Maygra brings the creepy more than a lot of authors in the Supernatural fandom, and it never fails to make me happy. This is a little less on the creepy side than on the oh hey that’s cool side.

Reminders of Echoes

The Winchester version of a happy ending after they get the demon. This is gen but it could just as easily be labeled non-explicit slash. Such a lovely story, good characterization, interesting, well detailed.

the only people for me are the mad ones

Light on the slash and heavier on the introspection. This is a post-Devil’s Trap story with an angsty, lightly written touch.

and feel what it’s like to be new

This is cool. Toby and Leo on the campaign when Bartlett first runs. I like this because we see how Leo gets Josh on the campaign, and we see how Josh gets Sam and how Donna gets herself, and even how Toby gets CJ, but we never see Leo recruiting Toby so this is some good backstory. The voices are, if maybe not absolutely pitch perfect 100% of the time, pretty damned close. There are a lot of lines that I can just hear Leo saying and that is never a bad feeling.

Playing the Game

These characters are so hard to get right and I’m always left with this incredibly pleased feeling when an authors just gets them. Written for the prompt: Wilson takes House home for dinner with the parents., there are some really fabulous lines in this, and the banter, like everything else, is spot on.

Maui Gold

Niz4 has a solid Dean voice and weaves the perfect amount of meta into her stories.

“I don’t know Sam…” And he can hear it in your voice – didn’t mean for it to sound so bleak – it makes him turn to watch your face. “Sometimes I feel like the fight is already lost, the rest of the employees got their pink slips, and we just never got the memo…”

The World So High

I love that this is a fandom that gives good gen fic, This is exciting and well told, and Sam and Dean’s voices are spot on. There’s fantastic banter and a spooky bad guy and some really cool spell mythology.

Crossing the Line

The boys take a trip to India with Jeff. Quiet and atmospheric; beautifully written, evocative and real.

smarana

Dean gets cursed and turned into a seven year old kid. The author calls this crack!fic, and the premise totally is, but this is a surprisingly insightful and complex story for a premise as potentially one-dimensional as some writers may have made it. Emily Brunson is in no way shape or form that writer. We all wonder about exactly what Papa Winchester was teaching Dean when he was growing up and this story goes into that in some really interesting ways. Sam is amazing, sympathetic and perfect in the situation because this opens his eyes up to so many things about how Dean must have grown up (something he sure as hell never thought about from Dean’s perspective ever before.) Plus, Dean is pretty much the most adorable thing on the block no matter how old he is, and at seven I just want to pinch his cheeks and play flashlight tag with him until Sam comes to feed him dinner and glare at me like the over-protective brother he is.

Under a Haystack

I love a good, solid gen fic and this is a great one. I especially love this because Lyra gives Dean superpowers and who the hell could resist pyro!Dean? note: I’ve linked to part 2 because there’s a link to part 1 from there.

Works in Mysterious Ways

This isn’t a crossover per se but it takes some elements from Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and puts them to very cool use. This is a really neat story.

Sever, Mirror, and Mend

This is such a fantastic story. Dean and Sam go up against a colony of faeries and it’s just, so, so good. Also the last line? Cracked my shit up so much. The dialogue in this is especially good.

Bargains

Sometimes, the fact that in her funny stories Pru makes all of her characters talk like teenagers annoys me and sometimes it makes me laugh. But the thing is, her stories are always, always entertaining no matter which feeling they inspire.

The Fine and Subtle Art of Cardiology

I really like this story. Rodney gets to be the hero for once.

The Hero Thing

I really love this tv show, and I like the idea of fic because the show is so slashy, but I’ve only sort of dabbled in the fic reading aspect, partially because I think these characters are all so defined that like The West Wing, it’s often hard to find good fic. This story is one of those good ones though.

All the Effects of Intoxication

This one is pretty short, but it’s definitely worth reading. In a fandom where the canon character’s voices are so distinct, and thus, harder for authors to capture, Michelle K. does a great job with them. As the title implies the story is about Will settling into his place in the West Wing, and the way this author writes, it feels like it could have actually taken place, between one show or another.

Settling In

I have to admit I’m a sucker for these stories. They’re an interesting challenge, 5 AUs in one go, and this story is no exception. Julian Lee has a really solid grasp on Danny’s character, and it’s really nice to see him fleshed out a bit more. Make sure to read the subject lines of each part because they really tie the stories together.

Five Stories Never Filed by Danny Concannon

Spoilers for Season 6, Episode 2: The Birnam Woods This episode killed me a little bit. Leo has always been at the heart of the West Wing, whether we saw it or not, and well, I guess I feel like this is how the episode should have been shot. (Or maybe I just think that this is what happened and we didn’t get to see it.) It’s hard for me to explain this story actually. It’s brilliant, and absolutely heartbreaking. Seriously, it gave me shivers.

The Things You’l Never Say

Spoilers for mid season 6! This is set during the campaign, and it’s beautifully detailed in all the right ways. The author gives voice to Josh incredibly well. And the story is about Josh coming to grips with the important things, and dealing with his decision to stand by Matt Santos during the frustrating parts of the campaign as well as the parts he knew he was signing up for.

Live Free or Die

Pretty good, but I don’t feel like they really nailed Josh and Sam’s voices. Never the less it’s worth a read.

Boys of Summer