Hello all! This week we have articles about Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary and the maps of Ursula Le Guin, along with the Lady Business blog’s very helpful list of Hugo Awards nomination season recs. Also some cool Locked Tomb fanart, a multifandom list of holiday themed recs, and more! — Gav

new stuff

“Everyone Is Invited to Jane Austen’s Birthday Party” by Sarah Lyall at The New York Times
Jane Austen was born 250 years ago this week—and fans around the world are celebrating. This piece tours various corners of Janeites, a term for Austen fans for over a century. (And if you are a Janeite yourself, be sure to check out Morgan Leigh Davies’ new piece in Jezebel, digging into the legacy and cultural context of Austen’s work.)

“Maps and Legends: The Spectacular Cartography of Ursula K. Le Guin” by at the Library of America
This fall, an exhibition on Le Guin’s maps has been on display at the Architectural Association Gallery in London. This piece is a Q&A with Sarah Shin, the exhibition’s co-curator and the co-author of an accompanying book.

“Winds in the East...Mist Coming In... (Hugo Season Approaches)” by Renay at Lady Business
OK, a liiiiitle self-serving here since we are in this multiple times over, but wonderful SFF critic and longtime Hugo spreadsheet maintainer Renay has put together a great list of podcasts, newsletters, and individual writers and artists for folks to nominate next year. Even if you’re not a Worldcon member, it’s a great resource for finding new voices! (And we’d be remiss if we didn’t rec Renay’s own fantastic weekly newsletter, Intergalactic Mixtape.)

It is 2025, and there are 3 fan culture stories you can write in the mainstream media: 1. Politics Kinda *Is* Fandom, Amirite??? 2. 101 Reasons I 🖤 Dramione 3. Why Do "Straight Women" Love This Gay Show? We Asked The Showrunner, The Actors, and Someone Who Works at a Dating App to Take a Guess

— Elizabeth Minkel (@elizabethminkel.bsky.social) December 16, 2025 at 10:26 AM

older stuff

“K-Pop’s Demons, Real and Fictional” by Aja Romano at Fansplaining
“The narrative of an underrated Cinderella film, buoying the global rise of K-pop with its smash-hit soundtrack, is a hard one to resist. But if no one expected KPDH to take over the latter half of 2025, does that mean it’s a game-changer for K-pop as a whole, or a fluke that has nothing to do with the broader K-pop fandom?”

tumblr & beyond

Locked Tomb fanart by bloodbroox

“my beatles run”

ok we honestly had no idea that The Silmarillion was THIS popular on AO3.

"Ok buddies can we not use HR for heated rivalry”

meat’s back on the menu, boys.

Elizabeth is the (Ed note: correct!!) alien here.

fanfiction

This month, we’ve been running some of the additional ~seasonal recs~ we received but didn’t have room for in Decembers past. But when I had too many for Christmas and too few for everything else, I put out a call on social media and…before long, we once again had way too many submissions for just a couple of lists. 😭 If we didn’t run your rec this time, we’ve got it in the bank for next year! Thanks to everyone who sent one in. — Elizabeth

“Pining for You” by The Librarina (tears_of_nienna). 28K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Les Misérables; Ship: Enjolras/Grantaire
Recced by: myrmidryad
Backstory: After he gets laid off, Grantaire moves back home to help out on his father’s Christmas tree farm. But when a shady businessman starts trying to move in on their property, an improbably handsome lawyer from the city might be their only hope to save the farm.
Rec: It’s just such a feel-good fic, there’s pretty much no relationship angst or drama, Grantaire is a character who’s usually given a tragic family backstory so it’s refreshing for him to have a lovely father in this, and it’s on a Christmas tree farm!
Content warnings: N/A

“David Lee Roth lights the menorah” by JessJesstheBest. 1.1K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Batman; Ship: Gen (Bruce Wayne & The Batfamily)
Recced by: romanticsap
Backstory: The Wayne Family Tradition of giving Bruce increasingly absurd menorahs.
Rec: We need more silly fics about Jewish holidays.
Content warnings: N/A

“THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM AND ELEANOR HARRIS” by actual_kalamitous. 579 words, Not Rated.
Fandom: Frostpunk; Ship: Gen
Recced by: forthegothicheroine
Backstory: In a Victorian-ish world where a new ice age has fallen, humanity and civilization struggle to rebuild.
Rec: A heartbreaking yet heartwarming glimpse into the lives of two ordinary people preparing for the catastrophic storms to come, this makes the game’s scenarios come to beautiful life.
Content warnings: Character death

“You’re as Cuddly as a Cactus, You’re as Charming as an Eel” by Shleapord. 2.9K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Young Justice (Comics); Ship: Gen (Cassie Sandsmark & Bart Allen & Kon-El | Conner Kent & Tim Drake friendship)
Recced by: iron-sides
Backstory: In the Young Justice 1998 comic run, there’s an issue where they watch Santa run into a meteor head-on and die. So they spend the rest of the issue taking three months to give every child on earth their santa present and delivering coal to Darkseid (big bad DC villain guy).
Rec: It’s fun, and I feel like it really captures the essence of what YJ98 comics are like! They get silly with it!
Content warnings: N/A

“Pryaniki” by sevenfists. 4K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Men’s Hockey RPF; Ship: Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Recced by: pinetreelady
Backstory: Consider giving this sweet fic (featuring Christmas baking) even if you aren’t into RPF and/or hockey.
Rec: An established relationship fic that packs a sweet. satisfying punch.
Content warnings: N/A

“A Warm Bed on a Cold Winter’s Night” by rubyofkukundu. 65K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Ship: John Childermass/John Segundus
Recced by: sitsthewind
Backstory: Jonathan Strange is set in an alternative 19th-century England, with magic returning to England. This fic is about two side characters post-canon, but knowledge of the canon isn’t really required to read it.
Rec: It absolutely RUNS with the premise of "it’s a midwinter cold snap so we have to share a bed for warmth" and then some. What if you had to share a bed for warmth over multiple nights while discussing your preferences for your own sex!
Content warnings: Period-typical discussion of masturbation & homosexuality as sinful

“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like %@$&*mas” by periodically_puzz. 25K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Marvel; Ship: Peter Parker/Wade Wilson (Spider-Man/Deadpool)
Recced by: lydiacatfish
Backstory: Spider-Man and Deadpool are friends who meet out of mask while out of the city for the holidays. Neither of them want to celebrate Christmas, but they have to for family. And they fall in love.
Rec: I really liked how it showed a Jewish character surrounded by Christmas for their family. You don’t love the holiday, but you love your family, which I identify as an interfaith person. Also I enjoyed that it was a pastiche of classic Hallmark Christmas movie tropes.
Content warnings: Casual insensitivity to Jewish characters

my favorite thing about the benoit blanc movies is that they aren't really about benoit blanc. he is not grappling with demons from his past. we are not getting flashbacks to the husband whose murder he never solved. he just shows up and does his job like mary poppins for homicides

— alix e. harrow (@alixeharrow.bsky.social) December 14, 2025 at 8:24 AM

FINAL THOUGHT

It’s our final regular Rec Center of the year! We’ll be back for one more 2025 issue with our “Year in Fandom” reflections, but in the meantime, with Yuletide fics revealed next week, this is your annual reminder that since the very first year of the newsletter, we start off every January with 1-2 Yuletide rec lists. Please send us your favorites via our submission form!

A couple of Yuletide logistical notes: it’s totally fine to send in fics before the author reveals. Just leave the author as anon, and I’ll add them once those go live. My biggest request is please mark your submissions in themes/tropes “Yuletide 2025”; we’ve missed fics in the past because they didn’t know they were sent in for Yuletide.

For everyone observing holidays this week and next, we hope you have a wonderful and safe time celebrating with your loved ones! <3 — Elizabeth