The Rec Center #511
Hello everyone! This week we have the big Dan and Phil news, Star Wars maps, and AI self-insert culture. Plus MCR fanart and our next batch of October seasonal recs: Werewolves! — Elizabeth
new stuff
“YouTubers Dan and Phil Confirm 16-Year Relationship: ‘Phil Was My Safe Space’” by James Factora at Them
If you already know the whole Dan and Phil situation and why your Tumblr feed was exploding on Monday, you can probably skip this—but if you were baffled as to why your Tumblr feed was exploding, this is a good explainer about The Big Announcement and the broader context.
“The Official Map of the Star Wars Galaxy” by Jason Kottke
Via Jason Kottke’s long-running aggregation site (if you’re unfamiliar, he finds great stuff!), an expansive map from Lucasfilm and corresponding chart of star systems for you to look up Star Wars locations to your heart’s content.
“Why Have a Regular Chatbot Boyfriend When You Can Have a Celebrity One?” by Tracy Clark-Flory at The Cut
A well-reported piece about the rise of AI-fueled self-insert culture, aka (mostly female) fans engaging with (mostly male) “celebrities” via platforms like Character.AI. “I’ve dabbled in reading fan fiction in the past, but this is a thousand times more intense, because it’s almost like it’s happening to you directly.” Bleak!
Look, the purpose of Tron movies isn’t to make money. It’s to teach us all what it’d be like to be inside the computer.
— pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” (@pixelatedboat.bsky.social) October 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
older stuff
“A Trick of the Light: On the Ethics of Holograms” by Anthony Oliveira at StarTrek.com
“What right, if any, does a person have to a ‘Do Not Simulate’ clause?” An interesting essay about the hologram technology on Star Trek and its connection to real-world depictions of public figures, especially dead ones. This piece is a few years old, and has only gotten more relevant in our current AI moment. (See the “celebrity AI boyfriend” piece above!)
tumblr & beyond
My Chemical Romance fanart by as_artrat
A beautiful collection of Penguin paperback-inspired cover templates for AO3 files!
"i love when something huge happens in a fandom you aren’t a part of it’s like hearing a loud eruptive cheer from the apartment next to you"
a beautiful Andor print!
Dan and Phil “should win an award for most emotionally complex podcast announcement ever”
AO3... blood... donation... policy...?
“kpop demon hunters as water infrastructure” ok well why not i guess
fanfiction
Week three of our supernatural & horror recs for October, and we have arrived at werewolves. If you missed our first two lists, we had 1) vampires 2) horror of all sorts. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“Into the Open Air” by SilverSlashes. 30K words, rated Explicit .
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers; Ship: Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Recced by: gryvon
Backstory: Steve is a werewolf missing his mate. Tony is a retired hunter looking for a cause.
Rec: Set in the Victorian Irish countryside, this story offers a different take on werewolves, based off the mythology of the faoladh.
Content warnings: Infidelity, threat of rape (but no actual rape), violence
“‘she would cast him to the Wolf, the Wolf should have him’” by x_los. 5.8K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers; Ship: Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane
Recced by: Fabular_Mr_Fox
Backstory: The Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayers are high up there in the English cozy canon—but what they TRULY are is the ne plus ultra of romance. Peter proves novelist Harriet Vane innocent of murder and then spends several books trying to get her to marry him. Along the way Sayers elegantly wrestles with class, money, feminism, and all kinds of sticky issues. In this fic there’s all that AND WEREWOLVES.
Rec: I was skeptical about this because I love Sayers so much, I was worried it would be silly. But instead it’s a pitch-perfect pastiche, with all Harriet’s self-conscious misery and Peter’s trauma and discomfort with sincerity, plus the extra layer of complications engendered by the introduction of werewolves into the British class system.
Content warnings: PTSD
“in midnight’s jaws” by Springsteen. 30K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Formula 1 RPF; Ship: Oscar Piastri/Carlos Sainz Jr.
Recced by: Nat
Backstory: “Werewolves are fiction, the stuff of books and movies just like witches and zombies. There must be a logical explanation for the restlessness in Carlos’s blood, a perfectly good reason for Carlos to have woken in the dirt the morning after a full moon, with no idea where he is or how he got there. And surely there was a reason he turned to Oscar Piastri, of all people, for help.”
Rec: This is such a good fic. It hits right in the vibes of classic Victorian horror and delivers perfectly. The THEMES of werewolf transformation = a hidden part of ourselves, Carlos’ horror, the portrayal of his fearful attraction to Oscar—I will forever love the creeping sickly sensation of the polished F1 setting juxtaposed with an insane werewolf transformation. Metaphors for womanhood abound in a Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque setup. Plot is friendly for non-F1 fans who just want a spooky fix :)
Content warnings: N/A
“A Meeting In The Woods” by icarus_chained. 4.4K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Werewolf By Night (2022); Ship: Elsa Bloodstone/Jack Russell
Recced by: Saklani
Backstory: Elsa Bloodstone recently inherited the bloodstone after the death of her father and fights. Jack Russell, a kindly person who also happens to be a werewolf at the wrong times of the month, helps her while trying to save his friend, Man-Thing, from monster hunters.
Rec: All three characters are lovingly treated in this story, building perfectly on the brief, but awesome, glimpse we receive in the special. There’s a lot of plot in a fairly short story that leaves you wanting more.
Content warnings: Very mild gore
“Are You Aware, Wolf?” by leveragehunters. 12K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Captain America (Movies); Ship: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers
Recced by: Grace
Backstory: Bucky picked up the tab for a cup of coffee, and ended up in the supernatural way. There were lines drawn between vampires and werewolves, and Steve was a vampire.
Rec: leveragehunters does a great job sketching an entire world in only 12,000 or so words.
Content warnings: Implied/referenced past child abuse
“The Werewolf” by Robber Baroness. 1K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Wolf - Phildel (Song); Ship: OFC/OMC
Recced by: This_world_of_beautiful_monsters
Backstory: A historical fiction story with original characters, centered around the search for a werewolf in a small town. It’s inspired by the song “The Wolf” by Phildel.
Rec: A beautifully crafted story that makes every word count, lyrically creative and painfully relevant.
Content warnings: Rape/non-con, misogyny
Last week, one of my students said that she was compelled by law to draw pretty girls and she calls that “Yuri Duty” and the kids are all right.
— ✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ (@jongraywb.bsky.social) September 29, 2024 at 11:27 AM
FINAL THOUGHT
That’s all, folks! Have a good weekend! — Gav