The Rec Center #206
Hello, friends. (A special and sympathetic hello to our readers from the UK...there’s not much I can say here but that I’m thinking about all of you today.) We’ve got some really interesting articles this week as well as a multifandom list of gen fic—and fyi if you don’t know that specific term, it’s fic that doesn’t focus on ships/romance/sex. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Sugar, We’re Going Down Posting” by Arielle Gordon at The Outline
A look back at the 2000s-era music forum FBR_Trash, where fangirls discussed (and struck back against, Burn Book-style) emo/scenekid bands like Fall Out Boy. “In numbers, young women could make adult, quasi-successful men admit they cared what we thought.”
“Fan fiction or fan fact?” by Devoney Looser at the TLS
A wonderful read for Jane Austen fans, including what might be the earliest surviving work of Austen RPF (which is in itself super meta, a delight).
“Why Tumblr is totally obsessed with two characters from Stephen King’s ‘It’” by Gav at The Daily Dot
We published a rec list of IT movie fanfic a few weeks ago, but considering the lingering popularity of these two characters on Tumblr (outstripping Star Wars or Marvel!), Gav decided to to write this explainer on how they fit into fandom trends.
older stuff
“The Poetic Consequences of K-Pop” by Emily Jungmin Yoon at The Paris Review
“I picture my younger face lit up among the crowd of fans, surrounded by friends, shouting my language, not caring about their imperfect pronunciation in Korean or about mine in English—but rather, loving and celebrating the expansion of our languages and its possible poetic consequences.”
tumblr & beyond
YES we endorse this Finn/Rey figure skater/ice hockey player AU.
Fanfic is extremely educational, ACTUALLY.
A succinct and useful explainer for how different stories explore different types of power fantasies, and why that’s often misunderstood.
Mulder has a lot to answer for.
VITAL additions to the himbo discourse in this alignment chart.
fanfiction
Gen fic! A huge portion of fanfiction despite what feels like a near-constant focus on shipping. 😹 Thank you so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Under My Wing” by Edoraslass. 75K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Recced by: cathostage
Backstory: The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy where the evil lord Sauron seeks to enslave or destroy the world. Boromir and Faramir are sons of the stern and troubled Steward of Gondor, a kingdom on the edge of Mordor where evil lord Sauron lives. They grow up to be fierce warriors that keep Gondor save from Sauron but in the meantime, this is their nanny’s story from when they are young.
Rec: I love this story because it’s about love for two children while also painting a portrait of what living in Gondor while Sauron was just next door must have been like for an everyday person. Nanny is a strongly written original character and this series/ story is full of short fluffy vignettes of a young woman helping to raise two future heroes.
Content warnings: N/A
“if she wants me” by Renaissance. 6K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Yuri!!! On Ice
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: Minako (Yuri’s ballet teacher and ex-star ballerina) and Hiroko (his mother and co-owner of Yu-topia) are two criminally underutilized characters with fascinating and sketchy backstories.
Rec: This is a fantastic, dreamy, bittersweet set of vignettes that take a beautiful look at Hiroko and Minako’s friendship over the years, from high school to the events of canon. It’s touching and emotional and absolutely the story they deserve.
Content warnings: Body image issues, alcohol abuse
“different in the dark” by julianbashir. 1.9K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Haunting of Hill House
Recced by: janetfrasier
Backstory: The Haunting of Hill House is a Netflix miniseries based loosely on the book of the same title by Shirley Jackson. It makes brilliant use of an alternating timeline to tell the story of the Crain family, who briefly lived in Hill House in the 80s and the effects their time their has on them through today.
Rec: A step to the left AU where a different Crain sibling dies and everything’s just a little bit different. Gives a really interesting look into each Crain’s views of the death and their relationships with each other.
Content warnings: Major character death, mentions of canonical substance abuse
“to play the fool (V2)” by DarkrystalSky. 115K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Recced by: Ashley
Backstory: The Adventure Zone: Balance is a D&D podcast (I know) with an incredible story (worth listening!); this fic asks what would change if Taako remembers. This fic WILL spoil the Balance arc of the podcast if you haven’t already listened, so reader tread carefully.
Rec: The premise of the fic is great, and the character voices are true. The fic tells a delightful alternate version of TAZ:B and goes in cool new directions without feeling like a retread.
Content warnings: Memory loss (canonical)
“Disentanglement” by rageprufrock. 18K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Social Network
Recced by: Dansrusse
Backstory: The Social Network is a highly dramatized film about the founding of Facebook. The film focuses mainly on Mark Zuckerberg and his best friend turned CFO, Eduardo Saverin, and how Facebook affects their friendship.
Rec: This fic is a fictional Portfolio profile about Eduardo’s life after the movie. He moves on, wholesale and builds a new company, partly by accident. It’s a story about healing, and coming into one’s own, and about the financial system.
Content warnings: N/A
“Anthony J. Crowley, Retired Demon and Airbnb Superhost” by TheOldAquaraian. 3K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Good Omens (TV)
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Come on folks, you know Good Omens.
Rec: A series of very funny & plausible AirBnb reviews from humans who unwittingly stayed at Crowley’s gorgeous but very eccentric London flat.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
It pains me to remind everyone of a deadline when a significant percentage of you just shared in the hell of the UK election results, but: Yuletide assignments are due in next week! Specifically on Wednesday Dec. 18 at 9am UTC. Just a heads up! — 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.
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)