The Rec Center #49
A warm welcome to the new subscribers who joined us from Yuri on Ice fandom last week! We hope you stick around. :) Along with our usual selection of fandom news articles and criticism, this week we have Hermione/Draco recs from guest-reccer Amelia, and beautiful Avatar: The Last Airbender fanart, and more. — Gav
new stuff
“Full Body Reading” by Anna Wilson at Aeon
“How a medieval mystic was the first creator of fanfiction.” A beautiful essay about pushing past false divides between the “literary” and the personal.
“How Harry Potter Shaped Modern Internet Fandom” by Kayti Burt at Den of Geek
“For many, the true magic of the Potterverse lies not in its prose, but in the model of internet fandom it helped nurture.”
“Pole dancers discuss the ending sequence of Yuri on Ice episode 10” by Eric Stimson at animenewsnetwork
An EXPERT ANALYSIS of the pole dancing scenes in everyone’s favorite sports anime, v. important. (Here’s our Yuri on Ice fandom primer and fic recs from last week BTW, in case you missed it!)
On the off-chance you haven’t seen this yet, click through to read a heart-wrenching story from a comic book store employee encountering a young, queer Supergirl fan. A textbook example of why positive media representation can help save lives:
old(er) stuff
“Star Wars (and 2015) showed us worlds of possibilities. May the force be with us” by Daniel José Older at The Guardian
As ~certain groups~ make similar noise to last December re: Star Wars boycotts, a look back at how revelatory the diverse cast was this time last year. (Trying hard not to despair about the “promise of 2015” elements here, in light of the 2016 we’ve had…)
tumblr & beyond
BRB in love with this modern-era Avatar: The Last Airbender fanart by tasiams.
The official Terry Pratchett Facebook page has been getting (characteristically, we might add) lowkey political since the election, and it’s pretty great.
An important thread about JKR’s depiction of Asian women in this year’s HP franchise works.
#DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON MINAS TIRITH’S POOR ARCHIVAL STANDARDS
Gav had Some Thoughts on the amazing plot twist in this week’s Yuri on Ice episode. Namely, the fact that Victor and Yuuri have singlehandedly been fueling the figure skating community’s gossip mill for a year, and Yuuri doesn’t even know it??
fanfiction
Amelia reads a lot of fanfiction. She makes works at a Big Name Tech Retail Store with a lot of fellow Harry Potter lovers, but either no one reads fanfiction (shocking) or no one owns up to it (sad). Amelia is a Slytherin, married to a Gryffindor, and has two cats. She likes words, but has a hard time finding the right ones. She likes making lists and sometimes even making lists about lists (so ~meta~). You can find her on the interwebs at @themeels.
I Love (with a Capital “L”) Draco Malfoy. He’s one of those characters that I wish had gotten a redemption arc in his canon, but didn’t. In Harry Potter canon, he seems to grow up to be a less-horrible version of his dad, and while those Malfoy Family Feels get me in the gut, I think he deserved better. There are a lot of versions of Draco in fanfic, but my favourite version is always Draco Malfoy Grows Up To Realise His Family Isn’t Always Right About Everything And Tries To Find A Better Way Than He Was Taught. He’s a lot like Hermione Granger (hear me out): both smart (top of their class), headstrong, opinionated and utterly devoted to and defensive of those they love, even when those they love are in the wrong. They’re like Pride and Prejudice for the Wizard set. They’re delightful. Enjoy! — Amelia
“Facing Eastward” by phlox. 15K words, rated Mature.
Remix of Eowyn/Faramir from the Lord of the Rings, AU from the Battle of Hogwarts on. Draco and Hermione stay hidden at 12 Grimmauld Place while the war rages on. They get a bit resentful, but find solace in each other.
“Isolation” by bex-chan. 278K words, rated Mature.
AU of Deathly Hallows. Hermione is Head Girl, Draco is in hiding at Hogwarts, and Headmistress McGonagall puts Hermione in charge of him. He hates it. Until he doesn’t.
“The Fallout” by everythursday. 310K words, rated Mature.
Very long but worth it, seriously so good (dramione.org registered users only). Lots of violence (including torture), psychological trauma, and secondary character deaths. AU of the Second Wizarding War which makes it seem more like a…war. Battles and safe houses and everyone is hooking up and just trying to stay sane as the war drags on and on and on.
“Epiphany” by phlox. 25K words, rated Mature.
Hogwarts Professors, mystery. I love when they are Hogwarts professors and I love anything by phlox and I love mysteries, so obvs this did not disappoint. It also features *Department of Mysteries* intrigues and ~researching~, so those are bonuses. Also I know this makes 2 fics by phlox in a 6 fic list, but it was almost 3 in 7, so you’re welcome. ^_^
“Missed Connections” by unseenlibrarian. 8K words, rated Teen.
Harry Potter POV, FLUFF and ADORABLE. Missed connections in the Daily Prophet and Harry is rolling his eyes at his friends like SUCH HARD EYEROLLS. Look. You Guys. Just read this fic. I promise you won’t be disappointed. I’ve read it at least 10 times.
“The Politician’s Wife” by pir8fancier. 66K words, rated Mature.
Mature humans come together. TW: Infidelity. Everyone works for the Ministry and no one is really happy. H/t @lele_calhoun for reccing this to me years ago.
... Aaaand, here’s a one-off Yuri on Ice rec from Gav!
“the warmest part of winter” written by dadvans with illustrations by wortwood. 8K words, rated Mature.
Taking place a couple of years after the show, this wonderful multimedia fic follows Victor and Yuuri in the days leading up to their wedding. The illustrations take the form of a wedding Instagram account (plus other multimedia inserts) and I love the combination of realistic social media posts and wortwood’s more stylized illustration style. Highly recommend this v. romantic and well-characterized fic.
FINAL THOUGHT
Sorry to use up all FINAL THOUGHTS for the past few weeks on this call for holidayish fanfic but…! Last call for and end-of-year seasonal list (which I might split into two): if you have any fics around specific holidays, wintery stuff, etc, please send them along! Email us, or use our form. We’ve gotten a lot of Christmas and Hannukah fics, so secular ones are also encouraged! Or New Year’s Eve? I’m sure there are a few NYE fics out there. :-) — Elizabeth
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