The Rec Center #233
Hi everyone! This week we’ve got coverage of The Flash fandom and Lil Nas X’s history on stan twitter, along with some multifandom short fic recs, an amazing ATLA cosplay TikTok, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“Propaganda machine meets its match: Celebrity fandoms” by Don Kevin Hapal at Rappler
An interesting story (with visualizations!) about how celebrity fandoms are mobilizing online to fight government propaganda and disinformation in the Philippines.
“‘The Flash’ Fans Defend Candice Patton in Light of The CW Policy” by Jessica Castillo at Teen Vogue
Fans are calling out The CW for their historical lack of support for Candice Patton, who plays Iris West on The Flash, and has been the victim of anti-Black harassment for years.
“Before Old Town Road, Lil Nas X was a tweetdecker” by Brian Feldmen at Intelligencer
While this story isn’t technically new, it’s back in ~the news~ because Lil Nas X just confirmed that yes, he did indeed run a Nicki Minaj stan account after all. Published last year, this piece goes into how Lil Nas X’s talent for social media boosted his success as a musician, utilizing self-promo techniques he honed in Nicki Minaj Twitter fandom.
older stuff
“Fans of Color, Fandoms of Color” edited by Abigail De Kosnik and andré carrington at Transformative Works and Cultures
If you’re looking to read more about race and racism in fandom from a lot of different perspectives and angles, this is a great place to start. (We also shared this thread from Fan Studies North America with more resources last week, but hey, here it is again.)
tumblr & beyond
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell fanart by croclock
some more incredible scenes from Firelord Zuko’s secret past as a tea shop waiter.
this ATLA cosplay tiktok... a masterpiece.
huge respect for this person’s star trek interior decor choices.
“This post is about Tom Nook and Redd’s divorce.”
A rebuttal to the “separate the art from the artist” posts about JK Rowling.
fanfiction
A few weeks back we put out a request from a reader: shortfic (I set the upper boundary at 2K words). Unsurprisingly, we got a ton of submissions. Here’s an initial batch, with more to come. If you have a favorite shortfic that you haven’t sent in yet, please use the form at the bottom of the newsletter, and thanks to everyone who sent in a rec so far. — Elizabeth
“Homestead” by katemonkey. 1.5K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy; Ship: Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey
Recced by: seralica
Backstory: Set after the events of the new Star Wars sequel trilogy, this story picks up right after the final scene in the film. It follows Rey as she decides to stay on the Lars homestead, and the people that follow her there.
Rec: As one of many who was... dissatisfied with the ending of TROS, I found this fic sweet and fulfilling in a very needed way. The beats hit one after the other in a way that left me smiling through the whole thing.
Content warnings: N/A
“just as good as gold” writingfireflies. 564 words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Gen
Recced by: cactusboyband
Backstory: This drabble looks at the life of Ginny, Neville, and Luna at Hogwarts during the war and their place as the leaders of the rebellion inside the school.
Rec: I adore fics that look at the war from a Hogwarts’ student perspective. In so many ways what Ginny, Neville, and Luna dealt with was scarier than the Golden Trio, they saw the castle that had been their home become a torture chamber.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Harmony of You and Me” by angelsaves. 1.4K words, rated Explicit
Fandom: Mulan; Ships: Fa Mulan/Li Shang, Li Shang/Ping
Recced by: Gull
Backstory: Bisexual Li Shang is pretty much fanon these days, but this fic is a really sweet look at bi!Shang after he is married to Mulan. A perfect little epilogue to the movie.
Rec: I found this fic as I was working out that I was bi and nonbinary in my early twenties, and it was really refreshing to see myself reflected in both Mulan and Shang here. It took one of my top Disney movies as a kid and made it *mine*, as a queer adult, and that meant a lot.
Content warnings: N/A
“Advanced Covert Dating” by Aria. 1.2K words, rated Teen
Fandom: Community; Ship: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Troy & Abed are best friends at a community college, and they’re both really into LARPing in a room they call “the Dreamatorium.” Annie is their friend and housemate.
Rec: A cute fic where Annie tries to figure out what Troy and Abed’s relationship actually is. Community always had a sweet understanding of their unlikely friendship, and this fic really Gets It in the same way.
Content warning: N/A
“Alizarin” by Simaetha. 1.2K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: The Silmarillion; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: The Silm is the sprawling backstory for the Lord of the Rings, in which a bunch of elves who haven’t had time to become wise yet spend a lot of time alternately frolicking and destroying things. In this case, well pre-Middle Earth, the frolicking involves the creation of chemical dyes and the destruction of Elvish export schemes.
Rec: This is a great example of how short fics can be the perfect frame for humor. This is a sparkly little story without a single extraneous word and it is laugh-out-loud funny.
Content warning: N/A
“All the poise of a cannonball” by iwillnotbecaged. 1K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Captain America; Ship: Gen
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Sam Wilson becomes a major part of the Captain America series in The Winter Soldier. By the time we meet him, he’s a combat veteran who seems to have his shit together. This fic takes place when he’s recently back from Afghanistan and staying with his sister. While part of a series, this fic can stand on its own.
Rec: This fic provides a snapshot of what Sam’s recovery process might have looked like and the struggle he would have to have gone through to become the man we see in Winter Soldier. The exactly 1k word count contributes to the feeling of Sam’s world closing in around him and the author manages to pack a ton of character development into a small space.
Content warning: Character dealing with PTSD
“The First Twelve” by thingswithwings. 1.3K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare); Ship: Orsino/Viola (Cesario)
Recced by: galia
Backstory: Set just after the end of the play, Orsino and Viola realize that they worked much better when they were Orsino and Cesario.
Rec: It’s such a short slice of life that has so much to say about the characters, about gender, and about love.
Content warnings: N/A
“like you know i am better than the worst thing i ever did” by postcardmystery. 1.7K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Leverage; Ship: Parker/Eliot Spencer/Alec Hardison
Recced by: cactusboyband
Backstory: Leverage is a TV show about criminals who help people and this OT3 is the emotional heart of the show, and Word of God canon. This short fic follows Eliot’s feelings about the other two through the show as he learns to connect again.
Rec: This fic perfectly captures Eliot’s whole deal, he protects and attacks and loves. And he has to learn how to accept that people want to protect and love him.
Content warnings: References to child abuse, murder, war, violence
“Inevitable Truth” by strix_alba. 1.1K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Enchanted Forest Chronicles; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Galia
Backstory: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles are about Cimorene, a princess who has no patience for dancing lessons, etc, so she sets off to get herself employed by a dragon.
Rec: I love, *love* trans Cimorene. It fits perfectly into her character in the books, and the writing style mirrors the original author’s in a marvelous way!
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
If you’re active in transformative fandom spaces on Twitter, you’ve likely seen commentary this week about the OTW, the AO3, and their failure to address anti-Blackness and racism on their platforms and projects. On Wednesday, my podcast partner, Flourish, and I posted a thread about our disappointment with the OTW’s silence on this issue, and Gav agreed that we should share it here as well, since it also reflects our stance as a newsletter.
I’ve been watching this conversation unfurl in a lot of different directions over the past few days, and one thing I wrote on Twitter that I want to reiterate is that there are no official proposed solutions, and thus no need to shut down the whole conversation because you don’t like any given suggestion. This is a call for a statement of acknowledgement and culpability—one that all sorts of organizations have done in the past few weeks, including many whose work affects far fewer users than something like the AO3—and the start of open communication.
You can write the OTW via this form. Ask for a public statement, or an apology and a pledge to address this conversation openly and directly. If you have particular suggestions, send them in. And a message for white fans: some white fans have long been involved in conversations about racism in fandom, but many...have not. This is not a time for defensiveness—I can guarantee you that any argument you’re gonna make has been made before. Listen, read, and boost the voices of fans of color—you can start with the resources we shared in “older stuff” this week. — 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)