The Rec Center #165
Hello all! This week we’ve brought back series fic recs, plus a few different pieces on music fandom, wisdom from the delightful Javi Grillo-Marxuach, and some fantastic Russian Doll fanart. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“On Hanson, fandom, and the sexual desire of teenage girls” by Cate Sevilla at the New Statesman
“Where the world looks at throngs of girls screaming at a boy band and sees teenage hysteria, I see thousands finding joy in one of the most complicated phases of their lives.”
“Javier Grillo-Marxuach Takes on Fandom’s Generation Gap in ‘The Audacity of Being Jaded’” at io9
TV writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach (The Middleman, Lost) on generational differences in fandom, and how we all become ~uncool old fans~ in the end.
“The Poetic Consequences of K-Pop” by Emily Jungmin Yoon at The Paris Review
A beautiful essay on transnational fandom, migration, language, and, of course, K-pop.
older stuff
“In 2018, let’s stop pretending abusive fans are ‘passionate’” by Katherine Cross at The Verge
“This C-suite impulse—to never draw a line in the sand and to let the ugliest and loudest voices dictate what fandom should look like—inevitably privileges the bottom line over the more vulnerable people who are harmed by the colliding forces of technology and toxic fandom.”
tumblr & beyond
Russian Doll fanart by Gabby DaRienzo
That 70s Show actor Topher Grace previously recut the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy into a single feature-length film. Now he’s back with a rly great fanvid trailer tying together all 10 movies.
Someone redesigned the Scare Floor from Monsters Inc for maximum workplace efficiency. Yes.
This Captain America/Bucky Barnes fight choreography is truly [chef kiss emoji].
“Me 2 chapters into reading a slowburn fic”
Venom with Hannibal dialogue vs Hannibal with Venom dialogue.
fanfiction
We’re back to SERIES RECS (see parts 1 and 2 from last fall). Thanks, as always, to our guest reccers. — Elizabeth
“The Hundred Year Playlist” series by girlbookwrm. 301K words over 7 works, rated Teen.
Fandom: Captain America; Ship: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes
Recced by: wjnterbucky
Backstory: “Steve and Bucky, start to finish.” (1924-2018?) “Come on, pal, it’s me. Take another hundred years if you want, I’ll still be here.”
Rec: It is masterfully written and has made me cry numerous times on public transportation but it’s amazing to see how much two people can love each other without the other understanding that, plus the changing POV of the stories really adds to the story.
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, torture, brainwashing, especially in the third part
“National Service” series by burntcopper. 63K words over 7 works, mostly unrated but Gen-Teen.
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Elise
Backstory: This series is mainly snippets about the lives of the Pevensie children after their return from Narnia. Often the stories are from the perspective of outsiders wondering just how all these nice young people know how to use knives like that.
Rec: I come back to this series over and over again, because the characterization is perfect, and the series really fills in what returning to the real world might be like after a lifetime as kings and queens of Narnia.
Content warning: Some violence, but nothing too heavy.
“24 ways steps to grow old together and some crap” series by GucciAspirin. 56K words over 2 works, one rated Teen and one rated Mature.
Fandom: Love Live!; Ship: Nishikino Maki/Yazawa Nico
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Nicomaki is the most interesting μ’s ship. It’s a longform doctor/patient AU.
Rec: 1. well-written, great prose and tense plot
2. doctor/patient au spicy
Content warnings: N/A
“Constant Love” series by sturner1805. 244K words over 3 works (each part is complete but the series is open ended), rated Teen.
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice; Ship: Elizabeth/Darcy
Recced by: epaulettes
Backstory: In which Elizabeth Darcy’s personal happiness expands to ensuring the happiness of the rest of her sisters, as much and as far as she’s able.
Rec: Female friendship, age of sail Napoleonic dramatics, AND Darcy family feels abound in this wonderful P&P continuation. Includes romances for Georgiana, Mary, and Kitty, who all get a TON of beautiful and fascinating development, particularly in the second story.
Content warnings: N/A
“Mostly Ceremonial” series by Sixthlight. 23K words over 7 works, rated Mature.
Fandom: Rivers of London; Ship: Peter Grant/Thomas Nightingale
Recced by: featherquillpen
Backstory: Rivers of London is an urban fantasy series about policing a secret magic community in London. Here, Peter and Nightingale have to get married for Important Magic Ceremony reasons.
Rec: Marriage is ultimately about community, and I love how this series shows the magical community’s varied reactions to this arranged-marriage-that-accidentally-feelings.
Content warnings: N/A
And as we often do when we get a duplicate submission, we’ve combined recs for….
“Steinway!verse” by toomuchplor. 174K words across 29 works (each work is complete but the series is not marked as such), rated Explicit.
Fandom: Inception; Ship: Arthur/Eames
Recced by: epaulettes and Johanna
Backstory: Arthur is a young pianist eager to distinguish himself, Eames is a confident baritone with his star on the rise, and sparks fly when they collaborate on a showcase piece together.
Rec: Epaulettes writes: If you like musician or classical music AUs, this series is for you. It’s full of people chasing those moments where, after stretching your mind and your body and your heart to their limits, the music and emotion and physicality connect in a sublime rush. It also does a good job realistically depicting a decades-long relationship, with awful fights, long distance, and even separation happening in certain parts. But don’t worry, there are some scorching PWP codas in there, too.
Johanna writes: The alternate universe where Arthur’s a pianist and Eames is a lyric baritone and their love is so lieder, omg. Sometimes the best AUs are those, where the author can share their love for one particular topic—classical music (and especially Schubert’s Lieder-Cycle) in this case. You don’t have to know anything about classical music before reading this, but you might just come away from it with a greater appreciation for it. Also, the second greatest love in music, right after Britten/Pears.
Content warning: A couple of fics are darker than others and have warnings fully listed in the author’s notes
FINAL THOUGHT
Have a great weekend, everyone! And buckle up for Captain Marvel next week! — Gav
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.
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