The Rec Center #491
Hello all! This week we have articles about a K-pop fandom art exhibit, the CIA running a Star Wars fansite, and an influential Instagram news account that started out in One Direction fandom. Also, some cute Twin Peaks fanart, multifandom slow burn fic recs, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“I Came to Ruin You: The Collecting Practices of K-Pop Fandoms” by Rea McNamara and Bo Shin at Fansplaining
Fansplaining’s latest piece is a virtual art exhibit of sorts: a tour through a recent exhibition that featured K-pop fans’ collections and artists’s K-pop related work. Including images, videos, snippets of interviews with participants, and, as always, an audio version of the text!
“The Impact Instagram Account Was Started By Gen Z, for Gen Z. Here’s How It Became a Crucial Source for News.” by Steffi Cao at Teen Vogue
An interesting piece about the founders of a popular Instagram media platform who got their start online running 1D accounts—and used the skills they developed there to pivot to sharing political news.
“The CIA Secretly Ran a Star Wars Fan Site” by Joseph Cox at 404 Media
Speaking of internet fandom and IRL politics…did you know the CIA ran a site called starwarsweb.net? (lol check out the redirect on that now…)
Can't think of a single time the MGM lion advanced the plot of the movie in any way. Just needless jump scare
— josh (oldfriend99) (@oldfriend99.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 3:03 PM
older stuff
“How a TV Show Brought New Fans (and Furniture) to Emily Dickinson’s House” by Elizabeth at Atlas Obscura
When the Apple TV+ show Dickinson wrapped up, some of the props and furniture built and sourced for the show were gifted to the Dickinson Homestead. Now, new fan-tourists are the latest in more than a century of Emily “pilgrims” coming to see where the poet lived and worked.
tumblr & beyond
Twin Peaks fanart by jellycreature
“sending fandom memes to friends despite not being part of the fandom.”
unique star wars media experience
pouring one out for the canon calendar completists, no one is forcing you to do this but you gotta do it anyway.
an innovative pyramid head cosplay.
“i come from the 8tracks generation where you weren't allowed to just dump three and a half twee indie folk/tswift records into a fanmix and call it done.”
fanfiction
We recently had an h/c list, one of our two most popular submission themes. This week, we’ve got the other one: slow burn. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“Not Quite Shining” by senseoftheday. 67K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Series - Tamsyn Muir; Ship: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus
Recced by: Alana
Backstory: AU where Gideon is a popular knight at the Ren Faire and Harrow sells bone jewelry. They have been in a will they/won’t they for so long everyone around them is going to lose their goddamn minds.
Rec: Perfect romcom fic. Brilliant premise brilliantly executed, and so fun if you love the Ren Faire.
Content warnings: Grant Applications
“All Our Stars Aligned (Put Love On Hold)” by xaritomene, xrysomou. 133K words, rated Explicit.
Fandoms: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is…, Cobra Starship, My Chemical Romance; Ship: Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz
Recced by: joethecat
Backstory: The main characters are from the popular band Fall Out Boy, Patrick and Pete have gained an audience because of their deep friendship and Pete’s obvious adoration of the other man. Due to real life relationships, other bands also make appearances, although knowledge of them isn’t needed to enjoy the fic.
Rec: The very best kind of regency AU is that without period typical homophobia, and this fic delivers with all the good stuff a reader would enjoy from the trope. Slow burn and period typical attitude makes for an almost comedic but ultimately romantic story.
Content warnings: Depression and mental health issues
“Switch” by Ceres_Libera. 231K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Star Trek (2009 movie); Ship: Kirk/McCoy
Recced by: B
Backstory: This story focuses on the relationship between Kirk and McCoy while they’re still at Starfleet Academy (so the events in the story happen largely before the 2009 movie and lead into it).
Rec: I like the way this story expands on the reboot and explores who McCoy would’ve been in this different Star Trek universe. It’s interesting to get an outside perspective of Kirk, too, especially since they’re both still learning and growing as their relationship develops.
Content warnings: Past abuse, mentions of genocide (Tarsus IV), mentions of rape, death of family members, eating disorders
“I Never Saw You Coming” by saltea_n_n. 83K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Parent Trap (1998); Ship: Chessy/Meredith Blake
Recced by: twtd11
Backstory: Hallie and Annie are twins separated at birth. They’re trying to get their parents, Nick and Liz, back together. Meredith is the evil fiancé keeping their parents apart and Chessy is Hallie’s nanny/housekeeper. The fic is about what would happen if Meredith was deeply closeted and Chessy was skeptical of Meredith’s relationship with Nick because she was attracted to her.
Rec: This fic is about a very rare pair in a fandom that doesn’t have many fics to begin with. It’s a slow burn, enemies to lovers fic that really fleshes out the fairly one-dimensional characters and gives them inner lives and vulnerabilities that really work within the confines of the movie.
Content warnings: Homophobia
“Sansûkh” by Determamfidd. 557K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings; Ship: Thorin Oakenshield/Bilbo Baggins
Recced by: Yukinojou
Backstory: Thorin wakes in the Halls of Mahal in Valinor. He cannot go back to Middle Earth to see what happens to his companions... except in spirit. And then the entirety of LOTR happens.
Rec: You’re looking for epic 400K+ fics and between the world building (whole separate dwarf cultures), the slowest of slow burns and the scale—this is LOTR with extra POVs that give us the detailed siege of Erebor among others, a cast in the hundreds—it really doesn’t get much more epic. Finished, the author nailed the landing and wrote Actual Good Songs for it.
Content warnings: Major character death
And a vid!
“[VID] The Black Parade: An Untamed VId Album” by helcinda. 49:10, rated Gen.
Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV); Ship: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Yes, it is about Wangxian but that’s not all it is about because somehow this video captures the essence of The Untamed and its characters. It does justice to the story.
Rec: I think it’s amazing the way the two medias have been brought together and transformed. Watching this made me re-experience the joy, delight, pain and sorrow of The Untamed. It’s just fantastic editing AND GREAT STORY-TELLING.
Content warnings: N/A
don’t let fandom discourse distract you from sexualizing and fetishizing your favorite character
— akisguns archives (@akisgunsarchives.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 4:31 PM
FINAL THOUGHT
As May wraps up, we’re looking ahead to June, and as we’ve done in years past, we’d like to run at least a few Pride-related lists with stories that are specifically about queer and trans themes, not just featuring queer characters like our 90% (at least? lol) slash submissions. Anything that falls under that umbrella is welcome, though a few things we tend to receive less of (and would like to see more of!):
- Trans/GNC characters
- Ace/aro characters
- Queer characters of color
- Queerplatonic relationships
Or any combination of the above, of course. Please send in your recs via our one-off submissions form, and be sure to give me a little guidance in the themes/tropes field, so I know to flag your rec for these lists! — Elizabeth