snick_backup | SPN recs #9

So, uh, I apparently plan to make up a week's worth of posts all in one day, because it's time for another recs post. This time, again, I have post-finale recs. Also this round seems to have a theme of "totally excellent things that are not fic." There are even two fan poems, what bounty.

General SPN Fic
Lost in Translation, by

ficwriter1966
Spoilers through 3.06 Red Sky at Morning. One-shot.
In which Sam discovers Dean took something Bela said to heart. The actual content of this fic suggests sheer comedic fluff, but the treatment breaks my heart. Here is Dean at his silliest and yet most vulnerable; here is Sam taking care of his brother in what small ways Dean will let him.

Had He and I But Met, by

websandwhiskers
Spoilers through 4.22 Lucifer Rising. One-shot.
After the events of S4, Ruby turns up again, human this time, which forces both her and the Winchesters to re-evaluate some things. YOU GUYS. This is the Ruby character study I never knew I wanted. There's a fair bit of her background, but most intriguing to me is the movement going forward: Ruby dealing with being human and Sam (and the others to a lesser extent) dealing with the fact of her existing at all. I wish there were 50k more of the kind of deft character exploration going on here.

Vigil, by

desertport
No spoilers. Poem.
In which Dean is in a coma and Sam watches over him. I recced this author's Dean/Lisa poem a while back, and here's another which I like just as well. She's got a wonderful grasp of characterization and of language, and she puts them together to make something that is not only different but more than could be achieved in a regular prose fic. I think I particularly like how there are aspects of the rhythm of this one that remind me of a children's book.

the lot you left behind, by

maerhys
Spoilers through 2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign. One-shot.
Possibly the single most delicious Jo-on-a-case fic I have ever read.

Post-Finale Recs
Swing Low, by

roque_clasique
Longfic.
Okay, this? This is the Dean-in-Purgatory longicfic I have been wanting. It does not have everything I want, but that's too much to fit into one fic anyway. What it does have: wandering, loneliness, injuries that don't heal right, hurt and comfort both, uneasy alliances and moments of unexpected grace, rescue, EMMA. She's not listed in the header, which maybe means she's supposed to be a surprise, but: EMMA. And she is everything I wanted her to be.

Flesh on Bone - by

honeylocusttree
One-shot.
There's not much left of Dean when Sam finally gets him back. Sad horror built on the best kind of gore.

Lettered, by unrevealed

spnspringfling author
One-shot. Nominally Dean/Castiel (there's some kissing, but this is not a shippy fic)
Cas and Dean, stumbling through Purgatory and changing a little bit of the time. This is one of those fics where I am not always entirely sure what is happening, but I am sure it is brilliant. The language here is so careful, so exquisite it makes me shiver. This fic has not yet received nearly as much love as it deserves.

Light-Born, comic by laurad
Web comic. WIP.
In which Dean and Cas miss home, fight monsters, and are rescued by some folks that look suspiciously like dead angels they know. There's plotty goodness here, but I'm really in this for the art and the small character moments, which are gorgeous. I think the first set of panels, which function as a prologue, are probably my favorite. Oh, Dean. Oh, Cas.

And Now For Something Completely Different
gangster photofic by

twoskeletons (also this and this)
RPF is totally outside my usual reccing purview, but this is so fabulous I cannot help myself. Twoskeletons has written snippets of gangster fic with photo evidence. Jensen is the guy who gets people to talk! Misha tails Jared when they think Jared might be ratting them out! The syncing of story to image is so perfect I can't even say. The other links are to normal fic in the same universe (one gen, one Jared/Misha), but it's the photofic that's won my heart.

Can Anybody Rec Me?, by

missyjack
In which Missyjack nabs tags and text from

spnstoryfinders and turns them into poems. These aren't poems about SPN, they're poems about us, and they are brilliant.

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. (

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