The Rec Center #73
This week we have rec-ception: a rec for another rec newsletter, from 1D fan Allyson Gross. Also, some dystopian fic recs, some Twin Peaks nostalgia from 1990, and some awesome American Gods fanart! — Gav
new stuff
An excerpt from “Reading the romance: Women, patriarchy, and popular literature” by J.A. Radway
The Fanhackers tumblr had some interesting thoughts here on romance novel fandom, and what romance novels ~mean beyond just Reading A Book.
“Philip Pullman offers first look at His Dark Materials follow-up The Book of Dust” at The Guardian
You can now read an excerpt from the first volume in Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust trilogy! OMG!!!
“Fandom, Antifandom, and Feedback Loops: How Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series Screws the Rules of Internet Content Creation” by Deborah Krieger at The Learned Fangirl
An academic exploration of the Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, a fanwork described as “an internet culture touchstone.”
“A Women-Only Wonder Woman Screening Is Predictably Upsetting Dumb-Ass Sexists” by Beth Elderkin at io9
There’s been a lot of coverage of the Alamo Drafthouse’s upcoming women-only showings of Wonder Woman at various locations around the US (Elizabeth is going to the first Brooklyn showing!!) but this one does a great job breaking down the pitiful gender ratios in superhero films as well.
older stuff
“The Quirky Allure of Twin Peaks” by John Leonard in New York Magazine
A 1990 article about America’s obsession with Twin Peaks. It’s wild to consider the total ubiquity of Twin Peaks fandom here!
American Gods fanart by larrydraws
better than words
Friend-of-the-newsletter Allyson Gross is launching a One Direction newsletter this week! So we asked her to give a little preview of the kind of pieces she’ll be sharing. (The first one came out this morning—you can read the full version here.) Allyson’s a part-time writer, part-time climate organizer, and full-time One Direction fan who lives in Brooklyn. Find her on twitter at @allysongross.
Since the One Direction hiatus began in December of 2015, the band’s members (and the fandom in turn) have been anything but restful. Over the past year, as each member has slowly begun working on or putting out solo music, what was once a collective focus has now been split four ways—Harry Styles’ debut album is out now, and with three more to follow from Liam, Louis, and Niall, fans have kept busy dealing with four times the promo, music, and eventually, tours (may God have mercy on all of our wallets). And now, as each member begins to navigate his own solo career outside of One Direction, their separate paths are the subject of innumerable think pieces, hot takes, and profiles. There’s so much to read! Now you don't have to go looking for it. In my new tinyletter, “Better Than Words,” I'll be rounding up and providing commentary on pieces written about the four (five, if I am feeling generous and charitable towards Zayn, which is 60% of the time) members of One Direction to send straight to your inboxes. Below, check out a couple of my favorite pieces written about Harry’s album release, and sign up for “Better Than Words” here! — Allyson
“Harry Styles didn’t just become a rock star—he always was one” by Anna Leszkiewciz at the New Statesman
On Harry’s transition to solo stardom, his new Apple Music documentary, and the album as natural progression from One Direction.
“Styles of the Times” by Ann Powers at NPR
A beautiful longread on popstar history, Harry’s style, and “the naked truth of rock and roll.”
“One Projection: Harry Styles and the Art of Idealism” by Mitski at Talkhouse
For Talkhouse, alt-rock/indie/perfect musician Mitski takes on Harry’s constructed persona and our collective projection of him through the album. “If Harry Styles reads this, he’ll probably hate it,” Mitski concludes—but it feels a bit impossible to hate something so spot on.
“Harry Styles Emulates Folk-Rock Heroes at Intimate Los Angeles Gig” by Steve Appleford at Rolling Stone
Harry performed a secret show in LA last weekend and brought Stevie Nicks on stage to perform three songs. This review of the show is lovely and also provides me with an excuse to link you to this brilliant video of their duet of “Landslide” has wrecked me completely.
tumblr & beyond
More American Gods fanart! By kojotei
Tumblr user bogleech gets ~intense about the sincerely silly qualities of the old He-Man cartoons.
LOVE these rather mean posters for a fake Snape Netflix series.
“concept: the show supernatural but with the mcelroy brothers”
Piccolo from Dragon Ball is a cosplay hero.
The best possible definition of fanfiction.
fanfiction
I’m going to be honest: I’ve been wanting to put together a dystopia/post-apocalyptic list from our reader submissions for MONTHS but after weeks upon weeks of, how do I phrase it...erratic geopolitical turmoil?? I didn’t want to stress anyone out further. But tons of people love dystopian stories, obviously—even as an escape—so I figured I shouldn’t keep putting it off. As always, if you need them, please heed both our reccers’ content warnings and any the authors have put on their stories. And also as always, thank you so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Down to Agincourt” by Seperis. 1,000,000 words and counting (technically a WIP but all 8 books are written and are being posted as they are edited), rated Mature/Explicit.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Dean/Castiel
Recced by: The Agincourt Agitators
Backstory: Everyone’s heard of Destiel and Supernatural. But this fits into the specific ‘Endverse’ category of fic written in the apocalyptic parallel/future universe seen in the episode ‘The End.’ (Though it’s much less full of despair than such stories normally are.)
Rec: This complex, dense and beautiful story has generated its own micro-fandom with spin-off fics, artwork and lengthy philosophical comment discussions. It’s also hilarious (don't talk to us about hippos).
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence
“#standbylegion” by esama. 11K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: MCU/Kingsman crossover; Ship: Gen
Recced by: sainatsukino
Backstory: In Kingsman, British secret agents prevent a villain from destroying humanity with a radio signal that makes everyone want to kill each other—only the signal does get broadcast for about four minutes before they can stop it. This fic is the aftermath of the massacre, told through the point of view of JARVIS, Tony Stark’s computer: “V-day takes out the Avengers. JARVIS copes, one tweet at a time.”
Rec: This story fucked me up. Fucked me up REAL BAD. It’s incredibly good, and I love JARVIS and everything that he does in this story, but shit. Angst galore.
Content warnings: Character death, aftermath of torture, aftermath of violence
“The telling of one billion ghost stories (draft)” by rallamajoop. 32 parts plus epilogues, rated NC-17.
Fandoms: xxxholic, tsubasa; Ships: douwata, kurofai, shaoran/sakura
Recced by: sainatsukino
Backstory: xxxholic and tsubasa are sister mangas with plots that evolve in parallel. xxxholic is about a boy who attracts the supernatural and who works in a magic shop that grants wishes, and tsubasa is about a group of people travelling through alternate universes.
Rec: This is by far the best post-apocalyptic story that I have ever read. It’s pure genius, with incredible characterization and smart plot twists.
Content warnings: violence, sex, mention of offscreen non-con
“Detective Pony” by sonnetstuck. 41K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Homestuck; Ship: Gen
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Dirk Strider is a paradox clone who lived the first 16 years of his life stranded alone in a one-bedroom apartment on a flooded future dystopian earth. Equipped with transtemporal internet access and three online friends, Dirk does his best to be a human being, but only succeeds in becoming a bundle of affectations and ironic references.
Rec: An amazing romp about being a creator as well as one’s own creation. Detective Pony is a love letter to the source material and so alike in style and format that it’s basically canon. It’s fanfiction about fanfiction, and genuinely hilarious enough to be enjoyable to readers unfamiliar with Homestuck.
Content warnings: Derealization, depersonalization
“Zistopia” by nicolaswildes. A comic in 66 “parts” currently, rated Mature.
Fandom: Zootopia; Ship: Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Recced by: queersintherain
Backstory: A fan comic of Zootopia redone using the original (scrapped) concept for the movie: predators wear electrocuting "tame collars" to live in harmony with prey. Zistopia takes this concept and runs with it to its wonderful, brutal, logical conclusions. Described as “the racist animal hell AU.”
Rec: This is one of the most incredible fan efforts I’ve ever seen. Examples of the fantastic world-building: it’s set specifically in 1974, and segregation of predators and prey ended after they fought together in (~WWII) to fight the “master race” of domesticated cats. The main (eventual) ship is considered taboo in this universe—predators attracted to prey are called “preyophiles” and vice versa with “predophiles,” is something you can lose your job over. A bit of a scattered start, but seriously, if you liked the movie, try this.
Content warnings: electrocuting collars, reference to miscarriage, some violence, discrimination against characters for species and sexual preference
FINAL THOUGHT
Pray 4 me:
In all honesty, I’m pretty excited to see my old friends. But like….
……..
— Elizabeth
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, etc—are strongly encouraged as well.
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)