amberdreams | Entries tagged with recommendation

I like to make a list before reveals...so better make a start on that then!

There have been so many good ones so far, but a few stood out for me. In no particular order:

in my brother's mansion for jalu2
An almost dreamlike look at Sam and Dean in heaven, as they explore how heaven is making and remaking itself around them, providing what they want or need. The concept is both fascinating and slightly disturbing, but the mood of the story is very peaceful and soothing. And the boys are so in love.

All of My Love for lotrspnfangirl
I almost didn't read this one because of the dreaded Dean/Cas pairing, but I was so glad I did. It's full of the other-worldly quirks that endeared Cas to me when he first arrived on the scene. It tackles his love for Dean beautifully, tenderly, and provides a resolution, all within a few hundred, well chosen words.

Of Stars and Dust for backrose_17
Another very short story but not a word wasted. Fabulous world building in a sci fi setting, this one creates a real sense of place, as well as a window into Sam's mind. I may have come away with the urge to give Dean a good slap though. LOL

There Was Once a Road Through the Woods for sonofabiscuit77
Not that we need the reveal for this one but lookit the lovely firelight glow, the eldritch moon, the creepy ghoulish severed head and the tender loving boys.

There are more, but I'll post this then do another one to collect some of the other delicious offerings later, when I get a chance.

Summer is drawing to a close and here's another little batch of awesome to see us through the dying days.

Exclesiates
Jess returns from the dead and Sam is getting married. All is well with the world - or is it?
A gentle ominous thread runs through this one, and kept me guessing. The story is a lovely Sam POV, and definitely delivers on the brotherly bond.

The Holy Grail Bird
Sam is at the heart of this gentle yet gripping and heart wrenching tale. I cried over a clockword bird and the ending broke me in a good way. A fantastical story that remains true to the characters and a truly magical resolution to Chuck's god bullet. This one is now top of my list of faves this year and I'm certain it will stay there.

The Master's House
Another Sam POV but this Sam is an angel, and the story takes use with Sam through aspects of creation and the burgeoning of individuality and free will in a way that is recognisably SPN and yet also wonderfully different. I especially loved the descriptions of Dean (there's a surprise) as having been a weapon in the heart of Darkness, and how that hurt him, how the story uses memories of war and how time develops over time (as it were). It's beautifully written, thought provoking, and clever. I love how, though this is such a different setting, our Sam and Dean shine through.

A post modern manifesto of joylessness
I need to add this one in because it's so tricksy and cool. Firmly in Sam's POV, the story takes us on a gradual realisation that we (and Sam) really don't know what's real and what isn't. The sense of calm confusion is actually more scary than anything more overt - the repetition is disturbing. It's sad and full of undercurrents of horror in a very subtle way.

I've missed recording a few good uns in between, but here's a small sample of ones I made a note of.

First and foremost
Shelter From the Storm
This one was my gift and I'm so delighted with it. Oh my. So deliciously creepy and tense - a wonderful case fic with all the extra trimmings. It has all the elements of Supernatural that I adore - a truly macabre case, lots of shout outs to both the boys' past brushes with Hell, the impending doom of Amara's darkness in the background throughout and then amping up the hazard for both WInchesters in a really interesting twist. On top of all that, it's a great use of the Dylan lyrics!

dread in my heart
This one really got to me, I'm not entirely sure why. Except it was a beautifully written piece, and a great concept. Sam and Dean are trying to get round Chuck's machinations by resetting their lives, and find themselves in a uninverse disconcertinly similar to the Djinn-world in WIASNB. Told from Sam's POV, this ended up both chilling and emotionally charged, and I loved it. It might even be my fav so far.

Five Times
A truly charming look at JOdy and Donna developing their hunting skills and their friendship at the same time, with bonus Hurt!Winchesters cameo. This is everything Wayward Sisters could have been and wasn't.

Truth from Fiction
A lighthearted crossover with Arrow that brought a big smile to my face. I'm not a fan of Arrow but I've seen enough to recognise their characters and their voices seemed spot on. Read it for a good laugh!

Still so many great offerings, but here's my second small selection of goodies.

For Thine is the Kingdom
Utterly charming art to accompany a moving Castiel POV post Chuck story that offers us Castiel as he (in my opinion) should be. Other-worldly and still wondering at the complexity of life on earth and of two humans in particular. It's a gorgeous and poignant reminder of the angel the show used to offer us and seems to have largely forgotten.

Switch
This fic combines two of my favourite things - Hallucifer and body swaps. It's a no cracky take on the latter which fits perfectly with the idea that swapping at this particular moment will given Dean a literal insight into what Sam's been going through, having Lucifer inside his head. Such a great twist on a trope that's usually played mostly for laughs.

Thyrsus
Now this one really is a bundle of laughs. Dean exploring the bunker is such a rich seam to mine, I really don't know why the show writers haven't gone there yet. This fic hits all the right notes, Dean vs Dionysus's staff is, of course, no contest, and Sam's exasperation with the resulting shenanigans is perfect. Fanulously funny - and maybe written by a Brit. I'm wondering who...

Just a small selection from this year's

spn_summergen offerings so far. These are ones that have stood out for me in some way from the rest. It doesn't mean the rest aren't good or worth a look!

The Snake Which Cannot Cast its Skin -
Dean the snake whisperer - what a fabulous and original premise! The snake voices are so well thought out and the idea of snakes being an unseen ally for the boys (Dean and his Bigger You!) is intriguing. The magic is seamlessly woven into the case fic, and feels like a totally believable addition to what is otherwise a purely canon verse. The story is well written, the boys are in character and there's a very satisfying mix of SPN's best bits - humour, suspense, mild horror, and a problem to solve.

Nine-tenths of the law
A powerful and engrossing case fic which also provides a unique fix for the archangel condom plotline of seasons 4-5. There is something very beguiling about vodou, and I'm surprised it doesn't turn up in more fanfics. I think I've only read one, maybe two that touch on this world, and this one is so well written and colourful, it feels effortless. I didn't get the overpowering sense of place I've encountered in other stories set in Lousiana (I think it was Big Pink's SPN fanfic turned into a book I'm thinking of that did that particular trick so well you were almost sweating the humidity alongside the characters) but it didn't matter, because the story was gripping and original.

The Sixth Day
A beautifully written afterlife (and after the show) ficlet. This is the kind of ending that isn't an ending at all, but the next steps for Team Free Will 2.0, and it is gentle, and a little bit messed up, but simply perfect. All four lives are intertwined in this eternity, and the feeling of love and caring is strong - seriously, I envy a writer who can convey so much in so few words.

I'm having such a good time...

Just got back from Bohemian Rhapsody and I'm exhausted! I feel like I was just at Wembley and actually there for Live Aid instead of what really happened, watching it on telly in our living room back in 1985. I am also so, so grateful they didn't play the credits out with either The Show Must Go On or Who Wants to Live Forever, because I'm choked up enough as it is. Either of those two songs would have reduced me to an ugly sobbing mess.

Suffice it to say - if you like Queen's music even a little bit, this was frigging excellent. If you like Queen a lot you will LOVE this film.

I posted these in three separate posts so now I'm pulling all my recs together, with a last handful added into the mix as I'm catching up, and before reveals go live.

Apart from the fact my gift was fecking awesome, these are not in any order of preference and are a mix of art and fic. It's not the full sum of all the entries I loved either - but I could probably have listed 90% of them!

( Read more... )

I'll probably add a few more to this.

I'm really looking forward to finding out who did what!

Plus one non

spn_summergen rec as a bonus.

Title: Fledgling

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 7,700

Warnings: Child abuse and neglect, drug abuse

Summary: When four-year-old Emma arrives the Bunker, Sam wonders exactly what it is that Cas brought him—what he made without his soul.

This one charmed my cynical heart right out of my chest - such a lovely yet heartbreaking look at what fatherhood might be for a Winchester, and particularly for Sam. Ranging from initial terror to unconditional love. Simply lovely.

Title: Leaving Las Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Word Count or Media: 7806
Warnings: some language
Summary: It's a simple case of a cursed book in a haunted bookshop. Except for the part where Sam and Dean are trapped in Las Vegas, there's a super-powered ghost, a strange poem, and a possible serial killer. No, the case isn't simple at all.

I love a good case fic with an imaginative twist, and this fic delivers. It's got a great mix of humour and suspense, and a pretty unique ghost.

Title: Freeport, Illinois

Recipient: :

ammcj062

Rating: PG for language

Word Count: 9300

Warnings: none

Summary: June, 1998. John has left Sam and Dean in a small Illinois town while he is working. Two teenage boys, not much money, and time to kill…

This was such a perfect slice of pre season life, full of the richness of the brotherly relationship prior to Stanford, and just enough foreshadowing in Sam's POV to give it that edge. There's a great and vivid description of work behind the scenes in a busy diner, some classic banter between Sam and Dean, and a delightful day off for the boys, which made me smile so hard that the inevitable ending with John's return was all the more painful. All that without it being a bitter Sam hating John fic.

Title: [untitled]
Recipient:

brightly_lit
Rating: PG
Media: digital art
Warnings: none
Artist's notes: Hope you like it! I hope we do have a story (or two, or fifty!) out of this prompt! Should be fun to read and dwell in this world.
Summary: Prompt 3: Jack grew up as the younger brother of Sam and Dean--just a regular kid with profound powers trying to hide from his hunter family that he's the son of Lucifer.

A summery piece of art with great compostiion and colouring, and a really cute Jack right in the middle.

-----------------------------------------------------
Bonus rec which is very much NOT Gen!

Title: The Obituary Mambo
Author:

nigeltde
Word count: 9796
Summary: It’s called a near-death sex miasma, Sam, and it’s a beautiful thing.

Warning for scorching hot Wincest. This is a perfect mix of raw emotion and pure sex. Plus it has totally adorable grumpy Dean fussing over the mess folk are making of his bunker. The Winchesters are perfectly in character, the dialogue is snappy, funny and moving.

Geeze, I'm away with the fairies at the moment and completely forgot I hadn't updated my rec post for summergen with my own gift - which is freaking AWESOME. But then I thought, this is a Good Thing. Because this deserves a post to itself so here we go.

My gift is a twofer. Not only did I get a beautifully crafted fic, I got beautifully understated art too. It complements the story wonderfully, the colours are so soft and subtle, it's like a turtle dove, but with Winchesters in crisis included. Bonus!

Title: Sleeping With The Fishes
Recipient:amberdreams
Rating: PG-13
Word Count or Media: 4350 words; digital art
Warnings:[click]

Author's Notes: For the prompt “a slender boy with a handgun,
a fast car, a bottle of pills”, because Siken. A big shout-out to my beta, Q, who’s the best at slapping my metaphor-happy hand. And a very happy Summergen to my giftee, Amberdreams! Brothers being brothers with an extra helping of Dean angst ahoy!

So yes, this hits all my buttons. Plenty of angst, sparse and emotional, tugging at the heartstrings like a master harper. Set in season 7, around my fave parts with Hallucifer rampant and Dean trying to cope.

And here's a turtle dove. Now go check out the art and the fic.

So far I have, in no particular order:

Title: Scorched Earth

Warnings: Major character death, and then some.
Summary: Inspired by this prompt: "How do you mourn angelic genocide?"
This whole fic is imbued with sadness in the best possible way. Don't let the death tag put you off reading this!

Title: The Room Upstairs
Rating: Mature (see warnings)
Word Count or Media: 10.4k
Warnings: Violence, creepiness/grossness, implied/referenced noncon
Summary: Sam comes back from hell, but he’s inside-out and all wrong, and Dean can’t fix him.

Beautifully written, utterly emotionally gripping, sad but with a happy-ish ending - and a very satisying alternative to canon's offering of Souless Sam.

Title: Riptide

Rating: PG-13

Word Count or Media: 10k

Warnings: Canon-typical violence

Summary: Sam just wants to be a normal college student and normal college students go on spring break.

Of course, that’s when bodies begin washing up on the beach.

An engaging case fic, chock full of Stanford era angst. Kept firmly in Sam's POV, this gives us ominous foreshadowing for Brady's future role, Sam's burgeoning relationship with Jess, and a nice meaty conflict between Sam's hunting instincts and his desire to make his alternative 'normal' future work.

Title: Doppelganger
Rating: PG13 (bad language)
Word Count: 3707
Warnings: Massive spoilers for Season 13 – so please heed this! Some mentions of previous violence to major character.

No official summary with this one.

Set post Season 13, with Dean restored to himself - this fic is such a cool idea. I can't say too much without giving away the main plot point, but it's well written, totally had me conflicted about who to root for, and has an ending that is both sad and happy.

NB: These are the standouts for me so far, but that doesn't mean the rest of the offerings so far are no good! Go forth and check 'em all out for yourself.

Of course, I should be finishing my summergen, but Paul's got the footy on and I need some distraction from Ronaldo's sulking so...

'Road Trippin with Lucifer' || Supernatural Based Trailer from Vanessa Wais on Vimeo.

Now this has made me nostalgic for Seasons 4, 5 and 6. And a bit of 7 which I am nearly finishing re-watching.

Continuing my journey (because everythings a journey these days) through the colourful meadow of Springfling, have a few more recs.

(By the way, if your fic or work isn't in my rec list, it's not because I didn't like it. I've liked most of the contributions. It's just that here I'm only collecting ones that stood out for me in some way).

Magnet - a rather beautifully written J2 with the whole fic written from nineteen year old, son of a preacherman Jared's POV. Seeing him come to realise what he wants from life is compelling reading, and so, so satisfying.

Art - Historically Inaccurate Dinosaurs - so much cute in one picture should be illegal. Wee Sammy showing Dean how to make his dinosaur costume accurate is just - well. Wonderful. I know who you are, oh artist.

Go Wherever You Wanna Go - I almost didn't read this one because I'm not a fan of Charlie, but I'm glad I did. This takes Charlie into a situation where I could totally believe her sunny personality could work... with Billie as a Reaper. Sounds crazy, right? But this fic is the business and made me smile.

I haven't finished reading/checking out all the

spnspringflings but here's a few recs from what I've seen so far.

Tongue Twister - I have to lead with my gift, of course, which was just wonderfully lighthearted and fun, and full of Winchesters being brothers. I mean, what more could a girl want from an artwork?

The Redhead, the Raven Girl and the Boy - simply magical. A cynical, grieving Jensen finds healing in an unexpected place. The language of this one is beautiful. Nothing convoluted or fancy, but so descriptive and atmospheric. I admit, I wallowed in it, just a little.

The Amber of this Moment - such an insightful and heartbreaking look at Jack trying to fix everything and finding that sometimes, fixing isn't what is needed to make things right. Sometimes the struggle is necessary...

Glory Days - everything I could wish for as an ending for our boys. Sam closes up the bunker and armed with a special spell, drives out to find his Dean. Beautifully written and heartachingly good.

Art - The First Snowfall of the Year. An artist who is instantly recognisable, even without the usual gloriously saturated palette. Bloodied and battered Winchesters with smiles on their faces. Perfect.

(A)Stray - a simply fab J2, with fresh-faced college boy Jared and older, cynical Jensen who is utterly lost from the very first moment, even if he doesn't know it. So well done and in so few words.

upon the breathless starlit air - lyrical and poignant, Sam and Dean at the end of the world. It's one of those short fics that you wish was longer but is actually perfect the way it is.

Lead me to your door - dammit, this one made me sniffle. Nothing terrible happens in it apart from wasted opportunities for love. A really sweet and kind of heartbreaking J2 AU.

Can You Hear Me - this one's another J2 but with a difference - Jared's a character in a computer game, while Jensen's a lonely school kid, struggling with being bullied and being gay. Clever, creepy and romantic all at once.

Finally got to see Shape of Water yesterday - what an interesting and thoughtful film!

So many layers and things to think about, and the filming was beautifully done. The colours, the sets, the feeling of being in another era...And the characters were wonderful. I can't believe Sally Hawkins didn't win Best Actress? I'm sure if that had been a male part and someone like Tom Hanks had played a mute person as well as she did that critics would have been shouting from the rooftops about his performance. I haven't seen Three Billboards but I find it hard to believe anyone else could have been better than Sally.

But maybe I'm biased because I also loved her as Mrs Brown in Paddington LOL!

SPOILERS below
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( Read more... )

Unable to perceive the shape of You, I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love. It humbles my heart, for You are everywhere.

I see Mark Kermode (an outspoken and fun UK film reviewer) is convinced that Black Panther has a good chance at next year's Oscars. Let's hope so, hey? It's about time that genre got some recognition.

This is mesmerising...

Breathe // An 8K storm time-lapse film from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

Finally getting round to Day 3, which was to make 3 recs for fanworks. So very tough after some 10 years in fandom to narrow it down to only three! So this is, by necessity, a somewhat random selection, taken from my most recent bookmarks on AO3.

NB, just because they are my recent bookmarks doesn't mean they are all recent fics!!

1. Memory is a Fickle Siren Song by

sleepypercy.

Official summary: Sam’s trying to pretend he’s getting by, that he doesn’t feel guilty for walking out on his family to go to college, when Dean shows up with no memory of who he is or that they’re even brothers.

This was my gift in this year's snj2xmas exchange and beautifully combines at least three tropes that I love - amnesia, first times and Stanford era. It is sad, funny and the happy ending is only happy in the Winchester sense. I.e. kind of angsty! If you're still catching up on the fills over there, make sure you read this one!

2. Cartography of Empty Spaces by ignipes.

Official summary: "Nobody is looking," she tells him. "The world has already forgotten you."
This is a series, and most folk will probably have read these a long time ago, as they were written back in 2007. But I only discovered this author recently and so I'm busy catching up with her back catalogue. This particular set of stories features a Dean who is very damaged (torture and amnesia), and deals with both Sam and Dean coping with the aftermath of the trauma Dean's suffered. In some ways this is the post Hell scenario we never got from the show (without Dean actually having been to the Biblical version of Hell).

This writer is the author Kali Wallace, who has now published two novels. I've just started reading the first of these too, Shallow Graves. Thanks to

tsuki_no_bara for the heads up about these!

3. Mirror, Mirror by nomelon.

Another old one, from 2010, but it's so good... Official summary: A dark tale of the lengths Sam will go to to save Dean.

And that's pretty much it. Set in the gloriously angsty days of Season 3, it's an alternative view of Sam's efforts to save Dean from Hell, and has a lovely twist at the end. I do love me some dark Sam.

I feel now I should also do a separate art rec post - which reminds me, I was doing those a while back. Maybe I should revive them.

My hubby has been listening to this podcast series about imaginary worlds and the other night there was one about fanfiction. He now has a better understanding of what I've been doing for the last eight years or so! LOL!

Link to podcast - you can stream if you'd rather not download it. One of the women he's chatting to is a co-founder of AO3.

I love this, it fits beautifully for the beginning of the dying of the year.
Go leave the author some love, float over there like falling leaves. :D

Originally posted by

z_publicizes at Seasonal

Summary: Vaguely later seasons, Sam POV. Autumnal.

Rating: G

( Read more... )

Especially for all my women friends and fellow geeks of all sexual persuasions, there is never going to be a better time to post this gif.

My cousin and I went to see Hidden Figures today - which I'd highly recommend. It's inspirational - those women overcame so much to do great things - both institutionally embedded colour and gender bigotry - and it's shameful that they are only getting the recognition they deserve now. I couldn't believe that Katherine Goble Johnson had to wait until she was 97 to be publicly honoured. The film isn't preachy though, or (as far as I could see) oversentimentalised, and it had the ring of truth. I think they conflated events from the three women's lives for the sake of drama, but the essentials of the story are close to their real lives. The acting is so good, you beleive each and every one of them are real people. It's a good story, well told.

I mentioned this the other day but forgot to say why it was so, so good.
Here's one of the trailers to give you a taster, but it really doesn't do the film justice. It's so beautiful to look at, as well as full of gentle humour, pathos and emotion.

I admit, it took me a little while to adjust to the faces - they use a very angular, sharp-featured template for the human characters that I found a bit weird. But the stop animation is fantastic, the colours and visuals so engaging, and the story is absorbing. I loved the mixture of magic and real life, the fact that Kubo is basically his mother's carer and such a strong character that we have to be reminded occsaionally that he's only a little boy. The ending was both uplifting and heartbreaking, and it's well worth sitting through the credits to see the fabulous art work behind the constructions and creatures in the film itself.

Gah. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't go and see it again while it was on at our cinema.

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Blood will Flow

when flesh and steel are one

Entries tagged with recommendation

2021 Springfling recs - Part the First

Summergen 2019 rec post number 4

Summergen Recs 2019 part 3

Summergen rec post number 2

Summergen rec post 2019 number 1

Don't stop me now...

Summergen Recs 2018 - collation post

Summergen rec post number 2

Summergen rec post - my gift!

Summergen rec post number 1

Road trippin' procrastination

Springflinging! Recs! Part the Second.

Yay! Springflinging Rec Post!

The Shape of Water

Storms

Snowflake Day 3 - recs

Fanfic podcast - don't judge. :D

Seasonal

Celebrating International Women's Day

Kubo and the Two Strings