so the most recent fics I’ve read on my kindle are the first two parts of the time has come today series by teen_dean (@urne-buriall on tumblr I think). and these are so good. I’ll elaborate more in my fic review but I am excited to share the cover I developed for my kindle collection because I really enjoyed going through different iterations of this cover. I’m just posting the cover I landed on for now, but I think I will share some of the other iterations which include design choices that I cut and edited at length(in another post or reblog later).

Fic review, cover design notes and a small disclaimer under the page break:)

fic review: I’m not always one to love casefics, watching cases passively on screen is one thing, but I can’t always immerse myself in a case to keep interest. I’m more one for character dynamics and the dynamics here are so interesting and introspective and funny I can’t get enough.

When it comes to the characterizations the author really nails it too. They are so close to canon that when I inevitably dissociate from atmospheric chemistry seminars and start thinking about supernatural, I can’t remember if something happened in their fic or on screen. I love these characters and teen_dean obviously does too because they treat their characterization so carefully. The cover I designed references scenery and plot points related to the case part of the fic, but I wish I could have incorporated the deep and thoughtful character analysis that is part of this fic.

And the imagery, particularly the west coast imagery, is. so. good. Very rarely am ever I struck with the desire to draw imagery described in writing, but it struck me at multiple times throughout this. most noteably the cas in the orchard paragraph highlighted in one of my pics towards the end of young hearts (will it be my first castiel fan art??? I certainly hope so.) chef’s kiss.

I really thought I would take a break after finishing young hearts, but I wasn’t ready to not know what happened to teen dean and past-cas in the next fic so I’m reading the rules of have changed today now and I have no regrets.

some notes on the cover design: I’m not sure this translates to the end result, but the glowing text of the title/author/everything-else was meant to represent the flickering lights of neon signage you might see in a dive bar. The description of Schaffer’s bar at the beginning and end of the first part is rich and another example of really capturing the feeling of canon (which I should mention is something the author does really well through scenery too). I don’t think I necessarily got the colors right (I initially imagined a larger color palette), but I’m feeling pretty good about the glowing aspect of it. In a print book format, I’d like all of the red to be metallic embossed.

Its very faint, but I included the silhouette of a mountainscape with silhouettes of dark watchers watching in the background. I think you have to zoom in to see them though. So I included a zoomed in image of two of the dark watchers. See if you can spot the other two!!

The last thing I wanted to mention is that I know arimaspians are typically one-eyed (on their heads). I took a creative liberty and put an eye on the hand.

lastly, a disclaimer: I know that teen_dean already has a cover and print typeset for their fic on their page. I just wanted to add my creative twist on it for my kindle collection and wanted to share it with you all :’). I should say explicitly that this was not designed in communication with the fic author. I do not take any credit for the fic (credit to the story goes to the author and characters to the cw). if teen_dean comes across this I especially hope they enjoy it<3, but if for any reason you (teen_dean/urne-buriall) don’t want to be associated with this cover, please contact me and I will take this down.

not tryin to be overly sappy but I keep thinking about how much i owe to the long fic writers out there. the folks who put so much time into their stories just for the love of it

i am a person who contends with seasonal affective disorder in the summer. July is always the toughest and the anhedonia and inability to concentrate really fucks with my sense of self

reading a long fic is such a balm in these times because I can just… get lost for a good while. hang out with familiar characters. feel something other than blue. wait out the storm.

so - I offer my gratitude to the authors. your work is sorely needed, at least by one person. thanks, please keep doing what you do

(if you need something like that i recommend Spirit of the West by @urne-buriall. it’s really getting me through.)

it's less than 24 hours since a nineteen-year-old dean showed up in 2020 and he clocked himself so quickly ohmygod?????? (reading this teen_dean fic)

hi marissa!!! since you are one of my favorite writers in the spn fandom i thought about asking you. do you know teen_dean's blog here? i made two unimportant picrews of how i picture not-a-teen-anymore dean and past-cas from the time has come today trilogy and uh. well. would like to share them.

lots of love!! i love your work!!

I'm sorry I don't.

Does anyone else out there know?

revamped desk setup + yesterday’s vday treats❣️

Like Abraham Lincoln or Socrates or Aslan

Summary: A collection of moments from the summer of 1991, or what Dean's always privately remembered as the Summer of Cas.

Anyone else so obsessed with spirit of the west they wrote a 16,000 word prequel detailing the summer Cas worked on the Winchester Farm?

@urne-buriall, here it is!

july 9, 1997

Cas takes an interest in what Dean's reading. (If only Dean thought to do the same in return.)

and with that, we have a 10-day break! Dean gets a few more study sessions with Cas in during this time, hangs out with Sam, gets in a routine where he doesn't have to face uncomfortable truths in the mirror for like a solid week (the lucky bastard)

if you know people who are curious to join the substack, this is a great time to get caught up on previous updates

Once again thinking about spirit of the west

i need some destiel fic recs 🥹🫶

✅ Must Haves:

boys in their 30s to mid 40s

explicit rating with multiple scenes spread throughout (not just one near the end)

bottom!dean/top!cas (please no switching)

beefcake cas

50k - 150k (i like plot inc. case fics but prefer deancas focus)

au or canonverse, human or angel cas

good characterisations, a bit of plot, swoonworthy writing

written in the past 5 or so years

light angst (nothing too heavy)

❌ Please No:

a/b/o, mpreg

creature fics

mcd

reverseverse

endverse setting or endverse!cas characterisation

if author spells it 'cass' i'm out

People who think fanfiction isn’t a legitimate artform have clearly never read the right fics and honestly that’s so sad for them because the experience of re-reading a great fic and analyzing it on a thematic level is so incredibly fun

I just want to write an essay about fanfic as an art form and make people read it

i wanted to go to bed but all those bad takes left me seething. it may be midnight here and i work tomorrow but i am absolutely starting a teen_dean 38k fic… wish me luck soldiers

This is just mostly a handy little post for me but I asked people to rec me some destiel AU best friends to lovers fics and this is what I got:

Recs from ltleflrt:

okay, cupid. by orange_crushed On Air by wincechesters Just Turn Around and Go by @porcupine-girl Version 2.0 by Elizabeth1985 aka @cocklesheadboop Ignore the Butterflies: Best Friend Advice from Dean Winchester by impatient14 A Match Made (and Misunderstood) by surlybobbies More Views. More Money. by herbivoredinosaur Remember When by VioletHaze aka @scones-and-texting-and-murder When In Vegas by Dmsilvis & TobytheWise

Recs from doctorprofessorsong

One of my favorite fics of all time is Evangelist by @valleydean. It's really enemies to friends to lovers but the enemies part becomes friends pretty quickly because they are deeply obsessed with each other. One of the classics if you haven't read it is To Build a Home. Childhood friends who broke up and find themselves back in each other’s life. It is very angsty but they have a lifelong friendship so you get a lot of childhood and teenage friendship moments. If I may self recommend, I just wrote Can't Fight the Moonlight in which they are in this post canon partnership and both want to add sexual intimacy but the partnership is soft so you get some really fun platonic intimacy. It's not AU, obviously, but may have something of what you want. Seraph by @dothraki-shieldmaiden is a superhero au where they are friends and roommates to lovers. It has great world building. More than Kisses by @friendofcarlotta is a friends to lovers epistolary romance. Dean and Cas are pen pals and they share an absolutely gorgeous emotional intimacy. Tiamatv has a few that fit the bill. I'm gonna mention Marchen because I love the world built in that one. Dean Winchester is a prince locked in a tower. Feel free to also skim my fic recs. @riversrecs

Recs by castiellesbian:

tiamatv's "It's the End of the World (As We Know It)" is a friends to enemies to lovers if that counts? They were childhood best friends in that one "A Midterms Night's Dream" by Englandwouldfall is an au where they're roommates (oh my god they were rommates). "In Some Sacred Place" by schmerzerling is a good one where they're friends throughout most of the fic, but it's kind of depressing overall

Recs from porcupine-girl

Just Turn Around And Go (roommates-slash-best-friends): https://archiveofourown.org/works/4228830 Like four weddings and a funeral but without the funeral (Sam POV, Sam is clueless and doesn’t realize they’re together): https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225625 Go Down With This Ship (online fandom besties, don’t realize they know each other irl): https://archiveofourown.org/works/8023642

Rec by trampledundercas

#i thought of ‘ready to fall’ by lemonsorbae on ao3

A whole bunch of recs from dean-you-assbutt-cas-loves-you

A Tale of Two Tropes by Amelia_Clark (E, 7k) As You Walk On By by MercyBraavos (E, 23k) Are We Any Different? by LeviathanBlue, SerpentCountess (T, 41k) More Than Kisses by  FriendofCarlotta  (E, 29k) things i knew when i was young by stormwarnings  (T, 16k) Alright  by  turningthepages  (T, 46k) To Build a Home by intothesilentland  (M, 383k) When In Vegas  by  Dmsilvis, TobytheWise (E, 16k) The Ocean Between Us  by  noxsoulmate  (E, 27k) Room for Two (The Mattress AU) by  almaasi  (E, 14k) Honey-Baked  by  mishaminion69, sydkn3e (E,  89k) The Ones We Choose  by  lightmyway  (E, 82k)

EDIT: MORE:

Recs by bexfangirlforlife:

The Graveyard Shift by riseofthefallenone. PurgatoryJar Evangelist by embrancsxx0 Stay with me Sweetheart by Mandalarose We are what we pretend we are by tricia_16 Tricks of the Trade by Trenchcoat_Impala

Recs by impaledbeetle:

okay, cupid by orange_crushed Seek to Know You Better (E) by ahurston Après (E) by Imogenbynight Here's a couple aus that i really really enjoy that aren't necessarily best friends to lovers: spirit of the west (M) by teen_dean Parachutes (E) by chaoticdean (this one literally changed my life it is so good) And This, Your Living Kiss (M) by opal_bullets (again, this is life changing) Roll With It (E) by saltnhalo (this is a The Proposal (movie) au) Shut Up (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) (E) by kototyph

Recs by butch--dean:

spirit of the west by teen-dean (everyone should read this 90's horse girl dean au where he befriends cas, a local veterinarian) I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart) by unicornpoe (I am a sucker for all "cas using dean as a vessel" fics) Après by imogenbynight (surely everyone has read this? dean and cas in paris what more can you ask for) under the midnight sun by northernsparrow (dean is the caretaker of a research station in the arctic and cas is a mysterious bird researcher) (I also rec you can keep holding on by this author but be warned that it is very grief-driven - but it is an in-depth study of the way they care for each other) though the course may change by imogenbynight (fake dating AU at a couple's retreat - another one that everyone has probably read but is so worth mentioning in case you haven't) there's no cell service in the afterlife by screamsintothesun (cas gets back from the empty and his phone blows up with dean's voicemails & texts) Gold in the Edges of Our Vision by SewingNatural (dean and cas eat peaches together on a hot summer evening. The writing style on this one is really really lovely) these are just a few from my bookmarks but also there is a really good rec list here & here (this one has a link to a specific friends to lovers list here) that I refer to often when looking for new fics/authors to dig through!!

Recs by mercurialkitty for some reason tumblr won't allow me to add them to my post so just click on their name to go to their post!

These are all the ones i've gotten up til now but will def edit if I get any more. If you see this post and think of a Destiel AU best friend to lovers fic that isn't on here or just a Destiel AU (no abo) fic that isn't on here: PLEASEEEEEE GIVE ME ALL THE DESTIEL AU FIC RECS (no abo)

Also i didn't tag the people who recommended it cuz I don't wanna annoy them but I linked back to all of their original posts or comments!

A hugeeeeeeee thank you to everyone who replied to my annoying messages for fic recs cuz I really really appreciate it. thank you all so so so much!!!!

omg hiii!! hope ur doing good 😊 re ur tags on the post about reading a lot of time travel fics lately 👀👀 do you have any recs ? I feel like ive devoured the trope there arent any good ones left 😩

Hi nonny!!

Based on your ask it seems like you've probably read more time travel fics than me haha I just started like 3 weeks ago. And these are what I've read so far (I would rec them all, they're all very good):

crossing lines by sometimeswelose which is about s1 dean getting transported into s15. read the tags on this one tho!

in this louisiana bar by fleeceframe where s10 cas travels back to s1 dean. in the next part s10 cas travels back to s4 dean

psalm 40:2 by unicornpoe where s15 cas travels back to pre-series dean

I haven't read this one but been recced it, time has come today by teen_dean where 19 year old dean from 1998 is brought to 2020 to help with a hunt

If you have any recs for me feel free to send another ask <33 or if anyone wanna add to this post, please do!

how do i explain to people that yes, i studied literature, and yes, one of my favorite books is supernatural 90s horse-girl au fic “spirit of the west” by teen_dean

extremely predictable since i literally listened to the same 3 playlists all year long✌

all of my top 5 songs are from my january playlist / writing playlist (that i listened to well past january).

the maine, my beloved, has been my favorite band since i was 14<3 all my top artists peaking in either january or july, def checks out bc of the aforementioned january playlist. and july just being, peak summer vibing.

anyways, every band on here other than the maine (and every song in my top 5) is bc of dean winchester brainworms in one way or another<3

you come to me and you say teen_dean, give us the Cas pov on the spirit of the west kiss. give us the Cas pov when he whines about Dean to Cesar after the Fourth of July breakdown. give us the Cas pov when they ride on the night of the rain storm. never are you saying, teen_dean, give us the Cas pov on their first meeting after six years at the beginning. well