The Rec Center #139
Hello! This week, in honor of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, we’ve got a multi-fandom fake relationship AU list. Plus our usual mix of articles and posts, from Magic: The Gathering to Steven Universe fanart. Happy Labor Day weekend to all Americans (if you’re headed to DragonCon, have fun!) and...happy weekend to everyone else haha. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ Became An Instant Classic. Here’s How It Happened” by Alanna Bennett at BuzzFeed
Can you have an oral history of something that happened a week ago? Well, whatever. This is a great piece about why everyone is so obsessed with To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, interviewing a bunch of fans about the film’s ~radical softness~.
“The Twenty-Five-Year Journey of Magic: The Gathering” by Neima Jahromi at The New Yorker
A deep dive into the history of Magic: The Gathering and this year’s 25th anniversary celebration in Las Vegas.
“How This Trans Journalist Is Sparking Change in the Comics Industry” by Samantha Riedel at them.
A conversation with ‘Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men’ host Jay Edidin about Flame Con, coming out, the comics industry, and the future of queer comics.
older stuff
We included the wrong link last week—apologies!—so one more time:
“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
Space Stevonnie fanart by singajelly
Will Graham during the Hannibal s2 finale, probably.
A v satisfying chart showing all the overlap between actors in the Harry Potter franchise.
Soulmate AU: realistic worldbuilding edition.
“I enjoyed the strong beginning but here is where you lost me, I’ve made some notes”
fanfiction
We already knew fake dating/marriage AUs were *quite popular*, but the collective love for TATBILB (which, if you are one of the four people who has yet to see it, is a fake-relationship teen rom-com) gave us good reason to put together a fake relationship list. Thank you to everyone who contributed a rec! — Elizabeth
“A Wicked Game” by Tierfal. 60K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist; Ship: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Recced by: Kate
Backstory: Fullmetal Alchemist is an anime about teenagers dealing with science-magic gone wrong—Edward is the titular Fullmetal Alchemist, and Roy Mustang is the Flame Alchemist and his superior officer.
Rec: Possibly my favourite fake relationship fic, this modern AU takes Roy and Ed as socially isolated scientists who try to take advantage of a free holiday offer and accidentally get invested in each other’s lives.
Content warnings: N/A
“World Ain’t Ready” by idiopathicsmile. 18K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Les Miserables; Ship: Enjolras/Grantaire
Recced by: Aruelle
Backstory: If you’re into hopeless longing, it’s hard to go past the ultimate “bitter pessimist with a big dumb crush on a gorgeous idealist” ship. Grantaire, former smart kid and current disaffected burnout, finds himself drawn into the orbit of passionate transfer student Enjolras, who proposes that they begin a fake relationship in order to create solidarity for and diffuse hatred towards the budding gay romance between their friends.
Rec: The author has thought really carefully about where the characters need to be before they’ll be capable of actually functioning in a relationship, and a lot of thought has gone into the side characters as well, particularly Eponine. The story is SO much more than hopeless longing, but that said, this is perhaps the best depiction I have ever read of liking someone who doesn’t like you back, and of being simultaneously desperate and unwilling to escape that situation.
Content warnings: Homophobic violence, bullying, underage drinking, mild underage drug use, terrible parenting, swearing
“The Place Between” by PsiCygni. 309K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series; Ship: Spock/Uhura
Recced by: blackestglass
Backstory: An Academy-era (pre-movie) story, wherein Uhura and her new thesis advisor, Spock, have to fake-date because the alien ambassador Spock is negotiating with for materials for the Enterprise comes from a culture that refuses to deal with non-partnered individuals.
Rec: If there was ever a Spock/Uhura story to read, it would be this one. I do not exaggerate when I say it consumed my life and Changed Me as a Person. It’s an epic slowburn that delivers on absolutely everything you could want out of a fake relationship story. The characterization and voices are spot-on and the author either is a linguist themself or has done enough research to make the theory and terminology sound legit. I also warn you that you are not prepared for the feelings you will develop about minor characters from the movie-verse whom the author has fleshed out in delightful glory.
Content warnings: N/A
“rumor has it” by thecrackshiplollipop. 18K words, rated Mature .
Fandom: Jessica Jones; Ship: Jessica Jones/Trish Walker
Recced by: addiemay
Backstory: Trish and Jessica’s friendship was the best thing about Jessica Jones, and this goes further into their dynamic beautifully.
Rec: Best friends fake dating with mutual pining—what more do you need? Trish and Jessica’s long history together, the way they built themselves a family in a each other, their incredible ease and warmth together is the perfect foundation for fake dating paparazzi hijinks with slow dawning feelings.
Content warnings: nope, pre-Kilgrave, everything is chill
“a sequence that you never learned” by annataylor. 65K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (movies); Ship: Kirk/Spock
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Takes place at some vague point after the first Star Trek reboot movie, so the Enterprise crew are all together and Kirk and Spock are ~pals.
Rec: In order to retain custody of an orphaned Vulcan child, Kirk and Spock must pretend to be married so the kid can have two parents with “Vulcan citizenship.” And then they fall in love!!!!! (Wait is that a spoiler.)
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
As you may know, Elizabeth and I don’t know anything about videogames. However! We’d like to do more videogame rec lists in future, so if you’d like to introduce our readers to your favorite game fandom, please email us! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com. In particular, we’d love to see fandom primers & recs for Tomb Raider, Detroit: Become Human, Dragon Age, and The Witcher. (We already have a fandom primer for Overwatch, thanks to Basia!) — 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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