The Rec Center #126
Hello! So: it seems a number of you did not receive last week’s email?? Either because it went to spam (which happened for a troublingly large number) or because you were unsubscribed against your will (only one report of this, but we had an unprecedented number of people drop from the list). The paradox here is that if you were unsubscribed or this is going to spam...you are not seeing this…... I don’t know, maybe if someone mentions they aren’t receiving it, please let them know that we’re sending these out like normal and we’re not sure what’s happening. :-/
ANYWAY. This week we have a grab-bag from our fanfic submissions, plus stuff on the historical legal battles over fic, fanmade mods, and some *delightful* Negasonic Teenage Warhead fanart. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“What a pansexual Lando Calrissian reveals about the evolution of Star Wars” by Aja Romano at Vox
On the legacy of Lucasfilm’s battles against queer fanfiction over the decades.
“It Used To Be Perilous To Write Fanfiction” by Gita Jackson at Kotaku
On a similar theme—rights holders’ historical fights against fic writers, especially slash writers—but far beyond Star Wars, from Anne Rice to Fox to Warner Bros.
“How BTS Are Breaking K-Pop's Biggest Taboos” by Jae-Ha Kim at Rolling Stone
This week BTS made history, as the first K-pop act ever to top the Billboard 200. This piece dives into the ways that their candor breaks the mold: “By straddling the line between maintaining a respectable image and writing critical lyrics, BTS have offered a refreshing change from what some critics and fans dislike about the K-Pop machine.”
older stuff
Terry Pratchett discusses his love of fanmade mods for the video game Oblivion.
tumblr & beyond
Negasonic Teenage Warhead fanart by brokenlynx21
The Star Wars franchise, ranked by quantity of screentime for women.
Related: the final installment of destinationtoast’s big analysis on gender representation in movies v fanworks has been posted! Read it from the start here.
Fan theory: the High School Musical franchise takes place in an alternate universe where New Mexico seceded from the Union.
Straightening Up the House: a fanvid by eruthrosish, highlighting canonically queer characters in Marvel comics—and the fact that they haven’t yet appeared on the big screen.
fanfiction
A multi-fandom grab-bag this week! Thanks, as always, to our guest reccers. — Elizabeth
“Forever Young: Boy’s Side [Seokjin Walkthrough + Review]” by numberts. 33K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: BTS (K-pop); Ship: Jeon Jungkook/Kim Seokjin | Jin
Recced by: blindmouse
Backstory: BTS (or Bangtan Sonyeondan) are a Korean boy group. Jin is the oldest member and the visual (one of those k-pop things you get used to, means he’s beautiful), and Jungkook is the much-doted-on youngest member.
Rec: The conceit for this fic is that it’s structured like a dating sim, about Jungkook strategising to win over the gorgeous TA for his Developmental Psych class. The dating sim elements aren’t too intrusive—the fic is still mostly narrative—but they’re brilliantly done, with gorgeous graphics, and the whole thing is super charming.
Content warnings: N/A
“Duplicity” by Prackspoor. 49K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: LOTR/The Silmarillion; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: The Silmarillion is the sprawling semi-mythical backstory for the main LOTR trilogy, and therein lies a treasure trove of characterization for Sauron, of all beings.
Rec: If you have ever had a single thought or feeling about the relationship between Frodo, Sauron, Gollum, and the Ring, you should read this. The balance between history, character, experimental narrative, and inner dialogue is handled masterfully. Bring tissues.
Content warnings: Torture, descent into insanity, marital rape, it’s Sauron so, y’know, it’s all bad
“the business of caring” by coldmackerel. 70K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: The 100; Ship: Clarke/Lexa
Recced by: charlie
Backstory: College campus police modern AU with a mystery art bandit.
Rec: It’s really fun, mostly fluffy, and it does a good work of setting up the characters in a new world with different motivations—to the point you hardly need knowledge of the original.
Content warnings: N/A
“Flames We Never Lit” by roboticonography. 78K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Captain America; Ship: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Recced by: Jen
Backstory: Peggy Carter is frozen in 1946 and awakened by SHIELD in 2012. This is a Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers story, and it is to some extent an Avengers story, but first and foremost, it is a Peggy Carter story.
Rec: Robot gets Peggy’s voice perfectly right, and the slowish burn of her reunion of Steve in 2012 is pretty delicious. There’s email flirting and stiff-upper-lipping, plus shopping with Pepper and not-quite-bonding with Clint. It ends with some excellently written action (and there are several codas Robot’s written since, also worth checking out.)
Content warnings: N/A
“Graduate Vulcan for Fun and Profit” by lazulisong. 15K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Star Trek XI; Ship: Gen
Recced by: christycorr
Backstory: The survivors of the USS Kelvin do their best to stick together—and for young Jim, that means he gets better acquainted with Vulcan language and culture than he could ever expect to be.
Rec: THIS FIC, MY GOD. Found families, secret genius Kirk, humour, grief, comfort—it just has so many feelings that hit you nonstop one after the other.
Content warnings: N/A
“annual honesty” by tigrrmilk. 18K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Remus/Sirius
Recced by: Astrid
Backstory: This fic follows Remus through his Hogwarts years and then adulthood. It deals with his werewolf secret, his relationship with Sirius, and losing his friends to the war.
Rec: Almost any happy moment is shadowed by the knowledge that nothing ends well for these characters. But it’s so good! The author has a lovely easy with words, and sometimes the characters don’t say much while at the same time saying a lot. It’s a very melancholy story that I love very much.
Content warning: Death
FINAL THOUGHT
Have a great weekend, everyone! And my greatest regards to everyone who took my advice last week and started reading that life-changingly good 450,000-word fanfic, have fun with your Emotions. — Gav
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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