January 19, 2024

The Rec Center #420

Hello everyone! This week we have articles about multiverses and The Sopranos, some lovely Percy Jackson fanart, and a multifandom grab-bag of fic. — Elizabeth

new stuff

“The End of the Multiverse” by Jonathan Russell Clark at Esquire
An interesting deep dive into the multiverse concept, from its appeal to writers and audiences (including, of course, a lot of fanfiction people!) to the way corporate IP cash grabs have totally sucked the life out of it in recent years.

“‘The Taylor Swift Season’: How Football Writers Made Peace With Covering Travis Kelce’s Love Life” by Tom Kludt at Vanity Fair
“Journalists, like pop stars, have to play the hits sometimes too.” On the sports journalists who suddenly had to cover pop culture when fandoms collided this past fall.

“I toured ‘The Sopranos’’ New Jersey. From the Bada Bing to the parking lot that used to be Satriale’s, here’s what I saw.” by Kelsey Weekman at Yahoo
“We don’t get to see the stately mansion Tony comes home to at the end of the opening credits. According to the tour guide, it’s in a private community and the homeowners were getting annoyed by fans who would show up in their bathrobes to pretend to pick up a paper at the end of the driveway.”

older stuff

“Cameo to the Moon, and Back” by Erin Griffith and Sapna Maheshwari at The New York Times
“A start-up that offers fans a way to buy personalized videos from celebrities was supercharged by pandemic boredom and venture capital. All it had to do was grow forever.”

tumblr & beyond

Percy Jackson fanart by luskbook

striking back against an overrepresented ship... kind of??

“Detectives ranked by their ability to bag Light in the Kira Case.”

“Studying history in the Temeraire universe must get really strange once dragons are recognized as historical figures in their own right.”

this one for people who are deep in the mines of hockey lore.

just one of the 50,000 reasons why Star Trek IV rules.

imagining his tearful three-hour apology videos.

fanfiction

Just a grab-bag this week! Thanks so everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth

“As You Like It” by cosmicmilktea. 8.8K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Untamed; Ship: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Recced by: deadlydelicious
Backstory: Post-canon, after someone asks Wèi Wúxiàn what Lán Wàngjī’s favorite snack is, he realized that not only does he not know, but maybe Lán Wàngjī doesn’t know himself. He sets off on a mission to discover Lán Wàngjī’s favorites.
Rec: This is such a sweet sincere little fic that explores a particular angle of how you can show love and care for a person—by helping them to discover themselves.
Content warnings: N/A

“Ere” by audreycritter. 35K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Queen’s Thief - Megan Whalen Turner; Ship: Gen, with a focus on the platonic relationship between Costis and Eugenides
Recced by: ChimaeraKitten
Backstory: The Queen’s Thief series is a YA political fantasy set in alternate universe sort-of Greece in the 15th-ish century. It has different narrators for each book but overall follows the story of Eugenides the thief as he steals increasingly impossible things like peace, time, and loyalty.
Rec: I’ve been hungry for some Costis & Gen-centric fic ever since I finished reading The King of Attolia, and this delivers that in the most amazing way. The writing is amazing and the characterization is on point, expertly weaving in the deep symbolism and distant hand of the gods present in the series.
Content warnings: Poison, violence, vomiting, more in the fic’s tags

“sunrise supplications” by liadan14. 12K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: This is a modern, no-powers AU that puts a smart and thoughtful spin on the characters’ canonical meeting on opposite sides of a religious war.
Rec: This story ropes me in anew with every reread. The characterization and progression of plot are so sharp and fully realized, and the author makes some genuinely good topical points along the way.
Content warnings: Alcohol, religion

“Let The River Run” by astolat. 62K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Game of Thrones; Ship: Robb Stark/Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Recced by: anon
Backstory: “The deep satisfaction of having made the right choice; of having found a clear-flowing wellspring of true honor to protect.” In this AU, astolat explores what would happen and what would change if Brienne had been present at the Red Wedding.
Rec: Astolat changes a couple of crucial things right at the beginning of the GoT story, and as always it is fascinating to see how she weaves this new story after these story-changing modifications. Everyone is beautifully in character, and although the main relationship in the fic is the ot3, the focus to me seems to be the character development and the overall plot of GoT.
Content warnings: Violence

“stuck between history and tomorrow” by rain_sleet_snow. 18K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Star Wars, The Mandalorian; Ship: Cara Dune/Omera, mostly gen
Recced by: Robinade
Backstory: The Mandalorian is about a soft-spoken bounty hunter trying to find a home for the baby Jedi he rescued. The end of season 2 has him successfully pass off the kid to Luke Skywalker, but he is INCREDIBLY sad about it. This story takes place immediately after, from the point of view of his friend, Cara Dune. She decides they need to visit an old friend for emotional support.
Rec: For a story that starts off sad and with such concern for a friend’s mental well-being, it is surprisingly hilarious. Omera, who only showed up in one episode in the first season, now gets an interesting backstory and a connection to the clones! Bo-Karan gets bit by a lot of mosquitoes!
Content warnings: Grief, a passing concern that a friend might be suicidal, canon prejudice against clones

“Left” by lifeonmars. 45K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC); Ship: John Watson/Sherlock Homes
Recced by: anon
Backstory: An AU where John is left handed, and left handed people are second class citizens because they lack a “knack”. The events of season 1 are retold through this lens.
Rec: Probably already been recced because it is THAT GOOD, some of the best writing I’ve ever read and the most complex but thoroughly clever and complete world building and plot. Better than many published books I have read.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence

And a vid!

“jamie tartt | seventeen going under” by froggy jackpack. 4:51, Not Rated.
Fandom: Ted Lasso; song is "Seventeen Going Under" by Sam Fender; Ship: Gen
Recced by: mischiefseven
Backstory: Jamie is a star football player who begins the series as a selfish jerk, and undergoes some of the most dramatic and well-done character development on the show.
Rec: I can’t uncouple the song from this vid in my brain, it’s so perfect for Jaime. And bonus points to the vidder for subtitling both the lyrics and the dialogue used.
Content warnings: N/A

FINAL THOUGHT

That’s all, folks! Have a great weekend! — Gav