The Rec Center #163
Hi folks! We’re continuing Femslash February this week with a multifandom rec list including fic from Wonder Woman, Grace & Frankie, and The 100. We’ve also got some beautiful Hellboy fanart, and an article about fandom-within-fandom. — Gav
new stuff
“When Fanfiction Gets So Popular, It Spurs its Own Fandom (and Babies)” by Kristina Manente at SyFy Wire
“What happens, though, when a fanfiction becomes so ingrained into fandom discourse? Can it become too big to handle? Does it stop belonging to you?”
“Inside Robert Mueller’s Horny, Joking-but-Not-Really Fandom” by Alex Norcia at Vice
Former FBI director Robert Mueller has become an unlikely crush object, spawning online fanclubs and a ton of unofficial but lucrative merchandise. In the grand tradition of celebrity fandoms, a lot of people seem to have fallen in love with a version of Mueller that mostly exists in their head.
older stuff
“To Ship or Not To Ship” by Flourish Klink at Fansplaining
When Merriam-Webster tweeted that the verb “to ship” only dated back to 1995, Flourish—and some linguists and language enthusiastic—went on a mission to actually find out when various fandom terms first appeared.
tumblr & beyond
Hellboy fanart by cy-lindric
Check out these incredible Soviet Lord of the Rings illustrations.
You’re not desperate until you reach FF.net.
If you haven’t seen it yet, the official Miss Marvel site is a TOTAL JOY for anyone who was online in the 90s.
Okoye/Nakia fake dating AU fanart omg!!
fanfiction
Femslash February continues! This week we have a multi-fandom grab-bag—thanks, as always, to our guest reccers. — Elizabeth
“Just Gals Being Pals” by Chash. 3.6K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The 100; Ship: Clarke Griffin/Raven Reyes
Recced by: the-bookwyrm
Backstory: Clarke knows she’s bisexual. She’s not sure why her family is so slow to notice.
Rec: This is a really cute fic about Clarke’s family being completely blind to the fact that her girlfriend is her GIRLFRIEND, and Clarke and Raven taking advantage of that to troll them.
Content warning: Biphobia
“anyone who has become” by ellydash. 98K words with 9/10 chapters posted, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Grace and Frankie; Ship: Grace/Frankie
Recced by: haygahr #9190
Backstory: Set after season three, about Frankie possible moving to Santa Fe and how it presses Grace into realizing her feelings about Frankie.
Rec: The characterization of Grace is so beautiful re: her deliberate denial of self-knowledge to be able to perform the character she was in her life. It really brings out the more subtle and complex notes of the show, and it’s really just excellent writing.
Content warnings: N/A
“Superfluous” by Unpretty. 4.9K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: DC universe; Ship: Diana of Themyscira/Selina Kyle
Recced by: stars_inthe_sky
Backstory: As the author says, “Wonder Woman and Catwoman have sex in Batman’s bed. Bruce has a difficult life, full of angst and suffering.” That’s it, that’s the story.
Rec: It’s really hot while also being seriously fun!
Content warning: Light bondage (enthusiastically consensual, though) PWP, Femmeslash February
“The Task At Hand” by rsadelle. 59K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Bandom; Ship: Victoria Asher/Leighton Meester
Recced by: alasse
Backstory: Bandom is one of the greatest, weirdest fandoms because it is simply SO BIG and yet somehow everything always comes down to Pete Wentz being Pete Wentz. In this case, though, the story is specifically in the Cobra Starship subset of bandom—a band that gifted us with many crazy amazing videos and equally interesting relationship dynamics. Victoria Asher—one of the members of Cobra Starship—and Leighton Meester crossed paths in the song and video for Good Girls Go Bad.
Rec: This story is AMAZING. It takes the premise of the Good Girls Go Bad video and writes it as a straight AU, and features AMAZING characterizations, a really wonderful exploration of how hard undercover work can be on relationships and on women in particular, and a stand-out, perfectly written relationship between Victoria and Leighton. The AU premise ensures you need to know exactly nothing about the fandom or people, but can dive right in and have a great read.
Content warnings: Consent issues inherent in undercover work (one of the MCs pretends to be into the main bad guy to infiltrate his organization)
“Femslash February 2018” by Serie11. 61K across 28 works, with each oneshot around 2K, rated Gen to Mature.
Fandom: Horizon: Zero Dawn; Ships: This series has multiple pairings, usually one per fic. Just about Aloy/every woman in the game
Recced by: anon
Backstory: HZD a video game set in a post-post-apocalyptic society but no canon knowledge is needed for most of the fics. This series is 28 oneshots, both canon and AU, about Aloy loving ladies.
Rec: All the AUs have great setups which leave you savouring the taste of the world, and all the ships are written wonderfully.
Content warnings: Some violence—check the warnings on each fic
Plus a vid rec!
“Little Bit More” by blithesea. 2:25, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Killing Eve; Ship: Villanelle/Eve Polastri
Recced by: yunitsa
Backstory: Villanelle is a glamorous international assassin; Eve is the detective trying to track her down. In the grand tradition of such things, they are weird about each other!
Rec: This vid is such a fun, stylish (and sexy) look at the show, these characters’ relationship, and their incredible faces. I especially love the intercutting and structure of the choruses.
Content warnings: Blood, self-stabbing, other-stabbing, all the graphic murders, and visually, stuttery cuts/epilepsy warning
FINAL THOUGHT
Since we are a fanworks newsletter, we are obligated to mention that it’s the OTW’s fifth annual International Fanworks Day! Use the hashtag #WhatFanworksMeanToMe on Twitter/Tumblr/etc to share your stories and see what other people have written.
(And side note, speaking of fanworks and holidays, happy Lupercalia to all Remus/Sirius shippers from the early-to-mid 2000s (and presumably all werewolf-oriented fandoms since); hope you’ve had a wonderful day mating for life.) — Elizabeth
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, zines, 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.
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)