The Rec Center #119
Hi folks! This week’s we’ve got a cool story from theater fandom, pre-AO3 fanfic recs (readers over 25 will remember this prehistoric era), Shape of Water fanart, and more. — Gav
new stuff
“How an Anxious-Adolescent Musical (No, Not That One) Found Its Fans” by Elisabeth Vincentelli at The New York Times
On “Be More Chill” and the fandom that’s passionate about the show even before it opens.
“The Strength Of K-Pop Fandom, By The Numbers” by Emily Blake at Forbes
Breaking down the social media numbers for K-pop’s biggest acts.
“When the Way You Love Things Is ‘Too Much’; or: Why I Went to Portmeirion” by Sarah Kurchak at Catapult
“As an autistic child, I scrambled to figure out when my passions became too overbearing, too ‘me’ for other people.”
older stuff
“The inner lives of adult One Direction fans” by Rea McNamara at The Outline
“What it’s like to be a grown-up and love a boy band online.”
tumblr & beyond
Shape of Water fanart by hawberries
“I started reading fanfiction three years ago and now I have to toe my shoes off to get my feet out.”
This Drunk History segment about Nichelle Nichols is a DELIGHT.
fanfiction
Last week we put out a call for “pre-AO3” recs: stuff that predates the archive (and, ideally, hasn’t been imported there, either). Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! A note about our usual conventions: AO3 makes word counts nice and easy and standardizes ratings, but pre-AO3, as you may remember, things were...not as nice/easy/standardized. Luckily most of our reccers have helped us out here, giving a sense of length and rating. — Elizabeth
“the theory of narrative causality” by falling_voices. Eight parts, rated NC-17.
Fandom: Sherlock; Ship: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Recced by: aiyesha
Backstory: Sherlock Holmes is...Sherlock Holmes, a consulting detective who alternately works for his own amusement and consults for Scotland Yard. There have been many, many adaptations over the years, and this is sort of a pastiche of all of them.
Rec: This story posits that Sherlock and John are both BNFs in various Holmes-related LJ comms, and the story itself is presented as a series of posts, comments, g-chats, emails, what-have-you as you see their relationship develop from sort of rivals to something more.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Brighton Effect” by Shemmelle. Complete, rated Teen.
Fandom: Pride & Prejudice; Ship: Kitty Bennet/OC
Recced by: Thuja
Backstory: Kitty’s chance to go to Brighton with Lydia may just change everyone’s fate.
Fandom: Really good characterizations, fun story and a great “what-if?” situation.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Last of the Jedi” by Artaxastra. One-shot, rated PG.
Fandom: X-Men; Ship: Charles Xavier/Erik Lehnsherr
Recced by: GrayJay
Backstory: A story about a young Jean Grey struggling to make sense of her world, her abilities, and her mentors; largely through the lens of Star Wars.
Rec: Jean Grey is chronically underwritten and overwrought. Artaxastra humanizes her without reducing her; and I am a sucker for any story rooted at the intersection of characters and the pop culture of their era.
Content warnings: N/A
“Alexandra Quick” series by Inverarity. 4 book-length entries have been completed out of 7, rated Teen.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Gen
Recced by: sterekcollection
Backstory: Alexandra Quick is to the American Wizarding world what Harry Potter is to the British Wizarding world. None of the Harry Potter characters appear; it’s totally original characters, settings, and storylines, just occupying an American version of the world J.K. Rowling created.
Rec: The world-building is phenomenal. This story is 100% my headcanon of what the American Wizarding world is like, in all its many messy, complicated, fascinating facets. Max (first appears in book 2) is one of my favorite characters in all the Harry Potter verse; he's also gay.
Content warning: Major character death
“Stormbenders” by Fandomme. 171K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender; Ship: Katara/Zuko
Recced by: shadowkeeper
Backstory: Diverges from canon mid-season 2 at the Air Temples. Katara and Zuko have to go on a mission together into the Fire Nation. This fic has everything: undercover spying, drift-compatibility-like use of bending powers, enemies-to-lovers, fake relationships!
Rec: Katara/Zuko was my otp in this show, and this fic serves up the epic adventuring tone of the show in the form of a two person mission in enemy territory. There's some fantastic character work and gorgeous world building. It's the novel-length fic I've kept on my shelf to reread again and again over the last decade.
Content warnings: N/A
And an archive rec (and please send us your archive recs!)
“A Teaspoon and an Open Mind”
Fandom: Doctor Who
Recced by: Ju Transcendancing
Rec: I was reading from this archive back before LJ did it's several giant nosedives and everyone moved away. It's still online but I haven't looked at any of the fics in ages, I was reading for Doctor/Rose/Jack a lot of that period :) (on a side note, can you do an OT3 rec list some time this year?)
[Ed. note: One of our very first lists was an OT3 one, but that was a thousand years ago, so it’s time for another, for sure. :-))]
FINAL THOUGHT
Words to ponder:
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, etc—are strongly encouraged as well. And if you have any interest in doing an entire rec list, explainer, or ship manifesto, please get in touch! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com.
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)