Your semi-regular reminder that @hellotailor and I write/edit/curate a weekly fandom newsletter called The Rec Center! It comes out Friday afternoons.
We always include articles, things we loved on Tumblr/Twitter, fanart, and a fanfic rec list of 5-10 stories, from single fandoms and/or ships to multi-fandom and around a theme (er, sometimes even just a literal grab-bag). Gav and I write some of the recs, but we rely on our brilliant community of readers for the majority of them, and the variety is really delightful.
I say all this and then tell you that this week we’re doing Harry Potter recs lol. But! A…variety within that. :-)))
I cannot rec The Rec Center enough (ha); I got it from a friend and it’s what started me getting back into fandom from years of lurking! I appreciate the hell out of all of the fandom articles, and the fic recs are so great when you’re just looking for good writing, whether it’s in your fandom or not. (And I’ve gotten peripherally into a couple of fandoms this way too!)
The interesting question at this point is not whether fan fiction can be
good, by familiar literary standards. (Of course it can; cf. Virgil.)
Rather, it’s this: What is fan fiction especially, or uniquely, good at,
or good for?
Whooo, awesome review in the New Yorker of Francesca Coppa’s book and fanfic in general. ❤ ❤ ❤
I AM DYING
THIS IS SO GOOD
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MAINSTREAM ARTICLE (like, New Yorker mainstream) ABOUT FIC THAT’S THIS GOOD
And it’s by a guy, who’s an English professor at Harvard, which shouldn’t matter but it does. People will respect his opinion.
To clarify: Steph is a trans woman. She’s still an English professor at Harvard. I know that people will see the Stephen byline and assume it’s written by a man, but I want to get that on the record.
I’m so happy with this piece! Not least because The Rec Center is namechecked so thoughtfully! Though it has been amusing to see the “omg my recs have been in a newsletter mentioned by The New Yorker” reactions from people who apparently don’t realize the newsletter is co-edited by someone who’s has worked at the magazine for 9 years and continues to do so. (Though I had nothing to do with this article!!)
Question of Smoke 