REC: podfic and fic - things I'm glad I tried
Today I'm reccing fic I would have written off based on the header - and am glad I didn't. A lot of this is "Dean/Cas recs for Dean/Sam shippers", if you will.
If On a Winter’s Night a Fangirl
What I loved about it: I adore meta fandom fic things. This one is funny and silly, just - fun. Becky, Chuck, slash, rps, inside jokes, fandom.
The reading is so much fun - the reader and a friend delighting in the fic and occasionally not being able to help laughing - it works well for me with this sort of fic, particularly since it's meta on meta on meta, it's only fitting that the readers be present in it in a more "official" way. Also, it's just fun - being read to by someone who loves what they read, and you can tell they're having fun too, sharing the jokes.
Header: Dean/Cas
Thoughts: [fic spoiler, though expected]in a way, it's a story about fandom (via Becky and other forces) switching from Wincest to Destiel. I would have maybe had a problem with that, but I was too busy laughing. Also, it made me realize another bit of how Destiel (used to be?) marginalized. They never got canon validation like that.
Wouldn't have read cause: there's Dean/Cas in there.
Absolution
Some of the things I loved about it: This fic is midseason 4, in a very good way. The characters and their relationships, the world, the vibe. A lot of it is about Sam and Dean's relationship, how they deal with the way they started to drift apart, Sam drinking demon blood in order to make amends, Dean defining himself by Sam, being ok vs. being honest with each other and everything that's going on around them. It looks at these things in a way I appreciated - I didn't feel it put anybody on a pedestal, and still it was compassionate. It's casefic, or rather - case arc fic, this could have been a third or so of season 4, and it's interesting. Castiel plays an important role in this, and is interesting in himself and what he goes through, without taking from the rest.
Why I would have ruled it out: Dean/Cas, Sam/Pamela. I really don't go for those, but the fic didn't depend on them, they weren't the center of things, and they worked.
Start Quoting Shakespeare And We're Done
What I liked about it: Librarians, brothers being cute together, banter, Dean working on cars, Dean being fed, Sam being fed chocolate, things being simple and happy after all.
Thoughts: This is just cute shmoop, not too sappy, just mostly cute rom-com. Don't usually like rom-coms, usually I find them more disturbing on a social/personal level than some of the things considered angst. This fic had only a little of that, and was cute and fun.
Why I would have ruled it out: rom-com, AU, Dean/Cas, Sam/Gab.
Apocrypha, or: How Chuck Learned to Stop Worrying and Love His Red Pen
Liked about it: Chuck, funny, interesting, good season 4/5 characterization and vibe, outsider POV on the "war headquarters at Bobby's" scenario, writing and show meta.
Wouldn't have tried it cause: Dean/Cas, outsider pov.
In short, I'm running out of good Sam/Dean (and Sam/Cas!) non-triggery podfic.
If On a Winter’s Night a Fangirl
What I loved about it: I adore meta fandom fic things. This one is funny and silly, just - fun. Becky, Chuck, slash, rps, inside jokes, fandom.
The reading is so much fun - the reader and a friend delighting in the fic and occasionally not being able to help laughing - it works well for me with this sort of fic, particularly since it's meta on meta on meta, it's only fitting that the readers be present in it in a more "official" way. Also, it's just fun - being read to by someone who loves what they read, and you can tell they're having fun too, sharing the jokes.
Header: Dean/Cas
Thoughts: [fic spoiler, though expected]in a way, it's a story about fandom (via Becky and other forces) switching from Wincest to Destiel. I would have maybe had a problem with that, but I was too busy laughing. Also, it made me realize another bit of how Destiel (used to be?) marginalized. They never got canon validation like that.
Wouldn't have read cause: there's Dean/Cas in there.
Absolution
Some of the things I loved about it: This fic is midseason 4, in a very good way. The characters and their relationships, the world, the vibe. A lot of it is about Sam and Dean's relationship, how they deal with the way they started to drift apart, Sam drinking demon blood in order to make amends, Dean defining himself by Sam, being ok vs. being honest with each other and everything that's going on around them. It looks at these things in a way I appreciated - I didn't feel it put anybody on a pedestal, and still it was compassionate. It's casefic, or rather - case arc fic, this could have been a third or so of season 4, and it's interesting. Castiel plays an important role in this, and is interesting in himself and what he goes through, without taking from the rest.
Why I would have ruled it out: Dean/Cas, Sam/Pamela. I really don't go for those, but the fic didn't depend on them, they weren't the center of things, and they worked.
Start Quoting Shakespeare And We're Done
What I liked about it: Librarians, brothers being cute together, banter, Dean working on cars, Dean being fed, Sam being fed chocolate, things being simple and happy after all.
Thoughts: This is just cute shmoop, not too sappy, just mostly cute rom-com. Don't usually like rom-coms, usually I find them more disturbing on a social/personal level than some of the things considered angst. This fic had only a little of that, and was cute and fun.
Why I would have ruled it out: rom-com, AU, Dean/Cas, Sam/Gab.
Apocrypha, or: How Chuck Learned to Stop Worrying and Love His Red Pen
Liked about it: Chuck, funny, interesting, good season 4/5 characterization and vibe, outsider POV on the "war headquarters at Bobby's" scenario, writing and show meta.
Wouldn't have tried it cause: Dean/Cas, outsider pov.
In short, I'm running out of good Sam/Dean (and Sam/Cas!) non-triggery podfic.