Read Any Good Fic Lately?

SPN Recs: The Critter Set

For a series that routinely deals with the Monster of the Week, finding good critter (not ghosts!) stories has actually been more difficult than I expected. I mean there are a ton of them out there and some I've read and liked but for whatever reason didn't flag, (so yes, that is your prompt for reccing excellent critter stories at the end of this -- that also have layers of character and relationship development. Het, Gen, Slash -- it's all good.)

In this case, with one exception, all the stories have both Sam and Dean in them (and seriously, if you follow my recs or my journal at all, that's pretty much the default setting. It's not that there aren't good Sam alone or Dean alone stories, it's just that for me, the show is fundamentally about the brothers and any story that's missing one or the other of them is, well, fundamentally missing something.)

As ever; guidelines for my recs/reviews can be found [[here]].

So, OMG! What was that?

I Never Met a Succubi I Didn't Like

This very first rec is going on and about backwards, because I haven't given proper feedback to the author yet, which I generally try to do, but since it was this story that actually prompted this particular set, well… eh hem. Sorry Stele3.

Title: In the Company of Demons
Author: Stele3
Rating/Genre: NC17, het, (slash)

The whole concept of succubi/incubi fascinates me. Aside from their predominance in mythology of all things sexual, the very idea of them, and the amazing variety of them across so many cultures and civilizations is just kind of mind-boggling. In SPN, (as far as I've seen) they are most often used as catalysts for slash, occasionally strictly het encounters, but since they are so much a part of the common mythos vernacular, it's rare to see someone actually examine what they are. In Stele3's In the Company of Demons you get that and more. When I flagged this story to my del.icio.us account, it hit so many tags, I thought the system was going to croak, because Stele3 covers a lot of ground in 12 chapters. The basic premise is as she describes in her notes on part one: Dean and Sam go hunting a succubus and wind up with way more than they bargained for. Because they do, they so do -- and the succubus in question isn't actually technically a succubus any longer -- she's something else, both more and less, but her effect on the boys is profound, as is their effect on her.

This has a lot of disturbing images and subjects; it is extremely violent, both sexually and otherwise, it is also incredibly beautiful both in theme and execution. The succubi brings out the best and worst in the boys -- and she does so without apology -- as an original character she is fully realized and frighteningly familiar. It is primarily het, but the slash is there, if understated as implied rather than realized, and if that designation is making you veer off, then you really are missing the point because Stele3 does possibly the best job ever of articulating why slash is primarily an emotional connection rather than a sexual one.

The story is brutal and beautiful. It plays up in the most amazing way ever how Dean's love is fierce and devoted and Sam's love is compassionate and enduring.

You do not want to miss this story and do not cheat yourself by skipping over the author's notes at the end.

This is Not Earth Logic - Gods & Goddesses

Title:Such Sweet Ruin
Author: Scribblinlenore
Rating/Genre: NC17, het & slash

An older story, and one that falls into the "Aliens Made Us Do It" category, and all the more wonderful for that is Scribblinlenore's Such Sweet Ruin. I have a great fondness for Ursula in this, by any name. One of the more difficult things I find when reading other people's takes on divine characters (and regardless of your religious faith, if a being is classified as god/goddesses, there is a certain sacred divinity attached to them) is the inability of people to grasp the concept that Gods and Goddesses, Angels and Archangels, Demons and Daevas don't operate on human logic. Their motivations are not, in most cases, easily attributable to human motivation even though there are analogues. In this story, Lenore manages to grasp the concept that sowing temptation in the paths of mortals is an end unto itself. Her desire isn't to provide a happily ever after for Sam and Dean -- it is merely to bring forth in them that which she finds pleasure in. So, the story over all, has a melancholy, painful feel, but there's no denying that Ursula is having a great time -- those juxtapositions of outcomes makes this a fascinating read.

Sticking My Neck Out - Vampires

I just want to say, there should be more vampire stories that meet my criteria. There just should be.

Title: What A Father Would Do
Author: kellifer-fic
Rating/Genre: Gen

Just posted today, kellifer-fic'sWhat A Father Would Do is a vampire fic with an interesting twist and a riveting POV. This is primarily a John-story, and the vampire is off screen for the entire story -- but the punch is that the vampire is Sam. Dean's in pursuit of a cure, John's in pursuit of his sons. It's an excellent, excellent look at how deeply ingrained the pursuit of evil is in John, and equally as obvious is the absolute devotion Dean has to his family.

Lions and Tigers and Werewolves, Oh My!

Title: On the Banks of the Tiber & Field of Mars
Author: angstslashhope
Rating/Genre: soft R, Gen

angstslashhope's On the Banks of the Tiber has been recced a lot and rightfully so. Seen less often is the sequel to it, Field of Mars, which is more John-centric but still examines the fascinating metaphor that demons and ghouls and creatures of the dark play out in our human experience. I have this marked as a dark-fic and for good thematic reason: what do you do when your son/daughter/father/mother/sister/brother becomes a murderer, or a serial killer, or a rapist? Moral violations don't sever the ties of blood and affection and it's intellect that lets us distance ourselves from the monsters our best-beloveds sometimes become. What do you do when you brother becomes a werewolf? What to you do if your sons become the very thing you've devoted your life to hunting? What do you do if you still recognize your children in the monsters they've become?

Title: Unspoken
Author: raina-at
Rating/Genre: Adult, slash

In a more traditional look at the werewolf myth, raina-at gives us Sam and Dean in pursuit of a werewolf in Unspoken, The story is slash, but it's a companion theme to a wonderfully articulated hunt for a werewolf, and a look at how every hunt brings things to the surface for Sam and Dean that might otherwise lay beneath the surface. That there's a point, even in Dean's unabashed zeal for his calling, that recognizes there has to be something more, some other point to this. It's the subtle introduction of this that makes this such a compelling read.

The Dead Can Dance -- Although Not Very Well. Zombies!

Okay, let's just all admit it: Zombies are disgusting. They have horrible table manners, no real sense of personal space, and the worst concept of Personal Hygiene in the panoply of human devouring creatures. George Romero's long standing love affair with them not withstanding, they really are kind of icky and thus can be killed without guilt. We like that when the boys go hunting.

Title: It's Not Hiding If Everyone Knows Where You Are
Author: trollprincess
Rating/Genre: Adult, het, (slash), horror

Of course, then you get a story like trollprincess's It's Not Hiding If Everyone Knows Where You Are which is, as she states, not really zombies in the traditional sense, not voodoo, but the parallels are there just the same. It's an AU, set before Dead Man's Blood but pretty indeterminate, and the starkness of a world that's dying, if not already dead, is wonderfully articulated in just a few words. It has a cyclical nature, which is kind of intriguing without being overly confusing (although what it mainly did was make me want more.) Despite elements of both het and slash (the latter very subtle) the story is overall gen IMO -- and a painfully spare look at what it would be like when the most living things on the planet are, well, dead and hungry, and yet still recognizably human.

Title: dotfic's Looking for Salt
Author: dotfic
Rating/Genre: Gen

In a more traditional (and funnier) look at the disgusting scary silliness that are zombies, is dotfic's Looking for Salt, which reintroduces the boys to Ex-Agents Mulder and Scully from the X-files, who they met in an earlier story Stopping for Pancakes. This story really does read like it could be an episode; there's some lovely banter, some awkward truths, and a symmetry of emotional resonance that really plays well against a backdrop of the undead on a never-ending search for the Recommended Daily Allowance of brains. I was never a huge fan of the X-files, but I watched it enough to know the voices are pegged perfectly as are those of Sam and Dean -- there's no profound revelations in this story, it's all very understated, and likely you won't even recognize what truths are to be found until you've finished what is, all in all, and incredibly enjoyable read.

There you have it. As you can see, I'm woefully thin on critter stories, that meet all my criteria.: Sam and Dean (or Sam/Dean), less shock factor than layered emotion, a solid premise and plot, and critters that are fully realized for what they are as opposed to mere foils for the boys to discover something about themselves.

As always, if you like these, please let the authors know, even if they were posted months ago, and if you've got something you think I might like to read, feel free to drop me a comment. Self-reccing is heartily encouraged.

posted by Maygra @ 10:03 AM