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belle-keys · 1 year

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i think the best thing about american psycho is actually how pathetic patrick bateman is actively characterized as and portrayed. he’s insecure, none of the other characters take him seriously, he has to kill people to compensate, he gets visibly triggered over every tiny inconvenience, he’s perceived as a sniveling spineless prick. the psycho in american psycho, who we’re not sure actually exists, is the intimidating sigma male patrick wants to be but is just not. and it’s been thirty years since incels have been misunderstanding and misappropriating this aspect of his character, which adds another layer of humor and harrowing concern to the debacle.

#american psycho #patrick bateman #bret easton ellis #literary fiction #books #books and literature #litfic #book blog #horror books

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filmografo · 7 months

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WIP intro - Warm Climates

genre: adult literary fiction / fantasy / horror, novella

( magical realism, queer gothic, the personification of the house, the lovecraftian horror of grief, death )

status: drafting / 2k words out of a ~20k word goal

pov: third person limited, present tense.

summary: Following the death of her mother, Cecilia Fierro leaves behind the city and a failed marriage in hopes of relearning herself, and finds more than she bargained for — a haunted house brimming with memories, an elusive woman in the woods, all the scars unseen and hidden inside of a soul.

tags: #: warm climates, #sun on skin, #celiza

characters:

Cecilia Fierro | 55, she/her, chained to the past in a way unknown even to her own self, painstakingly human.

Eliza | ??, she/her, knows curiosity wasn’t what killed the cat.

excerpt:

From here, the house seems to be millimeters tall and Cecilia would need to run for minutes in order to reach it. There was a time when that was easy, there was a time when running was the only option. The dirt road leaves its mark on the pickup truck’s windshield. It hasn’t rained in days. Maybe dirt is better than mud, anyway. Easier to clean up. The animals that were supposed to greet her have been dead for a long time. Maybe having no one to look after is better than the alternative, anyway. Less work for someone who’s running away from theirs. The house, its dauting presence, grows with each passing second — a good chunk of the plants around it has succumbed to the summer heat, and the rest is overgrown, ugly. It has too many windows, it’s painted this sickly dark-red, blood-red, wine color that churns Cecilia’s stomach. Keep the house, Cassie had said, It was always more yours than it was mine. Getting rid of something you were attached to for so long feels like disembodiment. Surgically removing a vital organ and watching as the blood gushes out of the wound.

Cecilia kept her dead mother’s farm house, of course. What else was she supposed to do?

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libraryofchlo · 6 months

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books i read in 2023: Rouge - Mona Awad

#rouge #mona awad #literary fiction #litfic #booktok #booklr #bunny #thriller

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premium-grownup-dill · 8 months

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current read:

Her Body and Other Parties ~ Carmen Maria Machado

#carmen maria machado #queer books #litfic #bookblr

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theauthorpaula · 1 month

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(via Creating Believable Characters)

#writing a book #writing a novel #writetip #litfic #new adult #write forever

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readlikeido · 11 months

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review:

positives - so sharply funny at times. i really enjoyed how the scene on page would be a gruesome killing or her cooking human meat and then she would just say the funniest, most unhinged stuff ever. dorothy came across as very cool, detached and clinical which i heavily enjoyed. her murder plans came across as realistic to me, nothing too outrageous or hard to believe. the only part i'm a bit confused about is her claiming to be a psychopath and still falling in love? admittedly, i don't know much about psychopaths or just human psychology in general. negatives - i had the exact opposite problem with this than I've had with several others. the first and the last 50 pages were quite confusing or simply lacked excitement, the middle, however, was extremely interesting to me. the first 50 pages almost made me lose interest because of how clueless i felt, but i'm very glad i pushed through. just a lot of (and i mean a lot of ) talk of sex, it got repetitive after a certain point... in conclusion - 3.5 stars, i enjoyed it very much. i think i might give it a higher rating on a second read simply because i would have the added context.

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lgbtqreads · 1 year

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hi! do you have any recs for books that talk about exploring gender indepth and in a unconventional way? preferably with a nonbinary/gnc main characters and in adult literary fiction, but I'm not too picky on genre. sorry if this is too specific, and thanks so much!

Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly is exactly what you're looking for and comes out in just a few weeks. (Handy preorder link: https://bookshop.org/a/2228/9781643751849) I think Vanishing Monuments by John Elizabeth Stintzi and Paul Takes the Form of a Normal Girl by Andrea Lawlor would be great for this as well.

I will say that if you're up for a little YA (or if someone else is reading this and wants the same thing but in YA), I will always recommend Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky and Man O'War by Cory McCarthy.

#LGBTQReads #Nonbinary #Litfic

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annlillyjose · 10 months

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dairy whiskey – update 04

[image description: on a blurry shot of leaves against a dark grey wall, a white serif font reads, “dairy whiskey – update 04”. / end id]

hi, hello, how have you been?

if you’ve been following along on the chaotic journey of me writing this book, you probably already know that i finished this book a few days back. hence proven, i am feeling an unimaginably complex blend of emotions that i can’t comprehend on my own. however, i think it’s safe to say that at the core of it all, deep in my heart, i feel a true sense of joy and accomplishment. to say the very least, i am proud.

this is not a book-ending update, though. that’ll be the one that comes after this, hopefully in a few days. but here we go, a few excerpts from a few chapters from one of my many books. hope you enjoy!

excerpts and taglist under the cut.

disclaimer: this is an original work of fiction. plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated.

TWs: this novel deals with themes of childhood and religious trauma, sexual, emotional, and substance abuse, mental health issues, self-harm, abortion, suicidal ideation, etc. so please be kind on yourself and read ahead only if you're comfortable. while the excerpts i share may or may not touch on these, the themes are very prevalent. please be kind to yourself and read ahead only if you're comfortable.

a lot of the plot is kept private for now because i intend on publishing this book, so please excuse the lack of context. i hope you can enjoy the prose, though.

chapter six – flock and soil

the first quarter of this chapter is happy, the second is emotional, and the last two are extremely sad. i have three excerpts to share, without any context, of course.

But it had actually started a long time back, when we met for the first time and I heard the lullabies being sung beneath his eyes. The flowers that had bloomed between us today had budded long ago, even before time had been created, and the plants had taken root in my stomach before anything ever was. I had been lured into the melody of his voice; the simple way his bones were placed inside his body. It had all started long back when I looked at him and he looked back at me. It started with the exchange of sight; when my eyes wanted to see him more than they wanted to see anything. It had all started a long time back, but now, we had a body to give it. We had something we could touch and call our own. We had skin and we had bones.

this is dinah talking about austin. believe it or not, i am not that cruel. she gets her share of happy and truly romantic moments, i promise!

the second excerpt is a conversation between dinah and ephron. i wanted to show you a moment of theirs that’s not too intense (which is rare, but not non-existent).

“Where were you?” he asked. “I was worried about you. And why do your eyes look like that? Were you drinking?”

“Ooh, calm down with the questions,” I said. “I went to meet some friends at a house party. Yes, we did drink a little bit. My eyes are fine.”

“They’re the size of golf balls!”

i’ve got nothing to say about the third excerpt. it is what it is.

I looked back in the mirror. My cheekbones and nose had been lifted in a copper glow, a beet blush spreading through my cheeks. There was a cosmic glimmer in my eyes. The sound of conch shells murmured in my ear. My heart had turned into a lighthouse at the base of which a thousand waves beat and crashed against each other. It beat with a swell, milk and honey oozing out. Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, the night would soon crawl into a fisherman’s boat and sing him to sleep, but here, every bone in my body would twist to the sun, bringing forth a morning with flowers, nectar, and birdsong.

proves my theory – i’m not that cruel.

vignette six – salt and light

unfortunately, due to spoiler reasons, i won’t be sharing anything from this chapter. here’s one thing to know, though – it’s terribly sad.

chapter seven – what blooms in the armageddon

no excerpts in this chapter either. all i can say is, things happen. things change.

vignette seven – cradle song

written from mariam’s perspective, this vignette is a conversation in which only one person speaks – the mother.

When the world comes to an end, baby, we will be back together. The skies will be beautiful and I’ll feed you balls of rice. I will hold you close to me. I will not let you go. I will show you butterflies and bring your hand to dog fur. You will put your fingers in my hair and I will stick little leaves in yours. I will buy you a watercolour kit. I will take you to the supermarket. I will buy you all the cookies in the aisle. I will make you payasam when you ask for it. When the day ends and the night falls, I will hold you close and draw a cross on your head. I will sing you a song.

this goes on and on for quite long, but i’ll cut it off right there.

thanks for reading along. tell me what you’ve been feeling, what you’ve been working on, what thoughts are occupying your head, or anything that you’re really excited about.

i hope you enjoy the excerpts. in the meantime, i’ll be curating the last update for this novel. see you all again!

– ann.

general taglist (ask to be added or removed)

@shaonsim @heartfullkings @vnsmiles @dallonwrites @sienna-writes @violetpeso @flip-phones @rowansghost @ambidextrousarcher @zoe-louvre @writing-with-l @magic-is-something-we-create @femmeniism @frozenstillicide @wizardfromthesea @rose-bookblood @coffeeandcalligraphy @rodentwrites @saltwaterbells @snehithiye

#dairy whiskey #dairy whiskey update #wip update #wip tag #writeblr #writeblr update #excerpts #novel excerpts #literary fiction novel #litfic #aljwrites #writing update #writing talk

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usnatarchives · 2 years

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NARA gif from "Your National Archives" NARA ID 12065.

Happy #National BOOK Lovers Day! By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

Happy #NationalBookLoversDay to our many literary fans ! Of course, here at the Archives we're all HUGE fans of the written word! Here are some of our favorite literary holdings.

Mary Poppins of books? ALA WWI Campaign for Books, NY Public Library, NARA ID 17342827.

#ErnestHemingway’s 1923 passport photo!

Kids and books - a perfect match! See also: National School Librarian Day!

NARA gif online here, from NARA ID 52738.

Children check out books at the Benjamin Franklin Library, NARA ID 23932426.

Books in SPACE! Astronaut Janice Voss reads “A Man on the Moon” while exercising on an ergometer on the middeck of Endeavour, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 105.

#JamesBaldwin and #MarlonBrando at the March on Washington.

NARA gif from "Your National Archives" NARA ID 12065.

Edgar Allan Poe's enlistment document! Poe joined the Army at the age of 18 using a false name, Edgar Perry, and a false age (22)!

Cautionary Tale: “The Day the Books Went Blank” If books are banned will the pages go blank? That’s the outcome dramatized in this 1961 USIA film of a mythical day when all printed pages go blank and libraries vanish.

NARA gif, NARA ID 52738.

More online:

7 Photos for People Who Love Books, Pieces of History post by former NARA intern extraordinaire Brooke Engerman.

Books, Boots & Bridles: The Packhorse Librarians

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mightymur · 15 days

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[ISBW] The Landscape of Grief with Scott Alexander Howard

S20 Ep11: In which we travel to “The Other Valley” Transcript “I wrote it in a blissful who cares? Mentality, like, ‘oh, well, genre will sort itself out.'” – Scott Alexander Howard In this episode, we’re joined by Scott Alexander Howard, author of The Other Valley, a novel where literary meets speculative. Scott delves into his journey from philosophy to fiction, sharing how his background…

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#Character Development #Debut Novel #Grief In Fiction #isbw #Literary Agents #Litfic #livestream #Magical Realism #Querying #Scott Alexander Howard #The Other Valley #Time Travel #Writing Challenges #Writing Process

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belle-keys · 5 months

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“In ancient Rome, grief made men twirl in their thin, leather sandals and pirouette until their feet bled; in India, it walked widows onto pyres waiting for fire. The Persians gave the bodies of their deceased beloveds to dogs; the Egyptians buried them with servants. Grief will make you laugh at the funeral, weep over the cereal bowl; it will buzz your feet until they start dancing in the middle of the night. It’s grief that inspires the unlikeliest of bedfellows… Grief will pack your bag, quit your job, buy a white dress. It will make you say yes.”

- The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan

#hala alyan #palestinian authors #palestinian writers #palestine #free palestine #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #grief #grief quotes #book quotes #marriage #marriage quotes #litfic

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writeblrdirectory · 10 months

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@myst1f1ed

NAME: shahla

PRONOUNS: any

USERNAME/URL: myst1f1ed

SHORT BIO: My name is Shahla. I am a 16 year old writer from the Middle East. I like to write short stories, poems, mystery and crime fiction. I’m thinking of writing religious and historical fiction in future. My current WIP, “Holy Grounds” explores themes of weird family dynamics, killing in the name, regret, betrayal and the main characters are queer, one of them being desi!

WHO I'D LIKE TO CONNECT WITH: I’d love to connect with any writer! Teen writers, POC writers, queer and trans writers! but knowing someone who also writes crime and mystery would be lovely!

SOCIAL LINKS:

>> join the writeblr directory

#writeblr #any #crime #mystery #detective fiction #short stories #litfic #historical fiction #gothic horror #poetry

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thebookwormdaydreamer · 5 months

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After my months long gacha game phase due to genshin and honkai star rail, I’m reading books again. I’m mostly reading classics and litfic like last year. I tried reading Olaf Stapledon’s Last and First Men but honestly realized I might not be as into sci-fi or maybe it’s just that book, but I do want to try John Wyndham’s Trouble With Lichen. I loved The Midwich Cuckoos which I read last year. I also finally read more Dostoevsky in the form of The Gambler which was okay and I think I’ll tackle Anna Karenina next year. For the rest of the year, I want to read Dead Souls, some nonfiction, and maybe more underrated books.

Something I realized when it comes to my reading is that while yes, I want to read the mainstream and hyped up classics because they are classics for a reason, I also want to stray from the popular stuff and discover on my own books that aren’t as well-known but are good. I’m also making it a goal to read more underrated women authors. Last year, I read Life and Death of Harriet Frean by May Sinclair which I absolutely loved so I want to read Mary Olivier: A Life which is somewhat similar. I also have a copy of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall and bought Nightwood by Djuna Barnes. Nightwood is short so I think I might be able to get around to it before the end of the year.

Next year, I want to read more Virginia Woolf and actually read her works properly this time and also read a couple of Vita-Sackville West’s novels. I think it’s a shame she’s almost never mentioned without Virginia Woolf when she was a novelist herself so I want to read her work for myself.

#bookblr #classic literature #litfic

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enparallel · 9 months

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Book report: Trust

Trust, by Hernan Diaz

I did enjoy this, it unfurls at a very nice pace and wound me right up on the opposite spool. Short and full of human beings and I won an argument on deregulation like five days after thanks to being steeped in finance nerd speak that was secretly very accessible for the storied common reader. Or at least made me feel smart for getting it.

I suppose also moving/telling ethically about how having mountains of money affects a person and the experience of reality, that was very well done and I should not take it as read, main point of book etc.

#book report #2023 reads #good #litfic #short book #mystery

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premium-grownup-dill · 8 months

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#bookblr #litfic #queerbooks #cats

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theauthorpaula · 17 days

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(via Writing Believable Dialogue)

#writers on tumblr #new adult fiction #histfic #litfic

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