Ten SGA Fanworks I Still Think About Sometimes
Stargate: Atlantis debuted 10 years ago today, which is weird thinking about. That date roughly matches up with when I joined fandom as a lurker, though I didn't really get into SGA fandom for a couple of years, when I met 
readbystarlight and she gave me recs and so introduced me to fandom on LJ.
I'm not in SGA fandom anymore, not really, but there's a lot of feelings bound up in those three letters for me. SGA was and is really important to me. I still think about it sometimes.
I think about face of joe a fair bit these days, since I've joined tumblr, because there are a lot of things that tumblr is not particularly good at and things that I consider deficiencies in that platform, but face of joe would have done so well there; it fits tumblr formatting perfectly. face of joe was a delight, and I miss it a little, sometimes; I miss seeing Joe Flannigan's ridiculous face come up when I'm scrolling down, reading the accompaniment, and snorfling to myself.
The Difference Engine by
copperbadge was and is such a good story for me; I almost feel like I love it disproportionately, not because it's not a great story, but because there are just so many great SGA stories. I think part of the reason that it's stuck is that I don't, at least in comparison to people who do, read a lot of science fiction stories; often, when I think about robots, I think about this story. I think about that bullet that John's body takes in and about trying to figure out how to be a person, what being a person means. I also think about
copperbadge's formatting and style choices, how that story is written, because there are a number of elements that aren't typical of fanfiction in there. Most of the fic that I read doesn't have chapters and it doesn't have preface quotes and it's basically a much more straight-forward writing style, so this feels much more delicately woven, for all that it is obviously part of the same tradition. I think about this fic, sometimes, when I think about writing fic.
Fear of the Dark by rheanna27 and astridv must have been one of the first comics I read in fandom and I'm fond of it, still. That image of Jennifer sitting with her father on a bench has really stuck with me, and I think about that, and about ladies being there for ladies, and about Jennifer bringing Teyla home. Jennifer bringing Teyla home is just an action that carries a lot of emotional weight - because there's Teyla being there for Jennifer, and mornings in her father's kitchen, and Jennifer sharing that with her; there's love and trust and intimacy there. This comic got to a place in my heart and then stayed there, basically.
Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose by
synecdochic. I have read this fic once, years ago, and the title alone packs more punch for me than many a scene meant to be gut-wrenching. Like, okay, it doesn't even have to be the full title, you can ask me if I remember Freedom and I'll be stricken and on the verge of tears. I don't quite remember Freedom, actually. It has been years since I have read it and there are a lot of details that aren't really sharp for me. I remember loss, and I remember Rodney living with that and building/creating/becoming something in the aftermath of that, because it doesn't stop. ...and now I am on the verge of tears and blowing my nose. That is a thing that is actually happening as I write this. I first heard the song that this fic takes it's title from this year, a few months ago; it came on the radio and I stopped and went, oh, and had to sort of shake my head out and go back to what I was doing. I will, probably, reread this story this summer, because I have forgotten a lot of this story that I love and remember as being well-crafted in addition to being incredibly powerful emotionally, and it has been ten years since SGA and fandom started for me, and probably around eight years since I read this, and then after I've read it I will probably view the next item on this largely disordered list a few times and then go for a walk, probably, to try to get over it, because there is a reason that I haven't yet read this fic again.
This is How it Works by
lim is the vid for that fic by
synecdochic, which- basically all I need to do is think of to be destroyed. This I have watched over and over, in part because it's just really different from other vids. Much of it is very stark white and it uses a series of changing numbers to follow the beat of the song. There's a lot of text that flies together and then apart and that's in the style of something roughly and laboriously hand-printed rather than a font - the other text that gets used is in a cursive style; these words help to tie the vid to the fic and reduce some viewers to tears, probably. The whole thing is beautifully put together and showcases a lot of technical skill while also appearing simple, I think, because of that deliberate starkness and roughness in places. It's gorgeous and devastating.
Bell Curve, or, Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room by
rageprufock I never actually think of this story as Bell Curve - it's always Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room to me, because that's hilarious, and, when I think about this story it tends to be in terms of ...you know what I want... I want, like, a really, really indulgent stripper or sex worker fic where someone's really flaily and there's a lot of snark and they fall in love somewhat hilariously. (I want that in all the fandoms, basically.) That's what this fic is, and it is just so, so good for me. This fic is a delight and the type of fic I love to read.
A Farm in Iowa by
aesc and
sheafrotherdon There are 44 works in this series and over 160,000 words, including some that got published today, which I've not yet read. This SGA AU 'verse is sort of the SGA AU 'verse for me; in my head John and Rodney are still out there in Iowa, sitting at the kitchen table after their kids have gone to bed, wondering to each other how this became their lives and at how very weird their kids are, before one of them cracks a joke and they go to bed themselves, probably. A Farm in Iowa is a verse that's drenched in love and family and domesticity; it's got a special place in my heart because of that. In my head John and Rodney are still living out all sorts of AU verses that people have written that I have read, but this one is sun-drenched; I love it. I have a postcard, actually, of a farm in Iowa, and it's really not that great a postcard, but whenever I see it I smile, and I think about this 'verse.
The Epic Tale of Rodney & John, Two Girl Scout Cookies in Love [The Pix or it Didn't Happen Remix] by bitter-crimson I saw this come up on the fic tag on pinboard a few months ago and burst into laughter; the bookmarker was pretty traumatised and I remember reading this years ago and being traumatised. I had a conversation afterwards with
readbystarlight that I remember going something like this:
o.O Did you read that story with-
the cookies?!!! YES.
Oh my god. With the- graphic sex scene.
And the marshmallow, and the... *trails off, looking traumatised*
*anguished* Yes.
(They stare at each other in shared horror.)
It's a pretty glourious fanwork. It's funny, and I have a lot of affection for it and that bookmarker and my younger self, a little. I love that it's a multimedia work; the visuals are great. This is SGA crack!fic at its finest.
SGA icons: Teyla, cute chibi pairing icons by pentapus I discovered pentapus' art through SGA and fell in love with it, especially her chibi icons, which I still see around now and again. Her art's expressive and fun and sometimes funny and I like her coloured and black and white stuff equally well. One of the things that I love about her SGA stuff was that she didn't really focus on one particular character or pairing - there was just such variety in her subjects. Of the set I've linked 6, I think, is my favorite, because of the expressions on their faces, mostly; they're incredibly happy-making.
United States of Hysteria by trinityofone. So, occasionally, I think about this story, and I make this frustrated sound and suck in my breath through my teeth or sigh, because it's a WIP and part 1 was written in 2008 and, look, it just seems really unlikely that this is a thing that is going to get finished. There's an oppressive government in the U.S.A. and John and Rodney are strangers who get married so that John can be safe in Canada, and you know how that genre of fic goes, how there's tentativeness and then the couple finds common ground and they figure out that they want to be together for more than just convenience's sake and they figure out their relationship? That doesn't happen; it's a WIP. They meet and they're awkward and tentative and then there's just... no more fic. I've accidentally read what feels like a lot of WIPs and a fair number that haven't been finished, and I think the reason that I think about this one more than those other WIPs is that the part that's there was so good, so my despair is that much greater. I really hate WIPs. This one is lovely - it's just, you know, a WIP.
I love you fandom, and SGA - I love you still.
This entry was originally posted at http://kiki-eng.dreamwidth.org/99122.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
readbystarlight and she gave me recs and so introduced me to fandom on LJ.
I'm not in SGA fandom anymore, not really, but there's a lot of feelings bound up in those three letters for me. SGA was and is really important to me. I still think about it sometimes.
I think about face of joe a fair bit these days, since I've joined tumblr, because there are a lot of things that tumblr is not particularly good at and things that I consider deficiencies in that platform, but face of joe would have done so well there; it fits tumblr formatting perfectly. face of joe was a delight, and I miss it a little, sometimes; I miss seeing Joe Flannigan's ridiculous face come up when I'm scrolling down, reading the accompaniment, and snorfling to myself.
The Difference Engine by
copperbadge was and is such a good story for me; I almost feel like I love it disproportionately, not because it's not a great story, but because there are just so many great SGA stories. I think part of the reason that it's stuck is that I don't, at least in comparison to people who do, read a lot of science fiction stories; often, when I think about robots, I think about this story. I think about that bullet that John's body takes in and about trying to figure out how to be a person, what being a person means. I also think about
copperbadge's formatting and style choices, how that story is written, because there are a number of elements that aren't typical of fanfiction in there. Most of the fic that I read doesn't have chapters and it doesn't have preface quotes and it's basically a much more straight-forward writing style, so this feels much more delicately woven, for all that it is obviously part of the same tradition. I think about this fic, sometimes, when I think about writing fic.
Fear of the Dark by rheanna27 and astridv must have been one of the first comics I read in fandom and I'm fond of it, still. That image of Jennifer sitting with her father on a bench has really stuck with me, and I think about that, and about ladies being there for ladies, and about Jennifer bringing Teyla home. Jennifer bringing Teyla home is just an action that carries a lot of emotional weight - because there's Teyla being there for Jennifer, and mornings in her father's kitchen, and Jennifer sharing that with her; there's love and trust and intimacy there. This comic got to a place in my heart and then stayed there, basically.
Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose by
synecdochic. I have read this fic once, years ago, and the title alone packs more punch for me than many a scene meant to be gut-wrenching. Like, okay, it doesn't even have to be the full title, you can ask me if I remember Freedom and I'll be stricken and on the verge of tears. I don't quite remember Freedom, actually. It has been years since I have read it and there are a lot of details that aren't really sharp for me. I remember loss, and I remember Rodney living with that and building/creating/becoming something in the aftermath of that, because it doesn't stop. ...and now I am on the verge of tears and blowing my nose. That is a thing that is actually happening as I write this. I first heard the song that this fic takes it's title from this year, a few months ago; it came on the radio and I stopped and went, oh, and had to sort of shake my head out and go back to what I was doing. I will, probably, reread this story this summer, because I have forgotten a lot of this story that I love and remember as being well-crafted in addition to being incredibly powerful emotionally, and it has been ten years since SGA and fandom started for me, and probably around eight years since I read this, and then after I've read it I will probably view the next item on this largely disordered list a few times and then go for a walk, probably, to try to get over it, because there is a reason that I haven't yet read this fic again.
This is How it Works by
lim is the vid for that fic by
synecdochic, which- basically all I need to do is think of to be destroyed. This I have watched over and over, in part because it's just really different from other vids. Much of it is very stark white and it uses a series of changing numbers to follow the beat of the song. There's a lot of text that flies together and then apart and that's in the style of something roughly and laboriously hand-printed rather than a font - the other text that gets used is in a cursive style; these words help to tie the vid to the fic and reduce some viewers to tears, probably. The whole thing is beautifully put together and showcases a lot of technical skill while also appearing simple, I think, because of that deliberate starkness and roughness in places. It's gorgeous and devastating.
Bell Curve, or, Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room by
rageprufock I never actually think of this story as Bell Curve - it's always Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room to me, because that's hilarious, and, when I think about this story it tends to be in terms of ...you know what I want... I want, like, a really, really indulgent stripper or sex worker fic where someone's really flaily and there's a lot of snark and they fall in love somewhat hilariously. (I want that in all the fandoms, basically.) That's what this fic is, and it is just so, so good for me. This fic is a delight and the type of fic I love to read.
A Farm in Iowa by
aesc and
sheafrotherdon There are 44 works in this series and over 160,000 words, including some that got published today, which I've not yet read. This SGA AU 'verse is sort of the SGA AU 'verse for me; in my head John and Rodney are still out there in Iowa, sitting at the kitchen table after their kids have gone to bed, wondering to each other how this became their lives and at how very weird their kids are, before one of them cracks a joke and they go to bed themselves, probably. A Farm in Iowa is a verse that's drenched in love and family and domesticity; it's got a special place in my heart because of that. In my head John and Rodney are still living out all sorts of AU verses that people have written that I have read, but this one is sun-drenched; I love it. I have a postcard, actually, of a farm in Iowa, and it's really not that great a postcard, but whenever I see it I smile, and I think about this 'verse.
The Epic Tale of Rodney & John, Two Girl Scout Cookies in Love [The Pix or it Didn't Happen Remix] by bitter-crimson I saw this come up on the fic tag on pinboard a few months ago and burst into laughter; the bookmarker was pretty traumatised and I remember reading this years ago and being traumatised. I had a conversation afterwards with
readbystarlight that I remember going something like this:
o.O Did you read that story with-
the cookies?!!! YES.
Oh my god. With the- graphic sex scene.
And the marshmallow, and the... *trails off, looking traumatised*
*anguished* Yes.
(They stare at each other in shared horror.)
It's a pretty glourious fanwork. It's funny, and I have a lot of affection for it and that bookmarker and my younger self, a little. I love that it's a multimedia work; the visuals are great. This is SGA crack!fic at its finest.
SGA icons: Teyla, cute chibi pairing icons by pentapus I discovered pentapus' art through SGA and fell in love with it, especially her chibi icons, which I still see around now and again. Her art's expressive and fun and sometimes funny and I like her coloured and black and white stuff equally well. One of the things that I love about her SGA stuff was that she didn't really focus on one particular character or pairing - there was just such variety in her subjects. Of the set I've linked 6, I think, is my favorite, because of the expressions on their faces, mostly; they're incredibly happy-making.
United States of Hysteria by trinityofone. So, occasionally, I think about this story, and I make this frustrated sound and suck in my breath through my teeth or sigh, because it's a WIP and part 1 was written in 2008 and, look, it just seems really unlikely that this is a thing that is going to get finished. There's an oppressive government in the U.S.A. and John and Rodney are strangers who get married so that John can be safe in Canada, and you know how that genre of fic goes, how there's tentativeness and then the couple finds common ground and they figure out that they want to be together for more than just convenience's sake and they figure out their relationship? That doesn't happen; it's a WIP. They meet and they're awkward and tentative and then there's just... no more fic. I've accidentally read what feels like a lot of WIPs and a fair number that haven't been finished, and I think the reason that I think about this one more than those other WIPs is that the part that's there was so good, so my despair is that much greater. I really hate WIPs. This one is lovely - it's just, you know, a WIP.
I love you fandom, and SGA - I love you still.
This entry was originally posted at http://kiki-eng.dreamwidth.org/99122.html. Please comment there using OpenID.