Hello everyone! This week we have articles about the ouster of (Tumblr owner) Automattic’s CEO Matt Mullenweg, Afrofuturism at Dragon Con, and Gav on Strange New Worlds. In the Fansplaining corner, another Trek piece—what to do if you kid hates your fandom!—and recaps continue for HBO’s Lanterns. Plus! Hannibal fanart and a back-to-school fic rec list featuring a variety of educational settings. — Elizabeth

new stuff

“Automattic’s board forces CEO Matt Mullenweg into leave of absence” by Julie Bort and Sarah Perez at Techcrunch
The wildly unpopular boss of Tumblr is OUT. Click through for some insight into his personal brand as a manager, such as the time he encouraged 150 employees to quit, and his recent accusations of a conspiracy involving the theft of his digital camera at Burning Man. Whatta guy!

“Afrofuturism gives Black creatives of Dragon Con visions of innovation and resilience” by Kendall Murry at WABE
This past weekend was the 40th Dragon Con, and this piece from Atlanta’s public radio affiliate looks at how Afrofuturism has resonated with Black fans and creators there.

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Best Episode of the Season Is a High-Stakes Thriller” by Gav at TV Guide
Loosely tying into Star Trek’s 60th anniversary this week, we wanted to share this recommendation for a recent episode of Strange New Worlds. “Off-Hour” is an unexpected highlight in the current season of SNW, because as this review explains, the show often struggles with the more serious side of Star Trek.

Call Me by Your Ishmael

— Pru (@prufrockluvsong.bsky.social) September 10, 2026 at 2:41 PM

new stuff: fansplaining

“Fandom: The Next Generation” by Matthew Razak
“It might have been the first time in his life that he hoped bedtime would come sooner.” One for all the fannish parents out there! A charming and thoughtful essay about realizing—and accepting—that your love of something (in this case, Star Trek) isn’t necessarily genetic.

“Lanterns: Infiltrating the Weenie” by Gav
Following episode 3’s intriguing new twist on John Stewart’s origin story, episode 4 inspired a more critical response from Gav. This show doesn’t always succeed in its attempt to combine sci-fi, crime drama, and neo-Western vibes, struggling to inject enough tension into the Manhunter storyline.

[observing someone’s obsessive passion project] wow i really like whatever’s wrong with that guy

— James (@james.tarnation.lol) November 28, 2025 at 6:40 PM

older stuff

“The Physical Phenomenon” by Gwyneth Cheng at Kontinentalist
“In the age of digital streaming, how does the Korean pop music industry still profit massively from physical albums?” An interesting dataviz story about K-pop CD sales.

tumblr & beyond

Hannibal fanart by char-marr

it’s time to revive that fandom!

Alexander Siddig has such a proud legacy from DS9...

“can u imagine the bottles Naboo was popping when they found out Luke Skywalker is Padmé’s son.”

“i can't really explain it but yn and reader are two completely different people”

a brief but crucial creative triumph in the new Avatar: The Last Airbender movie.

“Reading Jane Austen at 30 really hits different than reading her at 15”

fanfiction

It’s back to school time! We’ve got educational settings of all sorts, from elementary school all the way up to the university level, with some fics focusing on students and others on faculty and staff. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth

“Let’s Not” by Rokikurama. 24K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Good Omens; Ship: Aziraphale/Crowley
Recced by: tackedtothewall
Backstory: A non-student focused university AU where Aziraphale is an Assistant Professor and Crowley is the Assistant Vice President of Student Services. The conflict between Heaven and Hell is now the countless conflicts of academia.
Rec: As someone who has been both a postgrad and university staff, this was some spot-on storytelling. Almost painfully accurate in places!
Content warnings: N/A

“school’s out for the summer” by kiaronna. 26K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Magnus Archives; Ship: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Recced by: laiqualaurelote
Backstory: The Magnus Archives is a podcast about an institution that researches the supernatural; it is narrated (at least, to begin with) by Jonathan Sims, the newly appointed Head Archivist. In this AU, Jon is head teacher of The Magnus Institute for Gifted Young Minds, Martin is the new hire, and the monsters are all kids (but also still pretty monstrous).
Rec: This AU is adorable while continuing to remain eerily true to canon - the way the eldritch monsters of the original are rendered as believably creepy kids is highly enjoyable.
Content warnings: References to depression, minor mention of canon-typical worms

“Oxford Blues” by raitala. 8.5K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù; Ship: Mobei-jun/Shang Qinghua
Recced by: soph
Backstory: A modern AU rule 63 fic, where Mobei-jun and Shang Qinghua meet as college roommates.
Rec: I love sqh’s narrative POV, she’s so funny! And the moshang is super cute—mbj and sqh are both bad at communicating, in very different ways, and mbj is doing her best! I also appreciate that the setting isn’t generic, that it’s set in a specific college and the details about it are made use of to build out a sense of place and context.
Content warnings: N/A

“Macdonald Hall is Fabulous” by Nimori. 11K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Macdonald Hall series; Ship: Boots O’Neal/Bruno Walton
Recced by: sasha
Backstory: Nationally beloved YA series about pranks, rapscallions, and hijinks at an all-boys Ontario boarding school. Bruno and Boots are longtime roommates and best friends, the troublemaker and the hapless sensible one...you connect the dots.
Rec: Genuinely convinced that this was written by Gordon Korman himself on a burner account. The tone & dialogue is a pitch-perfect match for the dudes rock boarding school CanCon camaraderie of the original series, but now there’s gay guys. Impeccable. Content warnings: N/A

“Explaining is Losing” by Sixthlight. 12K words, Explicit.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Joe/Nicky
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: The Old Guard is a movie about a found family of extremely long-lived immortals, within which Joe and Nicky are an established couple who met on opposite sides of a religious war.
Rec: This is one of my all-time favorite fics in the fandom by one of my all-time favorite authors in the fandom. It’s funny and clever and sexy, with enough plot and familiar faces to flesh out its rich little world.
Content warnings: N/A

“The Evening Speaks” by nbfutureboy. 23K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016); Ship: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler Recced by: izzy
Backstory: No powers/upside down/supernatural stuff. The kids are all in college, it’s the early 90s, and Mike has a late night radio show Will keeps tuning into. Will starts calling in to request songs, and a relationship develops from there.
Rec: Highly recommend you listen to the songs mentioned while reading. nbfutureboy perfectly captures the dialogue and friendship vibes of the show, blending them seamlessly into this new setting.
Content warnings: Period-typical homophobia (including discriminatory firing)

We got two recs for this fic, and both authors chose to remain anonymous:

“Publish or Perish” by LinearA. 83K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo; Ship: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Recced by: anon(s)
Backstory: anon 1 writes: The crows navigate racism, office politics, budget issues, and worse in the English department at the University of Ketterdam.
anon 2 writes: In this AU Kaz (tenured) and Inej (a lowly adjunct) are academics in the literature department at the University of Ketterdam. It subtly explores power dynamics through its focus on funding, visa status, and involuntary institutionalization, while also working as a story of friendships and two people yearning for each other.
Rec: anon 1 writes: Like the best of the AUs the different setting allows the writer to expand on themes and issues that are inherent in the original, but not the focus. The characters are recognizably themselves and the relationships are thorny, complex, and interesting. And (spoiler!) Kaz has a cat. anon 2 writes: I love the specificity of the setting as well as all the little academic and linguistic jokes, but at the same time it treats its story seriously. The chapter titles are all fake papers by different characters, which is pretty fun, too.
Content warnings: Past rape/noncon, past child abuse, suicide, sexual harassment, racism, racialized sexual harassment, threats of deportation, increased age gap, power imbalance (but not worse than canon)

people who only think of shipping as romance cannot even conceive as shipping as thriller, shipping as horror, shipping as character study. very limiting worldview. you should expand your palate.

— vati 🐍🔞 (@titilvating.bsky.social) July 25, 2026 at 12:10 PM

FINAL THOUGHT

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