newsletter # 15 (April 2012)

[harrigan]

Welcome to the spn_littlebro newsletter #15 for April 2012!






Admit it... instead of being thrilled at getting 23 episodes this season instead of 22, we might be just a little grumpy that there still has to be 29 weeks with no new episodes. And we're in one of those lulls right now. What can we do to pass the time until new episode April 20th? How about this!




Hurray for ohsam for always looking out for our hurt!Sam needs. Come play! Prompt! Write! Create!

Fevered Ramblings:

Here's a handful of other 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?

• cherry916 is happy to share the news that a multi-chapter J2 fic she's been enjoying is now complete! It's called Remember You by aelia1980. Summary: After a tragic accident that claims his boyfriend’s life and ends his career as a surgeon, Jensen seeks oblivion in a cabin in the mountains. One winter night, his dog helps him find a young, neglected man who has been horribly mistreated and can’t remember anything. Taking care of him, Jensen slowly finds his way back to himself. Can he help the stranger to remember himself in return? And will the two men have a future when their feelings develop into something other than friendship?. cherry916 says the fic includes abused, beaten, non-con, kidnapped types of hurt, and adds, "This is a recently finished story that really drew me in from the get go. Both Jared and Jensen have very sad stories and backgrounds and are each trying to get over the tragedies they faced. It turns out they are exactly what the other one needs."


• winchesterhaunt is avidly following an SPN gen WIP called Sticks and Stones on ff.net by Marianna_Morgan. Summary: AU tag to "After School Special" - Injured Sam, Big Brother Dean - Dirk smiled as he began walking in Sam's direction; wondering if the kid who thought he was so tough was going to be tough enough to survive a bullet. winchesterhaunt is enjoying the gunshot wound, blood loss and broken bone (who wouldn't!) and says, "I know I rec Marianna a lot, but I feel like this is a WIP that can't be ignored. This is a story line I don't see too often, but fits beautifully in with the After School Special episode. It is AU, but it's very believable."
• vail_kagami has two new recs by lexicale to rec this month.
  • Endless Skies is an 80K epic with this summary: Sam has never fit in amongst his people -- he's never been the perfect hunter and he doesn't really want to be involved in the war against the demons. And even if he did, he knows he can never measure up to his older brother, Dean: the perfect Celt, the perfect demon hunter, and the perfect son. While still struggling to find his place amongst his people, and struggling with what he feels for his brother, Sam comes across a downed demon. Their unlikely friendship begins to change everything for him and his family.. vail_kagami explains that this is "a fusion between SPN and How to Train Your Dragon, with Sam as the useless second son of the leader of a demon-hunting tribe, Dean as his perfect older brother and Ruby as the winged, fire-spitting demon he accidentally befriends. There's a higher destiny waiting for Sam, too, and true to canon it's not one he wants. The writing is wonderful - it's a long story, but not a single word is wasted."
  • In the Aftermath is described by the author as Ruby made two promises and only one was a lie. But trying to hold Sam together in the wake of his brother's death is so much harder than she ever thought. Sam feels so much and she has lost that human vocabulary. The summer after Dean is dragged to Hell, Ruby struggles to relearn it and Sam struggles just to breathe.. vail_kagami shares that it's "a pre-season-4 story told from Ruby's point of view as she guides Sam through the aftermath of his brother's death. Sam's grieving, hurt, hunted for his alliance with a demon, Ruby is firecely protective while also looking for guidance, and there's this delightful mix of vulnerability and (unaware) power in both of them that makes this story one of my favourites."
• Check out The Totally Necessary 5.04 AU comment-fic meme at minviendha's journal. vail_kagami urges us to partake and enjoy! "For one, it needs more prompts, and then there's such delicious potential for hurt Sam in it."


• There's also a super!sneezy Supernatural meme going on a tarotgal's journal too! A lot of sick!Sam and sick!Jared going on over there right now.
  

Featured Fic Recs:

• cherry916 has these favorites to features this month.
  • Late Bloomer by bewaretheides15 is an NC17 J2AU (with a sequel too). cherry916 says, " I really do love well written fics about the scientific anatomy of Alpha/Beta/Omegas. I think it's fascinating when an author can describe something down to a science that doesn't even exists. In this one Jared goes through his first heat, he's a late bloomer and it catches him off guard. Thank God Jensen is there."
  • Save Me from the Dark by ratherastory is an SPN gen season 5 AU. cherry916 recs this because "I know someone has already rec'd this in the themes, but I wanted to show case this fic in the newsletter. I really enjoy any fics that answer the whole 'The End' verse and what could have been. And this is a brilliant 'what if' question about time being distorted and bent to where Dean comes back, but months have already passed. And Sam isn't the same as he remembered."
• winchesterhaunt would like to feature Senses by McB: a first-person SPN gen wherein evil of another kind brings the brothers to their knees. winchesterhaunt says "This is my "oldie but a goodie" rec. I remember this being the first car crash fic I read (given the fact that this was written before the season 1 finale), and boy is it a doozy. Sam gets pretty messed up here, but what I remember the most is how true the last line rings. Even though this was written in season 1, the final thought rings true throughout the seasons."

Other Media:

• art: cherry916 is captivated by Losing All Hope by blakravell on deviantart. Cherry says, "This was put up within hours of the episode (7.17) airing. She got every last detail of Sam right down to his defeated posture."
• art: winchesterhaunt has another brilliant piece to highlight: from episode 7.17 - this one by quickreaver. winchesterhaunt loves "the grim atmosphere of this piece. It captures the feel of the episode perfectly and the writing on the wall is a great touch."


• music videos: ash48 is excited about Don't Walk Away by colls. It's about how Sam tries to make up for the mistakes he feels he's made and the guilt he carries over looking for another life. Clips from seasons 1-6. Ash says this is "a sad but beautiful vid exploring Sam's guilt. The song is perfect for Sam and the vidder captures the heartbreak that is the boys' story."
• audiobook/podfic: ash48 has a Sam/Dean rec for us this month: It's the Blueprint of Your Life by queenklu. Summary: Sam jerks awake in the middle of the night and everything goes to hell. Well, not literally, though Dean is staring down the barrel of less than a year before his deal comes due. In the midst of dealing (or not dealing) with his impending death, a killer ghost ship, and Bela showing up out of the blue, Dean also has to figure out what’s going on in Sam’s head to make him so twitchy, why he’s suddenly breezing through this case while writing endless notes in a notebook he won’t let Dean see. Damn it, Dean thinks, This is gonna take a lot of chickflick moments. The audio version here as podfic and as mp3 runs over 4 hours. ash48 says, "Once again chemm80 delivers a wonderfully read story. The story will keep you guessing to the very end. It's an alternative season 3 and starts during Red Sky at Morning. I loved reading how things might have turned out. It's a wonderful fix-it fic with lots of awesome bro!moments."
• eBooks, etc.: harrigan loves bigbangs - meaty, plotty fics you can really wallow in, with art to enrich the experience even more. One of the 2011 SPN gen fics from spn_j2_bigbang was The Price of Renovation by st-salieri with art by eyestoowide. Summary: Sam wakes up after a hunt to find his brother missing. Even worse, it appears that - according to everyone else in the world - he has never had a brother. Sam sets out on a quest to find Dean while dealing with the knowledge that he is the only one who remembers that his brother ever existed. As the world falls apart around him, Sam struggles to find his brother while managing the vivid dreams he has of Dean and trying to maintain a grasp on his own sanity.. We can't say much more without giving things away, but it's well worth taking along on your eReader and a link to a PDF version is provided.

What Else?

Hurray for LJ enhancements that allow us to keep 'sticky posts' at the top of our community webpage. So now visitors to spn_littlebro can always easily find this entry with links to our welcome post and rules, posting guidelines and HTML how-to, our library of hurt archive on delicious and links to all our theme posts.