Eden

I have literally one rec, this Friday, and it's an SPN fanart.

Supernatural

Weak and Powerless, by tehluv
Characters: Dean, Castiel
Rating: SFW
Notes: Lovely and moody.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting my au_bigbang fic. In honour of that, considering it involves a character who can't speak, I'm going to rec some of my favourite Supernatural fics involving some kind of disability. My spn_j2_bigbang fic will also involve blindness, so this will remain topical.

If you know of any other good ones -- any pairing or none! -- let me know. I'm suffering from a lack of gen, considering both my Big Bangs are gen.

Unsaid, by [as yet unknown author]
Relevance: Dean is deaf, Castiel is mute.
Characters/Pairing: Dean, Castiel, Sam, assorted cast (Dean/Castiel
Teaser:
They make a good pair, the deaf boy and the mute angel.
At least, that’s what Dean figures the people in charge of the orphanage thought when they stuck them in the same room. Not that anyone knows Cas is an angel. Not like anyone would believe that.
Notes: This is a sweet AU. Not as totally AU as I thought, actually, but quite. There's no magical healing at all, just dealing with it.

My Eyes Are An Ocean, by entangled_now
Relevance: Dean is blind.
Characters/Pairing: Dean, Castiel, Sam, Bobby (Dean/Castiel)
Rating: NC17
Teaser:
Dean can't tell what time it is, or if it's daylight, he can't tell if it's cloudy, or raining, or hell even if the curtains are open.
But he does know one thing.
The world smells like breakfast.
Which is a pretty good start.
Notes: This fic deals with the fact that there's magic and angels and a hope of healing by making it a trade. It doesn't come easy. It reminds me of the gods' interventions in the Fionavar Tapestry, somehow -- earned, not a gift. I don't like the sequel as much because, for me, it takes away some of that. But this is gorgeous. Love, and sacrifice, and hope.

Unsuffer Me, by [as yet unknown author]
Relevance: Dean is deaf, scarred, and apparently mute.
Characters/Pairing: Dean, Sam, Bobby, Castiel (Dean/Castiel)
Rating: NC17
Teaser:
After the end of the world I just wanted to rest and chill out, not to re-build my life from scratch around the fact that I can’t hear shit and that I look like the fucking phantom of the Opera.
Notes: This was written especially for me, and it's so awesome. It covers a long healing process, both of Dean's own body and his relationships to other people. There's magic, an acknowledgement of the potential for that kind of healing, but it's thwarted and things don't quite work out the ideal way. Which is the way life works.

You can now read my fic here!

Not a lot I want to rec now -- all fic, all Supernatural.

Through Dooms of Love, by ladytelemachus
Characters: Dean, Castiel, Claire (Dean/Castiel)
Rating: PG
Teaser: It’s the car she recognises first, when she comes out of her Civil War seminar with a stack of books clutched against her ribs. It’s still sleek and black and devilish, and she remembers the waxy feel of the seats and the tremble of the engine from a night years ago. It stops her in her tracks and taps insistently at the brave face she’s been keeping together for twelve years.
Notes: Now I want more fic with Claire...

Calling Dibs, Fulcrum, and Not Normal (So What Else Is New?), by scaramouche
Pairing: Sam/Dean/Castiel
Rating: NC17
Teaser: A part of Dean will never get over the fact that Sam got to have Cas first. After all, Dean’s the one who found Cas – who was found by Cas – first. Dean has Cas’ first smile, first drink, first drop of freely-offered blood, so in the selfish part of Dean’s heart that isn’t content with the fact that Cas turned his back on all of Heaven for him, he wishes it was he who gave Cas his first orgasm.

Boys Like They're Girls, Girls Like They're Boys, by ciaan
Pairing: Sam/Jess
Rating: NC17
Teaser: "Better get started then, or I might think you're all talk."
Notes: Sam, Jess, and pegging. I read most of the Sam/Jess that comes my way, and it's good to see something like this, too.

Recs again! I didn't think it'd been so long, but I've got quite the list of del.icio.us bookmarks since then, so here we go.

Fandoms for the fic recs: Supernatural.
Fandoms for the art recs: Final Fantasy, Good Omens, Merlin, Supernatural.

( Fic: Supernatural )

( Art: Final Fantasy, Good Omens, Merlin, Supernatural )

So, bottle_of_shine is hosting another cat herding book reading challenge! This time we're to pick books we've read in the last couple of years -- and only five books! I'm assuming we're allowed to read older books that we only just got our hands on, otherwise my list would be quite limited... Anyway! Each book title links to my full review of the book, while the bits in this entry are me looking back with my rose-tinted glasses on.

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke.
I finished this one really recently, so it's fresh in my mind. It's a great thick brick of a novel, 1000 pages in the edition I have, and it combines the realist style of the Victorian period with fantasy! If you like Jane Austen (I don't) you might be pleased/interested to know that the style is a pastiche of her work. Which makes it pretty heavy going, but I ended up loving it a lot. You definitely have to give it a chance, and be prepared to roll with the meandering, slow plot, but I got to the end and wanted more. Good(?) news: there will probably be a movie (says IMDB) and a sequel may be in the works.

2. The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell.
This book is a really, really hard one. Not in terms of the writing, but emotionally, it packs a punch. It's science fiction, in a way, but it also focuses on the philosophy of religion and questions of faith. Sometimes the characters can be a little like cardboard cutouts, but there are some characters -- particularly the main one -- who stick in my head and won't get out. There is a sequel, but this one stands alone and doesn't need the sequel, I think. (My review of the sequel is here if you want to find out about it, though.)

3. Un Lun Dun, by China Miéville.
This one's lighter and easier to read than the previous two -- I think I read it in a single evening. It has loads of cute ideas (a living milk carton named Curdle! ninja bins!) and is just generally quirky and much easier to read than China Miéville's other stuff (e.g. Perdido Street Station, which almost made this list). I've given copies to several people who ended up loving it. Fun light reading! And Curdle. Read the book for Curdle, or he'll cry.

4. The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman.
I'm a total Gaiman fan, although it seems like quite a few of my friends just can't get on with his writing. This one is pretty light, as fantasy books go, too. It's The Jungle Book, sort of, but in a graveyard. The characters are amusing and occasionally amazing, and I just love the idea of a boy being raised by ghosts and a vampire. It is also well worth listening to him read it aloud here (for free!).

5. The Shining, by Stephen King.
This time last year, I wouldn't even have considered reading Stephen King. Now I've become very much a fan, so much so that this list wouldn't really feel right without me putting one of his books on it. I think a lot of people dismiss his writing because it's popular and he's a bestseller, etc, etc. His writing may not be that complex, it might not have those slick little touches of a really intellectual novel, but his writing works and is readable and absorbing, and he writes about real feelings and characters who could be real. What he makes up are the situations he puts them into. The Shining is a bit creepy, and quite a bit sad. If you haven't tried any Stephen King on the grounds that he's a talentless hack (I point fingers at my mother), I suggest you do try. Some of his books are definite 'misses' (I wouldn't recommend Bag of Bones to a new fan, for example) but sometimes he does really good things with characters and the situations he puts them into.

You guys, this was such a hard list to make. I feel sure all the books I left out are crying.

Last time, del.icio.us spazzed on me a bit and didn't show all the fics I'd bookmarked to rec. Being somewhat in pain at the time (first day of trying to get healthier by cycling a lot: owww, my butt), I didn't realise. So you can have them (and some newer ones) now. :D As ever, if you watch my del.icio.us or talk to me a lot, you've probably seen them. You might even have saved the bookmark originally only for me to steal it shamelessly. XD

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Time for some more recs, since I have plenty saved in my del.icio.us account. xD As ever, if we talk on IM often, share the same general flist content, or you watch my del.icio.us, you've seen all these before. Check the tags to see what fandoms/pairings I've recced this time. :D

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Taking a break from FFIII (for which I will have a review later, because I want to get down my thoughts about it) to bring you some recs, since I've been organising my bookmarks into my del.icio.us account. Some of these I've no doubt recced before, but it doesn't hurt to do it again.

I have no idea why most of these are smutfic, but I suppose it's because a good smutfic is a real gem and thus are the ones that I bookmarked in the past. The little teasers are, because of this, not entirely worksafe. My notes on each fic are in places not very useful/coherent, but basically, I suggest you read these fics!

( Fic )

( Art )