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In 1961, John and Paul set out on a hitchhiking trip with the intention of traveling to Spain through Paris. Though they never made it to their destination, that incomplete route holds its own significance.

There is another (far older) history associated with a journey from Paris to Spain — The Camino de Santiago, “the way of St. James.” One of the major pilgrimage roads to Santiago de Compostela begins in Paris, at the Tour Saint-Jacques — Saint James’s Tower — the remaining structure of the church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie and the burial site of Nicholas Flamel. From there, the route crosses the Seine into the Left Bank, where Rue Saint-Jacques continues south through the Latin Quarter and out of the city, onto the old pilgrimage road toward Spain.

In alchemical legend, Nicholas Flamel walked The Camino de Santiago in search of someone who could interpret the figures in a mysterious manuscript he had acquired in Paris. The key to the text was ultimately revealed through the journey; along the road, Flamel gained the knowledge that would allow him to complete the Work himself. He became the very person he sought. The promise of the pilgrimage is compressed in that legend: traveling as a means of transformation. The self is changed through the act of making the journey.

Traditionally, the road to Santiago de Compostela is tied to the discovery of Saint James’s tomb under a miraculous star; Compostela is often read as Campus Stellae, or “field of stars” (though its etymology is debated, with compostum/burial place also given as a competing derivation.) Within this tradition, the camino is associated with the Milky Way — a heavenly road above corresponding to the pilgrim road below, on earth — giving rise to another name: The Road of the Stars.

Past Santiago, the journey continues west to Finisterre, from finis terrae: the “end of the earth.” The cape sits on Galicia’s Costa da Morte, the Coast of Death, considered in Classical Antiquity to be the end of the known world and the gates to the afterlife. Finisterre is also associated with the legendary Ara Solis, an ancient altar to the sun.

And so the road goes beyond the tomb and toward the place where the sun disappears into the Atlantic, the edge of the earth, the border between this world and whatever comes after it — toward The End of The End.

In a 2007 interview, when discussing the song, Paul was asked what he imagined to be “a much better place.” His answer — “a journey to Spain, through Paris” — inevitably recalls the trip that he and John set off on in 1961. But in classic McCartney fashion, its poignancy lies in its duality. Heaven is not some abstract elsewhere but both a memory of the past and an imagined future, the start of a journey along the Road of the Stars. As above, so below. The end and beginning at once.

Won't You Come Out to Play presents our first digital zine:

We had ten fabulous authors write some incredible essays for Pride Month, and now it is finally time to share it with everyone! Check out the article below to get to know the authors and their works and click here to access the zine!

From the four of us at WYCOTP, Happy Pride!! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Happy St Patrick's Day! ☘️ Celebrate with Chapter One of my new Beatles fic, Pentimento, a novel-length story from the POV of Stuart Sutcliffe, who in this universe doesn't die in 1962 and has a front-row seat to the Great Gay Panic/John-Paul Breakdown of 1968 (for his sins).

A story about queer life in Swinging London, with characters you know well and some new ones, weaving in and out of each other's lives and relationships like some kind of enormous macramé shawl.

We open in February 1968. Stuart is a working artist living in London with Astrid, occasionally doing freelance work for his old friends the Beatles. Stuart and Astrid have an open marriage and each embark on passionate queer relationships, which bring them both joy but challenge their stability as a couple. Meanwhile, Stuart is worried about John and his seeming mental breakdown, and has very mixed feelings about John's way of dealing with this. These mixed feelings draw him closer to his old enemy Paul, who he has developed a better relationship with over the years, but who he still has trouble understanding.

Events contrive to draw Stuart deeper into the vortex of chaos caused by John and Paul's prolonged, painful breakup, while he simultaneously struggles to keep a handle on his increasingly complex personal life.

In this universe, John and Paul have been a covert, non-monogamous couple since about 1961, while Stuart and John had a relationship before then, ended by Stuart meeting Astrid. John also had an affair with Brian, whose tragic death looms large over the story.

Please note that, as well as the listed tags, there are additional tags of

very sensitive content

that I have put in a hidden menu in the story opening notes because they spoil significant elements of the plot. These tags can be viewed in the menu and I would recommend viewing them if you have any concerns, but just keep in mind that you will be spoiled!

I will note that this sensitive content is NOT graphic violence, rape, non-con or child abuse - this might be helpful if you know you don't want to read anything on those subjects, and also don't want to be spoiled.

This story will update twice a week, usually on Tuesdays and Saturdays (although it will be Tuesday and Friday this first week).

Comments always welcome! I hope you like it <3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

"I look at early pictures of meself, and I was torn between being Marlon Brando and being the sensitive poet - the Oscar Wilde part of me with the velvet, feminine side. I was always torn between the two, mainly opting for the macho side, because if you showed the other side, you were dead." John lennon - The Last Rolling Stone Interview: By Jonathan Cott, Rolling Stone Magazine 1980

The fag of the day is Paul McCartney!

Wassily Kandinsky