The Rec Center #40
Greetings from The Rec Center ~in transit~. Gav’s at the London Film Festival and I’m running back and forth between New York Comic-Con and The New Yorker Festival like a sitcom character trying to go on two dates at the same time. But we’ve still got articles, tumblr post, etc etc, plus some (brief!) politics stuff and another reader-sourced multi-fandom fic rec list. This week’s theme: time travel! — Elizabeth
new stuff
“For Women of Color, the Price of Fandom Can Be Too High” by Angelica Jade Bastién at the New Republic
“At times, I’ve been left to wonder, why do I love these stories so much when they rarely care about people who look like me?”
“Why Overwatch Fans Are Obsessed With ‘Shipping’ Its Female Characters” by Nico Deyo at Kotaku
On the “new femslash zeitgeist” in the video game Overwatch.
“The Luke Cage Syllabus: A Breakdown Of All The Black Literature Featured In Netflix’s Luke Cage” by Tara Betts at Black Nerd Problems
A fantastic annotated list of all the books referenced in Luke Cage.
old(er) stuff
“‘The Ethical Hearse’: Privacy, Identity and Fandom Online” by Bethan Jones at The Learned Fangirl
On ‘Morangate’ and ‘Theory of ficgate,’ two widely-debated incidents in which fanfiction was taken out of its original context (the former on a very public stage, the latter into the classroom).
nerds for her
Skip this section if you’re not eligible to vote in the American election! But if you are, I just wanted to draw your attention to Nerds for Her, a project by Harry and the Potters’ Paul DeGeorge to mobilize fans and the positive power of fandom to help get Hillary Clinton elected/prevent the apocalypse.
If you’re a Hillary supporter, check out the shirts, buttons, and free images to use in social media profiles, or listen to this week’s Fansplaining, where we talk with Paul and muse on the intersection of politics and fandom. And if you’re at NYCC, you might catch me or another volunteer handing out buttons! — Elizabeth
tumblr & beyond
“A movie director, a writer for Marvel, and a Manga writer collaborate on an empowering female protagonist.” No seriously, watch this right now.
“Pride and Prejudice Go”
A prompt generator to help you write your next fic!
Imagine this tweet about Daredevil
Taken to the BEST possible conclusion.
fanfiction
Another week, another reader-sourced multi-fandom list, because you guys have submitted so many incredible-looking stories. This week I pulled out half a dozen time travel fics, though there are half a dozen more in the bank now (plus 18 million Torchwood stories I need to reread) so we’ll do another one in the future. Thanks, as always, to everyone who contributed! — Elizabeth
“Harbingers of Blood” by Gehayi. 11.6K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Macbeth; Ship: Macbeth/Lady Macbeth
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most interesting characters, but her backstory is sparse and she’s rarely given depth. Shakespeare fandom is so good at picking up loose ends and illuminating the dark spaces left between the lines.
Rec: If you like grim but triumphant relentlessness mixed with Scottish history porn and awesome female characters, this is the story for you. Lady Macbeth is vicious and stubborn and self-aware, and the atmosphere is perfectly eerie.
Content warnings: Blood, murder, fire
“Play it Again” by metisket. 63K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Teen Wolf; Ship: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinksi, pre-slash
Recced by: alasse (tumblr/AO3)
Backstory: Teen Wolf is about a teenager, Scott McCall, who is turned into a werewolf when unadvisedly exploring the forest at night with (and at the behest) of his best friend, Stiles Stilinski (spazz, kind of genius, humor relief and low-key angst personified). Derek Hale is a born wolf who is enemy, cypher and ally by turns.
Rec: This story is all that is GREAT about time travel fic. Different possibilities for canon events, clever reflections on the nature of time, EPIC plot and amazing character moments between Stiles and Scott, Stiles and Derek, Stiles and his dad, and Stiles and the Hales.
“Backwards with purpose: always and always” by Deadwoodpecker. 200K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Harry/Ginny, other canon pairings
Recced by: SainaTsukino
Backstory: Harry Potter is pretty dang popular, and the recent release of the play brought time travel back into fashion...
Rec: This is *the* best and angstiest time travel fic. It even includes a sequel in which Albus does the travelling, in a much better and more internally consistent way than the play.
Content warnings: Angst, character death
“Arbitrage” by Fumerie. 22K words, rated NC-17.
Fandom: EXO; Ship: KaiSoo
Recced by: hastyteenflick
Backstory: Kaisoo (Do Kyungsoo/Kim Jongin) is one of the most popular and beloved ships in EXO, a nine-member K-pop group. “Arbitrage” is well-known in the fandom, featuring the original 12-member lineup (EXO-K and EXO-M) in a time travel/racing!AU. Two racecar drivers find themselves leaping through time after every fatal car crash—reckless Kai jumps forward into the future while straight-laced Soo loops backward in time.
Rec: Lots of cars, lots of action, à la The Fast and The Furious. The time loop narrative can sometimes be challenging but the build-up of the romance between KaiSoo is worth it.
“Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Invisibling Thing, or Four Time Jack Carter Met The Doctor And One Time He Didn’t” by galaxysoup. 4K words, rated Gen.
Fandoms: Eureka (TV)/Doctor Who crossover; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Kay
Backstory: A charming five times fic chronicling the interactions between Eureka’s everyman sheriff, Jack Carter, and the impossible wonder that is the Doctor.
Rec: This gen fic is a perfect mix of poignant and hilarious, with nods to various Eureka and DW storylines in each scene. Jack’s reactions to a time traveling alien (not to mention a rather handsy Captain Jack) appearing in Eureka are flawless.
“go ahead and move along” by originally. 8.5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Check, Please! Ship: Jack Zimmerman and Kent Parson, but they aren’t actually together
Recced by: Rhyolight/Passeriform
Backstory: Based on a webcomic about an NCAA hockey team. Parse is not part of the team or at college; in the comic, he’s part of protagonist Jack’s past.
Rec: It’s a beautiful riff on the movie Groundhog Day in the Check Please universe, and by the end Kent is much less of a complete mess. And it’s hopeful and funny.
FINAL THOUGHT
What’s that? Your favorite trope isn’t doing as well as you thought? HAVE YOU FILLED OUT THE TROPES SURVEY? (insert hackneyed metaphor about “your vote counting”). The Fansplaining tropes survey closes at the end of this weekend! With just shy of 7,000 respondents so far, we’re very pleased with the response, but of course we’d love a big final push before we shut it down and start the ~analysis~. Go! Take it! Share it with your friends! (please) :-D — Elizabeth
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)