The Rec Center #181
Hello all! This week sees the return of an ever-popular trope, hurt/comfort, with fic from The 100, the MCU, Voltron, and more. We also have our usual mix of articles and posts, plus Michael Sheen continues to bless us all with his digital presence. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Love, Death, and Begging for Celebrities to Kill You” by Jia Tolentino at The New Yorker
“harry can run me over, use my crumpled corpse to wipe his car off and then use me to avoid puddles on the street.”
“Dedicated fans spent 8 years making the 1997 Blade Runner game run on a modern PC” by Nicole Carpenter at Vice
Pour one out for the public service of longterm fan projects like this one.
“One true pairing: Real-life love stories from the heart of fanfic” by Gav at the Daily Dot
A series of interviews with couples who found love through fandom, exploring how fan culture can be a queer community, a lifeline, and a source of lifelong friendships.
It’s been widely circulated this week, but we just wanted to highlight this useful post on the recent influx of Chinese fans on the AO3 (including a linked piece from the OTW itself). Helpful context + tips to make tagging/labeling on the archive easier and more welcoming for all!
older stuff
“Who owns fandom?” by Sarah Kendzior at Salon
Published in the year 2000, an interesting snapshot of an especially precarious time for independent fan-run sites.
tumblr & beyond
There’s now an app that tells you whether certain words are anachronistic for certain historical periods—a useful tool if you write historical fic!
Here are the lead actresses of Xena, shipping their own characters.
An AU where Aziraphale is American Southern.
Whoever owns the “arthurconandoyle” username on tumblr is making good use of it.
Important stats on fic for James Cameron’s Avatar.
fanfiction
The return of one of the most popular tropes in fic, hurt/comfort—if you’d like more, our last h/c list was in January. A reminder that the “hurt” element of the trope can include some hard topics, so please heed the content warnings and tags. Thanks, as always, to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“On Fridays We Wear Taupe” by FabulaRasa. 52K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: DCU; Ship: Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne (BatLantern)
Recced by: deinvati
Backstory: BatLantern is not a big ship, I know. But this fic, which starts with a hurt/comfort premise, will convince you that these two idiots who cannot say what they really mean to save their lives, should have volumes written about them.
Rec: FabulaRasa is an outstanding author who can bring anyone into this universe, whether you're familiar with it or not, and make you want to live there. Hal Jordan is mouthy and funny and angry underneath it all, and Bruce Wayne is angry and brooding and sweet beneath it all, and they do it SO WELL.
Content warnings: The author doesn’t do tags, but no, no nasty surprises
“Macbeth” by Cyropi. 120K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Draco/Hermione
Recced by: thelaureno
Backstory: Year 6 AU In Which Hogwarts Does The Scottish Play. Draco and Hermione are cast as the leads, and start to fall for each other, as Draco also falls deeper in with the Death Eaters... and possibly into madness.
Rec: I love the skillful weaving of the play with the story, the naturally unfolding relationship. One of the best examples of hurt/comfort in fic, I think! (a personal side note: this author seems to have disappeared from the internet after their fanfic.net days. I would love to read more work by them, so if anyone knows of any current work, or another handle they go by, drop me a DM!)
Content warnings: violence, PTSD, mental health issues
“Set Fire to This House” by Norgbelulah. 185K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Justified; Ship: Raylan Givens/Boyd Crowder
Recced by: keelanellisauth
Backstory: The pairing is an intense, charged relationship between former friends on opposite sides of the law. This fic is AU, in which their highly-charged chemistry is channeled into sex instead of gunplay.
Rec: The dialogue is perfect, the narration is flowing and beautiful, and this fic has the most emotional depth I’ve ever seen in a fic. Also, hot.
Content warnings: Violence, homophobia, allusions to racism and domestic violence
“Punching in a Dream” by tsthrace. 16K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The 100; Ship: Clarke/Lexa
Recced by: Anna
Backstory: NOT CHEERY/SUPER SERIOUS/OPPOSITE OF FLUFF. Lexa goes to one of Clarke’s work parties and talks to a charming guy who misreads her attention. After, Clarke and Lexa try to pick up the pieces.
Rec: This fic takes on sexual assault and its aftermath in a really raw and real and beautiful way. I don’t think I’m the only survivor who felt so seen by this fic.
Content warning: Attempted non-con
“Winter's Herald” by leveragehunters. 112K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: MCU/Captain America, Heralds of Valdemar; Ship: Steve/Bucky
Recced by: Rym
Backstory: Steve and Bucky of Captain America are Heralds of Valdemar—that is, god-blessed hero-soldier-judges with sentient horse-shaped guardian spirits, from the fantasy series by Mercedes Lackey.
Rec: In this amazing crossover, Steve and Bucky are wholly themselves, and are also soulbonded gay do-gooders with (wonderful!) sentient horse guardian spirits. You don’t need to know Valdemar canon, but it works excellently if you do.
Content warning: Character death
“everything stays (but it still changes)” by isozyme. 11K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Voltron; Ship: Shiro/Keith
Recced by: fictionality
Backstory: This fic takes place post-season 7 after Team Voltron has returned to (and liberated) Earth. Shiro and Keith, two of the paladins of Voltron, are trying to figure out their relationship post-return and deal with their shared war trauma. (Voltron is the show about Space Lions)
Rec: The characterization and the dialogue ring pitch-perfect and this fic perfectly captures the feeling of being in between friendship and something more (my favorite).
Content warning: Light bondage
FINAL THOUGHT
We generally don’t look to celebrities to validate fanfiction, buuuuuuuut…...
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)