Hello all! This week we have articles about HBO’s increasingly franchise-heavy lineup and Universal’s decision to skip influencer screenings for The Odyssey. Plus a few podcast episodes, our weekly update from Fansplaining, a list of multifandom fic recs, and more! — Gav

new stuff

“It’s Not TV, It’s IP: Is HBO’s Newfound Franchise Focus Smart?” by Ben Lindbergh at The Ringer
“HBO’s lineup of dramas has never gotten this geeky—or this full of familiar properties. Is the network’s new franchise focus an identity crisis or a shrewd strategy?” An interesting piece on HBO’s franchise turn.

“Universal Is Skipping Influencer Screenings for The Odyssey. Film Critics Are Thrilled” by Miles Klee at WIRED
For the past few years, critics’ access to films, TV, and books has dwindled as studios and publishers have prioritized influencers, who are incentivized to give glowing reviews for continued access. Nolan’s Odyssey is bucking this trend, skipping influencer screenings entirely.

“Draculae part 4: Transformation” by Helen Zaltzman at The Allusionist
The Allusionist has been doing a series this past month called “Draculae,” about a host of translated knockoff Draculas that were published shortly after the original. This fourth installment—which stands alone—takes a step back to talk about transformative works on a whole, and it stars…Elizabeth! (Ed. note: This episode might win the award for “best job by a non-fanfiction person who’s ever interviewed me”—so well researched and thoughtful!!)

Watching the video from The Ring on my phone so she comes out of my screen real tiny and I can just put her in a mug

— Sebas (@ohlookbirdies.bsky.social) June 28, 2026 at 1:11 PM

new stuff: fansplaining

“Be Gay, Do (Sea) Crimes: Pirate Tropes and Queer Resistance” by Lin Codega
Fansplaining editor Lin is also a novelist, and their queer pirate novel, Pasha the Storm, is out this week! In a related essay, they wrote a sweeping history of queer themes within pirate narratives, from contemporary stories around real pirates to subtextual stuff in the 19th/20th centuries to explicitly queer pirate shows like Black Sails and Our Flag Means Death.

“The Vampire Lestat: Hurtling Towards End Times” by Gav
Portents of doom abound in episode 4, where Armand returns to share some highly dubious apology statements, Lestat looks back to a pivotal moment in his relationship with Gabriella, and Louis sets off along a disturbing path with Claudia’s lookalike Regina.

Also for TVL fans: Gav recorded an in-depth review of the first three episodes on her podcast Overinvested! Many, many thoughts to share on the show’s original music, its exploration of toxic relationships, its ambitious narrative structure, and much more.

it wouldve been funny if goldfinger wasnt a movie and just a crazy song about a guy shirley bassey made up

— Cullen (@hellocullen.bsky.social) June 27, 2026 at 2:05 PM

older stuff

“Love and Lattes” by Alexandra Lange at Dirt
“Our desire to participate in public life, and our yearning for unexpected encounters, has only increased, while the number of spaces in which to have either has shrunk.”

tumblr & beyond

Widow’s Bay fanart by brimblebramble

unfortunately this is indeed an ideal reference point that most people will not understand

“DAMN Lady Snapplecap!”

it’s time to put your blorbo on trial.

“vader every time he came across 3po and r2 during the war probably”

okay these star trek TOS console buttons actually look..... sooo edible.

fanfiction

We’ve got a grab-bag this week! Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth

“Tikkun Olam” by RivkaT and MustangSally. 80K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The X-Files; Ships: Mulder/Scully, Mulder/OFC, Scully/Krycek, Mulder/Scully/Krycek, Mulder/Scully/OFC
Recced by: fernybranca
Backstory: This story follows Mulder and Scully through a kaleidoscope of alternate universes as they try to solve the murder of Scully’s doppelgänger—the prime suspect being Mulder’s doppelgänger—and figure out who set reality askew, then get back to their original state.
Rec: This is a story that could, in some ways, have been a monster-of-the-week episode, but it features plenty of nods to the conspiracy, too. It’s a perfect showcase for RivkaT and MustangSally’s mastery of characterization, and its frenetic pace makes it feel much shorter than its wordcount. A masterpiece of a fic.
Content warnings: Violence and murder, including the death of children and domestic violence; rape; major character death, selfcest

“sweet spark” by miosis. 14K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Men’s Hockey RPF; Ship: Jonathan Drouin/Nathan Mackinnon
Recced by: Bee
Backstory: Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon are two NHL players who did juniors hockey together more than a decade ago. This fic puts them in that last year of high school, gender-flipped, with Nate still a hockey player but Jo a figure skater.
Rec: This is a different Nate/Jo to a lot of fic out there. They’re younger, they’re lesbians, and though they’re still very talented physically they’re a little bit lost in the big wide world of feelings and growing up. It’s Nate’s POV: she is the only girl on an otherwise all-boy team, isolated by her gender as well as her talent, and grappling with how her sexuality sets her apart too. It’s painful and lovely to read. Content warnings: Queerphobia, high school

“One Shot” by InsaneTrollLogic. 1.5K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Gen
Recced by: theirprofoundbond
Backstory: Takes place after the Season 1 finale, Devil’s Trap, in which a demon-possessed semi truck driver T-boned the Impala, and Sam, Dean, and John were all last seen in the wrecked cab, injured and not conscious.
Rec: This very short one-shot packs a hell of a punch! I carry this around in my head as a fantastic series ending for Supernatural, if that ending were to take place right after the season 1 finale.
Content warnings: Pre-story character death

“Bloody Nature” by Basingstoke. 9.4K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005); Ship: Ninth Doctor/Martha Jones
Recced by: doomedblade
Backstory: Martha is so underappreciated by the Tenth Doctor, but I really can’t help think that Nine would get her so much more.
Rec: I love the use of the 1926 General Strike as background for the story; it’s a super refreshing retelling of a Tenth Doctor episode that is otherwise quite middle class coded.
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence

“so little time and I’m way off track” by defractum. 25K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù; Ship: Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian
Recced by: phnelt
Backstory: This fic is a gender flipped modern with cultivation AU where a scam artist is impersonating Wei Ying and creating what is basically a pyramid scheme to extort unsuspecting people.
Rec: It’s a casefic with lesbians! Defractum is one of the funniest writers out there with an unerring eye for human details that give the humour an extra punch. Lan Zhan and Wei Ying team up to take down the demonic cultivation scam and reunite and find love while they are at it. This is the wlw mlm fic. (multi-level marketing) Content warnings: N/A

“what we deserve” by ghostalservice. 23K words, (with an 8K sequel), rated Explicit.
Fandoms: The Pitt, ER (1994), Animal Kingdom; Ship: John Carter (ER TV 1994)/Andrew "Pope" Cody Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Recced by: Lara
Backstory: In the grand fandom tradition of crossing the same actors’ multiple projects with each other, the PopeCarter ship (Andrew “Pope” Cody from Animal Kingdom and John Carter from ER, generally as related to their actors’ characters from the Pitt) has more than 30 fics on AO3.
Rec: This story goes through the history of how these different characters might meet and interact, and does a beautiful job intersecting and shifting the timelines to make things work. Both characters have terrible things happen to them; this asks what if they’d had someone there to help them through those things.
Content warnings: All three shows are pretty bloody, and this has similar levels

scenes without mommy’s face in them are unnecessary in movies. it does nothing to advance the story of where did mommy go

— leon (@leyawn.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 10:39 AM

FINAL THOUGHT

Tomorrow, I and the other editors of Fansplaining have a slot on FanonRadio, a super interesting project around transformative fandom. We’re on at noon European Central time, so perhaps a bit too early for anyone in North America, but not for folks in other parts of the world! There’s a wide range of stuff lined up, so it should be interesting to tune in at a random time, too! — Elizabeth