The Rec Center #202
Hi folks! This week we have multifandom rarepair recs, some coverage of LGBTQ communities in fandom, some Adventure Zone fanart, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“Fallout 76 paid subscribers have formed a peasant-trashing aristocracy” by Matt Cox at Rock Paper Shotgun
The game Fallout 76 recently broke out into full-on class warfare between paid and unpaid subscribers, which is... wild.
“Transformative spaces: How fandom creates communities of support for LGBTQ people” by Brianna Dym at ACM CSCW
“In interviews with 31 LGBTQ adults in fandom, we asked them to tell us their coming out story and how they first got involved in fandom. Overwhelmingly, these two stories collided.”
“The Final Frontier” by Michael Chabon at The New Yorker
An extraordinarily beautiful essay about Star Trek, writing, and intergenerational fandom as Chabon sits at his father’s deathbed.
older stuff
“Dragons Are for White Kids with Money: On the Friction of Geekdom and Race” by Daniel Jose Ruiz at The Millions
“With the expectation that geekiness is an embrace of whiteness, what happens when you are in fact not white? … How can I justify my geek-cred while also maintaining my street-cred? Often, I cannot. I am a geek, and I am a brown man, and this has earned me a lot of shit from both sides.”
tumblr & beyond
Adventure Zone fanart by zroem
“Epiphany: Anakin Skywalker is only nine years older than Han Solo.”
“New Sonic Coming Out Of His Well To Shame The Haters”
Best part of the whole absurd Sonic redesign situation is the incredible career path of this Sonic meme comic fanartist.
“*reading a poem* wow there are like 5 fanfic titles in this”
fanfiction
We put out a call for rarepairs last month and boy, you delivered lol. (We have enough for at least one more batch of these, or more if we get additional submissions!) I think this list encompasses the true glory of fanfiction—at least one of these stories is the single fic for the pairing on the AO3 (and it is *not* Harry Potter/Mycroft Holmes, that ship has three dozen fics!). Beyond my standard thanks to our guest reccers, also like, bless all of you for giving me warm feelings about fandom ahahaha. — Elizabeth
“Whispers in Corners” by esama. 64K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Sherlock; Ship: Harry Potter/Mycroft Holmes
Recced by: Izzy
Backstory: For reasons later explained, Harry is living in Muggle London, though maybe not his Muggle London, using the Resurrection Stone to work as a medium. Mycroft hires him and their relationship develops from there. Post Deathly Hallows and between seasons 2 and 3 of Sherlock.
Rec: The pairing is not something I ever considered before stumbling across this fic, but it totally works. It’s written so well and the plot goes in completely unexpected and original directions. Even in more serious situations, the relationship between Harry and Mycroft is fun and believable.
Content warning: Many dead people, including children
“a taste of heavenly rush” by thecrackshiplollipop. 6.4K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The 100; Ship: Abby Griffin/Octavia Blake
Recced by: GlassesOfJustice
Backstory: The 100 lends itself so well to multishipping and both Abby and Octavia are frequently shipped with many others...but this is the only fic where they are together and I promise if you give it a chance, it really works!
Rec: This is one of those unicorn fics that fits perfectly in canon, is respectful to the canon ship Octavia Blake/Lincoln, and is so well crafted you will wish you wrote it yourself.
Content warnings: N/A
“On the Wings of the Storm” by Lialathuveril. 127K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Lord of the Rings; Ship: Eomer/Lothiriel
Recced by: Onlyevey
Backstory: Lothiriel pov during Lord of the Rings. Adventure/romance. Author specialises in Eomer/Lothiriel stories; this is my personal fave although “The abduction of Eomer, King of Rohan” is another fave. Originally posted on Ff.net.
Rec: A very fun and cohesive romantic adventure. I always love an alternative POV, and this one is like a high quality romance set in the Tolkienverse. Tropey in the best way.
Content warnings: N/A
“Impudence” by SpaMightWrite. 2.8K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment; Ship: Tyler Breeze/Hideo Itami
Recced by: f00t
Backstory: Tyler Breeze is a Zoolander-esque male model-turned pro wrestler. Hideo Itami is the smug jerk who likes kicking Tyler’s precious, beautiful face (and also stole his phone).
Rec: There’s just something about pro wrestling that makes it the perfect source material for really passionate hatesex fic. Something about all the himbos in speedos, I guess. Anyway, Tyler Breeze is a character that requires no wrestling knowledge to understand and it’s shocking to me that more fic doesn’t exist for his brief, canonically horny rivalry with Hideo Itami.
Content warnings: N/A
“Point Me in the Right Direction” by larkingstock. 21K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Justified; Ship: Rachel Brooks/Tim Gutterson
Recced by: Lauren
Backstory: Set after S2.E4, deals with Rachel’s stress after having to shoot someone on the job. Tim provides advice and an outlet for stress relief. Sort of ‘friends to lovers’ over the course of one night.
Rec: The characters are super well-written and in character for the show. They’re funny and painful and real. The explicit scenes are sexy and fun. I come back to this one often for a nice re-read.
Content warning: Deals with past shootings
“honey, no offense, but sometimes i could shoot you and watch you kick” by kafkas. 2.7K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Strangers on a Train (Patrica Highsmith); Ship: Charles Bruno/Guy Haines
Recced by: Aasta
Backstory: Alfred Hitchock’s 1951 film “Strangers on a Train” is about tennis star Guy Haines meeting Charles Bruno on a train and unwittingly ends up “trading murders” with Bruno. The tension comes with the fact that Guy doesn’t actually want to murder anyone because he’s just kind of a blandly handsome himbo. The fic itself is mostly canon compliant but fleshes out the homoerotic subtext of the original into full-on text.
Rec: I love “Strangers on a Train” and it’s easily one of my favorite Hitchcock films, and though the fic draws more on Patricia Highsmith’s original novel (mostly in the fact that Guy actually kills Bruno’s father), it builds off everything I like from the film. The fic deals with the tension building between Bruno and Guy that eventually gives way into sex, self-hatred, and messy codependency.
Content warnings: Mildy dubious consent, references to murder, cheating
FINAL THOUGHT
Greetings from Seattle, where I have traveled for GeekGirlCon this weekend!! I’m taking over the final thought to once more remind anyone attending that you can see me on:
Saturday, November 16th, 11:30 A.M.
“Research & Data Science in Fandom”
(Fansplaining will be presenting all of our survey work, particularly the shipping survey)
Sunday, November 17th, 10:00 A.M.
“Fansplaining Live at GeekGirlCon!”
(Our first live ep! We’ll interview Kristine Hassell from GGC about diversity and inclusion)
Hope to see some of you there! — 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)