January 21, 2022

The Rec Center #316

Hi folks! This week we have articles about BL fandom and celebrity deaths, some awesome Gideon the Ninth fanart, posts about Succession and R2-D2, a multifandom rec list of high school/college fanfic, and more! — Gav

new stuff

“The intimacy of the TV star death” by Emily VanDerWerff at Vox
A thoughtful examination of the intense relationships that audiences form with the stars of ubiquitous TV sitcoms, and how their deaths (Betty White; Bob Saget) feel uniquely impactful as a result.

“New Franchise Reboot Struggling to Decide Which Character Has a Podcast Now” by Camden Brazile at Hard Drive
Thanks to this parody article, we now know that there’s a character in the Ghostbusters reboot named Podcast. And thanks to us, now you know too.

older stuff

“On Boys’ Love Stories, Queer Fantasies, & Communities We Create” by Stitch at Teen Vogue
A BL primer, featuring interviews and quotes from a variety of readers and scholars.

tumblr & beyond

Gideon the Ninth fanart by rhub0h

kinda shocked by how well this Spice Girls/Dune mashup video lines up.

“people are starting to realize tumblr isn’t dead we all need to be as cringe as possible for the next few months”

an excellent analysis on how The Witcher uses clever costume design to characterize Geralt and Jaskier (and in particular, to alter the Jaskier actor’s body shape.)

Ted Lasso as the Succession credits.

“that thing where you watch your mutual slowly become a kpop blog but it’s normal social media and ur friends are becoming baby picture accs”

some further documentation for R2-D2’s balls-to-the-wall personality.

fanfiction

This week’s theme is ~academic settings~: high school, college, and grad school AUs! (All student AUs, that is; maybe we’ll do an academic faculty & staff list sometime soon.) Thank you very much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth

“Not Gonna Happen Twice” by lady_ragnell. 12K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Les Miserables; Ship: Enjolras/Grantaire
Recced by: Claire
Backstory: In canon, Grantaire believes in nothing except for beautiful, passionate Enjolras (who is completely oblivious). Grantaire writes an anonymous agony aunt column for the college’s newspaper, and Enjolras writes in asking for advice on how to make friends with him.
Rec: This really doesn’t shy away from how awkward the kinda-but-not-actually-friends relationship between the two of them is at the start, and lady_ragnell is my favourite author in this fandom.
Content warnings: N/A

“no use going back to yesterday” by fictionalcandie. 30K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: American Idol RPF; Ship: Kris Allen/Adam Lambert
Recced by: Loren
Backstory: Kris Allen & Adam Lambert were both contestants on season 8 of American Idol. Adam is a fabulous gay diva and Kris is a singer-songwriter and they were good friends while on the show. In the fic, vampire boss Adam crosses paths with high school student Kris, who’s on the hunt for his missing friend.
Rec: It’s just a perfect little romance! It’s so fun to watch sweet, naive Kris fall down the rabbit hole, and the whole fic is perfectly paced.
Content warnings: Elements of noncon but no actual depictions of it

“blessed with a wilder mind” by opinionhaver69. 27K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Trilogy; Ship: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus
Recced by: myrmidryad
Backstory: Canon verse famously has lesbian necromancers in space, with a big side-helping of death, existential horror, and a truly amazing cast of secondary characters. Harrow is the last of her house, Gideon her reluctant sworn sword. They are incredibly bitchy to each other and end up deeply devoted to each other.
Rec: A college AU featuring all your faves which nails the tone of the books, right down to the inclusion of memes that will Make You Scream. Mercymorn is Harrow’s thesis advisor, which is really perfect, and Harrow is really going through it with her thesis and life trauma. Over their final year, Harrow and Gideon finally begin to grow closer.
Content warnings: Deep-dive into Harrow’s terrible mental health and her parents’ deaths, with mentions of suicide and terminal illnesses

“Astrolabe” by Winter_of_our_Discontent and reluctantabandon. 35K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Recced by: EJ
Backstory: Two graduate students, two adjoining library carrels, and the beginning of an unexpectedly epistolary romance.
Rec: Sweet, slow burn. Really cute.
Content warnings: N/A

“Flowery Hearts” by Unicorn (Jensee). 25K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast; Ship: Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla
Recced by: Mackenzie
Backstory: Second Citadel is the medieval fantasy storyline of the Penumbra podcast. This fic is a get-together story for Arum, Damien, and Rilla set in a modern university which keeps most of the magic and monsters from the source material, with the added benefit of soulmarks.
Rec: I enjoy stories where soulmarks appear differently on different people and exploring how that affects our interpretation. This has some miscommunication and angst, as well as some really good fluff.
Content warnings: Arum is still a lizard, and there are some descriptions of a character experiencing strong anxiety

“Promstuck: A Hometsuck Adventure (with prom)” by Cephied_Variable, schellibie, and urbanAnchorite (t_ZM). ~22K words (image-heavy), rated Teen.
Fandom: Homestuck; Ship: John Egbert/Karkat Vantas
Recced by: joethecat
Backstory: Homestuck is a webcomic infamous on Tumblr for its length and fandom. The pairing includes John, a human boy who enjoys jokes and bad movies, and Karkat, an alien called troll who enjoys not jokes but also bad movies.
Rec: Like many Homestuck fan adventures, this is an image- and text-heavy story based on a marching band AU. This story is the culmination of prom in a wacky and strangely heartfelt adventure that takes the reader through Karkat’s struggles of teenagedom and high school prom drama.
Content warnings: N/A

FINAL THOUGHT

Another Femslash February reminder! Please send us your recs. :-)) You can use our one-off submissions form; please include “femslash february” in the themes field. — Elizabeth