Lazarus Came Forth Wrap-Up

[oselle]

Just wrapping up a little Lazarus Came Forth business.

First of all, an enormous thank you to everyone who read this very long story and especially to those who took the time to leave such wonderful comments. Some of the comments were so good that they made me look at parts of the story in whole different ways proving that just because you wrote it doesn't mean you know it all.

I've been asked about single-file versions of the story. I do have one and I'm going to try and post it on one of the e-reader fanfiction sites if I can figure out how to do that...I will let you know when it's up. Until then I have a very pretty and very real-book-looking 166-page PDF, but I have no place to post it but I suppose I can email it if you ask me real nice... :)

This is also...A MASTER POST for anyone who needs to have all the chapters in one convenient location. So let me go ahead and post the story header again...

Title: Lazarus Came Forth
Author: oselle
Pairings: None (gen)
Rating: R (For language, violence and violent imagery. Reader discretion advised.)
Warnings: Serious angst, violence, some gore, heavily Dean-centric for most chapters.
Spoilers: Through end of Season 3
Word Count: 73,316
Disclaimer: The Winchesters and all canon characters are the intellectual property of their creators. All original characters are mine. No money was made in the writing of this story.
Summary: Dean returns from hell and finds himself alive and alone in the stark landscape of an America that has gone terribly wrong. Adrift in hostile territory and pursued by hell's bounty hunters, he sets out on a desperate hunt to find Sam. Apocafic and AU for everything after Season 3.

Chapter 1: Valley of Shadow
Chapter 2: Signs and Wonders
Chapter 3: Dead Man Running
Chapter 4: That Old Time Religion
Chapter 5: Texas
Chapter 6: Four Years Gone
Chapter 7: Body and Soul
Chapter 8: Archangel



I was going to do some Author's Notes but decided to post some pictures instead. I kept finding images that went with the story and I thought you might enjoy them.



This is a random stretch of Nebraska highway that I found while mapping out Dean's route out of South Dakota in Chapter 4. I can't remember exactly where this is, but I know it's close to Stapleton where Dean re-encountered Reverend LeGrange and met Alice Denham. I love the irony of this picture -- there is just nothing here to suggest anything close to "The Good Life" unless your idea of the good life is a big stretch of empty blacktop in the middle of nowhere.




This is a photo taken by Dorothea Lange in the 1930s. Probably a lot of you are familiar with her Depression-era photography, especially her images of migrant farm families that have rightfully come to define our very idea of the Dust Bowl and the "Okies."

Speaking of dust...



Here is one of many available photos of a genuine "black blizzard" dust storm. This picture was taken in Prowers County, Colorado in 1937. Scary as hell, isn't it?

And this is the most important photo for this story...



This is Mississippi River, Baton Rouge, Louisiana by Robert Frank. Frank's book The Americans was re-issued last year and I saw this photo in a review of the book sometime last spring. I remember thinking Damn, that looks like the end of the world! and I kept trying to fit the image into another SPN story I was attempting to write at the time. It just wasn't working and then the season finale aired and Dean went to hell and I wanted to write about Dean coming back from hell to hell on earth. The man in the picture evolved into July Scales (though my July is more conventionally dressed!) and Baton Rouge, LA became Rena Lara, MS and this picture essentially inspired the whole story.

And finally...



This has nothing to do with Lazarus Came Forth. And of course, EVERYTHING to do with Lazarus Came Forth. Lovely, isn't he?

Thanks for reading.

Comments

[janissa11.livejournal.com]

Sadly, West Texas looked uncomfortably close to that, today. UGH. Grosssssssss.

Does that mean Dean might show up soon? Cuz that would make the dust way okay with me. ;)

*deliciouses this link*

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I don't think a speck of dust would dare to mar his general loveliness. He would DEFLECT THE DUST STORM WITH HIS BEAUTY.

[ariadnes-string.livejournal.com]

Amazing pictures! Love the Robert Frank photo--glad you gave it a story!

The South can be post-apocalyptic at the best of times--even here in NC, on the northern end. I saw the William Eggleston show last fall--great photos of the south in the '70s--and was struck by how little had changed.
(http://www.whitney.org/www/eggleston/images.jsp)

Nevertheless, and even though I'm no native southerner, I love it--

(and thanks for the master post--will make reccing the story even easier)

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I love this kind of photography. I meant to go to that Eggleston show and never made it. Now I wish I had. It would have really jived with the Lazarus mood.

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

Oh God, that picture... *wibble*

I'm emailing you for the PDF. :-)

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I messaged you back...need email!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Oh I LOVE that pic of Jensen. There's a quality of innocence to it ( though he's probably anything but! ). It's the way his hair was all mussed up, his eyes and the somewhat childish stare.

*stares*

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the name of this photographer but almost all his photos of Jensen are absolutely gorgeous. He really knows how to bring out the best in the boy, but this pic is by far my favorite. He just looks inhumanly beautiful and then there's that cowlick on top of his head...

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

jensen

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Man, those are some bleak pictures. Except for the last one, of course. That one's simply stunning. You can look into his eyes forever.

Thank you for Lazarus Came Forth.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but they're cool pictures too, right?

You're welcome and thank you for reading the story and reccing it all along.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about Supernatural, or the fanhood, but anyone who can write 166 pages about anything (when not being paid) is a star in my book.

Congrats!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the whole not getting paid thing...makes you wonder why anyone does it. Thanks for the kudos!

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

These pictures are awesome. They really fit the tone and atmosphere of your story - so bleak and yet vivid.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

They're great pics arent't they?

[cybel]

I'm a West Texan, too. Commune with the dust, baby!

I compiled a podbook for twasadark and am looking forward to listening to the podfic. The 'book (and cover I made) is over at spn_gen_podfics if you're interested. :-)

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Loved the artwork, thank you! I linked to it on my post for the podfic.

I don't envy you living out in dust country, that looks scary as hell. Then again I appear to be living in the American ground zero for pigflu so there ya go!

One document?

[maggie77.livejournal.com]

Hi! You don't know me, but I found this fic through the amplificathon site. In scrolling through some of the comments at the end, I saw that you have compiled this into one document. Any chance I could get that emailed to me, too? A Word doc would be great, but PDF works, too.

maggie1517@ gmail.com

Looking forward to listening to all seven hours!

Re: One document?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Sending it over now, sorry for the delay!

[nighean-isis.livejournal.com]

I found my way here through the amplificathon site. I like a copy I can read as well as listen to. ;-)

Reading the comments, I had a *whoa!* moment. That documentary you mentioned? The one on the Dust Bowl? It's on The History Channel - I know because I just saw it today. It was the first time I had ever seen that era presented like that. Most of the history of the '30s I got in school focused on how the Depression hit the cities and how the transplanted farmers dealt with living in other areas, i.e. California. I was unaware that things had gotten that bad and that so many stayed. To know that you used those images/events as a basis for your work...*whoa*. It'll make reading it so much more interesting.

As for the photographer who snapped that oh so wonderful pic of Jensen? Michael Muller. And you've hit on something I've always said - Michael Muller and Jensen Ackles - the near-perfect melding of photographer and subject. I don't know if it's because Michael is such a good photographer or because Jensen is such an awesome subject, but the pics are some of the best I've ever seen. They just work, ya know? The pic in my icon is my personal favorite.

I'm looking forward to reading/listening to your story, and I'll try and remember to come back and let you know what I thought. However, given the work you've put into it, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

LOL, that documentary is always on! Like...every other week. I actually didn't see it for the first time until a few months after I'd written the dust storm scenes for Lazarus Came Forth but I was SO EXCITED. I had a friend staying over the first time I saw it and I started hollering "OMG IT'S THE DUST BOWL!!" That is a great documentary, isn't it?

YES, thank you for reminding me what the photog's name is. Jensen's a photogenic guy under any circumstances but every shot of him by Michael Muller is extraordinary. He just brings something out in Jensen that you don't see anywhere else.

Please let me know what email address you'd like me to send the complete story to...

[silviakundera.livejournal.com]

Until then I have a very pretty and very real-book-looking 166-page PDF, but I have no place to post it but I suppose I can email it if you ask me real nice... :)

Don't suppose you could email it to me? thisone1[at]gmail.com

[silviakundera.livejournal.com]

p.s. the pictures you included on this Master Post really peaked my interest. Gorgeous highway and dust bowl shots!

[crinklysolution.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing this truly excellent story and then having it made into an audiofic. It was spare, suspenseful, and never predictable. I became totally addicted! I thought the many small but memorable details you included were great. I'm looking forward to your other work.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

You're welcome and thank you for reading! Glad you enjoyed the story and the podfics.

[arianstarr.livejournal.com]

I listened to the audiobook version of this and finished yesterday. There are no words for how amazing your story is. It was captivating, and achingly beautiful, and I loved every single word of it! Thank you.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I'm very glad you liked it!

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

I'm on my second time around of listening to the podfic, which is so very excellent. Baylor did a wonderful job of reading it and the music really sets the tone. The story itself is powerful, and strking and vivid. I've not seen a single episode of SPN and the story hung together for me despite that. Your characters were well fleshed out, all of them and not just Dean and Sam's and Bobby's.

Laurie

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I love Baylor's podfic -- the first time I listened to it I felt as if I'd never even read the story before. And I especially agree with you about her musical choices. They really pull the whole thing together. I'm delighted that you listened to it and stopped by here to comment.

I'm really intrigued by the fact that you're not an SPN viewer. One thing I've often thought about fanfic is that it's easier to write than original fiction because I'm writing for a ready-made audience and so I don't have to do a lot of work on backstory or world-building or even character development -- it's all been done for me. Since you're not a member of that "ready-made audience," if you don't mind, I'd be really curious to hear more about what drew you to the story and how/why you followed it without having a history with these characters.

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

I've just discovered your wonderful writing (and political views), courtesy of a drive-by rec from roque_clasique. I'd love to add you to my flist. May I? By the bye, I've been trying unsuccessfully to navigate to Lazarus Came Forth. It seems you've generated too much traffic! Since I'm in the graphics & printing business and am a drum-beater for stylish online presentations of fanfic, I'd love to see your PDF version of the story. Would it be possible for you to attach it to an e-mail for me? I'll send you my addy via LJ private message in case you want to indulge me.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yes, you can definitely friend me...the political views, however, are usually few and far between.

morgandawn has offered to host the PDF on her site, so I will let you know when that is available.

[kassidy62.livejournal.com]

hi! I was wondering if I might get your pdf from you? roque_clasique highly recommends the story and I'd love to read it:) I'm at valwp@yahoo.com

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer not to email it right now -- my "fandom" email account is having some spam issues. But morgandawn has offered to host the PDF on her site, so I'll let you know when that's available.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

here via roque-classique's rec. I finished this last night and admire both the writing as well as the pacing. thank you.

I;d be happy to temporarily hist your pdf on my google website - roque_classique and killabeez put up their pdfs that way. they are here
http://morgandawn.googlepages.com/fanficmainpage

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that would be absolutely awesome if you did that! I've been emailing it to people who request it, but I've been having some spam trouble with that email account and I prefer not to use it too often. How do you want me to send it to you?

[smokeyhorse.livejournal.com]

WOW. I just finished listening to the podfic version of this story and I am speechless. Very well written and just...WOW.

Very well done!! :)

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm very glad you enjoyed!

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

I just listened to this on podfic over the course of several days of commuting (one hour each way), and I had to drop a line and say how much I liked this fic. So compelling and tense, yet hopeful by the end -- I loved that it was the goodness of people even during the darkest times that made Dean decide to postpone heaven. Your original characters were vivid, especially Buddy and July, and I think of them now and then and hope they made it through okay.

Brutal at times, beautiful at others, but a fine piece of work. Thanks for improving my work days!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm delighted to have been a part of making your commute more bearable! Aren't podfics the greatest thing ever? Don't know whose version you listened to, but baylorsr's is accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack that you can download at her website. (http://home.comcast.net/~baylorsr/Fanfiction_by_Baylor/Supernatural.html) Just a little something else for your commute!

PS: Buddy and July wound up just fine.

Amazing!

[another-lily.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to drop a line and say that I really enjoyed this fic. Everything about was so well written and so well done. I'm usually not a big fan of AU fic, but this just blew me away! You made it so believable and so realistic that it's like it was just another chapter in the Winchester boys' lives. You captured the boys' characters perfectly--and Bobby's, as well. And the ending? Perfect.

Re: Amazing!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much and thank you for reading. I'm sorry it took me nearly two years (!!!) to get to your comment. I turn off comment notification for these long posts and it's so easy to miss something. Thanks again for reading!

[jenneany.livejournal.com]

So...I just finished listening to the podfic of this story and...I'm a little incoherent. I've never actually burst into tears when reading or listening to a fic before, but when Sam brings Dean to the Impala...I'm getting verklempt just thinking about it. I wish I had something delightful and witty and insightful to say about this story, but all I can manage is that you killed me with the awesome. So thank you.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

The podfic is awesome, isn't it? The first time I heard it, it was like reading the story for the first time!

I think the Impala scene was my favorite part of the story. Knowing that I was working towards that was kind of what kept me going during the very long process of writing this story. Thanks so much for reading. I'm very happy you liked it.

oh my...

[supernarttu.livejournal.com]

Here by roque_clasique's rec.

Wow. Just... wow. I usually just lurkylurk and not comment (sorry *squeeks*) since I'm a little paranoid/shy or something...

But I just had to write something, since this is one of the best fics I've read, ever. You characters are very real and compassionate, and the imagery is so vivid yet subtle. And I kinda hope this was canon, which is always a true sign of an incredible story *love*

And it's apocafic which is my fave kind, so muchos muchos thank you with whipped cream and a cherry on top :)

*back to lurkyness*

Re: oh my...

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I've missed so many comments that have been sitting here for a year but hey, better late than never.

You're welcome very much, and thanks for coming out of lurkage to comment. Much appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Dean w/o Sam (5 fic recs)

[pingback-bot.livejournal.com]

User ariadnes_string referenced to your post from Dean w/o Sam (5 fic recs) (http://community.livejournal.com/spnroundtable/238606.html) saying: [...] of the Brothers Winchester, but, when last we saw Dean, he was trying to reconcile himself to a life that did not include Sam. Many wonderful fics have been written since May on Dean’s post-S5 predicament, but I thought we could use this occasion to remember that it’s not the first time he’s found himself in this situation.

It’s safe to say that Sam is only absent in body in the fics rec'd below; he is so present in spirit in all of them that one could almost include him on the character list, even when he doesn’t physically appear. And even safer to say that all the fics involve a lot—I mean a lot—of Dean whumpage.

Many, if not all, of the fics below are fandom classics—well-worth reading if you haven’t before, and also worth dipping back into if you haven’t looked at them for a while.



1 Pre-series:

Rumspringa by (gen, R)

Author’s summary: I don’t know if you notice anything missing, like the leaves on the trees or my clothes all over the floor. I don’t know if you even notice at all. Cause I was real quiet when I closed the door. –Fink, “This Is The Thing”

Teen!Dean runs away from home. He’s as tough and as fragile and as loyal as you would expect. Beautiful, spare, exploration of the relatively rare scenario of Dean choosing to leave his family.

(there’s also a great companion piece, Meidung, which tells the same story from John’s point of view)

3 Stanford-era:

The 1300 Days by stele3 (not on LJ) (R, for language, violence and sexual imagery; Dean/OMC, Dean/OFC)

No author’s summary given. The number in the title is the span of days Dean spent without Sam while his brother was at Stanford. I think this lyrical, almost unbearably poignant (and yet action-packed) story was the first thing I read that convinced me fanfic was a GOOD THING.

Fire in the Hole by (pg-13 for violence and swearing; gen).

Author’s summary: After Sam leaves for Stanford, Dean falls hard and John doesn’t catch him. Their long bloody year comes to an abrupt end in the silver mining district of western Nevada, where both father and son must face their worst fears.

An even angstier version of the same “What happened when Sam was at Stanford” scenario. If “The 1300 Days” is a kind of Odyssian journey through various places and alliances, ending with a glorious homecoming, “Fire in the Hole” is more Iliadic—a tale of the confrontation of two vast opposing forces—in this case, Dean and John. Okay—that’s kind of a grandiose comparison, but you get my drift--

Highway Chile by (pg-13 for language; gen)

Author’s summary: While investigating a series of apparent drownings, Dean gets reacquainted with his old friend, Murphy's Law. Stanford-era solo hunt.

This is solo!Dean at his most alone—no Sam, no John, no OMC, no OFC. An excellent case-file, if bleak; it gives us the kind of tough-down-to-his-bones!Dean I can never get enough of.

1 Post -S3

Lazarus Came Forth [...]

AU after 3.16, gen

[pingback-bot.livejournal.com]

User dakota_alone referenced to your post from AU after 3.16, gen (http://community.livejournal.com/spnstoryfinders/5429931.html) saying: [...] 3.16. Gen or het, but no slash please! And no angels! I want something like Lazarus Came Forth [...]