Gateverse recs: Astolat, MinervaCat, RagePrufrock, and Resonant, with vids to match
Well, here you have it: three months of fiction addiction (and mono-induced sloth) reduced to a single recs post.
SGA: why I <3 McShep (stages of love)
1. “Share” by RagePrufrock (Rodney and John friendship; episode tag for The Return Part One)
He's never been a part of something like he was in Atlantis. Maybe it's a betrayal, but even more than he misses the city, he misses her people-his people-his team. John. The thing is-and this is something Rodney has always known, one way or another-that Atlantis and all she holds, all she held for Rodney, was always a dream. That had only made him want her more, and Rodney knows that’s why he’ll miss John with the same burn he misses the city: not because he was ever Rodney’s to keep, but because Rodney had wanted him so badly.
This is all about Rodney's aching loneliness; he is so full of longing. This fic is by turns sweet, silly, and sad: Rodney just wants John to like him (without making him try).
2. Just a casual, casual, easy thing vid by Shalott
3. "Shift" also by Pru ("Share" from John's POV)
4. “I'd Go Home If I Knew How To Get There” by MinervaCat (friendship, preslash)
Who knew concussions could lead to love?
"I brought you your stuff,” Rodney said. "I thought it might help you remember who you were.”
He showed John a framed photo, and John recognized his skinny self and the man standing next to him. He couldn't remember anything else, but that picture was familiar. Rodney said, "I guess this is your grandfather or something.”
"Rodney,” John said patiently, "That's Evil Knievel.”
5. "Transcendental" by Astolat aka Shalott (John/Rodney, explicit) podfic read by General Jinjur (4h 27m)
In which the Genii are fuckwits, and everyone else is more perfectly brilliant than they have any right to be.
The video stuttered and interrupted, and then picked up again inside the city looking at a big chart, just an ordinary line graph, but done in purple and bright pink, with smiley faces and frowns drawn on it. Mina was standing next to the chart with a pointer.
"This is how many points the Genii have so far. It isn't a lot because every time they do something stupid and mean, Dr. McKay takes away all their points."
Mina thwacked the pointer against the two zero marks on the line, or at least vaguely in their general area. "This is where they tried to ambush us, and this is where they tried to send spies to Atlantis. They have lost more than forty thousand points."
6. “Interface” Parts One, Two, and Three by Resonant
(John/Rodney; eventually-but briefly-explicit ficlets)
Rodney has what John needs, and he can take it away, and John will be in just as much danger whether he says it or not. And maybe if he gives Rodney his fear, it will make them even.
A fandom cliché put to perfect use: alien mindmelding tech reveal John and Rodney to each other. I like how hard it is for this John to let himself be known, even when he knows that the one who sees him looks with love.
7. "Knowing" also by Res (shameless McShep smutlet: but with Res, a sex scene always tells you something important about the characters. And it's HOT LIKE A BURNING THING.)
8. No one should have to face the underworld alone vid by Merry
This is one of my favorite vids in the history of ever; it alternates between a series of skin-crawlingly cramped alien environments and the frighteningly fast and vast empty dark that I always think of when I imagine space.
9. “Cartography by Touch” by Pru, podfic read by the author (1h 16m)
(friendship, John POV: recovery from sexual assault; Pru has said that "the story was not about rape--a word I purposefully never used--but about the part I think a lot of people forget: the after, the ever after") and
10. its sequel “A History of Maps” (Rodney POV; a tentative John/Rodney by the end)
I have only barely been able to resist making everyone I know read these; seriously, they should be taught in high school. Taken together, these two stories are such a perfect portrait, full of hurt and hope, of something that we all know from one or both of these perspectives. Becoming anything is an asymptotic function, a pilgrimage, and John and Rodney begin to understand that healing--becoming whole--is no different.
“Cartography” was written for 14 Valentines 2006, February 5: sexual violence; the essay for the cause of the day began: D.H. Lawrence wrote of women like the damp, slick lips of a burst-open fig, sweet and sticky. “Maps” was written for 14 Valentines 2007, February 10: progress; Vylit, writing the day's essay, began by saying: The third most powerful person in American politics, second in line to take over the presidency, is a woman--Nancy Pelosi--but half the coverage she earned after her first State of the Union was about the color and cut of her clothes. The project is a loveletter to women everywhere, and everyone should bookmark it.
11. Four Ways to Defeat the Wraith Through Good Health, Part One: Posture or the vid that proves that for all its alien vampire catfish Pegasus is mostly fun, by Zoe
And the crack!fics (all by Pru):
12. "He's Having Her Baby!" (friendship, preslash) podfic read by the author (33m)
In which Rodney decides that John was impregnated by an alien energy-being that looks like a squid made out of light. And is wrong. Of course. Except that this is Pegasus, where anything that can happen--and plenty of things that can't--probably will, so there's the sequel....
12. "He's Having HIS Baby!" (John/Rodney, explicit) podfic read by Jaebi Lit (1h 18m)
In which John actually IS impregnated by alien light. Sort of.
"I'm actually not as freaked out as I thought I'd be," he admits.
Elizabeth smiles at him approvingly. "Good. We're all here for you, John."
The moment's so sappy that John has to say, "That's only because I haven't given any serious thought to how it's going to come out, though."
Elizabeth rolls her eyes. "Okay, John..."
"No, seriously. I mean, how would it even--?"
"John!"
John grins, and turns back to his paperwork.
It's all fun and games until he's up at four in the morning knocking on Carson's door in a panic. Because seriously, he thinks, letting Carson take his blood pressure: how the hell is the baby going to come out?
The next day John and Carson came up with the "Cesarean, Cesarean, Totally a Cesarean" plan.
14. "The one in which John discovers Atlantean television" (podfic read by Jaebi Lit, 27m)
...and learns to regret it: with codae one, two, and three. (John/Rodney, Pru/Fandom)
"You have got to be kidding me," John muttered, and fast-forwarded through Miyatha's descension with her baby and subsequent slap-fight with Miyutha (her evil twin sister) until John saw Helion slink onto the scene again, slouching at a generic conference table and smirking at a roomful of military leaders.
15. "Advantage" by Res (John/Rodney, explicit; slavefic), podfic read by Dodificus (1h 31m)
More fandom cliches, more perfect use: alien snacks make them do it, and John tops from the bottom.
SG1
"Look to the Heavens and Number the Stars" by Min (OFC, gen)
and its coda “The Silent Language of the Stars”
It's hard to define birth and death dates for Dr. Daniel Jackson; finally Claire decided on four different author and subject headings: one for before he ascended, one for while he was gone, and one for after he descended (twice, each with its own heading).
The excerpt is actually from a “Five Things” set-"Problems Faced by the SGC Librarian"-Min wrote long before the librarian got a name and a fic of her own; it's still the best possible introduction. I want this job, but I think I'll have to get in line behind the author and every other nerd who's read this. Actually, being a librarian was my first career choice, before I blundered into museology that summer in Europe, and this fic is almost enough to make me regret leaving archiving for art history. Almost.
SGA: why I <3 McShep (stages of love)
1. “Share” by RagePrufrock (Rodney and John friendship; episode tag for The Return Part One)
He's never been a part of something like he was in Atlantis. Maybe it's a betrayal, but even more than he misses the city, he misses her people-his people-his team. John. The thing is-and this is something Rodney has always known, one way or another-that Atlantis and all she holds, all she held for Rodney, was always a dream. That had only made him want her more, and Rodney knows that’s why he’ll miss John with the same burn he misses the city: not because he was ever Rodney’s to keep, but because Rodney had wanted him so badly.
This is all about Rodney's aching loneliness; he is so full of longing. This fic is by turns sweet, silly, and sad: Rodney just wants John to like him (without making him try).
2. Just a casual, casual, easy thing vid by Shalott
3. "Shift" also by Pru ("Share" from John's POV)
4. “I'd Go Home If I Knew How To Get There” by MinervaCat (friendship, preslash)
Who knew concussions could lead to love?
"I brought you your stuff,” Rodney said. "I thought it might help you remember who you were.”
He showed John a framed photo, and John recognized his skinny self and the man standing next to him. He couldn't remember anything else, but that picture was familiar. Rodney said, "I guess this is your grandfather or something.”
"Rodney,” John said patiently, "That's Evil Knievel.”
5. "Transcendental" by Astolat aka Shalott (John/Rodney, explicit) podfic read by General Jinjur (4h 27m)
In which the Genii are fuckwits, and everyone else is more perfectly brilliant than they have any right to be.
The video stuttered and interrupted, and then picked up again inside the city looking at a big chart, just an ordinary line graph, but done in purple and bright pink, with smiley faces and frowns drawn on it. Mina was standing next to the chart with a pointer.
"This is how many points the Genii have so far. It isn't a lot because every time they do something stupid and mean, Dr. McKay takes away all their points."
Mina thwacked the pointer against the two zero marks on the line, or at least vaguely in their general area. "This is where they tried to ambush us, and this is where they tried to send spies to Atlantis. They have lost more than forty thousand points."
6. “Interface” Parts One, Two, and Three by Resonant
(John/Rodney; eventually-but briefly-explicit ficlets)
Rodney has what John needs, and he can take it away, and John will be in just as much danger whether he says it or not. And maybe if he gives Rodney his fear, it will make them even.
A fandom cliché put to perfect use: alien mindmelding tech reveal John and Rodney to each other. I like how hard it is for this John to let himself be known, even when he knows that the one who sees him looks with love.
7. "Knowing" also by Res (shameless McShep smutlet: but with Res, a sex scene always tells you something important about the characters. And it's HOT LIKE A BURNING THING.)
8. No one should have to face the underworld alone vid by Merry
This is one of my favorite vids in the history of ever; it alternates between a series of skin-crawlingly cramped alien environments and the frighteningly fast and vast empty dark that I always think of when I imagine space.
9. “Cartography by Touch” by Pru, podfic read by the author (1h 16m)
(friendship, John POV: recovery from sexual assault; Pru has said that "the story was not about rape--a word I purposefully never used--but about the part I think a lot of people forget: the after, the ever after") and
10. its sequel “A History of Maps” (Rodney POV; a tentative John/Rodney by the end)
I have only barely been able to resist making everyone I know read these; seriously, they should be taught in high school. Taken together, these two stories are such a perfect portrait, full of hurt and hope, of something that we all know from one or both of these perspectives. Becoming anything is an asymptotic function, a pilgrimage, and John and Rodney begin to understand that healing--becoming whole--is no different.
“Cartography” was written for 14 Valentines 2006, February 5: sexual violence; the essay for the cause of the day began: D.H. Lawrence wrote of women like the damp, slick lips of a burst-open fig, sweet and sticky. “Maps” was written for 14 Valentines 2007, February 10: progress; Vylit, writing the day's essay, began by saying: The third most powerful person in American politics, second in line to take over the presidency, is a woman--Nancy Pelosi--but half the coverage she earned after her first State of the Union was about the color and cut of her clothes. The project is a loveletter to women everywhere, and everyone should bookmark it.
11. Four Ways to Defeat the Wraith Through Good Health, Part One: Posture or the vid that proves that for all its alien vampire catfish Pegasus is mostly fun, by Zoe
And the crack!fics (all by Pru):
12. "He's Having Her Baby!" (friendship, preslash) podfic read by the author (33m)
In which Rodney decides that John was impregnated by an alien energy-being that looks like a squid made out of light. And is wrong. Of course. Except that this is Pegasus, where anything that can happen--and plenty of things that can't--probably will, so there's the sequel....
12. "He's Having HIS Baby!" (John/Rodney, explicit) podfic read by Jaebi Lit (1h 18m)
In which John actually IS impregnated by alien light. Sort of.
"I'm actually not as freaked out as I thought I'd be," he admits.
Elizabeth smiles at him approvingly. "Good. We're all here for you, John."
The moment's so sappy that John has to say, "That's only because I haven't given any serious thought to how it's going to come out, though."
Elizabeth rolls her eyes. "Okay, John..."
"No, seriously. I mean, how would it even--?"
"John!"
John grins, and turns back to his paperwork.
It's all fun and games until he's up at four in the morning knocking on Carson's door in a panic. Because seriously, he thinks, letting Carson take his blood pressure: how the hell is the baby going to come out?
The next day John and Carson came up with the "Cesarean, Cesarean, Totally a Cesarean" plan.
14. "The one in which John discovers Atlantean television" (podfic read by Jaebi Lit, 27m)
...and learns to regret it: with codae one, two, and three. (John/Rodney, Pru/Fandom)
"You have got to be kidding me," John muttered, and fast-forwarded through Miyatha's descension with her baby and subsequent slap-fight with Miyutha (her evil twin sister) until John saw Helion slink onto the scene again, slouching at a generic conference table and smirking at a roomful of military leaders.
15. "Advantage" by Res (John/Rodney, explicit; slavefic), podfic read by Dodificus (1h 31m)
More fandom cliches, more perfect use: alien snacks make them do it, and John tops from the bottom.
SG1
"Look to the Heavens and Number the Stars" by Min (OFC, gen)
and its coda “The Silent Language of the Stars”
It's hard to define birth and death dates for Dr. Daniel Jackson; finally Claire decided on four different author and subject headings: one for before he ascended, one for while he was gone, and one for after he descended (twice, each with its own heading).
The excerpt is actually from a “Five Things” set-"Problems Faced by the SGC Librarian"-Min wrote long before the librarian got a name and a fic of her own; it's still the best possible introduction. I want this job, but I think I'll have to get in line behind the author and every other nerd who's read this. Actually, being a librarian was my first career choice, before I blundered into museology that summer in Europe, and this fic is almost enough to make me regret leaving archiving for art history. Almost.