Reccer's notes: An oldie but always a goodie. My favorite fic about the Winchester family, preseries, and my favorite to listen to. I'd like to convert any nonbelievers to podfic now if I can. I didn't expect this to draw me in like it did - nothing jerked me out of the story, I was immersed. Candle_beck has a frank, told-like-it-is, even tone, speaking natural dialogue naturally, narrative never stiff. There isn't anything OTT or theatrical about this; I don't feel like I'm being performed at. You could say the author's got a genuine voice full of character and it comes through; you could say she's an excellent reader; all of this is true. Not every writer - in any genre - can read their work well and this is particularly impressive in this piece, when both text and reading match so well the tone and style of Supernatural itself. This fic is pre-series Sam/Dean, with a healthy, well-developed dose of POV and emotional development from each character. The John POV is insightful to a character that fandom is given relatively little background to work with, and the tense and dynamic three-person family dynamic is to a T, a full and rich development of everything we saw between them in canon. A great family fic, a great Sam/Dean fic.