The Rec Center #82
Welcome back after our semi-hiatus last week! Elizabeth is back from SDCC, Gav is back from Spain, and we’re here with fandom news and an extensive primer (plus fic recs!) for the HBO sitcom Silicon Valley, a very funny show about terrible men in the tech industry. — Gav
new stuff
“Breaking with Tradition” by Roxane Gay at The Monthly
“Writing into the Marvel canon from the outside”: Roxane Gay talks about her experiences writing World of Wakanda as an outsider, both as a novelist and essayist and as a black woman in a genre long dominated by white men.
“Fandom/Resistance” by Louisa Stein (audio: 38 minutes long)
The keynote at this year’s Fan Studies Network 2017 conference, in which Stein discusses the intersections of politics and fandom—both broadly, and on a personal level.
“Supergirl actor angers femslash fans at SDCC” by Gav at the Daily Dot
This was, unfortunately, the main fandom ~drama from this year’s Comic-Con. One of the Supergirl actors made a dumb joke about femslash shippers (which make up a significant proportion of Supergirl’s audience), and dealt with the backlash in a very awkward manner.
older stuff
“Fandom and the Intersection of Feminism and Race” by diversehighfantasy at the Fan Meta Reader
“Intersectionality isn’t white women reblogging photos of black women with the caption “omg so beautiful!” It isn’t fancasting Lupita in everything or having “poc” headcanons of white characters. It doesn’t even necessarily mean supporting existing Black women characters (though that’s a start). Those things are inclusive, but they’re not necessarily intersectional.”
tumblr & beyond
“Magic Mummy”: genderbent Dream Daddy fanart by lesbianravenna
“The first rule of fanfiction club...”
Did you know Black Sails actor Toby Schmitz (Jack Rackham) draws his own AU fanart of the characters??
Lupita Nyong’o did an undercover cosplay video at Comic-Con and it’s adorable.
Aja Romano has been giving us more fantastic and varied reading material than we can possibly manage with a “one like = one fanfic rec” meme on Twitter.
silicon valley primer
Chloe lives in Brooklyn, NY where she spends most of her time drinking rose and trying to get other people into Silicon Valley. She can be found on ao3, twitter, and tumblr.
Silicon Valley is a half-hour sitcom that airs on HBO. Maybe, like me, you’ve been watching Silicon Valley because it used to come on after Game of Thrones and after a full hour of Westeros you needed to wash your eyes out with humor. Maybe you’ve avoided Silicon Valley because on the surface it seems like a total sausage fest with little to no redeeming value.
But!! At its heart, Silicon Valley is a deeply satirical takedown of the tech world, and a love letter to its strangeness all in the same breath. The show focuses on Richard Hendricks, an awkward, endearing, and extremely talented programmer, as he tries to make his way in the world without losing his heart. Richard lives with his ridiculous “found family” in the Hacker Hostel (no joke) where the guys code together and try to build the company of Richard’s dreams, Pied Piper.
So you’ve got Dinesh, the Java expert, or as he calls himself, “Pakistani Denzel.” Then there’s Gilfoyle, the polyamorous Satanist and network security architect. There’s Erlich Bachmann, who owns the house they all live in and has the most “game” out of all of them. And finally, there’s Jared Dunn, Pied Piper’s business development guy. Jared is smart, well-spoken, and very nicely dressed. He would also kill a man for Richard and has said so.
For me, the real core of Silicon Valley is the complicated, interesting relationship between Jared and Richard. Jared left a high paying job with Hooli (basically this universe’s Google) to join Richard’s fledgling company when it was little more than good tech and a stupid name. Throughout four seasons, Jared has revealed himself (with hilarious asides) to have the darkest and most heartbreaking past on television, and be unwaveringly loyal to a fault. Zach Woods, who plays Jared, says that Jared’s dream day “begins with bringing Richard breakfast in bed.” He is a patient right-hand man, the person Richard turns to when he needs advice, or is having a panic attack on the ground after deciding to soak his pants in the bathroom sink (S1,E4), and Richard’s most stalwart cheerleader.
Each episode of the show provides the kinds of gems that would have fannish folks running to their word processors and vid-making programs in any other fandom. The series is 39 episodes over four seasons; that’s fewer than 20 hours of television. You can watch the entire show to date in a weekend and believe me: you should.
You can also read Jared’s official blog on the official Pied Piper website (yes it's canon), where he talks about the company and about Richard. A lot about Richard. Jared is a solid blogger because he used to run a few different Firefly fanfic websites (also canon).
BONUS SILICON VALLEY LINKS FROM ELIZABETH AND GAV
Overinvested Podcast episode from Gav and her podcast partner Morgan. (Our show notes also include several more interesting links about Silicon Valley!)
Elizabeth found this real life—>Silicon Valley character breakdown *very* satisfying
Another piece on the Uncanny Silicon Valleyness of the show
Important and/or confusing: this recent photoshoot from The Wrap
fanfiction
Unless otherwise indicated, all of these recs are Richard/Jared.
“The Expectation of Waiting” by mousemind. 3.6K words, rated Mature.
Summary: The thing about Jared is that he's bizarre.
The thing about Jared is that he's bizarre, and Richard sees that, and sees the way other people react to that, too. He thinks there's something about Jared that maybe should embarrass him.
Jared has nice eyes, Richard thinks instead.
Rec: This is ridiculously sweet (and very real), and it’s a wonderful character study of Richard, too. I especially like stories that deal with Richard’s anxiety and this one certainly does. Honestly mousemind’s entire oeuvre is outstanding, but this fic hits exactly what you want from this pairing right after seeing the first few episodes of the show.
Content warnings: N/A
“Standard Operating Procedure” by asimiento. 2.5K words, rated Teen.
Summary: The S.O.P. is simple. They’ll sneak around after hours, in Richard’s room, or in the garage, or in the middle of the server space. Painfully vigilant, effortfully quiet, and afterwards exceptionally fastidious. No trace left, like nothing ever happened.
Rinse and repeat, in weekly intervals.That’s the routine. They’ve gone through about three months of the routine. It hasn’t failed. It won’t fail. It can't fail.
Rec: Something I love about Silicon Valley is that Richard and Jared really could be sneaking around behind everyone’s backs and chances are? No one would notice. This fic is a little like that. And it’s also very sweet. Most SV fanfiction is very sweet. I think there are darker possibilities, or at least more complicated ones, to explore for these characters, and I hope more people do eventually.
Content warnings: N/A
“Cool Beans” by mitochondriencocktail. 2.5K words, not rated.
Summary: Four Times Richard and Jared Kiss, and One Time They Don’t
Rec: What’s a rec list without at least one five times fic? This is an especially delightful take, and it has a nice slice of life quality too.
Content warnings: N/A
“Input Overload” by robokittens. 3.7K words, rated Explicit.
Summary: Jared's hand ghosts over his shoulder, the lightest pressure through Richard's hoodie and the shirt underneath, and comes up to wrap around the back of Richard's neck. His fingers tangle in Richard's hair, and Richard lets out a long, jagged sigh.
He’s getting a fucking boner. From this, from nothing touches from someone who — someone who's way too good for him, has always been too good for him, too good to him. Who's here for some reason, in this house, in this bed.
Rec: This is the most explicit story of the bunch, so if that’s not your thing I’d avoid this. But the sex is super hot, and I love Jared as a kind of comforting but also much more experienced hand taking care of Richard in his time of need. And Jared is so spot-on in this.
Content warning: Mildly dubious consent
“Needful Thing” by joycecarolnotes. 3K words, rated Mature.
Summary: Jared knew that Richard wanted, that he was relentless and tenacious in pursuit of his dreams; it was one of the things Jared loved the most about him. It was almost too much, then, having the force of that strong, inviolable desire directed at him.
Rec: A take on the sex pollen. Something kind of awesome about SV fandom is that it’s really small, so there’s still a lot of ground to cover in terms of taking on fandom tropes. I love how visceral and intense this story is, and how well joycecarolnotes (the name of Jared’s Vasser a capella group, btw) conveys sensory experiences.
Content warning: The full cadre of warnings that typically come with the sex pollen trope
BONUS ROUND!
The “Best of Enemies” series by rillrill. 64K words total, rated Explicit.
Backstory: I didn’t mention him above, but obviously Silicon Valley has a villain, otherwise who would Richard and his plucky gang of weirdos stand in opposition to? Gavin Belson, whom Jared calls Darth Gavin on his blog, is that villain. He’s the evil genius billionaire CEO of Hooli, and he’s an asshole.
Rec: This series is Gavin/Richard and it’s incredibly filthy, and definitely not for you if you don’t find spite-fucking appealing. As SIlicon Valley progresses, and Richard’s moral compass becomes increasingly skewed, the chasm between him and Gavin definitely narrows—it’s nice to see that explored in fic. And Richard is a horrible brat in this, which is frankly pretty canonical.
Content warning: This is not a healthy relationship. It’s not supposed to be.
FINAL THOUGHT
We have (maybe unsurprisingly at this point??) a Black Sails-themed outro this week, something for people heading to Nine Worlds in London next weekend, and something and for everyone else, stuck at home and eager for more pirates.
Gav: I’ll be at Nine Worlds/London Geekfest next week! I’m on a couple of panels so you can feel free to pop by and say hi, but I forgot to pitch any solo talks due to the chaos of Early 2017. However, I do really want to organize a Black Sails meetup! I’m thinking 7pm on Saturday, at the Cognac Lounge at the convention hotel. (Please check my twitter before, in case we have to reschedule!)
Elizabeth: Regardless of whether you will be at Nine Worlds or not (SO JEALOUS), if you’re into Black Sails, can I recommend The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodward. Caveat: I’m only halfway through, but I feel comfortable recommending it now if you’re looking for some well-paced narrative nonfiction about the period. It was published about a decade ago and though I can’t find any actual confirmation I’ve read on random blogs that Woodward either 1) advised the Black Sails creators 2) provided partial inspiration for the show. Anyone who can fact-check this one for me will be greatly appreciated.
Based on what I’ve read so far you should read it if you’re interested in learning more about:
Some of the history of the region in this period (and how it differs from the show)
The show’s historical pirates, particularly Teach/Thatch and Charles Vane
Woodes Rogers (his voyage, the one he wrote a book about, is a TRIP lemme tell you)
Scurvy. It sounds terrible!
Life as a sailor in 1715. It also sounds terrible! Like truly really awful.
If anyone has any other good Black Sails-adjacent books to recommend, be sure to let me know as I compile a reading list (which will go hand-in-hand with my “contemporary” reading list which basically is me going, “Would Thomas Hamilton have read this book, and what would he think of it?” :-)))))
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)