The Rec Center #83
Hello! Why yes, things are going just fine over here, thank you for asking.
For those of you we’ve dragged into Black Sails Hell™, next week we’ll be able to share the episode of FATHOMS DEEP, an a++ Black Sails podcast, that we were guests on a few days ago (we didn’t exactly talk about Jacobites for two hours, but we were heading in that direction). For this week, we’ve got our regular mix of articles and Tumblr posts, plus Gav’s got a collection of recs from Spider-Man: Homecoming! — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Hey remember when Eli Roth has blueberry cybersex with LiveJournal?” by Kayleigh Donaldson at Pajiba
Worried about celebrities reaching through the fourth wall of fandom? You ain't seen nothing until you’ve seen Eli Roth sexting LJ fans after he found their porn fic about him.
“Dean Winchester and Commander Shepard Walk Into A Bar: Why Fanon Matters” by Alasdair Stuart at Uncanny Magazine
“Fanon is critical interpretation combined with emotional attachment.” On fanon, headcanons, and authorial intent versus fannish interpretations.
“How a 19th century nude painting became a feminist meme” by Gav at the Daily Dot
Some art history thoughts about the popularity and meme fandom of “Truth Coming Out Of Her Well To Shame Mankind,” a 19th century painting of an angry naked woman.
older stuff
“Fandom and Identity/Fandom as identity” by Keidra Chaney at The Learned Fangirl
“One of the things that keeps coming up for me is a continuing discussion about fandom ownership: who does fandom ‘belong’ to?”
tumblr & beyond
The Shape of Water fanart by sofiapuerto
This week Elizabeth and her podcast partner, Flourish, did an AMA on the YA subreddit!
“Is Tom Holland hiding a frog in his mouth?”
If you’ve ever been curious about fan studies, Dr. Lori Morimoto is running a Fan Studies for Fans course this fall!
The Reddit community for the video game Crusader Kings 2 looks like a trip.
An intensely detailed advice thread on how to block certain tropes/tags on AO3.
fanfiction
Spider-Man: Homecoming has inspired some really fun and refreshing fanfic this summer! It’s a relatively ship-light subset of MCU fandom, with some really witty and charming teen stories about Peter and his friends at school. — Gav
“The More You Know” by nokomis. 2.5K words, rated Gen.
Ship: Gen
Backstory: Peter meets the Avengers and embarrasses Captain America.
Rec: This fic totally captures the energy and humor of Spider-Man: Homecoming, in a slightly more cheerful Marvel universe where the Avengers are still a team in New York. I also recommend the sequel!
Content warnings: N/A
“Occupational Hazard” by aloneintherain. 10K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Gen
Backstory: Peter handles the aftermath of his adventures in Homecoming.
Rec: A funny and sensitive look at Peter’s life and friendships with Ned and MJ, including in-character text conversations and some vaguely helpful advice from Tony Stark, Trauma Expert.
Content warnings: N/A
“Cover Your Tracks” by Zelos. 4K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Gen
Backstory: Principal Morita starts feeling suspicious about Peter and Ned’s incompetent lies and excuses for missing school.
Rec: High school is kind of an essential setting for Homecoming fic, and this story is characteristically entertaining while offering a new viewpoint from Principal Morita, a character who only appeared briefly in the movie but has wider links to the MCU.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Lady Doth Protest (in Front of Embassies)” by YankingAwry. 3K words, rated Teen.
Ship: M.J./Peter
Backstory: M.J. has an inconvenient crush, and Ned Leeds will deeply regret ever visiting Universal Studios Florida.
Rec: M.J. point-of-view story about M.J. developing a crush on Peter. Cute, with great dialogue! And extremely in-character for M.J./Michelle as we met her in the movie.
Content warnings: N/A
Bonus Black Sails rec from Elizabeth that is somehow nearly as long as the story she is recommending
“The Sundering Sea” by x_art. 138K words, not rated (I’d estimate Mature).
Ships: James Flint/Thomas Hamilton (plus some lowkey Billy Bones/Abigail Ashe)
Backstory: This is a long, plotty AU written after season 2—to clarify, it was meant to be an AU then, and obviously is an AU now, since the show was only halfway through at this point. It begins before the events of Charles Town (2.9-10) but centers on them and their aftermath. The AU twist: Thomas Hamilton has been living there, under Peter Ashe’s care, and has been told that Miranda has remarried and returned to England—and that James McGraw was killed by the pirate Captain Flint.
Rec: Ahhhhhh. In other fandoms I have a hard time reading fic that was written while the source material was in progress/has since been jossed, but this story works so well for me and it is So. Freakin. Satisfying. Highlights include lots of Thomas, my fave, a fleshed-out Abigail, and a hilariously controlling (imo v in-character) Flint who is Gruff But Quietly Tender. (!) One thing that’s interesting about it is the characterizations of certain characters—in particular Silver & Eleanor—are sort of frozen in their post-s2 space, which makes for an interesting read in light of the final two seasons.
Content warnings: References to dub/non-con, substance abuse/addiction, canon-typical violence
FINAL THOUGHT
Quick reminder—I’m at the Nine Worlds convention in London this weekend! I’m doing two panels (one on Friday night and one on Saturday afternoon), and am organizing a Black Sails fan meet-up with Sarah Dollard at the Cognac Lounge, 7pm on Saturday evening. Come say hi! For updates, see Twitter. — Gav
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)