The Rec Center #16
Hello new subscribers! Along with our usual batch of articles, fanvids, etc, this week we have a DOUBLE-LENGTH LIST of Captain America fic recs from two guest-reccers, Erin and Morgan. It’s time to start your emotional training regimen for Captain America: Civil War, my friends. — Gav
new stuff
“Bands who bemoan their 'teenage girl' fans are missing the point of music” by Alexandra Pollard at The Guardian
“As a reviews editor, I’ve lost count of the number of times writers have—while bemoaning a gig’s drawbacks—referred derisively to the amount of ‘teenage girls’ in the crowd.”
[Also highly recommended: the embedded David Bowie clip. Listen to how dismayed the narrator sounds about everything he’s ever known being upended, it’s a DELIGHT.]
“Hamilton is fanfic, and its historical critics are totally missing the point” by Aja Romano at Vox
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING FANFIC NOW.
And after you’re done reading on Hamilton-as-fanfic, make sure you read some straight-up Hamilton fanfic, namely the Jeb! Hamilton musical, which Elizabeth thinks Gav must have secretly participated in due to her extreme devotion to ~Jeb! Memes~. Here’s some background on the collaboration from Gav’s Daily Dot colleague Michelle Jaworski.
old(er) stuff
“Sick of ‘Buffy’ Cultists? You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” by Emily Nussbaum in the New York Times
Speaking of Pulitzers, EMILY NUSSBAUM WON ONE TOO! Her back catalogues at NY Mag and The New Yorker are well worth reading, but this piece, from 2003, reminds us that Nussbaum’s critical work has been unabashedly fannish for quite some time. (And still is! She was on a panel about fanfic and the media with Elizabeth last year!)
tumblr and beyond
“can’t wait for the most fashionable man in the galaxy to reclaim his throne in the next episode.” Fanart by Mia/lightsaber.
Speaking of “iconic Luke looks,” this one is accompanied by a STAGGERINGLY good caption.
It isn’t International Day of Femslash but we decided to include this classic multifandom femslash vid, just ’cause. It’s a classic, and it’s sublime.
“Zimbits is Canon!! … What Happens in Fandom?” by destinationtoast
When the biggest ship in a beloved hockey webcomic goes canon, how does the fic change?
The casts of Hamilton and The Color Purple pay tribute to Prince. For Prince fans in mourning, we recommend going to Anil Dash’s Twitter feed or checking out Talib Kweli’s Prince anecdotes from last night.
fanfiction
This week’s reccers are Erin Claiborne, author of the YA fantasy novel A Hero at the End of the World, and writer Morgan Davies, my co-host on the Overinvested pop culture podcast. All of these are Steve/Bucky or gen, but don’t worry, I’ll undoubtedly share a multi-ship MCU rec list sometime in the future. — Gav
Erin’s recs
“Flicker” by Cinderstrato. 52K words, rated Explicit.
A long, angsty speculative fic for what happens after Civil War. (No spoilers, though!) Steve is alive, but the world has to think he’s dead. Tony is trying to make amends. Bucky is slowly coming back to himself and Steve, but he’s still working out exactly what that means. A really smart fic from Bucky’s POV, and it’s amazing what Cinderstrato wrote simply based on the movie trailer.
“Reciprocity” by osprey_archer. Series, rated Explicit.
TW: Graphic violence, questionable consent, general creepiness.
A fascinating series with excellent worldbuilding. Bucky is now a member of SHIELD, but he’s still more like Winter Soldier than Bucky, treating Steve as though he’s any other member of his team. Slowly, Steve becomes aware that Bucky sees no difference between Coulson’s SHIELD and Pierce’s Hydra... and one day, Steve realises he’s right. And more than that, he realises they’re trapped.
“Ain’t No Grave (Can Keep my Body Down)” by spitandvinegar. 107K words, rated Mature.
TW: Past rape/non-con, drug addiction, graphic violence.
This fic is BANANAS and I mean that in the greatest way possible. It’s unlike any Stucky post-CATWS fic I’ve ever read. Bucky is taking his revenge against Hydra, whose treatment turned him into a heroin addict. Somehow he ends up taking care of two orphans off the street, who are slowly turning him human again... And then Steve finds him. I laughed, I cried, I silently screamed into my hands.
“I Understood that Reference” by RedBlazer. 53K words, rated Teen.
Love love love this AU where Bucky is a librarian and Steve is one of his patrons... until the Battle of New York happens, Bucky is injured, and Steve is unmasked as Captain America.
“It’s No Coincidence” by IsabellaJack. 100K words, rated Teen.
AU in which Bucky is raising his dead sister’s daughter and Steve is his weird new neighbour. This story is a straight-up romance novel and I love it. Steve is suffering from some unknown trauma, and Bucky is a professional translator who devoted his life to his child.
Morgan’s recs
“Memory” by emilyenrose. 24K words, rated Teen.
Loki transforms the post-CATWS Winter Soldier into Bucky Barnes c. First Avenger. He has to adjust to the twentieth century and everything that’s happened since. This is both intoxicating and heartbreaking for Steve, since inevitably it can’t last. Like most fics I like, it’s very miserable, but ends on a pretty good note!
“It Still Moves” by kvikindi. 4.6K words, rated Teen.
This post-CATWS fic is the best exploration of Bucky’s consciousness I’ve read, and features the most innovative use of AO3’s impossible formatting I’ve ever seen. kvikindi is one of my very favorite authors and I also recommend her fic about Howard Stark and SHIELD.
“Shoeless Joe and the Sunshine Kid” by nimmieamee. 30K words, rated Explicit.
Like kvikindi, nimmieamee has written many amazing stories, but I think this is her most distinct and riveting. “When Bucky was sufficiently recovered, he and Steve took a trip. They saw the baseball hall of fame. They saw a clear blue lake. They saw the countryside, with clumps of trees in many colors.” This fic has many warnings listed on AO3, but they’re all spoilers, so if you don’t need warnings, I strongly suggest skipping them.
“in loss i discovered” by tigrrmilk. 4K words, rated Teen.
TW: Graphic Descriptions of Violence
This is another fic that explores Bucky's (or, really, the Winter Soldier’s) psyche, and it's basically a long poem, but if that puts you off, please give this a try anyway! It’s very disturbing but immensely compelling and vivid, and the writing is incredibly clever and often beautiful.
“The Good, the Bad and the Fluffy” by newredshoes. 2.8K words, rated Gen.
Everything else on my list is super fucked up so here’s a story about Bucky Barnes and a therapy llama. It’s named Quinoa. I have nothing further to add.
Bonus rec from Gav
“4 Minute Window” by Speranza. 24K words, rated Explicit.
An absolutely unmissable post-CATWS fic that feels like a Bourne Identity-style sequel to the movie. Thrilling, emotionally intense, and includes some great technical detail in the action sequences. I also recommend reading and subscribing to the ongoing series of sequels.
FINAL THOUGHT: Fansplaining!
I have a podcast! That I co-host with Flourish Klink, who I believe I have described here as “a long-time fan who works in the entertainment industry.” I thought that since we’ve gotten a lot of new subscribers in the past few weeks, I might mention it. If you’re curious about us, start with this interview we did with Margins Magazine recently, in which I utter the words, “Oh God, my favorite thing about my job is people praising me, I’m the actual worst.”
“Fansplaining” grew out of a panel we were on at SDCC last year, and we just released our 20th episode (about sports! Finally! Um, and also Menudo.). The tagline is “the podcast by, for, and about fandom” and we try to mix things up and come at such a broad topic from all sorts of angles. We’ve had a variety of guests: people talking about fandom linguistics, or race and fantasy, or ‘high art’ v fanart, or fan activism and trans issues, or the history of men being assholes to fangirls. We’ve talked to multiple librarians, too. :-)
We also debated the limits of the terms “fan” and “fandom” (and had a huge fight in the middle I had to cut out) and did a long episode about The Powers That Be and the realities of Hollywood (and had a huge fight in the middle I had to cut out). We don’t always fight! Though people seem to enjoy our arguments and multiple people have told me they ship us, so I like to think we are a bit of an ~adversarial ship~. (Flourish is going to murder me for writing this here lol HI FLOURISH)
You can find a full list of episodes, show notes, and transcripts here, and we’re on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and fansplaining at gmail dot com. We love listener feedback and guest suggestions, so if you listen (or START listening), please get in touch! — Elizabeth
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)