ARTS FUNDING WORKS

Made an account on Threads because I felt like I probably should but Threads feels like a dark funhouse-mirror version of Bluesky and I don't like it at all.

I feel like I've been spoiled for horror media lately, especially vampire media. TVL is giving me so much to chew over (and reading TVC at the same time - even more to chew over). I saw Obsession at the cinema this week and thought it was fantastic. All my library holds have arrived

Who designed this book cover for Cry to Heaven. I just wanna talk

GIRLS NIGHT

our gay agenda?? the most queer books you’ve ever seen together in one place & the more $$ we raise in our annual fundraiser the faster we’re able to add to our collection (givebutter.com/qqlls-pride-...)

We all have the ability to make the world a better place, each in our own way. I think it's fair to say that Anthony Head knew this, recognised it, and did far more than most to live up to the opportunities his fame afforded him in order to put good into this world whenever and wherever he could.

You go weeks and weeks waiting for your library reservations to come through and then suddenly two are ready at once. And you aren't in town to collect them.

People don't long for "inconvenience." They long for permanence. And though streaming services may be convenient, people are waking up to the fact that we are paying rent-seeking middle men month after month for things we will never actually own.

I wish I could snap my legs off at the hip and reattach them like a Barbie doll. I reckon that would feel great.

The horror genre has historically and consistently made disabled people a spectacle and it's really super fucked, it's gotta do better and it starts with pointing this out. My labored breathing or my locked-up hands are not your horror villain.

Four words: Talk. To. Disabled. People. If you don't know firsthand what it's like to face down an indifferent medical institution, to weigh brutal side-effects against the risks of an illness untreated, to have your autonomy denied... you need to ask. Because many of us can, in fact, tell you.

Faerie Castle. From my sketchbook. This is a drawing of the setting for the story I’m working on. Not quite there yet but I’m on the right track.

sometimes reading a book is carrying it from room to room and not actually reading the book at all

#Ootd is this 1954 bolero and evening gown by Jacques Fath. Fath designed dresses with an hourglass silhouette with fitted bodices and full skirts. He did this before 1947, so he may have influenced Dior's New Look or at least he had similar ideas. #Fashionhistory

A little curiosity and focus will open up a world stretching back centuries that will shock you with how familiar it feels, how current and relatable its concerns are. Those people were humans just like you, and what they made is every bit as exciting as anything being made now!

Capitalism lives in the eternal "now". It doesn't want you to know about history, it doesn't want you to know art has existed for tens of thousands of years, it wants you slavering for whatever's coming NEXT, whatever's HOT and NEW, and ignoring everything else. You do not have to do this.

Incredibly good news! 🖤

📢 Polling stations are now open! 📢 Want to replace the failing Labour Party and defeat the hateful message of Reform? Get yourself down to your local polling station and vote Green today! Every vote counts. Make sure your voice is heard 💚 Don’t forget your Photo ID for voting in England!

Pierre Bourdieu once argued that the question of whether something is art isn't answered by the artist's intention or even the object itself. Instead, the quality of being "art" is conferred by a community — curators, dealers, auction houses, audiences, etc. 🧵

It's a sculpture celebrating the form; it's a jilted Victorian ghost bride; it's the statue at the far end of the cemetery that you *swear* just moved; frankly it's everything

Had a fabulous day at Portsmouth Comic Con!! Thank you to all the organisers who kept everything running, especially when it started tipping down and everyone crowded inside. Also thank you @maggiestiefvater.bsky.social - it was lovely meeting you! 🖤

Currently flip-flopping between three different books because I'm not in the mood to just sit down and see one through. I forget that you can do this. Sometimes it breaks the immersion but other times it's just the thing.

Insomnia has me vividly remembering the first time I stayed up all night reading fanfic. I was 15. It was Death Note. I saw the sun seeping in through the curtains at 4am and knew I'd doomed myself to an exhausting day at school. (But honestly? I think it was worth it.)

If you preorder The Red Sacrament you too can be as cool as Holly Kybett Smith

when we mourn le guin, we mourn one of our greatest writers & thinkers. but we also mourn one of our all-time greatest haters

Just preordered my copy of The Red Sacrament by @boneysoups.bsky.social (so excited!!) along with a copy of The Fan Fiction Studies Reader (@transformativeworks.org), which I just know is going to be a treat.

Make bad art. Especially if your job is making good art. You gotta let go my friends. You gotta create just for the sake of creating. Let it out. Make a mark. Share it with nobody but yourself. Indulge in the act of creation. It's what humans are made for.

Remember, a first draft's only job is to exist

I am, of course, feeling calm and normal about this.

Wrote a long post on my tumblr about how if we all just got really into one form of weird and experimental art, our conversations about art would be so much better, and I thought I would share it here also

I think the best you can really do is write earnestly. It won't always be good. It won't always be exactly what you intended. But if it's earnest, if you love it and you aren't ashamed to love it, you'll have written something you can be proud of.

Hi! I'm Holly, and I write things. Hang about for queer & Gothic horror about vampirism, chronic illness, late-stage capitalism and the UK's seaside towns. Newsletter: ligaments.substack.com Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thelibrarybat

This Is Just To Say I have turned off the AI features that were in the update and which you were probably hoping to monetize Fuck you they were stupid so unnecessary and so annoying

relaxing pastel backgrounds when

Books books books books books books books books books books books books books books books

Finished reading Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black earlier this month and I can't stop thinking about it. Maybe it's a silly thing to say about a ghost story but I feel haunted. (In a good way.)

My copy arrived this week and it's gorgeous. Don't miss out! 🖤

An announcement from Vol. 1 of TVC: Blood and Brocade: An Interview with the Vampire historical fashion zine!! TVC was able to donate $7500 to PCRF. Thank you all! TVC is also happy to announce the SECOND PRINT RUN of B&B, available NOW! 🪡❤️ #iwtv

The world is very bad so please just make what you want. We aren’t getting any more alive.

NEW VIDEO youtu.be/uiGIbdrQjbI?...

i spoke with vampire santa and he told me to give the gift of zine to all the good little offals and offalesses out there. the digital version of TVC Vol 1; Blood & Brocade is now UP! 🩸🎄 sink your teeth into 200 pages of your favorite problematic vamps in fun fashion. #iwtv

TONIGHT! only 12 hours left to grab your copy of #BloodAndBrocade , thee historical fashion #iwtv zine ever!! please support your favorite iwtv creators as well as PCRF 🌹🩸everything closes up after 11:59PM this evening 🪡 claudia sketch by @fruitgravy.bsky.social !

ATTENTION ALL VAMPIRE ENJOYERS‼️ there is only 1 WEEK LEFT to reserve your copy of BLOOD & BROCADE! sink your teeth into 200 pages of our fave vamps in finery throughout history 🚢s by early jan 🎁 our birthday princess claudia and mojito brought to you by docphag on twt 🐾 #iwtv

Hope is here. Help us beat Reform in May. Donate today ⤵️

IT'S HERE! The Velvet Compote is incredibly honored to announce that preorders have OPENED for Blood & Brocade: An #IWTV Charity Fanzine. Enjoy the work of dozens of artists and writers from around the world as they bring historical fashion and eternal vampirism together🪡 🩸

💎The Glass Delusion 💎 by @kybettie.bsky.social When a famous actress falls ill, Winnie starts to exhibit similar symptoms. Are the symptoms real, or has she fallen under the same delusion? Get your copy of Issue Nine now!

I got annoyed enough about this that I decided to write an article.

now introducing the WRITERS of #BloodAndBrocade ! yes ! this project will feature BOTH illustrations and pieces of writing, both fiction and nonfiction, centered around the theme of vampiric fashion. can't wait to see what they cook up! ✍️🧵 (1/3)

Controversial take maybe but “Weird Girl Lit” to me feels like one of those terms that starts out well-intentioned but rapidly veers into belittling territory.