The Rec Center #123
Hello to all of our new subscribers! This week we’ve got a wonderful essay on The X-Files (amongst other things), sexy cartoon characters, Detective Elliot Stabler, and fanart and fic in honor of MerMay! — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Missing Time” by Marissa Brostoff at n +1
“As usual, Mulder was right.”
“The Secret Society of Seltzer” by Allee Manning at Dark(ish) Web
A profile of “Now Fizzing,” a delightful Facebook community devoted to sparkling water that has been the one fandom constant in Elizabeth’s life for the past two years.
“TV finales and the meaning of endings” by Casey McCormick
Full disclosure: we haven’t read this PhD dissertation yet, but it looks fantastic and we thought it would be of interest to Rec Center readers.
older stuff
“A Century of Female Fandom” by Ciara Wardlow at Film School Rejects
“The stereotype—whether it be by the name of ‘screen-struck girl’ circa 1917 or ‘fangirl’ circa now—has, beyond the name, changed very little.”
tumblr & beyond
In honor of #MerMay, here’s Hannibal Lecter as an anglerfish man, courtesy of Camille.
At the risk of introducing the Discourse to this newsletter, this is a good (and long) thread about the current ~controversy surrounding AO3 and its stance against censorship.
When people draw sexy human versions of cartoon characters, do they... imagine them with the original voices?
Area man is shocked to discover that people are shipping Han and Lando in this establishment.
Please enjoy Chris Meloni commissioning a signed fan comic making fun of his show.
Some more fine Dad of Boy content.
fanfiction
This week we have a grab-bag from our submissions—thanks to everyone who sent in a rec—as well as a few bonus MerMay recs from Gav! — Elizabeth
“Gleam” candyvan. 47K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Teen Wolf; Ship: Lydia Martin/Malia Tate
Recced by: Calyx
Backstory: The story doesn’t require having watched the show, and is sort of a modern redux of Sleeping Beauty. Based on the premise that Lydia had met Malia (a werecoyote) years before the show starts, it explores the emotional fallout of that.
Rec: It’s a beautiful and poignantly written story, starting well before the show begins, and expanding out into the emotional consequences of the events of the show. Introspectively written, and focuses more on growing up and healing than it does on romance, truly inhabiting the thoughts and feelings of Lydia Martin.
Content warnings: Canon character death, mourning, working through trauma
“Every Denny’s in America” by Sookie Starchild. 5K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: The Avengers (MCU); Ship: Gen
Recced by: anon
Backstory: A nice and sweet story about Steve Rogers and Thor going to a lot of Denny’s restaurants, due to various funny circunstances.
Rec: It’s funny and so fluffy, just Steve and Thor being best buds eating greasy junk food, with an extra scoop of contemplation thrown in.
Content warnings: N/A
“Peace Worth Keeping” by pasiphile. 12K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Discworld; Ship: Maladict/Polly Perks
Recced by: kat
Backstory: Polly Perks and approximately half the military of Borogravia are women—and seven years after this is revealed, the war is drawing to a close. Sergeant Perks and her Corporal are visited by several diplomatic strangers.
Rec: I love Monstrous Regiment, and this fic is a great glimpse of what Perks’ future might be like. Also, mentions of a bunch of favorite side (or not-so-side) characters!
Content warnings: Homophobia and transphobia mentions
“Drums of Heaven” by Sol 1056. “Epic long,” rated Explicit.
Fandom: Gundam Wing; Ship: Duo/Heero
Recced by: starwire
Backstory: Gundam Wing is a 90s Mecha anime, which like most of the gundam franchise sometimes makes sense. The characters Heero and Duo are constantly at odds and yet help each other if unwillingly and Duo appears to be Heero’s first friend.
Rec: This is an epic world building story that uses the GW universe as a jumping point. Heero is struggling with what normality is and has latched onto photography to express himself, the gradual way the mystery of Duo and Trowa unfolds, wonderful Hilde and just some really amazing writing.
Content warnings: Violence, sex work
“Heartstone” by BeautifulThief. 7K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke; Ship: (F/F) Aomine/Kise
Recced by: graybles
Backstory: Tomboy Aomine, who’s contented with life as long as she plays basketball, deals with her crush on the prettiest girl in school.
Rec: A heartwarming story that does an amazing job of exploring Aomine and Kise as teenage girls.
Content warnings: N/A
PLUS a few bonus recs from Gav for MerMay!
The “Barnacle Boy” series by silentwalrus. 18K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe; Ship: Steve/Bucky
Backstory: Basic post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier Marvel canon.
Rec: A legit hilarious take on the selkie genre, wherein Bucky Barnes turns into a seal on a regular basis, and this has always been part of his life since he and Steve were kids. This is not your typical romantic mythology selkie story. The plot summary describes Bucky as “an eight hundred pound tube of blubber,” (not... sexually) and Sam Wilson spends a lot of time like, “what the fuck.”
Content warnings: N/A
“Anteverse Refugee” series by Skull_Bearer. 93K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Pacific Rim; Ship: Newt/Hermann
Backstory: An AU where Hermann was secretly a kaiju disguised as a human all along.
Rec: This is a straight-up interspecies romance between Newt (a dude with a fetishistic kaiju obsession) and his best frenemy who is secretly a kaiju wearing a human skin-suit. A five-part series featuring some moderate body-horror and a plot that builds on Pacific Rim canon, with Hermann struggling with his identity as an alien invader who ultimately sympathises with the human cause. Written long before Pacific Rim: Uprising.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
We leave you with a very important message that we are sure sums up how many of you are also feeling right now.
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)