the last of the summergen recs

You guys! I read very nearly all the spn_summergen fics! I gave myself permission to skip the crossovers, and also I skipped one that just looked too dark and one that seemed to be All About Crowley, which I just could not deal with. But otherwise: ALL DONE. I am so proud! And I enjoyed the experience a lot, overall (although I definitely fell off commenting in the second half, oops). I love reading works posted anon; there's something so delightful about finding something you love that you might never have tried otherwise, and then maybe even getting a new friend out of it.

I do wish the fest produced a wider mix of characters; there is just so much Sam and Dean relative to the other characters. There wasn't even hardly any Dean+Castiel or Sam+Castiel, and no Kevin fic at all. There were enough ladies, either (although I suppose you all know there would never have been enough ladies to suit me. :)) I suspect this imbalance is partly because a person can't opt out of writing Sam and Dean, so in a lot of cases, that might be all you match on. Oh, well.

Anyway. I have one last batch of recs for you all!

Lethe by claudiapriscus
Dean is lost in a forest, and his kid brother is tagging along. It's a pretty weird forest, though. I won't say more, because you probably want to read this one unspoiled. It's a neat mystery-type fic, though, with lots of atmosphere.

The Oak and the Dragon by zubeneschamali
AWWWW. Sam finds a soul glass in the bunker. This should have been so sappy, and yet somehow it... wasn't? Or it was so gentle and peaceful and lovely that I didn't care. I love the imagery and the mood of this.

Mistakes We'll Make Again by allhailaugustus
A teenchester fic in Sam's senior year of high school. This involves a case of sorts, but the real tension is between Sam, who's started to hide things like SAT studying, and Dean, who knows something's off but doesn't know what. This fic is a like a summer storm just waiting to roll in. The ending resolves nothing at all, in the most satisfying way.

Good For What Ails You by tifaching
This is a feel-good fic about that time in high school when Dean learned how to cook. By the time you're done, I promise you'll be hungry. It's lovely to see Dean get some affirmation, and I love the bunker framing story, too.

Headliners by kalliel
This is... this is a weird fic. (I hope kalliel knows I mean that in the best way. <3) It posits one simple change from canon, but the result is takes French Mistake elements and "My Heart Will Go On" verse elements and Eve storyline elements and throws them into a blender. And the result is Jo Harvelle's stepson's meditation on Jo's meditation on Dean Winchester, recently found dead (except Jo knows it's not him). It's a challenging read, I would say, where the effects are almost more important than the events that cause them. Also very grim. If all this sounds appealing, then you will love this fic, I promise you.

Crossposted from Dreamwidth. Comment here or there. ( DW replies)