newsletter # 14 (March 2012)

[harrigan]

Welcome to the spn_littlebro newsletter #14 for March 2012!






Happy month of March! We're nearly at the end of another mini-hiatus, and I think even the most spoiler-free fan probably has reason to hope that we've got some hurt!Sam of the psychological trauma variety coming soon! \o/ Meanwhile, have some more hurt!Sam and hurt!Jared gems in the following recs.

And we'd like to take this opportunity to thank departing spn_littlebro moderators dontknowmyname and varkelton who were invaluable in helping to get this rec community up and running last year, and to welcome winchesterhaunt, who is now joining our team to share her hurt!Sam and hurt!Jared discoveries with us all.

But don't forget - this is YOUR community, too, and we want to know what tickles your hurt!Sam or hurt!Jared fancy! So comment to our theme posts with your favorites! Want to rec a fic but not sure how? Check out our posting tips for using HTML. When you post a rec in a theme comment, we'll add it to our archive on delicious, too. (Thanks to cherry916 for maintaining that site. We have over 600 entires in our library to date - woot! And Cherry would like to add: "If you ever scroll through our delicious and see typos or tags out of place or missing, feel free to go to the Delicious Correction page and leave a comment to say what you saw wrong. Sometimes I type so fast I'm bound to make a mistake and it's nice to have extra eyes to look over it so everything can be tagged correctly.")

Fevered Ramblings:

Here's a handful of things your spn_littlebro team is raving about right now. (And if you like these as much as we do, don't forget to comment to the person who created it!)

Who's Hurting Sam or Jared Lately?

• winchesterhaunt is kicking off her first recs with a completed pre-series SPN gen fic by beckalooby called I Can't Help But Fall Apart. Summary: It wasn’t John, not really. He wouldn’t ever lay a hand on either of his sons. Sam knew that, he really and truly did. But it doesn’t stop him from flinching every time his father came near. winchesterhaunt says, "There's officially no happy endings here. This is a heart-breaking look at another way the supernatural has screwed up Sam's life (and by extension also John and Dean's). It's short, but the piece really delivers an emotional punch."
• She also recs another preseries SPN gen fic: Whiskey: Alternate Ending by mentholpixie, summarized as Dean doesn't show up and John doesn't back down. Alternative ending for my story Whiskey. winchesterhaunt says, "This is the alternate ending to the story Whiskey rec'd in the Abuse Theme not too long ago. This physically hurt me to read. I felt miserable for Sam throughout this fic and horrified at what John had done without remorse."
• cherry916 is excited about a new J2AU WIP When You Lie Next To Me by alienat. Summary: Life’s never easy, especially when you’re father to six children. You learned that the hard way. Now Annie is suddenly and unexpected moving home again, Luke is getting married, the twins are pulling more pranks than ever, Lily doesn’t want to be a lady and Sophie-Ellie has been wearing black for years. And then one of you gets sick. So what do you do when life decides to kick your ass again? You kick it right back and fight for what you love. Cherry says, "This is the third story in a 'verse of hers (I rec'd the other two previously in the theme posts). It starts off just as hectic as the last two but a family tragedy might push this meager family over the limits."


• vail_kagami enjoyed Tired and Hungry and Totally Useless by familybizness. Summary: I was asked to write a story about Sam with Lyme disease. This happened. Probably the most research I've ever done for a fic. vail-kagami says, "Sam gets sick during his Stanford days and Dean comes to take care of him. What's not to love? Sam is so miserable and Dean so wonderfully worried and caring. For all Sam's suffering in this, the story just leaves me feeling happy."


• vail_kagami also reports, "I only just discovered sammymeme, which is a commentfic meme focused on sick Sam and has already produced a lot of awesome stories that are right up our alley!"
• abused_sammy is having a promptfest with no deadline here! ash48 says you should check it out!

Featured Fic Recs:

• harrigan says, "I'll be honest. I don't see slash when I watch the show. But very rarely, a fantastically gifted author creates a beautifully crafted heart-wrenching, intense and believable Sam/Dean fic that completely sucks me in. checkthemargins is one of these writers. She describes Into the World Breathes Life as The Pneumonia/Breakdown fic. It is long and rambling and disjointed like Sam's crazy head and has a metric ton of angst, nearly more schmoop, and a lot of snuggly!boys." harrigan says, "Sam sees not just Lucifer but also Michael and Cas in his hallucinations. This fic is over 20K and brilliantly explores not just Sam's desperate attempt to hold onto reality, but how it effects him to realize how close to suicidal Dean is now, too. Slash fan or gen fan, it's all about the bond between these two brothers, how fragile it is and yet how strong."
• winchesterhaunt has culled this favorite from ff.net: Finders Keepers by TraSan. Summary: There are some people who just never learned it isn't nice to take things that don't belong to them. Dark fic. This is over 25K of SPN gen, and winchesterhaunt says, "Sam is held captive in the pit (not the Lucy Pit) by a couple of spirits who think Sam's their new pet and of course Dean's having none of that. I love how the author portrays Sam's emotional trauma from the mental and physical abuse he suffers at the hands of these spirits. And Dean is in true big brother character, helping Sam through the aftermath with a little brotherly TLC."


• cherry916 has also bookmarked a favorite from ff.net: It's a Wonderful Life by Marianna Morgan. Summary: AU Tag to 6.11 - Sam had his soul back, but he was...different. Less Sammy, more Rain Man. But being electrocuted - even if it was only minor - had the potential to be life-changing. Such was the case. Cherry says, " I'm really sad I didn't read this sooner. It will make you tear up at how saddening Sam's situation is and how Dean's trying his best to hold on and get them both through it. What hurts the most is a little Sam remembering Hell and talking about it so nonchalantly and Dean's heart seizing up in the process."


• cherry916 also has a J2 non-AU favorite from 2009 to share: Drugged by yellowwolf5. Summary: Jensen glanced around the bar, trying to spot his co-star, best friend and crush but he couldn't see his tall form anywhere. This is a 5K fic with warnings for attempted rape, and Cherry likes it because it's "a brief story about a night at the bar turning wrong. Jensen of course feels guilty for not doing something sooner but he soon realizes that his feelings he harbors are well reciprocated."

Other Media:

• art: cherry916 is raving about a preseries gem called Don't turn around Sammy, don't turn around by the always amazing petite_madame. Cherry says, "This is a beautiful digital drawing of Dean protecting Sam's innocence and trying to shelter him from seeing what John is doing, which is killing an evil baddie. The purple haze and and the eerie setting really add to this piece."
• art: For something more comedic than heart-wrenching, winchesterhaunt is giggling over this cartoon from the season 7 episode Repo Man by fassabendover on tumblr. winchesterhaunt says, "It doesn't matter how many times I look at this... it's still funny. Poor Sam... but at least Lucy looks like he's having a good time. Spoilers of course for episode 7.15"


• music videos: ash48 raves about Bruises by mithborien. Ash says this is "a great and rather frightening look at Sam's hallucinations in the episode Repo Man."
• music videos: harrigan also has a music vid rec for us that was inspired by the last episode. On My Own by tahirire is, harrigan says, "Brilliant! So heartbreaking and so vividly true! The end of the last episode really made me mourn for how alone Sam is right now, and this just re-ignited all that pain for me. (In a good way, of course!)"
• music videos: winchesterhaunt loves Always Find Me Here by Loki. winchesterhaunt says, "Just watched this vid and I must say it was stunning, beautiful and heartbreaking. The music and voiceovers blend beautifully. The visual representation here is pure art. This is definitely a must see."
• eBooks, etc.: How about a nice, plotty 100+ K space adventure! In honor of the folks working furiously on their 2012 spn_j2_bigbang creations, harrigan would like to promote a classic from 2010: Redemption by ancastar. Summary: It's a different world. Space has been colonized, the wealthy fly to work rather than drive, and slavery is legal. Jared's family has been ripped apart by tragedy. The only way he can save the ones left is to offer himself up as a bondmate. The more he's willing to give, the higher the price he can command. And Jared is willing to give a lot. Jensen is wealthy and heartbroken after the wife he adored walked out on him. He isn't looking for love. All he wants is a relationship he can control. Buying a bondmate seems like the perfect solution. Yet when he purchases Jared's contract, he gets more than he bargained for. Link to the downloadable pdf version is here. The author's newest fic Imperative for j2_everafter is also downloadable in assorted eReader formats and looks to have hurt!Jared, too. Check it out!
• audiobook/podfic: ash48 is enjoying Life Used to Be So Hard, 34-35 minutes of SPN gen written by roque-clasique and recorded by emerald-embers. Ash says, "I really enjoyed the way this story was read. Even with an English accent the boys come across totally in character The dialogue is witty and refreshing. I particularly love the way the writer only drops hints about what might be up with Sam. It's Gen and there's some nice h/c."

Enjoy!