What Heaven Will Allow by Joan (NC-17)

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Length: 22,000 words
Author on LJ: joans23
Author Website: joans23's master fic list at her LJ.

Why this must be read: Last summer, I waited for this big bang with glee after I read the summary and the summary does not even do it justice. It's an AU set in the Delta, and there's an ethereal timeless slow-rolling feel to the story. It's languid, not slowly paced, and very much in the style of Flannery O'Connor's short stories (which should be enough to say that it's amazingly well-written with attention paid to tone, structure, and regionalisms). Although it's an AU, Sam and Dean are not only recognizable characters, they are written as close to canon as one can get without mentioning monsters. Further, the other canon characters used are well-drawn and sympathetic even in their dysfunction, which rings closely to the southern grotesque that is sorely missed in current fiction. The juxtaposition between the events in the AU and canon events are amazing and serve the characterization. I do not want to spoil, as the way the story unfolds is so amazing that I don't want to give any part of it away.

It's one of the truest Sam/Dean stories I've read to date - and Joan does not scamper away from the hard line in that no one is perfect, choices are made based on circumstances, and the events that follow can neither be stopped or changed, especially when regret is useless and saying sorry would be a lie. There's so much to love about this fiction; there's not one word that isn't needed to tell the story and each line, especially toward the end, packs a punch in what is said and what is not said, but hovers between Sam and Dean. It's simply epic in that it is as much about their insane, all-consuming love for one another in this world as it is about their insane, all-consuming love for one another in any world. Read and leave the love, this is not to be missed!

What Heaven Will Allow