The Rec Center #532
Hello all! This week we have some articles about rediscovered classic Doctor Who episodes (!), BlerDCon, and competitive Scrabble. Also some cool Batman fanart, and a curated rec list and explainer by Sara, introducing Lord John Grey from the Outlander universe! — Gav
new stuff
“Lost Doctor Who episodes found in ‘eclectic’ collection” by Isaac Ashea and Simon Ward at BBC News
“My flabber has never been so gasted.” Doctor Who fans (and actors—that quote is from Peter Purves, who played a companion to the first Doctor) around the world are rejoicing after a private collection yielded a pair of episodes that have been lost since the 1960s.
“I Attended My First BlerDCon and Found a Universe of Black Joy” by Delaina Dixon at Ebony
A report from the annual Black nerd-culture gathering BlerDCon in Washington, D.C.: “We have always been here. We may not have always had the places to gather.”
“Competitive Scrabble Is A Lexical Shitshow” by Stefan Fatsis at Defector
Get ready: that title really sets the tone for this piece. A deep dive on Scrabble competitions.
actually shane can move through montreal utterly without fear of a lestat visit because gay jocks and theater gays exert powerful energies that mutually repel each other to date scientists have only been able to reverse these fields once in human history, for the duration of "High School Musical 2"
— a one-man murdertwunk (@adspexi.bsky.social) February 26, 2026 at 2:21 PM
older stuff
“The accidental muse: How Björn Andrésen became the face of manga’s ‘beautiful boys’” by Urmi Chakraborty at Telegraph India
Following his breakout role in the 1971 drama Death in Venice, Swedish actor Björn Andrésen was crowned “the most beautiful boy in the world.” An international star at the age of 15, he became an unexpected muse to a generation of influential manga artists in Japan—but this fame came at great personal cost.
tumblr & beyond
Batman fanart by cubemanmileys
some insight into Spock’s home decor.
“you werent a gifted kid. those little weirdos from akira now those were gifted kids”
you learn something new every day.
a daily affirmation for fanfic writers.
fanfiction + explainer: Lord John Grey
Sara has been messing around in countless fandoms since the 90s and recently joined the small ranks of ten or so writers of the John Grey/Stephan von Namtzen ship. She can be found on tumblr and AO3.
The Lord John series by Diana Gabaldon includes novels, novellas, and short stories set in the same world as her Outlander books and centered on John Grey, a fan-favorite character who’s also the most central queer one in canon. You can read it having only watched the Outlander show (tbh that’s where most of my own knowledge of the main canon events comes from), or even on its own.
Lord John Grey appears in most Outlander novels, having a close but complicated relationship with the series’ main time-travel-romance couple, 18th-century Highlander Jamie Fraser and 20th-century nurse Claire Beauchamp. As an English soldier who lost his first love Hector in the rising of 1745, John initially despises Jamie, a notorious Jacobite he gets to know as a prisoner under his authority. But the two come to have a life-changing friendship, John falls hopelessly in love with him, and for complicated reasons ends up raising Jamie’s son as his own. His series takes place in the years leading up to then when John is still an active soldier and Jamie still his paroled prisoner.
David Berry as LJ in Outlander, always stealing any episode he’s in (gif by lordjohnwgrey)
As someone who by all rights should be an antagonist in the main series and a homosexual serving a government under which being that way is a crime, John is always in a pretty problematic position. But without giving him an unbelievable perspective for a man of his time and background, the series serves to flesh out the character as someone less prejudiced than Jamie in some ways but also a better man for having known him, and one of the surprising joys of the series is getting to know his family and how practically none of them are as conventional as you’d expect. As a gentleman whose sense of honor is everything to him, John regrets times he unquestioningly followed orders and is always prepared for the consequences of doing the right thing (and is constantly, sometimes comically, managing to get himself into trouble this way).
Much like Outlander, this series is hard to categorize. It’s marketed as historical mystery and involves Lord John investigating crimes that often end up being dangerously connected to his secret life. It generally lacks the melodrama elements of Outlander, but having a gay protagonist and the occasional romance and explicit sex, the series also sits somewhere adjacent to historical m/m romance. As a spin-off of books whose main appeal for most serious fans is the het romance, it’s had trouble finding the larger fanbase many think it deserves and also been a hard sell for Starz to green-light as a show (apparently it’s still not an impossibility, though). The second novel has a particularly enjoyable mix of various genre elements: a romantic sub-plot as John starts an affair with his new step-brother, a mystery that’s especially intriguing and personal for him and his family, great battle scenes, great bits of humor, and the same obsessively researched historical detail that’s typical of all Gabaldon’s writing.
Note the right reading order, not really obvious by the way the series has been published. The audiobooks by Jeff Woodman are some of the best I’ve listened to and especially recommended. — Sara
“Carried Through Many Nations and Over Many Seas” by st_aurafina. 2.7K words, rated Teen.
Ship: John Grey/Percy Wainwright
Backstory: John’s step-brother Percy is the only person he pursues a serious relationship with throughout the series. After the events of The Brotherhood of the Blade separate them, John is able to get back in touch with Percy when he discovers a painting of him.
Rec: This is a bittersweet but satisfying sort of coda to this relationship with spot-on portrayals of the characters’ differences and the unshakeable affection that remains between them all the same.
Content warnings: N/A
“I Hunger and You Thirst” by tangentsandbubbles. 10K words, rated Mature.
Ship: John Grey/Charlie Carruthers
Backstory: Charlie is one of several soldiers we learn John slept with casually while he was still grieving for Hector. This gives both men’s perspectives on what happened between them.
Rec: Sweet, sexy, and sad, this makes a believable backstory for these two based on what little we know about their past.
Content warnings: N/A
“Taking the Waters” by st_aurafina. 2.8K words, rated Teen.
Ship: John Grey/Stephan von Namtzen
Backstory: A Hanoverian nobleman who serves with John in Prussia, Stephan stands apart from John’s other love interests in interesting ways; he is his social equal, a widower and father, and has never allowed himself to act on his feelings for men. Their strong friendship is emblematic of how the fraternity of fellow soldiers is especially important and meaningful to John as a gay man. This is about Stephan visiting John during a skipped-over period in the books that John spends recovering from injuries.
Rec: This is beautifully written and perfectly captures the comfort and unspoken understanding between these two while sprinkling in some nice sexual tension.
Content warnings: N/A
“Tasting Sunshine” by BornDifferent. 6.4K words, rated Explicit.
Ship: John Grey/Stephan von Namtzen
Backstory: Fairy AU about John and Stephan as fae from different realms.
Rec: Creates a really fun fantasy setting and a very hot, playful, and sweet dynamic between the two, all written with lovely imagery.
Content warnings: N/A
“A god-sent hawk to watch over him” by Angstosaur. 2.5K words, Not Rated.
Ship: Gen (unless you squint); John Grey & Jamie Fraser, Tom Byrd, Harry Quarry
Backstory: In The Scottish Prisoner, John is badly injured fighting a duel for Jamie’s sake at a point that their relationship has been especially fraught. This gives us the immediate aftermath from Jamie’s perspective.
Rec: A really touching missing scene showing Jamie confronted with his complicated feelings about John, who he’s had plenty of reason to resent but desperately doesn’t want to see die. Some great interaction between Jamie and John’s young valet Tom is also always a plus.
Content warnings: N/A
when you post like a pervert you lose those who are lost but gain those who are enlightened by the forces of toxic yaoi
— akisguns archives (@akisgunsarchives.bsky.social) August 6, 2025 at 7:18 PM
FINAL THOUGHT
Attention OFMD fandom and beyond! The Our Family, Our Fight group is currently running a fandom auction and craft sale to raise money for the American Immigration Council. (They’ve already raised more than $50K!) The auction/sale runs through next Saturday, March 21st. — Elizabeth