spn_summergen Rec Roundup

PSA to all spn_summergen participants: THANK YOU, so much, for all of the creative work and spirit you put into this summer's challenge. I think it can be hard to be anonymous (though I prefer it, haha), especially for a challenge that runs so long. Because even though a piece is yours, you can't quite claim it, have that space between finishing it and it being posted to drift away from it. So I wanted you to know that I loved everything I read, all the art and vids I saw, the interactive text games I played.

Every time I opened up a tab to read/view and comment, you had my full and complete attention.

You were my first priority. If I only had time to do one thing in fandom on any given day, I wanted to make sure that it was you.

I value so much the time you give, the effort each and every one of you put into your gifts, and the amazing, thoughtful, artistic, expansive, multivalent and many-faceted life you bring to this challenge, to Hellatus, and to fandom. <333

Thank you to all of the pinch-hitters, especially to amberdreams who heroically pinch-hit multiple times! And to quickreaver, tifaching, and elwarre for indomitable modliness.

And thank you to all the people who betaed works, cheerled their flists, advertised the challenge, recced works, and especially those who commented (especially frozen_delight and madebyme_x, who were so very dedicated about getting to see everything, all the way to the very end!) Y'all had such lovely, positive, emotive, and attentive things to say, and again, especially with anon challenges, I feel like that is such a vital part of building the conversation that fandom is, and making it feel like home, and making things like spn_summergen really shine.

Beyond the cut, I'd like to round up all of my personal recs for this year's round, all of which are first-class, but are only a sampling of what should be on this list, probably. There are so many more things I'd like to rec. frozen_delight also has a fantastic rec post with even more delightful goodies!

But if I'm going to be honest? The #1 rec list you should be checking out? The masterlist for the WHOLE challenge! 8D


[VID] We Make Our Own Future by justmep2
Midnight. A bloodied, battered, and stricken MoC Dean stands at a crossroads. What deal is he making, and will anyone take him up on it?
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] The Piper's Calling You to Join Him by gluisa88
The year Sam spent in Texas could have gone an entirely different way. Sometimes imaginary!Dean is better than no Dean at all.
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Finding Linda Tran by the_ladykiki
A day (or more) in the Un-life of a Prophet of the Lord. At some point, those are actually supposed to get easier, right?
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Undine by elwarre
This fic finds Sam post-10x23, Dean wrenched from him once again, holed up on an island in Michigan in storm-time, and deep into some incredibly dark shit.
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Strangerland by astarloa
It starts with the arrival of an invitation. Set immediately after 9.20 – Bloodlines. Inspired by the prompt: "It’s Death’s birthday – whoever would have thought it? Dean is determined to help him celebrate."
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Down by the Lake by wonderfulwrites
“I’d stay away from the water while you’re here. Things down there you don’t want to get near."
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Run Aground by themegalosaurus
It’s February on the Maine Coast. John’s away, Sam’s sulking and Dean’s feeling fed up. Oh, and there might just be a case in town.
More @ the original rec post!

[ART] Infinitesimal by alethiometry
Sam & Dean camping/cooking out next to the Impala in the middle of nowhere.
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Even Losing You by mako_lies
The art of losing isn't hard to master. Lisa's getting quite good at it.
More @ the original rec post!

[ART] "We Had an Agreement, Giant!" by cassiopeia7 (THANK YOU, BB!!!!!!!! <3)
"Mess with the bull, you get the horns."
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Paying for Time by amberdreams
Where nobody gets hurt, no one falls in love because they are there already, and someone dies but kind of doesn’t. Oh, and pretty much everyone gets confused: Dean is old and forgetful, Sam is dead and maybe a ghost. With Death long gone, and all the rules broken, Time has become fluid and ancient gods like Vertumnos have no constraints. So when Vertumnos offers Dean a chance to buy some time, he takes it.
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Feed the Blood Garden by thursdaysisters
The Darkness is closing in, and the Winchesters' only hope of fighting it is in a haunted house deep in the West Virginia mountains.
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] Over the Rainbow by amypond45
For the prompt: "French Mistake" AU - for whatever reason, Sam and Dean cannot jump back into their own reality and have to stay in the other dimension instead. They think having to act is bad. But then they find out that they're expected to attend a con the following weekend - and it's NOTHING like the one Becky forced them to attend many years ago based on those blasted Supernatural books!
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] City Lights Fading Fast by semirah
Stanford!Sam being a BAMF. Now with 100% more Tyson Brady.
For someone so dedicated to eventually becoming an adult who will serve and save people with his medical expertise and his glistening, toothpaste-commercial smile, Tyson Brady is strangely attracted to the undercurrent of violence in backwater highway bars.
More @ the original rec post!

[FIC] The Rose-Colored Glasses of Life by frozen_delight
There’s no such thing as Retiring From Hunting Monsters For Dummies. (Mentions of alcoholism and suicidal ideation. Multiple POVs.)
More @ the original rec post!

Again, thank you everyone!