February 18, 2022

The Rec Center #320

Hi folks! This week we have articles about elvish hairstyling and women’s hockey, along with multifandom femslash fic recs, an incredible Boba Fett fancomic, and more! — Gav

new stuff

“Son, your mother and I are worried about the quality of your Supernatural slash fiction” by Nathan Kamal at McSweeney’s
“First of all, we want you to know that you have great taste in your source material. Many people use the CW’s roster of teen-oriented melodramas as a source of creative fuel. Once you get that writing bug, you see inspiration in every pair of wandering demon-fighting beefcakes you see. I know I did.”

“Hollywood Studios Locked In Massive Bidding War For Screenplay Entitled ’Existing IP TBD’” at the Onion
Chillingly real.

“Why do male elves have short hair in Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ show?” by Gav at the Daily Dot
In the wake of the first trailer for The Rings of Power, there’s a controversy in LOTR fandom over the show’s portrayal of elves with short hair. Gav looked into the Tolkien canon background of elvish hairstyles—and discussed how this plays into real-world ideas about gender presentation.

older stuff

“Team USA and Team Canada Women’s Hockey Players Keep Marrying Each Other” by Mary Emily O’Hara at Them
The Canadian women’s hockey team may have beaten the U.S. team a few days ago (congrats, Canada!), but as this story reminds us, when it comes to cross-border hockey rivalry + romance, we’re all winners.

tumblr & beyond

Eowyn/Witch King fanart by liridi

Former She-Ra showrunner and longtime fanartist ND Stevenson created a wonderful (and long!) fancomic about Boba Fett!

“Why are Sailor Moon episode titles formatted like academic journal article titles?”

the “weeb/ass/shit” scale of anime recommendation.

“Which new white boy with fluffy brown hair are the teen girls obsessed with these days I can’t keep up”

ah yes, shakespearean scholarship.

“the new Moon Girl cartoon fully yassified the Beyonder.”

fanfiction

Femslash February continues! For our first multifandom list this year, see issue #318. We’re still soliciting F/F—please use the form at the bottom of the newsletter—and thank you to everyone who sent in a rec. <3 — Elizabeth

“who ya gonna call?” by igneousbitch. 25K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Locked Tomb; Ship: Harrowhark Nonagesimus/Gideon Nav
Recced by: anon
Backstory: The Locked Tomb trilogy is an SFF series about lesbian necromancers in space. This is a contemporary Buzzfeed Unsolved AU where Harrow is a host for the popular supernatural series Unsolved, and Gideon Nav is her new camerawoman.
Rec: Funny and romantic! Affronted lesbian noises involved!
Content warnings: Grief themes

“Different Scars” by Kiraly. 3.6K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Stand Still Stay Silent; Ship: Sigrun/Tuuri
Recced by: Elleth
Backstory: Months after the crew returns triumphant, the so-called “Silent World Six” are special guests at the Mora Midwinter Gala. But some wounds aren’t completely healed, and the spotlight may do more harm than good. Tuuri finds solace in the shadows—and in Sigrun.
Rec: A fantastic, sweet and ever so slightly heartbreaking AU that should have happened that way (or similar) in canon. Kiraly writes Sigrun and Tuuri perfectly, and the hints at the backstory are the cherry on top.
Content warnings: Major spoilers for the first adventure of SSSS, AU aftermath of canonical character death

“Mark My Words” by lologoblens. 26K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power; Ship: Adora/Catra
Recced by: jules
Backstory: Modern AU where Adora is a soulmark tattoo artist and Catra works at the flower shop across the street. Catra thinks getting a soulmate tattoo is unnecessary and a scam... until she meets Adora. :)
Rec: Catra and Adora retain their canon confidence, sweet awkwardness, and snarky flirting, but in a lovely new setting where generally everything is good and nothing hurts (lookin’ at you, canon child abuse). Plus the soulmate aspect of this story is so unique, I love it!
Content warnings: N/A

“your stare’s ’bout to kill me” by nobirdstofly. 22K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: 天官赐福 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú; Ship: (F/F) Feng Xin/Mu Qing
Recced by: xyai
Backstory: In canon, Feng Xin and Mu Qing are gods fighting through an 800-years-long rivalry fueled by personality clashes and misunderstandings. In this modern always-a-girl AU, Feng Xin stumbles upon Mu Qing’s cam girl stream, can’t get it off her mind, and decides to come clean about it by taking Mu Qing out for lunch.
Rec: Oof, this fic is hot and poignant all at once. Feng Xin and Mu Qing are exactly themselves despite the era and gender switch, and the author expertly builds tension by walking a delicate line between both characters’ wariness and desire.
Content warnings: N/A

“Accounting for the Keys” by UrsulaKohl. 1.8K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Spinning Silver (Novik); Ship: Wanda/Miryem
Recced by: Chestnut_pod
Backstory: Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik, is a fantasy novel based partly on the story of Rumpelstiltskin, and partly on Eastern European Jewish folklore and culture. Genre-savvy yiddishe kopf Miryem and steadfast, quietly observant Wanda are two of the book’s wonderful heroines.
Rec: This book should have ended with femslash and I will die on that hill. UrsulaKohl is clearly a kindred spirit, and wrote this tender, perfect little snowflake of a story with a shining folktale touch to the prose.
Content warnings: N/A

FINAL THOUGHT

I’ve mentioned this a few times over the years, but as a recent (very patient!!) Rec Center reader that I (temporarily!!) ghosted reminded me again: if I owe you an email and it’s been more than a couple of weeks, please do not hesitate to nudge me with a follow-up. It’s hard enough to keep on top of emails for work, so you can imagine how that gets even harder with a side project. (No excuses but still!!!!) As always, thanks to everyone for your understanding and patience, and like, please poke me ahaha. — Elizabeth