PSA

[ceebee_eebee]

I interrupt this regularly scheduled SPN rec post to bring you this special announcement. Instead of recommending a variety of stories, I want to rec an author. I discovered ink_stain not long ago when I was fiending for Ellen-centric fic and was completely floored by her talent. She writes the most perfect Ellen I've seen anywhere, and she even has one hell of a way with John Winchester. To borrow a borrowed phrase, her stories are "deceptively simple". They are generally not very long but they are amazingly well-written and her characterizations are spot-on. She absolutely gets these characters, particularly Ellen, which is definitely not that easy to do. ink_stain is SO damn good, in fact, that she can actually make me buy a pairing that I normally would think is insane, namely Sam/Ellen. Yeah, I know. It's crazy.

So, go read her stuff. She has an LJ specifically dedicated to her fiction at coffee_in_bed. If you are trying to find a place to start, here are a few of her stories that especially wowed me

Then As it Was, Then Again it Will Be
An incredibly hopeful post AHBL1 character study of Ellen.

My Sorrows Learned to Swim (Sam/Ellen)
Trust me, she makes it work. The language, the mood, everything works. And it actually contains one of my all-time favorite lines about Sam:

But Sam is the John she came to know, to love: thoughtlessly thoughtful and endlessly, quietly grieving.

He Don't Show Much These Days (John/Ellen, John/OFC)
This story is so absurdly hot I can't believe it, because it's also incredibly melancholy and wistful. It's one of the most perfect explorations of everything that makes me love John Winchester.

Beneath This Graveyard Western Sky (John/Ellen)
This is another one of her stories that completely knocked me on my ass. It includes an Ellen/John first meeting that has become my personal canon.

Fathers & Other Creatures of Legend
A truly beautiful look at Dean and Sam, and how much their views of John shaped their lives and their relationship to each other.


And finally, my favorite drabbles in the history of ever:

Refraction
and
Like the Blues He Drives (Both Ellen/Dean)

If she some day parlayed these into a longer story, I would probably lose my shit.



So, there you have it. Go read her stories ASAP. She's amazing.

Comments

[ink-stain.livejournal.com]

I tried emailing this to you, but it came back to me, so I'll leave it here instead!

I've been wanting to say *something* since I saw this last week. I'm just... I'm insanely flattered, and "thank you" seems GROSSLY inadequate right now. But I do want to say it, because I'm so grateful, and really, really happy that you think so highly of these, and my writing in general.

And okay, I keep erasing everything else I type, afraid that it's going to come across as wanky and pretentious, so I'll save you from my babbling. :)

But seriously, thank you so much, for everything you said. It means a hell of a lot.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

You are incredibly welcome. I think you are an amazing writer and everyone should be reading your stories. I'm sorry my email wasn't working, I just sent you a message so hopefully we will be able to speak privately. You have me incredibly curious about this whole "wanky and pretentious" thing...

[ink-stain.livejournal.com]

i didn't get any email from you! did you send it to my @livejournal.com address? that would explain why it didn't go through, if you did. i had to block all non-LJ email coming through that address, because i was getting TONS of spam.

try ink_stain@walkunafraid.org, that one should work. i'd love to talk with you privately. i'm a lot less shy and more talkative without an audience. :)