Wherein the children are not quite joyous.
I've had this collection of stories sitting together as a draft in my reccing box for more than two and a half years. This exact collection. Really. It's been staring me down with various degrees of intensity since the end of SGA, probably - which, yeah, all through when I was falling out of SGA and finding all kinds of new fandoms - and then another set of new fandoms, and then another - it has been sitting here, watching me, with the words "pain" and "angst" written in all caps in its first line, like a jilted and accusing lover.
...and now its one of those 14 Actors Acting segments in my head, all black and white emotion, scored by Owen Pallett. Excellent.
The thing is that I'm serious about that being the first line of my draft for years. It was part of one of those "the one where..." descriptors to remind me to pull that from my bookmarks.
The thing is that I like stories about kittens. Most of my rereads are comfort reads, joyful things, so a set of seven stories with serious emotional conflict and people being unhappy and various other things that do terrible twisty things to my insides is a little intimidating. I love these seven stories for that unhappy twisty feeling that they give me, though, for their ability to invoke that kind of strong emotional response, and I love how many differently authored sequels there are in this set and that there are this many (and more) stories that all deal with John and Rodney and children and unhappiness. I think that's awesome. I've also been putting off reading about fifty thousand words of variations on that theme again, because these aren't fics that make me happy. They're not meant to be.
So. Consider yourself warned and also be aware that a number of these fics come with warnings. This list is in chronological order, with the most recently published fic of this set last.
Nightmares by
out_there
Rating: PG; ~1,500 words; Gen
Summary: Rodney's the type of kid that won't sleep from nightmares and won't tell anyone.
This is a story from late 2005 dealing with the ramifications of Rodney suddenly being a child on Atlantis. Rodney's vulnerability is depicted really well in this along John's attachment to him and the kind of social shift that happens because Rodney is a child, what that means for their relationship as well as others' perception of it. It's a neat exploratory story.
Find Your Way by
Reccea
Rating: PG-13; 3,152 words; McKay/Sheppard
Summary: In the ten years since Rodney went back to Earth Elizabeth, John, Carson, and Radek have been trying to fill up the empty spaces he left and not one of them has managed it. There were gaps they didn't even know about until he came back.
This is a sequel to Nightmares. Wistful and romantic, it's full of lines that are those things. It reminds of old romances, actually, stuff like Jane Austen's Persuasion, or the experience of watching screen adaptations of that genre, just because it has these gorgeous lines in it and this whole waiting thing; it pushes a few of those same buttons. It has Rodney McKay in it, and John Sheppard, and it's SGA, so there's snark and them running around Atlantis together and their own particular brand of romance. It's pretty wonderful.
Misery to Man by
trinityofone
Rating: R; ~1,500 words; McKay/Sheppard
Summary: “It’s science’s answer to reincarnation,” he said. “Well, alien technology’s, anyway.”
The story's stark, full of cuts between scenes and cutting sentences, devastating both for the scenario that it sketches out and everything that it doesn't, its possibilities and uncertainties. There's a reason there are sequels. It's a gripping story, with a terrible first line and a terrible last line. It starts They still sleep in the same bed, but now everyone knows. They think it’s sweet. and then it keeps going.
They Fuck You Up by
toft
Rating: NC-17; ~1,400 words; McKay/Sheppard; Warning: suicide, incest, statutory rape.
"How much do you remember?" his father says in that flat, awful voice from the other side of the room.
Misery to Man suggests the possibility of terrible things in the future; They Fuck You Up is those things. It's an examination of what might happen if Rodney remembered. It reads like a stream of consciousness voyage to that dark place - dark places, really - and that style gives it power, it pulls you along to that place that it's going, dark and terrible.
Overlap by shusu
Rating: PG-13; ~2,100 words; McKay/Sheppard
He's used to it, the overlap, like folds of universes that catch on powered naquadah, but the reaction to his temper has always freaked him out.
The title here is spot-on; it's about layers and their overlap. The interplay between this new teenaged Rodney and the CSO that he was is really interesting. Like Misery to Man it's a story full of these hidden dark things, but its wounds are inflicted a little differently than Misery to Man's, a little more subtly. It's a dark story about choices and Rodney is kind of heartrendingly himself.
The Other Side of Grace by sardonicsmiley
Rating: PG-13; ~25,000 words; John, Rodney
Summary: Family pictures hadn't been a big part of Rodney's one photo album. If this is what Rodney looks like stripped of years and armor, John understands why he holds so tightly to his defenses.
It's about the person that Rodney McKay is at age six, the abusive childhood he's had up until that point, and John being and becoming a parent, making those choices. It's about building relationships. It's this long slow thing that's ultimately good and hopeful, this really nice gen fic about grief and rebuilding. It's quietly satisfying.
My Father Before Me by telleer
Rating: R; ~16,000 words; McKay/Sheppard, OCs
Summary: Even after twenty years, Rodney still has no idea how to raise children. Futurefic.
I love this story. It's a story about John's death and its effects. It's about Rodney's relationship with his university-age children and life. It's about trying and things and people not being perfect. The two original characters in this, Rodney's children, are incredibly well fleshed-out, realistic and human and likable. Its a brilliant story, wonderfully written.
This entry was originally posted at http://kiki-eng.dreamwidth.org/74332.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
...and now its one of those 14 Actors Acting segments in my head, all black and white emotion, scored by Owen Pallett. Excellent.
The thing is that I'm serious about that being the first line of my draft for years. It was part of one of those "the one where..." descriptors to remind me to pull that from my bookmarks.
The thing is that I like stories about kittens. Most of my rereads are comfort reads, joyful things, so a set of seven stories with serious emotional conflict and people being unhappy and various other things that do terrible twisty things to my insides is a little intimidating. I love these seven stories for that unhappy twisty feeling that they give me, though, for their ability to invoke that kind of strong emotional response, and I love how many differently authored sequels there are in this set and that there are this many (and more) stories that all deal with John and Rodney and children and unhappiness. I think that's awesome. I've also been putting off reading about fifty thousand words of variations on that theme again, because these aren't fics that make me happy. They're not meant to be.
So. Consider yourself warned and also be aware that a number of these fics come with warnings. This list is in chronological order, with the most recently published fic of this set last.
Nightmares by
out_there
Rating: PG; ~1,500 words; Gen
Summary: Rodney's the type of kid that won't sleep from nightmares and won't tell anyone.
This is a story from late 2005 dealing with the ramifications of Rodney suddenly being a child on Atlantis. Rodney's vulnerability is depicted really well in this along John's attachment to him and the kind of social shift that happens because Rodney is a child, what that means for their relationship as well as others' perception of it. It's a neat exploratory story.
Find Your Way by
Reccea
Rating: PG-13; 3,152 words; McKay/Sheppard
Summary: In the ten years since Rodney went back to Earth Elizabeth, John, Carson, and Radek have been trying to fill up the empty spaces he left and not one of them has managed it. There were gaps they didn't even know about until he came back.
This is a sequel to Nightmares. Wistful and romantic, it's full of lines that are those things. It reminds of old romances, actually, stuff like Jane Austen's Persuasion, or the experience of watching screen adaptations of that genre, just because it has these gorgeous lines in it and this whole waiting thing; it pushes a few of those same buttons. It has Rodney McKay in it, and John Sheppard, and it's SGA, so there's snark and them running around Atlantis together and their own particular brand of romance. It's pretty wonderful.
Misery to Man by
trinityofone
Rating: R; ~1,500 words; McKay/Sheppard
Summary: “It’s science’s answer to reincarnation,” he said. “Well, alien technology’s, anyway.”
The story's stark, full of cuts between scenes and cutting sentences, devastating both for the scenario that it sketches out and everything that it doesn't, its possibilities and uncertainties. There's a reason there are sequels. It's a gripping story, with a terrible first line and a terrible last line. It starts They still sleep in the same bed, but now everyone knows. They think it’s sweet. and then it keeps going.
They Fuck You Up by
toft
Rating: NC-17; ~1,400 words; McKay/Sheppard; Warning: suicide, incest, statutory rape.
"How much do you remember?" his father says in that flat, awful voice from the other side of the room.
Misery to Man suggests the possibility of terrible things in the future; They Fuck You Up is those things. It's an examination of what might happen if Rodney remembered. It reads like a stream of consciousness voyage to that dark place - dark places, really - and that style gives it power, it pulls you along to that place that it's going, dark and terrible.
Overlap by shusu
Rating: PG-13; ~2,100 words; McKay/Sheppard
He's used to it, the overlap, like folds of universes that catch on powered naquadah, but the reaction to his temper has always freaked him out.
The title here is spot-on; it's about layers and their overlap. The interplay between this new teenaged Rodney and the CSO that he was is really interesting. Like Misery to Man it's a story full of these hidden dark things, but its wounds are inflicted a little differently than Misery to Man's, a little more subtly. It's a dark story about choices and Rodney is kind of heartrendingly himself.
The Other Side of Grace by sardonicsmiley
Rating: PG-13; ~25,000 words; John, Rodney
Summary: Family pictures hadn't been a big part of Rodney's one photo album. If this is what Rodney looks like stripped of years and armor, John understands why he holds so tightly to his defenses.
It's about the person that Rodney McKay is at age six, the abusive childhood he's had up until that point, and John being and becoming a parent, making those choices. It's about building relationships. It's this long slow thing that's ultimately good and hopeful, this really nice gen fic about grief and rebuilding. It's quietly satisfying.
My Father Before Me by telleer
Rating: R; ~16,000 words; McKay/Sheppard, OCs
Summary: Even after twenty years, Rodney still has no idea how to raise children. Futurefic.
I love this story. It's a story about John's death and its effects. It's about Rodney's relationship with his university-age children and life. It's about trying and things and people not being perfect. The two original characters in this, Rodney's children, are incredibly well fleshed-out, realistic and human and likable. Its a brilliant story, wonderfully written.
This entry was originally posted at http://kiki-eng.dreamwidth.org/74332.html. Please comment there using OpenID.