The Rec Center #184
Hi folks! This week we’ve got a Jamie/Brienne rec list from guest reccer Nicasio Reed, an article about professional D&D hosts, a glorious vintage Star Wars cosplayer, and more. — Gav
new stuff
“Blood, sex and needlework: Game of Thrones recreated in 90-metre tapestry” at The Guardian
Homages to the Bayeux Tapestry have a long tradition in fanworks. Right now, a team of 30 volunteers at the Ulster Museum are wrapping up a massive embroidery project depicting all 8 seasons of GoT.
“The Rise of the Professional Dungeon Master” by Mary Pilon at Bloomberg Businessweek
“Nerd culture, Stranger Things, and the gig economy have created a world where Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts host games for $500.”
“A Universe of One’s Own” by Nicole Rudick at The New York Review of Books
A review of a new anthology of classic sci-fi by women explores the history—and erasure—of women from 20th-century SF.
older stuff
“Femslash Can Save the World If We Let It” by Kate at Autostraddle
“Culture doesn’t need exploring so much as it needs exploding. We need to destroy things and reconstruct them in our own image, because the people who make our media aren’t going to do it for us.”
tumblr & beyond
Good Omens but it’s David Bowie playing Aziraphale and Crowley
*Very* interested in learning the long-term plans of this Nightvale fan.
The secret backstory for Crowley’s old-fashioned underwear in Good Omens.
Okay, but what’s the SCIENCE behind when characters have to huddle for warmth to avoid hypothermia?
A warm hello to this intrepid 1970s Star Wars cosplayer.
Pour one out for this dumbass who named his new creative project “One True Pairing” without BOTHERING TO GOOGLE WHAT THAT MEANS.
fanfiction
Nicasio Reed is a writer and poet who still insists on using the ’ in ’shipper. You can find him on twitter, arguing that any character he loves is a Leo sun/Scorpio moon.
In the wake of the Game of Thrones series finale and the renewed yearning for a new Song of Ice and Fire book, I come to you with eight post-canon recs centering on my favorite ‘ship from the books and the show: Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth.
Fanart by Sansho Delaine
Jaime is the eldest son of the wealthiest family in the seven kingdoms. He grew up dreaming of knighthood, of fighting with honor and defending the innocent. Unfortunately there was this whole thing where the king he was sworn to serve was a deranged, abusive murderer and Jaime killed him in order to save the lives of everyone in King’s Landing. Even more unfortunately, Jaime is a petty brat who let the whole world brand him an oathbreaker because he never told anybody why he murdered the king. That is, he never told anybody until he met Brienne of Tarth.
Brienne is heir to a minor house. Polite characters call her homely, crude ones call her names, but everyone agrees on what’s important: she could bench press five of Jaime Lannister and barely break a sweat. She’s tall, ungodly strong, and one of the most skilled warriors in the land. She’s also very possibly the most moral and principled character among the roughly two billion characters in this canon. Brienne embodies the honorable chivalry that Jaime idolized as a child and lost faith in as a man.
Fanart by Erika/ayofandomthings
At the end of the TV show, they’ve come through years of being on opposing sides of a war to finally fighting side-by-side, then spending about a month having a sexy staycation together before Jaime remembers that he’s not allowed to be happy and he runs off to ruin his life and characterization. He catches a slight case of being dead, and Brienne is installed as the Lord Commander of the new king’s personal guard.
As of the end of the most recent book, the undead vengeance zombie of Lady Catelyn Stark holds Brienne’s young squire hostage and has promised to kill him if Brienne doesn’t bring her Jaime Lannister. Whom she will also kill. An agonized Brienne has tracked down Jaime and told an utterly unconvincing lie to get him to come away with her. Jaime, utterly unconvinced, comes away with her anyway.
Fandom, bless us, has plenty to say about what happens after both of these scenarios. — Nico
Game of Thrones (TV) post-canon recs
“Choices” by Gwen77. 6.6K words, rated Mature.
Backstory: Post-canon. Jaime survives the Red Keep, and Bran orders him to join his Kingsguard and serve under Lord Commander Brienne.
Rec: Gwen77 wrote some of the most-beloved J/B AUs in the fandom, and then orphaned their AO3 account and slipped into the unknown. Until the show ended the way it did and they returned with this fix-it fic, a relatively simple story that lays out a difficult, aching aftermath. Includes a fantastic glimpse as Brienne as Lord Commander living with the reputation she’s earned.
Content warnings: N/A
“This is Why We Fight” by lasheildmaiden. 41K words, rated Mature.
Additional ship: minor Daenerys Targaryen/Daario Naharis
Backstory: Alternate ending for Season 8, diverging after 8x04. Brienne joins the fight for King’s Landing, where Daenerys weighs agonizing tactical choice to try to protect the people of the city.
Rec: If you, like me, watched the battle for King’s Landing in a sort of stupefied haze, wondering how much better it might have been if everyone had made decisions more in line with their previous characterization, then this fic may be the catharsis you seek. Dany, Brienne, Jaime, Tyrion, and Pod all get ample screen time and depth. This is also, so far, the only Brienne-got-pregnant-at-Winterfell story that I endorse.
Content warnings: Major character death (not Brienne or Jaime), canon-typical violence
“To be in your arms again” by sdwolfpup. 31K words, rated Mature.
Backstory: Post-canon. A stand-out in the new genre of “Jaime wakes up under a pile of bricks” stories. In this version, Tyrion and Bronn secret him away to convalesce in the Stormlands before he clumsily re-enters Brienne’s life, interrupting her complicated grief.
Rec: This fic takes its time with Jaime’s recovery, with Brienne regaining her trust in him, with everyone on Bran’s small council learning to work together, and I appreciate it so much for that. Also of note: a nuanced, compassionate approach to how Jaime thinks of Cersei and contextualizes their relationship in his life, past and present.
Content warning: Canon-typical violence
“Carry Our Wedding Bed Through the Town” by spocklee. 4.9K words, rated Gen.
Backstory: Post-canon, implied alternate Season 8 ending, divergent after 8x03. The Lady of Tarth and her husband dutifully tend to the island’s needs.
Rec: “Meanwhile, back on Tarth…” is my favorite sort of post-canon story. This one rises above the crowd for its spot-on characterizations, deft and understated descriptions of life on Tarth, and for the flashback scene where Jaime tries to best Brienne at swordplay to win her hand, and she knocks him down again, and again, and again in front of a crowd of embarrassed Northeners.
Content warnings: N/A
A Song of Ice and Fire (books) post-canon recs
“Where the Wind Takes Us” by Miss_M. 10.6K words, rated Teen.
Backstory: Post-canon, an undisclosed length of time after A Dance With Dragons. Jaime and Brienne wander through the Free Cities ostensibly seeking Arya Stark, and pointedly not thinking about the fact that there’s nowhere for them to return to.
Rec: Satisfying snapshots of time spent in various locales in the Free Cities, with thoughtful attention paid to what each place means for the characters and the canon in terms of history and atmosphere. This story is smart, and layered, and it bears repeating, so satisfying.
Content warning: Canon-typical violence
“Nights Without Armor” by bratanimus. 32K words, rated Mature.
Additional ship: Sansa Stark/Podrick Payne
Backstory: Post-A Dance With Dragons. Brienne, Jaime, and Podrick set out to rescue Sansa from Petyr Baelish, and then return her to Winterfell.
Rec: First a gratifying end for Littlefinger, and then a long time spent with four characters deciding to take responsibility for their own fate, their own future, and perhaps the future of the North. I love Sansa in this—resilient, prickly, resolute. I love Brienne in this, and how the other three’s admiration for her and trust in her is what holds them together. And I love Howland Reed making a late cameo and being a big weirdo and implying that Jaime might be a greenseer. Jaime, of course, is like “Have I had mysterious visions around weirwoods? Yes. Have many parts of them come true? Also yes. Do I act on those visions in order to affect the future? Definitely, yes. But I’m not some stinkin greenseer, that’s gross.”
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence, mentions of past sexual assault
“Tales Old and New” by SandwichesYumYum. 15.4K words, rated Mature.
Backstory: Directly post-A Dance With Dragons. After Brienne has drawn Jaime away from Pennytree on false pretenses, the wounds she’d been concealing get the better of her. Jaime finds a dilapidated cabin for them to rest in, and insists they rest before pressing on. To pass the time, Jaime tells stories.
Rec: This author has written several of my favorite AUs to which they bring a fantastic skill for worldbuilding, and that same sensibility is used in this fic to broaden the world of the canon, seamlessly adding to the rich mythology of the Age of Heroes. The story weaves these tales through a conversation that’s painfully in-character, tense and fraught with the situation, but grounded in their trust and regard for each other. It’s astonishingly well done.
Content warnings: Allusions to sexual assault, canon-typical violence and injury
“Presents and Promises or The 7 Days of Cronemas” by greyathena. 3K words, rated Gen.
Backstory: Post-A Dance With Dragons and somehow free from the whole Lady Stoneheart situation, Brienne, Jaime, and Podrick are searching for Sansa. On the way, they pass through the Quiet Isle, and it just so happens to be a festival week.
Rec: Look, this is a story about Fake Christmas and also Fake Hanukkah. The squad roll up to the Quiet Isle at the start of Cronemas (a holiday of the fic writer’s invention), and the silent brothers are like oh heck sorry you’re stuck here for the whole week. So they’re forced to have an adorable family holiday together. It’s ludicrously sweet. They make presents for Pod every day. There are rustic holiday traditions. Jaime somehow procures more and more desserts but won’t reveal his source. For a moment, everything is gentle, and sweetness comes easily.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Taking over this bit again to plug ALL MY THINGS at San Diego Comic-Con. I’ve made a handy flier:
If you’re coming to the con—or if you’re just coming to San Diego to ~bask~ in the atmosphere—please stop by next Saturday for our very lowkey meetup (that will likely intersect with other very lowkey meetups held in the same space). And if you’re not SDCC-bound, we will 100% be doing a Fansplaining episode on our panel, and there’s a chance it might be recorded, too. :-) — 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.
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