Hello all! Gav has spent the past week, per her description, “Staying in a lighthouse on a small island in Scotland, surrounded by puffins.” While we all take a moment to dream that we, too, are in a lighthouse on a small Scottish island surrounded by puffins, the newsletter will be one of our occasional “just fanworks” editions as a result. A multifandom grab-bag of fic, art, and vids—thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth

fanfiction & fanart

The Pitt fanart by mottesk

“it’ll cost you, not enough to bring you down” by notlichenthis. 2.6K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV); Ships: Kip Grady & Ilya Rozanov, Kip Grady/Scott Hunter, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Recced by: AirgiodSLV
Backstory: This is set during an All-Star weekend after Scott Hunter (hockey player) comes out with his boyfriend Kip Grady, making their first public appearance as a couple. In the show, Scott’s decision to come out has a huge impact on Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, who are in a long-time secret relationship.
Rec: This story does a great job of exploring the characters as real people in addition to the public figures and symbols they’ve become. There’s a strong sense of community, with conversational leaps and intuition that happen due to shared experience and understanding.
Content warnings: N/A

“Sagrona Teema” by ReyAndor19. 20K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Andor, Rogue One, Star Wars; Ship: Vel Sartha/Cinta Kaz
Recced by: theaceofdragons
Backstory: In a modern AU, Vel’s homophobic, marriage-happy family won’t stop bothering her about finding a man to settle down, so she and her friend Cassian get married to shut them up—right before Vel meets Cinta, the love of her life. Chaos, loosely inspired by the plot of Bollywood movie ‘Badhaai Do,’ ensues.
Rec: I really liked how sweet this story was without ignoring the pain of dealing with a homophobic family. Vel’s situation with her family of origin will never be fully okay, but queer joy prevails and, if you’ll permit me a vague spoiler, not everyone is unwilling to learn and grow.
Content warnings: Homophobia

“A Midafternoon Beetdown” by whaleofatime. 4K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Batman; Ship: Gen
Recced by: vel0cipede
Backstory: Jason Todd, AKA Red Hood, cosplays a beet farmer to manage a tricky hostage situation.
Rec: This fic had me cracking up the whole way through. It’s fun, comedic, and the exact opposite of a drag.
Content warnings: Canon-typical depictions of violence

“Ink” by ficlicious. 3.6K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: MCU; Ship: Tony/Bucky/Steve
Recced by: phoebe
Backstory: Bucky is undercover on a shield mission. He didn’t know Steve and Tony before this fic. Tony and Steve blow his cover by messing with each other. They don’t realize they have a 3rd soulmate.
Rec: FEEEEELINGSSSS. Bucky’s quiet fondness for the art appearing and also his ANGER that they’re gonna screw up his mission.
Content warnings: Mention of Bucky in an isolated dark cell while he waits for rescue

“​​Covers” by cordial. 2K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Untamed (TV); Ships: Qin Su/Wen Qing; Qin Su & Jin Guangyao
Recced by: soph
Backstory: Canon divergence fic, set in the Sunshot Campaign era of canon, in which Qin Su and Wen Qing join forces along with Meng Yao to spy on the Wens.
Rec: Qin Su is a character who I always love to see being given more scope for complexities and personhood and decisions than we get to see in canon, and this fic delivers! It also really lets itself inhabit that uncomfortable period where Wen Qing is working for Wen Ruohan and everything that means. And the subtleties of how the relationships between Qin Su and Wen Qing and Meng Yao are portrayed in this fic, in such a small space, are so good!
Content warnings: N/A

“Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes” series by TakePenAndInk. 197K words over 5 works, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Endeavour (TV); Ship: Endeavour Morse/Max de Bryn
Recced by: halotolerant
Backstory: Endeavour is a prequel series to the ‘Inspector Morse’ 1990s detective show, set in Oxford in the 1960s where intellectual, spiky Morse attempts to solve murders and his own struggles with happiness. Max de Bryn is a pathologist, friend and one of the few equal to Endeavour Morse’s personality.
Rec: This series is a truly beautiful exploration of life as queer men in 1960s England when being gay was still an imprisonable offence. Set in and around S1 canon onwards, Max and Endeavour meet whilst cottaging, and from unpromising origins, love grows…
Content warnings: Canon-typical murder investigations, period-typical homophobia, mental health issues

“Diaspora” by redstapler. 1.7K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Gravity Falls; Ship: Gen
Recced by: BeatriceBabe
Backstory: Stan and Ford Pines are brothers who became estranged through circumstances in high school. One spent thirty years wandering dimensions, the other spent thirty years pretending to be his brother. They are canonically Jewish characters. The fic is a collection of snippets about their lives as Jewish people, but the holidays specifically mentioned are Rosh Hashonah and Passover.
Rec: The fic has a strong emphasis on family, where you find it and how you miss it and how you find it again, which is very well-written.
Content warnings: N/A

And some vids!

“Poison & Wine - Dean/Castiel” by Ren. 3:40, rated Teen.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Dean/Castiel
Recced by: Karen
Backstory: For those of you like me who used to be VERY into deancas and have since moved on, this is such a potent and horrible sucker punch to the feels, it immediately takes me back to 2011 and how epic deancas was/is.
Rec: Everything about this—the song, the choice of clips, the fact that it was made in a certain moment in the series and remains a snapshot of the things that were—it gets me every time, it captures everything that’s great about this pairing—the angst, the fragile hope, the wartime romance, the universe-bending FATE of it all. "I don’t have a choice but I still choose you" Like!!!! Fuck me up!!!!
Content warnings: Violence, blood

“Starships” by bironic. 3:37, rated Teen.
Fandoms: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien/Aliens, Apollo 13, Archer, Battlestar Galactica (2004-8), Cocoon, Community, Doctor Who (2005-), Dune, Farscape, The Fifth Element, Firefly/Serenity, Forbidden Planet, Futurama, Galaxy Quest, Independence Day, The Muppet Show, Odyssey 5, Planet of the Apes (1968), Spaceballs, Star Trek (TOS, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager; movies II, IV, VII, VIII and XI/Reboot), Star Wars IV & V, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Sunshine, Superman (1978), Toy Story 2, Virtuality, WALL-E; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Roz
Backstory: Made for Club Vivid in 2012, this is a multi-fandom vid for all things SPAAACE!
Rec: The editing is so precise and it’s just a joy to watch.
Content warnings: N/A

FINAL THOUGHT

Of course I demanded Gav share a picture of said island. 🥰