The Rec Center #415
Hello everyone! This week we have pieces on Taylor Swift, Studio Ghibli, and Gav’s coverage of Scavengers Reign, plus Dracula fanart and the first ultra-long batch of holiday-season fic. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Taylor Swift, QAnon, and the Political Weaponization of Fandom” by Angela Watercutter at WIRED
Fresh off TIME naming Taylor Swift their person of the year, an interesting piece with a lot of analysis from academics about the intersections of pop culture fandom and right-wing political movements.
“Let’s Take a Journey Through the Secret Queer History of Studio Ghibli Films” by David Opie at Indiewire
With Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film The Boy and the Heron now out in the US, this piece examines the queer subtext (and resulting queer fanbase) of Studio Ghibli movies.
“Scavengers Reign Is the Best Sci-Fi Show You Didn’t Watch in 2023” by Gav at TV Guide
An enthusiastic recommendation for an animated show that deserves a bigger audience. Part survival thriller, part fantastical travelogue, Scavengers Reign follows a group of humans who crash land on an alien planet full of fascinatingly weird wildlife. Its gorgeous visual worldbuilding is like nothing else on TV. (And for certain corners of the Tumblr crowd, it also features an intriguing robot/human relationship...)
Dr. Who is the most frightening show of all time. It's about an unbelievably ancient and powerful alien vigilante whose favourite people in the entire universe are the British.
— Haus of Decline (@hausofdecline) December 9, 2023
older stuff
“On Celebrity Deaths, Fandom Friends, and How to Grieve Online” by Stitch at Teen Vogue
“While there’s a physical distance between us and that loss, the grief burns brighter every time we look at the shared fandom object and are reminded of who we’ve lost.”
tumblr & beyond
Dracula fanart by duckytree
david tennant: there’s no escape.
solving the ultimate Star Trek vs Star Wars debate.
“"Mom’s gay friend from her thirties had a mental breakdown so he’s going to live in our backyard for awhile...”
An absolutely incredible pitch for a House, MD episode.
fanfiction
When we first asked for holiday fics, we got…one. When I asked again last week, we got SO MANY. Too many to even fit in two very long lists! Here is the first; next week, we’ll run the second. Thank you so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Hallmark-Adjacent” by Moorishflower. 26K words, rated Explicit.
Fandoms: The Sandman (Comics), The Sandman (TV 2022); Ship: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling
Recced by: vargs
Backstory: Dream of the Endless is the depressed, workaholic, anthropomorphic personification of dreams and is in grave need of friends, as his sister Death might say. Hob Gadling is the man who, in 1489, happened to boast about deciding not to die within hearing of the aforementioned beings. The two of them meet in a pub once every 100 years—one eldritch being, tired of life, and one immortal human, who can’t get enough of living.
Rec: This is a modern human AU where two sad, single fathers meet on a train on December 22nd and bond over their broken hearts. Be warned that it is ‘adjacent,’ so as the summary and tags indicate, there is complex darkness that lurks underneath, but this is spicy, sweet, and a little insane like love stories can be.
Content warnings: Suicidal thoughts, mention of past miscarriage, cheating (not between main pair)
“Consecration” by fox1013. 3K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Firefly; Ship: Gen
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: Firefly was a short-lived but beloved TV show about a group of petty criminals/found family trying to survive traversing an often hostile postwar galaxy. This story takes place vaguely during or after the series and does not take any of the events leading up to or during the movie follow-up into account.
Rec: This is probably the most gorgeous Chanukah fic I’ve ever read, and it doesn’t mention the holiday or a single element thereof explicitly once. Yet its purpose is deliberate and clear, and even now after innumerable rereads I find new surprises in how thoughtful the author was in crafting it.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Home For The Holidays Job” by aurora_atalanta. 62K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Leverage; Ship: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Recced by: Grace
Backstory: “Eliot posts a Craigslist ad so he can have a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal, and ends up with so, so much more.”
Rec: Very sweet, confused Eliot shocked about why anyone cares less for his food than they do him. This continues past Thanksgiving and into other holidays.
Content warnings: N/A
“Between Snow Storms and Mulled Wine (something precious started to bloom)” by Nemo_Nihilo. 14K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: 방탄소년단| Bangtan Boys | BTS; Ship: Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Singer!Seokjin and Manager!Namjoon find themselves snowed in together in a cabin. It’s a full on “they have to huddle for warmth and realize things!” fic with “all the lovely trope-y things about snow.”
Rec: Despite the cold setting this is my go-to story for those warm and comfy feelings. The build up of feelings is soft and tender, with just the right amount of a little angsty sprinkle for seasoning. (Plus, this is a winter story, yes, but it is not at all Christmas-focused.)
Content warnings: Alcohol consumption
“our place in the family of things” by greywash, yourtinseltinkerbell. 209K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Magicians (TV); Ship: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Recced by: annaslastdalliance
Backstory: Quentin and Eliot are two magicians in the modern day U.S. This story assumes they’re in a long-distance relationship, and Quentin is coming to stay with Eliot for the holidays. Then Eliot’s estranged Jewish mother shows up.
Rec: This is not really slice-of-life so much as huge serving of cake. Great OCs, character backstories, and magic system building. To top it all off, it’s also unbelievably sexy and does justice to Margo & Eliot’s all-important relationship.
Content warnings: Disturbing content
“the happiest season on repeat” by beezyland. 21K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Happiest Season (2020); Ship: Abby Holland/Riley Johnson
Recced by: queersintherain
Backstory: Happiest Season is an f/f Christmas romcom where girlfriends Abby and Harper travel to meet Harper’s kind of conservative family for Christmas... and Harper doesn’t tell them she’s gay or dating Abby. Shenanigans ensue, feelings are hurt, Abby’s especially, all is magically forgiven at the end.
Rec: This is a fantastic timeloop story set through the last day of the movie that explores... maybe Harper apologizing to Abby after all of the ways she hurt her didn’t really fix everything. It includes amazing friendship with Harper’s nerdy sister Jane, and queer friendship to something more between Abby and Riley (the girl who Harper outed to the whole school when they were teens).
Content warnings: N/A
“A Walk in the Snow by Princess of Geeks. 8K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Stargate SG-1; Ship: Daniel Jackson/Jack O’Neill
Recced by: Emgeetrek
Backstory: Daniel lies about leaving town for Christmas. In two chance meetings at the park, Jack finds out why, and one thing leads to another.
Rec: It’s such a warm, and easy, and gentle story, full of holiday references that don’t seem at all cliched or contrived.
Content warnings: N/A
“make your own fun” by Sixthlight. 1.5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Recced by: Miera
Backstory: Joe and Nicky are a pairing that is immortal, met on the opposite side of a war, and has been going strong for nearly 1000 years. This is an AU where they work for the same company and are equally avoiding Christmas for different reasons.
Rec: An extremely relatable tale of being pressured into holiday cheer and enjoying the day despite everything.
Content warnings: N/A
“It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Arson” by bittercape. 4.9K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Avengers; Ship: Gen
Recced by: anon
Backstory: In the Swedish town of Gävle, a traditional Yule goat statue is built out of hay every year, and (almost) every year it is subjected to arson attacks of varying degrees of success (honestly, even if you don’t read the fic, treat yourself to the Wikipedia entry). In this fun seasonal treat, bittercape reimagines the events leading up to some of the more notable attempts to burn the goat down.
Rec: This is about as far from a traditional Christmas fic as you can get. Anything tagged ‘seasonal arson’ will always grab my attention, and this lives up to that promise delightfully.
Content warnings: Arson
Plus we got two recs for this fic, so as we’ve done in the past, we’ve combined them:
“The Grinch Who Sold Christmas” by darcylindbergh. 61K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Good Omens; Ships: Aziraphale/Crowley, Anathema Device/Newton Pulsifer
Recced by: anon and BeatriceBabe
Backstory: BeatriceBabe writes: Good Omens is a series about hereditary enemies, an angel and a demon, learning to be a bit of a bastard and a bit of a good person, respectively. Now take that, but now Crowley is a lawyer trying to close on a property before Christmas, and Aziraphale is one of the businessowners who would be affected. A little personal growth, a little healing from family trauma, you know, the usual.
Rec: Anon writes: This is a cozy, holiday-movie vibes story that also has emotional depth. It does a good job of reframing Crowley and Aziraphale’s central internal and external conflicts in the Hallmark movie setup and works through them in a satisfying way.
BeatriceBabe writes: It’s just a delightful Hallmark movie of a Christmas fic, blended with the plot of Good Omens Season 1. The translation from source material to players for the premise is seamless, and a joy to read.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Black Sails is reportedly coming to US Netflix in January! As a longtime Black Sails obsessive—and professional TV critic—I just want to make it clear that I’m *very available* to write about this brilliant show. Over the past few years its cult following has continued to grow, and I won’t be surprised if Netflix leads to a boom in word-of-mouth attention.
If any editors want to commission me for Black Sails-related coverage, please get in touch at g.baker.whitelaw at gmail dot com! The same goes for podcast guest spots.
And to everyone else: Have a relaxing weekend! — Gav