Hello everyone! This week we have articles on the predictable right-wing backlash over the new Odyssey movie, Japan’s zine scene, and Disney adults in debt. Over in the Fansplaining corner, Aja Romano reports on growing censorship around creative works—including fanworks—around the world, and Gav’s TVL recaps continue with an episode we both felt was one of the best of the series. Plus: Piranesi fanart and time travel/time loop fics! — Elizabeth

new stuff

“The New Odyssey Movie Is Sparking a Right-Wing Backlash. This Female Scholar Knows It Well” by John Semley at WIRED
Classicist Emily Wilson has been making the rounds through the media this week, discussing the similarities between the right-wing culture-warrior backlash to Christopher Nolan’s new film and her own largely celebrated translation in 2017. “We’re focusing too much on the Twitter warriors,” she tells WIRED’s reporter. “There’s a lot of the world beyond the toxic swamp of the internet.”

“‘AI simply can’t replicate it’: Japan embraces zine trend” by Natsuko Fukue and Atish Patel at Japan Times
“People can ‘feel the creator’s passion when they hold the work in their hands. I think that’s what makes it so appealing.’” On the booming zine scene in Japan.

“Are Disney Adults the Happiest Debtors on Earth?” by Amelia Tait at The New Yorker
“When you’re not in reality, a twenty-dollar coffee isn’t a real coffee. It’s a Disney coffee.” An interesting reported piece on Disney fans and finances—and how a fair portion of them go into debt to pursue their fandom.

"Welcome to Kansas City, where Ecuador has struggled to score against Curaçao." Meanwhile, across town, Samantha was also struggling with curaçao, and she, too, was trying to score

— Brian Phillips (@brianphillips.lol) June 20, 2026 at 9:18 PM

new stuff: fansplaining

“The Global Crackdown on Creativity” by Aja Romano
We’re seeing growing censorship around creative works in both in pro and fan spaces, centering on queer art, erotic art, or both. In this feature, Aja looks at several recent cases (the imprisonment of danmei author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu; an Australian author who faced jail time for her erotica; a Russian fic writer who was sentenced to hard labor for her Stray Kids fanfiction) and weaves together the worrying worldwide trends around censorship and art.

“The Vampire Lestat: You Have to Ask for It” by Gav
In her third recap, Gav digs into the show’s bold and multilayered exploration of sexual violence and its traumatic aftermath, in a stunning episode that draws together the experiences of Lestat and Claudia—and introduces Lestat’s vampiric maker Magnus, who stars in an absolutely wild music video. (P.S., Gav also interviewed Magnus’s actor Damien Atkins this week!)

That's enough Death of the Author. It's time for Death of the Audience. Start running fools

— nige 'dear ratboy' (@niall.codes) June 20, 2026 at 9:08 AM

older stuff

“For K-Pop Fans, Devotion Can Come at a High Price” by Biju Belinky at Vice
“As the huge queues at BTS’ London pop-up showed this week, merch matters. But keeping up appearances as a fan has its price.” On K-pop stan culture and consumer fandom.

tumblr & beyond

Piranesi fanart by riff-raaf

“This bed ain’t big enough for the both of us.”

impossible to argue with this summary of black sails.

in praise of Pern!

"the least-pressed button in the history of the internet"

Widow’s Bay credits in the style of Parks and Rec!

fanfiction

This week we’ve got time travel in a variety of forms, including a number of time loops! Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth

“Do it Again” by thisgirlsays22. 6.8K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Witcher; Ship: Geralt/Jaskier
Recced by: burntheedges
Backstory: Geralt is a Witcher (magically enhanced monster hunter), Jaskier is a bard. They travel together and Jaskier writes songs about how great Geralt is. This fic picks up from TV canon at the end of season 1 episode 6, “Rare Species,” when Geralt has just lost his temper and blamed Jaskier for all of his problems, basically. Borch, who is a man and a dragon at the same time, curses Geralt into a time loop to fix it (this does not happen in canon).
Rec: Often in time loops characters don’t know what’s happening right away, but in this fic Geralt knows from the very first moment. He knows how curses work and Borch warns him. He is aware and approaches it almost systematically in the beginning, and yet, like everyone stuck in a time loop, Geralt doesn’t get it right for a loooong time. It’s delicious and funny and angsty and sad and lovely.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence, temporary time loop deaths (one is warned in the summary, for example), minor character death

“Met You at the Right Time” by bookglue. 59K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Gilmore Girls; Ship: Jess Mariano/Rory Gilmore
Recced by: buddieboos
Backstory: Ah those famous last words at the end of A Year In The Life: Rory is pregnant and single and has to figure out what comes next. What’s better to avoid the various related questions than getting stuck and bounced around time a little bit.
Rec: I stopped watching GG after Jess and Rory broke up because what is the point right. But this fic manages to provide a satisfying ending for the two of them while also staying true to their characters and the many changes they’ve gone through in the interim, and sheds a lot of light on what may have happened between them that we didn’t get to see.
Content warnings: Major character death (canonical)

“Little Ship Lost” by Beatrice_Otter. 11K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation; Ship: Gen
Recced by: coldbrewraktajino
Backstory: A small spaceship from war-ravaged late 21st century Earth has just popped out of a wormhole in front of the Enterprise.
Rec: This deftly paints a picture of favorite TNG crew and the Post Atomic Horrors era of history.
Content warnings: References to the trauma of a collapsing society

“Retrograde” by Pinkninja. 107K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: The Old Guard concerns a found family of extremely long-lived immortals, including Joe and Nicky, who have been a couple for 900+ years. This fic keeps everything we see in canon but puts a unique spin on “The Time Traveler’s Wife” in the mix, too.
Rec: It’s so good. I love the premise and how the author applied the involuntary time-travel premise to immortality, as well as how the characters handle it and the push-and-pull of the lovers, always out of sync but never with each other. And their ending(s)!
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence

“always find me here” by robotsdance. 24K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV); Ship: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Recced by: anon
Backstory: This is canon divergent after the fifth episode of season eight. Jaime lives and is on trial, by combat; Brienne is Daenerys’ champion.
Rec: The amount of emotional entanglement, pain and catharsis that robotsdance wrings out of the many, many, many, many times Jaime lives through this day is unreal and yet inevitable. The sparse style robotsdance writes in is incredibly evocative, brace yourself. Content warnings: Canon-typical violence, relationship trauma, suicidal ideation

“Fall In Love Again and Again” by Ehlihr. 25K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Heated Rivalry; Ship: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Recced by: myspaceshipleavesat10
Backstory: Time loop shenanigans! Shane lives through TunaMeltGate, and then wakes up the next day—on the same day. He experiences the day 81 times, and in the course of that time goes through a lot of self discovery.
Rec: Just an absolutely delightful time loop story!
Content warnings: Each loop ends when Shane dies through miscellaneous cranial hemorrhaging. Chapter 2 is Ilya’s POV (which he doesn’t remember) of each time he encounters Shane acting weird then dying.

Reading niche queer fandom discourse makes me feel like an empress being entertained by her gladiators

— Vivian Jenna Wilson (@thevivllainous.bsky.social) June 23, 2026 at 3:50 PM

FINAL THOUGHT

That’s all, folks! Have a relaxing weekend! — Gav