The Rec Center #30
Hi everyone! We’ve got a Wynonna Earp explainer for you this week from guest contributor Elisabeth, along with some Star Trek stuff and thoughts on Famous Blond Actors Named Chris. Plus, multifandom fic recs from Yours Truly! — Gav
new stuff
“The myth of the Entitled Fan” by Elizabeth at the New Statesman
Elizabeth goes to SDCC and comes back complaining. :-) On the enduring myth of the ~entitled fan~ and that horrifying thing where multiple dude journalists said that Leslie Jones’s swarm of racist harassers were “fans.” (if you missed this, like, don’t click on those pieces)
“Woman Cosplays To Work To Beat Stupid Dress Code” by Luke Plunkett at Kotaku
This woman is truly 🔥🔥🔥.
“Who Is Winning the Chris Wars?” by Sam Donsky at The Ringer
The most important journalism of our era. Our rankings are as follows:
Elizabeth: (1) Hemsworth (2) Evans (3) Pine
[based entirely on the omission of Ghostbusters from this article, literally the greatest thing Chris Hemsworth has ever achieved] [also based on my vague dislike of all three of them] [no seriously though I also saw CH do this comic Thor vid at SDCC and seriously he should quit everything and just do comedy] [I asked my coworker who her favorite Chris was and she said, “Rock,” so I eagerly await the Chris-Human Wars.]
Gav: I find this choice IMPOSSIBLE due to being obsessed with ~franchise entertainment~ and its troubling grip on Hollywood. Evans is my favorite personality-wise, and I love Captain America, but he finds it very hard to make a good film outside the Marvel franchise. Then there’s Pine, who seems like he miiiight be a lil douchey, but whom I find DEEPLY HILARIOUS for a variety of reasons, and also I’m excited to see him play a damsel in Wonder Woman. Chris Hemsworth is obviously The Most Chill, and also hilarious in Ghostbusters, but Hollywood persists in casting him as ~a serious action star~ which is clearly nonsense. With affectionate loyalty, I shall force myself to vote (1) Evans (2) Pine (3) Hemsworth, with the postscript that it’s bizarre to see Hemsworth listed as the richest of these three actors, when he makes so many flops and has only been around for like 5 minutes. His agent is clearly a billion times better than Evans’s.
old(er) stuff
“What A ‘Racebent’ Hermione Granger Really Represents” by Alanna Bennett at Buzzfeed
We thought about including this early on and we were like, “Surely everyone has already read it.” But who knows! Maybe you missed it the first time around—or maybe you’re overdue for a reread. An essential piece about race, representation, and seeing yourself in the characters you love.
tumblr and beyond
This Star Trek Beyond fanart by Dima Ivanov is so powerful.
“US State Department briefing interrupted by Pokémon Go.”
Are you guys aware of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Sofia Boutella on the Star Trek Beyond press tour? WELL. Check this shit out.
TFW you find a pokestop in the middle of the damn ocean.
wynonna earp explainer
Elisabeth, a dedicated femslash fandom nerd, has been hanging around internet fandom since 2010, and can be found on twitter and tumblr. If you missed her Femslash February multi-fandom sports AU guest list, check it out now!
Thanks to Ghostbusters’ very gay success, it’s been a few weeks of talking about “all female reboots,” which is pretty much any wlw’s dream conversation. This week, I have been enjoying it particularly because it gives me a wonderful lead-in to talk about this summer’s hottest New Show. “Female reboots are great,” people say, and I slide in, chin in hands. “Have you ever thought about Supernatural, but without the car?” I ask. People look at me, nonplussed. I plow on. “Okay but also, instead of men, it’s women?” I lean on the counter. My listener leans forward too, suddenly more interested. “And say, instead of two sisters, it’s three sisters.”
If you, listener, are not sold yet, let me zoom out a bit, and give you rough sketch of this show. Wynonna Earp is the story of the Earp Family, a family descending from a gunslinger. For the last 200 years, the oldest child is Cursed; all the demons want to them, and they are the only ones who can kill all the demons in the area. Wynonna grows up with an older and a younger sister, but the older sister was captured by demons when Wynonna was a child, so bam! Suddenly Wynonna is the Heir to the Curse.
As a result of talking about the whole ““curse”” thing, Wynonna spends a strange youth going in and out of foster care and being labeled “mentally unstable”. But now she’s back in the little town for a funeral, and ends up working to kill a fair few demons. Wynonna, an alcoholic, is not really a star child, but someone’s got to kill those babies….
So of course, our darling Trainwreck moves home to fight demons with an Old Timey Gun and her little sister, whose interest in the local town sheriff’s assistance leads to the best wlw romance on TV. (I’m Not Kidding. The officer is called Officer Haught.) The relationship between Wynonna and her sister, Waverly, demands a primer in itself since it is the show’s central relationship. There’s also:
Wynonna’s Unhappy Partner, who is part of this universe’s DEO, and really doesn’t know what to do with Wynonna.
Her 200 year old fwb who was also her great great grandfather’s best friend.
And her nemesis, whose fur coat seems to be trying to put Lady Gaga to shame.
Also, a witch, whose license plate just reads “STONE. COLD.”
Wynonna Earp is a small spooky Western, with an adorable Canadian cast, cute girls and a fascinating, all female take on the trope of the Lone Demon Hunter. It’s a wonderful, quick-witted show that I highly recommend, and I’m not just saying it because I’m part of the #RenewWynonnaEarp campaign.
fanfiction
“Carry It With You” by cosmic_llin. 1.1K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Star Trek Beyond; Ship: Gen
Genfic about Jaylah finding a new home in the Federation. I also recommend cosmic_llin’s other Star Trek Beyond genfic “Signal Towers and Children’s Song,” a sweet story about Uhura and Jaylah bonding over learning new languages.
“Corporeal embodiment” by verity. 1.3K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Ghostbusters (2016); Ship: Holtzmann/Patty
This short Holtzmann/Patty story has GREAT dialogue that totally echoes the fun, weird tone of the movie.
“A Big Deal in the Resistance” by igrockspock. 15K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Ship: Finn/Poe
It’s been a while since I came across a really great new TFA longfic, and this Finn/Poe story really satisfied my craving. It covers a popular topic in this fandom — Finn settling in with the Resistance, and dealing with the culture clashes after being raised as a Stormtrooper — but it still feels very fresh and truthful, with great characterization and an ensemble cast around the main pairing.
“Politico” by cygnaut. 63K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: X-Men (Inspired by the prequel movies, but obviously works for the comics/earlier films as well.); Ship: Erik/Charles
This X-Men canon AU is an excellent balance between a dramatic Erik/Charles romance and a really engaging but pragmatic story about politics. It’s set in Genosha, the mutant-only nation from the X-Men comics, and features Erik as a controversial member of parliament, Charles as an academic, and Emma Frost as Erik’s professional partner—along with an extensive cast of other X-Men characters, obviously. X-Men is an ideal fandom for political AUs because the mutant rights angle is already baked into the original, and this story goes a step further by putting Erik in an official government role, while still trying to be a firebrand who inspires the mutant citizens of Genosha. One of my favorite details is that cygnaut wrote a Genoshan national anthem for this fic. <3
Bonus: my fic!
This isn’t strictly a ~rec because I cowrote this fic with my friend Nakamasmile, but I’m sharing it because I’m Very Excited and have never written a fanfic this long before! (Nakamasmile is categorically The Best writing partner, btw.)
“One Way Out Of Many” by Nakamasmile & Hellotailor. 12K words (so far; we’re posting a chapter a week), rated Explicit.
Fandom: Hannibal; Ship: Will/Hannibal
A Will/Hannibal canon AU inspired by Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” books, in which everyone has a daemon*. Hannibal planned to keep Will in the dark about his encephalitis so he could watch that brilliant mind burn itself up and become something new. In a world without daemons, he might have got away with it.
* Daemons are an outward representation of a person’s soul, taking the form of an animal. You don’t need to have read the HDM books to read this fic, but there’s a quick guide in the notes if you want!
FINAL THOUGHT
So I was thinking about Alanna’s racebent Hermione piece earlier because yesterday she tweeted this (click through for the whole thread) and it seems fitting, on Cursed Child weekend, when THE PLAY sent such a powerful message to fans around the world, casting a Noma Dumezweni as Hermione. Most of us will only get to read The Cursed Child, and talking to people who’ve seen it...we might have mixed feelings?? It’s probably preaching to the choir to tell the readers of a fanfiction newsletter that YOU, the fan, gets to decide the boundaries of canon in a universe, but like, friendly reminder! And if you want some ~different~ next-gen HP stuff, maybe I can whip up a rec list…(a Harry/Draco one, of course :-)) — Elizabeth
Have a great fic to rec? Please share it with us! We’ll be using your one-off recs to build multi-fandom lists around themes, tropes, etc in the future.
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)