SPN J2 Big Bang 2011 Part III

[facetofcathy]

Unique by claudiapriscus

Gen - SPN/Dexter crossover - Not Rated - 32,000 words.

On LJ only in multiple parts, not in site scheme. I found it readable as it came, but some parts are very short and the LJ issues kept pages from loading very well.

I'm cheating a bit! This is from one of the two (?!) crossover big bangs posting in the SPN fandom right now. I saw this talked up on the anon meme fic discussion post, and decided to have a go.

I have never watched Dexter, but a quick boo at the Wikipedia page gave me all the heads up on characters I needed. I think you could easily do without that step as long as you know that Dexter is a serial killer who works for the Miami Police as a blood spatter analyst.

I really enjoyed this story. It starts out in Dexter's 1^st person POV and he's just met "Agent Young" of the FBI who's investigating some strange murders in Miami. He thinks this FBI agent is interesting, and he does some digging and discovers Dean Winchester, the FBI's most wanted serial killer. Meanwhile Sam has to team up with Castiel to investigate when Dean goes missing.

The switch to 3^rd person for the Sam POV parts worked well, and the story has good pacing and enjoyable canonesque takes on all the characters (season 5 SPN with a properly cranky and busy Castiel--no dew-eyed woobie here). It's an interesting story, that does a good job of the "civilian" view of Sam and Dean and their lives. There's a hell of a cameo by a sex worker and lots of other women courtesy of Dexter's cast.

But, and it's a big but, this fic really needs a proper final edit. It's very rough in a couple of parts with spacing errors, missing words, missing line breaks, and some confusing moments are caused by same. I thought it was worth it for the good characterization and briskly moving plot. Many Dexter fans have praised this as well.


Scav Hunt by zuben_eschamali

Jared/Jensen - R - 23,000 words

In multiple parts on LJ, not in site scheme. Links to a PDF version with art included.

This is fluff, intended to be, executed well and fun to read. Set amidst a scavenger hunt at the University of Chicago. The setting is obviously one the author knows well and the detail level added a lot to the story and very occasionally was a little opaque.

I like the relationship, prickly but with a kind of underlying goodness in both characters that you can see why they like each other and why they would want to be together. Plays up to the first snuggle on a sofa, nothing deep relationship-wise.

One deeply annoying thing was a misrepresentation of the nature of the way men who have sex with men are banned from blood donation. Irritating, but I'm taking it as a misunderstanding of the somewhat coyly worded rules on official sites, not intent to gloss over that, like that one other fic that infuriates me that need not be gone into now.

A couple of interesting female OCs who are interested in the scavenger hunt, not Jared and Jensen getting together. A couple of fairly predictable male OCs, all nice people and inoffensive.

This is not a main course, but a nice sweet treat that is a fast and easy read.


Under a Vast Sky (31893 words) by harrigan

Under a Vast Sky by harrigan

Gen with a hint of Jared/Jensen - 32,000 words - General Audiences

I won't quibble the rating, but this story deals with the historical reality of WWII, the persecution and genocide of Jewish people and Poles, as well as the imprisonment and ultimate unlawful execution of Allied POWs. There are also themes of the closetting of Jewish identity by survivors. The story also opens and closes in the present day which makes it technically require the character death label.

At the AO3, so available in all formats for download and in LJ in multiple parts in site scheme.

This is a true fusion fic. By that I mean the secondary source, in this case The Great Escape, is not merely retold with new faces, but the characters are placed in that world. Jarek Podlacki is the Polish tunnel builder from the film and Lt. Jensen is the Norwegian reinterpretation of the Steve McQueen character.

In creating the fusion, the author has de-Americanized the film, thereby returning the story to something closer to its historical reality. This story is not the film plot, although those events are recounted in a way that personalizes the story to one perspective, but never forgets how many other people (real actual people, let's not ever forget) suffered, triumphed and failed along side the character of Jarek. This story is Jarek after the war, trying to live in an England that wants to keep the jobs for the English and to send the Poles "back where they came from". Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

This is also correctly listed as Gen. There's a bare hint of J2, but don't go in expecting romance.

The story has the quality of a film, not The Great Escape particularly, more the melancholy post-war films from England that never made a meal of the horrors everyone had seen or perpetrated or was living with, but you knew it was there all the same. Somehow this kind of story seems more genuinely respectful and aware of how real that legacy is, where X-Men FC thought they needed to try to make one of our greatest failures of humanity somehow worse and Dramatic! both.

The kid, oh, yes, this is kid fic too, is plucky in that way of kids in English films. She could pick up her stuffed bear and stride off through Narnia and fit right in.

Anyway, this is a nearly unique thing, a really interesting take on the idea of a fusion, a deeply moving story, an excellent character study that remains pretty damn in character for Jared Padalecki, and the proof that yes, you can write fanfic about these kinds of things. I think this fic is the one I'll remember when this Big Bang is long over. I've seen at least one review that said it was too much recounting of the film plot and not detailed enough. I think that's a question of how much you like to fill in the spaces, but I also am predisposed to like this subject matter when it is presented this way, so, caveat lector.