The Rec Center #499
Hello all! This week we have articles about videogame censorship, the legalities of cosplay, and the controversy surrounding Harry Potter-inspired romance novels. Also some beautiful Baldur’s Gate fanart, a list of enemies-to-lovers fanfic recs, and more. Read to the end for a message from Elizabeth at SDCC! — Gav
new stuff
“At Romance Con, the Shadow of J.K. Rowling and Questions of Fan Culpability Loom Overhead” by Kayleigh Donaldson at Pajiba
Right now there’s a lot of controversy in romance fandom about the ethics of publishing thinly-disguised Harry Potter fanfic novels. Opinion is split on whether it’s possible to promote this kind of book without tacitly endorsing JKR in the process, leading several authors to pull out of this year’s Romance Con.
“When is cosplay a crime?” by Wailin Wong, Angel Carreras, and Kate Concannon at The Indicator from Planet Money
A great short listen (11 minutes) on the history of cosplay from a legal perspective, featuring interviews with experts who are cosplayers themselves.
“Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship” by Megan Farokhmanesh at WIRED
“A conservative group is targeting payment processors as ‘a weapon’ to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet.”
If you’re interested in contacting payment processors to protest this situation—which includes censorship of LGBTQ+ media—you can find some useful links in this Tumblr thread.
The most relatable thing about the new Superman movie is how Jimmy Olsen writes his articles directly in the CMS.
— Parker Molloy (@parkermolloy.com) July 12, 2025 at 11:15 AM
older stuff
“You’re Gonna Love This Franchise” by Elizabeth at Fansplaining
We’ve shared my deconstruction of San Diego Comic-Con and Hollywood’s very corporate perspective on fandom there before—but being at SDCC a full seven years later and revisiting this piece, it’s wild how little has changed, even with a pandemic and a double industry strike and the expansion and contraction of the industry with streaming. — Elizabeth
tumblr & beyond
Baldur’s Gate 3 fanart by trinityviolette
solid moderation work from the Murderbot subreddit
You can now watch the full Star Trek: Deep Space 9 retrospective documentary What We Left Behind for free on YouTube!
“tbh people don’t give zuko enough credit like wtf are you supposed to say when someone hits you with ‘my girlfriend turned into the moon’.”
check out this amazing fanmade version of “Guess Who?” with characters from The Terror.
“when drawing Spock it is important to be aware of the fact that if you draw his hair even slightly wrong, he is about to become the fifth Beatle”
fanfiction
A few weeks back we did friends to lovers recs, so of course we needed to do enemies (or rivals!) to lovers to balance it out. :-D Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Anagnorisis” by Beatrice_Sank. 12K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: All About Eve; Ship: Margo Channing/Eve Harrington
Recced by: breathedout
Backstory: In All About Eve, established Broadway star Margo Channing hires seemingly meek and star-struck young fan Eve Harrington as her assistant. Eve is actually an ambitious actress obsessed with scheming her own rise to fame and willing to undermine Margo in the process. This canon-divergent fic leans into the conceit that in addition to being obsessed with gaining her own success, Eve becomes fixated specifically on degrading Margo in the process.
Rec: Beatrice_Sank’s command of erotically-sinister detail in this fic reaches Daphne Du Maurier proportions. Eve’s growing obsession with Margo ramps up gradually and deliciously, compromising Eve’s own perceptions of their shifting power dynamic and allowing for some incredibly satisfying twists and a final scene that literally left my mouth hanging open in admiration.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Wrong Path” by anonymous. 21K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: One Piece Live Action; Ship: Dracule Mihawk/Red-Haired Shanks
Recced by: yen
Backstory: Set right after the scene with Mihawk and Shanks in the live action. It’s about old rivals who haven’t seen each other for a decade, and who are trying to find out where they stand.
Rec: The story, set during a single evening, progresses from them being bitter rivals with divorced energy, and simultaneously old friends reminiscing about the past, to new lovers quietly excited about the future. The dialogue feels genuine for these two, and each line made me want to read the next, just to know how everything unfurls!
Content warnings: N/A
“who are you to tell me that i’ll always be this way” by jamiethegardener. 6.6K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Empire Records (1995); Ship: Deb/Gina
Recced by: Alana
Backstory: Empire Records is a cult classic movie about a group of teens working in a record store. Deb shaves her head and comes to work with bandages on her wrists. Gina wears short skirts and dreams of being in a band. They hate each other. This fic is about Deb growing up, going to therapy, not wanting to die anymore, and running into Gina years later.
Rec: I rewatched this movie recently and thought there was Subtext, but there are so few fics for this pairing! This one is worth the read.
Content warnings: Period-typical homophobia, references to depression, references to suicide attempts, references to death of a mother
“blood rare and sweet as cherry wine” by Asuka Kureru (Askerian). 29K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Naruto; Ship: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Izuna/Uchiha Madara
Recced by: eak1mouse
Backstory: The Senju and Uchiha are rival clans locked in an endless and bloody feud. In this AU, siblings are born as litters that contain one reproducing member, (alpha or omega), with full litters marrying each other.
Rec: This is a new version of a/b/o to me, with characters also in disrupted litters. Even captured and in a drugged heat, Senju Tobirama remains dangerous, and is treated with respect for his skills.
Content warnings: Dubious consent, threats of rape/non-con, fraternal incest
“A Kind of Merry War” by blithers. 37K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Life With Derek; Ship: Casey McDonald/Derek Venturi
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: Casey and Derek become stepsiblings (absolutely not related, thank you) in high school when her mom marries his dad in a kind of late-aughts take on the Brady Bunch, except with way more unresolved sexual tension between the eldest pair. They go from enemies to...well, not lovers, unfortunately, this aired on the Disney Channel, but very ride-or-die by the end.
Rec: This story got me to watch and even write my own fic for the series—it’s that compelling! Blithers wonderfully balances (and resolves) the escalating UST with the fact that this is still a story about teenagers, and the family hijinks in the background are just icing on a delightful cake.
Content warnings: N/A
“Things Which Catch the Eye” by petrichoral. 2.8K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Heian Period RPF; Ship: Murasaki Shikibu/Sei Shonagon
Recced by: Chestnut_pod
Backstory: Murasaki Shikibu (author of The Tale of Genji) and Sei Shonagon (author of The Pillow Book) were both authors and ladies of the court in Heian Japan, literary and social contemporaries and rivals.
Rec: This completely delightful pastiche of both authors’ styles delivers a classic rivals-to-lovers narrative, full of elegantly snarky humor. Full marks for coming up with a perfect Sei Shonagon-style "things" list about the wonders of gay attraction.
Content warnings: N/A
Apologies. When I anonymously sent you the letter reading “I know what you did last summer,” my intent was not to scare you but, rather, to convey my level of familiarity with your work.
— Emily "Babe" St. James (@emilystjams.bsky.social) July 12, 2025 at 3:15 PM
FINAL THOUGHT
If you are at SDCC, please come to the panel I’m hosting tomorrow!
This is such a talented group of people—they’ve worked on big properties like SPN, IWTV, Star Wars, The Witcher, Percy Jackson, DC Comics, and more, plus indie projects like FIYAH Literary Magazine, original novels, and narrative podcasts. I hope this panel can be an antidote to the “fandom can be great training wheels for the real thing” stuff people always do at cons. Many of these folks are currently active in fandom and can speak beautifully about working across those different modes!
As a reminder, that’s:
- Saturday July 26, 2025
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
- Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library
Hope to see folks there! (And P.S., if you’re not at SDCC, I’ve deputized someone to record it, so we should have audio and video to share very soon.) — Elizabeth