Ladies (and gents) I come to you for help!

A friend of mine has decided to get married in Vegas, next May and I have been given the honour of helping plan the hen.

Now, I've never been to Vegas before and was hoping I could get the inside scoop from everyone here?

Where are the best places to go? Any super secret night spots that us English women may not be privy to?

The brides step mum has refused the traditional (debauched) hen activities so I need something suitably classy and muted for the day.

But we want hard core, cheesy, drunken hen-do activities in the evening

(recommendations for places to see semi naked men are more than welcome)

I look forward to reading your suggestions!!

Bonus task: Vegas themed songs? Trying to put together a playlist to add to give everyone flying out for the wedding :)

Ps. I'm sorry for the plain text - I wanted to add pretty pictures and all the fun stuff but my tablet won't let me :( I hate technology some days...

Talk to me!

Since I am feeling a bit nostalgic for fridays when I could just go out drinking and sleep in the next day, come inside and share with me your drink of choice.

Recipes are absolutely welcome!

I did not get ranger approval, I hope this is ok? Also I firmly believe that the Han Solo tag is relevant to every campfire!

Relevant rec FYT :  Cullen's Roadhouse

Feed Your E-Reader

(mostly) weekly campfire

Please post all the fabulous deals you've found this week. And if you pick up a book from a comment inside, please let your fellow campers know you did.

This CF is open to all genres and all book deals.

And don't forget to feed the trees, yeah?

What are you rocking out to these days?

**I can't tag this for some reason**

That's right, Sassenachs! Thanks to huge ratings (now estimated to be at 5 million views thanks to multiplatform viewing) and overwhelmingly positive critical response (89% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes -- 41 out of 45 reviews), our favorite kilted Scotsman (and his nighean donn) will be back to bring Dragonfly in Amber to life!  

Shall we do some fantasy casting? Who would you like to see as:

Bree

Roger

Raymond

Le Comte de Saint Germain

Bonnie Prince Charlie

King Louis

Mary Hawkins

Alex Randall 

FYT, ye ken:

(Sorry, it slipped... ;D)

How do you define feminism? How do you feel about it? Are you a feminist?

"Saying feminism is unnecessary because you don't feel oppressed is like saying fire extinguishers are unnecessary because your house isn't on fire."
-- Kay Notaras

"Or, saying fire extinguishers are unnecessary because your house isn't on fire, when your house actually is on fire. You just thought it was normal to live in smoke, flames, and heat since that is all you've ever known your entire life, and there is a chorus of arsonists telling you flames are good, and fire extinguishers are the REAL cause of all your problems."
-- Jill McDevitt

Today I wanna discuss people who started off as the bad guy in a movie or comic that suddenly went good guy. Who are your favorites? Or just name any you can think of - cartoons and books count too.

The one I think of is Black Widow. And to be honest, I think she's much cooler this way.

Talk to me!

I've branched out into a different fandom. Don't get me wrong - I'll always be in the Twilight fic fandom but I'm happy to have found a different Fic to love. Last week someone asked for Hunger Games fics and got a few suggestions. None of those worked out for me, but I found one by skimming the stories an author read.

This fic, The Worse Games, is book canon and not movie canon. No sex, no violence beyond the idea of Katniss giving birth.

The link will be in the campfire. I'd love to see us do something like add more non-Twilight suggestions!

Here's a Twilight fic since it's not a free-for -all : D

Omens By: MissJanuary
One hundred years of swirling, living ink. Layers of words, history unravelling on skin. Tattward and Inkella. Not a fairytale. Rated: Fiction M - English - Supernatural/Tragedy

Good morning, lovely ADF Campers! 

(every time I say good morning like that here, I think of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam, of course.  May his family have peace in his early passing.)

This week we are going to share the things we are grateful for.

One of my real life friends was posting on her FB page every day the things she was grateful for.  I love the concept--looking for the joy in all the little things, not just the big things.

So this week, I challenge you to share with us not just the big things you are grateful for, but all the little every day things that we take for granted.

Feel free to share in words or pictures.

(omg, if you don't know why the 'men in kilt' tag is here, then you haven't been around lately.  It's for our lovely ValWaltzing because I'm pretty sure sh'es grateful for men in kilts, of course.

Why is there a 'Scott is a potato' tag?  I have no idea what it means, however, I love it since that's Mr. April09.)

We here at ADF are a friendly, helpful bunch!

If you have a request for a type of story or a book,
this is your spot.

If you are unsure about something that has to do with ADF,
ask here.

If you have amnesia about a fic,
this is the place to ask about it!

If you are unsure about something that DOES NOT have to do with ADF,
ask here as well!

Yes, stories like Outlander have managed to capture our interest again, offering us a way of escaping rl issues. No second-hand embarassment either, as others have mentioned: the acting's great, the writing's better than SM's (well, how worse could it be) and watching the actors' interviews doesn't make you cringe at all. Professionalism all around.

Yet Twilight is the only story that seems to have caused such a frenzy. And I'm not even talking about the number of females affected; it makes sense that Twilight, with the 100+ y.o. vampire would appeal to both teens and adult women, whereas stories like OL probably don't. What I'm talking about is the intensity of the response. You know, women who had never read any book before not being able to put the damn book down, thinking about it all the time, going nuts on its fanfiction, watching the movie (first movie. Don't forget that SM wasn't planning on writing all those books before the publishers pushed her) over and oever again etc. I remember reading this quote ""If there is a chemical that's released when you're falling in love, your brain has it when you're reading or watching "Twilight.", and laughing. But now I see it's true. And that no other author has managed to write something so appealing to women.

I'm not the only one saying this btw, check out this article on psychology today or the endless sites created by women who used to laugh at the idea but then read or watched it and just went nuts (e.g. this). I used to think that Twilight was especially captivating to people like me, who always thought vampires were hot but scary. But, no, it's obvious that it's not just me. Of course there's the FSOG appeal, but there's no need to give any explanations on this site how it's built on everything that made Twilight so captivating.

So, what exactly is it that made Twilight so captivating while the rest of the stories aiming at female audiences not so much? Continuously praising the romantic hero's looks right from the first second (which is not what happens e.g. in Outlander)? The female protagonist, who's average looking, doing nothing else in her life so she becomes obsessed with her ideal man, and making the readers obsessed in return?  The "loves me so much he doesn't even eat me oh he's so dangerous but not to me' notion? And, last but of course not least, the UST?

Any more ideas on why Twilight stood out so much? Or what element would you say helped it the most? What does Stephenie Meyer even subconsciously know that the others don't?

Stephenie with Matt Bellamy from Muse, whose angsty and passionate lyrics have been her source of inspiration:

Diving Deep for Fan Fic Treasures

Each week I will brave the treacherous waters of Fan Fiction for buried treasure. Below are the gems I've found this week!

Some great finds this week!  

Here's our To Do List for today:

1.  Read these wonderful stories
2.  Write a review and tell them ADF sent you!
3.  Feed a Tree--Let's keep these Campfires burnin'!
4.  Tell me what stories you love--Let's talk about them!
5.  Don't forget to Vote for your favorite July Fic Dive!

The Red Carpet by MyInfiniteBliss
"My night wouldn't have been complete without at least one trip down the red carpet. Literally. Welcome to Hollywood." Blinded by constant flashing lights, actress Bella Swan can't seem to tell the difference between who is acting and who isn't anymore. Humor, scandal and romance ensures along with our usual suspects E/B AH/AU Twi-celebs.

A reluctant Bella comes from Hollywood royalty. She and Edward clash. Loving this so far.  

CourtShip by Esme Incognito
In cleaning out a house, sorting through a lifetime of memories and possessions, she happens upon the journals, his and her stories of how it all began: a 50th anniversary, a graduation trip, a cruise that set them on a new course. AH 20-something Bella & Edward. A little angst, but mostly fluffy, romantic fun. 

Sweet story about Edward and Bella's relationship through their journals and scrapbooks being read by their granddaughter.  So looking foward to more.

Fearful Symmetry by elusivetwilight
Edward is a vampire monk who has vowed to deny himself all the pleasures of human flesh. Bella is a free spirit with secrets in her past. Edward has been sworn to protect her from a looming evil. Can he keep his own evil at bay to fulfill his duties? Tiger, tiger, burning bright, In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? E&B, OOC

I'm late to the game on this one. It's been rec'd here at ADF before. Bella is a half immortal being coming to terms with the fact that she's "important" in the supernatural world.  There's even a teaser in this past Monday's Sneak Peek Campfire.

Liking Blondie by scorpsifer
'If the cool kids secretly whispered behind your back anyway, what did it matter if you pretended to like Blondie? It didn't. After all, Bella Swan was a Sex Pistols kind of girl.' When Edward Cullen, Chicago's best finance columnist, visits Bella's college for a seminar, he may find she is a bit too lace-and-leather for his taste. But maybe he's tired of suits and ties.

An unconventional Bella meets a straight laced Edward.  

My Angel by ObsessingOverEdward
Edward's career, social life, and family life are exactly where he wanted them until a freak accident left him scarred and struggling to accept that his life was changing and not necessarily for the better. Battling with hallucinations he sometimes thinks are real, he struggles to straighten out his life and make the woman in his dreams fall in love with him. AH BxE

Just one chapter in.  Great writing and flow.  Haven't seen a Weather-ward before.  I hope she updates soon because I'm very intrigued by this one.

FLASH BACK FIC DIVE:

An Angel in Hell by AgoodWITCH 
Bella, arrives at MASH 8076, as the new nurse working alongside her fellow dr's & nurses during the Korean War. She catches the eye of Capt. Edward Masen & he sees in her the angel who can make their hell worthwhile. Entry for 2010 Age of Edward Contest 

I used to watch MASH all the time when I was a kid.  Not many shows could pull off comedy, tradgegy, drama and romance all in one.  This is loosely based on that show.

Something For the Rest of Us by MandyLeigh87
"We're the broken ones. The damaged. The left behind. The forgotten. Sometimes love is all we have. It's something for the rest of us." ExB Rated M Drama/Romance/Some Angst EPOV

Edward rescues a girl who has no memory of her past life.

As always, THANK YOU for your feedback.  I particularly appreciate those of you who put your two cents in every  week!