#excellence in fiction

[wellesleybooks]

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction 

The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year.

Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian

#andrew carnegie medal #american library association #excellence in nonfiction #excellence in fiction #amanda peters #roxanna asgarian #berry pickers #we were once a family

[heart0fclay]

Jacob Elordi characters >>>>>

#felix catton #jacob elordi #ian reynolds #rooster swinging safari #saltburn #chase hoghan #fictional characters #the sweet east #swinging safari #the very excellent mr dundee #the mortuary collection #jake matthews #2 hearts #chris gregory #euphoria #nate jacobs

[iamfitzwilliamdarcy]

look Taylor swift is a secular woman with secular values as a product of living in a secular culture, but maybe we should be asking what it is about her that appeals to multiple generations of women and girls because I guarantee you it’s not that she’s unmarried with cats

#Like not to exaggerate but #She is an excellent storyteller #With a way of making both fiction and her personal experiences relate universally #Like Taylor makes the interior lives of women valuable and that is just…super neat??? #Do people even listen to her????

[tygerland]

Author Samuel R. Delany, photographed by Laurie Toby Edison at his Upper West Side apartment in New York City, 2003.

#black history #samuel r delany #science fiction #icons #black men #black excellence #lgbtq #gender #queer #sci fi #fantasy #society #lit #author #black tumblr #gay #pride #history #samuel r. delany #samuel delany #laurie toby edison #queer history #📚

[katherynefromphilly]

If you enjoy Merthur stories in which Merlin or Arthur (or both) work with animals, then I highly recommend reading these:

“Twitch Your Whiskers and Pull My Tail” by @bluesimplicity73 (explicit, 61k)

and

“All Things Loved And Lovesick” by horsecrazy / @cbk1000 (explicit, 90k)

If anyone knows of any other similarly themed stories, please feel free to add!

#merthur #merlin fan fiction #merlin fan fic #bbc merlin fanfic #bbc merlin fan fic #excellently written stories #bbc merlin #merlin

[emeryleewho]

I don't know who needs to hear this but if a story makes you laugh or smile or cry or even just walk out of it saying, "huh, that was an interesting way to spend a few hours", then that's actually a pretty cool work of art. This idea that every piece needs to be some World-Altering, profound work that will restructure the very fabric of reality itself to be considered good or worthwhile is absurd and also counterproductive. All art serves a purpose and sometimes that purpose is to reestablish important threads within the fabric of culture and the human experience and sometimes that purpose is to make you giggle at 2am and nothing else.

#art #writing #books #fiction #media #like some stories i absolutely adore do nothing for the culture #they're just fun but that fun is was inspires greater works #and that fun is also what makes the day to day more bearable #and both of those are excellent reasons art should exist

[hephaestuscrew]

A book asks the reader to imagine any sensory input of the story, whereas a film or TV show provides both sound and visuals. Audio fiction lives in the space between these two approaches. I think there's a unique power to that middle ground. I love how audio drama asks the listener to co-construct their sensory experience of the story.

Audio drama allows me to simultaneously experience 'This character feels real to me because I've heard their voice' and 'This character feels real to me because I've pictured them myself'.

What the characters are experiencing is both directly presented to me and left to my imagination. There's no page or screen between me and the story. It's there in my ears. It's there in my mind's eye.

There's a strange sense of intimacy to that, the intimacy of feeling like a fly on the wall during a conversation or of hearing a character speaking as if directly to me. Perhaps it sounds contradictory to say that experiencing a story only through sound allows me to feel uniquely connected to that story, but that's one of the reasons why I love audio fiction so much.

#I am conscious that this is very much the perspective of a sighted and hearing person #and I hope that doesn't come across weirdly #I'm just trying to articulate how I feel about it #This is no shade to books/films/TV btw #They are also excellent mediums with their own strengths #Honestly the main reason why podcasts are my primary form of media consumption #is probs that I'm bad at setting aside time to read/watch things #rather than necessarily because of the specific power of audio fiction #but the particular magic of audio fiction is a nice bonus #I don't really buy into the idea that reading is 'active' while watching video is inherently 'passive' #but under that way of thinking audio fiction is kind of between passive and active in an interesting way #podcasts #audio drama #audio fiction #the empty man posteth #I'd be interested to know if this resonates with anyone else or if it's just me #Also another element to this which makes it weirder is that I have a pretty weak visual imagination #so when I say 'mind's eye' that tends to mean vague concepts for me rather than actual images #but it still helps me feel connected to the story in a unique way. Idk

[fromtheseventhhell]

Sometimes I see people misinterpreting Arya's character and honestly, all it does is make me appreciate her that much more. George could've easily written her into as a basic archetype and instead, he gave us one of the most complex and well-developed characters in the series and I'm forever grateful for that 🫶🏾

#arya stark #asoiaf #grateful everyday that George didn't write Arya as a basic NLOG type and instead we got a fleshed out character #with a complicated relationship with her gender role and self-perception #we could've had her disdain other women and instead we have a character who insists on the importance of women in a misogynistic society #gets revenge for a victim of a gang rape + takes care of a small child in a war zone despite being a child herself and defends + admires #+ fosters positive relationships with women from all different walks of life because of how they treat her #she has non-conforming interests but that also blends well with other traditionally feminine qualities #she has a sword! but she primarily has to rely on her intelligence and other skills to help her survive #she's a social creature who fosters relationships everywhere but she has to deal with the crushing weight of isolation and loneliness #she has maturity and intelligence beyond her years but she also captures the helplessness and vulnerability of a child #she can handle being personally mistreated but gets extremely defensive when it's someone she cares about being hurt #she's just so...well-written and the way she was ruined in the show was such a waste of excellent source material #being 100% serious when I say she is one of the best-written characters in fiction and her story is severely underrated #if we don't ever get the ending that George intended for her it'll be a tragedy

[machetelanding]

#funny #humor #bill & ted's excellent adventure #bill & ted #napoleon #joaquin phoenix #ridley scott #science fiction #comedy #historical #drama #movies #mashup

[steelycunt]

‘gay retelling of a classic!’ ‘feminist sapphic twist on this greek myth!’ why don’t you write a better book than that. i think we deserve better books than that

#just had ‘jane austen’s mansfield park reimagined as a sapphic murder mystery’ advertised 2 me on IG. and i just think you should write a #better book than that. if you want to write a ‘sapphic murder mystery’ then write it. the fact that you have to lean on existing classics #and advertise yours as a ‘retelling’ or a ‘twist’ or a ‘reimagining’ suggests to me that you are not a very good writer. sorry this is very #hatery but i believe it…just write a new book. a better book. what is the point of writing a gay version of wuthering heights other than it #solves your problem of not being able to come up with a plot because you are not a very good writer. i dont know. i suppose there is space #for anything and should be space for all sorts in the publishing industry but also i hear sapphic murder mystery mansfield park and i think #that’s probably not a very good book. idk. there is excellent queer and feminist original fiction out there without the need to take #existing literature at random and use that as a crutch for some reason… #(ridi's) bigmouth strikes again

[earlgodwin]

ok so i'm re-reading blood and beauty once again, and i have to say that sarah dunant is the superior borgia fiction writer out there. i absolutely love her delicate and evocative writing as well as how she brilliantly humanizes the characters through compelling narratives. not to mention her attention to detail and meticulous research creates a rich historical backdrop, immersing us in the fascinating world of the borgia family. she also has an exceptional understanding of how hot and terrible cesare can be while still making him nuanced. it's a personal win for me as someone who's pretty much bored of his character being softened up and romanticized in other works. the more he does something awful, the more compelling he becomes to me (although he wasn't romanticized much in showtime's the borgias but his image of an over-ambitious, sadistic, gaslighting, and manipulative guy seems to appear innocent that watchers tend to overlook it, and some of his misdeeds were dumped onto juan, like making him the only one having an affair with sancia of aragon when cesare was involved as well, or having him kill lucrezia's lover, paolo, etc., which is why i wasn't as interested in cesare as i was in juan because juan does nasty acts, but you get an idea of why he did what he did and still find the human in the heinous.) the most phenomenal writing part for me was to not lean into the rumors by not having cesare kill juan because it's closer to historical reality. and as much as cesare's 'from envy to fratricide' pipeline can be groundbreaking like how it worked in showtime's the borgias, dunant proved that juan's murder can still be astounding without the fratricide. because even if cesare did have a tempting motive to kill him, as he wanted his position so badly, cesare's letters to him make me doubt that he ever had any involvement in his murder since the letters show so much fraternal love. i also want to add that rodrigo's deep love for his children, while being self-aware and devastated over the fact that he uses them and forces them into roles they're incompetent for and marriages for political gain, was a standout aspect in the book. in short, the book is emotionally engaging because it delves into the intriguing world of the borgia family's renaissance. imo, it's a must-read for borgia enthusiasts.

#historical fiction writers wanna be sarah dunant so bad but they could never i fear #blood and beauty is my roman empire actually #excellent characterization and amazing dynamics goddamn #and soooo beautifully written too like !?!? #and kinda historically accurate so... #it is perfect sorry #blood and beauty #sarah dunant #the borgias #house borgia #borgia #the borgia family #books and libraries #literature #historical fiction #historical figures #cesare borgia #juan borgia #historical drama #text post

[spidersunday]

hilda characters as stupid twitter/misc screenshots i found

#severin's awful camera roll #i don't think most characters would have a twitter except for kelly #she has a really messy twitter and tiktok and probably has like three alts and a callout document made on her #eden is my headcanon name for the twintails marra #no particular reason i just think eden is a cool name #also yeah i'm really bad at making usernames for fictional characters but im excellent at making usernames for myself trust 🙏 #hilda the series #hilda netflix #hilda shitpost #i might crosspost a few of these to twitter and make more idk

[turanga4]

For @hinnymicrofic Prompt 10: Flower

Read on ao3 or above and below the cut. Bit more than 500 words.

“The pink just won’t work, not with your complexion.” Fleur was clicking her tongue.  Ginny wore a dangerous look that he hadn’t seen in weeks: Harry watched her snatch the notebook and spin out of the room.

If he knocked, she wouldn’t answer.  She wouldn’t know it was him.  He pushed the door open just a little, an offering. He’d counted to nine when she opened the rest. 

Harry gestured to the notebook, still held close to her chest.

“Can I see?”

Ginny frowned. “I thought we agreed that you’d let us take care of it.”

“I thought you agreed to let Fleur take care of most of it.” 

She shook her head. “Not my corsage. Not your boutonniere.”

“What even is that? Why does it matter?”

Her eyes flashed again: Harry took one step back.  “I just mean…you seemed angry, there. Is it worth that?”

“The groom’s parents ought to walk with him, Harry. If my dad, then your mum. That’s the part that matters.”  Ginny sat on her bed and patted the space beside her.  Harry sat down.

She flipped the cream-colored pages and laid the book open. At the top of one page, the lapel of his jacket.  Below, a closer drawing of the flowers to be pinned.

One simple white lily on a bed of pink carnations.

“Your mother was born in January,” she said quietly. “January…it’s carnations.  But that’s not all they mean.”

A swelling in his throat as he leaned closer to her. “What else?”

“All of them mean memory.  But the pink ones mean…her.  The way that a mother loves her child. To death, and beyond it.  I want you to wear this, when you walk down the aisle.”

Her expression shifted to almost a smirk. “And Auntie sodding Muriel will leave us alone about it, if what’s on your suit matches what’s on my arm.” 

Her chest was puffed out beneath the Harpies t-shirt, brown eyes blazing.  It had taken quite a while for the love he knew she felt for him to take the form of tenderness, to release that edge of anger. The way she had snatched away the notebook in the living room, the glare she’d shot at Fleur.   The rows she’d had on his behalf, her small fist shaking at Malfoy as she’d barked, “leave him alone!” His mother’s love, too, had been that fierce, by necessity.  The softer things still felt a bit like someone else’s life. 

More comfortable, out loud at least, to meet her where she was. “Auntie sodding Muriel would never stand a chance.”  He paused, passing one finger lightly over the open page, reaching then for the upward corner with a question in his eyes.  She nodded and carefully, he turned to the page right before.

A corsage, she had called it. Had Luna drawn all of them? The same flowers gathered, wrapped around a freckled wrist.

Tears pricked in his eyes and he blinked them away, before setting down the notebook like it was a sleeping child. He reached for her arm and stroked it, then bent his lips to press them where the flowers would be placed.

I get it, Auntie Muriel.  I never stood one, either.

#harry potter fan fiction #harry x ginny #hinny microfic #pre-wedding flangst #thanks thanks greenhouse three for excellent beta!

[mahoganygold213]

Cord Jefferson accepting the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: American Fiction

#cord jefferson #academy awards 2024 #oscars 2024 #best adapted screenplay #american fiction #american fiction movie #comedy #black #excellence #entertaining movies #👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 #blaze🔥 #movies #cinephile

[tygerland]

TENET 2020

#john david washington #tech #film #tenet #christopher nolan #movies #surreal #cinema #robert pattinson #futuristic #espionage #adventure #cinematography #black excellence #scifi #dark #elizabeth debicki #science fiction #black tumblr #fantasy #black men #🎭

[mad-scientist-pod-bracket]

Congrats to all of us for being so normal about super normal characters. Enjoy these out of context highlights from the form.

I wanna finalize and post the bracket in the next ~24 hours so if you want your favourite ethically dubious intellectual on that bracket, it's your time to shine!!!: https://forms.gle/FvQ2MMEGagwo5tzg9

#there are 15 unique responses rn so... if u nominate someone they're basically a shoe-in #if i don't get another unique nom im still going to go ahead with it i'll just pick the 16th contestant #part of me wants to go with like carlos (wtnv) #or lukas miller (taz) #but i worry about the sheer difference in audience size overwhelming the poll. i'll probably just end up going with #Dr. Gossimir from ars paradoxica #or Jedidiah Martin from camp here and there #i think they're both excellent mad scientists and more prominent in their source material than the first 2 anyway #BUT FOR THE LOW LOW PRICE OF ANSWERING THE FORM YOU CAN MAKE THE 16th CONTESTANT WHOMEVER YOU LIKE #audio drama #fiction podcast #radioplay #ty betteridge #woe.begone #tbs #w359 #red valley #archive 81