The Rec Center #120
Hello! Has summer finally arrived in the northern hemisphere? Please? Let’s hope so. In the meantime, here’s this week’s delivery of multifandom fic recs, Lady Gaga fanart, and personal realizations about Twilight. — Gav
new stuff
“Major update to our search engine coming soon!” at the Archive of Our Own
FILTERING. Very important AO3 updates are coming our way, folks.
Also, while we’re here: if you’ve been on AO3 in the past few days you’ll have noticed the banner across the top for the current pledge drive. If you have some cash on hand, consider donating! Elizabeth once selected an AO3-branded reusable iced coffee cup with her pledge reward and is now clearly the envy of everyone on the R train all summer.
“How Sleepy Hollow’s fanbase turned on its source material” at Fanhackers
“While the potential for social TV to alter institutional power dynamics remains to be seen, Sleepy Hollow fans’ evolving strategies show how organized actions can subvert institutional efforts to monetize fan engagement.”
We’re still waiting for official word about the sudden postponement of Universal Fan Con in Baltimore. But in the meantime, this tumblr is gathering info for vendors who were going to be there, so you can still support their work.
older stuff
“don’t like, don’t read” by e jackson at ZEAL
A lovely webcomic about growing up with Harry/Draco as a queer teen.
tumblr & beyond
Lady Gaga fanart by Hey Harold
“Maybe the gayest reaction I’ve ever had to something was when I was like 14 and reading ‘Twilight’ for the first time”
Pour one out for the ewoks’ OSHA regulations.
Are Loki and Doug Judy from Brooklyn 99 the same person?
fanfiction
No theme this week! Thank you to everyone who sent in a rec. :-) — Elizabeth
“Impossible Object” by perceived-nobility. 18K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Inception; Ship: Arthur/Eames
Recced by: Beau
Backstory: Honestly, “When he’s sixteen, Arthur steals $25,000, flies himself to Florida, and has top surgery. This is the story of what happens next” is the AO3 description and it's perfect. It's a canon-integrating Arthur backstory where Arthur, besides being his accomplished criminal self, is a transman.
Rec: The author honors the genre and setting of Inception to fully integrate Arthur’s transness in a naturalistic and nuanced manner. This fic makes me feel better about myself as a trans person (I’ve passed it on to trans friends who aren’t even into Inception) and I’m endlessly thankful for that, in a media climate that more often glorifies my pain or reduces my experience to trope.
Content warnings: Mentions of transphobia, brief mentions of self-harm, canon-typical violence
“Wanderjahre” by magistralucis (Solitary_Shadow). 140K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Daft Punk; Ship: Thomas Banglater/Guy-Manurl de Hohenm-Christo
Recced by: joethecat
Backstory: Daft Punk has a small shipping fandom, so when a single person’s AU based on the artist’s record labels (called Label AU) got famous, various authors gave it their own spin. Also counts as a simple magical realism AU with gods.
Rec: A very touching growing up story told by the odd combination of philosophy and love of food. This author has a clear grasp of many complicated themes and makes even the dullest scenes become wonderful and magical.
Content warnings: N/A
“pull it apart and put it back together (how you want it)” by falsealarm. 13K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; Ship: Sara Lance/Kendra Saunders
Recced by: Kelsey
Backstory: Legends of Tomorrow takes a bunch of minor characters from Arrow and Flash and gives them a time machine, and it's exactly as weird and fun as that sounds (very). Two of those characters are Sara Lance (White Canary), a bisexual former assassin and vigilante, and Kendra Saunders (Hawkgirl), one half of a pair reincarnating Egyptian demigods with hawk powers.
Rec: The premise of this is that Sara and Kendra get stuck together in 1958 and have to deal with that, and it really exemplifies the sort of ‘we’re stuck together in less than ideal circumstances and now have to build a life’ type of story. It's also incredibly sweet and really nails the dynamic between the two.
Content warnings: Allusions to period-typical racism and homophobia
“Back and Forth” by kiyala. 4.8K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Yuri!!! On Ice; Ship: Yuri/Otabek
Recced by: Caroline
Backstory: Yuri convinces Otabek to get Snapchat, which leads to him accidentally revealing his feelings for him.
Rec: It’s short and sweet (very sweet), and does such a good job of evoking the feelings of a crush and finding out your crush feels the same.
Content warnings: N/A
“Parallax / Perihelion” by irisbleufic. 10K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Pacific Rim; Ship: Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Recced by: booksblanketsandtea
Backstory: After saving the world, Newt and Hermann go stargazing. Set after the first Pacific Rim movie in which these two scientists helped save the world.
Rec: It’s a wonderful, feel good fic that has perfect characterization, and the writing is absolutely wonderful. It's one of those fics that you go back to—I’ve reread it about six times now.
Content warnings: N/A
“stained in tea-colors” by Sangi. 19K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: ATLA is a perfect show whose premise I’m sure you all know. I have still never seen Legend of Korra because I am so utterly content with the canon we have that I'm honestly scared to ruin it somehow by probing the world around it too much, but this was recommended to me by a trusted friend and I cannot praise it highly enough.
Rec: “stained” follows Iroh (initially) and then Azula through the rest of their post-show lives. It is quiet, stylistically beautiful, and emotionally resonant. It rings perfectly true.
Content warning: Multiple major character deaths (of old age)
FINAL THOUGHT
Jenny, who suggested we solicit pre-AO3 fics a few weeks back, has ANOTHER suggestion for a call for recs, because she’s incredibly demanding. :-))) (J/K JENNY YOUR IDEAS ARE GREAT) So on her suggestion, this week we’re soliciting fics that subvert fandom tropes in some way. This is obviously a little subjective, so it’d be good if you explained why you think the fic does this in your rec—and please be sure to include “trope subversion” in the tags section, so I can keep an eye out. — Elizabeth
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.
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