The Rec Center #515
Hello all! This week we have articles about racism in Dungeons & Dragons, heavy metal fandom in Indigenous communities, and the current state of m/m fiction in China. Also some amazing KPop Demon Hunters fanart, a grab bag of multifandom character study fics, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons & Dragons to Be Racist” by Adam Serwer at The Atlantic
A thorough analysis of the far-right reactionary investment in the “racial” divisions in fantasy, most notably in D&D and Lord of the Rings.
“Heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet Nation” by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster at High Country News
“We’ve all had periods of hurt. And this music was the medicine we didn’t know we needed until we’re in it.” A beautiful longread about Indigenous metalheads.
“As China cracks down on stories about men in love, female fans mourn the idealized romances” by Fu Ting at AP News
A sobering report on China’s continued censorship—and even criminalization—of danmei writers and websites.
I like the Carry On films but the lore is too confusing, impossible for modern audiences to accept these people could play a major part in the French Revolution AND lose their bras on camping holidays
— Tom Ewing (@tomewing.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 8:24 AM
older stuff
“The Fan, the Pro, and the Spaces In Between” by Tessa Gratton at Fansplaining
“Power doesn’t care about joy. Ultimately, it only cares about value, which means money. Trad publishing loves fanfic right now because it sees dollar signs instead of kudos. I genuinely don’t know if fandoms can survive if they’re made complicit in capitalist power. Some of them don’t deserve to anymore.”
tumblr & beyond
KPop Demon Hunters fanart by mimi-maru
we need a conspiracy board explaining the five secret seasons of Supernatural, stat.
“ever since i was a little girl i knew i wanted to be weird about tv”
and that’s that on anne rice discourse.
education is never wasted!!!
greetings from the sports side of Tumblr.
fanfiction
This week’s theme is one of my favorites: character study. Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“Fear and Response” by justafandomfollower. 130K words over 6 works, rated Mature.
Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives; Ship: Gen
Recced by: myrmidryad
Backstory: A series of unconnected fics that all fall under a central theme (the acute stress response, or how our characters react to fear). Each fic is a separate case fic (slash partial character study) and can be read in any order. No knowledge of any of them is needed to read any of the others.
Rec: The voices for each of the characters and the way they respond to the situations are all so perfect. The author nails the relationships between all of them too, especially things that go unsaid and misunderstood.
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence in the first fic, horror themes, general trauma responses throughout
“these are just ghosts that broke my heart before i met you” by theviolonist. 1.3K words, Not Rated.
Fandom: Veronica Mars; Ship: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Recced by: Sofia
Backstory: Veronica Mars is a show about a teen detective. Logan Echolls is her nemesis-turned-love-interest. In the film made 10 years after the show, Logan, a former “bad boy,” has joined the military.
Rec: A short fic that single-handedly convinced me of the decision to turn Logan into a military man, getting to the heart of his contradictions.
Content warnings: Violence
“I’d Leave You for the Person You Used to Be” by dharmaavocado. 21K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: 9-1-1; Ship: Evan Buckley & Eddie Diaz
Recced by: beanarie
Backstory: 9-1-1 is a network procedural about first responders in Los Angeles. Eddie Diaz is a firefighter and former army medic who is partnered at work with his best friend, Evan Buckley. Towards the end of the most recent season, Eddie and Buck had an intense one-sided argument regarding their respective grief for a mutual friend who just passed away on the job.
Rec: This was one of the most engrossing unreliable narrator stories I’ve ever read. Eddie’s thoughts while navigating his failing relationship with Buck, one of his closest loved ones, are so full of contradictions, resentments, and a sincere desire to be a good friend and father.
Content warnings: Includes background Buck/Tommy
“saaptiya?” by swingandswirl. 6K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Numb3rs; Ship: Amita Ramanujan/Colby Granger, but Amita-focused
Recced by: YellowShoes
Backstory: Amita Ramanujan is a supporting character on Numb3rs, a genius Indian-American professor who consults on cases for the FBI. This fic is a food-focused character study of Amita.
Rec: swingandswirl is from the same sub-community as Amita. She uses her knowledge of Tamil Brahmin culture to write a character who is much more true to Amita’s canonical background than the show managed. (Happy to expand on this via email.) Nope, apart from the fact that it will make you hungry.
Content warnings: N/A
“Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach” by Nnm. 99K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Good Omens; Ship: Aziraphale/Crowley
Recced by: queuest
Backstory: The Demon Crowley goes to therapy following the apocalypse that wasn’t. Told through the point of view of Crowley’s therapist.
Rec: This story is clearly written by someone knowledgeable on the subject of trauma and trauma therapy, and it’s a very cathartic unpacking and healing of Crowley’s 6,000 years of trauma. A really wonderful character study of Crowley, through the eyes of a fantastic original character.
Content warnings: Discussions of trauma
And a vid!
“Never Better” by renenet. 3:07, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Wire; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chronograph
Backstory: A character study of Stringer Bell, focusing on his nonstop work ethic.
Rec: It’s a good character study that distills one of the central themes of the show and Stringer’s arc: how institutions chew up and spit out the people trying hardest to improve them.
Content warnings: Some physical violence
please watch movies and read books and play games and look at art, please view it with your own eyes through a lens you made yourself and not just through video essayists and ending explained videos please im begging you
— lou-ellen (@louceph.com) October 21, 2025 at 3:46 PM
FINAL THOUGHT
Two calls for recs this week: the very short and the very long!
- As we’ve done for past (U.S.) Thanksgiving long weekends—famously the busiest AO3 traffic period of the year—we’ll be running a list of long works. Arbitrary word minimum: 100K.
- To counter that, we’re also going to run a list (or two!) of super-short fic. Arbitrary word maximum: 2K.
As always, please send in your recs via our handy form! — Elizabeth