-20th Century Alpha female, impatient with the roles polite society has assigned to women — including accidental women like herself — and in a hurry to set things straight. Evi is now nineteen and in love. In fin de siecle Europe, she’s learned about Life in its astonishing diversity. In this chapter, she returns to Baltimore to face a crisis that threatens all of ‘Tottie’s Girls’ — the dozen gender-dsyphoric youth who like Evelyn depend for their happiness on a secure supply of ‘Balthasar’s extract.’

Evi's Endless Odyssey

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I gave serious thought to killing Evi Westcott off this time. Her diary just won't quit, there are more characters than War and Peace, and she hasn't even started college yet. All the friends could have come to her funeral and said what a swell girl she was. Anyway, I tried out some scenarios on my friends, one of them (the scenario, not the friend) shamelessly plagiarized from la Traviata, but no one was buying it. So here's Part VI of Balthasar's Extract. If you like it, drop me a note and tell me why.

Hugs, Daphne

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Balthasar's Extract - Part 6

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BALTHASAR’S EXTRACT


(The Titanic Era Diary of Evelyn Westcott)

Part VI
Evi Westcott is a turn-of-the-20th Century Alpha female, impatient with the roles polite society has assigned to women — including accidental women like herself — and in a hurry to set things straight. Evi is now nineteen and in love. In fin de siecle Europe, she’s learned about Life in its astonishing diversity. In this chapter, she returns to Baltimore to face a crisis that threatens all of ‘Tottie’s Girls’ — the dozen gender-dsyphoric youth who like Evelyn depend for their happiness on a secure supply of ‘Balthasar’s extract.’

Synopsis thru Part 6

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The Story So Far — A Synopsis of Balthasar’s Extract up to Part VII:

Evelyn Westcott is not your average turn-of-the-20th-century American girl. She didn’t want to be a woman, at least not consciously, but when Edward’s body betrayed him, he had no other sensible choice. Fortunately, rich & sophisticated Aunt Enid was able to sort everything out. Within a few months after Edward arrived in Baltimore, he was making a game go of it as Evi Westcott, a sophomore at the elite Bryn Mawr School.

Balthasar's Extract - Part 5

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(The Titanic Era Diary of Evelyn Westcott)

Evi Westcott (born Edward Tucker) is a turn-of-the-20th Century Alpha female, impatient with the roles polite society has assigned to women — including accidental women like herself — and in a hurry to set things straight. Evi is eighteen. Touring Europe with Auntie Enid, she’s learning about Life in its astonishing diversity and seeking the key to a safe future for herself and the rest of ‘Tottie’s Girls’ — the dozen gender-dsyphoric youth who like Evelyn depend for their happiness on a secure supply of ‘Balthasar’s extract.’

1911 is a fine time to be young. The world is full of new things — the automobile, the aeroplane, social consciousness, moving pictures, mental hygiene and ragtime. Women are dumping the corset and demanding the vote, kicking over the pedestals upon which Victorian Sensibility has placed them. It is a time of creativity and experimentation in the natural sciences, of rapidly growing comprehension of how ‘internal secretions’ regulated human physiology.

Join Evi as she and Aunt Enid arrive in Vienna — sophisticated, elegant and decadent to the core. Of, if you are new to this series, begin at the beginning (some 75,000 words ago) or go to the end of this chapter for a very short synopsis of the story so far.

Imaginary Conversations I Had Once, with a Girl

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The power was off last night. There was just me and my laptop in the dark, and my mind started to wander around.

Imaginary Conversations I Might Have Had Once, With a Girl

One

Felicia, I know I’m not cool, and I promise I’ll never tell anyone we’re, you know, we have anything going on, but, do you think, I mean, could we just be friends? Friend friends?

Downside risk: Eeww!

Upside possibility: You mean talk and stuff? I s’pose so. [Thinking] Uh, Harry, would you help me with my Algebra?

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This Beta Text Needs Smart Readers Like You

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Dear BCTS Friends,

Evi V is ready for testing in Beta version. Known formally as Balthasar’s Elixir Part V, this 16,000 word chunk is the continuation of Evelyn Westcott’s novel-length journey toward self-realization as a turn-of-the-20th Century gender-conflicted youth.

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Seeking Aid from One Who Knows Vienna Well

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Dear Friends, I am an American author engaged in the writing of a coming-of-age novel about a young person of indeterminate gender that is set in the early years of the 20th Century. Four parts to the novel, totalling over 70,000 words, have been posted on Big Closet Top Shelf (www.bigclosetr.us) as Balthasar’s Extract, the Diary of Evelyn Westcott.

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Balthasar's Extract (Evelyn's Diary : 4)

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 © 01.2008 by Daphne Laprov

Balthasar's Extract - Part IV
 
Evelyn Westcott's Turn of the Century Diary

It was an age of new things — the automobile, the aero- plane, social consciousness, moving pictures, mental hygiene and ragtime. Women were dumping the corset and demanding the vote, kicking over the pedestals upon which Victorian Sensibility had placed them. A time of creativity and experimentation in the natural sciences, of rapidly growing comprehension of how 'internal secretions' regulated human physiology. Our heroine, Evelyn Westcott, born Edward Tucker, is now seventeen and in the full bloom of youth. She and her friends are awakening to social injustice and sensual pleasures, spreading their wings, setting forth to conquer the widening world.

           

I Hope So Too

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Jan, Thanks so much for posting A Ray of Hope. I've been to the Third Way website that you mentioned, and read a synopsis of the progressive-evangelical dialogue and manifesto that's posted there. And it does give this BC regular, at least, reason for hope that people in the US may yet find "common ground" on cultural issues.

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The French Confection

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Marked by the Mob, our young hero and his mom flee to France where staying safe means taking on a whole new persona. There’s a story within the story when — who would have guessed? — our, uh, heroine helps out a gender-conflicted friend, but then the Mob catches up with uh, her. Does it all come out right in the end? Duh.

Looking for kinky stuff? Try Fictionmania. Hugs, Daphne

 © 01.2008 by Daphne Laprov

A Little Help From Her Friends (the end)

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A story of luck and pluck, good and evil, honesty and hypocrisy, and of a boy who gets by with a little help from her friends. The last of three parts.

 © 01.2008 by Daphne Laprov

A Little Help From Her Friends

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A Little Help from Her Friends

by Daphne

A story of luck and pluck, good and evil, honesty and hypocrisy, and of a boy who gets by with a little help from her friends.

People who like to read comments will find them at the end of part three.

A Little Help From Her Friends (the beginning)

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A story of luck and pluck, good and evil, honesty and hypocrisy, and of a boy who gets by with a little help from her friends. First of three parts.

 © 01.2008 by Daphne Laprov
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