December 8, 2023

The Rec Center #414

Hi all! This week we have articles about X-Files music and the James Somerton YouTube plagiarism scandal, along with Elizabeth’s first fan culture column at Atlas Obscura (!), some adorable Star Trek fanart, and multifandom AU fic recs. — Gav

new stuff

“Sentiment Albums Hold the Seeds of Modern Fandom” by Elizabeth at Atlas Obscura
Elizabeth is going to be writing a regular column on fans and fan cultures for Atlas Obscura, and this is the first installment! On sentiment albums—books in which young women compiled their favorite images, poems, etc and shared with friends. The Tumblrs of the 18th century!

“The Tune Is Out There: The Search for a Mysterious ‘X-Files’ Country Song” by David Browne at Rolling Stone
For the past 25 years, X-Files fans have been trying to identify a mysterious song played in the background of a certain episode. Thanks to a viral Twitter thread this week, we now have the answer.

“Please Stop Asking Me To Sue James Somerton” by Gita Jackson at Aftermath
SO. If you haven’t watched the pair of videos on queer-media-analysis YouTuber James Somerton’s flagrant plagiarism + many outright lies, here’s a basic explainer. This piece by one of the plagiarized journalists is a fantastic response, especially the part on cathartic versus strategic actions.

older stuff

“Sources for Somerton’s Plagiarism from Hbomberguy’s Video” by thetreetopinn SPEAKING OF ALL THAT FLAGRANT PLAGIARISM. Tumblr user thetreetopinn has put together an initial list of many of the articles and books James Somerton ripped off, most of which are about queer fandom/pop culture topics and thus are likely of interest to our readers. It also includes links to some of the queer YouTubers Hbomberguy recommends in his video!

tumblr & beyond

Star Trek fanart by okaylokii

“5 hours into me explaining the Silmarillion...”

pouring one out for those skeleton lesbians, whoever they are.

kudos to the tv show Supernatural on finding a new way to do sacrilege apparently.

“does ANYONE have the image of spock and his parents celebrating hanukkah”

“I feel like we’re almost in an era of like, reverse queerbaiting.”

fanfiction

Professors! Baseball players! Swans(?)! This week we have a variety of AUs—the “X is a Y” kind, not the canon-divergent kind. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth

“Black Swan” by Petronia. 10.8K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Hannibal; Ship: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Recced by: Orangistae
Backstory: AU in which Hannibal is a swan (yes, a literal waterfowl) and Will is a wildlife rescue worker dealing with a spate of grisly swan killings.
Rec: One of my fave examples of a cracky premise treated seriously, this fic weaves bird crime drama with fairytale-inspired magical realism in a way that’s fun, compelling, and surprisingly similar to the vibe of the show.
Content warnings: Animal violence, hints of (but no actual) bestiality

“Explaining is Losing” by Sixthlight. 12K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: This modern AU situates the main couple, who in canon met on opposite sides of a religious war, as professors and professional rivals at a London university. Sexy hijinks ensue.
Rec: The rhythm of this story delights me with every reread, thanks to the author’s perfect use of their framing device, as well as some great narration and dialogue. This is one of those stories that definitely changed me as a fan.
Content warnings: N/A

“I’d Swing With You for the Fences” by nontoxic. 87K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Schitt’s Creek; Ship: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Recced by: queuest
Backstory: Patrick is an MLB baseball player who posts soft covers of pop songs on the side. David Rose is a NY art gallery owner and occasional guest star on his sister’s reality TV show.
Rec: If you love a good celebrity AU, this is for you. It’s got all the tabloid speculation, paparazzi, coded social media posts, and internal struggle you could ask for, and it’s wonderfully written.
Content warnings: N/A

“For a Good Time, Call” by ScarlettStorm. 170K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Untamed; Ship: Lan Zhan/Wei Ying
Recced by: Nicole
Backstory: This is a modern AU from Lan Zhan’s point of view as he deals with being secretly in love with his best friend, Wei Ying—a situation which grows unmanageable when he stumbles on Wei Ying’s secret OnlyFans account. No knowledge of canon is needed!
Rec: This fic beautifully captures Lan Zhan’s struggles with anxiety, exploring the careful ways he tries to break from his rigid life while building a relationship with Wei Ying.
Content warnings: Panic attacks, outing someone as a sex worker

“Paris!Verse” by vesna (mrsronweasley). 71K words over 3 works, rated Explicit.
Fandom: My Chemical Romance; Ship: Frank Iero/Gerard Way
Recced by: Melissa
Backstory: An alternate universe fic where My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way is an artist who works in France and rhythm guitarist Frank Iero owns a record label in New Jersey. The two meet at the wedding of Gerard’s brother (who is also Frank’s employee) where a whirlwind romance ensues that brings Frank all the way to Paris.
Rec: Mrsronweasley has written some of the best bandom fic out there and this is my absolute favorite. It has some of the most stunning prose I’ve read in fanfiction and there’s something about two characters falling so hard for each other so quickly that they’re ready to travel across the globe to see each other just makes me feel some type of way.
Content warnings: Alcohol/drug addiction

“Hashtag Soulmates” by everwitch. 45K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston; Ship: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Recced by: Persephone_Jones
Backstory: Alex and Henry are co-workers; they are also fanfic writer and favorite commenter; hijinks ensue.
Rec: Beyond meta: An AU of what is basically already an AU, in which each chapter explores (exploits?) a different fanfic trope. Love the layers and the true-to-canon characters.
Content warnings: N/A

FINAL THOUGHT

So we solicited holiday fics in a few different issues in November and we received…one rec. It’s possible no one has any recs/wants to rec anything! But I wanted to mention it here in case there was a glitch in our form submission software—please let us know if you actually sent something in!

THAT BEING SAID, we are still hoping to do at least one holiday list this month. As always, we strongly encourage recs that aren’t about Christmas (though as I just mentioned, we also got basically zero Christmas stories also, so…we’ll take em lol). You can use this form—which I’m still assuming works until I officially hear otherwise—or of course always send in multiple recs to elizabethandgav at gmail. — Elizabeth