The Rec Center #42
This week we’re reccing fic on a political theme, in the hopes it will provide a nice distraction from US election coverage, rather than... exacerbating the problem. Optimistic political AUs! Hamilton fic! And if that’s not your bag, we also have a lot of music. — Gav
new stuff
“New 'Iron Man' cover criticized for sexualizing its underage hero” by Gav at The Daily Dot
In a classic “one step forward, two steps back” move, Marvel (kind of) rebooted Iron Man as a black 15-year-old girl, then screwed up almost immediately by announcing a variant cover that was widely criticized for a variety of reasons described in this article.
The artist responded with aplomb by calling his critics “SJWs” (lol), and then Marvel pulled the cover, but not before inspiring a deluge of frustration from comics fans on Twitter.
“Who does Marvel care about?” by Jennifer de Guzman at Women Write About Comics
Another look at what went wrong with the Invincible Iron Man variant cover.
“Celebrating the female geek at GeekGirlCon: An interview with co-founder Jennifer K. Stuller” by Lisa Granshaw at Blastr
On the origins of Seattle’s GeekGirlCon, which has grown to around 10,000 attendees over the past five years.
old(er) stuff
The Hunger Games movies include one of the most powerful musical cues I've ever seen, but "The Hanging Tree" isn't the only song created for the franchise. Each of the movies got its own concept album, and this week I found out they’re all on Spotify!!
For each soundtrack album, the studio recruited a long list of famous musicians (Grace Jones, CHVRCHES, Kid Cudi, Arcade Fire, Antony and the Johnsons... THE LIST IS SO IMPRESSIVE) to record songs inspired by the Hunger Games. These range from the main credits tracks from artists like Lorde and Taylor Swift, to moments of unexpected brilliance like Patti Smith’s “Capitol Letter,” which is literally a Katniss Everdeen fan song. You can find them all by searching “Hunger Games” on Spotify. — Gav
tumblr & beyond
“a lil roaring 20s Star Wars trio” by Becca Farrow
Luv this crackship thread (with art!?) about Tony the Tiger and the Grinch.
Check out this hilarious Twitter thread from a parody convention panel about ~how to write straight characters in YA.~
Gav is in love with this Hannibal fanvid set to “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush.
fanfiction
The rest of our politics-themed recs are for more traditional fanfics, but we thought we’d start by reminding you about “JEB!: An American Disappointment,” a truly stunning Hamilton parody that we recced back in April, but now feels like a relic from a bygone era because *so much shit has happened since then.* (Seriously though, JEB! Is a hilarious and impressively detailed masterpiece.) — Gav
“New Beautiful Things Come” by Raven. 18K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: X-Men prequel movies; Ship: Erik/Charles
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: This AU riffs on one of the central themes of the X-Men franchise, the mutant rights movement. The characters still have their mutant powers and identities, but Erik (Magneto) runs a kosher bakery and Charles Xavier is an academic.
Rec: My friend Morgan & I joke that between us, we’ve read every single X-Men AU written before 2014 or so. This is one of my favorites. It’s a fun romance story while also providing a thoughtful take on intersection activism, featuring Charles writing snippy letters to businesses that don’t provide wheelchair access, and a contemporary look at how the mutant rights movement might evolve in the present day.
“every day is a gift that's why they call it the present” by screamlet. 4.8K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Hamilton; Ships: Hamilton/Eliza, Hamilton/Angelica, Hamilton/Laurens, gen
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Modern political AU set in Washington, DC. The multiple pairings are lowkey and poly, not infidelity.
Rec: A hilarious look at Hamilton being an overworked genius asshole, told partly through text messages between the main characters.
“We Are Young (I’ll Carry You Home Tonight)” by Femme (femmequixotic). 69K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Harry/Draco
Recced by: Elizabeth
Backstory: This classic fic builds the Wizengamot into a parliamentary body (as opposed to...whatever it’s supposed to be in the books). Harry’s left the Ministry to run a legal reform organization, but Draco, his on-again-off-again friend-with-benefits, drags him back to Whitehall to help Kinglsey Shacklebolt, head of the Modern Wizarding Party, win the upcoming election.
Rec: If you read H/D you’ve almost definitely read this story, but maybe it’s time to read it again—if you’re like me, going *deep* into fictional politics is soothing when faced with real-world politics. The Harry/Draco elements are fantastic—all the frustrating slow burn you’d expect from on-again-off-again—but I personally love how deep this story goes, constructing a world and the ideologies that govern it. OH! And Blaise Zabini as Malcolm Tucker. I repeat: Blaise Zabini as Malcolm Tucker.
“Average Avengers Local Chapter 7 of New York City” by hetrez. 9K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Avengers; Ship: Steve/Tony
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: I love stories where Captain America ~gets political~ in the 21st century, and this one is an old favorite, with a lighthearted and charming tone.
Rec: Steve Rogers gets righteously indignant about non-union labor and accidentally starts a social movement. Tony Stark goes along for the ride.
“Eight Principles of Yong” by psocoptera. 3.7K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender; Ship: Mai/Zuko, gen
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Post-finale fic for ATLA. Do not read unless you’re OK with spoilers for the ending of the show!!
Rec: Zuko shapes the future of Fire Nation politics with his calligraphy skills.
Author rec: blamebrampton
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: mostly Harry/Draco
Recced by: Elizabeth
Rec: OK OK, I know, my only contribution to this list was to offer up a bunch of popular H/D stories (it’s not my fault the pairing seems to draw in ~politically-minded~ writers). But I couldn’t decide which one of blamebrampton’s approximately 17,000 politics-themed H/D stories to include, so I just wanted to rec the author themselves. They are probably my favorite writer in the pairing, and the stories run the full spectrum of politics-with-a-captial P, including:
“A Young Radical’s Guide to Love,” 66K words, rated Teen (elections + <333)
“Little Red Courgette,” 31K words, rated Teen (bureaucracy!!! + EU regulations, a++)
“All the Important Words Unspoken,” 73K words, rated Gen (Victorian AU, with an excellent Astoria Greengrass as a suffragette)
FINAL THOUGHT
Did you fill out Fansplaining’s tropes survey? The results are in! We’ve only put up some initial findings (and discussed them in our most recent episode) and ngl, the top yays and nays aren’t too surprising. The most controversial batch—the tropes with the closest yay:nay ratio—is a little more interesting to me:
We’ll be posting more results next week, things like favorite and least favorite AU scenarios, tonal preferences, and other themes. But in the meantime, Flourish and I are curating a list of favorite EXCEPTION fics. We had so many people say things like, “I usually hate [x] trope, but there’s this one fic…” We want to hear what that one fic is. Reply via The Rec Center, or reply to Fansplaining directly (tumblr/twitter/gmail). When we compile the list, we’ll be sure to share it here! — Elizabeth
FINAL FINAL THOUGHT
We’ve had a few Halloween-themed submissions via our one-off rec form, so if we get a few more, we’ll have enough to do a big list next week. Please send any you love along by replying to this email or using the form!
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)