Hello everyone! This week we’ve got FANSPLAINING’S BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, as well as coverage of the publishing industry’s response to Heated Rivalry and SDCC’s reversal on AI art. Plus: Heated Rivalry fanart, and a multifandom rec list of found family fic. — Elizabeth

new stuff

“Fansplaining’s Next Chapter” by Elizabeth at Fansplaining
You’ve probably seen the big announcement, but in case you haven’t! This spring, Fansplaining is transitioning to a full weekly publication with reporting, analysis, reviews, personal essays, and much more, all “by, for, and about fandom.”

“Get Ready For Publishing to Chase the Heated Rivalry Phenomenon” by Maris Kreizman at LitHub
Are publishers going to learn all the wrong lessons from Heated Rivalry’s runaway success? Well... Longtime industry analyst Maris Kreizman talks about why publishing is That Way.

“Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback” by Matthew Gault at 404 Media
“What is Comic-Con trying to tell the industry? It’s telling artists: ‘Hey you, you’re exploitable and you’re replaceable.’” After significant backlash, SDCC has reversed its decision to allow AI-generated art at the con.

WHAT’s up guys its Plato welcome back to the cave. Guys we’ve got some CRAZY shadows for you today you are not gonna want to miss this! But first I have to thank our sponsor OnX Backcountry

— Rusty Foster (@rusty.todayintabs.com) December 19, 2025 at 11:05 AM

older stuff

“Women Laughing Again On The Internet” by Carrie Frye at Flaming Hydra
Beloved 2010s-era publication The Hairpin closed up shop in 2018, but in 2023, the lapsed domain was bought by an “AI chum farm” that zombified the site in the worst possible way. Last year, the worker-owned Flaming Hydra brought the site’s archives back online. There’s TONS of great stuff in there, including lots of pop culture and fandom-oriented writing.

tumblr & beyond

Heated Rivalry fanart by m1stl3t03

Rian Johnson has updated his website with the screenplays for several of his movies including Wake Up Dead Man.

giving this uquiz a negative goodreads review

“I wish I could take Scooby-Doo aside, I want to say to him, these people are not your friends.”

ok, loving this vision for a Mummy movie.

opening our third eye to this innovative new version of omegaverse lore.

fanfiction

We’ve got found family stories this week! Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec. And a quick note: since we’ve had some submissions in our bank for years now, there are a fair number of people who asked to link to their Twitter accounts back in the day who are clearly not on Twitter anymore. Because we’re no longer willing to include X links in the newsletter, period, we’re making an executive call that we just won’t link to these often locked, seemingly abandoned accounts; I’ll always check to see if the same username is clearly the same person on Bluesky or Tumblr, but if not, I’ll just include your name as the reccer. — Elizabeth

“Corps-à-Corps” by onthearrow. 223K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Attack on Titan; Ship: Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith
Recced by: witchm
Backstory: AU where Levi is a fencing club owner and coach and Erwin is former fencer coming back to the sport to cope with a recent love. The two meet, become fast, friends, and fall in love over their mutual passion for the sport.
Rec: Come for the fencing, stay for the beautiful found family. This author is able to write the action of sports in a way that makes you feel like you’re at a match and their author notes provide lovely context to the sport and NYC setting.
Content warnings: Grief, explicit sex

“Foreign Object” by audreycritter. 86K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Batman; Ship: Gen
Recced by: lurkinglurkerwholurks
Backstory: Bruce Wayne finds out he has a brain tumor, goes in for surgery, and then has to piece himself and his family back together again. To quote the summary, “This is written partly as character study, partly as family drama.”
Rec: This was my entry into BatFic and requires zero fandom knowledge. There’s a guy named Bruce who is also Batman and he loves his army of adopted children to pieces, but boy is their communication bad sometimes.
Content warnings: Cancer (but no character death), surgery, profanity

“cause in the back of my mind, i’m in the back of your car” by greatunironic. 68K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Stranger Things; Ship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Recced by: Ty
Backstory: This story takes place in an alternate universe where Steve grows up racing cars until the death of his rich estranged parents makes him leave the track in Italy (temporarily) for the small town of Hawkins Indiana where he meets his found family. No prior knowledge of stranger things is needed, the story starts with Steve already being a professional F1 driver.
Rec: I love following Steve on his journey of healing and recovery as he discovers who he is outside of racing which has been his whole world for his whole life. Along with Steve getting a second chance at a love with Eddie he never thought he’d get to have.
Content warnings: Major character injury, injury recovery

“Stay” by DavidBowieLovesYou. 103K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The House in the Cerulean Sea; Ship: Arthur Parnassus/Linus Baker
Recced by: queuest
Backstory: The House in the Cerulean Sea is a queer romance novel set in a world of magical beings where magical children often wind up in orphanages. Linus Baker is a caseworker who’s tasked with investigating a particularly important orphanage, and its house master, Arthur Parnassus.
Rec: The novel is told from Linus’s perspective, and this fic retraces the story from Arthur’s perspective. The characterization of Arthur is insightful and surprising and adds so much depth to the story. Arthur is a strong, caring, middle aged man who has grown through a lot of trauma, and it’s heartening to see how he has shaped himself into the man he wants to be so that he can help others.
Content warnings: Mentions of child abuse

“Area of Effectiveness” by SweetPollyOliver. 1.9K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023); Ship: Gen
Recced by: cx
Backstory: Honor Among Thieves has a pretty classic dnd party at its core, including Simon, a sorcerer who seems to roll a disproportionate number of nat!1s…
Rec: Set after the movie, this fic explores feeling insecure in your contributions to a found family in a sweet and thoughtful way.
Content warnings: N/A

“The Act of Creation Will Be Your Salvation” by scifigrl47. 85K words (part 1 of a 19-part 643K-word series), rated Mature.
Fandom: The Avengers; Ship: Steve/Tony
Recced by: Ella
Backstory: This story follows Tony Stark’s growth from a troubled teen trying to invent away his loneliness to an adult who has managed to find himself entangled with Captain America, his fellow Avengers, and a surprisingly willful robot, all of whom have become more like family than Tony would have ever predicted.
Rec: Scifigrl47 is a mainstay in Avengers fandom for a reason, and this series is one of my go-to long reads when I need something comforting. The opening fic is worth it on its own, and from there the series spins out into a delightful tale of love, found family, and some surprise kidfic via a bit of villainy and magic.
Content warnings: Eventual kid fic, if that’s not your thing

*has sex with you in a way that both advances the plot and reinforces the themes of your narrative arc*

— Aphrodite (@desire.gunmetolymp.us) January 20, 2026 at 7:03 PM

FINAL THOUGHT

For all the Heated Rivalry fans, my podcast Overinvested just posted our very enthusiastic analysis episode about the show! A topic dear to my heart both as a hockey fan and as a romance reader.

Have a relaxing weekend everyone! — Gav