The Rec Center #508
Hello all! This week we have articles on food fandom, KPop Demon Hunters, and the mainstreaming of pull-to-publish fanfic novels. Also some cool MCR fanart, a multifandom rec list of slow burn fic, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“With the Serial Numbers Filed Off: The Problem with Trad Pub Fanfic” by Jenny Hamilton at Reactor
With the biggest of the Dramione pull-to-publish books (SenLinYu’s Alchemised) on store shelves as of this week, a fantastic piece assessing the mainstreaming and monetization of fic.
“The Life and Death of the American Foodie” by Jaya Saxena at Eater
A fascinating overview of how food culture has evolved as a fandom, starting with restaurant reviews and cooking shows in the 20th century, through to the food blogging era, the rise of influencers, and beyond.
“K-Pop’s Demons, Real and Fictional” by Aja Romano at Fansplaining
Fansplaining’s September piece is by longtime fandom reporter Aja Romano, who dives into the smash success of Kpop Demon Hunters and how that rapidly growing fandom intersects—or doesn’t—with the somewhat beleaguered world of (real) K-pop artists and their fans.
Me: (on video call) Excuse me, I have to take a quick bio break *I turn off the camera and an alien chestburster explodes from my torso*
— Alex Blechman (@alexblechman.bsky.social) September 12, 2025 at 9:52 AM
older stuff
“The Year of the Musical Licensing Legal War” by Sarah Jeong at The Verge
“The advent of file sharing was akin to the moment The Wizard of Oz goes from black-and-white to color.” On the turn-of-the-millennium battles between the music and tech industries over MP3-pirating platforms, and the influential Supreme Court case MGM v. Grokster.
tumblr & beyond
My Chemical Romance fanart by the-ria
exciting news everyone, we’ve got canon mpreg in one of the live-action omegaverse tv dramas.
“a foolproof plan to address male loneliness”
the last word on AI-generated fic writing.
“you’re literally out of your mind if you think Dennys isnt a top”
listen, we’ve all been there.
some entirely valid reasons for rejecting a fanfic.
fanfiction
Slow burn: one of our most commonly submitted tropes! As I always say, some of these burns are slower than others haha. Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“A Beginner’s Guide to Communing with the Dead” by suspiciousflashlight. 77K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Recced by: Alex
Backstory: Supernatural is an often supremely dumb show about the monster-hunting Winchester brothers and their “it’s complicated” angel friend Castiel, but this urban fantasy AU requires zero knowledge of it—it has Dean Winchester as a police detective haunted, quite literally, by an unsolved child murder, who decides to summon one of the cosmic angels of death themselves to help.
Rec: While Destiel is a ship rich in stories of an immortal falling in love, this AU has a special place in my heart because it’s a compelling, plotty, original urban fantasy with really wonderful characterisation, especially of Castiel as the incredibly alien angel who is interacting with the humans whose souls he weighs for the first time.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence and horror
“The Hour and the Clime” by lordleycester. 41K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Lord of the Rings; Ship: Aragorn/Arwen
Recced by: Chaostheorie
Backstory: The extremely slow-burn epic love story of Aragorn, future king of Gondor, and Arwen, immortal elf lady, is an important background narrative to Lord of the Rings, but it is not at all seen on the page of the original novel. This is a mostly canon-compliant detailed telling of their story up to shortly before their engagement.
Rec: I should say first that readers should read up to Chapter 3 of Part 2 in this ongoing series (The Spring’s Increase) to get a complete narrative with a happy ending. This is one of my very favourite fanfics because it is extremely good at painting the inherent pining and slow burn across decades that Tolkien only outlined. Very atmospheric, very romantic, very swoony.
Content warnings: Canon-typical war injuries
“champagne problems” by ephemeralgrime. 42K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Ghost (band); Ship: Copia/Papa Emeritus III
Recced by: Bee
Backstory: So Ghost is a tongue in cheek satanic band full of made-up characters, many with none or loose backstories, but the fandom has made up a lot. Terzo, or Papa Emeritus III, was the singer in the band, before the current frontsinger, Copia, who has now also been promoted to Papa. Terzo and his two brothers got killed off, but in this fic brought back to life later, and Copia and Terzo, in an unintentional magical incident, swap bodies after a party, which leads to a bunch of trouble and self-reflection.
Rec: This story is so well-written and heartfelt, they feel very in-character, I love this band and how the fandom made such great characters out of very little. Especially this author makes them all feel like very real people, also check out everything else she have written in this fandom, all worth a rec <3.
Content warnings: Mention of past character death and resurrection, slowly dying, blood, alcohol
“Ad Infinitum” by Stormontheocean. 253K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Dragon Age; Ship: Cullen Rutherford/OC
Recced by: pithe
Backstory: It starts out much like your typical portal fic: girl from our world lands in Thedas, with only a limited knowledge of how the game goes, and a limited amount of time to use it. Unlike your typical portal fic, she doesn’t magically speak the language, she’s not the Inquisitor, and there’s a long way to go…
Rec: This story changed my life. There’s nothing magical or special about Liz, and nothing given to her either. She’s just a random person dropped into Thedas, and she manages to build a life and romance for herself that she works for and earns every step of the way. It’s riveting, funny, and the characterization is flawless. The author knows the game so well that I actually discovered an area of Skyhold in-game from reading this fic that I had never seen before. I can’t praise it highly enough.
Content warnings: N/A
“Got your tape and it changed my mind” by longnationalnightmare. 39K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Empire Records (1995); Ship: Lucas/Joe Reaves
Recced by: yekoc
Backstory: Empire Records is a 90s cult classic about a group of misfit kids trying to save the beloved local record store they work at from corporate takeover over the course of a single crazy day. Lucas is a misfit among misfits, maybe the most desperate of all of them to save the store; Joe is Empire Records’ long-suffering manager.
Rec: Joe and Lucas are largely side characters in the original movie, but this fic dives perfectly into what we do know of them, exploring each character in a way that re-writes the entire movie without losing any of its desperation, joyful chaos, humor, or (for me) aching nostalgia. This is one of the best stories I’ve read in years: deft and incisive and thrumming with feeling, a true masterpiece.
Content warnings: No one is underage, but there is an age gap that this story deals with head-on and, I think, excellently.
it's not exactly an index of things but it is pretty funny that fall of US hegemony is coinciding with the silent hill franchise switching its setting to japan
— michael lutz (@ztul.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 2:28 PM
FINAL THOUGHT
Last week we put out a call for ~spooky recs for October, and since October starts next week, here’s a reminder—please send us your favorites! That includes:
- Fics (canon settings or AUs) featuring supernatural creatures like vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, witches, etc.
- Anything (again, canon settings or AUs) with horror vibes or an eerie atmosphere
- Halloween-related fic, including fluffier stuff!
As always, you can send those in via our one-off submissions form, and please be sure to use the themes/tropes field to tell us specifically what you’re submitting for. — Elizabeth