#fan fiction for black women | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

halfrican-heat · 8 months

Text

Backseat Driver (Ony)

Ony likes when you beg for a ride in his car.

A/N: Yes, I'm high. Hello. I am about to start posting these Onyankopon ideas I have in my head. This is the first one. Enjoy!

Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content; Vaginal Fingering, AFAB! Reader (breasts mentioned), Oral Sex (F receiving), Cursing, AAVE/Dialogue with Dialect, Public Sex, Overstimulation, Choking, Minor Oral Fixation, Minor dacryphilia (crying kink), Explicit depiction of Sex (p in v); Not beta'd, barely proofread (will update as needed later)

Pairing: Onyankopon x Black!Reader

WC: 3k

“Ony, please!”

Your voice comes out breathless and high-pitched as another orgasm courses through you. Ony lifts his head from your drenched cunt, a Cheshire grin on his face. He slides two fingers inside your wetness with ease and chuckles at the way your walls clamp around his digits.

His car is pulled off into a hidden spot on the side of the road— not easily seen from the highway. He has your bodycon dress bunched up to your waist, the top pulled down to expose your breasts as he finger-fucks you.

Ony takes in your tear-streaked face, the sight going straight to his dick.

“What’s that, mama?” He teases. “I can’t understand you.”

You whimper as his fingers work in and out of you at an agonizingly slow pace.

“You was talkin’ all that shit earlier. Distracting daddy from his business, right? Say somethin’ now.”

Your hand shoots to grip his bicep as the other goes for the car door behind you, nails scratching at it helplessly.

“Daddy, please,” You whine, tears leaking from your eyes. “Let me ride. Need to feel you this time.”

He smirks, shaking his head.

“I ain’t tryna hear that. Them pretty tears ain't gonna faze me, baby. Say you sorry to daddy for distracting him.”

His fingers shift position, finding that spot deep inside that makes you see stars. A guttural moan rips itself from your throat, sounding like music to Ony’s ears. His fingers work faster, rushing you toward another finish.

“Wait, daddy! Wait- I’m sorry, daddy,” you cry, running from his punishing fingers

He yanks you back down using his free hand while his thumb starts to circle your overstimulated clit.

“For what?” Ony demands, his voice low and sexy.

“F-for distracting you on your business.”

His fingers stop moving entirely and you can’t decide what’s worse— the overstimulation or nothing happening at all. You clench around his fingers helplessly.

Ony moves his free hand to your neck, forcing your head up so your dazed eyes meet his.

“And?”

You take a shaky breath, licking your lips. Ony looks delectable, barely breaking a sweat as he tortures you within an inch of your life. His chain glints in the sunlight and the urge to pull into your mouth rolls through you. He tilts his head, looking at you expectantly. You swallow thickly.

“For sayin’ I could find someone else to fuck me.”

His hand around your throat tightens slightly. His gaze is darker, more dangerous than before.

“Why?”

You bite your lip, a soft moan escaping you.

“‘Cause this pussy is yours, daddy.”

“You damn right,” He rasps, releasing your throat.

You fall backwards slightly and watch with hooded eyes as his hands go to undo his belt. He frees himself from the confines of his jeans, pulling you over him like it’s nothing. His grip on your hips is tight as he holds you over his length, teasing your folds with his fat tip.

The sound is lewd and wet as Ony gets himself ready for your creamy cunt. Then, without warning, he pulls you down on his length and grins widely at your scream as he impales you.

Your head swims as you adjust to him, squeezing tightly around his cock. His jaw clenches as he watches your head loll back, overcome with pleasure. Ony grabs your jaw, pulling your head forward.

Your gaze is unfocused as he slides his fingers in your mouth, rubbing them against your tongue. You taste your previous orgasms on his fingers. Your lips close around his digits, sucking without being told to.

“That’s my baby,” Ony groans, barely containing himself.

He pulls his fingers from your mouth, snaking his hand behind your head. He pulls you in for a nasty kiss, his tongue sliding in your mouth easily. He bites your bottom lip as you separate, his eyes lust blown. His free hand finds your ass cheek, smacking hard before squeezing.

“C’mon,” Ony says. “Ride your dick, mama.”

#onyankopon x black reader #onyankopon smut #onyankopon x black y/n #onyankopon x reader #lyv writes #black reader #black y/n #black reader insert #fan fiction for black women #by black women for black women #Brent Faiyaz inspired #My Writing #Ony's Observatory

1K notes · View notes

ivymoonstudios · 28 days

Text

Jude Duarte, Daughter of Clay, High Queen of Elfhame

24 notes · View notes

incorectly · 2 years

Text

✨ ✨Appreciation Post ✨ ✨

Dear Blogs that write for Black Readers x Austin Butler or any of his characters he’s played (Or any Black Reader x Any Person), Please don't stop writing, all of y'all’s work is some of THE BEST to be written, EVER. (I’ve been apart of ALOT of fandoms and have read a ton of work) None can compare, you make black women feel seen by making stories that are relatable to US. (Even if it’s made up). So this is for you, I APPRECIATE all of you and all the time and dedication you put into your work, it does not go UNSEEN or OVERLOOKED, because if I come across your work I’m always liking and reblogging (I’m getting better at reblogging y’all’s work) because I’m always rooting for y'all even if your work isn’t getting the recognition it deserves. You are SEEN.

Sorry for Rambling it was just on my heart to share

(Tagging a couple people who I think are amazing writers) (If I didn't tag you drop a comment I would love to see your work I’m always up to read more stories)

@dulcewrites @mamasturn @infernalodie @that-one-anxious-mango @enchantinglyjade @chaeycunty @geminixevans-stan @mauvecherie-writes @syntheticavenger @afriendlyblackhottie @dramaqueeenamby @royallyprincesslilly @blackwomanwriter @jbrizzywrites

(Those are just a few from the Austin butler Fandom and Chris Evans Fandom (Although I need to read more of Chris Evans because I’m slacking, Austin has a tight grip on me)

Love all of you.🤎

-Incorectly

298 notes · View notes

littlemissnobody124 · 1 year

Text

Sunlight

Part 2

Pairing: Chris Evans x Black Reader

Words: ~2k

Warnings: age gap, slow burn romance, I think 18+ in later chapters but for now it’s just storytelling, somewhat dark, mentions/implied death

A/N: hi, this is the next part of my writing fic, I have finally decided to post the next part so I hope you enjoy this part as well :) *if you wanna be added to/removed from my taglist ask me and I’ll add/remove you with no worries at all*

While he was away, all I did, well all I could do was take in my surroundings, and how big this whole space truly was. Seeing the huge bed, all I wanted to do was lay down as it looked as soft as I thought it could be. But seeing a door cracked open a bit, I took a chance to see what could be in there. Walking in I saw how vast the bathroom truly was, a toilet with its seat carved with flowers on top, a counter with two sinks, two mirrors each on the wall on top of a sink, and a beautiful porcelain tub by the biggest window with sheer curtains covering as much as it could. But seeing the sun from a better viewpoint this time.

All I wanted to do was bask in its sunlight for however long. But sadly only could for a few moments before a long knocking came from within the room. Made me rush out to see who it was.

Before I could answer, the door opened itself. Standing before me was a man in armor, a sword at his waistband. Guessing it was Chris’ best guard, I was about to greet him before I saw how discontent he was by his face.

“I am here to guard your room until Sir Evans comes back, but until then I don’t want to see anything with your dangerous magic. I don’t want to watch over you but at his highness’ request I must. I am not his right hand as he wanted to stay with Sir Evans but I’m his second best. Now, this is your maid who is assigned to you,” he stated before walking back out into the hallway and slamming the doors behind him.

Earning a flinch out of me and no need to worry him. As I am powerless as I hadn’t been fed in so long and had not been in the sun either for so long and for barely a few minutes so he didn’t need to worry too much about me.

The maid, just a few inches taller than me, bowed toward me. Fearing she'll be like the guard and the maid from earlier, I began to move out of her way and ready myself for whatever words were to come. Until I felt hands holding my own. Turning to look at her, all I could see was the awe on her face.

“Your eyes,” she beamed, “they’re like the night sky, and magic all at the same time.” She was awestruck at how my eyes looked. It feels so long since I’ve had anyone so intrigued by how I looked except Chris.

“I’m so sorry for getting ahead of myself but I couldn’t help being able to finally be in your presence,” she rambled on, “all most of the maids could talk about how ’scary’ you are but how they described you I couldn’t imagine how scary you could be at all as you sounded so mystical and beautiful and you are but ten times more than what I imagined. I just couldn’t give you justice on what I believed you looked like.”

She gushed on until realizing she needed to get you dressed for the day ahead.

“Ah, I’m sorry once again your highness. I need to start getting you ready to see the new king,” she began before sitting me on the bed. Then running to the bathroom to ready the bath, and then ran back in to lay out the dress she planned for me to wear out.

After getting done, she ran out of the bathroom and slowly walked over to me. Gently taking my hand and guiding me to the full tub, allowing me to test the water with my hand before getting in.

“I hope you like it, miss,” she spoke to me softly. I thanked her before getting undressed and stepping in.

It felt so peculiar as I looked towards the ceiling this time seeing the art painted over my head I didn’t see before and couldn’t appreciate like I did when I first took a look around the room. Feeling such warmth from two people after my captivity slowly made me feel the warmth and affection run all over me.

The prick of tears coming from my eyes from the overwhelming feeling of my emotions not wanting to be seen by my maid I put my head underwater. Imagining I’m within the ocean like I was what felt like a millennium. Staying for a minute or more until I’m ready to come back out.

Coming out I felt the water falling from my face and my matted hair which once curled in front of my eyes until I heard both doors open from the room. The swift yet heavy steps came towards the bathroom. Once in front of the bathroom door, the figure slowly opened the door as I moved the hair from my face. And in he came.

I felt relief wash over my body as he came over me kneeling in front of the tub. I couldn’t tell what was in his eyes this time. He looked over to the maid and then back to me. I could tell I wanted to go back underneath the water once again by how he looked at me. All I could do was look toward the water instead.

“Who upset you and what did they say?,” he asked me as I felt his hand lift my face. He read me like I did every time I saw him and I just leaned in towards his hand before I found my words.

“No one,…sire,” I softly voiced to both of us knowing it was a lie that I uttered.

“No, I’m going to ask once again. Please answer truthfully this time, who upset you, and what did they say?” he urged me to tell him.

Compelled to say it this time, “as long as no one gets hurt,” I began taking a deep breath and swallowing before I went on, “your second-best guard, it wasn’t anything bad as I’ve heard worse from folks, I assure you.”

Taking his hand from my cheek, held it with both hands, and leaned my forehead to his knuckles, squeezing my eyes shut to show him my sincerity.

“I’ll take that as your answer. Now hurry with your bath and come down to the dining room. I'll be waiting for you,” he says to me as if we’re the only people here. He starts getting up, I realized I saw another figure in the room watching our interaction.

About as tall as him, dressed in armor as the guard outside the room, but with dirty blonde hair falling almost into his eyesight. I saw similarities between the guard and him, except for the eyepatch on his left eye and a scar that extends outside of it.

“Before I go, I will not harm the man who said what he said to you but I will still punish him,” beginning to take a breath before continuing, “don’t call me ‘sire’ again, only call me by my name that’s all I wish from you.” he ends taking a look back at me and walking on. His right-hand man bowed towards the maid and me before leaving with him and closing the door slowly.

Right before my maid spoke, all we heard was a shout, a short scuffle of feet, and then quiet once again.

“Would you like me to wash you?,” she asked me and I nodded her way. Before she rambled. I smiled to myself as I listened to her.

——————————————————————

Before long, I was already dressed. As she never took care of curls before all we could agree on was a sad matted bun.

Right as she stated it was time for us to go I had a nagging feeling to ask her something.

“May I ask your name?,” I stumbled out of my mouth, “I mean…I didn’t ask beforehand I feel it’s impolite that I hadn’t. As I wish to address you by your name and not what other royal ladies would say to you.” Feeling heat coming to my cheeks knowing they’re darkening before her.

“Alice, Alice Hartman. Thank you for asking as no one has ever really asked me this before.,” she told me. Seeing her eyes watering, I slowly wiped her eyes as gently as I could with the handkerchief I had grabbed from the vanity in the room.

We took a short breather so Alice could calm herself before we left for the dining hall. Opening the door to the room, there stood Chris’s second-hand guard seemingly exhausted and a bit roughed up but not quite hurt. He bowed as we walked out and closed the door.

You could see he was unwilling but it was better than what it was before. I nodded his way and then followed Alice to the dining hall.

On the way there I saw the garden again. All I could feel was longing to stay there and be in the garden as I could tell it felt freeing being just in its presence. But on we went passing by other maids, some who were cowering in fear and others who looked disgusted. Yet one or two like Alice appeared who looked on in wonder as if telling me they were fascinated by just me and all I could do was smile before we finally arrived at the dining hall.

I could tell we were close as the hall became more extravagant and I saw the doors almost five times my size that seemed like we were to go in there but instead we took a right and went into a room that was bigger than what I thought from just the doors as they were smaller from the ones we just bypassed moments ago.

Strolling in, there was a table as long as the room with multiple chairs but two big ones at each end. I thought I had to sit at one of them as I saw him at the one on the other side. Walking towards the chair, I saw him get up as well and walk towards me and Alice guided me towards him instead.

I begrudgingly walked over to the seat closest to him and sat there.

Telling as I was upset, he asked me, “What’s wrong, sweet pea?” All I could do was look at the seat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now sitting in my glorious big seat, I felt accomplished. I still sat next to him but at least I was in the biggest seat in the room.

He could tell I was satisfied with the way I was beaming with smiles and ready to dig into whatever food was prepared for us.

The chefs wheeled in the food and set the table for us. It was revealed to be a braised roast with a buttered baked potato along with some garnish on top and wine for both of us.

I ate everything on my plate, it was delicious. Now it’s been a while since I had wine or anything with alcohol in it so I got tipsy off of it fast.

Before I knew it, it was dark already. Instead of being walked back to my room, I was carried back from what I remembered.

Then, I was in my bed which seemed to take me to sleep as I was laid down. I felt my hand brought in his rough one, and the deep kiss on my knuckles as he murmured something I couldn’t catch to himself.

He got up and was to leave the room but he turned back and saw a face that darkened and got close to me. Afterward, I dreamt, but I don’t remember much of what it was. But it was brighter and sweeter than any dream I had had beforehand. As every dream I had was just darkness.

I knew I was finally free just from my dreams alone.

——————————————————————

Taglist: @cherienymphe @geminixevans-stan @afriendlyblackhottie @sunshinebuckybarnes @honeystevie @syntheticavenger @flawlessglamazon @ramp-it-up @maroonsunrise83 @ysmmsy @starryevermore @sapphirescrolls @punani @olyvoyl @p---ink @avintagekiss24 @fineanddandy @harryspet @cockslutpadalecki @canumoveurseatup-no @nagisaunicorn-blog @ilovefandoms102 @boxofbonesfic @mianorth @raewritesfiction @stargirlfics @georgiapeach30513

69 notes · View notes

not-active-blacksapphhicmaddonna · 1 year

Text

I'm about to change the url of this blog so I can create a new account, I have too many secondary accounts for different things and I'd like to be able to respond to people and interact more with others!

I'll be reposting all of my content on the new one under the SAMEEEE url/name.

if you like any of my work thus far, please consider following my new account (blacksapphhicmaddona)! I really would love to be connected to other fit writers/readers and folks who share similar interests!

#izogie fic #the woman king #fan fiction #black sapphic #lashana lynch #nomi #izogie x reader #black women first #changing to a blog I can actually use fr #pls

20 notes · View notes

sebastianshaw · 1 year

Text

As I’ve said before so many times I don’t even like MCU D/ruig and I’m sick of his face in the tags BUT I also hate seeing people stick their OC with him because how Dare you shove M/akkari out of the picture!

It’s like how I saw a Dune fic where it’s you\Leto and his love for you is why he never married Lady J.essica like IDGAF ABOUT LETO BUT DONT YOU DARE BESMIRCH MY LADY J

#out of shirt #I support people doing what they like and not bothering them over it #which is why this is made not to show up in the tags #but I reserve the right to be annoyed #esp in the former cuz like black women getting a love interest is so rare in the MCU and media in general #and it’s the broody fan favorite of all guys!#like yes I may find him boring and ugly and all but I appreciate that fact ok #especially since freaking certain other marvel properties are still too afraid to put a certain black woman with white men #that she has great longtime chemistry with #just saying #basically I love self indulgent fan fantasies but also I am v protective of even fictional women and sometimes these things clash

10 notes · View notes

danceyreagan · 11 months

Text

Its so hard being a black women who likes fanfiction. Like there is just still so little representation. Even when things are “reader” they are coded for white people.

No one is running their fingers through my silky hair. Or brushing hair out of my eyes behind my ear. I have an afro and when I dont its in twists. Also, black women dont really let people touch or play in their hair.

I dont have pink nipples.

I dont blush. My skin will not turn red no matter how hard Im blushing.

Now I thought it was hard in the Peaky Fandom. But there are some amazing black fic writers here and likely more have emerged since I havent been active in the fandom for a few years.

Trying to read Kpop fan fiction, its even harder to find representation.

If you are in any of the fandoms below, please comment or reblog with your fave black fanfic writers.

Mine are

@btsqualityy

@kimnjss

@panjakes

@laketaj24

@xxdearlybeloved

#welcome to the new series #Dancey’s rants.#please feel free to post your pet peeves.#peaky blinders #game of thrones #kpop fanfic #Black Reader #black fanfiction #Black and nerdish #BTS Fanfiction #Stray Kids #stray kids fanfic #txt fanfic #tomorrow x together #TXT imagine #BTS Imagine #Stray kids imagine

4K notes · View notes

the-cat-and-the-birdie · 7 months

Text

It's time y'all.

Let's talk about HOBIE & RACE

- It is not problematic to say that Hobie would display black solidarity by finding black women in specific attractive.

- It is not problematic to say that Hobie would possibly like a partner who could understand his experiences with racism.

- It is not problematic to say he would possibly like a partner who understands how to take care of his hair, or shares the same hair texture.

- It is not problematic to say that Hobie would find beauty in features specific to the black race - when we have been told those features are undesirable in every way for centuries.

We gotta talk about how Colorblindness is forced on Black Characters - Hobie in Specific

Y'all - it's time we have a VERY VERY overdue conversation about Hobie Brown and Race.

Because it is a necessary one.

Hobie Brown, The Black!Reader, & Representation -

aka Black people are not Colorblind - and neither is Hobie Brown -

[let Diane hop on the mic right quick Chile]

Stop acting like Black Fictional Characters would be colorblind.

Black people can't be colorblind, because our color is weaponized against us from birth. We HAVE to see race - because we have to protect ourselves and know our own history

So when we decide to make spaces specifically for us - spaces where black people and black women in specific can be desired and uplifted, I don't see why people have a problem with it.

Hobie Brown loves, yes. But he also lives in 1978. Racial segregation was outlawed in his country in 1965.

Hobie Brown loves, but he's also a black guy who grew up under racial segregation and racism. He's a black guy who fights cops.

The Writers made Spiderpunk - The Spiderperson who fights oppressive cops - black for a REASON.

The Writers chose to have a black guy save Miles for a REASON. To uplift black people.

Writers here on Tumblr made Black!Readers black for same reason.

If Black Lives Matter doesn't mean White Lives Don't Matter -

Then 'Hobie Brown finds black chicks especially attractive' DOESN'T mean 'white women are unattractive'. This isn't about y'all.

And even for the people that say Hobie would like ONLY black people - okay??? They can say that - it's a literal headcanon.

It's not true if you don't want it to be. You don't have to believe it.

But seeing Black people be protective of a black character, and making black content for other black fans - and then saying 'what - stop that. that's wrong. break this up so I can join'

BEFORE you question why they do it - NOT COOL.

That's like asking for more Captain America in Black Panther. Like ?????

That's like hearing a Riot Grrrl say 'All the women to the front!!' and going 'Uhh, all genders are equal, why can't the men stand in the front too?'

Like yes, all genders are equal. But also - This isn't about them. It's about representation.

Stop preaching equality when we're asking for representation.

Cause there are dozens, hundreds, of white characters who only have white on-screen romances.

And their fandoms do not write black!readers. They do not care enough to say 'oh the show isn't representing this, let us do it.'

The media nor the fandom represent black women. They are an afterthought, always.

And you never see posts for them like -

'Dean Winchester loves black women. Dean Winchester loves latinas -'

When it's a white character only dating white women, with xReaders that always imply whiteness, y'all never call for diversity. At all.

You wouldn't make this post for Miguel.

But when it's a black character and someone suggests they only date black women, or people begin to write xReaders that imply blackness instead of your default-

Suddenly you care about diversity.

Because the first time, you're not represented.

Because let's be honest. Let's be real. No one is writing Hobie x White!Reader. Barely anyone is writing Hobie x Latina!Reader.

It's the Black!Reader you have a problem with. Let's just say it.

Allow black people to have their space, without unfairly calling for 'diversity'.

(aka the right to access to black safe spaces, comfort characters, and labor)

Hobie is an attractive, educated black guy who fights and protects people from the aggressors we ourselves genuinely fear everyday.

He is a character like we've never had before. He has so much emotional weight to us.

Let us enjoy him as we please. We aren't hurting anyone else.

We're just not catering to you. We don't have to.

If a black person wants to center Hobie's love on Black people, they have the right.

And I'm not saying you can't write him with a race neutral or even a White!Reader. Go ahead and write that if you want but just know-

1) If you want to write him with an explicitly white or non-black reader - you should approach the topic of race. You should approach and mention the cultural differences. Him going through racism. Don't erase that because you think it makes your writing ugly or sad.

And if you don't put it in, your erasing the reality and black experience because you find something wrong or uncomfortable about it.

2) If you want to write a race neutral reader - make sure they're really race neutral. Don't include details about hair texture, hairstyle, or skin color.

3) If you are asking black writers for requests - do not get mad if they make the request Black.

You cannot get mad at a black writer for interjecting their own experience when writing about a black character. You're basically asking them to strip their blackness from their writing so you can enjoy it more.

Why should they have to second guess and dial back their blackness when we're expected to do that everywhere? If they want to take a break, and write Black!Readers they can.

3) Understand that the black people are going to keep their safe spaces. And they're going to keep Hobie in their corner.

Because honestly, and I'm going to put this brazenly:

Hobie Brown as a character - and what he represents - means more to black fans than it does nonblack fans.

Does that mean he doesn't matter to y'all? No, not at all. Hobie absolutely holds real emotional weight and meaning to you on multiple levels.

But please understand, for black people - we connect to Hobie on an emotional, often trauma-fueled front.

One that you'll never understand.

There is a level that we connect with him on that nonblack people can't. As a dark skinned black guy, a black guy with natural hair, an alt black guy,

As a black guy who has canonically faced police brutality on-screen

To you, this screenshot is most likely Hobie flipping the camera off, edgy and punk. It's funny, tongue in check. ACAB and all that.

To us, this screenshot is of Hobie - a low income black guy - being physically restrained by police and refusing to stop even when they're taking his mugshot. It's a black guy openly flipping off the police and fighting them off and refusing to go down no matter how much they beat him and he's winning YES

After so many videos over SO many years of cops doing that to black men and them.. not winning.

And them just dying and us having to watch. And add another name to list.

When you see his laces, you most likely think ACAB.

When we see his laces, we see that he's a black man who took on a cop and lived to tell the tale. Which is a RARITY.

Because many of them lose the battle.

For us, the context and connection are completely different.

Fanfiction may just be a way for you to kiss up on random characters or comfort yourself, but for us - that's not the case.

For us, fanfiction is a way to show our experiences and features in a media and world that has collectively ignored them. Shunned them, called them ugly.

Maybe make a post or send an ask to a creator - and ask what Black!Readers mean for them, why they find it important.

Hobie Brown likes Black Girls.

He finds them beautiful. He likes wide lips and broad noses and kinky hair. He loves melanin, and brown skin in the sunlight, and seeing a them in a silk bonnet in the morning.

He loves not having to explain his culture, sharing coconut oil and shea butter. He likes seeing waist beads. He likes people who speak AAVE, with twang in their talk.

He likes ghetto black girls with the acrylic nails. He likes Stallions 6 foot tall. He likes masc girls. And fem ones. He loves black nonbinary people because we do not have to cosign to colonialist ideas of gender. And he loves him some black men too - a good fade will make him go crazy, he loves men with long locs and pretty smiles.

Hobie Brown finds the beauty in Black People that have been erased and demonized again and again by White Society.

Hobie Brown holds blackness dear. And he wants black people to do well.

Hobie Brown loves Black People. Hobie Brown loves Black Girls.

And that's on, what?

This has been a PSA from Diane Pastors. Y'all stay blessed out there 😌💗

Anyway what y'all wearing to carnival since we going to carnival and cropover and labor day with Hobie and bringing out all the flags. 🇧🇧🇧🇧 I'm bringing him to cropover in Barbados yeah I said it we're all going to carnival with him.

#spiderman #spider man #marvel #across the spiderverse #atsv #hobie brown #spider punk #spiderpunk #racism #antiblackness #antiblack #anti black #hobie x reader #hobie x black!reader #Hobie x you #hobie brown x reader #hobie brown x black!reader #hobie brown x you

773 notes · View notes

hrhmimieucliffe · 2 months

Text

⚠️Another Rant Incoming⚠️

I hate how some people are so threatened by Margo in general. Sure, her and Miles had a like 10 second interaction (with mad chemistry), the writers said Margo thinks Miles is cute, and the script implies that Gwen was a little jealous which is why they specifically say she yanked Miles FROM her, but all of this isn't going to undo 2 movies worth of Miles and Gwen development and content, whether Miles feels like she betrayed him or not. He WILL eventually forgive her, and they'll go out, let's be real. Miguel's canon blah blah will be proven wrong or will be shown to not be entirely correct (which it already has been) and Gwen will realise it's cool for her the with him. They'll use their watches to be with each other.

Just constantly trying to figure out why people are so threatened by a 10 second interaction she had with Miles, lmfao. Him and Gwen are cute and always have been cute, and will get together.

And please don't give me the "YAll juST hAtE inTerACIaL RelaTiOnsHips" bs, because 1. First of all I am a Black woman and I love all kinds of men and admittedly I have had way more crushes on non black men than black men and would happily date a non black man, so no, I don't hate interaccial relationships, and 2. That's just an annoying reach.

Just tired of people acting like this in general when a fan even tries to imply that a character is even attracted to a black girl/woman, like.... what is peoples deal with that? Same way some of the non black people are trying to argue with black women about the fact that Hobie would most likely date a black woman first and foremost before any other woman, given the time he lives in??? Like... it doesn't even stop at characters, people act like this in real life when a man dares to show an attraction to us.

This is why we need more black women being loved in fictional media, because otherwise, we'll have people acting like this.

And I'm sorry, but I've gotta say it, yall would accept characters like Miguel being with a hologram or his MARRIED (with a daughter) friend, before you ship him with a Black woman, like....

Also I see ppl hating on Hailey and I don't like that either, stay away from her.

169 notes · View notes

knightsickness · 5 months

Note

I feel as if we don't talk enough about how team black calls allicent allicunt theyre always like how can anyone support allicunt usurping her stepdaughter. and it's like ok well it's in the name. it's bc she's allicunt.

real but also i’m glad you brought up alicunt bc it reminded me of this comment thread i saw on tiktok that i think is a good microcosm of the issue. this is the beginning of it it’s 20+ long and obviously goes nowhere but it was on a video saying that celebrating blood and cheese/hel and alicent being raped in brothels/calling jaehaera braindead and celebrating her suicide is misogynistic

the video and first comment is about team black fans being misogynistic in real life. the response is immediately ummm lest we forget how misogynistic fictional character OTTO HIGHTOWER was??? how could we be misogynistic team green is team misogyny. remember when criston called rhaenyra a cunt? people who are too involved in this discourse see the feudal misogynists on fictional team green as their opposition’s thought leaders that must be the reason they aren’t team black because they’re all raging sexists. and not because of the real life overinvested team black weirdos who are saying vile shit about women but it’s finee that’s alicunt

#a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #house of the dragon #hotd

255 notes · View notes

halfrican-heat · 8 months

Text

Upstanding Gentleman (Ony)

Onyankopon was raised in a strict Ghanian household. He was pretty strait-laced...until he met you, of course. Still, Ony has many tricks up his sleeve that never fail to surprise you.

A/N: Yes, I'm high. Hello. So, this is the second Ony post I've had lingering in the back of my mind. It's in head cannon format but I think this could be something. Enjoy!

Warning(s): Explicit Sexual Content; Depictions of smoking marijuana; Penetrative Sex (p in v), Oral Sex (M receiving), Sex in childhood home, Black reader in mind, N-Word used; AAVE/Dialogue with Dialect

Pairing: Sober!Onyankopon x Stoner!Reader

Inspired by: Lauryn Hill and my bf :)

Sober!Ony was raised by a single mother who kept him in line. No drugs, no alcohol and he definitely had a curfew.

Straight A student and graduated the top of his class in high school

Spent majority of his childhood playing video games and taking apart old computers his mother would bring home from her teaching job.

Played basketball and practiced frequently with his friends

Loved taking photos and drawing

Only smoked weed once when he was seventeen and felt guilty about it for a week before he told his mom. (She smacked his head but wasn't that mad)

Never had a thing for drinking. His mom let him have some wine during his graduation dinner. His uncle, later that evening, gave him some liquor. Ony wasn't a fan.

Sober!Ony who went to college in a different state-- hours away from his mother.

He chose to go to a school pretty far away from home to study photography. He loved his mom but he felt like he needed a firm separation from his home life and college life.

That's where he met you. This sweet little thing from a town he had never heard of. So cute...

...and yet you smelled like trouble. Ony's suspicions were confirmed when you offered him a blunt in your car one night. Y'all had been talking for a minute at that point but you never gave off stoner vibes.

Ony declined but didn't mind hanging out as long as you rolled the windows down.

Turns out, you were a huge stoner. Bongs, smoking pieces, a stash larger than some of the ones he had seen back home. You weren't a plug, not really, you just really loved weed. You were super smart, too. Ony had known people like you from back home-- motivated stoners who smoked frequently but it didn't impede them getting shit done. You were like that and Ony really liked that about you.

Ony wasn't sure how to proceed at first but...one thing was sure: You had a hold on Onyankopon that he just couldn't deny.

Sober!Ony who, four years into your relationship, isn't super sober anymore.

"Mama, let me get one of them fruity drinks out the fridge." "They got alcohol in 'em Ony," You call from the kitchen. "I ain't ask you all that. They taste alright-- I feel like a classy nigga drinking them." "Okay, Classy Nigga," You say, bringing him one. "Mister Classy Nigga to you," He says, with a wide grin. "Pinkies out, baby."

Sober!Ony who branched out after meeting you but didn't partake as frequently as you did.

"Let me get a hit, baby." "Nigga, you don't smoke!" Ony kisses his teeth, side-eyeing you. "Then do that shit where you kiss me and blow the smoke in my mouth." You laugh loudly, throwing your head back at his nerve. "Okay, baby," You say, sparking up. Afterwards "Shit, where my inhaler at?"

Sober!Ony who made a great impression on your parents. Perhaps too great.

Your dad loves him, speaking highly of him every time your boyfriend comes up in conversation. "That Ony is a fine, upstanding gentleman," Your dad alway says. Little does he know... "What's that, ma?" His voice is husky in your ear as he thrusts into you roughly. His hand is over your mouth as your childhood mattress squeaks under your weight. Ony has you bent over, his pace punishing as he fucks you from behind. Tears streak your face as you helplessly claw at your sheets "Better be quiet," Ony drawls. "Don't want your folks to hear us, right? Or they gonna know what a slut you are for this upstanding gentleman."

Sober!Ony who loves the way you give head while high.

After many extensive and deep discussions about consent, Ony finally lets you give him head. At first, he was chilling. But then... "Shit, baby! Fuck," He groans, his head falling back. "Slow down, ma." You got his cum on your cheek from the first time he came but you don't care. You don't let up, taking his length down your throat. You suck the entire way down, slurping as you pull back to swirl your tongue around his leaking tip. Your tongue runs along the vein underneath his shaft before taking him back in your mouth, hollowing you cheeks as you slurp him down. "Fuck," He hisses, throwing his arm over his face. You had that man's toes curling and all.

Sober!Ony who loves how sexy you are at any given time of any given day but especially loves when you're feeling yourself while off the za.

Now the skies could fall...not even if my boss should call... Your hips sway seductively to the music as you take a pull from the blunt, in your own world. Lauryn Hill blasts from the radio as your lights change colors in a slow fade. Ony stands at the door of your shared bedroom, watching you sing and dance. You turn slowly, finally noticing him. You wordlessly hold out a hand to him with your body still moving to the music. See I don't need the alcohol...your love make me feel 10 feet tall... He takes your hand, pulling your body close to his. His hands trail your body, finding your ass as the two of you grind on one another. Yeah, Ony is gonna take his time with you tonight.

Sober!Ony who loves you as much as you love him despite your differences.

"Papa, you seen my bong?" "Judie?" "No, the other one." "She in the kitchen cabinet, baby."

"Ma, you seen my screwdriver?" "The fuck you doing drinking those?" "Bae...the tool. My tool." "Oh, it's on the counter by the microwave." a moment later "Onyankopon, what the fuck did you do to my damn radio!"

Overall, Sober!Ony who has changed a lot since the two of you got together. As long as you don't give him any cause for concern, he's happy to let you do as you please (and partake when he feels like it). You level each other up in ways no one expected. You're his lady and Ony doesn't want any one else but you.

"C'mere, my lil pothead," He says, cuddling up to you in bed. "Shut up, nigga." "Watch your mouth. Now lemme rub my legs against yours..."

A/N: I had fun with this. Asks are open!

#Onyankopon x reader #Onyankopon x black!reader #aot x black reader #aot onyankopon #onyankopon smut #Onyankopon fic #reader insert #black!reader insert #fan fiction for black women #black reader #Lyv Writes #My Writing #Ony's Observatory #Lyv's Library #Sober!Ony

744 notes · View notes

bonefall · 5 months

Note

So, I'm writing an essay on the whole STATE of misogyny in WC for one of my university classes, and I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of things! No pressure of course, please feel free to say no!

A) Could I reference your good takes with appropriate harvard referencing and links back to your blog?

B) Are there any specific moments from the books that you think should be covered the most?

C) The end result will be a visual essay, so it's like those fun infographics people on Tumblr make on like ADHD and stuff, so when it's done, would you like to be tagged to read it?

(Sorry for anon, I'm nervous lmao, but if you'd be more comfortable I'll resend this off anon)

AAY good topic! You've got a lot to work with. Absolutely feel free to reference anything I've written, and tag me when you're done.

While you're here and about to write something so legitimate, I'm also going to recommend you check out Sunnyfall's video on gender in Warrior Cats. She breaks down the arcs into numbers, directly comparing the amount of lines mollies have to toms, and examining the archetypes women are usually allowed to be.

I think it's a must-have citation in a paper about WC misogyny.

...and, I think it's insightful to look at the WCRP Forum thread about the video. Note how the respondents immediately come into the thread to complain about how the video is too long so they didn't watch it, dismissing Sunnyfall as not being entertaining enough to hold their attention, even whining that she starts with statistics to prove her point, which I'm convinced she did exactly because they would have cried that she "had no evidence" if she didn't.

I am not a scholar, so I don't know how to document or prove that the books have an impact on the audience outside of anecdotes. But I think if you do write a section about fandom, it would be worth mentioning the in-universe and metatextual apologia for Ashfur and its reflection in the real world discourse, the authorial killing of Ferncloud because of fan complains, and the utter defensiveness against the discussion of misogyny you see outside of Tumblr.

You may also want to check out Cheek by Jowl, a collection of 8 essays about sexism in xenofiction by Ursula K. Le Guin. There's a very unique manifestation of authorial bias in animal fiction, having a lot to do with how the author views "the natural world," and it's worth understanding even though Warrior Cats are so heavily anthropomorphized.

So... Warrior Cats Misogyny

I think discussing individual instances can be helpful, but I'd implore you to keep in mind what's REALLY bad about WC's misogyny is framing and the bigger picture.

Bumble's death is shocking and insulting, but it's not just that she died. It's that the POV Gray Wing sees her as a fat, useless bitch who took his mate so she deserves to be dragged back to a domestic abuser, and he's right because the writers love him so much. It's that Bumble's torture and killing only factors into how it's going to hurt a man's reputation.

It's how Clear Sky hitting, emotionally manipulating, or killing the following women,

Bright Stream (pressured into leaving her home and family)

Storm (controlled her movements and yelled at her in public)

Misty (killed for land, children stolen)

Bumble (beaten unconscious, blamed nonsensically on a fox)

Alder (child abuse, hit when she refused to attack her brother)

Falling Feather (scratched on the face, subjected to public abuse and humiliation)

Tall Shadow (thrown into murderous crowd, attacked on-sight in heaven)

Rainswept Flower ("blacked out" in anger and murdered in cold blood)

Moth Flight (scratched on the face for saying denying medical treatment is mean, taken hostage in retaliation against mother for the death of his own child, which he caused)

Willow Tail (eyes gouged out for "stirring up trouble")

Is seen as totally understandable, forgivable, or not even questioned at all, when killing Gray Wing in an act of rage would have been "one step too far" with the ridiculous Star Line.

"Kill me and live with the memory, and then let the stars know it would only matter if a single one of your murder victims was a man."

It's the way that fathers who physically abuse their kids out of their ego (Clear Sky, Sandgorse, Crowfeather) aren't treated anywhere near the same level of narrative disgust and revulsion the series has for "bad moms", even if they're displaying symptoms of a post-partum mood disorder (depression, anxiety, and rage), an umbrella of mental illnesses 20% of all new mothers experience but are heavily stigmatized with (Sparkpelt, Palebird, Lizardstripe).

It's Crookedstar's Promise giving him two evil maternal figures in a single book, while bending over backwards to make every man in a position of power still look likeable in spite of the fact they're enabling Rainflower's abuse. Leader Hailstar is soso sorry that he has to change Stormkit's name for some reason, in spite of leaders being unaccountable dictators the other 99% of the time, and Deputy Shellheart functionally does nothing to stop his own son from being abused or even do much parenting before or after the fact.

It's the way men's parental struggles are seen sympathetically, and they don't have to "pay for it" like their female counterparts (Crookedstar's PPD vs Sparkpelt's PPD, how Daisy and Cinders are held responsible for Smoky and Whisper being deadbeats, Yellowfang's endless guilt for killing her son vs Onestar's purpose in life to kill his own), even to the point where a father doesn't have to have raised their kids at all to have a magical innate emotional connection to them (Tree's father Root, Tom the Wifebeater, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost).

It's less speaking lines and agency for female characters, being reduced to accessories in the lives of their mates and babies, women getting less diversity in their personalities, with even major ex-POV characters eventually becoming "sweet mom" tropes.

You could zoom in on any one of these examples and have an amoeba try to argue with you that "Oh THIS makes sense because X" or "Ah well my headcanon perfectly explains this thing" or "MY mother/girlfriend was abusive/toxic/neglectful and I've decided that you are personally attacking ME by having issues with how a character was written or utilized," but the beleaguered point,

That I keep trying to hammer in, over and over, across books worth of posts,

Is that these are trends. More than just a couple one-off examples. It's the fabric that has been woven over years, showing a lack of interest in, or even active prejudice of, women on behalf of the writers.

LONG STANDING trends, which have only gotten worse as the series progressed. From Yellowfang being harshly punished with a born evil son who ruins her life in TPB and the mistreatment of Squirrelpaw that begins in TNP, all the way up to the 7 Fridgenings of DOTC and Sparkpelt's PPD being a major character motivator for her son Nightheart.

So, I would stress that in your paper, and structure it less as "the Sparkpelt slide" and "the Yellowfang slide," and more as "The paternal vs maternal abuse" slide, and "the violence against women" slide. They're really big issues, there's tons of examples for each individual thing.

Anyway to leave off on a funny, look at this scene in Darkest Hour that I find unreasonably hilarious,

"Everyone who matters to me; my truest friend, my sensible and loyal warrior, the wisest deputy I've ever known, and 2 women." -Firestar, glorious idiot

He can't even think of a single trait for either of them what the hell does "formidable pair" mean lmaooo, when I finished a reread about a year ago this line killed me on impact.

#bone babble #cw misogyny #warrior cats analysis #SO good luck!! Absolutely ping me when you're done I wanna see lmao #Full disclosure I'm bad at responding to DMs because I open them and then forget #But I can try to answer your questions #Feel free to send questions in tho. You don't have to come off anon if you don't want i don't mind #I cannot stress enough. I'm just a guy who likes to yell about cats.

244 notes · View notes

janearts · 5 months

Note

Okay. I read all the criticism of my question and realized I didn't make my main point. I'm not shaming you as an artist (I actually like your art) or your vision of beauty. I just don't understand how out of all the possibilities the character design interface gives you, you chose literally the most basic? A person with the most mediocre appearance. I'm not saying that all characters have to be gorgeous beauties. I don't understand the comparison to real women. Girl, we're talking about a FANTASY game. You know elves, dwarves, vampires, dragons. I'm saying a little more effort could have been made to make her fit into the wonderful world she lives in. I'm so sorry but she's just so boring

but the comics are great tho.

Humans are part of the wonderful world of Dungeons and Dragons. The 5e player handbook says that humans are the most common people of the D&D world. Roisia fits in just fine.

The beauty of a fantasy game is that all the peoples you mentioned are mundane for their world. There is nothing inherently special about elves or dwarves or minotaurs or tieflings. Do you need a blue-skinned tiefling with pink hair to feel special? Because there's nothing particularly exotic about a blue-skinned, pink haired tiefling in this setting. I suppose I just don't need to play a fantastical person to feel like I'm engaging in a fantasy.

If you don't understand the comparison to real women, have a glance at this ask I got in my inbox after I replied to you:

Maybe, just maybe, boring is good. Mundane is good. And in a world flooded with the likes of blue-skinned tieflings with pink hair, mundane might even be unique.

Editing to add: I am white, so I would be interested in hearing from Black creators/fans/etc. about whether this reads as anti-Black to you despite being levelled at a fictional does-not-actually-exist human character (who also happens to be Black).

379 notes · View notes

cooketimm · 6 months

Text

Hardboiled #10-25 (1990-98) cover artwork by Bruce Timm

Interview from Cool Stuff Magazine #1 (1995):

Gary Lovisi: Much of your work is characterized by raw, intense energy and action, or beautiful women in stylish, dangerous settings. Some is obviously influenced by the pulps.

Bruce Timm: I’m big pulp fan, have been since the early 70s, when I started reading Doc Savage and Avenger reprints. I can’t really say how they’ve influenced my artwork much, except when doing pulp-homage stuff like the Bob Price books. But I do sometimes wish I was born decades earlier so I could have worked for some of the old pulps, which was why it was so much fun doing the Price stuff, and the «mock 50s» paperback covers for your Gryphon Books.

The hero pulps — Doc Savage, The Spider, The Shadow, etc — did have a big impact on my approach to the Batman cartoons. It’s something I tried to inject into the show from early on, the atmosphere, danger and illicit excitement, and especially that Norvell Page-type feeling of impending doom — the «doomed city» mood. It’s also why I set the sense in a timeless, 40s-styled world of big cars, padded shoulders, gangsters, shadowy streets, etc. I only wish we’d gone farther with it.

For instance, my original version of Batman himself was actually close to the Shadow: rarely seen close-up, speaking in short, clipped phrases, more mysterious, literally. I wanted to play him cold and remote, almost unhuman. But the network and our various story editors would have none of that! «We need to humanize him», «He needs to have a sense of humor», «We need to more about Bruce Wayne, the person», etc! Whereas I could care less about Bruce Wayne! He’s much more fascinating if you don’t know what he’s thinking, or what drives him.

A few «Shadowy» touches did survive. Batman is rarely seen be the public, almost never on TV. Even when dealing with the police, he’s usually off in shadows conferring with Commissioner Gordon only. And when he’s in the Batcave, he’s almost always in costume. My way of saying he’s Batman, not the other guy, not Bruce Wayne. Like Lamon Cranston, his true, «legal» identity is a facade.

I’ d love to do straight-ahead pulp hero adaptation someday. Doc or The Shadow or The Spider, either in comics or animation, without the senseless updating and over-explaining «character development» like in the Alec Baldwin-Shadow-fiasco-film.

Gary Lovisi: Your stunning covers for my Hardboiled mag are very popular with everyone who sees them. What are your feelings on hardboiled crime-related art?

Bruce Timm: It’s hard, actually, to define «crime-fiction» art. There’s pulp crime-fiction art, and digest crime-fiction art, both of which cross over with paperback crime-fiction art. Basically, I’m a fan of good illustration. Period. Regardless of subject matter. Composition, emotionally intensity, color and lighting effects are what I look for. And pretty girls, of course!

My favorite pulp crime artist is H. J. Ward, hands down. Gorgeous gals in twisty curvy poses, painted in luscious, creamy, wet-on-wet oil technique. My favorite paperback artists include Robert McGinnis, Robert Maguire, and Mitchell Hooks, the usual suspects.

My approach to the Hardboiled covers is different from my earlier «homage» work. When the covers were black and white, I used to experiment with different b&w textures, coquille board, zip-a-tone, xeroxed newsprint, whatever worked. Now that I’m doing them in color, I’m trying to make them as exciting and eye-catching as possible, with loud color, sexy gals, exaggerated action, and simple, graphic, almost cartoony styling.

#bruce timm #pulp #cover #cover art #interview

245 notes · View notes

macrolit · 5 months

Text

NYT's Notable Books of 2023

Each year, we pore over thousands of new books, seeking out the best novels, memoirs, biographies, poetry collections, stories and more. Here are the standouts, selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

AFTER SAPPHO by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Inspired by Sappho’s work, Schwartz’s debut novel offers an alternate history of creativity at the turn of the 20th century, one that centers queer women artists, writers and intellectuals who refused to accept society’s boundaries.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby

In his earlier thrillers, Cosby worked the outlaw side of the crime genre. In his new one — about a Black sheriff in a rural Southern town, searching for a serial killer who tortures Black children — he’s written a crackling good police procedural.

THE BEE STING by Paul Murray

In Murray’s boisterous tragicomic novel, a once wealthy Irish family struggles with both the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash and their own inner demons.

BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey

Lacey rewrites 20th-century U.S. history through the audacious fictional life story of X, a polarizing female performance artist who made her way from the South to New York City’s downtown art scene.

BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton

In this action-packed novel from a Booker Prize winner, a collective of activist gardeners crosses paths with a billionaire doomsday prepper on land they each want for different purposes.

BLACKOUTS by Justin Torres

This lyrical, genre-defying novel — winner of the 2023 National Book Award — explores what it means to be erased and how to persist after being wiped away.

BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll

In her third and most assured novel, Knoll shifts readers’ attention away from a notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, and onto the lives — and deaths — of the women he killed. Perhaps for the first time in fiction, Knoll pooh-poohs Bundy's much ballyhooed intelligence, celebrating the promise and perspicacity of his victims instead.

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This satire — in which prison inmates duel on TV for a chance at freedom — makes readers complicit with the bloodthirsty fans sitting ringside. The fight scenes are so well written they demonstrate how easy it might be to accept a world this sick.

THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese

Verghese’s first novel since “Cutting for Stone” follows generations of a family across 77 years in southwestern India as they contend with political strife and other troubles — capped by a shocking discovery made by the matriarch’s granddaughter, a doctor.

CROOK MANIFESTO by Colson Whitehead

Returning to the world of his novel “Harlem Shuffle,” Whitehead again uses a crime story to illuminate a singular neighborhood at a tipping point — here, Harlem in the 1970s.

THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley

Markley’s second novel confronts the scale and gravity of climate change, tracking a cadre of scientists and activists from the gathering storm of the Obama years to the super-typhoons of future decades. Immersive and ambitious, the book shows the range of its author’s gifts: polyphonic narration, silken sentences and elaborate world-building.

EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal

In de Kerangal’s brief, lyrical novel, translated by Jessica Moore, a young Russian soldier on a trans-Siberian train decides to desert and turns to a civilian passenger, a Frenchwoman, for help.

EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by Heather Fawcett

The world-building in this tale of a woman documenting a new kind of faerie is exquisite, and the characters are just as textured and richly drawn. This is the kind of folkloric fantasy that remembers the old, blood-ribboned source material about sacrifices and stolen children, but adds a modern gloss.

ENTER GHOST by Isabella Hammad

In Hammad’s second novel, a British Palestinian actor returns to her hometown in Israel to recover from a breakup and spend time with her family. Instead, she’s talked into joining a staging of “Hamlet” in the West Bank, where she has a political awakening.

FORBIDDEN NOTEBOOK by Alba de Céspedes

A best-selling novelist and prominent anti-Fascist in her native Italy, de Céspedes has lately fallen into unjust obscurity. Translated by Ann Goldstein, this elegant novel from the 1950s tells the story of a married mother, Valeria, whose life is transformed when she begins keeping a secret diary.

THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith

Based on a celebrated 19th-century trial in which the defendant was accused of impersonating a nobleman, Smith’s novel offers a vast panoply of London and the English countryside, and successfully locates the social controversies of an era in a handful of characters.

FROM FROM by Monica Youn

In her fourth book of verse, a svelte, intrepid foray into American racism, Youn turns a knowing eye on society’s love-hate relationship with what it sees as the “other.”

A GUEST IN THE HOUSE by Emily Carroll

After a lonely young woman marries a mild-mannered widower and moves into his home, she begins to wonder how his first wife actually died. This graphic novel alternates between black-and-white and overwhelming colors as it explores the mundane and the horrific.

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride

McBride’s latest, an intimate, big-hearted tale of community, opens with a human skeleton found in a well in the 1970s, and then flashes back to the past, to the ’20s and ’30s, to explore the town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history.

HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano

In her radiant fourth novel, Napolitano puts a fresh spin on the classic tale of four sisters and the man who joins their family. Take “Little Women,” move it to modern-day Chicago, add more intrigue, lots of basketball and a different kind of boy next door and you’ve got the bones of this thoroughly original story.

A HISTORY OF BURNING by Janika Oza

This remarkable debut novel tells the story of an extended Indo-Ugandan family that is displaced, settled and displaced again.

HOLLY by Stephen King

The scrappy private detective Holly Gibney (who appeared in “The Outsider” and several other novels) returns, this time taking on a missing-persons case that — in typical King fashion — unfolds into a tale of Dickensian proportions.

A HOUSE FOR ALICE by Diana Evans

This polyphonic novel traces one family’s reckoning after the patriarch dies in a fire, as his widow, a Nigerian immigrant, considers returning to her home country and the entire family re-examines the circumstances of their lives.

THE ILIAD by Homer

Emily Wilson’s propulsive new translation of the “Iliad” is buoyant and expressive; she wants this version to be read aloud, and it would certainly be fun to perform.

INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE by Emma Törzs

The sisters in Törzs's delightful debut have been raised to protect a collection of magic books that allow their keepers to do incredible things. Their story accelerates like a fugue, ably conducted to a tender conclusion.

KAIROS by Jenny Erpenbeck

This tale of a torrid, yearslong relationship between a young woman and a much older married man — translated from the German by Michael Hofmann — is both profound and moving.

KANTIKA by Elizabeth Graver

Inspired by the life of Graver’s maternal grandmother, this exquisitely imagined family saga spans cultures and continents as it traces the migrations of a Sephardic Jewish girl from turn-of-the-20th-century Constantinople to Barcelona, Havana and, finally, Queens, N.Y.

LAND OF MILK AND HONEY by C Pam Zhang

Zhang’s lush, keenly intelligent novel follows a chef who’s hired to cook for an “elite research community” in the Italian Alps, in a not-so-distant future where industrial-agricultural experiments in America’s heartland have blanketed the globe in a crop-smothering smog.

LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle

The year is 1915, and the narrator of LaValle’s horror-tinged western has arrived in Montana to cultivate an unforgiving homestead. She’s looking for a fresh start as a single Black woman in a sparsely populated state, but the locked trunk she has in stow holds a terrifying secret.

MONICA by Daniel Clowes

In Clowes’s luminous new work, the titular character, abandoned by her mother as a child, endures a life of calamities before resolving to learn about her origins and track down her parents.

THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Based on a true story and translated by Lara Vergnaud, Sarr’s novel — about a Senegalese writer brought low by a plagiarism scandal — asks sharp questions about the state of African literature in the West.

THE NEW NATURALS by Gabriel Bump

In Bump’s engrossing new novel, a young Black couple, mourning the loss of their newborn daughter and disillusioned with the world, start a utopian society — but tensions both internal and external soon threaten their dreams.

NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason

Mason’s novel looks at the occupants of a single house in Massachusetts over several centuries, from colonial times to present day. An apple farmer, an abolitionist, a wealthy manufacturer: The book follows these lives and many others, with detours into natural history and crime reportage.

NOT EVEN THE DEAD by Juan Gómez Bárcena

An ex-conquistador in Spanish-ruled, 16th-century Mexico is asked to hunt down an Indigenous prophet in this novel by a leading writer in Spain, splendidly translated by Katie Whittemore. The epic search stretches across much of the continent and, as the author bends time and history, lasts centuries.

THE NURSERY by Szilvia Molnar

“I used to be a translator and now I am a milk bar.” So begins Molnar’s brilliant novel about a new mother falling apart within the four walls of her apartment.

OUR SHARE OF NIGHT by Mariana Enriquez

This dazzling, epic narrative, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, is a bewitching brew of mystery and myth, peopled by mediums who can summon “the Darkness” for a secret society of wealthy occultists seeking to preserve consciousness after death.

PINEAPPLE STREET by Jenny Jackson

Jackson’s smart, dishy debut novel embeds readers in an upper-crust Brooklyn Heights family — its real estate, its secrets, its just-like-you-and-me problems. Does money buy happiness? “Pineapple Street” asks a better question: Does it buy honesty?

THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due

Due’s latest — about a Black boy, Robert, who is wrongfully sentenced to a fictionalized version of Florida’s infamous and brutal Dozier School — is both an incisive examination of the lingering traumas of racism and a gripping, ghost-filled horror novel. “The novel’s extended, layered denouement is so heart-smashingly good, it made me late for work,” Randy Boyagoda wrote in his review. “I couldn’t stop reading.”

THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS by Vajra Chandrasekera

Trained to kill by his mother and able to see demons, the protagonist of Chandrasekera’s stunning and lyrical novel flees his destiny as an assassin and winds up in a politically volatile metropolis.

SAME BED DIFFERENT DREAMS by Ed Park

Double agents, sinister corporations, slasher films, U.F.O.s — Park’s long-awaited second novel is packed to the gills with creative elements that enliven his acerbic, comedic and lyrical odyssey into Korean history and American paranoia.

TAKE WHAT YOU NEED by Idra Novey

This elegant novel resonates with implication beyond the taut contours of its central story line. In Novey’s deft hands, the complex relationship between a young woman and her former stepmother hints at the manifold divisions within America itself.

THIS OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding

In his latest novel, inspired by the true story of a devastating 1912 eviction in Maine that displaced an entire mixed-race fishing community, Harding turns that history into a lyrical tale about the fictional Apple Island on the cusp of destruction.

TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett

Locked down on the family’s northern Michigan cherry orchard, three sisters and their mother, a former actress whose long-ago summer fling went on to become a movie star, reflect on love and regret in Patchett’s quiet and reassuring Chekhovian novel.

THE UNSETTLED by Ayana Mathis

This novel follows three generations across time and place: a young mother trying to create a home for herself and her son in 1980s Philadelphia, and her mother, who is trying to save their Alabama hometown from white supremacists seeking to displace her from her land.

VICTORY CITY by Salman Rushdie

Rushdie’s new novel recounts the long life of Pampa Kampana, who creates an empire from magic seeds in 14th-century India. Her world is one of peace, where men and women are equal and all faiths welcome, but the story Rushdie tells is of a state that forever fails to live up to its ideals.

WE COULD BE SO GOOD by Cat Sebastian

This queer midcentury romance — about reporters who meet at work, become friends, move in together and fall in love — lingers on small, everyday acts like bringing home flowers with the groceries, things that loom large because they’re how we connect with others.

WESTERN LANE by Chetna Maroo

In this polished and disciplined debut novel, an 11-year-old Jain girl in London who has just lost her mother turns her attention to the game of squash — which in Maroo’s graceful telling becomes a way into the girl’s grief.

WITNESS by Jamel Brinkley

Set in Brooklyn, and featuring animal rescue workers, florists, volunteers, ghosts and UPS workers, Brinkley’s new collection meditates on what it means to see and be seen.

Y/N by Esther Yi

In this weird and wondrous novel, a bored young woman in thrall to a boy band buys a one-way ticket to Seoul.

YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang

Kuang’s first foray outside of the fantasy genre is a breezy and propulsive tale about a white woman who achieves tremendous literary success by stealing a manuscript from a recently deceased Asian friend and passing it off as her own.

#new york times #100 books #reading list #2023 #books #reading #have you read any of these titles?

236 notes · View notes