The Rec Center #84
Welcome to the weekend!! We hope everyone at WorldCon is having an awesome time, and that everyone else isn’t experiencing FOMO too badly . (Neither of us are there, TRAGICALLY.) This week we’ve got multifandom fic recs, an explainer on the GeekGirlCon controversy, a Very Important Fan Theory about Poe Dameron’s fashion choices, and more. — Gav
new stuff
“24 Hours of GeekGirlCon-troversy: Resignation, Allegation, and Withheld Information” by Sean Nelson at The Stranger
This week, everyone on the Geek Girl Con mailing list received an email written by several staff members saying they’d quit in response to alleged “bullying, gender discrimination, racism, and misuse of charitable funds.” Attendees were shocked, but as the day progressed, more details emerged to muddy the waters of a complicated situation. First of all, the former staffers were accusing the convention of discriminating against white people and men.
“Psychologists say fandoms are amazing for your mental health” by Brianna Wiest at Teen Vogue
A helpful reminder for whenever fandom seems overrun by weird infighting and controversies!
“Social Contract Theory and Fandom Libertarianism” by i-will-not-be-caged at the Fan Meta Reader
The Fan Meta Reader, a project of fan writing curated by Dr. Lori Morimoto (we’ve shared some of their older pieces, but the full back catalogue is worth a look!) has returned from hiatus with an interesting essay about libertarianism, social contract theory, and how those political philosophies are connected to fandom conversations.
older stuff
“OTW Guest Post: Euclase” at the Organization for Transformative Works
If you don’t know the work of Elicia Donze/Euclase, you might recognize her hyper-realistic but stylized portraits (or you might have seen one her great responses to the tedious anti-fanart trolls who come into her inbox). In this conversation, she talks about her work as well as how she got into fandom.
tumblr & beyond
Parks & Rec art from Jovaline!
The legend of the Dark Souls II fashion police.
“when you get into a new thing and go wild on your blog”
A link to THE FUNNIEST EVER Black Sails meme, altho be warned of spoilers for s2.
Is Poe Dameron an obsessive follower of vintage Rebel fashion?? Enquiring minds want to know.
Star Trek fans: Kay Taylor Rea has recced a fic every single day for the past 365 days!
fanfiction
This week we’ve got a fic grab bag! Thanks to everyone who’s sent in—and who continues to send in—fic. We’re always looking for more recs, or for people to whole rec lists, so please get in touch! (And I know we said this a few weeks ago, but I’ve been traveling and am terrible, so please nudge me if I owe you a response.) — Elizabeth
“Peanut Butter-Pumpkin Wedding Cake” by Sparseparsley. 30K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Dean/Cas
Recced by: tarastarr1
Backstory: Dean is a waiter in a strip club to put his kid brother through school. Castiel is dragged to the club as a part of his sister Anna’s bachelorette party. Dean and Cas hit it off, but Dean thinks Cas is the one marrying Anna.
Rec: I can’t tell you how many times I have read this, it’s my go-to sappy, tropey fave. Weddings, food, near misses, and misunderstandings resolved with a big reveal.
Content warnings: N/A
“Backing Up” by LindaO. 60.5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Person of Interest; Ship: Gen
Recced by: kat
Backstory: A hyperbrilliant, extremely wealthy, extremely paranoid white hat hacker; a recruited ex-CIA agent; artificial intelligence with immense oversight; and a mission. Mix and stir.
Rec: Possibly my favorite gen fic (series) of the fandom, this has it all. Plot-driven, amazing character development of both original and show characters (particularly Fusco!), and the tone matches the show very well.
Content warnings: Violence, mentions of drug abuse and suicidal ideation, death. What you’d expect from a crime drama serial, really.
“A Room with a View” by pyes. 13K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Ship: Finn/Poe
Recced by: thejessbeast
Backstory: Post movie and a year after Finn has spent training the Rebels across the galaxy, Poe and Finn are reunited and make sure that they are still a couple. In a very nice hotel room.
Rec: pyes managed to pack a year of longing into one short walk to a hotel room in a fic and delivers a great payoff to that UST. She captures the voices of Poe and Finn brilliantly and I just want to throw roses at her.
Content warnings: N/A
“Be yourself my ally” by imperfectcircle. 15.5K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Wonder Woman; Ship: Diana/Etta Candy
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Etta Candy is Wonder Woman’s friend in the comics, and Steve Trevor’s secretary in the movie. This fic takes place after the film, during the flu epidemic of 1918, when Etta becomes a nurse.
Rec: A delightful fake girlfriends AU where Etta accompanies Diana on a journey back to her home on Themyscira, to plead humanity’s case with the Amazons. Told from Etta’s point-of-view, it’s wonderfully well-characterized and fun, with some thoughtful historical touches for the time period. Diana/Etta isn’t a pairing I’d really considered before, but this fic absolutely won me over!
Content warnings: N/A
“a tide of hope” by seren_ccd. 62K (WIP), rated Teen.
Fandom: Black Sails; Ship: Abigail Ashe/Billy Bones
Recced by: Kip
Backstory: Elizabeth and Gav has already set up Black Sails, of which I am a long-term fan. I had never considered this pairing, because I blinked during their literally blink-and-you-miss-it interaction but the premise, Billy and Abigail are shipwrecked on an island, intrigued me and now I am absolutely addicted.
Rec: Abigail Ashe is a woman who was violently brought into the physical and moral struggles of the world of Black Sails. Billy Bones is a character who consistently struggles with the degree and methods of Captain Flint’s revolution. This is a lovely imagining of how these two characters react to each other and position in the liminal spaces of Captain Flint’s war.
Content warnings: N/A
“Act 8” by Team 8. 172 pages/panels, ongoing, rated Teen.
Fandom: Homestuck; Ship: Gen
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Act 8 is a project by fans, for fans, to produce a canon-compliant fanwork that expands on the Homestuck ending. It’s a celebration of our fandom’s ingenuity, an ACT of love towards Homestuck as a story and a larger phenomenon.
Rec: Many fans (myself included) found the official Homestuck ending way too abrupt and anticlimactic. The art and characterization in Act 8 are spot on, plus the creative team have achieved a sense of fun and excitement that the final stretch of Homestuck updates were lacking.
Content warnings: derealization, depersonalization, dissociation
FINAL THOUGHT
So Gav and I were invited onto Fathoms Deep, a fantastic Black Sails podcast I recommend for anyone into the show (it’s part analysis and part interviews with most of the cast, the creators, etc). I love that we were allowed to ramble on for ONE HOUR AND THIRTY-SEVEN MINUTES about Thomas Hamilton (this is false; we talked about the show at large and I believe touched on almost every character at some point) and I really appreciate all the great feedback we’ve gotten from everyone who listened! If you’re eager to hear more of our recent Black Sails thoughts, I’ve gotten a few asks since (on the ending and on how I read the relationship between James McGraw & the Hamiltons) and Gav wrote this meta about James & Miranda that I love. If you want to listen to us speak out loud on Black Sails, we’re actually planning to record a special one-off podcast at some point, so…mark your calendars…for some indeterminate time ahaha. — 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! http://tinyletter.com/elizabethandgav. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)