The Rec Center #505
Hello everyone! This week we have articles about the Hollow Knight fandom, the resurgence of physical media, and a study about fanfic reading habits. Plus some lovely Deltarune fanart and a mix of education-setting AUs just in time for going ~back to school~. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“How Fans Turned Waiting for Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Release Into a Game” by Megan Farokhmanesh at WIRED
A profile of the fan communities and projects that sprung up in the multi-year wait for the new installment of the popular Hollow Knight game, which is finally out this week.
“Physical Media Is Cool Again. Streaming Services Have Themselves to Blame” by CT Jones at Rolling Stone
“Their trending culture isn’t nostalgia bait. It’s participating in the digital world while recognizing the value of holding something in their movie-obsessed hands.”
“Fanfic study challenges leading cultural evolution theory” by Jennifer Ouellette at Ars Technica
An interesting interview with the researchers behind a study that showed fanfiction readers are largely drawn to familiarity, but report more satisfaction when they go out of their comfort zone.
I won’t be seeing the new Frankenstein movie unless there’s a title card at the start explaining what Frankenstein is a metaphor for. I’m not wasting my time trying to figure it out.
— pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” (@pixelatedboat.bsky.social) August 31, 2025 at 10:29 AM
older stuff
“Bringing Fanfiction Into the Classroom” by Abby Kirby at Fansplaining
“While much of education focuses on rigid answers and definitions, we bend and twist canon to our will until we are satisfied. I put my kids in control of the story and the class. We break canon and the traditional notion of what it means to be a writer, a fan, and a student.”
tumblr & beyond
Deltarune fanart by heiriz
okay we were confused by this one as well.
unnerving decor at the klingon children’s hospital.
Supernatural fandom: the warning signs.
just fyi this is a classic wuxia trope, fictionalizing a martial arts technique known as qinggong.
incredible new tag spotted on ao3.
fanfiction
Back to school time! We’ve got AUs across the academic spectrum—high school, college, grad school, faculty—from a variety of fandoms. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec (and good luck to everyone who’s actually gone back to school themselves recently). — Elizabeth
“with rome below us” by whimsicule. 14K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Joe/Nicky
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: The Old Guard is a movie about a found family of extremely long-lived immortals, within which Joe and Nicky are an established couple who met on opposite sides of a religious war. Nile, a millennial from Chicago, is the newest member of the team.
Rec: This academic AU focuses on Nile’s graduate student journey and crafting her dissertation, which feels painfully true to life. Meanwhile, the outsider POV on her advisor’s personal life unfolding in some unexpected ways is artfully and subtly done.
Content warnings: N/A
“bury me at makeout creek” by jamiethegardener. 6.9K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: IT (Movies - Muschietti); Ship: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Melancholic 1990s high school fic about Richie slowly self-destructing as he refuses to deal with his feelings for Eddie, with a short epilogue set during the second movie.
Rec: This story really nails what it’s like to be a dirtbag teen, and although it’s a tearjerker it’s also very readable. Spot-on voices for the whole cast minus all the fat-shaming of canon, which I appreciated. Period-typical homophobia, canon-typical violence, angst
Content warnings: N/A
“Unsaid the Word” by lunarriviera. 21K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Teen Wolf; Ship: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Recced by: EJ
Backstory: Sterek In which tenure-track Professor Derek Hale is polite and friendly to Stiles Stilinski, ABD, every year at the academic conference they both attend; and Stiles tries to be contented with pining after him.
Rec: The author KNOWS her conferences.
Content warnings: N/A
“Wild Time” by brigitttt. 4.6K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Star War Prequels; Ship: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Commander Cody
Recced by: Ais
Backstory: In canon Obi-Wan is a Jedi General and Cody is his clone second-in-command. Here they’re both college sophomores fumbling their way through a situationship.
Rec: I love college au that feels so true to being 19 and feeling alone and being dumb.
Content warnings: N/A
“With your thirst and with my hunger” by SecretStorm. 56K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Les Miserables - All Media Types; Ships: Enjolras/Grantaire, Grantaire & Éponine Thenardier, Joly/Bossuet Laigle/Musichetta
Recced by: Shi
Backstory: An alternate universe where the Les Amis sing in a cause-focused college a cappella group and Éponine tags along for the ride. Éponine POV, focusing on Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta getting together and Éponine getting to know everyone. Originally a prequel to an Enjolras/Grantaire fic that remains unfinished, but stands well on its own.
Rec: You don’t need to know about or enjoy college a cappella to read this fic, because Éponine’s outsider status makes the whole thing very accessible, in my opinion. This is one of my favorite Éponine-centric fics and it walks a great line between hilarious and emotionally affecting.
Content warnings: Mentions of suicide, references to anxiety, references to sexual assault
And we got two recs for this fic, so as we often do, we combined them!
“Publish or Perish” by LinearA. 69K words (WIP), rated Explicit.
Fandom: Six of Crows; Ship: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Recced by: laiqualaurelote and anon
Backstory: laiqualaurelote writes: In canon, Kaz Brekker leads a crew of thieves in the criminal underworld of Ketterdam. This AU transports them to the cutthroat world of literary academia, where Inej Ghafa, trapped by an adjunct’s contract which is the only thing standing between her and deportation, forms a tense alliance with Kaz, who is somehow a full professor at the University of Ketterdam, to save her job when the department’s budget cuts put it on the line.
Rec: laiqualaurelote writes: Not so much dark academia but poorly lit by fluorescents, this AU captures the anxieties of the early career researcher and weaves an excellent slow-burn workplace romance. The author has put a great deal of thought into building an entire body of Kerch literature (modelled off the English canon). It’s an especially relatable AU in these fraught times for academia.
anon writes: The academic parts are both hilarious and specific (the chapter titles are all fictional academic paper titles authored by the different characters). Also, this author’s works are always sensitive to power dynamics and histories of colonialism.
Content warnings: Past rape/noncon, past child abuse, suicide, sexual harassment, racism, threats of deportation, increased age gap, workplace power imbalance
A lot of video-game publishers spend hundreds of millions of dollars chasing after "realistic graphics" and "massive open-worlds" when what players really want is just a shitload of weird little guys
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) September 4, 2025 at 11:08 AM
FINAL THOUGHT
That’s all, folks! Have a relaxing weekend! — Gav