The Rec Center #50
Hello! Welcome to another newsletter from the same side of the Atlantic. I’ve encouraged Gav to do a THIS WEEK IN YURI ON ICE rather than slipping in 16 YoI things into the rest of our sections. (As I said in our planning emails, I’m very happy that one of us is in the honeymoon phase of a new fandom.) And in the fic section, I’ve got the first part of our massive holiday list made up entirely of your submissions. We got about two dozen, and you’ll get the second half next week! — Elizabeth
new stuff
“How the tech sector could move in One Direction” by Sacha Judd
To a certain extent this slideshow/talk may be preaching to the choir, here. It’s an interesting perspective from a tech person who became immersed in 1D fandom and discovered the breadth of creativity in fan communities, and then began to ask why young women were so overlooked in the tech sector, when they’re doing so much “underground” work on things like video editing, tumblr themes, coding fanfic websites, and so on.
“How Funko grew into a $400-million-a-year Everett business” by Jim Davis at Herald Net
A brief history of the now-ubiquitous Funko toy company.
“Fantastic Beasts and How to Mind Them” by Louise Fabiani at Pacific Standard
Fantastic Beasts, analysed from the perspective of an animal conservationist.
(we’re skipping older stuff this week, but it’ll be back, we promise!)
tumblr & beyond
Rogue One fanart by darren tibbles!:
Can we talk about the classic mouse-based children’s story Stuart Little for a moment, please?
John and Mary Watson from Sherlock had a real baby announcement in the Telegraph?
Don’t Photocopy the Runes: Office Safety Protocols in the Modern Magical Office – Department of Magical Research and Development Edition
this week in YURI ON ICE
Check out this adorable post-ep 10 fan comic by MD_Doodles!
I very much hope this IRL Yuri on ice college anecdote is true.
Why [spoiler for a sporting achievement in episode 11] is technically impossible. Interesting analysis from Tumblr user vctryr.
“An Interview with Johnny Weir: His Thoughts on ‘Yuri on Ice’” at The Geekiary
OK, lots of figure skaters are watching YoI now (including women’s world champion Evgenia Medvedeva, who is a total anime fangirl), but this is the first time I’ve seen an interview with one of them. Johnny Weir, who is probably already familiar to many of you, was a great choice of skater to discuss this show.
“How anxiety and mental health shape the story of Yuri on Ice” by Gav at The Daily Dot
One of my favorite aspects of Yuri on Ice is Yuri’s role as an unreliable narrator, which ties into the show’s sensitive and complex portrayal of his anxiety issues. This article includes general spoilers up to episode 10.
fanfiction
WOW OK SO since I put out the call these past few weeks, we got more than two dozen holiday recs! Compiling all these I learned there’s an extraordinary amount of fandom and even author overlap here (just like last time, with the big end-of-summer list, multiple people recced *different* Harry/Draco stories by saras_girl, this is kind of incredible guys). When I’m curating a list, I work hard to get both variety and diversity in a well-rounded mix, but we can’t really do that this time around without cutting people, so hopefully everyone doesn’t mind! We’ll publish half the list this week, half the week next, and it appears to be heavy on Christmas, with a few Hanukkah stories as well as general wintry ones. Thank you to everyone who submitted! — Elizabeth
“How Crowley Saved Christmas” by such_heights. 1.3K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Good Omens; Ship: gen fic with Crowley & Aziraphale friendship at the core
Recced by: vaysh
Backstory: This is a cross-over fic with A Christmas Carol (practically a Winter fanfic trope). Set in 1842, Crowley is making Charles Dickens write A Christmas Carol to get back at Aziraphale, who was asked to do a miracle.
Rec: This fic is 10 years old and still one of my favourite winter holiday fics. The characterisation is spot-on, and the plot cleverly interwoven with the A Christmas Carol plot. There is a great podfic of the fic, too.
Content warnings: N/A
“lights at two dollars a strand” by legete. 1.5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Captain America; Ship: Steve/Bucky
Recced by: dingoesatemy
Backstory: Author Summary: “They don’t mean to decorate for Christmas. It just sorta...happens.”
Rec: It’s a short, sweet look at Steve and Bucky during the holidays, with cameos from Tony Stark deciding it’s too sad for them not to have a Christmas Tree.
Content warnings: N/A
“Mistel” by splix. 3.4K words, rated PG.
Fandom: Cabin Pressure; Ship: Martin Crieff/Douglas Richardson
Recced by: dingoesatemy
Backstory: Author Summary: “Martin’s not that big on Christmas.” A short exploration of Douglas and Martin’s circumstances around Christmas.
Rec: Martin is so endearing, and Douglas cleverly maneuvers him into sharing a Christmas eve dinner, when they otherwise both would have been alone.
Content warnings: N/A
“Stop and Stare” by Saras_Girl. 78K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Harry/Draco
Recced by: tamjinchi
Backstory: Harry’s life is full of care, he has no time to stop or stare; he has no time for anyone’s shit, until his friends aren’t having it. A story about the unravelly things.
Rec: This is the story equivalent of cuddling up with someone you love, drinking hot cocoa by a fire. It's sweet, slow, and full of Christmassy feeling.
Content warnings: Animal cruelty, injury, mental health issues
“And This Is How I See You” by emjayelle. 15K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Merlin; Ship: Arthur/Merlin
Recced by: Amelia
Backstory: BBC Merlin, Modern AU. Christmas, neighbours; basically these are two perfect things to go together.
Rec: Merlin and Arthur live next door to each other and end up spending Christmas together.
Content warnings: N/A
“More Than Gravity” by JenTheSweetie. 21K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Avengers; Ship: Steve/Tony
Recced by: dingoesatemy
Backstory: Author Summary: “‘Aw, time travel, no.’ On Christmas Eve, Tony came unstuck in time.”
Rec: The concept is so fun, the dialog is witty, the Avengers team dynamics are charming, and Steve and Tony getting together through time travel is so romantic. Tony is going back and forward in time on Christmas Eve, has no idea what's going on, but every time he sees Steve Steve is talking about the wonderful Christmas Eve they’ve had, and Tony decides to make it happy just how Steve remembers.
Content warnings: N/A
“Amor Vitae” by tetleythesecond. 5.3K words, rated PG.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Flitwick/OFC
Recced by: dingoesatemy
Backstory: Some people wonder why Filius Flitwick is always so cheerful at Christmas.
Rec: Centered around Flitwick’s backstory and relationships, and past Christmas celebrations. It will make you cry, but also make you love Christmas.
Content warnings: N/A
“Nine Lights” by Minutia_R. 336 words, rated Gen.
Fandom: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci series is a delightfully clever take on multiverse theory, nine-lived enchanters, and the English civil service.
Rec: Gabriel de Witt is a bit of an enigma, alternately gruff and caring. The fic gives him a lovely backstory (which strikes me as the quintessential story of a certain generation of English Jews) of assimilation and teshuva, return. It manages to be poignant and quite beautiful in very few words.
Content warnings: N/A
“Helix” by Saras_Girl. 93K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Harry Potter; Ship: Harry/Draco
Recced by: tamjinchi
Backstory: Seven months after the end of the war, Harry is feeling lost. Fortunately, he is about to be offered an unexpected and sparkling chance to find himself again.
Rec: An advent fic set during Eighth-Year at Hogwarts. Lovely Christmassy-Hogwarts feelings, wonderful descriptions of the natural world, cute animals, and lots of tea and biscuits.
Content warning: Parental death
“A Midnight Clear” by Bazooka. 50K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Bangtan Boys (BTS); Ship: Jung Hoseok/Jimin Park
Recced by: therealmoogler
Backstory: Christmas-themed Bangtan spies in space!
Rec: CHRISTMAS-THEMED SPACE OPERA WITH SPIES.
Content warnings: implied/referenced abuse, minor character death
“Christkindlfuckup” by Copperbadge. 1.6K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Avengers / MCU; Ship: Gen
Recced by: annathecrow
ALSO RECCED BY: elsajeni, but since we were running another one of their recs (in the second half of the list next week!), we went with annathecrow’s rec here
Backstory: This is an oldish fic from the MCU/Avengers fandom. Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton are both “super spies” and Phil Coulson is their handler. Their dynamic is (in this fic and the early MCU fanon overall) basically “two hyper-competent troublemakers and their father figure.” This fic is basically just that, Christmas Edition.
Rec: The author’s summary: “Clint and Natasha ruin Christmas.” This is one of those stories that are slightly cracky but still get the characterizations just perfect. It’s short, sweet, and full of silly gags based on the setting.
Content warning: swearing
“Happy Christmas, You Arse” by 1electricpirate. 4.7K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: BBC Sherlock; Ship: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Recced by: Noadventureshere
Backstory: In which evidence is presented that disqualifies Sherlock from being the Grinch, and everyone's shoes fit them perfectly well, thank you.
Rec: A classic that gets a reread every year. Christmas parties, bad music and mistletoe. What could be bad?
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Rogue One is out this weekend! As per my review I had mixed feelings about it, including the unfortunate disparity between it being the most racially diverse SW film to date, while also being shockingly male-dominated. (On the bright side, they reinstated the female X-Wing pilots who were cut from the original trilogy, even if they do only appear for about 3 seconds. But let’s be real: this franchise needs more women in lead roles, particularly women of color.)
Back in June, we ran a ship manifesto predicting that Baze Malbus and Chirrut Imwe would be the OTP of Rogue One, and I’m happy to say the movie definitely followed through on that prediction. Looking forward to reading some fic about them! (And also Cassian Andor, my miserable espionage son.) — Gav
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