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The Glory of AO3: The Internet’s Greatest Fic Machine
261 Plays1 month ago
This week, we are joined by Mal from The Pitt Crew (also The Puck Crew) and Demigod Debut to talk about FANFICTION and how it’s so important to community and our storied history with it. We brought FOUR of some of our fav fics to discuss and they are SO GOOD please check them out (linked below)!!! What are some of your go-to Hollanov tropes? Have you written fanfiction? Let us know!!
Follow us on our socials!
Twitter: @srspod
Threads & Instagram: @sincerookieseasonpod
Email: srspod@protonmail.com
fanfics we read:
you and i might just be the best thing - blongblong
russia's greatest love machine - OrYouCouldHaveMine
i'll believe in anything - bisoubug
please leave a message - subcorax
other references and citations:
You Didn't Hear This From Me (normal gossip book)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Since Rookie Season. Well, the summer before. A heated rivalry fan companion podcast where your hosts, Amanda, Lau, and Lauren, break down the episodes from the Crave Canada television series, the Game Changers novels, and various media surrounding this fan phenomenon. Today, we're looking at heated rivalry fanfics. Stay with us for some discussion on this branch of fandom with another new guest.
00:00:35
Speaker
Hi everyone, welcome back. I hope you enjoyed our conversation about fandom, our very timely conversation about fandom last week. This week we are talking about my favorite subset of fandom, and honestly where a lot of my research lies, fan fiction.
Ma's Journey with Fanfiction
00:00:51
Speaker
And our little special guest this week is friend of the podcast, and also co-host of the Pit Crew podcast, and the Pop Crew podcast, Ma! Hello! Hey Ma! Thank you so much for having me! oh my god, thank you for coming! Of course, I love to talk about fanfic. Like, I have been in those AO3 trenches since I was like 13 years old, so... 13! Oh my god, no. Have you looked at like... what number your AO3 account is. No, how do you see that?
00:01:21
Speaker
if you go on your like profile on Archive of Our like on your dashboard, I think. I know I didn't make an account until 2016, but. Oh, and you know what? Same. Yeah, I didn't make one, but if you go to your profile, it tells you your user ID, which is like what your number is in invites on the website. Like i'm signing up for the website. Oh, hold on. Yeah. Because I am number 652,869.
00:01:44
Speaker
six hundred and fifty two thousand eight hundred and sixty nine whoa So under a million Okay, why is my my phone is like, okay, wait if i if I go to like my profile? yes Oh, okay I am not under a million. i am two million four hundred and eighty five thousand six hundred and eighteen heck yeah hell yeah i joined in october of twenty sixteen but i was you know lurking without an account for a while there Yes, I joined a mid One Direction fever, so. Okay, see, I was lurking without an account during the One Direction era, so.
00:02:16
Speaker
No, period. Okay, so let's get to know you, Mal. um Feel free to do name, pronouns if you'd like, anything else you want to share, and then... How did you get into heated rivalry? Well, my name is Mal. Pronouns, I don't know. She, her, she, they. I don't really care. And then how did I get into heated rivalry? Well, my co-host of the pit crew and now putt crew, Camille, made myself and our other co-host, Robert, sit down with her on FaceTime and watch the first three episodes. This was like right after they had come out. And I was like, I watched the first two episodes. I was like, Camille, I i don't like this. It's like, I don't think they like each other. i don't like this at all. And then I watched episode three and I was like, fuck it, I'm locked in. And in between episode three and episode four coming out, I had read Game Changer. I'd read Heated Ravelry and I'd read The Long Game. And then I was like, I was locked in. Once I was convinced that Shane and Ilya had feelings for each other, like it was over for me. It was over. After those first two episodes, I was like, this is making me sad. Like, I don't...
00:03:18
Speaker
I don't know if I want these guys to be together.
The Allure of Heated Rivalry
00:03:21
Speaker
No, literally. Like, I watched the, like, first episode and I, like, the ending happened and I was like, oh, okay. And then I watched the second episode and was like, fucking locked in. Let's go. This is it for me. I love that Mal was texting everyone, like, why are you making me watch these two men be toxic to each other? Yes. Yeah, I am gay in the other direction. So like, if I'm gonna watch two men have sex, they also have to be in love. Like, because I'm not getting anything out of it, really. like all
00:03:54
Speaker
So I'm kind of like, if I can't watch a cute little love story and like twirl my hair and kick my feet, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? For real? For real? you know Once we got to that point, I'm like, it's the love story of all time, actually. So yeah, for sure. And then you now have a podcast on it. so sure do
00:04:14
Speaker
From hating it and not not understanding why you were forced to watch it to having a podcast on it. Well, and I feel like people talk so much about episode three being the worst and I'm like, no guys, you don't understand episode three. She's so special to me. Also because like Scott and Kip are so lesbians coded. yeah yes yes like i was like i feel seen by this closeted hockey player and his smoothie boy so like i love episode three episode three had me locked in so no we jokingly i mean everybody calls it the skip episode and we jokingly said like when we were recording about the skip episode we were like we should have just skipped this episode but um but No, we have to pay homage to our gay elders. Like, come on. They are so lesbian coded. Like, the U-hauling?
00:05:06
Speaker
Oh my god, it's insane. It's insane. But, okay, so, I mean, obviously, we're now addicted. So our question that we've been trying to answer, like, all court all quarter, Jesus Christ, can you tell I taught today? yeah our question that we've been trying to answer all season is what do you like why is heated rivalry so so addictive like what is in it that makes it like have this much reheating this much like fan convention around it like this much fanfic like ah i got onto the fanfic tag in like November and I think there was like 2,000 fics And now there's probably like over 25,000.
00:05:48
Speaker
Like, what do you think makes it so addictive? ah I mean, I think the queer joy of it all. I mean, we're not watching a tragedy here. I mean, like there are definitely parts that are hard and devastating and all the things. But ultimately, it is a story of love. And we know there's going to be a happily ever after at the end. We just have to work for it. and i think it's just it's so human i mean like like i said i was like i feel seen by this hockey man and his smoothie boy like there's just so much that is relatable and really speaks to like the queer experience and like just the human experience in general and so i think that's why people have latched on because like these characters are relatable and lovely and fun it's fun to play in this little like sandbox that
00:06:33
Speaker
Rachel Reed and Jacob Tearship created. We love the sandbox metaphor. We love the sandbox metaphor. That's how I think about fan fiction. I'm like, we're just all playing in the sandbox and it's yeah yeah my favorite thing to do. Yes, it is one of the historical fan fiction metaphors is that we're playing as sandbox. It actually comes from, I'm sure it comes from fans, but Henry Jenkins and is like the scholar who like kind of coined it in his like work textual poachers. But yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely a very interesting space. So on this episode, we're going to talk a little bit about fan fiction in general. And then we all read the same fan fictions. matt Mal and I recommended two because on our discord, we have a Mal's fan fiction channel and it's basically me and Mal posting fan fictions back and forth all of the time. And I feel like our tastes are so wildly different, it's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was reading and I knew which one was recommended by who while reading. You know, like I was, oh, I'm in Lawrence territory right now. Oh, this is so mal. I really enjoyed it. Before we continue, I just wanted to address that we have someone who's not here. we haven't talked about Amanda yet. Yeah, Amanda. Amanda racing dildos right now.
00:07:56
Speaker
Amanda is playing with vibrators at the moment. Not ah not an innuendo. It's a... Not what an innuendo. What is going on? It's literally at a vibrator race right now, but we love them dearly. They will be our voice note later on in this episode. Possibly. Maybe if they ever send it to us.
Fanfiction: Context & Challenges
00:08:15
Speaker
But we miss them very dearly, and we hope they're having fun with playing with their clit.
00:08:25
Speaker
We do. We do. We really do. Wish them the best. Wish them the best.
00:08:32
Speaker
To be clear, it was for a charity. it was charity vibrator races. Thank you. Okay, all right, let's get into here. No, Lauren, I just wanted to share with the audience, like, what it is s like to be the non-English speaker, like, you know, like the non-native English speaker in our chat and receiving a message this morning saying, I won't be there tonight because I have a vibrator race. Yes, and Lau was like, and what does that mean? And Amanda was like, exactly what it sounds like, and Lau was like... No. Pasturbation?
00:09:08
Speaker
so Are you like having a competition to see who comes first or something? ah Oh my god, to be extra clear, these were literal vibrator races at a bar and I went with my friend who was moving away very soon and this was the last chance we could go to the vibrator races for charity. I'm very sorry I wasn't there. I have bad FOMO now about it and I am catching strays. Thank you.
00:09:34
Speaker
you know and you know what like in Chicago we have turtle races at bars which I think is like an animal cruelty thing i don't really yeah yeah as a vegan I do not support as a vegan I don't support yeah but I have been drunk and bet on a turtle before so you know ah I don't support it but I do support myself getting money I mean right did you win no I did not I don't think I did I was drunk so I can't remember ah whoa You will definitely, definitely bet on a masturbation competition. I know. oh absolutely. And I know which vibrators are the best on the market. Same. I'm to need you to send me a list. Thank you.
00:10:18
Speaker
It's like the Jim Carrey typing meme. Yeah. Once again, i just want to say hi to Lauren's mom and dad, who is awesome every single week. Hi,
00:10:32
Speaker
Okay. Hi, mom and dad. Hello to all of our listeners. um We're getting into it now. We're getting into fan fiction. Okay. So what is fan fiction? I'm going to take this one because I can give you the fun fun answer. And I also can give you the scholarly side answer. So fan fiction is classified um as, for legal reasons, it's classified as a transformative work, which is why the like OTW is called the Organization for Transformative Works. because in order for it to not be copyrighted and chased legally into oblivion, like Anne Rice tried to do to us, you have to transform the plots or the characters or whatever a certain amount so it no longer truly represents the source material. It has to have like ah enough difference in order to qualify it as open use under copyright laws, which I know copyright laws in the United States are very different. think copyright laws everywhere else. else And this is the reason why Archive of Your Own isn't available in some place places because of copyright issues, but also because of like political issues and things like that. Like Archive of Your Own, you can't access it in China. Crazy at all. huh But that is what fanfiction is. Fanfiction has so many genres. It has so many tropes. It has so many amazing parts to it. And I think one of the greatest things about fanfiction is that It is not the source material and you get to play with it. You get to make it completely different. And I think something that this fandom is maybe having a little bit of an issue with is that it, like some people really want it to represent the canon material.
00:12:14
Speaker
Also, canon is like the original source text. We'll say that a lot. But I think there's so much fun in creating your own kind of world, doing something totally different, taking characters out of character and making them fanon representations, which is fan-made canon. And I think it's just a lot of fun. There is like so much different fanfiction. I mean, some fanfiction is explicit. And it is porn without plot and you are just reading about them fucking. And then sometimes it is porn with plot and you read like a 480,000 word novel length Dostoevsky competitor. And it's the greatest thing you've ever read in your entire life. And I, you know, what do you guys have to add to the those words of wisdom? Yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker
I mean, it's incredible. I mean, I love fanfiction so much. One of my favorite things to do after I encounter a piece of media that I really liked is like, oh great, now I get to go on tumblr.com and I get to go on AO3 and I get to like reblog gift sets and I get to just like read fanfiction. And it's it's always very exciting. And yes this is this is the most locked in on fanfiction I have been since probably college. So I'm like...
00:13:29
Speaker
thriving. Okay. I love that. We have seen you at thrive and we are all in our community very thankful for your service. Yes. No, literally. From a literature student studies perspective, for those ah of you who listened to my conversation with Amanda about the Game Changers novel,
00:13:49
Speaker
You already know this, but I'm going to repeat it because I think it's a very valuable piece of information. Fanfiction has existed since literature began, right? So it might not have been called fanfiction, but if you read the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, it's basically fanfiction of the Bible, which is why yeah what i love to discuss with my students. And it has like real people fanfiction on it. Dante is very petty, so you can tell who he hated because of who gets to be where in hell, purgatory and heaven. He did dirty to his own mentor, putting him on the sodomites circle in hell while he was alive. he was alive his mentor so funny yeah he does a lot of political commentary as well so he puts very influential and powerful people in different circles of hell and of course behind of all all of this is his love for Beatrice who died really young it was his crush he wrote a different book of poems
00:14:56
Speaker
to her about her like his crush and how she died and now he's devastated and so he's like being guided through hell and purgatory by Virgilio one of like his most appreciated writers like he loves Virgilio but then when he gets to paradise Beatrice is his new guide and everything is just like to put put himself at the center of this narrative as the witness to what waits for us after death and through his eyes that are like sometimes as I said very petty sometimes he's really compassionate like yeah it's exactly that like it's self-insert and i really love that because he he really puts himself into i love that he has the courage to paint himself as a very pathetic man sometimes like sometimes he's just terrified and he's just holding to virgilio in terror but he's he also experienced a lot of compassion for uh in the in the in the lovers circle that the punishment is them being carried by wind because they were like they they led their passions to carry them in life. So they have no control over their bodies. And he finds that so, so heartbreaking that he cries. So it is not like something we invented in the last two centuries. It's not yeah something that has less value in literature. a lot of people in literary studies will study fanfiction. Yeah, hello. Not only in those texts that like the Divine Comedy became like canonized as part of like the biggest,
Fanfiction's Academic and Cultural Impact
00:16:40
Speaker
most amazing works of literature, but also like more current fan fiction. So I just wanted to add that. You know like you can trace people self-inserting themselves into stuff like Divine Scripture, like Dante did. Yeah.
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I like in my master's degree, when I first started researching fan fiction, I actually was like, I did a presentation where I was like arguing that fan fiction continues the oral storytelling tradition, which was like, you know, before we had printer, like printmakers before we had. like writing styles we would tell stories orally and then scribes would often write them down but like what scribes would even do like texts is they would like if they disagreed with how the story was like written before they would like change it or they would like make their own notes or they would like put marginalia in and like make it an au Yeah, they were literally making AUs. And like, you know, mean, Archive of Our Own has only been around, it'll be 20 years from 2028, which is crazy. And I know lot of the people who like conceived of Archive of Our Own, like personally, which is kind of also crazy. And so like, you know, this has been, I think, a really big thing. I just looked at how many fics I've read because you have your whole history I have 484 pages history on Archive of Our Own. need to also look at that? read about 10,700 fics on Archive Our Own since 2014.
00:18:09
Speaker
i've read about ten thousand seven hundred fix on archive of our own since twenty fourteen And I mean, like, I've gone through so many fandoms and so many different things. Before I got on Archive of Our Own, I was on a different fanfiction platform called Quote Ev. Oh my god, wait, me too!
00:18:28
Speaker
Wait! No, because that's where all the One Direction fic was. Yes! Yes. yes And I was also on Wattpad, and I read the after, like, story as it was being published. Wow. Oh, no, me too. um When i I was coming out when I was in high school and at the time I was in my high school's production of Legally Blonde and we would sit in the dressing room and we would listen to like the leads on stage do their songs and and we, the ensemble, would be like, have you read after?
00:18:55
Speaker
like the dog i right after no literally like i have 243 pages of history t you gotta catch up ah i really do i thought i read a lot of fanfic but like wow but you no it's like everybody is always like do you read books and i'm like i read fan fiction yeah but So yeah, actually I do. But no, Lau is so right. Like the tradition of fan fiction stems, it's all through history. It's one of the reasons why I was like so interested in it because it really, like, I think there is like been a lot of commentary right now in the fandom about like the use of ai in fics and like,
00:19:35
Speaker
people are like, oh, I know this author's using AI, I know this author's using AI. But what you don't realize is that AI was one, probably trained on fanfiction without us knowing. And two, it's been trained on like literature from forever, you know? And so like, of course we're pulling you know, things from books that we read and ideas that we have and we might write similarly to other authors or other things. And so I think it's really hard, like even as a professor, it's really hard for me to be like, this is AI, you know, unless it's like a very blatant AI usage. And so I think like a lot of people are like calling out, I think a lot of people are calling out fix for a lot of different reasons that they don't need to be doing.
00:20:17
Speaker
And they don't need to be doing like, like there is like currently this whole movement right now in the heated rivalry fandom where like people are commenting on bad fix and being like, this sucks. Yeah.
00:20:28
Speaker
Okay, like bro, just close the tab. There's lot about the heated rivalry fandom that it's I keep seeing people talk about like, oh, it's baby's first fandom. Like there's a lot of people that are engaging with like fandom for the first time through heated rivalry, which is great. But sometimes I feel like it goes even beyond that. And it's kind of like baby's first day on earth because I'm like, why are you treating people like this?
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, I was telling Lauren in our last episode, Lauren was like, this fandom has a literacy issue. And I was like, not only this fandom, like we have a crisis. And on the topic of AI, like finding out something as made by ai or not, especially literature. i mean, i have students that are not very clever on how they do this. So they leave the prompt, you know, like, sure, right here is what you asked me. So that's easy. But I always like, i coordinate a group of of professors at the university where I work. And I continuously remind them that all the tools that claim to be able to tell you if a text is AI, made or not, it's actually gonna flag neurodivergence a lot. Like some people are gonna write in a way that is gonna get flagged as AI and it's only because they have a different code in the way they they engage with language. So usually you get a lot of autistic people being flagged just because they're right. Yeah. And like something we talk about a lot at my university is like, we're not even allowed. If we suspect a student of using AI, we're not allowed to run their work through an AI checker because they're AI checkers hallucinate the results too. So like, you know, they say, oh, it's 90% AI, but that's probably not true.
00:22:15
Speaker
You know? So like, there's like that whole issue. There's the whole issue of like, like commenting on fix and just being rude and like big names in fandom right now, like Opal, who's writing Wolfford are like stepping away from the fandom because they're just getting like fucking hounded by these people. Like,
00:22:36
Speaker
I have written fanfiction before and I don't think I would ever write in this fandom because it's so... It's terrifying. It's terrifying! I've got like quarter of a fanfic that sometimes I'm like, I could finish that. I could post that, but then I just see the way people are acting and I'm like, I don't think I would. literally.
00:22:57
Speaker
quick I think this is so detrimental to community and the opposite of what fandom is supposed to do. In a way, like, I feel like fandom is supposed to be a place where everyone can gather to discuss ideas and and and play in this sandbox. And the fact that people aren't comfortable sharing that anymore or engaging with that or, like, like sharing their sandbox ideas or, like, playing in the sandbox, so to speak, I think that's really sad and i'm really affecting to the community. We'll probably talk about this more later, but I wanted to pop in and say that hearing them say this made me really sad because That's not what community is for. That's not what community is meant to do, especially in a fandom space that we all share with something we love. That's kind of sad.
00:23:36
Speaker
was about to ask that. Do you write fanfiction? I haven't in decades, but Mal just mentioned doing it. I also wrote several Avatar The Last Airbender fanfictions in the year 2021. Yes!
00:23:52
Speaker
Yes. I was big, big into Zuka. Sokka and Zuka. Of course. Clearly. Why wouldn't you? I mean, it's, it's the correct option. Zutara who? I love Zutara. I'm sorry. i love Zutara, but I, I, I, but it's like Zutara if it was gay. That's true. That's true.
00:24:10
Speaker
And you know what? I actually, because I keep linking, I made like a hockey guide on Archive of Her Own and I keep linking the podcast to it. Um, So I went and orphaned all of my works on Archive of Her Own, which was like the saddest thing I've ever had to do. no! I didn't delete them, they're just orphaned.
00:24:31
Speaker
Interjecting to say that orphaning a fic is like disowning them. So these fics are still on AO3, but they don't come up with that author anymore. um It's different than being anonymous because that is still linked to one person. These are just like free floating fics that don't have a correlating author listed anymore.
00:24:48
Speaker
I wrote for a really long time, not a really long time, like I would say like probably a good year in the Horizon Zero Dawn, like hetero fiction, but I also was writing like a lot of gay fan fiction there. I've written and I've written in the Witcher fandom, which was Gaskier, Geralt, obviously. I wrote, oh, like I did a Betty Jughead flick one time from Riverdale when Riverdale was popular. but yeah, I would say like the most works I did were in Horizon Zero Dawn. I like writing. It's just that like sometimes, like I find as like a fan fiction writer, I'm very much like a one shot or like an AU kind of person. Like I don't usually write in and the canon like... universe like when i i wrote a yaskier gerald fic that was hamilton inspired but it was like they were current that's amazing well if i could go find it i will send it to the list but it was it was like a yaskier was a current like a baby representative and gerald was like an independent that was like old and they had to like come together and do a bunch of stuff but it had a bunch of Hamilton lyrics in it incredible a song fic and you know what I also I also tend to write a lot of like uh them doing drugs kind of fix because I smoke a little weed every once in a while And I find every once in a while, mom, I find that a lot of people who write about smoking weed maybe don't know what what it's like.
00:26:17
Speaker
yeah I can't believe people just like get on the internet and lie. That's crazy. Crazy. you right now Can you imagine? No, really, I was, I read, audio read the um Casey, I always struggle with her last name. Casey McQuiston? Yes. No, no, no, no, no. no no ah The, the, the co-host, the creator of, of Normal Gossip, the podcast, and she wrote this, like, I will link it on the show notes and said it to you. You haven't listened to Normal Gossip?
00:26:48
Speaker
know me Okay, that's a great podcast. But she wrote this whole book about gossip and she did a lot of research and she was talking care about lying on the internet a lot and about being on fandoms and writing fanfic and how literature is fed by gossip and all of that fascinating work. So yeah, imagine just lying on the internet just like writing stuff that aren't real. No, listen, you know fic is good when you open it and the author's note is like, I'm in the middle of my PhD and I just had my comprehensive exams and I am, this is at 3am and I haven't slept in four days and this came out of my body. And you're like, this is going to be the best fic I've ever read. ah You're like, no, they they wrote this with their soul and I thank them. And I thank them for that.
00:27:41
Speaker
No, what do you usually write? mouth like do you stick with like AUs or are you mostly canon? I mostly write AUs. Okay. team Yeah but it also like it depends on the fandom. So I've only ever like actually written and posted fanfic for the Zuko fanfics and then I also started and never finished a Persebeth fanfic and the Zuko fanfics were all like modern AUs and then the Persebeth fanfic I did like in canon universe. And I think it's just because like, I'm like, I've never been to camp half blood, but like, I know my way around. Like that's just a ah universe that feels like home to me. And I was like, I want to play in this particular sandbox. Yeah. So, you know, it's kind of kind of all over the place. But I think like the heated rivalry fanfic that I have started is in canon universe, but it is a soulmate AU. I'm such a slut for a soulmate Romanticism of like there being someone who's like meant for you. Yes! Talk about it. But actually, I want to talk about it at night. Yeah, I don't write fan fiction.
00:28:48
Speaker
i used to when I was a teenager with the franchise that I hate to mention, and I have mentioned too much this month, so we're good. But I do a lot of fan art yeah right now. So that's my thing. And that's like fan fiction, but it's with pictures. Yeah. And that I can't do, so I'm like very impressed. I just do queer fan art of stuff. Sometimes canon compliant, sometimes not.
00:29:11
Speaker
I did a Rose and Svetlana one recently. And it was fantastic. Yeah, no, it was so good. And what's Sophie Nielsen liked Sophie Nelise. Yes. Nelise liked it.
00:29:22
Speaker
That was huge. Listen, I don't think there is a Rose Lana fanfic that has not crossed my desk. Like, have- I've run them all. Yeah. I'm just- Read them all. I read a Yuna Svetlana one the other day. what? A Yuna Svetlana?
00:29:38
Speaker
Rare pair. Okay. All right. Rare pair. Amazing. For sure. For sure. It was so good. it was like Yuna and David had an open relationship. Hmm. because after like shane came out yuna started like teaching herself about being gay and then she was like i think i think i'm bisexual and then she was like david i want to have a relationship and then david's like yeah you can fuck women and so she fucks that lana because they are so compatible all right good for her and you know what yeah yeah no yuna mommy exactly yeah exactly
00:30:10
Speaker
perfect Hi, Amanda popping in here with the FOMO to say that I have never written fanfic. I have tried to write something before when I was in middle school, like early 2010s. I was young and I didn't know what I was doing and I just wrote something. was on Wattpad. I was on Wattpad in its heyday in the early like 2012 to 2015-ish was Wattpad. when I was around in middle school and when I was on Wattpad a lot and like fanfiction.net and stuff before I found AO3 because to my little teenage tweenage brain I couldn't fully get into AO3 just because like the interface confused me now obviously I can navigate AO3 like it's nothing but when i was younger I just found Wattpad to be easier and then I revisited like i don't know
Fanfiction in the Digital Age
00:30:50
Speaker
sometime over the pandemic I was looking for some fanfic of something and it's all ads and bad interface and it's gone so horrible over the past decade or so but anyway all that to say i love fanfic so much i could not write it i am someone who like if you asked me what certain characters were doing in a specific situation i could tell you like if you asked me what percy and annabeth would do in this setting or or how they would respond to like whatever question but i can't come up with like the skits i see on tick tock or like an au or or something like that i you would have to like give me a prompt that i could get into those characters heads and respond to
00:31:26
Speaker
I feel like I could potentially do that. But also, I think the skits on TikTok are really fun. I'll give them a shout here. I love seeing fanfic because Lau mentioned fan art and it's just another way of like transforming these characters and playing in this sandbox. I think that skits on- it doesn't have to be TikTok. It can be Reels or like Twitter wherever else you're seeing it. but I think those skits are so fun and so creative and can be such different ways to see things. Like, one of my favorites right now is the Unwilling Ascension of Percy Jackson characters. I'll link the TikTok creator slash wherever else they post it in the show notes. But it's like, they start, the campers at Camp Half-Lead start worshipping the Seven and they start, like, ascending into God. It's a whole thing. It's great. But I think things like that are really...
00:32:10
Speaker
interesting and cool and fun alternatives to fanfiction and wait like I said ways to transform these characters into a different medium but it's just like another version of a sandbox and I wanted to shout that out here while I was thinking about it okay back to the normal show Okay, what are we, like, when you, like, I know this is more us than Lau so much, but what do you, when you, like, find a fic, what are you looking for?
00:32:35
Speaker
Like, how do you pick a fic? I think, so my tastes kind of evolve, like, as I get more into fanfic for a certain fandom. So, like, when I first start out for, like, a new fandom, I'm always gonna go for, like,
00:32:47
Speaker
missing scenes or like post canon or like like things that are just sort of tangentially off what I already have consumed and then i will start like the first like the first filter I will put in I'll I'll do like by kudos and I'll like look for know what what's the most popular and then i will filter out soulmate AUs and I'll read like as many of those look good and then I'll start getting into more different things So I'm typically looking for something that has... Also, it depends on the relationship. If it is a relationship between two women, I will read whatever. I will read porno plot. i will read like Again, there's not a Rosalina fic that has not crossed my desk. I will read whatever when it is women. um When it is like two men or if it is like heterosexual, I typically am looking for something that's got a really good plot. Yeah. that interests me and is and like if they have sex great I can kind of take it or leave it but yeah I don't know I mean i'm big I'm big into soulmate at you like know if you can tell that about me based on how much I've said it but yeah yeah whatever whatever strikes my fancy but I'm not really I don't know I feel like like I could be more wild with it Okay. Yeah.
00:34:01
Speaker
No, I get it. i I have, like, I think I have, like, a little bit of anxiety about reading unfinished fics just from my historical history and fandom. So right now, like, usually what I do is I, like, look through the Shane Illya tag and try to only find, like, one shots. But I'll read anything. Like, I'll read, like, fluffy stuff. And usually it's, like, whatever the summary is. If the summary's good, I'll read it. Like, If I don't like it, then I just like back out of it and go so like go find a new fic. I have been reading, unfortunately, a lot of Omegaverse right now. Jane Hollander has bottom eyes. I don't know what to tell you. And it's just been happening a lot.
00:34:45
Speaker
I've been getting a lot of Omegaverse, like little one shot snippets on my Twitter feed recently. And every single time I think of Lauren, because Lauren and a couple of other people I know are the only ones I know that are into Omegaverse. And I just think of Lauren every time. And I wanted to put that out there.
00:35:00
Speaker
So that's been a big one. But I think like something I always like always look at is like recreational drug use. Like I just want to see that experience, especially since Shane is like so anti that in like the like universe, I think.
00:35:15
Speaker
We're like, get that boy high and get that boy pregnant. Yes. No, literally. That's all I want. That's all I want. I think i i think Hudson would approve of both exactly. Honestly, yeah. I don't need Hudson knowing what I want.
00:35:30
Speaker
I don't know. i don't need him knowing that I want him to be pregnant and smoke weed. But that's all want. probably agrees. And you know what? He probably agrees because Ilya Rosanoff wants to get that man pregnant. Shane Hollander's search history is like, can I get pregnant from eating too much gum?
00:35:47
Speaker
if If Shane could get pregnant, Ilya and Shane would have more kids than Hayden. Yes! And I stand by that. Yes. And I stand by that. I've also been reading a lot of trans Shane Hollander fics. and like there is a there is a really good it is not finished there's a really good like impreg trans shame yes is it is it upper body day to day that yeah yes it's so good it's so good it's so good it's so good clown to clown shut up No, literally, like, we are the satyria gift right now. yeah
00:36:23
Speaker
Yeah, I've been reading a lot of trans Shane Hollander or, like, stealth Ilya fics. Those are also really good. You know, Shane, no matter what gender he is, he is a bottom. can confirm when Lauren came to visit me I asked for a list of their favorite trans Shane and like Mpreg fics and I am obsessed I've been slowly making my way through them I have like three other books I'm reading right now so my fanfic reading is a little I'm a little behind okay don't get at me I'm a little behind But I'm also really into trans because like I just I love the idea. I think it would work. I've been reading a a couple cryptic pregnancy. Shane, read a couple of those where like Shane doesn't know he's pregnant. He has the baby. and That's a whole thing. Like i I literally put one in a text to speech like website thing because I was like, wait, I'm busy right now, but I need to read this. And so I just like show off the copy pasted it into a text to speech because I was like, I will just listen to this right now. Even if it's a bad robot voice, I need this right now in my veins. And so I have been asking Lauren for some But I think if I had to look for something right now, if I'm looking for Holonov, I'm most likely looking for like trans Shane. I'm good with trans Ilya, but my preference is trans Shane or trans both of them, honestly. And some of those like little Twitter threads that I've mentioned, the little like snippets of ideas people have, I've seen them both. where I've seen one where like Ilya knows how to cure Shane's vaginal atrophy and Shane is like, how do you know how to do that? And it's because Ilya is stealth. That's a whole thing I've seen. Yeah, no, I'm so here for that agenda. And I love hearing that my companions are on the same page as me. pun not intended.
00:37:52
Speaker
At some point I do want to get into trans femme Holonov where both of them are trans femme but I haven't quite made it there yet. I've seen a lot of really good fan arts that i I enjoy looking at that I think are really cute and really slay but I want to get through some trans mask Holonov before I get into trans femme. I don't know why but I just do. i could do both. I don't know why i don't just do both but like I said my reading is slow. I have a bunch. i have like seven tabs open across different devices that I want to read I need time so I think once I finish one of the fantasy books I'm reading I'm going to put that on pause and try to figure out a more cohesive way to read fanfic that is also I could do audio and also not.
00:38:29
Speaker
I read like Shane getting pegged fics. Those are hot. So I love like, i think my thing is like, I will read canon because like, I love hockey. So like, I, I enjoy reading the canon, but I think one of my kind of gripes with this fandom is they don't know hockey. Like I know hockey. And and so it's very, like i used to read in the hockey RPF and like those bitches know hockey. Cause they're,
00:38:53
Speaker
Talking about real hockey players. They're talking about hockey. Yeah. See, I'm like anything with the Ottawa Centaurs. Oh. Post the long game or anything with like the Ottawa Centaurs in the long game, honestly, because I'm like, Ilya, be friends with your team. They're so lovely and wonderful. And like Wyatt Hayes is everything to me. Like any, any Wyatt Hayes centric, like the Wyatt Hayes POV tag AO3 hates to see me coming. Like,
00:39:21
Speaker
no i love why it is i love him well that like i can't get around are like i just can't get around like any threesome fix and i like can't get around like there's this one where it's like shane hollander is a slut and i love the premise of that fic but like shane and hayden fucking is like weird to me like i'm like i i'm fascinated by the people that are shipping shane and or not shane um hayden and cliff marlowe oh yes i'm also fascinated by that because i haven't you haven't read any but i'm like i i'm intrigued i'm intrigued and i think like the reason why i don't read those fics just because i know like shane is not he's not a little party bottom like he's not a pass around party bottom like Yeah, he is he is a bottom for one man. And one man only. wayly Like, I mean, that's that's the whole kind of point of heated reverie. It's like, he he hopes that it could be a woman, and once he realizes it's not a woman, he's like, okay, any other man, but like, literally no one does it for him the way Ilya does. And like, that's that's the whole thing. No, literally. So... david David did ask, were there no other men in Montreal?
00:40:30
Speaker
No, literally. rose Probably they were, but none of them were Ilya fucking Rosanoff. Exactly. Thank you. Exactly. Okay. Let's get into our fix. Yes. I would like to caveat that we did reach out to all of the authors and we did get permission to talk about these fix just because I know that like privacy and like there has like a long story and history of privacy and fandom. And we just wanted to make sure that it was okay when we brought them to a larger audience who maybe doesn't interact with fan fiction in this way. So going start with Mal.
00:41:03
Speaker
And the fic is called Please Leave a Message. Yes. And this one may be familiar. It is the most kudos to Holonov fan fiction. is one of the first ones that I read for this
Community and Support in Fanfiction
00:41:18
Speaker
fandom. And it is a texting fic. I mean, it did not invent texting fics, but I feel like I am reading texting fics in a way that I have never before for any other fandom. And I feel like it started with this one. And so I feel like it is sort of a, it's it's one of those like cornerstone fanfics for this fandom, yeah I think. And so that's that's why I chose this one opposed to all the many other wonderful texting fics like Cannot Recommend Secret Society of Stick Handlers high enough.
00:41:47
Speaker
Love that series. I'm blanking on every other text fic I've ever read. but like And I think this is also like a caveat to social media AUs, which is are also so really big in this fandom. I've never read social media AUs like this before. And i yeah I think, like, the, like, original content is just, like, very convertible to, like, social media. and Like, especially since, like, in the TV show they do have Twitter and, like, they have people talking about them. And so I think that, like, having that in the, like, in the. No, any fanfic that has, like, Stan Twitter reacting to Hollin' I'm there for Incredible. I think it's because, like, I spent so much of my life, like,
00:42:24
Speaker
on stan twitter and like i was in the trenches shipping larry stylenson in the one direction days you know so like i was like this this speaks to me and my experience no and exactly you you are so right for that all right so the story is a series of text conversations with the Montreal WAGs and their group chat. And so basically in the fanfic, Ellie is added as Lily to the Montreal WAGs chat. I believe this author has said like, you know, the timeline is sort of a general idea because like this wouldn't actually happen because it's pre-Shane's concussion when it happens. So the author is kind of like, It's all vibes. like This is based on nothing. And I'm just like, I'm here for it. And so you know he gets added to this group chat and gets to know the girls up until the concussion and in which he sort of has to reveal himself to Jackie. So they all think that he is this woman named Lily, but actually he is Lily Rosenhoff. Yes. And so there's sort of like a mix of characters, like canon partners that we know for some of the characters like Jackie, Pike, wife of Hayden, and then several other women who are dating various dating or married to various members of the Montreal metros. Can we just get a shout out for Rachel, who was with Louis Maron, who doesn't play for the Montreal Metros anymore. She dumped his ass because he sucks.
00:43:54
Speaker
And you hes he's now a left wing for San Francisco. But they kept her on the chat because they love her. Yes, incredible. No, exactly. That's girls' girl behavior. That's girls' girl behavior. Like, i I fully, like, and this is how I envision every WAGs chat for WAGs are wives and girlfriends for current NHL teams.
00:44:17
Speaker
Like, yeah I'm like, no, this is exactly what's happening in the WAGs chat. I hope so. Like, you know, those, first of all, those girls all show up to the game in coordinated outfits. Well, yes, as they should. As they should. But they, like, get specifically tailor-made clothes for like for the game to show that they are the wag and like this to me is like peak hockey culture like just them i love them to like bitching about the hockey team and the games and like shane's shitty mood and like just yeah like i i love all of it it's so good it's such a good little little spot and The whole thing with the socks. Oh, oh the socks. And I have seen this, like, pop up in several fics since. And I'm like, I feel like this author, like, created something. This, like, headcanon that Shane will not fuck Ilya unless he picks up his socks. And I love that. No. Listen, as someone who is married to man, TM, the socks, are like, and this is a very, like, clean man. He hates something deorganized, like, aesthetics are all to him, but socks are on the floor. Like, you have Shane.
00:45:26
Speaker
He's just like Shane in many regards, but the socks are gonna be on the floor, on the sofa, on the bed, everywhere, but where they should be. Yes. So I felt seen by this thing. No, I mean, i think I love these like little slice of life. And it's like, it feels like very montage-y, you know, it's like very much like just small snippets of their lives. And I i always love when a fic is able to like do that.
00:45:53
Speaker
I also love when a fanfic kind of doesn't over explain things to you. It just sort of relies that like, we all have, we all know the source material, like we know the events of this. And so I'm not going to go through all the events, but I'm going to like give you these things that are happening as the events are going on and like trust that you can fill in the blanks. And like, I think that's part of the fun of fanfics. Listen, we love a text that trusts the readers to fill the blanks. You know, like I, I, and in this day and age, we need texts that make you make connections that are not given to you in a single way. Exactly. It's giving you media literacy, babe.
00:46:31
Speaker
I just want to say poor Sarah, who hates the playoff beards. Oh, yeah. No, I also hate the playoff beards, truly. i'm sorry. They're bad. They're so bad, bro. Yep.
00:46:44
Speaker
That's why i only watch women's hockey. And you know what? And you know what? Fair. And that is that is a very new discovery. i could not care less about hockey up until watching Heated Rivalry. Yeah.
00:46:57
Speaker
Because like I grew up in Texas, so it's like not really a thing. um like i grew up watching baseball and football. And like those have always been kind of... mean, baseball more than football, but those have always been the sports that I follow. And then after this, I was like, hockey's kind of kind of fun. I got kind of like hockey. Wait, hold on. Hockey's kind of, ah you know, she kind of...
00:47:22
Speaker
And they let girls play. And they let girls And the girls also get into fights. And I get to like. And they kiss. Okay. And then they go. And yes. And the girls kiss. Like I love the, like just. I love lesbians. The PWHL is. I love lesbians. Exactly. Like I went to a game between the New York Sirens and the Ottawa Charge. And a friend of mine was like, did you know two of the players are engaged? It's like heated rivalry in real life. Cause like one of the players on the charge is engaged to one of the Sirens. And I was like, This is the best day of my life. This is the best day of my life. No, literally. hope they kiss, and they didn't, but they should.
00:47:56
Speaker
Wait, oh my god, popping in to say that I am also P-Dub fan, P-W-H-L, I have decided that I'm a Fleet fan. I don't know if I've officially announced this on the pod yet. I'm literally, I have the Boston, Fleet, and Minnesota Frost game up on the side while I edit. But I also, i mean just women, women are so much better than men, and the men suck, the NHL sucks, and the P-Dub is so much more accepting to everyone, and there's less teams, so it's easier to get into it. and it's really fun and i don't know if i also said this on the pod but during the olympics when one of the other players engaged but when hillary knight got engaged to her fiance the speed skater i have like a second like level of connection to her like my manager's husband knows the speed skater that got engaged to hillary knight who is the captain for the seattle torrent And so that's just really cool. But yeah, shout out P-Dub. Go check them out. The playoffs are happening soon. Everything is free on YouTube. Shout that out right now. Everyone is so cool. a lot There's a lot of queer players. I discovered the app is really neat. They have like a zine in there that talks about each team and also has a section on all of the queer players, which is so awesome. The NHL would literally never, as we've said. So shout out to P-Dub. Go watch.
00:49:08
Speaker
I also, I love the fix when everybody's like, oh my God, how, like, I guess this is like a little social media. It's like, how are people, how are Ilya and Shane going to be able to be on a team together and be husbands? And everybody's like, people in the PWHL do it all the time. Like, I love that little, that little, that little moment. I love this fic. I return to this fic a lot. Please leave a message. I yeah i just like all this the social media AU ones. Or the texting fics. I loved it. I think people are getting really creative with skins too.
00:49:39
Speaker
oh my god. her own like i've seen no People are like coding shit. i read one where... Ilya and Shane were sending each other letters and like they had actual letters that you could like click and then it opened and I was like what the fuck no literally I was like I'm gonna because it's all html coding so like as long as you learn that like you could do anything I didn't even know this was an option I've never seen fanfic like this in my life Oh my god, thank you Mal for bringing this up. I was gonna mention it, but the coding I've seen recently has been nuts. I saw a full, like, embedded, like, fake TikTok with a comment section you could open and scroll. Like, you could, like, click all of these buttons and interact with it in, like, actual Twitter threads. Because sometimes, like, they'll do, like, ah a faux interface where it's like bolded to show like whatever like different like font things like that's fine but i've seen full like like images and gifs and all sorts of different things embedded in it that you can interact with and i think the interacting aspect is just blowing my mind like gifs are one thing like like how you can do on tumblr or something but a full tick scrolling through a tiktok section and it's not even like the whole thing takes up the screen you have you can literally scroll within the fic on it and these people are just so smart and I can code like a little bit but this is just nuts or like I used to do like my tumblr whatever website and this is out of blowing everything out of the park like we are in such a new age for fan fiction and it's awesome like if this was here when I was in our flag means death huge smau like sphere oh my goodness gracious that would have gone so triple platinum broken containment because those people were writing crazy style and if they had this kind of like tech like this was what three years ago like i'm sure someone could have done it but it just i i haven't seen it until now i did write like my jughead betty fic what did have like social media components to it and had like the like i love when a story is like told from a like third person perspective but it's like a journalist and like the journalist is writing the story about ilia and shane like there's been a lot of those in this fandom
00:51:44
Speaker
Tweets of a beat reporter. Love that. Oh, I like there's like one where Alexi goes to like TMZ or something and is like trashing Shane. Yes. Shoot. I wish I remember what that one was called. Well, we'll be linking everything. out Yeah. Well, well we very we'll figure it out. Okay. Smash pass. I love smash. Smash. Smash. Smash. Period. It made me laugh. I would read it over and over and over again in my life. like Hell yeah. yeah No.
00:52:10
Speaker
I love that. Okay, let's move on to the next one, which is mine. It's called I'll Believe in Anything. Okay, so the fun story about this is I found this fic one afternoon dude and I was maybe getting high. And I consumed all of it in, like, one sitting. And it had, like, two chapters to go. Like, it was, like, 10 out of 12. And I got on our threads and I went... I just consumed like the most amazing fic. It makes me want to like get up and throw my phone across the room and cry and everything. And then I set my phone down and then I went and watched a hockey game for three hours and I came back to 300 notifications and everyone was like, what the fuck is this fic? You're baiting us.
00:52:51
Speaker
Give us the fic right now. And I was like, guys, I'm so sorry I got high and I watched a hockey game and I think I ate dinner maybe. This fic like blew my mind. So the story is Ilya plays for an ECHL team, which I have a special place in my heart for ECHL fics because like some of my favorite hockey romance fics just in general are about the ECHL.
00:53:15
Speaker
And so Ilya is like not a superstar NHL player. He's just... A little guy. And ECHL players notoriously get paid no money. Like, they get they make, like, 40 grand a year, maybe. Whoa. Like, they don't make they don't make any kind of money. And so, Ilya has, like, supernatural connections. And so, he has started an alternate career on the side.
00:53:41
Speaker
with his two little friends, Boone and Troy, and they go and investigate. They're like paranormal investigators. And in this fic, they decide to go to the Cursed Cottage in Canada where the 1980s hockey star Shane Hollander died tragically in a fire and is contacted by Shane's ghost, who seems a little familiar somehow. Yeah, what were you guys' thoughts on this?
00:54:05
Speaker
So you recommended this a long time ago. I think like when you read it and I like read the description and I was like, this this is not something that I think I'm going to be into at all. Like I just, it's not for me. It's fine, whatever. And so I just like didn't really think about it. And then we were doing this and you were like, so one of my fanfics has to be this. And I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to read the Ghost Hunter fic. I stayed up. until 3am on a work night finishing this fic like destroyed me I was like this oh my god I was like mad that I didn't read it sooner I also sent it to one of my best friends and I was like so actually I think you have to read this and she goes whoa this is kind of an out there concept and I was like no I know but don't make my mistake like you have to read it you have to read it
00:54:50
Speaker
It's so good! It's really good. And Amanda was the first one to read it, besides Lauren, in our little chat. And they were like, this is so good. And then I was i was in Boston. I was visiting my husband. And I was like, he's going to work right now. My mom is doing her thing. I should read some fics.
00:55:09
Speaker
And then I texted everyone like, oh, sure. Just wreck me with fics. Amazing. I am a mess with a ghost one. And now I have to go to dinner. And I had to wait to finish it like two days because I was like doing stuff with family.
00:55:26
Speaker
quick Yeah, I loved this fic so much. Oh my god, I had to split it up into chunks because I wanted to savor it a little bit. I didn't want it to like go too quickly and I didn't want it to just swallow it because I had that tendency to just swallow things and not process it. And so I like read it up on my roof and it was really nice and I like didn't know where it would go. so i was like, am I scared? like Am I not? And I didn't end up getting too scared, but like some parts i was like getting like I got goosebumps and I was like, whoa. Whoa, the writing was so incredible and it is an out there concept, but I think like it just works so well. Like this is one of those things where like I was saying earlier, like if you gave me an idea, I could tell you how they could kind of respond. But this i think the author said they had like dreamt it or something like or they had like dream something similar and decided to turn it into an AU. But like this is something that I think you like they could write and turn into a full story and just change the names like or and or or like change like the the sport or like change it tweak it a little bit take it a bit out of canon a bit more out of canon and you could make it its whole story because i think this was a great concept and this is something so unique to fandom and fan fiction is you can take these established characters we already know who they are and how they act and put them them in this like random ass scenario or it's not that random but like complete
00:56:40
Speaker
completely different from the established canon, and we have this beautiful masterpiece of this thing that tears you ascender in a matter of, like, less than hours, like, literally within chapters, you're like, oh my god, like, I thought I had my heart handed back to me in pieces by the actual show, but this is, like, another level, and, like, I thought Mal would really like this with, like, the soulmates thing, and, yeah, I just thought it was really beautiful, it tied in some really, really cool aspects of, like, indigeneity and spirituality, and,
00:57:06
Speaker
It took me to new twists and turns and levels that I had not anticipated. And this is like one of my favorite Holonov fics, I think, ever. Like it has now a special place in my heart. So shout out to Lauren for that.
00:57:18
Speaker
It's literally so good. It has a really good twist in it. Uh-huh. Like, I think that was, like, like, I've read a lot of fics that have twists in it, and I, actually, I haven't read a lot of fics that have twists in it. I feel like one of the reasons why I always come back to, like, to fanfiction is because it's, like, very formulaic, you know? Like, i know... that if it is a like tattoo parlor florist
Fanfiction's Narrative Influence
00:57:40
Speaker
flower shop au florist au like i know that they're like ultimately gonna get together one of them's a tattoo artist he's gonna design a floral tattoo for the florist, like, and then get for flowers tattooed on him. Like, come on. But this this one had a twist that I was like not expecting. And I was like, oh. As someone who studies literature, like 10 years of studying it professionally, i was like, how is this author gonna get out of the corner that they just wrote themselves in? I was like, yeah I don't know how they're gonna resolve this whole thing because yeah it is so beautifully calculated. And everything just falls into place in ways that I just didn't expect it to go. No, I was like, because it's tagged as like happily ever after. And so I was like, how on earth do you have like how Shane who played hockey in the 80s and and like a modern day...
00:58:37
Speaker
Ilya. And it's happy ever after. I'm like, ah how do you do that in a way that doesn't feel cheap or like cheesy? And like it it just it worked. It worked. Listen, Mal, the way that I started, because I had to stop and I had to wait two days to finish it. The way I started trying to figure out if we were going to do something to the ectoplasm so they could touch. you all like Because...
00:59:04
Speaker
When I was doing guys my my problem exams for for for my PhD, I was reading a lot about like human non-human animals, critical animal studies. And I did read like a lot on ghosts. And I did read a lot of like some states in the US s will have laws on real estate that like cover haunted houses and how like selling a haunted, like how you have to disclose a haunted house. But it has like ah a lot of theory on how do you make laws for something not everyone believes in and that you can prove with science. So how do you like, because if you're going to buy a house, you get like ah someone to check it for like structure issues for pests. But do you get like a Ghostbuster or something?
00:59:53
Speaker
No, I got I got really, really technical into all the possible solutions that I can find them. No, and like the cliffhanger at chapter nine, I'm just going to read little bit of this fic. It's not going to let you know a lot, but this one where it's like, did you get sick? Is that what happened? Shane buried his head into Ilya's chest. No, tell me, please. You, Shane breathes. Tear up still clinging to his eyelashes when he did his head to look at him.
01:00:22
Speaker
You got sick, Ilya. And then ending the chapter there, and I was like, I'm gonna walk off cliff! This was the crossover between heated rivalry and fellow travelers that I had no idea I needed. Like, right!
01:00:37
Speaker
And like, it is like, it's so well researched. It's yeah got like, it's got like, I feel like the the stuff around like the lake Like that kind of stuff is really interesting and well researched. I feel like the historical parts of it are well researched. Like this is everything.
01:00:56
Speaker
The language. Like the way I just picked it up on like a fucking Tuesday afternoon and was like, all right. That's the fun with fanfic. It's just like some days you just randomly come across something that like fucking wrecks you. And it's this this also happened to me like two times in the last few weeks. I have had an almost all nighter finishing a fanfic. The other one is this fic in which Ilya kind of accidentally on purpose starts an underground gay mafia in the NHL. trying to get like players to make a pact to come out if they win the cup. I'm fucking obsessed with this fanfic and every time it updates it like makes my day because I love this fanfic so bad and I just like I need more people to read it but like I stayed up all night reading this fanfic and then I had to like drive three hours the next day and I was like so I'm probably gonna die in the car but like the fanfic was so good that I needed to keep reading.
01:01:52
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. but yeah, those are both ones that I added to my like spreadsheet of fanfics. Amazing. Before I was even like halfway done with the chapters. I was just like, like the ghost one and that one. I was just like, I've read what I need to read. Like this is going on my recommendation spreadsheet.
01:02:08
Speaker
No, literally. so good. Let's switch to your other fanfic because, like, I feel like our... Like, this one is kind of soulmate-y and then I know yours is definitely a soulmate AU, so let's switch. Before we switch to that one, I just wanted to shout out to Miles' comment on the on the outline. Like, honestly incredible the way this uses your background knowledge to make you feel things. And yes! Like...
01:02:32
Speaker
It's making you go back to the images of the series, to the passages of the books that you know by heart. And you imagine this cottage and the cottage has been consumed by fire, but you have the cottage in your mind because you have reheated it so many times. So you feel nostalgic about it. Yeah, and, like, the idea that Shane in the 80s, like, may not have had Ilya was, like, spookier than the ghost. Yes. To me. Like, and I was like, wait. Like, this this sense of wrongness that I had reading this thing. Yeah, something is wrong. Something is wrong. I was like, something is missing here. And, like, there's this mystery. Like, what happened to Shane Hollander? Like, how did all of this happen? How how is it connected to Ilya now? Like, Just truly this fanfic, like, if it wasn't so tied to, like, the source material, I would be like, you know, I think in ah a couple years we could see this as, like, a published book. like it is that good. But I also think, like, the reason it works is because you know the story it's based on. Like, it works as a fanfic. I don't know that it works as a book without, like, major revisions. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
01:03:45
Speaker
For sure. It reminds me of, so I read in Raylo for, that's like my curse ship, is I read Raylo for a while. But there was this fic there that was called Landscape with a blur with a Blur of Conquerors. And I actually interviewed the author for part of my master's thesis. And... Like she, I think she's in the process of turning it into a book or something or a media rights, but I'm like so much of that story is like deep in star Wars lore that I i feel like it's going to be really hard to separate it out unless you make it like a historical period, which then ruins all of the space politics, right which is the best part. So, but um yeah, no, I smash or pass on this fic on ah I'll believe in anything.
01:04:32
Speaker
I mean, it is absolutely a smash. Absolutely a smash. Okay, let's go to Mal's second fic, which is You and I Might Just Be the Best Thing. Yes. I mean, I picked two fanfics that I read pretty early on in my fanfic journey for this ship. And as I said, I am a slut for a Soulmate AU. I love Soulmate AU. So this is a Soulmate AU. It is a story in two parts.
01:04:55
Speaker
One is Shane's point of view, one is Ilya's. And so... It's pretty canon compliant. There are some changes more towards the like long game part of the story. But in this fic, there are soulmates, and soulmates kind of have this urge to collect things that their soulmate needs. And so as they're like going through their lives, they occasionally will get these like urges to collect something that their soulmate needs in that moment, even before they know each other. And I've never read a soulmate AU like this. like I feel like typically...
01:05:28
Speaker
you have like, oh, soulmate marks. Like we touch each other for the first time and we get marks or like we have our, we have names on each other or we have, you know, we speak each other's languages or we try to think all the other things. Like we only seen black and white until we meet or like whatever. So like this was a brand new soulmate AU to me. And I was just like fascinated by the way that they kind of did this and the way it starts with Shane's POV and he's like collecting things for Ilya throughout their lives. And then you get Ilya's point of view where you see like why he needed these things in his life and then also the things that he is collecting for Shane and sort of how they come to their separate realizations that they are each other's soulmates. Well, how they come to the realizations that the other person is their soulmate and then like later down the road realize that the soulmateship is mutual. But yeah.
01:06:23
Speaker
In the canon... We get them not talking about feelings to each other. And we we keep that in this fic. It's like, they just won't. They just won't be honest. They were just like, what if I'm not his soulmate? So I'm not going to bring this up because going to be awkward.
01:06:40
Speaker
Right. And then the like, I don't have to tell him that he's my soulmate. I can just like start giving him the things that he needs that I'm like getting the urge to collect. And I just, I don't have to say it because like he'll pick up on clues knowing that Shane Hollander has never picked up on a clue in his entire life that wasn't actually on the hockey ice.
01:06:59
Speaker
So, yeah. And also Shane's just desire to kind of justify everything to himself in a way that like means that this doesn't mean what he think it he thinks it means. like Bro, he's baby. He's so baby. It's so funny. I love Shane Hollander so dearly.
01:07:20
Speaker
I love him so much. My little my little my little anxious bean. No, I love this fic. Like you said, Mal, like I've never read a soulmate AU like this. like I've always read, like, oh, we have similar tattoos, or we speak the same language, or, you know, whatever. So I think it was a really interesting take on that. And then I think the companion piece to it, which is Ilya's perspective, is also very cutesy, and I also love that one, too. The bare bandages...
01:07:48
Speaker
i cannot I cannot stop thinking about that. The bear bandage. The cigarettes? Shane Hollander buying cigarettes? Yeah, Shane. Yeah. No, no. Ilya! Ilya buying Viagra.
01:08:03
Speaker
Viagra when he can't get it up with Rose. Incredible. That was so funny. Also, Ilya knowing the whole time. Yeah. yeah But the Viagra... Because the only thing he's collecting is like hockey stuff, and he's like, my roommate doesn't do anything but play hock but hockey.
01:08:22
Speaker
But I love how confused he is with the Viagra. He's like, yeah should Shane Hollander doesn't need this at all. But I mean, I also think that's a good way of showing like kind of the differences in the way that they were raised, like between like collecting the bear band-aids for Ilya because he needs that like childhood comfort. Cause like, that's not something that he's getting at home versus like Shane who never needs anything like that because he has everything he needs from his parents. It's just sort of like hockey related stuff that he needs occasionally. Cause he's like running out of tape and, Right. Imagine having a hyperfixation. Yeah, well, it couldn't be me. Couldn't be I've never hyperfixated on anything in my life. I don't know what you're talking about.
01:09:11
Speaker
No, literally, I've never... I'm not currently hyperfixated Hallin' Hallin' Hall fanfic in a way that like I don't want to do anything else. And like when somebody makes me do my job at work, I'm kind of like, I wish I could be reading fanfic. No, literally.
01:09:26
Speaker
Quite literally. Quite literally. I also thought this fic had a way of angst in a way that was like kind of like quick, but and it was a different angst from the previous fic. This angst was like kind of like the long game where they're not- like Lao said, that they're not communicating, and so you're like, no please, no please stop, don't leave, come back, come back, and then it's like- and The relief is- oh it's insane. It's- sometimes it feels like doing drugs the way I'm like, no, no, no, no! no and Or, like, like just the the craziness for it. Like, this one is definitely one that I swallowed. I really adored this fic. I thought it was a really unique take or a really unique viewpoint on Soulmates. It was so funny, like they're saying with the Viagra, the hilarity was there, but also the heartbreak with the bandages or, like,
01:10:12
Speaker
Ilya's mom, like, getting to see that from Shane's point of view, and Shane doesn't know what's happening, but you as the reader with that background canon knowledge, you're like, oh shit, like, I know what that's for. It's, this was a really good one, and it's quick too, like, it it definitely was less than an hour, like, it was kind of a one-shotter type beat, and Ilya's side was even shorter, so I, this one is up there with, with my recommendations. I mean, and that's partly why it made it on the pod is like literally every time lauren and mal sent their rex i was like yes yes yes exactly i mean it was only four but even that i had already read like two or three of them i was absolutely exactly 100 these are phenomenal like this was this was just such like a good idea and a really a really interesting perspective to take and then i was thinking about like oh my god what would that look like for my life like if this was real or if this was me and what would this other person be yeah i don't know it was funny a funny food for thought moment to think about like wow what would that look like in what does this look like in other ships like where does this look like elsewhere i think it's a really cool either writing prompt if you want to go write that for someone else or if you want to think about what your life would be like or if you are in a relationship what would you be collecting for your partner right now like i don't know i i thought i think it's fun
01:11:25
Speaker
Okay. All right. So smash or pass? Smash. Smash. You all, Mal, are our brains the geniuses we are picking these fics? Yeah. I don't think there was a single pass in this one. No. Although, we have one more. we have have one more. Which is my favorite title for a fic ever because I love Rescue. It's a good title. I used to do the Rasputin dance on, was it Dance Dance Revolution? hu
01:11:55
Speaker
Yeah, or or maybe Just Dance. I think it was Just Dance. in my friend's basement and then i would fall over every time i would do it but this pick is called russia's greatest love machine hell yeah it is a short story from shane's point of view where shane encounters a man at a uh the espies who is just so happened to be famous russian porn star ilya rozanov hell yeah and shane discovers that he's gay through meeting ilia and i love this fic i first of all i the i've been reading so many ilia rosadov as a porn star because he um like if he was not a hockey player he would absolutely be a porn star you know what like yeah i he's either like a porn star or a model or like a race car driver okay like he's gonna be one of those
01:12:50
Speaker
Or he's some guy working a really sad like police job to try to make his father happy, and then he leaves his police job to pursue his dreams of doing anything else. Modeling. Porn starring. Yeah.
01:13:01
Speaker
Driving. All of those. cars Yeah. All of the above. of you All of the above. All of the above. All of the above. No, I feel like Ilya is very much like whatever... It didn't have to be hockey. Like, whatever he could have done to get out of Russia, like, yeah he would have been doing. Like, I think... I have trouble reading ones where Shane is not a hockey player because I'm just like, what else...
01:13:25
Speaker
What else would he do? As we saw during the Soulmate one. I not can have a million other jobs, but like Shane Hollander hockey player on Instagram, like what?
Humor and Anecdotes in Fandom
01:13:37
Speaker
You can't take that away from him. Like that's. yeah Although I did just read one where he is a doctor and I think if he wasn't going be a hockey player, he should be a doctor. I could see it. I could see it. Shane at the pit. fanfic in which Ilya and Shane are doing like an interview. and i I don't know who wrote it. I don't know what it is. But um they are asked in said interview, like, what would you do if you weren't a hockey player? And Shane spins the entire question being like, if I wasn't a hockey player, like I don't know. what Like, what would i what would I do? And then Ilya suggests that he would be a Zamboni driver to run over the people who got to play hockey instead of him.
01:14:16
Speaker
Incredible. No, literally. I need a giant buzzer that just says cannon when you hit it because right here I'd go cannon, cannon, cannon.
01:14:27
Speaker
but it's like It's like when they were going around asking NHL players and they were like, like all the social media interns at NHL teams were like, what would you do if you were more athletic? And all the NHL players are like, if I was more athletic?
01:14:45
Speaker
What do you mean more athletic? And then some of them answered, they were like, i don't know. I play like tennis, I guess. Bro, no, that's not the point of the joke. The point of the joke is that you can't be more athletic than a hockey player because that's pretty fucking athletic. Well, and I've seen people ask that question to like all sorts of professional athletes. Like I saw someone ask that to like Simone Biles, who ye like, can you be more athletic than Simone Biles? Because I think the point is just to like, for the person to be like, uh, what? oh
01:15:16
Speaker
I actually don't. I don't know. I would be like a demigod. Thank you. but Yeah. How do we know Simone Biles isn't already? That's what I'm Listen. Real.
01:15:27
Speaker
Real. Real, real. Daughter of Zeus. She's happy in the air. Poor Simone Biles. That's so sad.
01:15:37
Speaker
Listen, listen. Okay, going back to the fic. Okay, first of all, the fact that Hayden knows who the porn star is is so funny. That cracked me up. I was like, why does Hayden know who Elia Rosenau is?
01:15:50
Speaker
I was like, you have Jackie, bro. Like, what is going on? He's, I mean, listen, he loves a hotel room. What's he doing? Well, he's. And you know what? I thought he was just looking to at pictures of Jackie because that's what I would be doing. Honestly. Yeah.
01:16:04
Speaker
Why do you need porn when you have a wife like that? Hayden. That's my question. like come on that is a very valid question no i also thought that like shane was so like so good character wise like he was just in this fic like i felt like it was a very good like i think some people struggle sometimes getting into shane's head a little bit but like i don't know i really enjoyed this fic i enjoyed it i think i needed a warning lauren ah yes Yeah, reading this with my mom in the couch next to me.
01:16:38
Speaker
Not the best idea. Great, great, great, great idea to read it with my husband next to me in the bed. You know, like... Right? Exactly. You're welcome. Listen, I've been reading smut on the couch next to my mom since I was in the eighth grade. And you know what? yes i will I will say the same thing about this fic that I told my mom when she found AO3 in my search history. I'm reading this gay smut for the plot.
01:17:01
Speaker
um Because, like, honestly, that has always been true. Because... Again, I feel like a lot of fan works tend to favor like MLM ships ah versus right like women just because the nature of fandom and all that jazz. And again, I need the plot to really get into it. And like like, I have to care about them to like care that they're having sex, you know, but when it's women, it's just right hot. And I'm no better than a man. I fear I am not. But like this was not something that I think I would have like clicked on myself just because i was like, well, I don't, is it going to be all about the sex? But there was honestly like a great amount of plot and character stuff within this fanfic. And like, i yeah I ended up really liking it. Like i i did think that this one was going to take me the longest to get through just because it's so different from like what I would typically read. But I i flew through it. Like I was i was hooked. And i think like, Lauren, I got to trust your recommendations more often because both of these six, I was like, I don't, this is not what I would usually read. I don't know that I'm going to like it. And like both of them, I was just like, this is really fucking good. So don't know. i've i've I've posted so many for you to go through and look at. I feel like I've read most of the ones that you've sent though.
01:18:21
Speaker
Okay. so It was just these two. Just these two. And now. Yeah, just these two. And know i now I've read them, now I've read them all. Yeah, i've I was like, wow, I've dropped so many recently. Yeah, I couldn't go through this fic without singing, rah, rah, Rasputin. So my husband, who loves that song, he was like... Are Juan and i the same person? Yes and no.
01:18:42
Speaker
yeah ah And this is the part of the show where I s seduce Lau. Yeah. Good. Mal, you have no idea how many times...
01:18:54
Speaker
Flurry with me. Flurry with me.
01:18:58
Speaker
I mean, listen, what is life if you can't flirt with your friends a little bit? That's what I always say. Right? Listen! Listen! i agree. Okay, smash or pass? Smash. Smash all the way. Smash. Smash.
01:19:11
Speaker
Smash. I mean, I don't think we picked a single pass. I mean, I think if any of them had been passes, we wouldn't have recommended them, you know? I think so, yeah. think we would have been like, man, you know what? Actually, don't read that one. That one was bad. You know what? I am never reading a fic in this fandom without you two vouching for it. I will send you my spreadsheet. I will send you my spreadsheet. It's pinned on the Discord channel. Oh, is it? didn't even know that.
01:19:44
Speaker
cool Cool, cool, cool. There are 76 fanfics on my spreadsheet now. cool So lots of lots of things. Yes. Yes. The Secret Society's stick handlers. Yes. And we will be putting... I'll leave it in anything. I also will only read the Pete... Like, Garcia and Santos fanfic if Mal recommends it. Or Robert does. That's the only way. I actually don't read that much Pitt fanfic right now. Wait.
01:20:13
Speaker
I think this is the... I think this is Waddylicious's. Oh, it's the other one? Yes. Oh, it's not mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Let me mine then. Yay. Yes. Shout out Water Delicious. Yeah, no that was that was a good spreadsheet. Did I not send my spreadsheet in the... How dare you? The the channel has literally your name on it and you haven't shared your spreadsheet.
01:20:35
Speaker
quick I didn't find a good spot earlier to put this so I'm gonna put it here, but when Mal was like, I wasn't sure that I'd like it, but I actually really liked this fic, talking about Rush's greatest love machine, it was reminded me of that one meme of the girl who like sips the drink and at first she's like not, like, she's like ew, like repulsed by it and then she's like actually not bad, like you know like the, you know what I'm talking about, you don't understand what I'm talking about, maybe we'll include it in the teaser or something. Lauren, maybe you can find it. We can put it on the story with this. I don't know. But I thought that that was really funny because I was like, oh, I don't know if this this feels like it's just going to be like porn with a little bit of plot or like porn without plot or something. I wasn't totally sure. But I thought it was really fun. It was really funny. It was a great exploration like into a bit of Shane's psyche. And I do feel like we got to see a bit of development. And I don't know. I thought that was a really fun fic. It was like lighthearted and not too serious and not too much angst. But a lot of the like...
01:21:26
Speaker
It is very like of the Shane, like show Shane, like Shane in the show where we get where he's like curious about it, but we don't get inner monologue. We just like he's like just doing it where he like just has a dildo or he's like just doing things as a way of exploration. I thought that was really cool. And Ilya was as cocky as ever. And I thought that was really funny and really charismatic. And I just re-up everything that all of my colleagues said, especially what Lau said about only reading stuff if it's been recommended by other friends, because Yeah, I have to be selective. Like, I don't have a lot of time. It's probably coming from Malshi or our fanfic channel that our friends recommended. Like, I feel that that's how I get my fix. And i appreciate it. i I appreciate my friends vetting it for me because my time is limited. And when I do get little relaxation resting time, I'm going to choose what my
Closing and Future Topics
01:22:13
Speaker
friends think is best. Thank you.
01:22:15
Speaker
Okay, well, that is our show. Yeah. That is our show. Mal, where can we find you online? What do you want to plug? Tell us all the things. So I have two podcasts. um I am a part of a podcast that covers the pit and also heated rivalry. It's called The Pit Crew. And then our heated rivalry episodes are published like under the pit crew, but as the puck crew, but you can find it all at the pit crew. And we are on social media everywhere at pit crew podcast. And then i have a Percy Jackson podcast yeah that is coming out less often than the other one because I'm very tired, but that's called Demigod Debut. can find that wherever podcasts are cast. And we're on social media at, at Demigod debut pod. i like to yap on the internet. I don't know.
01:23:06
Speaker
And ah recently, the Puck Crew was ah named as the inspiration for a fit. That is so true. Yes, we were. we got an email from a listener. Called, you no, you didn't. I love you so much. And we will be tagging that in our show notes for you all. Yes. Honestly, I was like, oh my God, my life has peaked.
01:23:24
Speaker
I don't like... if If this podcast ends tomorrow, like at least I can die knowing that like we inspired a fanfic. like Some nonsense I said on the internet like made someone want to write 17,000 words of Holonite fanfic.
01:23:39
Speaker
and like And it's good. It's good. like I really enjoyed it. I read the first chapter earlier. I'm excited to read the second chapter later. Listen, and Mal, I'm not surprised. Like, you guys got me through so many, like, 7am, like, going to teach a 7am class and on on Fridays. Like, the only reason why I could get up from my bed was because pit crew. So, it makes sense. It's a very good one. It makes sense. Yeah. And I mean, we have we have a lot of fun yapping together and just general nonsense. This this week's episode is is a little unhinged and i'm I have to listen to it.
01:24:13
Speaker
I'm not quality control for that side of the podcast because Robert edits it, edits it Camille listens to it, and then Camille edits the Puck crew and I listen to the Puck crew as quality control before it comes out. So like we all have our... Yes. We definitely do the same over here. So, but thank you so much for coming on our pod today. We really appreciate you. oh course. I love to talk about fanfic. Yes. And I'm sure, I'm sure we'll be hearing from you in the future about more fanfic. Keep sending the racks. We will keep we will keep reading them. Good. Yeah, definitely. i'm ah I'll keep finding them. I'll keep... Amazing! Again, it's it's literally all that I want to do. I just want to be reading Halenaar fanfiction all the fucking time. who needs a job you know who needs a job teaching who at this point i'm sort of like like do i need to be like is is this affecting my life in a negative way like should i be seeking help or something like is this actually an addiction like am i okay replie listen if you just do decide to go get a fanfiction phd let me know because then that's that's when you need an intervention That's what you need in intervention. Nobody get a PhD right now. Nobody should get a PhD in the humanities league.
01:25:27
Speaker
Ever, actually. But there's your advice for the night. ah Thanks again to Mal, and we will see you all next week when we are discussing a really fun topic that everyone loves to talk about, a.k.a. racism. Racism. Racism. Racism.
01:25:47
Speaker
ah hey Actually, our schedule's kind of changed, and next week we'll be on intersectionality, so stay tuned. It was a great discussion, and I'm so excited to share it with you all. Bye! Since Fruity Season is created by Lauren, Lau, and Amanda.
01:26:06
Speaker
The cover art is by Lauren and Lau, and Amanda is our editor. Thanks for listening!