November 13, 2020

The Rec Center #254

Hi folks! This week we’ve got some coverage of Hanson fandom (!), Gandalf fanart, multifandom AU fic recs, and more! — Gav

new stuff

“Hanson Is Facing a Mutiny From Its Own Fans” by Ashley Spencer at Vice
“More than 20 years after ‘MMMBop,’ the teen idols’ impassioned following is splintering over issues like Black Lives Matter, guns, and COVID.”

“a tumblr book” edited by Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, and Indira Neill Hoch
Elizabeth was one of the many people interviewed for this wide-ranging academic book about Tumblr, which is available to everyone for free! (Click the “open access” link.)

older stuff

“Becoming an American Girl: Lessons from The Babysitter’s Club” by Naihobe Gonzalez at Catapult
“If we had left Venezuela, it had to be because life in America was going to be better, but the BSC world didn’t seem inherently better—just different.”

tumblr & beyond

Gandalf & Olorin fanart by Rian Tuk

instantly iconic venn diagram over here

the actual reason why Merlin’s magic never gets discovered in BBC Merlin

“this quarantine got me feeling like luke’s guy walker”

“happy one week anniversary to whatever the fuck happened last thursday”

it’s the jesus/judas shipping discourse babye!

fanfiction

[insert joke about 2020 and alternate universes… ha ha ha] That’s right, this week we’re doing a multi-fandom AU list—specifically, AUs that alter the world of the characters from the start (e.g., “they’re all florists”) rather than shift elements of the plot (e.g., canon divergence). Thank you to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth

“Radioman” by Footloose. 35K words (series is 1.3 million!), various ratings though this part is Gen.
Fandom: Merlin (TV); Ship: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon
Recced by: J
Backstory: No knowledge of the TV show needed. Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are an elite SAS team down a communications specialist. In comes Merlin with enough secrets to last about 500K words of fic.
Rec: The world building and writing of this mammoth series is so complex and beautifully done. The story is told from loads of POVs so you get emotionally invested in all of the characters and they’re all brilliant and unique.
Content warnings: Violence typical of a military fic, torture later in the series but the author warns that before each part.

“Heart-Eyes Emoji” by carouselfancy, Tijgertje. 216K words (WIP), rated Explicit.
Fandom: Dragon Age: Ships: Alistair/Female Cousland, Minor Cullen/Female Lavellan
Recced by: Mandy
Backstory: Olivia Cousland (the writers’ Dragon Age: Origins character) gets a text from a wrong number—who just so happens to be Alistair Therin—and a relationship ensues.
Rec: I love a “wrong number” fic, and although the Cousland in the story is for the most part an OC, the characterizations of Alistair and the rest of the familiar Dragon Age crew are absolutely spot on, down to Alistair’s love of cheese and Dorian’s love of himself.
Content warnings: N/A

“and so my heart beats wildly” by lily_winterwood. 106K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù/The Untamed; Ship: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian
Recced by: Rachel
Backstory: Five nighthunting competitions where Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were rivals, and one where they weren’t.
Rec: This fic is so good that I just keep rereading it. The worldbuilding’s great and it includes both social media and sports cultural issues really well.
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, rough sex, breathplay

“Anywhere But Here” by QuirkyNeon (iforgetlikeanelephant). 126K words, rated Explicit.
Fandoms: Captain America & Generation Kill; Ships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Brad Colbert/Ray Person, pre- James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Nate Fick
Recced by: damnyoualex
Backstory: Crossover between modern au Captain America in which the characters are veterans and post-canon Generation Kill—centred in a coffee shop! While dealing with Brad being overseas Ray starts going to VA meetings where he strikes up a lively friendship with Bucky.
Rec: This is a brilliant crossover that blends the two fandoms in a very convincing way and manages to give balanced attention to both sets of characters as well as fusing their story-lines effectively.
Content warnings: Discussion of mental health issues including anxiety and suicide, serious injuries

“Веселая наука”/“Gay Science” by zmeischa, translated by belana. 25K worlds, rated Teen.
Fandom: A Song Of Ice and Fire; Ships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Sandor Clegane/Sansa Stark, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Alleras/Samwell Tarly, Theon Greyjoy/Robb Stark, Obara Sand/Margaery Tyrell
Recced by: Aysa
Backstory: It’s a wonderfully crafted modern AU of ASOIAF with recognizable details and a good worldbuilding.
Rec: I read it first on a contest on Russian blogging platform diary.ru called Fandom Battle, where teams of different fandoms fight for the 1st place. It’s a rather entertaining thing (lots of drama! scandals and a boatload of content). Recently the author decided to add more chapters, and I’ve fallen for the Margaery chapter, it’s better than anything.
Content warnings: N/A

“String Theory, A Concerto for Violin in D Minor” by toft. 11.5K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis; Ship: John Shepard/Rodney McKay
Recced by: kat
Backstory: SGA was a huge, ubiquitous fandom in the early-ish 2000s which (in my opinion) far outstripped its source content in quality and creativity. The show itself is a spin-off of SG-1, where Stargate command has set up shop in the far away Pegasus galaxy; it’s somehow at once campy, action-filled, and thematically compelling.
Rec: The AU premise for this is great—I love musician/music AUs, and the idea of Shepard as a violinist overshadowed by his (extremely) famous father, with Rodney as a composer and conductor, works surprisingly well. Also you get a great look into exactly how messed up these characters are, but how they can still fit together so perfectly. (Also also: wow, that ending.)
Content warnings: Mentions of panic attacks and agoraphobia

FINAL THOUGHT

Amongst all the “I feel like it’s 2012 again” commentary about SPN over the past week, we started thinking about how many people have passed through the fandom at some point over the show’s fifteen-year run—and how many people were enjoying thinking about it again.

So! Just in time for the very final episode next week, we wanted to put out a call for folks who are currently in the fandom: What are your favorite SPN fics written recently? To put an actual time boundary on it, stuff published in 2019 or 2020. Please send them in! And be sure to include “SPN 2020” or something similar in the tropes & themes 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.

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