It's Thursday, I have had a truly awful week, let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
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)
'He feels faint himself, his head swimming with a startling lack of oxygen. Stars peek through the leaves ahead, and he turns his eyes upwards, counting them over and over again.'
Never have I been tested so much by my 'if it's well-written, I must rec' rule...
...I genuinely didn't know whether to rec this fic.
'He grieves quietly.
The world is ending in three days; actually, truly ending.
Odd, how it feels like his already has.'
This is well-written, and you know we have a rule around these parts - if I find a well-written fic, I have to rec. it.
So - here we are! Rec'ing the fic.
It's Thursday, it's somehow April, this is Dora Reads, so let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
"Jesus Buck," Sam says, "I leave for three days. Three days, and I come back to find you half dead in our kitchen."
Hopefully by the time this post goes up, AO3 will be back online.
AO3, for those unfamiliar, is the primary place for fanfiction on the internet - it's the most user-friendly, covers the broadest range of fandoms, and has the most people (as far as I can tell,) actively uploading fanfiction.
It's also where I read 99% of my fanfiction - because of said user-friendliness, and also because I can download to my e-reader - and so 99.99% of my fic recs are from AO3.
Fanfiction can open your mind to new perspectives, ideas, styles, explore ideas and characters and art forms...
...or it can 'just' be a lot of fun. (Which is pretty impressive in and of itself.)
So I figured I'd give you four fun fanfics to enjoy (because I'm nice like that.)
As always with these rec lists, please check the original rec'ing post for spoiler status and Content Warnings.
Because this is me doing the rec'ing - it's entirely possible that even the fun fics need Content Warnings 😅
'It was impossible.
Well.
Don’t let that stop you, O. B. had said.'
I kind of love this fic.
I mean... obviously, because I'm rec'ing, and, also obviously, I tend to say that a lot. But... yeah.
'Diego throws the knife with a grunt of frustration. It lands perfectly positioned in the wall.
“Good job,” Luther says dryly. “You killed the wallpaper.”'
One of the extremely few issues I have with The Umbrella Academy (TUA) is that the Hargreeves siblings are so emotionally constipated that we never get to bathe in the angst with them.
Like - I'm talking 'Gerard Way in the video for Ghost of You' style angst-bathing. We don't get much of that, and my emo goblin spaghetti brain would very much like that. *nods sagely*
'At first he couldn't hear the voice, he couldn't hear anything. But gradually he became aware of it, coming and going in bursts. He tried to grasp it, hold on to it, but it kept slipping away.
"Bucky? Can you hear me? Can you breathe for me?"'
When there's gaps in the canon, what's fanfic to do but to, y'know, step in...?
Like, when Avengers: Endgame leaves everyone in a nebulous situation, and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) picks up after all the messy logistical stuff has already been dealt with and the brainwashed supersoldier assassin has already been pardoned.
...None of this is spoiler-y, since you can pretty much assume this from the trailer for TFATWS. #Don'tComeForMe
(Fandom notes:
Canon is the 'official' stuff in the book/film/whatever.)
“Find the front door,” Bucky snapped when Sam’s eyes went to the window again. He smashed someone’s head down on the banister with enough force to crack either bone or wood. “I’m not jumping through glass.”
So, we're talking The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) again today... well, kind of.
Strictly speaking we're talking the nebulous period between Winter Soldier and Civil War where Sam was looking for Bucky on Steve's behalf, and Bucky was happily living his post-Hydra best life - as in, the one where he got to buy plums in goddamn peace!
...But it's got a TFATWS vibe, and both lead characters, so that's what we're calling it.
It's Thursday, the 21st Century is exhausting, this is Dora Reads, so let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
'“You told me not to lie,” Klaus snaps at him, wiggling his fingers in Ben’s direction. “Zip it, Casper.”'
I haven't rec'd a The Umbrella Academy (TUA) fic in a while.
Aside from rec-lists, I haven't rec'd TUA since September.
...That's probably a record for me.
'It’s just that Bucky has spent his entire life trying to fulfill obligations — for the war, for Steve, for HYDRA — and now that he feels like he can make his own choices, he doesn’t know what to do.'
Bucky's bored.
He's really bored. Like - he needs hobbies. Badly. Preferrably ones with minimal interactions with people because are so... people-y.
Same, Bucky. Same. People are too people-y.
'Knock, knock, knock on the door. Three times, not four, and the door isn’t blue. It’s red, glittering in baubles of sunlight cast over its fresh coat of paint. The Doctor is safe.'
So far, I'm loving the way Dr Who is headed with Russell T. Davies back at the helm.
Side-note: Welsh people (which Russell T Davies is,) say Dave-iss, not Daveys. Please, for the love of God, respect that. (And check out this Legends of Tomorrow clip for pronounciation, complete with accent.)
Also, Welsh people with common surnames will use middle initials or names to distinguish themselves from other people with the same name. Don't miss out the initials/names when talking about them, please and thank you.