The Rec Center #138
Hello and welcome to our SUMMERTIME REC LIST!! Thank you for sharing your faves, everyone. Plus we have an oral history of iconic Harry Potter fandom works like “A Very Potter Musical” and “The Shoebox Project,” and some beautiful Tolkien fanart. — Gav
new stuff
“Where the stars of Harry Potter’s fan-generated golden age are today” by Petrana Radulovic at Polygon
Catching up with some of the 2000s-era HP fandom’s most popular fan creators: the people behind “A Very Potter Musical,” Potter Puppet Pals, and, perhaps most importantly to subscribers to our ~fanfic newsletter~, “The Shoebox Project.”
“Monstrous, hockey-robot Omegas” by Elise Vist at Fanhackers
On hockey RPF, “intimate fandoms,” the ethics of RPF, and the tension between real-life hockey players and the characters on the page.
older stuff
“Tumblr and the romantic sentiment album: Bricolage and the culture of the margins” by Evan Hayles Gledhill at Transformative Works and Cultures
Someone recently asked about Evan’s appearance on Fansplaining, one of our most popular episodes ever, “Fangirling Through Time.” I shared this paper, the in-depth version of some of the things we talked about. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of fannish practices, especially through a gendered lens. — Elizabeth
tumblr & beyond
Gorgeous Tolkien fanart by zipavika
A concept: Steve Rogers interviewed on My Brother, My Brother, And Me.
The next big fanfic trope.
Layers of conflict in media: fanfic edition.
Honey, his name isn’t Hamlet. It’s really not......... Hamlet.
fanfiction
Summer! I am not a fan! But it’s a good setting for fic—spending approx. one billion years in Remus/Sirius fandom, I am well acquainted with the classic combo of heatwave + pining. In summer 2016, a time that seems quite distant, hey, President Obama, we ran a call for “summer recs” and wound up with SO MANY FICS. Once you exhaust this list, you should definitely check that one out as well. Thanks, as always, to our guest reccers. — Elizabeth
“So Impossibly Summer” by two_of_swords. 7K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Raven Cycle; Ship: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Recced by: Rachel
Backstory: This is a ship from the YA book series “The Raven Cycle” by Maggie Stiefvater. The fic is your classic beach lifeguard AU, in which Adam is a lifeguard and Ronan is an unenthused beach goer.
Rec: It’s just a lot of fun, super cute, and feels in-character the whole way through! It also manages to slide in some minor characters in creative ways.
Content warning: mentions of past child abuse
“Sundress” by Rhoddlet. 2.5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ships: Ginny/Hermione, background unrequited Ron/Hermione and Harry Hermione
Recced by: Taylor
Backstory: Hermione comes to visit, wears a sundress, and steals Weasley hearts.
Rec: A dreamy summer fic, full of heat and laziness and desperate unrequited longing.
Content warnings: N/A
“Learning Curve” by ginger_mosaic. 11K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Marvel (Comics), Young Avengers, Loki: Agent of Asgard; Ship: Gen
Recced by: annathecrow
Backstory: Teen!Loki is a Loki version that is less “evil” and more “troubled teen” (even in canon), Verity is a girl who can tell truth from lie and it isn’t treating her that well, and they’re kind of maybe best friends. Or something.
Rec: Kids (and Thor) on a beach, making friends, being cute. There is a good dose of optimism in this story, even if it isn’t exactly all “happy go lucky.”
Content warning: Allusions to depression
“Summer When I Saw Your Face” by burglebezzlement. 1.6K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Jumanji (2017); Ship: Bethany Walker/Martha Kaply
Recced by: queersintherain
Backstory: If you haven’t seen the new Jumanji please do, it is a DELIGHT. Basically, the board game figures out how to get more modern and turns into a video game, and four teens in detention get sucked in. Bethany is an image-obsessed popular girl who gets turned into Jack Black, and Martha is a shy, booksmart type who gets turned into ass-kicking “Ruby Roundhouse.”
Rec: A short, wonderful post-canon fic that deals with the aftermath of being sucked into a video game that tried to kill them. The characters feel spot-on and the sense of place (muggy suburban summer) is very well done.
Content warnings: N/A
“Simple Maths” by popliar. 6.6K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: BTS; Ship: Jung Hoseok/Kim Namjoon/Min Yoongi
Recced by: stickley925
Backstory: A non-famous AU where the rapline of BTS goes on a beach holiday together and the change of pace helps them finally admit that they love each other.
Rec: The pining is excellent and the friendship between all three of them is so well-written and natural.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Drought Story” by Librae. 3K Words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Remus/Sirius
Recced by: Isabel
Backstory: Owled letters and a visit to Remus’s home during the drought of ’76.
Rec: A perfect glass miniature of haze and heat and lazy summer days, told with exquisite cadence and an incredible eye for detail which creates a rich, almost tangible mood while letting Sirius’s emotions churn along under the surface, out of sight. One of my favorites for the ship, for its subtle sweetness and the beauty of its telling.
Content warnings: N/A
“A Very Long Summer” by calathea. 37K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: I Want To Go Home! by Gordon Korman; Ship: Rudy Miller/Mike Webster
Recced by: lily
Backstory: What’s more summer than summer camp? Characters from a book by Canadian YA author Gordon Korman come back to the summer camp of their youth as counselors, shenanigans (and romance) ensue.
Rec: An oldie but a goodie, it’s the fic version of a fun beach read. Found summer camp families, wacky humor, a prank war, and some oblivious slow burn friends to lovers make this a fic I revisit when I need a pick me up.
Content warning: This is an older fic, so there is some iffy language use
FINAL THOUGHT
Assuming that everyone on Earth has already seen To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, I have another Netflix recommendation for you: The Innocents. It’s a new 8-episode miniseries that combines teen paranormal shapeshifter romance with a ~classy British/Scandinavian mystery drama aesthetic about cults and ~gender. So good!! — 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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