'“Come to my flat for drinks tomorrow?” He forces a casualness to his voice that he does not feel. “I’ve got a bottle of Glenfiddich I’ve had since 1937 and it’s about time you left the bookshop for something other than pastries and feeding ducks.”'
Dora Reads is the book blog of a Bookish Rebel, supporting the Diversity Movement, bringing you Queer views and mental health advocacy, slipping in a lot of non-bookish content, and spreading reading to the goddamn world! :) (All posts may contain Amazon links, which are affiliate, unless marked otherwise. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. USA ONLY - please do not make UK purchases with my links)
Friday 14 February 2020
Friday Fics Fix - Roses Are Good Omens
Thursday 13 February 2020
Comics Wrap-Up - While The Angels Sleep All of the Devils Are Awake
***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.
It's Thursday! I hope you're looking forward to some comics-y goodness my nerdlets!
Friday 7 February 2020
Friday Fics Fix - A Dose of the Warm Fuzzies
'...“Because life is one big joke,” Klaus replies with a grin.
Diego shakes his head, feeling a headache start to form, and drops the interrogation.'
Friday 31 January 2020
Friday Fics Fix - Brother Mine
'One cab ride huddled in the back attempting not to vomit later, Sherlock is standing at the doors for New Scotland Yard trying desperately not to pass out.'
One of the many excellent things about fanfiction is that it can provide wish fulfilment for both the author and the reader.
(Not like that! Minds in the gutter ...Although, there is a bunch of fanfiction about that sort of wish fulfilment too!)
So things that you won't get to see in the TV series or film or whatever - or things that are just hinted at - you can find explored in their full glory in fanfiction.
Thursday 30 January 2020
Comics Wrap-Up - And I Do My Dance and Cancel Their Plans
***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.
It's Thursday, you all rock socks, let's get some comics-y goodness!
Once again, everything is in the 'Other Stuff' category, which is all Loki's fault.
Friday 24 January 2020
Friday Fics Fix - Can Klaus Get A Boo?
***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.
'...Miraculously, it held under his weight, and he shimmied down it with an ease that could have been described as elegance if his leather hot-pants weren’t squealing against the metal piping.'
Who would be climbing down a drainpipe in leather hot-pants?
Klaus Hargreeves, of course!
(This is the first time I'm reccing an Umbrella Academy fic in 2020 - I think I've shown a lot of restraint 😅)
Friday 17 January 2020
Friday Fics Fix - Undead, Not Unreasonable
'There is a key scraping the inside of the lock, and the door was swinging open, the monster standing inside of the doorway, blocking any other view. He is smiling, his horrible fangs fully shown, in the flickering candlelight of the room.'
The established king of vampires is, and always will be, Dracula.
Since 1897, it's been adapted time and again, becoming the fundamental core of vampire fiction and media.
Friday 10 January 2020
Friday Fics Fix - Harry Potter Fics With Transgender Main Characters
(Warning: this post discusses Transphobia throughout, as well as referencing an abusive ex-rock-star)
Oh God, J K Rowling. *sighs*
I know a lot of people gave up on her before now, but the latest transphobia from Ms Rowling seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back* for most people.
*Do people use that phrase outside the UK? I don't know.
...I feel like it can't have originated here, cos we don't have camels... weird.
If you have no idea what I meant, then please just rest assured that no camels were hurt in the making of this blogpost!
Friday 29 November 2019
Friday Fics Fix - Angsty Bear
'He set his jaw and raised his eyes at Steve.
“How did you know what it feels like?”
He was genuinely afraid and somehow calm at the same time.'
Friday 22 November 2019
Friday Fics Fix - No More False Starts
Sorry if you saw this post appear briefly yesterday. I hit the publish button instead of the 'save' 😅 - ok, let's resume our regular service:
'“How was deducing the relationship status of the entire jury relevant?”'
Well-written Johnlock!
Now that that has brought every M/M-loving Sherlockian's head up like a li'l meerkat, lemme tell you about this awesome well-written Johnlock I found!
(Fangirling notes:
Johnlock - John Watson and Sherlock Holmes (usually from BBC's Sherlock) having a romantic and/or sexual relationship.
Sherlockian - BBC Sherlock fan)
Friday 15 November 2019
Friday Fics Fix - 'Round the Houses
'Loki was left-handed and took a broom that was on the very end. He had plenty of flying practice at home, but he was still nervous. His first day had been going so badly, one more embarrassing moment would just be the cherry on top.'
It's a pet theory of mine that at some point, everything in fandom has been crossed with Harry Potter.
Sometimes this is a full-on cross-over, with the characters from the Harry Potter books/films running around with characters from Marvel or DC or Torchwood or whatever.
Sometimes, though, this crossover takes the form of a Hogwarts/Harry Potter AU.
A Hogwarts and/or Harry Potter AU is an Alternate Universe where the characters from a fandom are placed in the setting of the Wizarding World, attend Hogwarts, work as Aurors, etc.
This may or may not involve actual appearances from Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Friday 8 November 2019
Friday Fics Fix - Haunted
'Diego was still screaming but his voice was drowned and consumed, overtaken by the dead that hung around him, but Ben was screaming too...'
It's Umbrella Academy time!
...I think a lot of you will have guessed that I couldn't resist an Umbrella Academy fanfiction post for much longer (especially since I read a butt-tonne of Umbrella Academy fanfiction!)
Friday 1 November 2019
Friday Fics Fix - Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
'"The handwriting on the first spells is far too legible to be Satan's," Aziraphale reasoned, reasonably, like a reasonable person who had just critiqued Satan's penmanship.'
Halloween may be over, but that doesn't mean we have to retreat from the gothicky side of life, dearest nerdlets!
And what I have for you this week is both gothicky and fun as all hell! (Pun unintended, but now I'm actually quite pleased with it.)
Friday 25 October 2019
Friday Fics Fix - HP Halloween: The Ones Who Won't Grow Old
Warning: this post talks about war and related trauma
'Even in the summer, it was cold here. Once, Ginny had been used to it, spending most of the year here, but now it was more of a distant memory.'
This is the last week of HP Halloween!
Yes, November is fast-approaching, which means our month-long Harry Potter fanfiction fest is over.
Friday 18 October 2019
Friday Fics Fix - HP Halloween: Star-Crossed Rumors
'...But it wasn’t a dream and he was fully clothed. When he looked back over at the group of girls, they giggled even harder, whispering to each other'
Yes! It's time for another week of HP Halloween!
Because October = Harry Potter fanfiction.
I don't make the rules I just... wait, no, I do make the rules! Yay me! 😆
(...I'ma blame the caffeine. #JustSaying. 😅)
Friday 11 October 2019
Friday Fics Fix - HP Halloween: Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be
'“To mine” interjected James, the tall boy with mousy hair and glasses. “Padfoot ran to mine and now he’s staying there.'
Welcome to the second week of F3's* HP Halloween!
Yep, October is for Harry Potter fanfiction - the king of fandoms in terms of quantity (you can't deny it, it's totally true!)
*F3 = Friday Fics Fix. It's just easier to say sometimes. 😅
Friday 4 October 2019
Friday Fics Fix - HP Halloween Begins!
'Malfoy looks shocked, like a deer caught in headlights, nowhere to run and just staring wide eyed at Ron, pushing Harry towards him. Suddenly Hermione realises what Luna meant: the bet.'
It's October! Which means a whole month's worth of Harry Potter fanfiction, 'Friday Fics Fix' posts, here at Dora Reads!
(Because that way I can avoid Halloween-themed fics and therefore hopefully avoid reading things I can't un-read. 😅)
Friday 27 September 2019
Friday Fics Fix - Light and Dark
'There was a noise somewhere but he couldn't make it out. He tried to call for help but it wasn't words, just a distressed sound and more tears.'
I love Oliver Queen, aka The Green Arrow, and the show he's the lead of - which is handily named Arrow. 😅
(Also handily, this was the first in the CW's DC series, known collectively as 'Arrowverse')
Oliver's had something of a rough life.
I mean, the first 20-something years were pretty sweet - he was the priviliged trust fund party-boy with little regard for what substances he was sticking in his body, and the feelings of his romantic partners.
(I was gonna make a dodgy pun there, but thankfully resisted. If you can figure out what it would've been, then you've probably read as much fanftiction as I have! 😅)
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.'
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 13 September 2019
Friday Fics Fix - Nerds Are Secretly Vindictive Emos. Oh, and Merlin and Arthur Got Captured Again.
'“We’re not going to die here,” Arthur snapped. “Someone will come to rescue us.”'
Who wants a dash of angst?
Sometimes I feel like we nerds/fandom members, as a group, are too into angst.
But... meh. 😉
Sometimes you just want to to see your favourite characters tormented - and that's ok.