Hello all! I hope everyone who’s been watching enjoys this final weekend of the Olympics. 🥲 (Though it’s only a few weeks until the Paralympics!) Today we’ve got articles on Pinterest’s AI turn, some Brontë-related architecture, and older gay hockey fans watching Heated Rivalry. Plus Femslash February marches onward with some lovely Pluribus fanart and a new batch of F/F fic recs. — Elizabeth

new stuff

“Pinterest Is Drowning in a Sea of AI Slop and Auto-Moderation” by Matthew Gault at 404 Media
Pinterest has long been an important space for a lot of fans. How are things going over there today? Well…

“Jane Aerie” by Anna Ballan at New York Review of Architecture
A fascinating piece about the Villa Charlotte Brontë in the Bronx—once described by the Times as “a fantasy sandcastle for the Amalfi Coast designed by M.C. Escher”—and the architecture of Brontë’s work.

“Older gay men built their own hockey fandom. Then came ‘Heated Rivalry.’” by Sara Luterman at The 19th
“‘The idea is that they can’t come out because they’re in the hypermasculine world of hockey,’ Holmes said. ‘But when I was growing up, that was my reality everywhere. It wasn’t just hockey, it was life.’” A lovely article about fandom spaces carved out by older gay hockey fans.

imagine if you were a vampire that lived for 100s of years but you just had a regular guy's memory. Like a normal person. "What was Venice like in the 14th century" Ahhh, I don't...I don't fucking remember. There was a guy, Vincenzo? Maybe that was the 15th century. Wait, did I live in Venice?

— (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve (@braak.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 11:00 AM

older stuff

“Can Fandom Make Us Better Tourists?” by Kayti Burt at Fansplaining
“The best of fandom isn’t transactional. It’s moments of unlikely connection between strangers or friends who might not have crossed paths, let alone traveled them together, if not for loving the same thing.”

tumblr & beyond

Pluribus fanart by aphrostiel

Links to some vintage Kirk/Spock zines!

“there are some ships out there that do not speak to me personally but i am an understander for.”

can’t believe they’re desecrating the artistic integrity of the Transformers franchise

Sebulba the GOAT

“i think every comic fan should have at least 1 favorite character whose characterization peaked 20+ years ago”

fanfiction

Femslash February continues! (Here’s Week 1 and Week 2.) Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth

“can i come over, is it too late?” by knifetop. 3K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Pitt; Ship: Melissa “Mel” King/Trinity Santos
Recced by: fly_to_dawn
Backstory: Post-S1 of The Pitt, Mel and Trinity hanging out and getting together.
Rec: The character voices are spot-on, and it’s so cute and fun.
Content warnings: Canon-typical mentions of: child sexual abuse/related power dynamics, addiction, shooting/guns

“Fifteen Reasons to Do The Right Thing” by kl_morgan. 16K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Orange is the New Black; Ship: Alex/Piper
Recced by: A
Backstory: Alex is in jail for drug smuggling. Piper, Alex’s ex, is in jail for helping Alex in said smuggling.
Rec: It does a great job at looking at Alex and Piper complexly: they’re not perfect, they’re not evil and they’re not caricatures. It’s also very funny.
Content warnings: Canon-typical drug use

“in your jeans” by aftermidnight (blackcat_desertfox). 3.3K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Twice (K-Pop group); Ship: Dahyun/Jihyo
Recced by: c
Backstory: Twice is K-Pop girl group, but this fic uses Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down” as a vehicle to explore the feelings of being stuck and closeted (literally and figuratively) as Dahyun grapples with her feelings for Jihyo who is hooking up with someone in the other room.
Rec: This fic feels like unpacking those feelings you had for your “best friend” back in high school.
Content warnings: Closeted character

“kept thing” by yoprismo. 1.6K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Alicia Banes/Billie
Recced by: Androids
Backstory: Alicia Banes is a side character who dies and is resurrected as a twig doll; Billie is a psychopomp who is later promoted to the role of literal death. The erotic potential of Alicia’s twig doll status is really interesting to me, and it’s fun to see it exploited.
Rec:
Content warnings: Consent is functionally not possible in this scenario

“who ya gonna call?” by igneousbitch. 25K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Locked Tomb; Ship: Gideon/Harrow
Recced by: Eclectic-hellscape
Backstory: Buzzfeed Unsolved AU with true believer Harrow and camera-woman turned skeptic co-host Gideon. Frenemies with benefits related shenanigans ensue.
Rec: This work perfectly captures Muir’s characters. They are hilarious and tragic and hopeless lesbians. Truly a great time.
Content warnings: N/A

And we got THREE recs for this fic, so as we often do, we’ve combined them:

“I am the private room” by anonymous. 9.4K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV); Ship: Svetlana Vetrova/Yuna Hollander
Recced by: Gideonisms, anatsuno, and epistrophic
Backstory: Gideonisms writes: After the events of the show, Ilya’s best friend Svetlana meets Shane’s mom, Yuna. The two unexpectedly connect and Svetlana attempts to convince Yuna to have a secret tryst of their own.
Rec: Gideonisms writes: This fic gives Svetlana her due with a POV that’s funny, charming, and heartbreaking all at once. The angst and yearning are just delicious!
anatsuno writes: I love that it gives these women more interiority and life, a chance to be as full and complex and interesting as the guys. I really enjoyed the inner voice of Svetlana, but also the perception and nuances of Yuna that we get through Svetlana’s eyes.
epistrophic writes: Sexy, heartbreaking, and so thematically rich—just a gorgeous piece of writing.
Content warnings: Infidelity, age gap

Writing a fix-it AU for a fandom who's just experienced The Horrors is like how I imagine it was being a medieval innkeeper during a blizzard or something Yes good people come and sit by my fire nothing can hurt you here

— leupagus (@leupagus.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 4:52 PM

FINAL THOUGHT

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that the Hugo nomination deadline was coming up. However! We got the dates wrong, and Hugo nominations are actually open now through to March 28. If you’re able to nominate, we’d greatly appreciate your consideration! The Rec Center itself is eligible in the best fanzine category, and a couple of our side projects are eligible elsewhere: Overinvested for best fancast, and Fansplaining for best semipro zine.

If you want more info on the Hugo voting process (and how to participate), we recommend this piece by Molly Templeton. And if you’re looking for more recs to nominate in other categories across the board, Renay publishes a very useful Hugo spreadsheet of eligible works.

Thanks everyone!! We really appreciate your support—a few years ago the Rec Center landed enough nominations to reach the Hugo longlist, and we’d love to get there again someday.

Have a great weekend! — Gav