The Rec Center #124
Hello! Welcome to Royal AU Week at The Rec Center. Somehow a casual suggestion from a reader last week turned into the longest rec list we’ve had in a single letter?? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We’ve also got our usual mix of articles and tumblr posts, and some beautiful Hannibal fanart. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Secrets of the biggest comic book collection in the world” by Jordan Zakarin at Syfy Wire
This interview with a record-breaking comic collector turned out to be unexpectedly sweet!
“Affective Hoarding” by Miranda Larsen at On/Off Screen
An interesting post on “affective hoarding”: when a person’s fan activities rely on denying *other* people access to fandom things, like exclusive spaces or limited edition objects.
“How an indie comic is monetizing the Gamergate playbook” by Gav at the Daily Dot
Gamergate has expanded to the comics industry, and as you might expect, it fucking sucks. This piece gives a rundown on the major players, explaining why the controversy peaked this week.
older stuff
“Two X-Men fan letters from 1976, one who thinks Chris Claremont’s new run can only be saved by jettisoning the diverse cast, the other from a woman of color glad to see herself represented in the pages of her favorite comic.”
tumblr & beyond
Night & dawn fairytale Hannibal AU fanart by anaktoria
“The official policy of AO3TagoftheDay is now that turtles, teenage, mutant, ninja, or otherwise, do not fuck.”
A great thread on female sports fandom and desire/attraction/gaze/etc.
“all i can think of is James Buchanan Barnes GUNNING for Ramonda and making T’challa’s life miserable.”
Mads Mikkelsen fans are a bunch of goddamn fashion sleuths.
fanfiction
Elizabeth suggested that I do the rec list intro this week “because I’m a citizen of Her Majesty,” and honestly, this feels like a great time to talk about the separation between fictional interests and IRL values! For instance, I love reading Hannibal fanfic about a romantic serial killer (which FOR SOME REASON Elizabeth thought was an amusing comparison in this context), but generally frown upon cannibalistic murder in my day-to-day life.
Similarly, it turns out I really love royal romance AUs? Honestly, I could have DOUBLED the number I shared this week, so maybe we’ll do another list sometime. Anyway, the monarchy is a drain on society and royal wedding celebrations are propaganda, please enjoy these fictional romances which only bring joy and satisfaction instead of evicting homeless people from the streets of London to make way for a procession of horse-drawn carriages. — Gav
“You’re the One That I Want” by thehoyden. 16K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Hockey RPF; Ship: Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Recced by: Meghan
Backstory: Instead of being a powerhouse pair on the ice with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Sid and Geno meet at a hockey camp while Sid is pretending not to be a prince and attempting to relax (badly). Pining, feelings, and shenanigans ensue.
Rec: Exactly the right length for when you want a mostly light-hearted royalty AU romp through the hockey world. Very funny with excellent characterizations and spot-on voices.
Content warnings: N/A
“Drastically Redefining Protocol” by Rageprufrock. 46K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Merlin (BBC); Ship: Merlin/Arthur
Recced by: Cindy
Backstory: Prince Arthur tries to get away from the endless goodwill tours—and accidentally locks himself in a closet with Merlin. This is only the beginning of their misadventures.
Rec: Who doesn’t love a fic that includes pictures of the tabloid headlines *from* the fic? I’m not even in the Merlin fandom and I adored this fic.
Content warnings: N/A
“You Are Cordially Invited” aljohnson. 64K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries; Ship: Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson
Recced by: Marieke
Backstory: Phryne is invited to attend the 2011 Royal Wedding because *of course* she is close friends with William and Harry. Being separated gives both parties some clarity.
Rec: Phryne and Jack don’t actually physically interact until the closing act, but their relationship is written so well hear the intimacy and longing still pours through.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Student Prince” by FayJay. 145K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Merlin (BBC); Ship: Merlin/Arthur
Recced by: anon
Backstory: The definitive modern AU for me of any fandom.
Rec: I’ve never seen a single episode of this TV show, but I love this fic so much. It stands alone as a story.
Content warnings: N/A
“A Ballerina and a Prince” by youlovelucie. Complete on Tumblr, with 473K words of it imported to AO3 so far, rated Explicit.
Fandom: British Royal RPF; Ship: Prince Harry/OFC
Recced by: buckbeakbabie
Backstory: There is an entire genre of royal RPF and a supremely popular trope has been “Harry marries an American.” You can imagine this fandom right now...
Rec: Most fic in this fandom is sweeping and mushy and very lovely in that sort of way—but this one has a slight edge to it, and I really like the author’s style. Harry and an American ballet student meet, fall for each other and deal with the inevitable pressure from the press on their way to happily ever after. It’s complete on tumblr, but is being uploaded to AO3 currently.
Content warnings: Drug addiction, eating disorders, mental health issues
“The Lily and the Crown” by Telanu. 49K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Devil Wears Prada; Ship: Andrea Sachs/Miranda Priestly
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Space AU where Andy is the shy, botany-obsessed daughter of a local planetary governor. Miranda is given to her as a slave, captured during a space pirate raid... or is she??
Rec: This is a classic of DWP fandom, a deliciously self-indulgent romance that accentuates the film’s relationship dynamic to a pretty OTT degree, while also switching Andy and Miranda’s roles in an intriguing way.
Content warnings: No official warnings, but there’s an obvious power imbalance due to Miranda starting the story as Andy’s slave.
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by perkynurples. 296K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Hobbit; Ship: Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield
Recced by: Cindy
Backstory: Bilbo Baggins is hired to become a tutor for the royal princes of a small country named Erebor. Plot and romance ensues.
Rec: Hobbit fandom has a lot of royalty themes and a lot of modern-day AUs, but none quite like this. It’s a modern, royal romance with heavy dose of political thriller, which makes for a winning combo.
Content warnings: some, but not all, canonical character death, serious injuries
“landscape with a blur of conquerors” by diasterisms. 363K words so far, rated Mature.
Fandom: Star Wars; Ship: Kylo Ren/Rey
Recced by: Flourish
Backstory: In the Star Wars Legends universe, there’s a part of the galaxy called the Hapes Consortium that’s matriarchal, ruled by a Queen Mother, and which is very big on court etiquette and so forth. Prince Isolder, son of the ruling empress, tried to steal Leia from Han back in the day (it didn’t work). In this story, Rey turns out to be Isolder’s daughter, and thus the future Queen Mother of Hapes. Obviously she has to marry Kylo Ren for political reasons. Obviously.
Rec: Look, either you are the type of person who sees “canon compliant arranged marriage” or you aren’t. But also maybe you are the type of person who sees “when matriarchy invested in soft power clashes with the super masc fascism of the First Order: and think ooh, that sounds interesting. Also Rey wears pretty dresses. It’s a delight.
Content warnings: N/A
“Like a Fairytale” by lucycamui. 73K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Yuri on Ice; Ship: Victor Nikiforov/Yuuri Katsuki
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: A sweet fairytale AU where Victor is a handsome prince who gets swept off his feet by mysterious pastry chef Yuuri Katsuki during a royal banquet!
Rec: So cute!!! Need I say more.
Content warnings: N/A
“God Save The Queen” by Copperbadge. 5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe; Ships: Steve/Peggy; Bucky/ and, umm, one ‘Lisbet Windsor’
Recced by: Veronica
Backstory: A hybrid of Captain America: The First Avenger and, good heavens, The King’s Speech, plus those famous wartime photographs of Princess Elizabeth, qualified ATS military truck driver and mechanic.
Rec: An encounter, almost plausible within its own mad plot logic, between an incognito princess who has run—well, driven—away into danger (she. so. would. have) and the Howling Commando crew; Sergeant Barnes falls for this frightfully well-spoken battlefield rescuer, until her father, recalling recent problems with royal spouses from the U.S., has to give the ultimate shovel talk. Gloriously funny, with an unexpectedly poignant postscript.
Content warnings: N/A
“Anarchy in the U.K.” by Yahtzee. 162K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: X-Men: First Class; Ship: Charles Xavier/Erik Lehnsherr
Recced by: Elizabeth
Backstory: Charles, the Prince of Wales, is gay but remains in the closet, worried that coming out will force him out of the line of succession—putting his mentally-ill sister, Raven, in a dangerous position. When he meets Erik, a world-traveling journalist with a fear of commitment, they’re perfectly matched for a secret, no-strings, sex-only affair—but this is a 160K word fanfic so you better believe things get a hell of a lot more complicated.
Rec: OK look folks, I know I went on the record as little as, like, a few weeks ago saying that AUs that stray a good deal from the source material were Not For Me Personally. I’ve read nearly all of Yahtzee’s XMFC fics at this point (they are a fantastic body of work, highly recommended) and I think this fic is one of the more distant on that front. But!!! It is so compelling; I could not stop reading. The characters and the world itself are richly drawn—I found myself completely wrapped up in, like, royal protocol (why) and the feelings of the Archbishop of Canterbury (why why why) (I suppose he is the head of my church but still). 100/10 would recommend.
Content warnings: References to a past abusive relationship, struggles with mental illness, including self-harm, homophobia
“the washington royals” by screamlet. 45K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Hockey RPF; Ship: Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Ovechkin
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: These two guys are hockey players, but you definitely don’t need to know anything about hockey to follow this story where they’re modern-day princes of Sweden and Russia.
Rec: A lovely twist on arranged marriage romances, without being an outright subversion of the trope. Nicklas and Alexander are betrothed to each other from childhood, and their families are genuinely perturbed when they fall in love.
Content warnings: N/A
“strive seek find yield” by waldorph. 68K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Star Trek (2009); Ship: Kirk/Spock
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Loosely inspired by The Young Victoria (which I haven’t actually seen), this fic combines a royal AU concept with Star Trek canon. Kirk is the Prince of America while Spock is the heir to the Federation throne, and ~they fall in love.~
Rec: BYYYYEEEEEE this fic is one of the best in Star Trek fandom and it’s SO fun and romantic and intense. It keeps enough elements of Star Trek canon to feel familiar without being a full AU in the vein of regency romance, and it’s tropey yet original.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Gav’s Deadpool 2 review:
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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