"Steve Rogers isn't a self-made man."

October 3, 2020 4:58 PM

"Known Associates" by thingswithwings is a nearly 300,000-word fan fiction novel about Steve Rogers (Captain America), gender, activism, self-discovery, queer life in Brooklyn in the 1930s and '40s, sex, disability, solidarity, and the joys of making friends on the Internet. It was longlisted for the 2017 Otherwise Award.
posted by brainwane (15 comments total)

Mmm, I see what I'm doing tonight! Thank you for the feast.
posted by mogget at 6:03 PM on October 3, 2020

This is definitely worth the read.
posted by sardonyx at 6:06 PM on October 3, 2020

60,947 more words and you've got Bleak House.
posted by mecran01 at 6:19 PM on October 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

brainwane, thank you so much for all the wonderful story posts. I'm slowly going through them as I am remembering to make time for reading for pleasure and you're sharing stuff I would not likely have stumbled upon otherwise (or at least not anytime soon.)
There have been some pretty crummy days in 2020 and escaping into these stories is a wonderful respite.
posted by pointystick at 6:44 PM on October 3, 2020 [11 favorites]

A longtime fave! Nice to see this here.
posted by merriment at 6:50 PM on October 3, 2020

thingswithwings is one of my favorite fic writers :)
posted by Mouse Army at 7:05 PM on October 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

This looks great. The internet at its best, The Blue at its best -- I'd never have come across this otherwise.

Great post, OP -- thx!
posted by dancestoblue at 8:37 PM on October 3, 2020

oh this is wonderful
posted by sixswitch at 10:04 PM on October 3, 2020

It’s such a pure joy to open Mefi and find a new story post. Thanks for this!
posted by beandip at 5:01 AM on October 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

It was a personal highlight when thingswithwings recced my Yuletide fic on her Twitter. Just honored to be noticed!

Thank you so much for the fanfic posts!!!
posted by Tesseractive at 9:46 PM on October 4, 2020

I remember reading this, and it's been long enough that I can read it again. Thank you!
posted by mersen at 5:34 AM on October 5, 2020

Thanks for posting! It made me cry multiple times, it's so good!
posted by simmering octagon at 5:50 AM on October 5, 2020

Thank you! I'm not in this fandom yet but you just opened the gate!
posted by Beethoven's Sith at 10:46 AM on October 5, 2020

This is brilliant, thank you so much.
posted by eyeofthetiger at 3:40 PM on October 5, 2020

That was really delightful. I don't read a huge amount of fanfic but I am always so, so happy to be recced something of this quality in a fandom I'm familiar enough with to follow. And this particular piece clearly represented a huge amount of research, passion, and devotion.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:50 AM on October 10, 2020