The Rec Center #237
Hi all! This week we have an incredible story about Senator Robert Kelly, some majestic Teletubby (!) fanart, and the return of multi-fandom shortfic, stories that are approximately 2K words or less. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“At U.K. Care Home, Residents Brilliantly Re-Create Iconic Album Covers On Twitter” by Laurel Wamsley at NPR
If you haven’t seen them yet, the fanworks of the week are the famous album covers by residents of the Sydmar Lodge Care Home, who’ve been in lockdown for four months.
“Take It Easy Mode: How to Enjoy Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” by Swapna Krishna at Syfy Fangrrls
The first installment in “a biweekly column on the unsung hero of video games, the Easy Setting, for casual and new gamers, parents, and people who generally find higher difficulty modes frustrating.”
“X-Men’s worst villain was a hero Bush-era Republicans” by Jake Kleinman at Inverse
Apparently a ton of IRL conservative politicians identified with Senator Kelly in the X-Men franchise, to the point where it actually impacted the actor’s career?? This interview is quite something.
older stuff
“You Did the Thing” by Elizabeth at Fansplaining
Gretchen McCulloch’s wonder book on internet linguistics, Because Internet, is out in paperback next week. If you haven’t read it yet, start with Elizabeth’s conversation with her about the language of fandom, and then order it from your local indie bookstore or library!
tumblr & beyond
Teletubby tarot fanart by inklooseart
An absolutely stunning concept for some ATLA fanart over here.
Please join us in being mesmerized by Darth Maul’s wildly unnecessary fight choreography.
A deep dive into Kirk’s iconic ripped shirt outfits in Star Trek: TOS.
Keep those Talk Like Hannibal memes coming, folks!!!
Kudos to the person who noticed this amazing continuity error in The Untamed.
fanfiction
We’re back with another batch of shortfic this week—this time with a liiittle more flexibility on the length (2.3K words!!). For our first two rounds, see here and here. Thank you to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Common Ground” by Mistrali. 671 words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Circle of Magic (Tamora Pierce); Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: The Circle of Magic books follow four young mages through two series as they grow up and find their places in the world.
Rec: This fic follows Daja’s two students from the second series, and provides a sweet but also thoughtful look at their kinds of ambient magic, and ~sisters~.
Content warnings: N/A
“who needs comfortable love?” by honeybeebutch. 2K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: The Magnus Archives; Ship: Eric Delano/Michael Shelley
Recced by: Remi
Backstory: An alternate take on a possible relationship between two characters referenced in canon while they were both human. While both make appearances in canon, one is only as a recording of a ghost, and the other is a monster centered around distorting reality.
Rec: A delightfully human look at the way in which two people can dance around each other in admitting (or not admitting) how they feel about each other and how regrets can color later actions. Somewhat free-form and poetic in how the story is presented, the prose is delightfully unique and a pleasure to read.
Content warnings: Canonical character death, infidelity
“Todos los bienes del mundo (1598)” by liriaen. 1.6K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Historical RPF (16th century); Ship: One-sided Philip II of Spain/Elizabeth I of England
Recced by: Onnasannomiya
Backstory: Philip of Spain on his deathbed, recalling his brief stay in England when he was reluctantly attracted to Elizabeth Tudor while married to her sister Mary, and reflecting with weary resignation, about both his thwarted dream to make her his next queen and the defeat of his Armada dealt by Elizabeth’s navy.
Rec: Everything about it, really. The contrasts in the characterization between the emotionally repressed, austere Philip and the mercurial, quick-witted Elizabeth; the glimpse of a not-quite dalliance between these two who were fated not to become lovers but rival monarchs engaged in a high-stakes chess game with Western Europe as their board, and the hint at the end of the sunset of one empire and the dawn of another
Content warnings: N/A
“Short Street to Kicklebury” by notbecauseofvictories. 1.6K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Discworld - Terry Pratchett; Ship: Sybil Ramkin/Samuel Vimes
Recced by: galia
Backstory: Samantha Vimes is the same unyielding, explosive, devastatingly true copper that we know her to be, and she is so, so in love with Sybil Ramkin.
Rec: The writing style is incredibly Pratchett and the added depth this story gives the Discworld universe is just *chef’s kiss*. I both laughed and teared up while reading this fic.
Content warnings: N/A
“Good Things Come In Threes” by superthousand. 2.3K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Leverage; Ship: Parker/Eliot Spencer/Alec Hardison
Recced by: cactusboyband
Backstory: Leverage is a TV show about criminals who help people. This OT3 is word of god confirmed and the emotional anchor of the show (who cares about Nate).
Rec: This fic captures their dynamic perfectly, Eliot’s desire to protect the other two really comes through. And the handling of the soulmate trope is fantastic.
Content warning: References to past child abuse
“Since You Ask Me For a Tale of Magic” by Starfishstar. 1.5K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Akikotree
Backstory: In the BBC radio comedy series Souvenir Programme, British comedian John Finnemore includes various recurring characters. One of them is The Storyteller, who begins each skit with the intro phrase “Since you ask me for a tale of....” and fills in a common genre, such as mystery, which he reliably subverts into hilarious absurdity.
Rec: This story SO PERFECTLY matches the tone and cadence of Finnemore’s writing that if I had seen it presented as a script from an unreleased episode, I wouldn’t have batted an eye. It’s a hilarious crossover with a much more well-known fandom (but I don’t want to say which—that would ruin the surprise!)
Content warnings: N/A
“shaking at the sight” by vowelinthug. 780 words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Black Sails; Ship: James Flint/John Silver
Recced by: Runawaymarbles
Backstory: Black Sails is a prequel of sorts to Treasure Island. The fic has some internal reflections of Flint and Silver as they lead a pirate army to Nassau.
Rec: Short and poignant, it reflects on both characters’ relationships to their mothers and to the violence around them.
Content warning: Discussion of violence
“Talisman” by saiditallbefore. 2.3K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: 청춘시대 | Age of Youth; Ship: Jung Ye Eun/Kang Yi Na
Recced by: Antediluvian
Backstory: “Ye Eun continues going to morning prayers every day, after… After. Yi Na and Ye Eun, after the events of the show.”
Rec: Lovely prose, very in-character, good and witty dialogue.
Content warning: Deals in a non-detailed way with recovery from an abusively stalkerish het relationship canonical to the show
“be thy destinies onward and bright” by greatestheights. 1.8K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The West Wing; Ship: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Recced by: cactusboyband
Backstory: The West Wing was a political drama in the early 2000s that followed the lives of the President’s senior staff. Donna was Josh’s assistant and the two had a seven-year slow burn will they/won’t they that is unlike anything else.
Rec: This AU does a lot of work to fix the power dynamic issues between Josh and Donna, it puts them on the same footing and imagines a world where Donna came to politics earlier and thrived.
Content warnings: N/A
“Why We Tell Our Stories: An Introduction to the New Oxford Universal Collection of Folktales, Dreamings, and Myths, by Doctor Constance Nine” by novembersmith. 2.1K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: His Dark Materials; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Marina
Backstory: This story is set in the far-future where the events of the His Dark Materials series have become oral folktales.
Rec: I really love the combination of folktale research within the setting of a future space-faring civilization—it’s so unlike the setting of the original canon and yet it feels eminently plausible.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
As you may already know, we are HUGO FINALISTS this year!! Voting closes on July 22, so if you’re able to vote, please consider choosing the Rec Center in the Best Fanzine category! — 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)