(Warning: this post briefly discusses Covid 19/Coronavirus and Lockdowns, and mental health problems)
April was a mixed month.
Not only did we have snow, hail, rain, and blazing warm sunshine on the same day, but the uncertain opening-up after Lockdown etc. still meant that things felt hecka odd.
We're in that odd position where we're (hopefully) beyond the worst of it, but it's also uber-important not to move too fast, y'know?
It's Thursday, it may be April Fool's Day, but no tricks here - just comics-y, superhero-y, goodness!
'The massive box of 64 crayons calls to me, every one of them waiting to be picked and pressed to a page. (I could have gone for the box of 120, but that seemed like too much.)'
This week's fic is from a fandom that is super-popular, but also not especially well-known outside its core fanbase.
...which is why I'm going to do a very brief explanation of Carry On aka the Simon Snowverse just so's we're all on the same page.
(I realise that a lot of die-hard fans are probably screaming that how could anyone not know about Simon Snow?! But we do not gatekeep here at Dora Reads, dearest nerdlets.)
(Fandom notes:
gatekeeping - also a non-fandom term, when used in fandom this typically takes the form of 'you're not a real fan of [insert fandom or genre or author, etc.] unless you've [insert arbitrary benchmark]')
It's Thursday, it's still 2020 - let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
Everything I've got for ya this week is in the 'Other Stuff' category - as always, we'll blame this on Loki.
Note: For the foreseeable future the only Harry Potter fanfiction I'll be rec'ing will have Trans+/NB+ characters.
I understand if you don't wanna read any posts about Harry Potter whatsoever, and I hope I'll see you when I'm rec'ing from a different fandom.
“Sirius, when is the last time you slept? Or ate a proper meal? Or took a bath? Don’t even bother answering that last one. You smell like something died in your hair..."
To rec this fic, I basically just wanted to go:
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...until you read it.
But I realised that's both exhausting and requiring of context. (Dammit!)
August was way too hot - I'm too Welsh for this cr*p!
Seriously, I melt above 24C. That's plenty enough for me. So between 27C and 30C is literal hell to me. Thank God it's cooled down a butt-tonne now.
Anywho, I cut back on blogging in August (and you can see how that went here,) but I somehow wrote more reviews and bookish content than I have in a long time *shrugs*
I wrote 2 whole reviews dearest nerdlets! In one month! Lol.
(Warning: this post references racism and police brutality)
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!
They stand in another stretch of silence before a great screeching sound reverberates throughout the elevator.
'Ginny started to laugh. The Death Eater stopped walking. He was speaking angrily now, growling or snarling something.'
'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.'
'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.'
'...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'
'“To mine” interjected James, the tall boy with mousy hair and glasses. “Padfoot ran to mine and now he’s staying there.'
