2010 BIG BANG Recs
Five more recs for this year’s amazing SPN Big Bang event. All gen stories this time around, simply to make things even, because there’s a bunch of sites composing amazing rec lists for wincest/J2 stories and, I swear to you, I could not find a single one for gen stories *g* More recs to come later... I’m a slow reader.
Again, the stories are in no particular order other than the order I read them :)
Tittle: Unmaking
Author: faithburke
Genre: Gen, set in a AU version of the Winchesters’ life
Author’s Summary: “You have to stop it,” Castiel said. So Dean did exactly that.
Why: Lovely piece about the what-ifs of Dean’s life had he managed to kill Azazel in the past, before Mary’s deal was made, before the apocalypse had any chance of coming to pass. This author manages to keep every single character’s tone just right and, despite the huge AU that this represents, you feel like it would be fun to what a TV show about this version of events too. And lemme tell ya: Dean hunting with young Bobby? Is totally made of WIN!
Title: Carouselambra
Author: brihana25_fic
Genre: Gen, set in early season 1
Author’s Summary: Eight years after a hunt with John and Bobby that ended in disaster, Sam and Dean return to Johnston, Iowa for what looks to be a simple job. It isn't long before they realize that things are not always what they seem, and it's not so easy to escape a horror that refuses to stay dead. The reality of the situation flies in the face of everything they know about spirits and forces them to confront their biggest fears. With one Winchester struggling against a nightmare that keeps dragging him back under, and the other reeling from the knowledge of what his brother is willing to sacrifice to protect him, they will have to find the strength to stand together and defeat the ghost that haunts them both, once and for all.
Why: I could not let go of this story once I started. It had all the elements I love in a good story: awesome brother chemistry, a dual setting of tales (nowadays and when Dean was a teen), brilliant pacing and a fugly going after guys who looked just like Dean. And what this fugly does to his victims, what he did to Dean.... *shudder* You just have to read it to find out. Absolutely heart-gripping, nail-biting, awesome read!
Title: The mad road
Author: bellatemple
Genre: Gen with a few spots of het loving
Author’s Summary: On October 31st, 2005, Sam Winchester wakes up to find someone rummaging through his kitchen. It's his father, with bad news: his brother's dead, and the thing that killed him is coming to Palo Alto. Weeks later, Jo Harvelle follows a lead on her missing boyfriend to a mental health facility and meets a man, dressed in half-scrubs, half-flannel, with bandaged wrists and paranoid tendencies. His name is Dean Winchester, he knows more than he possibly could, and convincing his family he's not really dead would only be half their problem -- if Jo can help him find them. . . .
Why: Well, the story is by bellatemple ... I think I could leave it just at that and it would be enough to convince anyone to read. But if you really want details... well, this story is EPIC! And I mean that in scale, in writing, in plot, in everything you can imagine. Dean in a mental institute, Sam hunting with ‘Jess’ (once you read the story, you’ll get why Jess is between ‘ ’ ), time traveling, you name it! And the end... well, I can tell you, without spoiling anything, that God makes one awesome appearance because she named the chapters according to whose POV it is, but everything else... you’ll have to read it to find out ;)
Title: Last child
Author: jackfan2
Genre: Gen, set early in season 1
Author’s Summary: An eight year old story of violence and blood shed resurfaces with new victims and clues enough to attract the Winchester’s. In route to investigate, illness sidelines the younger brother leaving Dean to hunt alone. It was a path that both agreed they'd avoid at all costs and Dean soon finds himself lured into a trap. In a race against time, the brothers embark on separate journeys: Dean to save the last child from a brutal ending; and Sam, to save Dean from becoming the next play thing at the hands of a monster neither of them is prepared for.
Why: I’ll confess upfront: me and this story, we have a personal connection. I watch it grow from very early on and gave it a couple of nudges to completion. But the grittiness and sheer power of the storyline and the writing? That’s all on the author’s awesome skill. Dean’s connection with kids really shines as he goes through hell to keep one kid safe. And the level of insanity that the bad guy manages to achieve at some points is just scary. And what I really admire about this story is that it could’ve easily been a whump-without-plot type of thing, but IT’S NOT! The amount of plot twists and turns that the author delivers is simply mind boggling and keeps you gripping the edge of your seat the whole time and that in itself, makes it more than worth it to read.
Title: Perspectives
Author: a_phoenixdragon
Genre: Gen
Author’s Summary: Set AU from S4.04 'Metamorphosis', this is a what-if based on Dean's discovery of Sam's secret mere minutes after coming back from the past: Told from the viewpoints of Dean, Sam and Bobby, this tale is about choices, none of them easy and how those same choices can carry into the future.
Sometimes all you can do is walk away, even when everything within you tells you not to. Dean thinks it will be simple, but one phone call from Bobby leads to a case that just may get him caught - and the hunt for Dean Winchester is on.
Dean finds a new friend and ally, while Sam discovers what it is to truly be left behind as he and Bobby race against the clock to find his brother before he disappears forever. Armed with a location, the Impala, determination and one Angel of the Lord - will they get to Dean before he can become so much shadow and mist? Or will the secrets and lies be all that Sam and Bobby are left with in the end?
Why: This story grabbed me right from the beginning because of the way it pushed for the unthinkable: Dean leaving Sam. And he does, he truly does, no half-assed way about it. So don’t go reading this tale expecting a happy ending... it has a real-life ending. And in between? It’s simply made of awesome, doing for Dean’s PTSD what the show ‘forgot’ to do; giving you one of the best OCs that I’ve encountered in a while; showing you glimpses of events in Dean’s life (like the infamous Sam-escape to Flagstaff, or his ‘relationship’ with Alistair and so, so many others that are simply a joy to read) and all the while, giving you the reverse of the coin, with Sam and Bobby giving a mad chase to a man who doesn’t want to the caught.