spnlittlebro

Welcome to the spn_littlebro newsletter #4 for late July 2011

Did you know that our

spn_littlebro team is deliberately made up of fans who are drawn to a variety of flavors of hurt!Jared and hurt!Sam? Like Siskel and Ebert... some of us may match your tastes closely and others, not so much. We don't even agree with each other all the time - LOL! But we hope someone on our team has tastes close to yours, so that every issue of the newsletter will suggest something you will love!

Thank you to everyone who participated in on our recent How're We Doing poll. Your feedback was very helpful in making sure we're meeting your needs and in planning some fun ways we can evolve. Stay tuned!

Right now we're also in the middle of soliciting recs in the theme of Illness! to stock our shelves. So don't forget to come here! to share your favorite hurt!Jared or hurt!Sam fics that involve hospitalization, fever, food poisoning, withdrawal, poisoning, intubation, coma, chronic illness, migraines etc. As always, ★ hurt!Sam or hurt!Jared ★ fic recs (including your own) are still welcome in any of our themes at any time.

Fevered Ramblings:

Here's a handful of things your

spn_littlebro team is raving about right now. (And if you like them as much as we do, don't forget to comment to the person who created it!)

Who's Hurting Sam or Jared Lately?

ash48 says Dangerous Waters by virtualpersonal and brimstonegold is "a promising looking wip. These gals are good at completing their stories so I'd say it's safe to start. So far the story features hurt!Dean and hurt!Sam - though it looks like Sam is in for a rough time ahead. Also.... pirates! \o / Knowing these girls it should be a good, lengthy, detailed and entertaining read. We shall see..."

dontknowmyname has another 2011 spn_j2_bigbang to celebrate with us. It's Hearthstone by mollyamory with art by lamapan: J2AU, 42K, rated R. She says about reading this story: "I love how this story is written. The art is what got me to give the story a chance, and I'm glad I read it. Jared is this strong character who seems like he doesn't let anything get him down and keep him down. He's so focused on other people. The hurt!Jared is scattered but it's not a focus of the story. There's this gradual build up to some awesome hurt!Jared, and when it happens, it's made all the more sweet because you had to wait. You'll definitely want to hug him." She adds, "There are mentions of past physical abuse, and hurt!Jensen seems to be the focus throughout. I honestly don't read hurt!Jensen ever, but this one's worth it! Jensen's not the damsel in distress, and I promise the hurt!Jared parts are worth it.." It's also available in eReader formats!

cherry916 has a couple great finds!
- Broken by rozabellalove is 5K of RPS AU J2 with Jared abused and beaten, and Jensen is the ER doctor who gets him to open up. cherry916 says: "I just love the classic knight in shining armor fics where Jensen saves Jared from abuse. I don't know, I may be addicted but I find it intriguing when someone can write an abuse victim who isn't weak at all which she does fabulously. And who can not love Dr. Jensen in this? He's so adorable!"
- Wish Fulfilled by sammygirl1963 is being posted on ff.net and cherry916 says: "This is a WIP of a de-aged Sammy! He's so cute in this and Dean and John are even cuter when taking care of suddenly 2-year-old Sam."
ash48 also wants to point out this new bottom!Jared Fanworks Fest. It's not necessarily hurt!Jared -- but fics certainly can be if you go prompt for them (or write them that way)!

Featured Fic Recs (classics from the past and other treasures):

vail_kagami has another Blast from the Past that can be considered a classic! Second Sight series by maygra is a blind!Sam 'verse where he still has visions. Most of the stories are gen, some are slash (and clearly marked) and some she has provided both versions to the same story! vail_kagami says: "It's one of my all time favourites - it's just that beautiful. AU from the end of season 1: Sam killed the yellow eyed demon without killing his dad, but he's cursed to be blind ever since, only seeing the death of those he cares about in his visions. However, he's able to prevent those deaths he sees - but always at a cost. If he stops it, others die. If he doesn't stop it, he experiences them dying as it it was himself. Dean and Sam stop hunting. They each get jobs, get friends and a life. Sam is fragile yet strong in this, Dean is protective and supportive, and their life just... goes on. There is no overall plot to this 'verse. No greater danger to fight nor a greater goal to achieve. It's just Sam and Dean, growing old together. The stories are hearbreaking at times, but always warm, calm, and full of love." She also points out: "The link above goes to the author's website. If you want to comment, the 'comment' option at the bottom of each fic takes you to the story at various lifejournals. There's a tag for the fic at the journal given above, but it only includes the latest three installments. However, two of those three fics are not in the masterpost I linked to above, so it's worth checking out."

harrigan suggests that if you like sick!Sam, you won't want to miss this gen classic: When You Put Your Arms Around Me by the inimitable kroki_refur. Written back in the spring of 2007, 15-20K, the author warns for pretty much gratuitous Sam whumpage and Dean angst. harrigan says: "Does that make me sound shallow when I confess it's one of my ♥ all-time favorite ♥ Sam h/c fics? But there's an ingenious twist to this plot that makes it a really awesome wallow! And the narrator voice in her fic is always amazing."

harrigan and mlebayre are each huge fans of the fics by eighth_horizon aka gekizetsu whose Supernatural fic is found here. Here's a sample SPN gen treasure from each reccer:
- Specific Relativity is 11K words long and is SPN gen, but AU - Sam's psychic powers kicked in when he was about 12 and his mental development came screeching to a halt. Now Sam's 25, 6'4" or more - and just a big, vulnerable kid inside. They still hunt, because they're Winchesters, and Sam tries to help. harrigan says: "I just... get all flaily when I try to describe it. It's a horror casefic, but it's the author's characterizations that are mind-blowingly awesome. Her protective big brother Dean is incredible: he tries so damn hard to keep Sammy safe and happy, but he can't always, because there's something freakish going on in Sam's brain..."
- Unspoken is 9K of SPN gen written for a prompt and summarized as "Sam-whumpage, but no big guilt trips, no Winchesters-as-damsels-in-distress, no total incapacitation." mlebayre really loves the writing of gekizetsu; she writes the brotherly banter so well. It's a fun case!fic with a hurt!Sam who's suffering from a kind of trauma we haven't seen done in this fandom before!

Other Media:

art: harrigan found an amazing gem this time: 'Fix you' by quickreaver on LJ here or on deviantART here. There's *hellfire* reflecting in the tears shimmering in Sam's eyes!

art: cherry916 has a fondness for wee!Sam in distress, and she says Stand back Sammy by pandaslove on deviantArt "is just too adorably cute. Look at little Dean protecting Sammy and Sammy hugging Dean's back. Too cute!"

music videos: varkelton is raving about the music vid Kyrie by giandujakiss. She says: "One of the best Sam vids of all time. This is a must see vid for Sam lovers everywhere. The song, Mr. Mister's Kyrie is perfect, and giandujakiss is a master vidder. Includes all of the best hurt Sam scenes of the first few seasons."

audiobook/podfic: Last issue our podfic rec was a short one, so this issue, how about one that runs over 8 hours? The story is When Heroes Go Down (They Go Down Fast) by buffyaddict13. The summary says: "The war is at hand. it’s demon against man and we’re losing the fight. The special children are wreaking havoc across the land, side by side with demons. Dean is on a desperate hunt to find and save his brother while leading a small band of survivors to a final showdown." harrigan says: "It's over 90K words, and so full of hurt!Sam, I don't know where to begin. He's broken physically, mentally, emotionally. He can't be trusted. But he's still Dean's brother, and that counts for everything! It's hard to believe this was written back in 2007, so it's AU now (SPN gen, rated PG13.) The mp3 podfic is here, the m4b audiobook is here. Read by emeraldsedai aka darkemeralds, and she does an amazing job!"

audiobook/podfic: Specific Relativity on mp3, rec'd in the Featured Fic Recs above, is read perfectly by luvplatinumbaby. harrigan says this is another one she can't listen to while driving a car, it's too emotionally gripping... a little over an hour of audio casefic suspense, cuddling and heartbreak. (Not necessarily in that order *g*!)

eBooks, etc.: Shipwrecked by the Laughter of the Gods by cyndrarae is a 2008 spn_j2_bigbang fic that's available in RTF version at eBook Library (Fanfiction on the run) here. It's a J2AU, NC17, 36K hooker!fic rec'd by harrigan who says "it's full of plot! And smart characters! One of whom has a permanent disability of mysterious origin. Any guesses who?"

eBooks, etc.: See also Hearthstone, rec'd in Who's Hurting Sam or Jared Lately, above.

How Are We Doing? During our call for Injury fic recs, we boosted our stack on that library shelf to *91*! Psychological Trauma wrapped up that theme fortnight and has now taken over the lead at *97*. Illness had only 19 when we started our latest theme. How many sick!Sam or sick!Jared fics do you think we can add in two weeks? I bet you've read some you could add to our archives here, right?

What Else?

Tips for using spn_littlebro: Do you have a favorite hurt!Sam or hurt!Jared theme? You can scroll through the theme comments every now and then, and/or check our Archive of Hurt on delicious whenever you like... but you could also track your favorite theme and get an immediate email or other alert whenever someone posts a rec there! Have you seen this little toolbar at the top of those theme pages?

Just go to the theme of your choice, click the little pushpin, and fill in the appropriate check boxes. For example, "Notify me when... someone comments on Theme:Illness on

spn_littlebro" and then check delivery method = email (or your method of choice)! You can do the same thing if you want to be alerted when new community members introduce themselves on the welcome meme, etc.

Finally, we'd like everyone to be aware of the multi-fandom

stop_plagiarism community. If you ever find a story that appears to be plagiarized from another author, they're there to help.