Saturday, July 14, 2007

Recs: Mixed bag (SPN)

...and then there was this road and a tree and a whole bevy of ducklings -- or 'ware the rambling intro.

Note the first: an apology. I fear I have completely failed to leave feedback for the vast majority of these authors. I claim limited time and the fact that I've been snagging and tagging on del.icio.us a great deal and then going back and reading ten or fifteen stories at once. I suck. BUT the fact that these stories stuck out to me after a mass reading marathon should probably tell you something.

Note the second: the plea. Because of the aforementioned suckitude I am relying on you, fair readers, to make sure these authors know that there are eyes upon them and happy fen. Yes, I recognize the inherent hypocrisy in my plea. I make it none the less.

Note the third: the beggars plight. If you like the recs, I'm asking you to reciprocate, because honest to God, I have no time lately to hunt down stories, and that doesn't look to improve anytime soon. Also, I have a deadline for the 50 states challenge and ergo, I should be writing when I want to read. (Although, I'ma gonna put some codicil's on that in just a sec.) Alternately, I like to know if the recs are working for you -- or if they do, what parts of them do, or if there's stuff you are looking for…there are 1600 entries on my del.icio.us account and the vast majority of them are fic.

Note the fourth: codicil to recs. If you are reccing to me, please no death fics, I'm very much a fan of the boys together, road trips, slash, gen, I'm good with het as long as it's still Sam and Dean who are the focus, not so much with the wee boys, h/c with a preference for Sam being the one needing the concern (because I think I've read all the gratuitous Dean-whumping I can stand for a bit) although those of you who know me would probably be able to find the stories that edge that out for me -- mutual h/c works too. I'm not a fan of Evil!Sam or Evil!Dean and please no John/either of his sons. And scarily enough, no rapefic please, which should be as shocking to you as it is to me, but the rationale of which deserves a separate post of it's own. Thank you.

Note the fifth: hi! nice to meet you! If you are new to me reccing or new to being recced by me, please take a moment and read [[this]] which gives you the overview of how and why and what I rec. Thank you again.

++++


Contretemps Series by sangga. Ratings vary - R overall, mostly gen.

Defeating the ultimate purpose in reccing - I have no appropriate words for this story. Seriously. It looks a lot longer than it is, and the shifting timeline may provide an obstacle for some, but really, it's worth climbing the hurdle. This is, in many ways a Sam-centric story, maybe absolutely a Sam story, but who and what Sam Winchester is, is very much a product of those who love him best and who he loves best. If you ever wondered why Sam isn't insane by now, this would be the story that shows you that being sane isn't actually a dividing line for anything, and being a little nuts isn't necessarily a bad thing. Also, if you've ever been one of those people who finds that Sam's desire for Dean to have a normal life, a better life is possibly the most endearing thing about him and wondered what that would look like if Sam got his wish…prepare to be piercedto the heart.

Omega: The Winchester's take refuge after John's possession. But maybe the demon is closer than they think.

Abaddon “He shall spurn fate, scorn death and bear/His hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace and fear.” The madmen have taken over the asylum.

Arcana “So what’s the difference between the real world and the other world?” “Honey,” she says, pulling her gloves back on, “you’re asking the wrong question.” Sam visits old friends in Lawrence.

Arcadia "Do not try to find out – we're forbidden to know – what end the gods have in store for me, or for you." – Sam's years in exile. 2006-2026 inclusive. Twenty years pass, in the blink of an eye.

++++

Waiting Games by nutkin part 1 & part 2. Dean/Sam, NC17

Kerfluffle's aside, I'm perfectly willing to buy into an incest story that works for Dean and Sam, where there's doubt but ultimately, fears and doubts and societal taboos need not apply, because in SPN, when you are willing to sell your soul to the devil to save the one you love, the rest of it seems well, kind of unimportant.

Sam has a dream of a happy ending. Don't we all?

++++

Road to Shambala by astolat. Dean/Sam. NC17

When Astolat started writing in SPN, I was excited like a five year old in a toy store, because I knew she'd bring us stories like this. I'm not always, at first glance, entirely sold on her characterizations; they feel a half step out of synch with how I see the boys, but the genius of Astolat's writing is that she makes me wonder if it's not me who is really off because once I'm there, I'm there. And the truth is, I know Astolat will get me there every time.

This is a story wherein the Winchester's win, but you have to wonder won what? When even after the destruction of the demon, nothing much changes, except why they do what they do. Dean's still got it in his blood, and Sam's got it in his now too, but he needs more, and for once Dean's reluctant to give him what he wants, not because it's so very wrong but because Dean has finally realized that Sam will never want this life the way Dean does. There's only one thing they both want, but oh, they are resistant to being happy.

They deserve to be happy.

+++++

Highway 140 by . PG, Gen. Ficlet

stele3 wrote this for me from a prompt, and it's very short, but its also kind if incredibly gorgeous and visceral. It's a 2nd person POV, which I maintain works best in short pieces like this. If you could read with your eyes closed, you'd be able to feel this one.

+++++

you've just gotta be strong by lyra-wing Gen. Post-Croatoan. Ficlet

"There wouldn't be any point anymore, Sam," says Dean, and the words are so soft they're barely audible at all. "You know that."

The real tragedy of the Winchesters is not what's happened to them, but that because of that, their world is very small.

+++++

Your Bridge in This Storm by dontyouwaitup. Post Cross Road Blues. Dean/Sam, Adult.

I read this when it was first posted it and flagged it. Having read it again post AHBL1 & AHBL2, this one cuts even deeper. The want and need in this is enough to drown in, the fear and anger could blind lesser men. You hold on to what you have to however you have to.

It's also an excellent case story, utilizing that trademark of the series to have the inner conflicts of the Winchesters paralleled by the external facts of whatever job they are working.

+++++

Cassandra in the Rain by loneraven. PG13, Gen.

The author subnotes this with Seven times in the life of Sam Winchester when he saw the future, and it is that but there's far more here, like how the world sees Sam Winchester.

Seven short vignettes, various places, various times. It’s not so much about being psychic as it is about Seeing the world. Beautiful and evocative.

+++++

Go. Read. Comment.

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Sunday, March 04, 2007

SPN REC: Hopeful Monster

Title: Hopeful Monster
Author: Monster of Hope
Fandom: Supernatural
Characters: Sam/Dean
Rating: PG-13 for language
has posted a wonderful case-framed pre-slash story called "Hopeful Monsters". You can find part one [[here]] and part two [[here]].



What I liked: She's got a real handle on the rhythmic give and take between Sam and Dean, both in their dialogue and in the emotional shifts that occur between them. She gives us a workable and fascinating case, wavering between what is supra-natural and what is supernatural, and the face off at the end is everything you'd expect when balls hit the wall. Sometimes it's not force but intent that wins the day. The pre-slash is subtle and believable, and quite honestly, had she not mentioned it in her notes, I would have probably missed it, but it fits seamlessly into the storyline so it's all good.

What I didn't like: Honestly, there's not much to quibble with over this; there's a fair number of OC's, both on screen and off, who are essential to the plot but still, I found myself having difficulty keeping them separate in my head -- one of the downsides to any text based purposeful diversity when the story doesn't support longer explorations of supporting characters. In the end it doesn't detract from the story, but like any good OC's you kind of want more so you (I) can keep them distinct in my mind.

I very much like how <monster-of-hope writes, and I'm also fond of her underlying theory here. It's a nice twist and it posits a direction that's only been lightly touched on elsewhere. Plus, she argues evolution versus creation in a totally charming way -- the whole story left me grinning.

++++

And in that same vein (recs and feedback not stories) i_naiad has opened up a community to host the Supernatural Fandom Appreciation Challenge, based on a similar challenge hosted by as a way to get people to make those recs and leave that feedback we all want to do more of, but for various reasons aren't. It's a one week challenge running every three months or so. Go poke at the profile page and see if it's something you're willing to put the time and effort into. If the wank of the last few days got you thinking, this is a great way to act on those thoughts.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

I haven't even finished sending feedback yet: REC: Indelible by Destina

Indelible
Dean, Sam, John
Gen, 17,470 wds, adult

Six separate stories set in a frame and connected by keepsakes. Possible minor story spoilers.

a) Destina is an awesome writer and storyteller, so you know, comments on style and precision of language, while they appeal to my geeky structure brain, aren't where the heart of this story lies but still.... When the framing and structure make me tongue-tie, you know it's good.

b) Canon has all these little character and personality quirks, little tells, subtle indications of something bigger beneath the surface -- this story? Flips the iceberg over and then goes at it with a pneumatic icepick to let loose all those pockets of memory.

c) I am not, by most estimations a huge fan of kidfic. This however...might very well sell me ans the only clue I'm giving you is Sammy in a tree!

d) All of the Winchesters come by their somewhat less savory character traits honestly.

e) Sam taking care of Dean is still as funny as it is heart wrenching. Oh, Sam.

Go. Read. Fangirl.

squee, flail, REC!! Many Windows by eighth-horizon (Second Sight)

Many Windows by b. stearns. Second Sight 'verse.

Brynwulf you will want to run to read this one.

One of the great pleasures I get in writing is when people let me play with their ideas, their situations. I like to think of fandom specifically as a whole collective force, people inspiring and being inspired by others, riffing off ideas, themes, occasionally characters or even whole universes. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't also love it when people riff off my ideas -- that inspiring someone else is a rush like no other. It's affirming and and flattering no matter the actual affect the story or art has on me.

But then there are the times that such fusion and expansion really punch me in the gut and make it hard to catch my breath.

Brynwulf asked me for a story such as this a while back, seeing the boys through other eyes in the Second sight verse. I tried on a couple of occasions but there are times when you are so deep in a verse, it's hard to see it from the outside. Brynwulf ended up having to do her own take on it in a comment story, but I really liked the idea, and so put it on my wishlist.

Many Windows makes me very happy. First, it takes an OC that I'm very fond of and gives her more depth, gives her a personality and purpose all her own. And then it takes that character and shows how she is as perceptive as Sam, that she can see through Dean even when he doesn't want her to, but mostly we see what she sees -- the affection and enduring love Dean and Sam have for each other that shows up not in big, dramatic ways, but quiet, passing, fleeting ones.

I'm utterly biased, I admit. I love eighth-horizon's stories and style of writing anyway, so that's not a stretch or a surprise.

It doesn't make my love for this very short peek through a window any less sincere.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

quick rec and request

So, technosage wrote a lovely and fun little bit of hotness about demons and sex cults and bargains and schmoop called A Fiddle of Gold Against Your soul, which is fun and hot and lovely characterizations and a really nice Sam-voice. Which you should all go read. And then give her lots of feedback because she's sweet and funny and talented.

BUT!!! I'm having an HL flashback (Or possibly TPM) and so I gotta ask, where is all the sex cult pron, huh? I mean sex magick and powerful rituals and Sam tied to an altar threats of non-con or overwhelming pleasure or both...

Come ooooonnnnnnn....you know you want to...

okay, I want you to...

Saturday, December 02, 2006

It's killa's Birthday and she sent us a present - spn insta-rec

Today is Killa's birthday and I've been noodling with a birthday message for her on and off all day because just saying happy birthday doesn't seem enough, although I do wish her a very happy birthday, but mostly I always want to say thank you to her. Thank you for being my friend, thank you for being so talented and generous, thank you for being so sweet and funny. I should thank her parents probably too. (Thank you Mom and Dad Killa, for bringing her into the world and sharing her with us.)

I love you much, Killa. I hope your birthday is wonderful.

And I don't feel I need to pull out examples of her talent and generosity and wonderfulness because she managed to do it herself by writing a story and giving it to us for her birthday. Carry Me over the Sky is a lovely, hurty Sam/Dean story covering a huge part of season 2, but specifically Crossroad Blues; about repercussions and obligation, about bitter words that can't be taken back and kinder ones you wish you could. It looks hard at the kind of pain Dean is in, but it also shows what happens when he looks up long enough to see that he's not alone in his pain. It also covers a point from IMTOD, that I feel has been largely overlooked both by the series and stories written since then -- that cut close but true.

I also want to rec technosage's 'Til I Feel All Your Pieces, which in some ways is similar to Killa's story but from a whole other direction, but they compliment each other perfectly. 'Til I Feel All Your has a kind of bittersweet meeting of minds, prompted by Sam's refusal to be anything but grateful that Dean is still alive and with him, no matter what. But Dean's a hard sell -- except denying Sam or Sam's love is a lot harder when he gets in your face about it. Sam/Dean, lovely and hot.

And now I'm going to go make a cup of coffee sent by an angel and toast my oh, so talented friends.

Labels:

Sunday, November 26, 2006

insta rec - supernatural: Money's Worth by whereupon

Money's Worth by whereupon

This is a beautifully spun case story, Sam/Dean, but it's all the layers underneath the hunt.. the empty places Dean and Sam are trying to fill that makes it so moving. It's got an ethereal, lyrical feel to it -- evocative and poignant, painful and bittersweet. This is what language can do.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

We'll always have Paris (or when episodes suck)

I'd say screw (SPN ep) 2:08 -- except not

But I will say that eighth-horizon has the best fucking timing on the planet.

Four Wall Rule is a seuqle to the the earlier Three Point Landing. WING!CEST! And is jsut as charming,funny and sexy and sweet and OMG it makes me so happeeeeee!!

Sam's got a kink and it's not cuffs or leatherwear. Dean's got a kink too -- driving Sam crazy.

I am kicking my feet in joy.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

SPN Insta Rec - Disinterment by eighth-horizon

Disinterment by B. Stearns (gekizetsu) Salvation AU
22,070 words, gen, R for language, violence and gore.

Summary: Dean's current and former lives collide a little too hard and jeopardize everything - his career, his family, and his life.

It's a wonderful case-study: A truly interesting and creepy supernatural antagonist, with a twist. The hunt gets turned on the Winchesters and Dean in particular, but threatens their families and everything they worked so hard to overcome and achieve. It's got Dean on his game and Sam off his.

It's got tie-backs to other stories but nothing that will kill you not to know (although it may prompt you to read the others if you haven't.) It gives you a better look at Dean's relationship with his ex-wife, and shows how and why Sarah doesn't back away from anything. It also give you as Sam whose devotion could well cost him everything he holds most dear and yet he pushes forward regardless.

It's got kids and dogs, people! Go read it.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Halloween Quick Rec - SPN

Happy, fun, Halloween Future Fic - run, do not walk to read eighth-horizon's here there be monsters set in her Salvation futureverse -- in which Sam works late, Sarah is amused, Allie grows up a little and Dean takes four little girls trick or treating and the inevitable happens. It is sharply funny, just enough tension to make you sit up straighter, and oh, so adorable.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Recs: SPN (Wings and wonder)

So, the writing thing is just not happening (due to long and convoluted quantum theories involving stress and work and the fact that when it's autumn-lovely I have a hard time sitting still for five minutes when I'd rather be planting pansies.)

but the upside to not writing is that I'm reading like a mad thing, both new stuff and from the months of backed up tags to revisit.

It's becoming apparent that I should just leave a permanent rec spot open for gekizetsu (Aka eighth-horizon, since she pretty much rocks my socks with everything she writes.

Ya'll know I have a wing kink, right? Thought so. Ergo, when I woke up this morning to Three Point Landing, I was kind of ridiculously happy. It wasn't written for me, but it so was. Elementals, Halloween, and not really Wincest as much as wing-cest. It's amazingly edge-of-your-seat gripping and while it's really not Dean/Sam, it kind of is. Leave it to gekizetsu to fill in those minute cracks of fannish genre. (Gen. R for language.)

And then there is follow-midnight's somwhere i have never traveled which was written based on some prompts I gave and is lyrically wonderfully. It's got a light touch on the underage aspect of a Sam/Dean spin which I was comfortable enough reading when usually I'm not (which says a great deal about 's apparently natural light touch style), and the rest of it is framed and beautiful, poignant and bittersweet. (Slash, R)


In My time of Dying left a lot of us flailing and waiting to see how John's death will play out. My brain did not immediately go to comfort sex on the slash side of the fandom but luckily for all of us, merepersiflage's brain did and she gives us the hot and painful After Tomorrow which played subtlely to something that a lot of post IMOTD fics missed (IMO); the fact that Sam's the only one who remembers all (or most) of what happened in the hospital. Dean is bitter and angrily caught up in his grief and Sam is too, and the anger can't be shared but the grief can, even if Sam has to fight Dean to do it. Beautiful and the last line kicked me in the heart. (NC17, slash)


Read, enjoy, comment.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Snark and Myth Mixing (insta-recs x 2 Supernatural)

Snark and myth mixing

Keeper's Post by gekizetsu (aka eighth-horizon). Gen. PG13. Lighhouses. Snarky boys. Dean picking fights. Creatures digging in the dark. Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!

Go read.

Also Wuxing by poisontaster as yet, but this wonderful person did a remix of my own Elementum Res. Progressus that just knocked my socks off, floored me, made me insanely happy. It's ten times better than mine and I could not be happier about it.

Shoo!

Friday, September 22, 2006

SPN Rec: When Myths Collide

I seriously, seriously need to get my LOC mojo together because there's a ton of good stuff popping up on my radar and the urge to send authors (and occasionally the promises I've made to them if not myself) detailed, impressionistic rambling letters of comment is strong, but I'm having trouble keeping my brain focused on any one thing at the moment.

So, what I'm doing is not really instead of, but kind of a place holder, until I can get my act together but mostly because I want you, my flist, to read these -- and if you have to wait until I do get it together...well...

Two today -- both rather lengthy and one with a brief overview of a verse.

What these have in common is the use of myth, of folklore, often overlapping, and as complex and lovely as a tapestry that delights the eye -- but the real secret is, when you flip it over, there's a whole other tapestry tableau on the back side.

I am so overdue for sending Rei-c lengthy feedback it's not even funny and even before I can get to her latest story Equivalence, I need to mention Synchoresis which she posted back in the middle of August. Some of you may remember my rec for Fundamental Image a while back. Both Synchoresis and Equivalence all into that universe, set before it, and are kind of the back story for Sam's evolving abilities and powers, as well as his deepening relationship with Dean.

They all contain solid, complex layers of plot, incredibly good characterizations -- not entirely "on" for what we see of Sam and Dean in the series but a natural evolution of their personalities and relationships and how they handle things -- as Sam's abilities become far more than theory or potential. The latest two are more Sam-centric, but only in that the immediate focus is on Sam coming to terms with his gifts, but in many ways, all of the stories really have Sam kind of flinging himself off into space (or the astral plane) and Dean both consciously and subconsciously yanking him back lest he get to far and be unable to find his way home. There's a symmetry there that works really well for me. Dean's got his priorities pretty straight, pretty solid, and Sam's very much not nearly so sure of himself, or of what his purpose is.

But mostly what I love about these stories is Rei-c's use of layered mythology and folklore. It is very uniquely her own and yet there are so many recognizable influences: everything from the native American starlit paths, the use of the Loa of Voudon, a smattering of what reads like Marion Zimmer Bradley's influence from her Darkover novels, maybe a little Celtic lore thrown in to give it a rich color. That actual identifiable influence (if they are that) really don't matter as much as the fact that Rei's managed to weave them all together in a way that makes sense of this universe, for Supernatural, for this journey she's put the boys on. What such a potpourri does enable the reader to do though is to grab for some anchors here and there as they follow the paths she's laid down, and never feel like you've lost your way.

And at the same time, she's managed to introduce totally new elements every time. In Fundamental Image it was Voudon, In Synchoresis, it was Native American folklore, and in her latest there's the profound of influence of Latvia/Russian mythology, which makes perfect sense to me when you think of how much culture, folklore, mythology and ritual was brought to the new world by the immigrants.

The one downside to this story (if you can call it that) is that it ends relatively abruptly. There's a reason for it, and there's nothing like wanting more at the end of the story, and this one leaves a bitter bite in the back of your throat and well it should.

It isn't disappointing, it's just a hard ending.


The same kind of layering and overlapping of myths shows up in hansbekhart's Beach Blanket Poltergeist. Don't let the title fool you -- it's not a take off the Frankie and Annette movies of the 50's, and it's not all fun in the surf and sand. What it is is a richly detailed, kind of stunningly researched foray into the history of California, particularly Santa Cruz, from the native peoples that lived there to the incursion of the Spanish and the missionaries and the sometimes bloody incursion Christianity made into the area. There's a little of this and a little of that, and it all seems tangled and confused (and the boys think so too) until the underlying cause of the bloodshed both past and present is brought into focus.

I waited until the whole thing was finished to read -- and I'm very glad I did, because there's so much there, and the steps the boys take to resolve the sudden appearance of ghosts and angry spirits are amazingly well thought out. There's also a really beautiful look at Sam and Dena's relationship, how it is, how it was, how it's changed and how it continues to grow. If brotherly devotion is your kink, this story is going to make you very, very happy.


Read, enjoy, give them feedback.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

SPN REC: Crossroad Dirt by Killa

you may have noticed that I am rarely at a loss for words...however:

Crossroad Dirt (links to her journal then to her website)
Author: Killa
Rating: PG13
Characters: Sam, Dean, and John
Genre: Gen
Words: 26,658

I am actually kind of incoherent about this story -- I mean, I just don't even have words.

Seriously. It's an AU split from the end of Season One, it's John, Dean and Sam and a lovely and understated OFC. It has ripped my heart out and yet makes such perfect logical and emotional sense.

There's the aftermath of the encounter with the Demon, there's a seriously injured Dean, there's the persistence of Sam's visions -- there are reconcillations and understanding, there is gratitude and grief.

Killa is a phenomenally gifted writer, whom I've been reading for years. She's got a wonderful sense of character and realtionships and the emotional underpinnings to those relationships.

I may actually never watch SPN again, because this (and the half-promised sequel) could very well be a definitive version of what happens, and I don't say that lightly.

It's lengthy, so make sure you have time to read it. You will not regret it.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

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.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

SPN: Salvation Pimpin' Rec (or reccing pimp -- your choice)

eighth-horizon has posted two short vignettes in her Salvation futureverse. They are short and sweet, lovely gap fillers in the broader arc.

You know, the sheer number of wonderful on-going futureverses in this fandom kind of boggle the mind at the same time providing such a wealth of rich and satisfying reading, I'm kind of at a loss to know how or why. I should probably do a rec set, except I think I'd be preaching to the converted.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

SPN Insta-Rec: Life Among the Dead by Destina

I squee for joy!

Destina has just posted the most lovely Dean/Sam dance: Life Among the Dead.

Highly narrative, slow and quiet like a lazy river, it's a lovely mix of visions and would be/could be's.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

SPN Recs: The (Too) Short List of Threesomes

I have, on my currently-to-be-recced list a couple of vids (wistful_fever I have not forgotten!), several longer stories to rec/review (including other stories in rei_c's Fundamental Images universe which I'm telling you about because you should read them -- and I am being unbearably slow about putting my thoughts together on this mostly because my brain explodes from joy everytime I sit down to read them,) and some artwork that I'd like people to take a look at.

But this is not that rec set.

(For further information on how and why I rec and review, please to be referring to this post [[here]].)

Like most people, I make allowances for things/people I like, just based on the fact that I like, hence my friends are allowed to be more blunt or ruder to me than total strangers, I put more weight on their opinions, etc., they have earned the privilege of a great deal of lassitude because I love them and they make me happy on general principle.

I treat my kinks with much the same general relaxation of harsher strictures. (Which may present a weird analogy to my friends, but they are, by and large, a kinky, funny, outrageously wonderful group of people, so…)

I've got a lot of kinks regarding fan fiction. They are mostly disparate, and unconnected -- i.e. my love for non-con and happy endings, my adoration for the horrifics of being forced to a violent life you never wanted and my penchant for curtain-fic. I am not, by and large, a fan of PWP's (and by that , I mean those PWP's that truly are without notable plot. All PWP's have some kind of plot, even if only to lovingly describe incredibly hot sexual acts, but I require some kind of emotional adavancement.)

I should also say that my real preference kink (especially in SPN,) is for threesome sandwiches, preferably with Sam in the middle as opposed to three people having revolving sex…not all of these fit that kink but they are heady and hot, nonetheless.

The exception to this is threesomes and it's really not so much an exception as it is the aforementioned relaxation of other requirements. I still want some kind of meaningful character interaction that goes beyond the sex itself for the most part, but in terms of sheer visceral hotness…well, what can I say, I'm happy to be so easily distracted.

These are all pretty much NC17, so you know.

Those Who Favor Fire by olivia_notebook is a perfectly short Dean/Sam/Jess story that is both brittle and soft around the edges. There's a lot of emotion packed into a little over 1,000 words.

I think pretty much everyone has read this, but for those of you who missed mona1347's Wildcat, I'm just saying, you should correct that little oversight. It's Dean/Sam/Faith (from BtVS & AtS), that's presented as a no obligation romp, that's hot and fun and yet surprisingly layered for all that.

Impertinence's And High You Fly is, at it's heart, a Sam/Dean story with all the complicated messy history and issues that go with that relationship, even without sex. However, there is a gleeful, fun, and hot side road to that journey involving Dean/Sam/Sarah (from "Provenance"> that aside from being just good in it's own right, puts a sharp edge on all the other issues Sam and Dean deal with in taking their relationship out of the brother's only realm. It's also a good, long read, with backtracks into their past that put the present into perspective.

One of the hardest things in any fan writing to do is to pull off an original character that doesn't function like a deus ex machina -- one of the hallmarks of a dreaded Mary Sue. Unless, you know, the character is actually designed to be that way -- and even that can be a tough one, because there has to be a reason and a backstory. In Cado ex Venia, acostilow manages to pull it off with her character Athena, in just that manner. She is presented, from the first, as a character of unusual (if not divine) attributes. There's some searingly hot Dean/Sam/Athena scenes and a smattering of real affection and desire between Dean & Sam while Athena watches. There's also a rather dense mythology surrounding this story that involves no only the author's exploration of the OC, but also crosses SPN with several other TV/movie based universes -- Witchblade, Buffy, and Constantine. (There may even be more that I didn't recognize.) To some extent, you have to know something of those universes (or at least the characters populating them) for some of the relationships to make sense. acostilow does a good job of at least making the pertinent elements accessible (what the Witchblades are, what Papa Midnite is, etc.) The plot itself is interesting and one of those intersections of less than benign heavenly hosts that I so love. I think it can happily be read for either the main character interactions or for the overall plot (or just for the sex [*g*]. If I have any real complaint, it's that it could use a denser narrative voice, because there's a ton of stuff going on that I wanted to know more about. But there's a little something in here for everyone and if nothing else it's just Good Fun.

With A Poodle Under One Arm, And A Two-Foot Salami Under The Other by trollprincess is a story which has also been recced a lot and with good reason. It's hot, it's funny, the structure and surprise of it makes you laugh at the same time you are fanning your flushed face. It bears up under repeated readings and the punchline (Bwha!) is priceless.

The next two in this set should rightfully be read together as they are from the same universe but by different authors (although the popular opinion is that they share a brain.) mona1347 started off with the bitterly beautiful Transmutation which posits an AU wherein Jessica did not die but is instead, saved but scarred badly. It would be hard to say whether her scars run more deeply than those left on Sam and Dean -- there is no joy in mere survival but there is hope.

That story was followed up by poisontaster's This Is How We Do It, Baby which has more implied sex than actual, but the underlying currents that drive the three of them together, as well as the ones that keep them together are still there, and there's still a wonderful and terrible sensuality to the story that for me, at least, is as good as the sex could ever be.

The last was just recently posted by poisontaster, and is part of the larger Heart 'verse, which I have previously admitted to have an unholy love for. This introduces (although not for the first time) the character of Connor, from Angel the Series, which I freely admit I have only passing knowledge of. Long Time Coming has one of those emotional underlays that make me both insanely happy because they point out and further strengthen the bonds between a favored OTP, and slightly sad because in the face of unbreakable love, those without it are often reminded painfully of their solitude. That latter perception is one of those bitter truisms that I think fanfic, more than any other genre actually explores and embraces as a reflection of real life that fan fic is often dismissed as never doing (i.e.: it's all fantasy or kink or wish fulfillment). And yet, the story itself is still warm and tender and hot and funny. PT has promised more to this story and I plan on holding her to that.

So, that's my current rec set, turning on threesomes but really, there's a ton of variety and taste here.

You are welcome to, at any time, visit my my del.icio.us account to see what I have on tap if you get tired of waiting for me to get my commenting shit together.

Now, if anyone wants to point me to any other truly hot, emotionally laden Supernatural Sandwiches with Sam as the creamy center…I'd be ever so grateful.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Vid Rec/Review: Run by Amothea

Vid Rec/Review: Run (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Song Artist: Snow Patrol
Vidder: amothea (Amalthia)

Sometimes the words really are all you need.

Way back early on in the first half of Supernatural's first season, I had a song in my head that I really wanted to see vidded to. I think I put it out there the first time, Novemberish, but finally added it onto my Christmas Wish list and lo and behold amothea stepped up and made a vid and it was good. I want to make it really clear that other than putting the lyrics/song out there, I really didn't provide any potential vidder with much of guidance about what I was thinking at the time.

The song itself I'd first heard while I was still in The Fast and the Furious fandom, and I'd always thought it would make a great Dom/Brian song but I could never really put it together in my head and with only a movie's worth of clips to use, most of the vidders I knew had done the TFATF vids and moved on (a downside to one-shot movie viding).

Amothea took all the most crucial elements of the song and wrapped them around some really excellent clips. She had less than half the season to work with (and the fact that she made such an interesting and lovely vid with so little to work from is pretty amazing in and of itself), and even so, she used a good many clips and pans that I still am not seeing reused a lot in later vids. She also uses longer pans in some of phrasings, extending a clip to fill the entire lyric line, which actually works really well for this song, which has an incredibly steady pace and only the smallest of crescendos.

A good many of the clip to lyric relationships are very literal, and by and large, most of them work really well -- there's not really a through story line. She isn't really saying anything new about the characters or their journey, but it is a pretty solid commentary on Sam's relationship with and grief over Jessica, and further into the song, his relationship with Dean. (i.e. at 1:57 I can hardly speak I understand, Why you can't raise your voice to say she uses a clip where Sam has just woken up from another horrible dream and he and Dean look at each other but don't speak, but the lyric line supports the context of the scene in a marvelous way. )

So, in that respect, the vid is far more illustrative than narrative, but it really does punch up some lovely emotional moments in the series, which is all to the good, because despite my oft repeated claim that I prefer metaphor to literalness, there are songs that lend themselves to more content on clip ratios and this song is one of them. (Not that it couldn't be stretched to metaphor, but that the song itself doesn't automatically summon them to mind.

The only time it doesn't really work for me in this vid is on the chorus lines Light up, light up, As if you have a choice which, were presented literally -- with the images of Mary and Jess bursting into flames. Those particular moments evoked less of an emotional impact as one would think from those two traumatic and even seminal events in the series, than they did a kind of nervous, morbid laughter, which could work were the vid (or song) more intense than it actually is. But in all honesty, I'm incapable of even coming up with an alternative interpretation of those lines in the context of this vid, other than to suggest possibly the use of the boys' smiles, but that would be (in my mind anyway) a step away from the other literal elements that do work so well, and pushing metaphor in at those points would probably feel equally as odd.

But beyond that, what amothea has done with her clip choices, her cuts, is very cool and really, overall makes me incredibly happy. She's done and excellent job of illustrating Sam's shift of emotional investment in Jess to reclaiming his emotional investment in Dean and she's done and equally lovely job of illustrating Dean's steadfastness both in the face of Sam's tragedy and his whole life.

Overall though, this vid works for me because the lyric line does, because amothea has a great eye for underlying emotional meaning in her clip choices, and because the pacing of the vid matches up to the pacing of the song incredibly well. It's a solidly enjoyable vid, and plucks all the right heartstrings.


SNOW PATROL LYRICS
"Run"

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Slower slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice

Saturday, August 19, 2006

SPN Recs: One Vid, One Story, Twice as Wonderful

SPN Recs: One Vid, One Story, Twice as Wonderful

eighth-horizon knows how to give a present. I'm just sayin'.

Fair warning: It's a WIP

The story is Immutable Law and this link will take you to the first part (There are 5 planned.) You will have to go to 's LJ and request she friend you for that part which rated adult for graphic (and beautiful) sex.

It's a wonderful, lovely, moving story -- with amazing characterizations of both Dean and Sam and most specifically of a Dean seen through Sam's changed eyes. Anything beyond this point might be considered spoilery for the plot so you can bail now and go read or continue on...

From her notes, she tells you that seraphina had requested story with Wincest, Genderfuck, Girl!Sam, valid reason for Girl!Sam, resolve, 2 smut scenes, one with Girl!Sam/Dean and the other slash...

That doesn't seem to difficult does it? Well, for eighth-horizon it apparently isn't.

People who have been reading her for awhile will recognize some trademark elements -- including, in a painstakingly slow reveal, the nature of the causality for all this, but even if you miss that little Easter egg in the story, you will se something that she does like no one else in fandom that I've read, the underlying adoration Sam and Dean have for one another. I say that instead of Love because that's what this is. Yes, there's lots of love there (and also plenty of snark) but I think if I had to pick a word about what drive 's characterization of these two guys is that they adore each other and I mean that in both all the cutesy, funny ways we find things adorable (like bunnies and small children) and with the reverential way people also evince adoration on things both divine and deeply religious, even among non-believers. You can revere nature and life even if you don't believe in some higher power. In much of Eight's work, it's both.

The basic premise is this: Sam is tasked with committing a sin, if you will, in order to save Dean's life. From the start Sam believes that whatever this power is can be overcome by a he and Dean together, but his taskmaster isn't having any of that -- it changes the circumstances and give Sam a deadline. The obstacles are high and difficult, and Sam suddenly finding himself in an unrecognizable form, bewildered and off his stride (literally), is a wonderful, visceral take on the gender-swap genre. Sam is still so essentially Sam and so is dean, when they finally connect, but Sam, now being wholly other, is suddenly aware of parts and behaviors of Dean's that he's never observed before, and one of the coolest things about this story is Barb's ability to delineate the difference between how men perceive men and how women perceive men. It doesn't matter if it's entirely accurate from Real Life, the difference is there and she's got a great handle on it, that's almost as erotic as the sex itself.

As of this posting, the story is not finished and I don't usually rec WIP's but Barb delivers pretty steadily, so, I'm fairly confident she will here too.

It's worth reading and waiting for.




Vid: "From the Bottom of My heart"
Music by the Wallflowers
Vidder killa and Ellen Ross.

Due to some recent events, you'll need to go to this post, here, and email Killa for the password to download this vid.

I also want to say up front, that although I'm sharing credits with Killa on this vid, I shouldn't be. Credit should absolutely go to Ellen Ross if it's to be shared at all.

I can claim absolutely no lack of bias about this vid. I commissioned it, I wanted it, picked the song…and then because I know my limits, I let the real artists do the heavy lifting. All that aside, go get it. It's worth it.

It's a love song in a love song in a love song

I'm not going to promise any kind of objectivity at all to this vid, any more than I could for morgandwn's vid "God Says Nothing Back (previous review). Both of these vids are very near and dear to my heart, mostly because they show a side and an understanding of Sam, his relationship with Dean, with John, and the darkness that hovers around and over all the Winchesters, but Sam especially, that I think often gets overlooked or dismissed.

First, the music:
Believe it or not, I don't actually like everything the Wallflowers do, but I do like a great deal of it, no denying. Killa and I probably listened to a score of songs, some my suggestion, some hers, and I know we both listened to a lot of music on our own that for one reason or another didn't get offered up as even a maybe. I have a strong love for singer-songwriters, for more folksong than pop, for ballads more than hard rock. My own personal writing tracks would likely put a bunch of people to sleep…but this song was the one we kept coming back to in the face of all others. It's a long song for a vid -- close to 5 minutes and that's even after Killa edited out an entire stanza.

Mostly I like the slow build of this song, and there's some beautiful guitar work in this, that really, were the lyrics anything other than what they are, would make a lovely love song. And in a way, it still feels that way to me, although it's probably more along my idea of a love song to Sam, than a love song in the romantic sense. Near the end of the vid there's a pure instrumental bridge that just makes me want to cry, because for all the pain that comes before...there's something about the musical line and the way Killa put in all kind of clips of Sam and Dean being just brothers, being together and laughing, that kind of puts a spark of hope on the sense of dread and fear that precedes it. You can believe, from the music and the clips, that things really will be okay as long as Dean and Sam stick together.

The lyrics:
I won't spend a lot of time on this except to say that lyrics -- words -- are important to me, and when we were talking about this vid, Killa took special note of that, as well as the fact that I really am not as sophisticated a vid viewer as some. I'm utterly willing to be lead by a vid, but most times, you really have to grab my hand and lead me along.

The part that triggered this song for me was the repeated chorus:

From the bottom of my heart
Comes a cold dark feeling


There's a lot said about Sam being all emo and angry or dismissive or whatnot. But that line just spoke volumes to me about Sam. Horrible things happen to people all the time, in the series, out of it. Tragedies and accidents, illnesses and losses. But there's got to be a special kind of fear, of terror, that accompanies people who are actual targets of such tragedy. It's one thing to know that evil can touch your life, touch your family. It's another to know that it's actively pursuing you, stalking you, reaching out to grab not randomly, but specifically, for people you love. The whole Winchester family knows that, feels that -- John, Dean, and Sam.

But Sam knows he's the reason why. No matter how many times John or Dean tell him it's not his fault, he's not the cause, Sam's not an idiot. He didn't ask for this, and there's nothing he did to invite it down except being born….and to me that's part of the real tragedy of Sam's life.

The people he loves and who love him are in jeopardy just because he exists. (Hold that thought -- I'll come back to it.)

The Vid:

I should probably just acknowledge that Killa is the creator of at least four of my all time favorite vids in the world. Her Highlander vid, The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove is my favorite vid ever. I kid you not. We bought a Surround sound system for the TV because of that vid.

But this one is edging it over a tad (or possibly kind of squishing it with MD's vid -- crowding it on the shelf as it were. )

With all the vid commentary flying around after Vividcon, it's worth noting that the SPN vidders have only a season's worth of clips to work from. In vidding terms, that's not a lot. And the clips are uniformly dark for the most part, because that's how the show is shot. But it's also worth noting that even with similar themes -- Sam's journey -- and the use of the same musical artist, Killa and MD came up with very different vids. MD's vid focuses on Sam's journey through season one, expectations and memories, past and present and future colliding. Killa's vid, on the other hand, addresses why and how Sam makes that journey, where's it's forced and inevitable and how much he wants to escape it -- in such a way that even Dean probably doesn't under the depth of Sam's desire to be away from it.

Mostly what I get from this vid is that Sam is walking a fine line between thinking there's no way out -- and hi determination to find one. He keeps pressing doggedly forward. He doesn’t see this ending well if it ends at all, and yet he also can't quite give up on the hope that there is some way out of it. I think if/when Sam loses that, it would kill him, either literally or metaphorically.

He tried to find it outside the life he knew, but now that he's back in it, it rests fully on Dean and John to see it through, to make it real. Killa uses a lot of clips of Jessica and Sam, from the fire to the (dream) visit to the cemetery, to leaving her to go with Dean.

But I once crossed a quarter mile
Through black pools of razor wire
And cut through the steel
with the edge of a file
While singing rhapsodies in stride


Killa and I had to talk about the clips illustrating that lyric…and I can be dense, but now that I see it, it makes chills run down my spine. Everything Sam ever wanted was right there. He fought hard at some cost both to himself and to John and Dean, to pursue that dream and it ended in ashes. When I watch the first season, we never again see Sam as happy as he was with Jess. Yeah, grief loosens its hold a little bit as the series progresses, but by the end of the season, he's pretty much close to being back where he started -- with Dean badly, badly injured, the demon still loose and again…as we see in the last episode; it all happens just because Sam is alive, because he exists at all with his gifts and powers, none of which he can control.

From the bottom of my heart
Comes an army of one
Marching back up the steps
Into the rays of the sun


And yet, for all his protestations and arguments, Sam still looks to -- or maybe finally looks to John and Dean as his only hope. They are the only chance he's got -- they are also the only thing left to him of worth in the world. Dean may have been trying to say that all along, but it's a bad bet to put all your hopes and all your happiness in one basket.

I suck at doing clip by clip reviews but some of my favorite moments are:

In the first chorus, (around 1:25) from the bottom of my heart, comes a cold dark feeling when Mary turns away from Sam.

Hell bent and dignified (around 2:48) with the clip from Bloody Mary

there is imminent death, to the promise I'm keeping (3:02) with Sam in the graveyard -- that clip/lyric combination there slays me every damn time. Because that's pretty much the whole crux of it, right there.

Comes an army of one (3:12) With John showing back up -- and we see it there again, that somehow, Sam really wants someone to fix this because he has no idea how.

Marching back up the steps to the rays of the sun (3:19) and here we start with the hope. Sam's smile, Dean's smile, the first musical bridge that underlines all they've been through together and then at the end of the bridge they are back into it.
Everything means nothing, and tonight everything is mine (4:14) With Sam body-slamming Dean into the wall -- and in context this is such a powerful point, with the lyrics it is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. Dean is all Sam's got and maybe, yeah, Dean's always thought that, but it's slipping away from Sam faster than he can catch up. Even if you don't view this vid as slash or even stealth slash, it plays amazingly well to illustrate Sam reaching the end of what he can bear.

From the bottom of my heart, the battle will come (4:30) with Sam and Dean facing off their possessed father and you can see it just tearing Sam apart, not because of who he chose but that he had to.

Then there is the beautiful series of clips with the second musical bridge that brings us back to the hope.

The last three clips of the vid got swapped around a couple of time. I'm not as much attached to the Metallicar as some fans…and as much fun as it is, and as much as Dean loves it, it's Sam who defines Dean, and Dean who defines Sam, and I wanted them visible and triumphant, at the end.

This whole vid speaks so much to how I see Sam, why I sympathize/empathize with him more than I do Dean at times. I firmly believe they can overcome anything as long as they are together….and I know Dean wants that, but both the horror and the hope here, is that while Dean wants it, Sam needs it, needs Dean, and ultimately, it may cost Sam more than he's willing to pay.

So, yeah. It's a love song.

And I love Killa to bits for bringing it to life for me.



From The Bottom Of My Heart
by the Wallflowers

Fire on the porch on a summer's night
All of my things are there inside
Black smoke rise up, burn on burn higher
I smell leaves and burning tires
Dogs in the meadows barking wild
Blackbird rise up, tell me what have you done

I'm not drunk and I'm not sad
There's nothing inside that I want back
Let me touch your lips, let me see where you're at
Do you wonder how I am tonight
Then don't lose time looking in my eyes
Not every tear means you're gonna cry

From the bottom of my heart
Comes a cold dark feeling
There is nothing but dust
In the layers I'm peeling

From the bottom of my heart
Beats a rattling drum
Marching back up the steps
Into the rays of the sun

Under crushing skies of grays
Paralyzed with phantom pains
Before this room became just a place
Where I just sleep through endless days
Spinning webs and carving names
Where thoughts break up, exploding in space

But I once crossed a quarter mile
Through black pools of razor wire
And cut through the steel
with the edge of a file
While singing rhapsodies in stride
Hell-bent and dignified
Now my time has come
Who you fooling and why?

From the bottom of my heart
Comes a cold dark feeling
There is eminent death
to the promise I'm keeping

From the bottom of my heart
Comes an army of one
Marching back up the steps
Into the rays of the sun

Pale-faces and hollowed eyes
Buried under ruptured skies
Not every smile
means I'm laughing inside

Two-faced and compromised
I've enraptured you with lies
Everything means nothings
and tonight everything is mine

From the bottom of my heart
Comes a cold dark feeling
I have buried so much
In the layers I'm peeling

From the bottom of my heart
A battle will come
Marching back up the steps
Into the rays of the sun

From the bottom of my heart
Comes a cold dark feeling
Wrapped around tight
With no sign of leaving

From the bottom of my heart
A ballad is sung
Through a whisper she comes
Into the rays of the sun

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Why Morgan Dawn rocks and why I love the Wallflowers.

Vid: "God Says Nothing Back"
Music by the Wallflowers
Vidder Morgan Dawn

Go here to request a password and to get the vid. Go! I'll wait. Then come back here and watch me flail and squee.

A couple of things you need to know before we get down to the fun stuff. I've seen/known about this vid for a couple of months and have been sitting on this one and another one by Killa (which has not been released yet) for all that time, unable to shriek and flail or burble happily in public about them. I had two Wallflowers songs that I really wanted to see SPN vidded to and Morgna Dawn and Killa stepped up and made me one happy little fangirl/vid groupie.

Two things you need to know about me if you are going to read my squee:

1.) I am, at heart, a Sam girl. I actually prefer anything that has Sam and Dean together (even over and above Sam alone), but in the arc of the SPN story, Sam's torn loyalties, his journey, his growth, his obstinacy and maturing are what cranks my shaft. His recent loss and his fears interest me, personally, more than other aspects of the show, so when we were talking about this vid, that was in my brain -- but my actual input beyond some vague concepts was pretty much nil. That put my incoherent ramblings and much more into this vid makes me insanely happy.

2.) I love metaphors. I've said that before in talking about vids but it's worth repeating -- because one of the things that Vidders (my favorite vidders ) do, is work visual metaphors of the media source against the lyrical line of the song. My ability to pick out "visual" metaphor is sorely lacking -- I know them when I see them, but I don't see them on my own. That vidders can do that, I think, is one of the things that separates a vid "artist" from people who have a skill for laying visuals against tracks of music. I can do that much -- but I can't tell a story outside of the visual and music line on my own, or not easily.

So, all that aside. One of the reasons I truly adore this vid (and this song) is the four narrative voices that are pretty clearly defined in the lyrics; God, Time, Love, and Death, and trying to place those respondents to the narrator in and of itself would be difficult. This is not a happy vid and whether you view it as slash or not is kind of beside the point.

The very first clip in this vid made me shriek the first time I saw it. There's a drum down beat, very sudden, and Sam gets broadsided by a demon, knocked down and tumbled over...which pretty much sets the tone for the whole vid, even before the first note of the lyric line or the first word is sung. I love that.

The lyrics themselves are one huge long metaphor everything from the ravens in the first stanza to the last one where the narrator asks for the graves to be opened and the bodies to be allowed to talk.

POV in vids, like POV in text stories is really important (to me!), maybe even more so in vids because there are no handy analogs to the "he said/she said" tags we get to use in text. The prime narrator in this vid is Sam, but there's a referred POV (or subject) that changes from stanza to stanza, a kind of omnipotent overview that isn't Sam, that almost feels like a third person reference. And the POV does shift, at the end of each stanza, from Sam to whoever it is he talks about -- Mary becomes God, John becomes Time, Dean becomes Love, and Jessica become Death -- all talking to Sam, all pretty much delivering the same message.

This vid, in it's overall tone, is a bit darker than I write, but it works well for me regardless. I don't see Sam's situation as hopeless but in the confines of this vid, it's easy to see why he might and does give into despair, into his much maligned "emo" maudlin states. God did not intervene to save his mother and likely won't intervene to save him or those he loves (and doesn't). Time isn't going to heal this or fix this, if anything, the lifetime crusade Sam's been on (willing or unwilling) shows no signs of resolution. Love won't fix it, repair it -- for all that it might make it temporarily bearable, and even death holds no peace and likely no answers.

Through all of this MD has chosen clips that illustrate not necessarily the literal impact of the lyrics but the meaning behind it. One of the areas that really kind of killed me (after repeated viewings ) was in the last stanza, "I'm buried under leaves blood red and gold" wherein we see Sam and Jessica, and there's Jessica with her gold hair and bright red ribbon, and the weight of her death is burying Sam all through the first season. The moment itself is light-hearted and affectionate, a point in the series where we see Sam settled in his new life, happy, in love…he's got nothing but a bright future in front of him. It comes late in the song but it's even more poignant for that. And it's a literal thwap to the lyric but it's not just literal, yeah we have gold and red, but we also have, at that point in the vid, the awareness that Jessica is already dead and her death threatens to drag Sam into the grave as well. It's done in such a way that it's like peeling back the multiple layers on a hidden prize…you peel back and peel back and in the end, there's nothing in all that wrapping but a bitter truth. It's lovely.

There's also a lovely use of effects under the "Back in the snow - Making angel wings" where there's a shift and blur in the clip, a ghostly imaging of Dean smiling because I don't think anyone would argue that Dean isn't Sam's own guardian angel, and we think of making snow angels as a thing children do, joyous and ignorant of the cold, for sheer glee. Dean is really the only link to Sam's innocence, an aborted innocence -- and a reminder that even Angels (or God) can't protect Sam from the pain to come, not even an Angel as dedicated as Dean. And again, the end phrasing "Love says nothing back but I told you so" is kind of that double edged sword. Dean loves Sam like no one else. It's still not enough, and it echoes Dean's common admonition that they are not normal, that they can't expect to have what other people have. Not even love.

At the end of that stanza, MD also introduces a clip outside of source, for the blood hitting the water; I love that use, I love the imagery of blood hitting the water and slowly dissipating. It's eerie and chilling. And later she introduces both fire and the kind of twin, last grasp for some kind of hope: A dove emerging from the fire and statue of the virgin Mary that also escapes the flames. I love that there's some hope left there even if Sam can't see it.

I probably should talk more about clip choice or technical aspects except I really don't feel qualified. The clips chosen worked for me almost universally, they told me a story I was able to follow, a narrative that's both dependent on and yet still outside the actual lyrics, without undermining or really changing the context of the source clips. There's a lot of quick movement, a lot of layered meaning in the meta of the vid. There's a sparing use of special effects (which really works for me -- I prefer to see the vidder's skill rather than the bells and whistles on the editing software.)

As an illustration for Sam's struggles and journeys, this vid is just a wonderful thing. I think you should watch it and then tell what worked for you and what didn't.

Enjoy!

Lyrics:
THE WALLFLOWERS LYRICS

"God Says Nothing Back"

Seems like the world's gone underground
No gods or heroes
Dare to go down
Tear drops from a hole in heaven come
Overhead like ravens
Dropping down like bombs
Through the mornings silver frosted glow
God says nothing back
But I told you so
I told you so

God bless the void
Of my daydreams
Back in the snow
Making angel wings
Slow motion dancing lights have gone
Sail beneath the burning yellow sun
I'm calling out to the deep ends of my bones
Time says nothing back
But I told you so
I told you so

Still waters rising in my mind
Black and deep
Smoke behind my eyes
Last night I could not sleep at all
I hallucinated that you were in my arms
To be in your heart
I failed my own
Love says nothing back
But I told you so
I told you so

I'm still here
And climbing every rung
If someone saw something
Now Someone speak up
Back over the rotted bridge I cross
Open up these graves
Let these bodies talk
I'm buried under leaves blood red and gold
Death says nothing back
But I told you so
I told you so...

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

SPN Recs: The short list of Just-Too-Damn-Hot

So, after resisting mightily, I finally got a del.icio.us account, right? Man, remind me to never be stupid about shit like that again, because being the anal-retentive organizer that I am, the tag system allowed me to rank and file bunches of stuff under a variety of headings that make sense to me if no one else.

One of those tags is rec:Just-Hot.

Hee!

Meaning these are stories that just hit my kinks for whatever reason, and they may not be your kinks, but these are the kinds of stories that just make me all happy and kind of squirmy and that I can never, ever, ever write because my brain requires all kinds of convoluted rationales and reasons and psychological profiles and quite possibly approval stamping from the State Attorney General because I am just wired that way. My monkey brain rules when I write. But my lizard brain is all about the heat, baby.

I also need to apologize to at least some of the authors because I'm pretty sure I didn't comment on all of these as posted for whatever reason -- some because I found them while skimming the whole networking feature of del.icio.us and there was kind of this frenzy of saving and cataloguing for a while there, that was not unlike me being the shark when the boat had just tossed chum in the water. I was mad. Mad I tell you! (like a crazy person, not like Rush Limbaugh...no...wait... I was a crazy person.)SO, I'm sorry. Please be assured that I don't rec unless I really like.

All of these except the last are Supernatural. The last one is from The Fast and the Furious. They are also not all PWP's, so be prepared to settle in for a bit when you read.


First up is kittyfisher's Synthetic Series. I was actually talking about this series at Writercon this weekend, trying to explain why I found this series so compelling, since I'm not normally one who follows or has a kink for either structured BDSM and rarely if ever find D/s something that appeals to me. Plus, the power dynamic was kind of torqued for me as far as who dominates and who subs...and yet, I love this series with an unholy glee and it was pointed out to me when I was talking about it that the real kink here is not entirely the stories or the situations, it is the way Kitty writes the situations. She totally rocks and has since I first met her in HL, years ago. There are stories in this series that I like more than others, like "Indulgences" and "Cell", but pretty much the whole thing rocks my boat, and lifts my skirt. (And I don't lift my skirt for just anybody, let me tell you.). (SPN, Dean/Sam)

Safety by . Anyone who has read any of my fic in most fandoms knows I have a slight weapons kink. Hee. I tend to veer toward the non-con end of that kink but nevertheless, there's something compelling about sex and danger and closetcrombie manages to hit the bulls-eye at twenty paces with this one. (SPN, Dean/Sam)

What He Does To Me by crazyjoyfulgirl makes me extremely happy, mostly because it would seem the author and Dean, both like looking at Sam nearly as much as I do. Mirror!Porn that hits every voyeurism kink I've got, not to mention a little soupçon of delayed gratification which is just, to my mind, the hottest thing ever. This one has a few spelling/grammar/punctuation problems but nothing that cooled down my love for it. (SPN, Dean/Sam)

Okay, rough sex. Like agitatedly, rough sex, that's consensual, that's kind of bitter and biting and incredibly hot. Control: Lost by consternatiofic skirts right on that edge of violence we know both boys are capable of, and Dean pushes buttons on Sam maybe he shouldn't, but is more than happy to suffer the consequences. (SPN, Dean/Sam)

I'm just copping to it right now. shrift gets me to read fandoms I normally wouldn't because she is just that damn good. This, however is from a fandom I was in and she just killed me with this, because what could be better than boys and cars and power plays and not making promises you know you won't keep? Getting Somewhere Fast is hot and lovely and short and she still manages to nail these characters like she had laser sights trained on them. (TFATF Dom/Brian).

Go, read. Make sure you have a fan handy for the cooling off you are going to need.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Insta-recs: Fundamental Image & Lessons Learned

Insta-recs: Fundamental Image & Lessons Learned

Fundamental Image by rei-c is a just posted marvel of a slash story exploring Sam's abilities and powers, what he knows and how, how it opens him further to Dean and Dean to him. There's also a brilliantly engaging examination of Voudon, from the rivalries and strengths of the loas as well as their humor; possession in a physical plane supplementing Sam's more non-physical efforts in a face off with a mambo. I am not an expert on voudon, but I'm familiar enough with it to have found this to be both fascinating and gleefully informative. The story is really marvelous on a lot of levels, both subject and style. Highly narrative rather than dialogue driven, but painting a vivid picture of what it's like to live being able to see with more than your eyes. There's a pretty hot little Sam/Jess starter there as well...and how much fire is in Sam's blood in not merely metaphorical ways.

Highly recommended but I'm well aware the subject, the style, and the Sam focus may not be everyone's cup of tea. But still...I'd say read it. The loas alone deserve your attention for a moment or two. (Slash)


And you know it occurs to me that I should rec lyra_wing's Lessons Learned which is a future fic, that follows a couple of minor characters from the series on the long road that leads them to a Sam and Dean who are much changed by what they've done and seen and yet essentially the same. It has the benefit of showing us the boys most through the eyes of another, of positing a future for them and is kind of quiet and still and yet a compelling read. The interlude and bridge give us more of Dean and Sam directly and also give us that best of all things in boys's future: a deep sense of contentment if not happiness with who they are where they are and what they've saved both in terms of other people and themselves. (Slash.)

The Handbasket to hell is overflowing with goodness.

The Handbasket to hell is overflowing with goodness.

Catching up on the recs made in LJ:

From April 10th:

I don't even know how to express my love for this short, wonderful little story by ethrosdemon Family Comes First is an AU, a single twist of fate that changes everything for Sam and Dean, both in joy and in purpose.

I want more of this and at the same time, it's utterly perfect as it is.


From April 26th (Birthday fic for me!)

Tony, Tony, Turn Around
What Once Was Lost
Must Now Be Found


If you know me at all, you know that traveller (aka Cee) is a long time and good friend, whose talent makes me incredibly happy just kind of always. For a gift, she presented me with Novena to Saint Anthony which pretty much...I do not have words for how much I love this story in tone, in content, in mood, in style, and ultimately, 'cause she loves me and she's clever that way, in how she sees Sam, but even more, how Dean sees Sam.

and earlier today, lyra_wing wrote me a lovely short Down With This Ship that gives me and everyone the missing scene from Dead Man's Blood, with lyra_wing's trademark grace, style and humor.

Update!! eighth-horizon just posted another birthday fic, Catalyst in which the Winchester Boys go as the wild things do and I am Still snickering and snorting with laughter. Such glee! Oh, thank you so much for this! (you may need to have her journal friended to read)

Bone, the clever minx, wrote a wonderful and hysterical missing scene from Provenance for my birthday called Two For One about Dean's night out with Brandy and her friend.

I don't read a lot of het fic. There are may be five authors who I love so much that I will read their het. Bone is two of them. (And it shoudl be noted that she's also one of very few writers I will write het-fic with.) Go! Read! Enjoy and feedback.

And halfshellvenus just posted a lovely, angsty, beautiful Dean POV story called Beneath the Silence for me. This Dean is giving and loving and cautious and confused, but the story is clear, and spare, wonderfully realized. So, you should go over there and read it.

Brynwulf posted a late b-day present for me. Texas State of Mind. It's JSquared (Adult) and adorable and even though I'm not much of one for country music, and I don't know this song, I can still hear it in the background.



May 19th:

traveller posted a beautiful story for me that made me cry for reasons somewhat unrelated to the story itself. But I highly recommend it because it's all the best things about SPN, wonderful Sam and Dean, slightly horrific, beautiful atmospheric. It's called, fog




June 12th:

Two recs, although one of them is a series and the other is a novel, so if you're looking for a couple of days worth of reading, here's your chance.

First up is poisontaster's Heart 'verse which I, quite honestly, kind of flail at even trying to explain why I love this 'verse so much. First, there's a dozen or so stories, some that are no longer than drabbles others that are worthy of sitting back in your favorite chair to read. It's a future fic that looks at what happens when Sam and Dean (and Dean especially) can't hunt any longer. There's Gen bits and Slash bits. The Gen bits are lovely and fun and offer a really amazing look at our favorite boys when they push past their beautiful 20's and move into later years, when years of hunting and injuries have caught up to them. The Slash bits are all about coming to terms with a relationship that kind of defies description, where being lovers doesn't supersede being brothers and where being brothers might occasionally get in the way of everything else, only not. The stories cross and recross themselves, occasionally seeming to conflict in small ways because it's not a long epic, it's a series of snapshots, of moments and memories. The affection between Sam and Dean will make you smile and the tension that sometimes snap between them makes you hurt. And when the sex is hot, it's hot…like fog your windows hot.

The stories span a couple of decades and What I Keep and What I Carry lays down a rough guideline of where see it all going and how it happens, but she wisely (and lucky for us) refuses to be held to all the details therein...

This is a happy ending that isn't always happy, but ultimately is really the best and most wonderful life than anyone could hope for, joy and sadness all part of a life well-lived.

+++++

It's possible that if you haven't been reading, or are not now reading nilchance and beanside's post Devil's Trap novel, Of Bastard Saints you maybe be the only one, or one of the few. And I'm just saying, trying to be different? Not good enough reason to miss this. This is an amazingly well-realized, well-characterized, well plotted story, with characters, even minor ones, who make an impression and a series of events and realizations and resolutions that are enough to make your head spin and your heart burst -- you know, when you aren't laughing your head off at the snark that is apparently a Winchester family trait even in their grief. John and Sam especially, when forced together without Dean as a buffer, are like your worst vacation with your siblings, and possibly the best Road Trip duo ever.

I've got more, but in deference to the authors' own notes, I'm going to put the rest behind a cut so as not so spoil inadvertently.

The authors put a character death warning on the first few chapters and rightfully so -- it doesn't take very long to understand what's happened, and it doesn't make the grief any less real. And in some ways, even once you get past that part, this is a story about life and death, and about resurrection, in a way. My view of it is it very much a story about Dean, about who and what he is, what makes him as he is and it turns out that I was more correct than I actually realized. But the story is also about John and Sam and who they are both in relation to each other and Dean.

This is honestly one of the best realized characterization of John I've seen; he's a deeply complex and conflicted man, who loves his sons, but he's also made some mistakes, mistakes that nearly cost him more than he was really willing to pay. One of the coolest things about this is watching John come to realize and appreciate his sons, not just as his sons or his companions in this war, but as the men they've become.

And Sam and Dean are so very...well, Sam and Dean, only more so. What drives them to do what they do, what drives them together and what drives them apart from each other, are all clearly defined, polished and sharpened to a sharp, fine edge that cuts deep but also cuts clean. They are very different people, but ultimately they share a bond and an understanding and a fierce loyalty to one another that makes total sense even before you get to the end.

The plot is lively and full of all kinds of surprises, realizations and danger enough to make you gasp, and at the same time, there's just moments when all you can do is throw your head back and laugh. (I dare you not to at least crack a smile at the scenes in Valhalla). It's just a marvelous ride, from start to finish.

And just when you get to the most excellent ending, the authors double whammy you with an epilogue that both explains everything and nothing at all and still made me just laugh out loud, because that my friends, is the kind of tag and twist that makes a story more than worth reading -- that's the kind of thing that makes you remember it, reread it, and just pray that the authors have got more where that comes from.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

If you could see what I see.

If you could see what I see.

Gekizetsu has updated "If Belief Was Enough". I'm terrified I'm going to scare gekizetsu off the way I've been going on, but...I've got an LOC on the docket for both And Fools Shine On and If Belief Was Enough that I'm going to send and then I'll come back here and tell you *Why* you should read these stories. (Unless of course, you read them before I get to that, in which case, you probably won't need to know why.) Both stories are incredibly solid "case" stories, with truly interesting spins on the whole supernatural/urban-legend theme, but more than that, the characterizations are both dead on and painfully beautiful.

(I will warn that the site main page is blue on black, a little rough on the eyes, to me anyway.)
=========

Ethrosdemon has written a brilliantly provocative Supernatural gender-swap story called How Am I Gonna Keep Myself Away From Me.

Okay, so the genderswap stories in SPN really are kind of the most sincere kind of crack, because balancing those character traits between Sam and Dean is hard enough when they are just guys, and keeping the essential "themness" of the characters with totally different body parts is like a total test of authorial skill as far as I'm concerned. It's not something I've even got the courage to try, much less have a hope in hell of succeeding at. There have been a half dozen or so that I thought really hit the mark, some were exceedingly funny and sexy. This one has that and more.

When it's done and done well, the results can be amazing and in this case, the revelations are both completely in character and yet still provide the underlying friction that encompasses most good incest stories.

Brief summary: there's a curse and Sam gets the whammy (and the mammaries) but the curse is on Dean and how it plays out is both brilliant and just…

There's a lively discussion going on in ethrosdemon's journal which I suggest you skip before reading. Seriously. And if you can manage to leave your character biases and preferences at the door, what you are likely to get may not be what you expected, but will definitely make you think.

Seriously, this story's got all the humor and sibling snarking you could possibly want as well as something that will linger with you long after you read the last line.

I'd offer a more thorough review but this is one of those stories that really needs to be read knowing that you get out of it what you bring to it. (And my opinion is the less you bring the more you get.)

How to rate? Hard R, Incest, Het.

Monday, November 28, 2005

I'm coming back to you...

I'm coming back to you...

I warned you I had a backlog:

The Years In Between by True Enough (Mag 7 - slash but not really the whole focus)

I feel fairly confident in reccing True Enough's work without reservation. Her first offering The Hours of Separation (Mag 7-OW) pretty much blew my socks off for the narrative style and the intensely lyrical imagery. Much of it's impact came from the matching of style to time period.

In her latest The Years In Between, she brings the same style to a very different time period and she still makes it work. This is a Chris/Vin story but mostly it's Vin (and I have nothing to complain about there) with a slightly different twist on his back story (And Vin's back story has been speculated on by nearly every Mag 7 author out there at one time or another.) It's a modern day alternative fic -- i.e. Not ATF, but the feel is similar for those who like that universe.

What I liked: The plot itself, as it weaves around and through Vin's life is pretty interesting. Partially because it's a new take and partially because it doesn’t rush itself. Some sections are longer than others but each is just long enough. And True Enough takes the time to build the version of Vin we see, without actually turning him into someone we barely recognize. But also, style. The narrative voice is almost hypnotic, which is kind of an earmark of her work. It's not for everyone but it works very well for me.

What was less than perfect: Kind of the flip side of this style of writing is that there's a certain distance wedged between the story and the reader. You're very much aware that you are observing rather than experiencing something -- in that respect, it's not unlike watching a film. But there's just enough of a gap there to make sure you don't ever forget you are reading. There's also a couple of minor details/interactions, that while interesting, never seem to have much significance, or the significance escaped me -- but I'm pretty sure that's because I can be easily distracted by things that other people would consider texture.




One Day Out West by ZorroRojo. (Slash for M7, not so for SG1 particularly)

This story has been recced a lot, relatively speaking. It's a crossover between The Magnificent 7 set in the old west and Stargate: SG-1. Now, I'm the first to admit that Stargate would seem to lend itself to a lot of crossovers, but really it doesn't. Or it doesn't do them well in my experience, primarily because Stargate, despite being science fiction, has a pretty consistent canon -- i.e. the worlds they visit are derivative and parallel cultures. Yes, the show has toyed with time travel but not to the extent that the series has become the modern day version of the old 60's TV show called "Time Tunnel" (Mmm. James Darren. Early crush.) To do an actual crossover out of time actually takes some work to convince me.

What I like: One consistent thing about ZorroRojo's stories is that she doesn’t soften up the men in them. In this one, you never really forget that Jack is a Colonel in the Air Force. You never forget that Daniel is a civilian contractor, and you never really forget that the Magnifcent 7, in terms of modern day ethics and morality, would be considered stone-cold and often savage killers. And they don't forget their own places in history without being totally annoying about it. Personally, I think some of the scenes between Jack and Chris are the best written ones. Also, Jack and Daniel shopping? Too funny.

What was less than perfect: By the same token, the savagery of the M7 boys, especially Vin, while there's allusions to the underlying cause of it, is almost too pointed. There's no doubt that Vin (or Chris or any of them) could not be as savage as they are portrayed given reason, but it's not their default mode. It wasn't that it threw me out of the story, only that I noticed it as being not so much out of character, but out of synch if that makes sense.


Grass Don't Grow by Lithium Doll (Supernatural - Gen)

In the cemetery:

“You said you and dad found one.”

“Right. And then dad called in a specialist and there was coffee. Well, coffee and a werewolf. But that was unrelated.”

“We’re so dead.”

Dean looked amused. “At least we’re in the right place.”


There's a distressing lack of alterna-episode fic in this fandom. It's entirely possible that it's because the series is still in production and the canon for the underlying themes is still being written and also, the slash contingent is pretty strong, as well as issue fic (because, yes, our heroes have some serious issues) That being said, most of the alterna-episodes being written are really fun and dead on. Grass Don't Grow is one of those stories, where the dialogue is snappy, the actual plot consistency of the story probably exceeds that of the show itself and yes, the underlying themes are all present and accounted for.

What I like: OMG, I laughed. Not so much at the story but at the byplay. The ending bit had me hooting with laughter. Seriously though, Sam and Dean are dead on, the ancillary characters are interesting without overwhelming the story and the actual threat is complex enough to actually be a little worrisome.

What was less than perfect: Minor quibble in that the ultimate cause of the problem they've come to solve is pretty obscure and while we know Dean has a vast amount of experience in dealing with the supernatural (and Sam as well) the actual causation wasn't something you could intuit from the story entirely. That's not a requirement certainly, but as caught up as I was in the rest of the story, not being able to get there from what clues there were was a little (a very little) disappointing -- primarily because I knew of the phenomena being written about (or variations of it) which, I totally admit, might not be true of every reader. But overall? One of my favorite stories and I've reread it a dozen times.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

It's been a long road....but I have a fast car.

It's been a long road....but I have a fast car.

So, it's been, wow! Almost three years since I updated. Three years and three fandoms...

I'm still reading Mag 7, still writing it in a minor way, also The Fast and The Furious, and currently I'm hyped up and happy with the WB's Supernatural, so expect the recs to lean heavily among those at first, but I've got quite the backlog.

For those new to my rec style -- I don't rec things I don't like or am only meh about. Nor do I always rec, here, everything that blows me away. The recs you'll find here are for readers and while I'm pleased that writers may get something out of them, that's not really the point. I'm not reccing stories to help writers get better at writing. However, I will stand by my policy of removing recs or links if authors request it of me politely. I don't require an explanation. If you can't be polite in your request, don't expect me to be polite in my response. I probably will be but don't expect it.

That said, my recs generally follow a pattern: A little overview and brief summary, What I particularly liked about the story and then, if it applies, what I didn't like. The point of the last two is not (again) to critique the writer -- it's to give the reader a better overview of what works for me and doesn't. Things that bug me may be right up a reader's alley, or things I adore (I'm a sucker for well-done angst) may not be the reader's cup of tea...so I tell you why so that my recs can be of more use to you.

Clear? Oh, good!

Recs now:

I'm kind of working my way backwards through my LJ memories, but since Supernatural is my current fandom Love du jour, we'll start there

Fandom Overview: Dean and Sam Winchester are brothers whose mother was killed by supernatural forces 22 years earlier. Her death sent their father (and them) on a quest to find the thing that killed her and along the way they take out whatever supernatural or paranormal threats they can. John Winchester raised his sons to be warriors, with conventional weapons training, hand to hand, and a whole arsenal of supernatural weapons at their disposal. At the start of the series, John has gone missing, and Dean comes to his younger brother Sam for help in finding him. Sam left the "family business" four years earlier to pursue a college degree in pre-law and to try and lead a normal life. Dean remained and by all indication loves the life. They unsuccessfully hunt for their father over a long weekend, but on their return, Sam's girlfriend, Jessica, is killed by the same thing as their mother Mary was. And now the boys are back on the quest together?

Skin Deep by Philote (Gen)

One of the earlier episodes, "Skin" involved a shapeshifter -- and during the course of the ep, it took on Dean's form and much mayhem ensued, including Sam pretty much getting the shit kicked out of him (it happens a lot to Sam) but needless to say, it inspired a pretty wide array of stories.

Skin Deep by Philote is an excellent gen offering that follows up the episode. There's a lot of friction between the boys already, and it comes out in odd ways. But then again, so does the fairly obvious brotherly affection.

What I liked: Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. One of the best things about the show itself is the verbal byplay between the brothers. Dean is a smart ass. Sam's a little more open about his feelings but not necessarily more mature. This story perfectly illustrates the communication barrier there as well as the awkwardness that exists between them that nonetheless reveals more than hides how very deeply the brothers love each other.

What was less than perfect: Even as early as this ep aired and as young as the fandom is, there are already some tropes and cliches popping up. There's not an excessive amount in this but the piece is short and so they were more noticeable to me.

Not in My House by Witch of the Dogs (Gen)

Not in My House by Witch of the Dogs, could very well be my favorite AU in this fandom and already there are several AU's popping up for a variety of reasons (mostly for the undeniable appeal of slashing the brothers which brings up some interesting obstacles for writers, since they are, you know, brothers). However, this WIP (yes, shut up.) takes a basic premise of the show and jerks it out as an underpinning and then plays what if.

What if Sam had gotten the life he wanted: his degree, a wife, a child, only to have whatever stalks their family strike anyway? The reunion between he and Dean would take place much later and they'd be very different people.

What I like: The attention to detail so that the parallels are well marked without being 100 foot billboards. The subtle and not so subtle changes we see in the two men as they come together in a tragic way.

What's less than perfect: Little with the story at all, but the chances are high that the author won't pursue past the reunion phase, which is an amazing story by itself, but it is one of those stories that you know you'll want more of.

The actual story is posted over several journal entries:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Getting Somewhere Fast by Shrift. (slash)

This is kind of an odd selection for my first rec in The Fast and the Furious but, I'll get to the more substantial pieces at some point. The fandom is not huge and the really good stuff is kind of thin on the ground as are lengthy stories. However, Shrift's short offers a great example of what makes the fandom work at all -- the undeniable attraction between the characters of Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Connor. She also perfectly nails the edge of competition that colors everything they do as well as making a not so subtle jab at the issues that make the pairing complex. There's really nothing not to like in this story. It's short, it's perfectly characterized, the voices ring true, and it's hot as hell.

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Long Time, No updates...

A little divergence, but not far, only as far as the amazing Cee, who has a beautifully done pseudo-crossover, but mostly original series of stories wherein she took a guest character from Due South, gave him a history, a tragedy and hope. You should read them all, in order, starting with mark's story, written on the Body, interlude; contact, todd's story, written on the bones, and finally, quietly, find the river. Don't miss the cover art AuK worked on with her. The series is finished, as far as I know, but I'm hoping there will be more.

Back to my own meat and potatoes: Subjective Reality has done a series of M7 stories, ATF AU, that despite some rough spots (Which are oddly appropriate to the series but not necessarily intentional) pays some time and attention to a less-often visited character in the M7 universe: Josiah. It's mostly Josiah and Vin, it's gen, but most of the other characters make an appearance. There are four and while each stands alone (except for the last two - -you really kind of need to read them in sequence) there are continual woven threads of awareness and growth there and it makes it, for me, a fascination journey. Start with Value, the others are To Be More, Xenos To Honor, and the latest Unpuzzling the Puzzle. It was Xenos to Honor that I read first, which was out of order, but I was enthralled by both the themes and the imagery.

Gwyneth Rhys has a new offering in M7, old West, Don't Get Much which opens with this bit of poetry by Kim Delmhorst:

I know words fail you
And I know sometimes I do...
I do too.

Which is very apt in a tale of miscommunication that is quiet and unthreatening. All in all, a balm for sore and weary hearts.

And last, stolen entirely from the fannish butterfly, is an out of step and uncommon story set in the universes of Georgette Heyer's many Regency romances: The Wages of Vice by jat_sapphire. It's a pastiche and a very well done one at that. Do you need to have read The Devil's Cub or These Old Shades? No, but if you haven't, I can only wonder why. I think everyone should read Georgette Heyer -- in great quantities and have multiple copies of her books. They are the only romances I've held onto decades after I first discovered them.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Hunting the wild Tanner

Mag 7, ATF, Vin/Chris

Because Cee has this Vin nailed...and she's not alone. Riding on the dust trail left behind from Hallelujah and If I Fell (recced earlier) Cee gives us dynamic, and a Vin who's riding the edge of something he's not sure he wants...and then moves in for the kill with black dog to bring our blue-eyed boy to the edge of something truly dangerous.

What I like: This series, if that's what it is, is giving us a Vin who has all the guts and self-protective urges we see in the series, with the realizations of a man living in this day and age. He's both gutsy and amazingly tentative...but there's no denying *this* Vin what he wants -- even when he's not sure exactly what that is.

What's less than perfect: Damn little, because I'm loving her OC Esai in a big way, and while these are short, there's no lessening of impact. Although, there ya go -- less than perfect. There's not enough...I want more. Even with the central POV as Vin's, there's little doubt that Chris knows what he wants too...this is just an amazingly encapsualted and fully realized characterization of both men.

Saturday, September 21, 2002

Riding the range again

Although I may range far...today's theme: Resistance.

Robin Serrano has joined the ranks of people seduced to the cowboy side...or seduced to the side of cowboys. Whatever works for you. *g*.

Purgatory is a rough ride to a first time, but it's got it's moments of humor and, well, in the end, it's a good ride. Mag 7, Chris/Vin. You can find it at the Slash Fiction Open Archive project.

What I liked: It's not easy. It's not love, or even lust, at first sight, and it's not a rapid give into some deep, mythical connection. They both have to work for it and against it.

What was less than perfect: There's a slide into a kind of ...flashback, except it isn't, that I'm not sure progresses anything or provides more motivation than is already provided elsewhere. Or it may just be my resistance to the episode "Obsession" as a catalyst. But it's a blip for me. A very tiny blip.

From Tes, Tea in the Sahara is a kind of mystical angst and lust fest with Chris, Vin, and Ezra. It's set in the Mag 7 AU based on Casablanca, but it has little to do with the movie or the AU in truth, save for setting. But it's sexy hot and lyrical, no matter how improbable. You'll need to get the link from the archivist at Blackraptor with an age statement.

What I liked: The AU itself is interesting, and the setting exotic -- Tes shows a good feel for both atmosphere and history -- fictitious constructs aside -- and her introduction of the Berber legend and poem that drives the whole plot is a pleasure in itself.

What was less than perfect: It is a construct. You can't get away from the idea that this is an inventive way to get the three men together in what any other story would be a pure PWP. But don't let it stop you. It's total fun, the atmosphere is dry and beautiful and the emotional resonances ring pretty damn true. Oh, and on the down side: Sand. Lots of sand. *everywhere*. Ow.

Different Cowboys. Here's me on the tail end of yet another fandom.

I've recently been introduced to Once a Thief, just in time for it to start appearing on US tv channels from it's original broadcast in Canada in 1998. Anyway, it's fun...the majority of the stories I've read have been either too, kind of, whimsical, for me to enjoy (Although I understand the series is very much like that) or just PWP's and since I don't know the characters very well, I need a bit more to get me going. Susan Smithson gives me what I want in Director's Order and since I trust her as a writer, I'm thinking the characterizations are probably pretty much on target. And then there's Anne Zo, who's work got me started on the great OaT hunt, brat that she is. So go read Going Deep which is all about not giving in until it becomes getting -- and I do like it when Mac and Vic are resisting each other's more obvious charms.