The Rec Center #212
Hi folks! This week we’ve got an interview with the new Star Trek showrunner about his fanfic history, some Finn/Poe fanart, a delightful Witcher AU set in a ren faire, and multifandom rarepair fic recs! — Gav
new stuff
“‘I Heard Patrick’s Voice in My Head’: Michael Chabon on Making ‘Picard’ and Being a Fanboy” by Alan Sepinwall at Rolling Stone
Gav calls him “the new Star Trek showrunner,” but this is also a conversation with Michael Chabon, famous novelist. 😹 For some beautiful writing on the subject by Chabon himself, also check out this essay we included in the newsletter a few months back.
“Disunited fandom: how the royal split created turmoil online” by Eleanor Peake at the New Statesman
Meghan & Harry’s departure is causing a contentious split in the British royal family fandom.
older stuff
“Teens Are Changing What It Means to Be Spider-Man” by Joseph Longo at Mel Magazine
“Frustrated by poor representation in Hollywood, Marvel fans and cosplayers are designing an even more inclusive Spider-Verse—on TikTok.”
tumblr & beyond
Finn/Poe fanart inspired by the original Star Wars: A New Hope poster by Gwendybee
Ren Faire AU for The Witcher? Ren Faire AU for The Witcher.
A list of some famous novels and their lengths corresponding to fanfic wordcounts.
Yeah... this is indeed a better version than JJ Abrams’ interpretation of Captain Kirk’s love life.
“if you ship two professors is it a scholarship?”
What Your Favorite MCU Ship Says About You
Chicagoans: PLEASE go to this exhibition of vintage K/S fanart, which opens today, and report back to those of us who sadly live thousands of miles away!!
fanfiction
It’s time for our second batch of rarepairs! If you want more, check out the first batch from a few weeks back. Thank you very much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Sentimental Reasons” by Frostfire. 16K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Casablanca (1942); Ship: Sam/Rick
Recced by: Rachel
Backstory: In WWII Casablanca, grouchy expat Rick pretends not to have feelings, briefly reunites with his lost love, and then helps her smuggle her war hero husband to safety. Rick/Ilsa (natch) and Rick/Ilsa/Victor are this tiny fandom’s main pairings, but this story focuses on the relationship between Rick and Sam, who just wants to play the piano.
Rec: Frostfire’s witty 10-year slowburn is excellently paced in a luminously vivid historical setting, but its standout accomplishment is the deft, generous attention given to each character’s development, with Sam in the well-deserved spotlight.
Content warning: Light reference to violence/general WWII unpleasantness
“You’re Hers, Too” by AudreyV. 8K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: How to Get Away with Murder; Ship: Eve Rothlow/Bonnie Winterbottom
Recced by: GlassesOfJustice
Backstory: What can happen when two people love the same 3rd person but can’t do anything about it but empathize with one another?
Rec: This is a ship that you might not immediately click with, but the author really sells it. It’s so good and believable no other writer has attempted it.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence and emotional messiness
“O my heart (it ain’t quite dead)” by tanyart. 5.8K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Destiny (video game); Ship: The Drifter/Shin Malphur
Recced by: Basia
Backstory: The Drifter is a sleazy con artist type who operates on the metaphorical wrong side of the law; Shin Malphur is the legend who hunts down those like the Drifter. Classic enemies-with-benefits setup.
Rec: The author absolutely nails enemies-with-benefits sliding into “oh god, what if I have feelings” and the humor in the setup, situations, and dialogue is top-notch.
Content warnings: N/A
“Aphelion” by buppypotato. 22K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars; Ship: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker/Ahsoka Tano
Recced by: Snowdrop
Backstory: In a galaxy where Palpatine was defeated with the end of the Clone Wars, Ahsoka and Anakin try to figure out their lives and Padmé is there for them both.
Rec: This story fills my heart. It’s warm, and with all the hurt/comfort, happy endings, and smut one could want of a fix-it for these three. The voices are excellent, and the language smooth and clear. It’s the first story I read for this ship and I still hold it dearly.
Content warnings: N/A
“knocked me sideways” by ferryboatpeak. 59K words, rated Mature.
Fandoms: One Direction RPF/Dunkirk RPF; Ship: Jack Lowden/Harry Styles
Recced by: 1degosuperego
Backstory: Harry Styles surprised everyone after One Direction’s hiatus by acting in the Christopher Nolan WWII movie Dunkirk. Harry and Jack don’t actually share screentime in the movie, but they sure are pretty together.
Rec: Ferryboatpeak is a master of mixing adjacents into a story—the actors from Dunkirk, the members of 1D, and a healthy cast of their family and friends make cameos in this mpreg / strangers-to-lovers-to-parents “gentrification AU.”
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Femslash February is nearly here! As we’ve done every year since this newsletter began (just over four years ago, we missed our anniversary at the start of the month, whoops), we’ll devote the entirety of February to F/F recs, so please send over your favorites. We’ve run a few singly-authored F/F guest lists in Februaries past, so if you have any ideas, please send us an email at elizabethandgav at gmail. That could be multifandom, a single ship, around a theme, etc! — 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)