The Rec Center #14
Welcome to all of our new subscribers! As you can see from Gav’s tweet, you’ve signed up for a newsletter in which two aliens try to explain a major element of culture to each other. At least we both love fanfiction. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This week we’ve got LARPing, Black Panther, Welcome to Night Vale, and we start the countdown clock until Civil War. Plus Leverage fics by guest reccer James! And because I know so many of you are following my saga of “falling waaaaay too deep into my ship from 15 years ago” and a HEART-WARMING number of you are directly aiding me in this mission, here’s a Harry/Draco rec list written for me by absolute hero and total life-destroyer dictacontrion. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Wizards, Warriors, and the Quest for LARP Insurance” by Eric Grundhauser at Atlas Obscura
Measuring liability and risk during mock battles. “No other form of insurance has inspired so much magic.”
“Why Understanding Fans is the New Superpower” by Susan Kresnicka at Variety
“Regardless of what form their fandom takes, fans are my favorite types of consumers to learn from. Deeply knowledgeable, forthcoming with information, and passionate about the topic, fans make great teachers.”
Reminder: The new Black Panther comic is out and it’s very good! Please join Gav in Black Panther fandom! She wrote a reading guide to previous Black Panther comics here, and strongly recommends this interview with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, by J. A. Micheline.
And you’ve got to read this Skyrim dog story if you haven’t already. We are not kidding. Go now.
old(er) stuff
“A Linguist Explains the Grammar of Shipping” by Gretchen McCulloch at The Toast
A classic about the linguistics of blended ship names. (As an aside, it’s truly a sign that Elizabeth, a staunch old-school name/name shipper, is so pumped about her current ship that she’s stopped shuddering every time someone mentions “Drarry.”)
tumblr and beyond
Pacific Rim/Hannibal crossover by Kay!
A Welcome to Night Vale fanmix, “WELL DONE TAMIKA,” “congratulating tamika flynn on her victory over the killer punk ass book jockeys of the night vale public library and for the real victory of literacy.”
“Bulletproof,” an Avengers fanvid, by Aria.
Of all the glorious responses to those ever-popular ageism-in-fandom anon asks (this one is a classic of the genre, “You’re middle aged and still have a tumblr? LOL”), this one by spitandvinegar deserves all the prizes.
An unexpected find from Stargate Atlanis fandom: this interesting ~moodboard~ tumblr of Atlantean ephemera.
fanfiction
This week’s guest reccer, James, is a graphic designer and artist who has been in fandom for 10+ years, in one form or another. Find them on tumblr as findyourspine and twitter as @thatkidjames.
Leverage is a show that ran from 2008-2012, about a team of five con artists who use their talents for good. It’s fun and lighthearted, with exceptionally well-handled characters. One of the extraordinary things about this show is how much attention was paid to the core emotional arc for each person, and the group as a whole. They develop a really strong family dynamic over the course of five seasons, and really grow to love, trust, and depend on each other.
Given that strong team dynamic, it’s not a huge surprise that the most popular ship by far is a Parker/Hardison/Eliot, a threesome made up of the team’s thief, hacker, and hitter. They're played by Beth Riesgraf, Aldis Hodge, and Christian Kane, who are all ridiculously beautiful, and have a great playful dynamic on screen. Even the showrunner ships it! — James
“Odd Jobs” series by Betty and Emeraldwoman. 18K words, rated Explicit.
Parker/Hardison/Eliot
My all time favorite leverage fic. Parker enlists Eliot’s help to seduce Hardison, with predictably hilarious results. Contains: kittens, push-up bras, and Eliot getting banned from a lesbian bar.
“weird twitter” by tigrrmilk. 2K words, rated Gen.
Parker/Hardison/Eliot
The one where Parker is @dril.
“The Tin Man” by james. 21K words, rated Teen.
Hardison/Eliot
This is a fantastic sci-fi AU series, with a great, unusual, plot. Eliot Spencer is a cyborg, but all he really wants is to be a real boy.
“the punchline to this” by bydaybreak. 10K words, rated Gen.
Parker/Hardison/Eliot
Nana comes to visit, and Eliot twists himself so far out of shape trying to be perfect that he almost disappears. My heart ached for him in this story.
“Safe as Houses” by thecanaryfalls. 2K words, rated Gen.
Parker/Hardison/Eliot
Our OT3 have some conversations about the future.
“Odd One Out” by thingswithwings. 27K words, rated Explicit.
Parker/Hardison/Eliot
“He's—do you think he feels left out?” Alec does his best to approach it delicately.
“Because he’s not having sex with us?” Parker doesn't really do delicate.
This is well written and hot as fuck. Read it!
BONUS ONE-OFF FIC REC BY GAV
“Empty Graves” by Unpretty. Superman gen. 6.5K words, rated Teen.
How Clark Kent’s parents protected him from all the time-traveling assassins who kept trying to murder him before he became Superman.
FINAL THOUGHT
Do you know about the Captain America fanzine BROOKLYN, which is 52 glorious pages of Steve/Bucky fanart? Well, now you can download it for free. VERY IMPORTANT.
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)