whynot | or: what has lass been up to on the internet?

An open letter to a recently addicted friend:

Dear Ana Bananananana,

Welcome to the weird and wacky world of Supernatural fanfiction! Strap on your seatbelt and prepare to have even less of a life.

Here you are, all caught up on Supernatural and nowhere to go. Nowhere except the internet! SPN fandom (I don't know why it gets shortened to SPN) is monstrously large, so start with recommendation communities, like

crack_impala,

sawedoff_recs, and

rec_hymenated. But as promised, here is a selection of stuff I like also!

I pretty much recommend all of

unoshot's stuff, she is one of my favorites. Her M.O. is the fraught, fraught gen. (Gen being short for general, as in no romance; I dunno how familiar you are with fic terminology, but if not, well, you probably will be soon.) She rocks at portraying the subtleties of Team Free Will's internal politics. She doesn't shorthand emotion; she builds emotions from the ground up. For it being Sam POV gen, The Mountains In Reply is my favorite Dean/Castiel. But I also love Angels We Have Heard, in which Cas looks for God, and gosh it is lovely.

Along the lines of building emotion from the ground up, check out indulgence by

myriadborealis, which is a gen coda to the Bloody Valentine episode. Like in the unoshot fics, I love how Castiel doesn't necessarily know the name for whatever it is that ties him to Dean, and so he zeroes in on these poignant details and observations instead. I also like the following Bloody Valentine coda: The Ocean Calls Tomorrow by

blaskjar.

I don't read a lot of Wincest, but

candle_beck's Gone Again series is my favorite Wincest because IT IS SO GODDAMN FUCKING HEARTBREAKING, SHIT. It's a multi-parter, but the sequels are linked internally to easier facilitate the CRUSHING OF YOUR SOUL. Man, I wanna write like her; her style is straightforward yet evocative, and clever. She makes words do awesome things. This is the same writer I was telling you about who wrote the season 3 AU where Dean doesn't tell Sam about his deal. That one's called For Keeps For Good Forever, also quite nice. For something soulcrushing along a Dean/Cas vein, try Everything That Dies by

murron. Both this and 'Gone Again' are beautiful and sharp, but they hurt.

Okay, changing gears.

eighth_horizon writes some pretty funny fic. Two Kinds of Light has been jossed (rendered incorrect by the source material) by "On the Head of a Pin", but it's still pretty enjoyable. It's about Cas being a badass, you know how he is. The 90 Proof series is hilarious, and about Dean's valiant attempts to corrupt Castiel (no, not that way) and it's sorta jossed too, but whatever, it gives me the giggles so hard. There is also When Siblings eAttack, which is about Dean abusing Sam through IM during the Stanford days, and it is pretty D'AWW-inducing.

Hey, you know who else is fucking hilarious?

maskedfangirl! Stick Together is about Castiel's adventures in cellphone-purchasing. The Apocrypha of Chuck has been jossed, but whatever. It's about everyone shacking up at Bobby's after the season 4 finale, and Chuck is about as adorable as you'd expect, except for when he's EVEN MORE ADORABLE. Epic giggles, dude. I love Chuck so much. Fandom hivemind strikes again, because there is yet another Chuck POV Dean/Cas fic with 'apocrypha' in the title set post-4.22 at Bobby's. Despite this, Apocrypha, or: How Chuck Learned to Stop Worrying and Love His Red Pen by

trinityofone is a different enough story to still be utterly enjoyable. They're both pretty great.

:D? by

aramley is the one where Dean is cursed to speak in emoticons and textspeak. It's pretty priceless.

Interlocking Barbs by

instantramen is unabashed shmoop about Dean grooming Castiel's wings and I think it gave me diabetes but goddamn if it isn't THE CUTEST THING. Gosh.

The previous two are both Dean/Cas towards the end, unlike this next one, I guess. Where There's Smoke by trinityofone again, in which Dean and Cas smoke a cigarette.

Written On The Body by

someblazingstar is Dean giving a fallen Cas a protective tattoo. Sexy.

Remember when we cared about Psych? Burnt Ash and Golden Eyes by

trolllogicfics is a Psych crossover in which Shawn is one of the special children. You can't tell me you're not intrigued.

HEY REMEMBER WHEN CROATVERSE WAS THE BEST? A croatverse rec: Echoes Fall Of Me by

dotfic.

Odysseus, American by

coyotesuspect is Stanford-era Wincest in which there are Odyssey parallels and beautiful descriptions of place and has an ending that grew my heart two sizes. It starts, as with many of my favorite stories, in the desert.

Fandom being strange is par for the course, right. Exhibits A through H:

a) Something Primal by

luchia13 -- The one where Castiel is a dinosaur.
b) Vertigo from Falling by

girl_wonder -- Is there wingfic in Hanson fandom? The wingfic trope basically involves giving a character wings, for whatever reason. So, uh. Anyway, here's Dean with wings!
c) This is just one version of the way it could go by

zelda_zee -- Have you ever wondered to yourself, "What if Lemony Snicket wrote Dean/Castiel fic?" Well, wonder no more!
d) As Seen On Urban Dictionary by

longsufferingly -- And then what if Holmes and Watson were in Supernatural fandom?
e) Supernatural's Downfall -- This is not a fic; it is subtitles put to a clip from Downfall, that movie about Hitler, who just wants his Wincest back.
f) 'The End' Facebook recap -- Episode 5.04 as told through Facebook.
g) Acts of the Winchesters by

azalaea -- 'Houses of the Holy' retold as Bible verse.
h) King Winchester also by azalaea -- Pre-series. The argument Sam, John, and Dean had about Stanford, retold as Shakespearean tragedy.

HOLY SHIT THAT IS A LOT OF FIC i am kind of horrified at myself

And now comes the fanart portion of the exam, 'cos goddamn there is some beautiful shit to look at out there.

22by7 is mad gifted, and I hope to someday write/read a fic that feels like this. Actually you know what, this post is mad long already, so just go through this, then go through this. Okay one last thing, which is this Castiel vid by

lola_thursday, which I might've played for you already. The song is so apt.

So GO FORTH, YOUNG PADAWAN. Fandom is waiting for you to discover it! Also, write that Dean Winchester/Taylor Hanson fic already. DON'T MAKE ME PUSH YOU.

"So you guys're still doing this, huh?" Taylor asks, which is probably a stupid question, because obviously. Looking into the trunk of the Impala is like looking into the armory of a small paramilitary organization, and Dean is picking through it all with the casualness of someone going shopping. Honey, we're out of Berettas, and don't forget the silver bullets.

"Yup," says Dean, inspecting a machete. He replaces it back in the trunk, then selects a smaller knife.

"I've been meaning to ask," Taylor says, "what's with the salt?"

"Makes the ghosts taste good," Dean replies, and grins at him, and it takes Taylor back ten years, wrestling around with Dean in the backyard, except Dean was bigger than him, stronger, and he pinned Taylor down with barely any effort. Lazy summer sunlight and listening to Dean wax ridiculous about slaying monsters, and don't worry, his dad would take care of the poltergeist, his dad always did. The Hanson home would be spook-free in no time. Taylor vaguely remembers John Winchester as a man who didn't smile, and he remembers Sam buried in a book trying to fend off Zac's attempts to make friends. Mostly Taylor remembers the tickle of grass against his ear and Dean hovering above him with that same grin.

"I guess you're still doing the music thing," says Dean.

"Yeah."

He raises his eyebrows. "You improved?"

Taylor frowns.

"Oh well, as long as the chicks dig it, right?" Dean slams the trunk shut. "Okay. So! Haunted concert venue, huh?"

"Yeah. Isaac almost got strangled by his guitar strings. Which, y'know," Taylor gestures vaguely, "moved on their own."

Dean nods. "Let's check this shit out.

...Okay, maybe just a little push.

Luuuurrrrrrve,
me

PS:

spnsecrets

ontd_spnparty

or: what has lass been up to on the internet?

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