The Rec Center #255
Hi folks! And a warm salutation to Supernatural fandom. Congratulations or commiserations on, uh... whatever that was! We’ve put together a rec list of SPN fic this week in your honor. Along with coverage of Bill & Ted fandom, some delightful Critical Role fanart, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“How BILL & TED Is Inspiring a Whole New Generation” by Rosie Knight at Nerdist
Extremely good vibes all around in this piece interviewing newer fans of Bill & Ted—and, of course, Bill/Ted—many of whom were born after the original films were released.
“As Gina Carano and Star Wars Fans Clash, Hero Worship Turns to Scorn” by Joanna Robinson & Anthony Breznican at Vanity Fair
An overview of how The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano transformed from being a cool Star Wars role model into a problematic Trump-era conspiracy theorist—and a piece that focuses more on the fans, rather than the celebrity’s reaction to “getting canceled.”
older stuff
“Burlesque and the Lens of Rewriting” by Elsa Sjunneson at Uncanny Magazine
On “nerdlesque“: “Even when the piece wasn’t about disability explicitly, I was rewriting the character, because with a disabled body, I was engaging not just with the original source material, but with my body and the space that I inhabit as well.”
tumblr & beyond
Critical Role fanart by sashthesloth
Educational diagram: How to decode whether a celebrity guest on “Law and Order” is guilty or not.
TikTok: Singer-songwriter Left at London discovers that her music is on gajillions of fandom Spotify playlists.
“i would be That Guy who throws a rock into the deep dark spooky water with bad vibes”
huge respect to these people who organized their own IRL game of Among Us.
the only SPN finale analysis we need.
positively reeling @ this Hugh Jackman interview.
fanfiction
Well! We had no idea what sort of day-after-the-SPN-finale we’d be facing when we asked for your newer SPN fics—stuff written in 2019-2020—last week, so hopefully something on here will satisfy those of you who want more SPN but not...that. As the fix-its start to roll in, you are strongly encouraged to continue sending us newer recs. And thank you very much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“A List of Reasons the Bunker Shouldn’t Get A Sofa:” by lizbobjones. 5.6K words, rated Teen.
Recced by: anon
Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Backstory: Set sometime during s12, Dean and Sam (who are now living in the men of letters bunker) find a battered couch somewhere along the road and decide to bring it home. Once fixed, they organize a movie night with their newly-resurrected mother Mary and Cas and things happen from there.
Rec: It’s so sweet but also feels very in-character and i loved the domestic aspect of it all.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Protection Detail” by dragonflybeach. 762 words, rated Gen.
Ship: Gen
Recced by: Sara
Backstory: Written for the occasion of the show’s 300th (!) episode, a fic from the POV of the citizens of Lebanon, the place the Winchesters moved in around s8, highlighting what the people think of the two mysterious brothers who suddenly appeared in town.
Rec: It’s a very short but sweet fic, and it’s nice to get a look at what the hunters might look like from the outside.
Content warnings: N/A
“you drink light with your hands all winter” by Amiril. 1.6K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Recced by: Ellen
Backstory: Speculative, post season 15: Sam becomes God, Cas becomes the Empty, Dean becomes Death.
Rec: It’s a fun theory for the end of the show, done in a way that’s somewhere between sweet and disturbing.
Content warning: Murder of baby angel by the protagonist
“And This, Your Living Kiss” by opal_bullets. 57K words, rated Mature.
Ships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Recced by: Crimsoncreature
Backstory: Only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet Jack Allen is just Kansas mechanic Dean Winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. Until, that is, a string of coincidences leads Dean to auditing a poetry course with one Dr. Castiel Novak.
Rec: I love stories that examine writing as a craft in a way that tries to identify what makes it unique and impactful. Just like good poetry, this story combines mastery of the format with understanding of the human mind and all the love, joy and trauma that can make a man.
Content warnings: Mentions of past sex work, mentions of cancer
“Angels Americana” by pollutedstar. 2.2K words, rated TEen.
Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Set sometime during s4-5, this fic is more a reflection on what angels truly are vs what we imagine them to be. Dean thinks they’re supposed to have fluffy wings and Sam thinks they’re supposed to be wheels of eyes with incomprehensible power, and it turns out they have trench coats. (+ religious imagery! Americana! wings!)
Rec: Just a short but good fic with lots of religious imagery & Americana; plus I’ve always loved the symmetry of non-religious dean falling for an angel and somewhat religious sam falling for a demon
Content warning: Canon-typical violence
And despite our reccer’s prediction, we only received the one rec for this fic, but if you haven’t seen the origin of this very topical “imagine your OTP” meme, behold:
“Four Seasons” by TheSongSmith. 754 words, rated Gen.
Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Recced by: freudiancascade
Backstory: Cas is the owner of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, and he received a very curious call on a quiet Saturday morning. Dean owns the adult shop next door, and is very confused by what’s going on.
Rec: You’re probably going to receive eight thousand recs for this one, but somebody wrote the AU, it’s delightful, and I’ve read it a dozen times since finding it.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Rounding things out this week, we wanted to showcase the kickstarter for an upcoming queer speculative fiction anthology called It Gets Even Better: Stories of Queer Possibility. Contributors include Hugo winners Charlie Jane Anders and Zen Cho, plus Amy Griswold, Nibedita Sen, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.
While I think that a lot of our readers would be interested in this content anyway, fandom is actually at the heart of the anthology’s inception—as co-editor Jed Sabin writes:
This project originated when I was thinking about how differently queer people are treated in SFF than in fandom, and how I wanted to read more speculative profic with fannish sensibilities—stories with a focus on speculative elements like innovative technologies or social structures, but with queerness in the foreground, integral to the characters and their relationships without being treated like a challenge to overcome.
The kickstarter is here—check it out! — 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)