Mirror mirror Ash!

[Mirror Ash stood before the twisted, distorted, reality-bent ruins of what used to be a Foundation facility; they have glowing green and red eyes all over their body and around their head, and their hair is long and manelike; they've given in to the rage they had hidden deep inside.]

i always fucking forget how funny paranatural is until shit like this has me cackling out loud for like 5 entire minutes

hey, i find your posts about historical fiction pretty interesting, do you have any recs?

anon this is the most beautiful and validating ask i have ever received. absolutely of COURSE I have recs. not gonna be a lot of deep cuts on this list but i love all of these books and occasionally books do receive awards and acclaim because they are good. in no particular order:

the cromwell trilogy by hilary mantel. of course i gotta start with the og. it’s 40 million pages on the tudor court and the english reformation and it will fundamentally change you as a person and a reader

(sub rec: the giant, o’brien by hilary mantel. in many ways a much shorter thematic companion to the cromwell trilogy imo. about stories and death and embodiment and the historical record and 18th century ireland. if you loved the trilogy, read this to experience hils playing with her own theories about historical fiction. if you are intimidated by the trilogy, read this first to get a taste of her prose style and her approach to the genre. either way please read all four novels ok thanks)

lincoln in the bardo by george saunders. the book that got me back into historical fiction as an adult. american history as narrated by a bunch of weird ghosts and abraham lincoln. chaotic and lovely and morbid.

the everlasting by katy simpson smith. rome through the ages as seen by a medici princess, a gay death-obsessed monk, and an early christian martyr. really historically grounded writing about religion and power, and also narrated with interjections from god’s ex boyfriend satan. smith is a trained historian and her prose slaps

(sub rec: free men by katy simpson smith. only a sub rec bc i read it a long time ago and my memory of it is imperfect but i loved it in 2017ish. about three men in the woods in the post revolutionary american south and by virtue of being about masculinity is actually about women. smith did her phd in antebellum southern femininity and motherhood iirc so this book is LOCKED IN to those perspectives)

a mercy by toni morrison. explores the dissolution of a household in 17th century new york. very different place and time than a lot of morrison’s bigger novels but just as mean and beautiful

(sub rec: beloved by toni morrison. a sub rec bc im pretty sure everyone has already read beloved but perhaps consider reading it again? histfic ghost story abt how the past is always here and will never go away and loves you and hates you and is trying to kill you)

an artist of the floating world by kazuo ishiguro. my bestie sir kazuo likes to explore the past through characters who, for one reason or another (amnesia, dementia, being a little baby robot who was just born yesterday, etc), are unable to fully comprehend their surroundings. this one is about post-wwii japan as understood by an elderly supporter of the imperial regime

(sub rec: remains of the day by kazuo ishiguro. same conceit as above except this time the elderly collaborator is incapable of reckoning with the slow collapse of the system that sheltered him due to britishness.)

the pull of the stars by emma donoghue. donoghue is a strong researcher and all of her novels are super grounded in their place and time without getting so caught up in it they turn into textbooks. i picked this one bc it is a wwi lesbian love story about childbirth that made me cry so hard i almost threw up on a plane but i recommend all her histfic published after 2010. before that she was still finding her stride.

days without end by sebastian barry. this one is hard to read and to rec bc it is about the us army’s policy of genocide against native americans in the 19th century west as told by an irish cavalry soldier. it is grim and violent and miserable and also so beautiful it makes me cry about every three pages. first time i read it i was genuinely inconsolable for two days afterwards.

this post is long as hell so HONORABLE MENTIONS: the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay by michael chabon, the western wind by samantha harvey, golden hill by frances spufford, barkskins by annie proulx, postcards by annie proulx, most things annie proulx has written but i feel like i talk about her too much, the view from castle rock by alice munro, the name of the rose by umberto eco, tracks by louise erdrich

good morning krusty crew!

thank you to the follower that brought me this cute set,,, very on trend for Valentine’s Day xo

Send me anons about what you’re manifesting rn!!!

A mirror I can fit in 😂🫣

Point.

I found a bunch of dresses I want to get 🥰

i thought for SURE there would be a post out there about doubling/mirroring in the handmaiden so i didnt bother to take more screenshots than these but i now cant find anyone talking about it so here i go anyway. like yes resemblance between women can be the result of enforced conformity to standards of femininity but also and crucially recognition of resemblance can act as a gateway to feelings of solidarity that eventually allow two people caught in a trap to stop climbing over each other and start boosting each other up instead. there is something about the pursuit of lesbian relationship that allows for the full realization of the radical potential embedded in that initial moment of recognition; that perverts and corrupts a resemblance which originally served as an expression of conformity into a marker of belonging to a conspiracy against one's oppressors. lesbianism here works as the antidote to the problem of fragmentation posed by the gothic double; if in sedgwick's formulation doubleness arises because the gothic self is "blocked off from something it ought normally have access to," such that the doubles become "counterparts rather than partners" and "the relationship between them is one of parallels and correspondences rather than communication," lesbian relationship reforges the unity that has been ruptured by conditions of exploitation, isolation, secrecy, and violence, reuniting doubles who have been made to oppose one another despite their parallel positions in narrative and social structure. even if all that initially caught their attention was their shared features, that moment of identification creates an opening through which they are able to recognize their shared interests and as a result move to avert their shared fate.

what kinda content you guys wanna see from this blog? I wanna commit to being a slut on here

also heres me drunk at 3 am

US legal drinking age (21) for heatwave!!! if possible. youre so cool sending asks to you scares me so i do it anonymously

"Is something wrong?"

Heatwave's helm snaps up at Optimus Prime. "Absolutely nothing!" he says too quickly, cringing at the way his voice cracks. "I'm fine. Totally fine."

Optimus narrows his optics. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Right," Heatwave says softly. He looks away, but Optimus doesn't stop staring at him.

It feels like the Prime is looking right through him, and Heatwave can't seem to shake the feeling that he knows.

Heatwave doesn't want him to know.

"Heatwave," Optimus says again, firmer, as he crouches down in front of Heatwave, who takes an automatic step back. Optimus' finials flick back slightly. Just like Chase's. Huh. "Are you sure nothing is wrong? I can have you talk to Ratchet."

"Nothing is wrong," Heatwave says firmly.

"Something is different?" Optimus tries. His finials flick again.

Heatwave's about to answer when something creeps at the corner of his vision, and he can't help the way his optics flick to the side even through he knows it's not real.

Optimus' gaze follows his, and Heatwave cringes. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"It's nothing," he tries. "Just... thought I saw something."

Optimus looks at him like he doesn't believe him, but nods anyways as he stands up. "Very well. Let us go."

I want you to let me join your team, Heatwave thinks, lagging behind slightly as they start walking again. I want to protect you. How am I supposed to protect you when I can barely protect my own rescue bots?

I've seen you die.

And worse, I think you know that.

Obsessed with this cute mirror 🪞