The Rec Center #230
Hi folks, it’s been another difficult week out there, and we hope you’re all staying safe and prepared if you’re going out, and taking steps like donating to bail funds if possible.
We’re here as always with our weekly delivery of fandom content, which currently includes another set of fanfic recs on the theme of catharsis, some lovely Killing Eve fanart, and that already-infamous New York Times article about an erotica publishing scandal. — Gav
new stuff
“A frontend of our own” by Elizabeth at Increment
Elizabeth wrote a feature about the AO3 from a tech angle: the archive as a communal, noncommercial project on a web that privileges commoditization, scaling, and growth.
“Zoom is giving fandoms a new place to hang” by Aliya Chaudhry at The Verge
Fans have made friends online as long as there’s been an internet, but changing norms around video chatting during lockdown are adding new dimensions to fandom interactions.
“A Feud in Wolf-Kink Erotica Raises a Deep Legal Question” by Alexandra Alter in The New York Times
All right, maybe everyone who was going to read the Times A/B/O piece has already read it. But if you haven’t! It’s well-researched!
older stuff
“don’t like, don’t read” by e jackson at ZEAL
A lovely webcomic about reading Harry/Draco fic.
tumblr & beyond
Killing Eve fanart by villanargh
This Untitled Goose Game-themed audio remix.........
“There are probably 70 year old New York Times readers who have been writing Spock/Kirk mpreg since before the internet existed.”
If you’re a John Mulaney fan and a Spider-Man fan, this is the thread for you.
Black Sails: workplace sitcom edition.
An interesting post from a bookbinder who makes print editions of fanfic, but doesn’t want to sell them for profit.
fanfiction
Cathartic fic, part 2; you can read part 1 here. Looks like we actually have enough for a part 3. (Or more if you continue to send these in—please continue to send these in!) Thank you to everyone who sent us a rec. <3 — Elizabeth
“The Account Book” by Ankaret. 19K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: I Capture the Castle; Ship: Cassandra Mortmain/Simon Cotton
Recced by: PTK
Backstory: I Capture the Castle is a bittersweet coming-of-age story set in rural England in the 1930s; the lives of 17-year-old Cassandra’s impoverished family are upended when the local stately home is inherited by a dynamic American family.
Rec: This fic is set in 1942, exploring how the family fit into wartime. I found myself rereading it recently in an effort to mirror the uncertain, scary and confusing state of our world at present, and found the mirroring of our current state (and the conclusion to a childhood favourite) freeing.
Content warnings: N/A
“until the sun makes its hills its grave” by melibee. 23K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: The 100; Ship: Gen
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Set after the 100 Season 5, which treated Clarke like garbage and turned everyone against her, this shows her being appreciated by new people.
Rec: Canon has isolated Clarke, made everyone hate her, and hasn’t dug into the ramifications. This fic is extremely cathartic in that it digs into the emotions and shows her some respect.
Content warnings: N/A
“Summer Stars” by PitViperOfDoom. 61K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: My Hero Academia; Ship: Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto
Recced by: SophiaCatherine
Backstory: There are a number of fics dealing with Todoroki’s experiences with his father and the resulting emotional fallout, but few so sensitive and beautiful as this story, in which a shape-shifting villain makes Todoroki confront what his father has done to him.
Rec: This fic treats a serious, sad subject with a great deal of tenderness. Along with gorgeous friends-to-dating feels, this fic takes Todoroki’s experience of abuse seriously, working towards a beautifully cathartic ending and a lot of friendship, found family and surrogate-parenting feels.
Content warning: Past child abuse
“Hollow and Honeycomb” by antistar_e. 11K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: MCU: Captain America; Ship: Gen
Recced by: halfeatenmoon
Backstory: This is a wingfic AU where Sam Wilson grew wings at puberty, against the backdrop of a world where winged people are a small minority of the population who only gained the right to keep their wings shortly before Sam was born. It’s a backdrop to how that affects Sam, and a contrast to how things were when Steve and Bucky were young.
Rec: This story is positive and hopeful, but takes you deep into the emotions tied up with the fictional civil rights struggle of its AU, and how Steve, Bucky and Sam all experienced it differently. It comes to that really satisfying conclusion of a long, hard-fought battle finally won.
Content warning: References to backyard wing amputations, not graphically shown
And we got two recs for this 49 (!) minute Untamed vid:
“The Black Parade: An Untamed Vid Album” by helcinda. 49:10, rated Gen.
Fandom: The Untamed; Ship: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian
Recced by: FairestCat and Clever Manka
Backstory: FairestCat writes: The Untamed is an epic Chinese romance about soulmates, and also death and tragedy and heartbreak—and resilience and recovery. The Black Parade is a concept album by My Chemical Romance about death and depression and heartbreak—and resilience and recovery.
Rec: FairestCat writes: The themes of The Black Parade map onto the plot of The Untamed so perfectly that every single individual vid gives me chills, and the album as a whole both destroys me and heals me in equal measure.
Clever Manka writes: It’s a fanvid that maps the plot of The Untamed to My Chemical Romance’s album Welcome to the Black Parade. What more could I possibly say? Have drinks and tissues handy.
Content warning: Graphic depictions of violence
FINAL THOUGHT
A new call for recs via a reader suggestion: while we’ve done a few lists with super-long fic, we’ve never done one with short fic. Of course, “short” is in the eye of the beholder, so to put some firmer boundaries on it, please send us your favorite fic under 2K words—especially stuff that manages to really make the most of that limited space. You can use our trusty form (please include “shortfic” or something similar in the “tropes” field). — 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)