Writing From the Inside

You can read my review of the Supernatural episode “Phantom Traveler” at pinkraygun.com. Thank you!

An excerpt:

“Back in Bod’s office, the boys discuss that the stuff on the handle was sulphur (a very nasty mineral from Hell), and determine that the whole thing smacks of demons. They are leery because it’s their first time with demons and it’s not as straightforward as a salt-n-burn. They look durn cute, though, as they dither, ties undone, shirt collars unbuttoned, looking hot (in the literal sense), and just about ready to take those suits off. If they could hear me, I would tell them I could help them with that. (I’ve got a thing for English schoolboys, see, and this scene just about does me in. Sam looks like the good schoolboy, and Dean, you know, he’s the naughty one.)”

Pictures…(Click on the links to display beautiful, full-size pics. Click on thumbnails for smaller but still beautiful pics.)

Dean and Sam at the airport

Sam peeks out

Dean looks worried

Season of the Witch by vaingirlfic.

Slash.

Sequel to Outside by the Blue, Blue Moon and OH man. Dean’s got to put the peices back together after rescuing SammySamSam from this horrible spell that was put on him. Sam saves himself, see, but he’s in peices. He needs Dean. Dean puts Sam back together, and all’s well that ends well. Only it’s not perfect, right, but it’s good. Winchester good. Where everyone’s alive and that’s all that matters. More like this, please.

When It’s Twelve O’Clock We Climb the Stairs by cormallen.

Slash.

 I hate stories like this one, I really hate them. Stories that are about the time AFTER Dean dies because Sam can’t save him, that are so sad, they rip your guts out, and so creepy and unnerving, you’ll be seeing them on the back of your eyelids for days. In this one, Sam manages to concoct a spell to raise Dean from the dead. Of course, it’s not Dean, but it takes Sam the entire story to figure it out. I had to read the WHOLE thing to find out for sure too. It seems to me that this author owes me a sequel in which Sam figures out the REAL way to do it and brings Dean back for real. Oh man. Tissues please.

The Placement of Water and Lead by katjad.

Slash.

Reads like an ep. Has many good elements of a lot of good eps, the conflict between good and evil and the choices the boys have to make to decide what to do. The save at the end is a little easy (Dean guesses), but I enjoyed the ep-feel of this one, and the action scenes, which were well done. How Dean thinks is true and clear, like:

“Sometimes when Dean thinks things through, his gut tightens into a dense leaden ball and he understands things that he didn’t know before. He tried to explain the feeling to Sam, once, right after Sam first told him about the visions, but this is nothing like the visions. Sam’s visions are about things he couldn’t possibly know, that push into his mind uninvited; the lead in Dean’s gut is made up of the things he already knows coming together until they fit, until they make obvious what he almost knew before and couldn’t put his finger on.”

and

“”Sam! You’ve gotta unlock the door, I can’t get in ’til you do,” he says, keeps repeating something on the same theme until it gets through to Sam and the bolt turns in the lock. Sam’s on the floor, fingers tangled in his hair, clutching at his skull and rocking. Dean pulls him out of the tiny, porcelain-hard bathroom, and into the room, onto the carpet, but the vision just won’t end; he’s practically howling now, and Dean stops thinking entirely and pulls Sam into his arms and close.”

and especially

“Since he was six years old Dean has catalogued every room he’s entered for exits, cover and weapons the moment he entered it, and this room is no different. He has the image of the whole place in his mind instantly. The bed’s the only cover, and Sam’s got his gun. The rest of the guns are under the front of the bed, out of reach. His knife is on his belt, which is somewhere on Sam’s side of the bed, near the bathroom. There’s only one door to the outside, which is on Dean’s side of the room, but he’d never make it the ten feet between here and the door without giving Sam a clear line of sight.”
  

Untitled by unintended muse.

Gen.

Families are a wonderful thing. This story, sweet as can be, shows us the Winchesters actually going to one of Sam’s soccer games, and THEN to Chuck E. Cheese’s afterwards. Can you imainge such a thing? I can’t. But it was especially gratifying to see them expressing love and not just arguing all the time. To watch Sam win at that dumb rifle game. I’ll bet he got tons of tickets, just tons.

Fault Lines by jewels 667 and Emptying the Bowl by angstslashhope.

Slash.

These two are a pair of stories, the second of which is a remix of the first. Near as I can figure it, a remix takes the first story and gives it a spin. The second story could be a retelling of the first from a different point of view, or it could be a continuation of the story, or whatever. Like SPN makes a writer want to write, a good story will make another writer want to keep that story going. Near as I can figure.

In this case, the first writer creates a Dean-character story, marked by fine writing like:

“Plates shift with the click of the door latch and Sam’s affect is defined by his absence, like a fissure opened up beneath Dean’s feet; he’s been tumbling downward ever since. ”
 

What works in this story is the almost abstract description, where there are fragments of ideas against other fragments, and all of it assembles itself together to paint a picture of a very lonely Dean. The remix takes this idea and spins it. They’re lovely.

“Dean likes the baser things in life. His body’s never quite fit him right, like his skin’s a tectonic jigsaw, constantly shifting and threatening to crack open. Sam’s mouth soothes and stills. Binds the edges together, like the scratch marks down Dean’s back are seams, like Sam’s saliva is blood.”
 

Unaplogetic by fig jam.

Slash.

I must be getting somewhere with all these fics, cause I came across another fic I’d read some time back and remembered liking. The plot is straightforward, Dean and Sam on the road, they stop at a truck stop that is actually a nest of succubi waiting for weary travellers. Dean is bitten, and the rest of the story follows suit. Succubi bites make you want to have sex, apparently, and Sam is struggling between trying to fight Dean off, or just giving in, becuase one of these choices is going to hurt less than the other.

This thought makes me shake my head. What kind of life do these boys lead if choices are judged based on how much they will NOT hurt you, rather than on how good they might be for you?

Some memorable lines, including:

“The people who said that you could never go home again hadn’t grown up with Sam. Sam went home with every cheap hotel room that reeked of sulfur, gun oil, scotch. Sam went home every time he picked up a gun and was struck by the memory of his father’s hands steadying his own, bracing him for the kick of the rifle that would leave bruises. Sam went home every time he turned on the television and was left with muted infomercials or the steady pattern of a network gone off the air. That had been his nightlight; the shadow of his father sitting by the door, watching, armed, had been his comfort.

Sam used to wonder why his father never slept. He knew now. ”

and

“Dad would’ve turned around. Then again, Dad would been at the bottom of a bottle by now. Dean didn’t have the luxury of alcohol-fueled reason. One of them needed to be clearheaded.” 

and

“Sam had been out of the business for four years. He wasn’t used to fighting anymore. He hadn’t slept.

Dean hadn’t. Dean was. Dean had.”

Factum Amoris by Lenore.

Slash.

I read this one a while back, when I had just started reading fanfic for SPN, to see if I could see what it was all about. At the time, I hadn’t liked the story, thought the premise of an enchanted sod house that trapped kids to sacrifice them for the harvest was a bit stretching it. Then, after reading many, many fics, I realized the theme of “we have to do it to save you/me/each other” was quite common. To shorten that title, I’ll call it the sex to save theme. Not badly done here, and their reactions after seem sane in that they realize that it’s not quite right what they’re doing.

Written on the Body by Traveller.

Gen.

Found another one by traveller. A character study of Dean that’s not a story, but contains some nice ideas. One is the last birthday party he remembers, from when he was four. Such a sad little memory, and he’s got nothing else. No other birthday parties. Then he starts marking birthdays in other ways, like by getting a tatoo. And the argument he has with his Dad over Sam almost getting a tatoo was pretty good too.

You can read my review of the Supernatural episode “Faith” at pinkraygun.com. Thank you!

An excerpt:

“Sam is lovely in this scene, really. I think I owe the wardrobe and makeup guy a kiss. Sam is in tattered blue jeans and that rough-edged sweater over a t-shirt, looking young and alone. He’s chewing on his nails, his hair doesn’t look like he’s washed it in days. His face looks like it’s hot and his eyes are glossy like he’s been crying not long since and might give in to it again, but he won’t, cause he’s gotta help Dean. Oh, Sam. Poor Sam. Never have I seen this boy so downhearted. It’s not a case that can be solved, or an object that can be destroyed to save the day. No, his brother is dying, and Sam is desperate.”

Pictures…(Click on the links to display beautiful, full-size pics. Click on thumbnails for smaller but still beautiful pics.)

Sam wants Dean to be well

Beatiful Dean

Sam and Dean watch faith healer