Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts

Sunday 14 May 2023

Nerd Church - Short Story: Crystal Clarity

 


This story was originally published in the Promptly Written publication on Medium by yours truly, in response to the prompt 'Either dream or reality' from editor Ravyne Hawke.



Crystal Clarity


crystals hanging from the ceiling
Image by meineresterampe from Pixabay 


He stepped out onto the crystal deck. Unable — unwilling — to look through the refracted layers of light beneath his feet.

It seemed so fantastical. A miracle of modern craftsmanship and engineering, they called it. He hated it.

Layers of quartz and glass melded into one another to create this sturdy viewing platform, over the crater. It didn’t seem real. And yet… it was strong beneath him. Physical.

He wouldn’t look down, through the surface, the prism, the light. Instead he looked across at the crater itself, ragged, raw, a bleeding wound on the landscape.

They told him the platform was very beautiful — stark contrast, they said, with the catastrophe it looked out upon. But he kept his eyes resolutely ahead, away from the glimpses of sublime achievement beneath him.

Beauty had no place here — not like this. No matter how much the tourists clicked and clacked across the quartz and crystal, oohing and ahing, he would not look down.

He wondered how many of them had even taken a videogram or a panoramiograph of the real attraction — the reason the platform was even here: the ugly crater which once held so many hopes, dreams, lives. None of them seemed to care.

They’ll tell people they visited this place. Not quite the truth.







If you enjoyed this story, please consider buying me a coffee here.



Whatcha think?
Talk to me! 😊💬







You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page



Previous Short Stories on Dora Reads:




Sharing and commenting is a welcome boost to my fragile writer's ego! 😅








Sunday 26 February 2023

Nerd Church - The Roald Dahl Edits Are Capitalism, Actually


Warning: this post discusses general bigotry, as well as more detailed anti-Semitism and racism, and other related topics. 

Links may include distressing content.




I'm Welsh, bookish, and a rebel - of course I'm going to talk about the Roald Dahl edits. 😅



Title: The Roald Dahl Edits Are Capitalism, Actually

Friday 28 August 2020

From My TBR: 15 Young Adult and Middle Grade Books By Black Authors

 

(Warning: this post references racism and police brutality)


 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.



'From My TBR: 15 Young Adult and Middle Grade Books By Black Authors' against a background of the page-side of closed books, lined-up


There are three important reasons for me writing this post:

1. Black Lives still Matter.

2. It's always a good time to highlight diverse books.

and 3. There are so many amazing Black creators out there, who don't always get the recognition they deserve.


So here's a small selection of some of the Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) books on my TBR list that were written by Black authors.

For those of you who don't know the book-blog lingo - a TBR is a 'to-be-read' list. Mine is immortal and cannot be stopped. Send help.

For those of you who are British like me, and/or haven't heard the book blogging term, Middle Grade books are those aimed at (roughly) ages 8-12, or 8-14, depending who you ask.

(Quick disclaimer: obviously, I haven't read these books, just their synopses, so I don't know what they're like in terms of content, quality, etc.)


I hope you find something to add to your own TBR, and remember to support Black authors, and other Black creators.

There're so many talented Black authors out there who deserve our attention!


Friday 21 August 2020

Review Time! - Queer As A Five-Dollar Bill by Lee Wind

(Warning: this post discusses Homophobia and bigotry, including physical violence)

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.



'Queer As A Five Dollar Bill' written in mismatched letters over a background of a five dollar bill, ft. Abraham Lincoln





Title: Queer As A Five-Dollar Bill

'Queer As A Five-Dollar Bill' book cover with $5 poking out of the back of a boy's jeans
Author: Lee Wind

Genre: YA, Contemporary, LGBTQ+ (Gay & M/M)



Sunday 3 November 2019

Nerd Church - Whose Dystopia Is This? A Discussion of Marginalisations in Dystopian Fiction, Focussing On Vox by Christina Dalcher


(Warning: this post discusses persecution of marginalised groups, sometimes in detail)


Dystopia, as a genre, is largely based on the oppression – either knowingly or unknowingly – of groups of people.

...Usually in a way that seems extreme in the context of the author’s cultural background, or else involves sufficient robots and sh** to convince us that this world is The Future™.



Title image - white writing on a pink background: Whose Dystopia Is This? A Discussion of Marginalisations in Dystopian Fiction, Focussing On Vox By Christina Dalcher


Friday 20 September 2019

Friday Fics Fix - Some Scary Stuff... Sort Of


'Richie is sitting on the corner of the porch, legs dangling over the side. He looks up when he hears someone approaching and almost goes to hide the ashtray full of cigarette butts, but then decides he doesn’t want to go through the effort of lying.'


fics fix title image with purple background and white lightning bolt shape




OK, so my fanfiction reading this week has been... well, honestly, I despair of the human race sometimes 😅

I mean, I know that the pumpkin-sex fics will appear eventually in the run-up to Halloween, but come on people, IT'S NOT EVEN OCTOBER!


Friday 9 August 2019

Friday Fics Fix - A Little Messed Up (In the Best of Ways)




'His coat came back, sooner or later. Wasn't sure. The time kept slipping between his fingers like loose sand, pillowing at his feet, in his ears. "-job, Sherlock; you did good," John was murmuring...'


Fics Fix! title image with purple background and white lightning bolt shape



Praise whoever may be out there listening that good quality fanfiction exists!

Really! It's out there! I'VE SEEN IT!!!!

*Ahem*

...I love well-written, nuanced, character-exploring, theme-exploring fanfiction. (You may have noticed.)

Wednesday 19 June 2019

Mini-Review! - Dat's Love and Other Stories by Leonora Brito

**This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.com (US). I earn commission from qualifying purchases**



Dat's Love & Other Stories title image with red willow branches hanging down over the corner




Title: Dat's Love and Other Stories

(Also published as 'Selected Stories)

Author: Leonora Brito

'Selected Stories' book cover with an artsy illustration of a Black woman
Genres: Anthology, Short Stories, Contemporary(-ish,) Historical Fiction



Friday 3 May 2019

Friday Fics Fix - They Didn't Teach Us This At the Academy



"I swear, all the doors in this damn house are going to be destroyed by the end of tonight," Diego muttered.


Fics Fix title image with purple background and white lightning bolt shape


Yes, we are Umbrella Academy-ing again dearest nerdlets!

(Not least because it's a safe place to hide from Endgame spoilers! Lol.)

Friday 26 April 2019

Friday Fics Fix - Friends Don't Let Friends Execute Other Friends


'...it started with a bandit, sword falling downwards towards Arthur’s exposed side. 

It started with Merlin, leaping from behind a tree, hand outstretched, eyes gold, a wordless cry of fear on his tongue. 

It started with a bandit flying through the air, and Arthur turning to Merlin with fear in his eyes.'

fics fix title image with purple background and white lightning bolt shape



I love BBC's Merlin.

First, cos it's just generally awesome. Second, cos anything that continues to re-tell Celtic/Welsh mythology makes me happy! 😁


Wednesday 24 April 2019

Review Time! - Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

**This post contains affiliate links from Amazon.com (USA.) I earn from qualifying purchases**


Tipping the Velvet title image with silhouette of woman holding her hat






Title: Tipping the Velvet

Author: Sarah Waters

Genres: Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+ (see below for rep,) (Modern) Classics, Romance(-ish)




Tipping the Velvet book cover





Sunday 24 March 2019

Nerd Church - The Dilemma of Morally Dubious Media (Ft. American Psycho, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter)


Warning: this post discusses morally dubious media, including but not limited to: rape, murder, incest, general violence.



'First learn the rules then break them' written on a chalk board
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay


American Psycho is about a serial killer that takes pleasure in raping and killing women in the most horrible ways, and the narrative goes into gratuitous detail about it.



Do I have your attention? Buckle up, dearest nerdlets!


No matter what, there is always gonna be media - books, films, TV series, whatever - that is kinda dubious on the ol' morality front.

Is that ok? Is that something we should be consuming? Is that something that people should be creating?

And if it isn't, is that something that we should be supressing?

Should we be, to put it bluntly, censoring it?

Wednesday 13 March 2019

Month in Review(s) - February 2019



February was... OK.




February title image w/ desk, paper, and scattered hearts


Look, I'd love to say it was great. But my Depression has been kind of up-and-down.

So I can't honestly call it 'great' - but 'ok' is fairly accurate.

I survived it. I even enjoyed some of it. So 'ok' is what I'm gonna call it.


Friday 1 March 2019

Friday Fics Fix - Magical Matilda



'Her lips pursed into a nearly invisible line. “And I feel obligated to let you know that Wormwood is a Wizarding name, while Honey most certainly is not.”'


fics fix title image with purple background and white lightning bolt shape



Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus/Happy St. David's Day!

St. David is the patron saint of Wales - he doesn't have as interesting a story as Santes Dwynwen, he basically faffed around founding churches and doing the odd miracle here and there - but it gives me an excuse for a Welsh connection to this post!

(And you probably know that any excuse to include Wales in a post is good enough for me!)


Wednesday 27 February 2019

Mini-Review! - Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

**This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.com (USA) - I receive a small commission for products purchased using these links**


Home Fire title image





Home Fire book cover
Title: Home Fire


Author: Kamila Shamsie

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Retellings







Friday 15 February 2019

Friday Fics Fix - Yer a Wizard ...Ianto?



'“Ianto?” Jack was looking down from his office.  He slowly descended the steps.  “One of your friends is the Minister for Magic.”'

fics fix title image with purple background and white lightning bolt shape



I'm starting to come to the conclusion that literally everything has been mixed with Harry Potter in fanfiction-form.

Kind of like the magical PG version of Rule 34

...Well, mostly PG.

...Well, some of it's PG.

...Well, this fic doesn't have any sex, ok?!

(If you don't know what rule 34 is, I advise protecting your innocence and not looking it up. You can't unknow it!)


Tuesday 29 January 2019

2018 Fanfiction Reading Challenge Final Update + 2019 Fanfiction Reading Challenge Sign-Up




Shocked people: 'Guess What? I am participating in the 2019 fanfiction challenge! The challenge is being hosted by Carrie @ CatOnTheBookshelf'


Fanfiction time! XD


In no way has this post been thrown together in the odd moments that my hectic life grants me *shifty glances.*

OK, so maybe it has... just don't tell anyone! 😎

I was originally trying to get this post all done and dusted in December, but my December was... not good. So here we are!


Wednesday 9 January 2019

Month In Review(s) - December 2018



In order to fully boot 2018's a** out the back door, there's still a little business to attend to - in this case, December's wrap-up.



December title image against a snowy background


Except for Christmas (which is always amazing - I love Christmas,) December sucked.


Wednesday 7 November 2018

Month In Review(s) - October 2018





Argh. October.

October was pretty much like the previous months - stressful, full of family worries, and working uber-hard.

My grandparents are both still in hospital. Life is still hectic.

Only October also managed to give me the gift of about four or five different colds. I'm one of those people who get colds on a rotating-door type basis. 😷




October title image with leaves background and smiling carved pumpkins icons in corner



Friday 26 October 2018

Friday Fics Fix - Highjinks





'Chang snorted, “Are you trying to be breezy, Draco?”


“I am breezy, Chang.” Draco said, slumping even further back in his chair to prove his point. “Totally breez-”

It was then that Draco fell off his chair.'




fics fix title image with purple background and white lightning bolt shape






More shenanigans to finish off our month of Harry-Potter-themed fanfiction!

Because October is for Harry Potter. *Nods sagely*

I didn't have long to throw this post together, so apologies if it's a little shorter than usual!