The Rec Center #446
Hello everyone! This week we have articles on GRRM’s failure to fill out forms, Hollywood sequels, and the Neil Gaiman sexual assault allegations. Plus some beautiful Acolyte fanart, and multifandom time-travel fic recs. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“‘Game of Thrones’ George RR Martin falls foul of Glasgow sci-fi event’s strict rules” by Libby Brooks at The Guardian
GRRM won’t be on any Worldcon panels this year due to the convention’s “rigid—though admirably egalitarian” online application process, which he attempted to sidestep. Phew! (In his defense, we can understand why a 71-year-old megastar might not want to navigate all 300 pages of Worldcon’s janky application platform.)
“Can Hollywood Sequel Its Way to Box Office Success?” by Ben Lindbergh and Rob Arthur at The Ringer
Reporting and analysis (with data and graphs!) from the sodden mess that is Hollywood’s all-franchises-all-the-time landscape.
“Manufacturing consent” by Annabel Ross at The Politics of Dancing
For those who aren’t yet aware, Neil Gaiman was accused of sexual assault and misconduct by two young women earlier this month. This blog covers the allegations themselves (which are disturbing), while acknowledging the problematic nature of the original platform, a true crime podcast with ties to the British TERF movement. We're still hoping to see some further coverage from mainstream media outlets, because this story deserves more traction and there may well be other victims who want to come forward.
star wars is fundamentally about someone holding a lightsaber and having the worst time of their life
— Para II (@ParacelsusII) July 17, 2024
older stuff
“‘Terror Camp’ Could Be a Glimpse of the Future of Fandom and Scholarship” by Elizabeth at Atlas Obscura
Earlier this year, Elizabeth reported on Terror Camp, a multi-disciplinary fan-academic conference about AMC’s The Terror and all things polar studies. With deadlines for presentations at this year’s Terror Camp approaching, we wanted to share the article again in case any Terror/polar fans missed it the first time!
tumblr & beyond
The Acolyte fanart by chrollc
“In early agrarian cultures the ‘riverdale blogger’ was a sort of seer/jester figure”
this fanfic was written on a what??
“it’s funny how wildly vampire media varies on how much blood drinking is lethal.”
ACAB includes the x-files.
“Who wants to read some Sherlock Holmes self insert fanfic written by a 7th grader in 1903?”
The costume and production designers for IWTV have been sharing some fascinating behind-the-scenes insights on Insta!
Tumblr users: make sure to reblog to support Eric Bogosian’s Hot Girl Summer.
fanfiction
Time travel fics! Always a fan favorite. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“we’ve only got this hundred years” by stiction. 5K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Life is Strange; Ship: Max Caulfield/Chloe Price
Recced by: Petra
Backstory: Life is Strange is a video game where Max discovers she can rewind time, reunites with childhood friend Chloe, and (potentially) destroys her town. This is a 5+1 type of oneshot where Max rewinds time to preserve her friendship with Chloe, and one time she doesn’t.
Rec: It’s short, but the snapshots of time feel so real and it packs such an emotional punch that I just find myself coming back to it for comfort. Both Max and Chloe are rendered wonderfully and it goes super well with the atmosphere of the game.
Content warnings: Recreational drug use, canon-typical violence
“and the fourth flies” by grit. 24K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Naruto; Ship: Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Kushina
Recced by: Mysana
Backstory: Sakura Haruno is reborn in the past as infamous hero and hokage, Minato Namikaze, Naruto’s dad... but she’s not a hero or a man.
Rec: It’s a kind of trippy time-travel/reincarnation deal, and I love how it presents Kushina and Sakura. While in the real world, no one has to deal with this particular situation, the expectations and guilt feels accurate to my trans experience.
Content warnings: Self-harm, suicide attempt, body horror, body dysphoria
“like heaven stood you up” by napricot. 9K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame; Ships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers
Recced by: fictionality
Backstory: Steve puts the stones back eventually, but not before performing a reverse time-heist.
Rec: A perfect fix-it for Steve and his closest relationships (romantic and otherwise). This is exactly how I wished the movie would have ended!
Content warnings: N/A
“Keep me” by velithya. 18K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Guardian (D-drama); Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Recced by: Dori
Backstory: Zhao Yunlan is an omega pretending to be an alpha. Shen Wei is an alpha pretending to be a beta.
Rec: GENDER POLITICS ARE FUN, and it does a decent job of making sense of the time loop mess of the web drama.
Content warnings: N/A
“reprise” by elfpen. 95K words (overall series at 550K+ words), rated Teen.
Fandom: Star Wars; Ship: Gen (Minor background OFC/Cody and eventual Anakin/Padme)
Recced by: kiera
Backstory: “Ben Kenobi dies aboard the Death Star in the year 0 BBY. He wakes up shortly thereafter in the Jedi temple in the year 41 BBY. Haunted by memories and regret, Ben must forge a new path for himself in the Jedi Order of his youth while navigating the murky waters of time travel. Crafting a better future from bitter experience is hard, but learning to heal is even harder.”
Rec: Canon-divergent AU. The character writing, the complex overarching plot, and the setting are so compelling and well done. I’ve read this series about four times now.
Content warnings: Angst, violence (canon typical), character death
“Arbitrage” by fumerie. 20K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: EXO; Ship: Kai/Kyungsoo
Recced by: Min
Backstory: Kyungsoo is a new recruit for race crew EXO. He’s a wildcard, a time hopper, an unexpected variable. Someone who was never supposed to be there, someone who keeps crashing his car because maybe then, he’ll be able to change what’s already happened. But the final revision is what counts.
Rec: Super emotion-packed for such a short story; brevity truly is the soul of wit. I have cried more times than I would like to admit over this fic, but what can I say? Time travel truly is my kryptonite.
Content warnings: Major character death and some minor depictions of violence
I have concerns about Yoda's age and his ability to lead the Jedi Order.
— Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) July 17, 2024
FINAL THOUGHT
The latest ep of my podcast Overinvested is an in-depth review of IWTV season 2, joined by longtime Vampire Chronicles fan Claire Biddles! And for those who enjoy my costume design analysis, I’ve also been writing more about IWTV’s costumes over on Tumblr.
Have a relaxing weekend, everyone! — Gav