On a personal note, I just spent money I don't have on jeans I don't need. *Sigh*. Human nature is absurd. Also, what the hell kind of a jean color is "landslide"? Anyway, clearly I need more romance in my life, leading me to *a second* romance fic post, this one focusing on non-J/R pairings. The slash romance fics in this fandom are dominated by John/Rodney stories — I've never seen such a monogamous fandom, even though there have recently been more and more John/Ronon fics. Anyway, I say we all need a little love in our lives — Ronon, Teyla, Elizabeth, et al. included — and I don't mind going for a little strange in my reading (though I must admit that I'm pretty monogamous with Rodney). I understand that love is one thing that you can't get enough of, so have some more romance recommendations! ( Love is all around! )

Well, I have yet to recover my work-related mojo, but I am still alive, so to celebrate the fact of my own continued existence as a living, breathing, largely sentient human being, here is my day nineteen — a rec list in pretty much my (second?) favorite category, romance. This is my list of unabashedly emotional fic — emo!porn, if you will — that I turn to when I really just want to see John and Rodney stupidly in love with each other. I dunno, sometimes that's how I roll. ( More romance than you can shake a stick at this way! )

It's odd: do other people find that their reading tastes in fandom are really different from their tastes elsewhere? I'm much more prone to reading mystery novels than romances when I'm browsing through a bookstore, but hand me a Harlequin style fic and I'll roll over every time. Nonetheless! Fics that combine my love for adventure and suspense with my love for shamelessly strong team bonding and h/c are the best of all possible worlds, and these are the subject of today's category: the Ripping Yarn. These are my favorite SGA adventure stories, many of them gen, most of them long, all of them incredibly involved. ( If you have an extra couple of hours to wallow in fantastic, long page-turners (or whatever equivalent idiom works for the internet), click here! )

Well, I guess I should probably just cave and admit that the remaining days are going to be posted on alternate days, because really? I don't have enough hours in the day to sleep, and I want more time to consider these entries as I rev up towards the conclusion! My favorite category is still to come, in fact — self-indulgent h/c. Yum! In fact, to make up for the fact that I'm a day late and a dollar short (i.e., this category is a bit truncated) today, I think I'm going to make h/c a fifteen-entry affair. I do love a good melodrama, and let's see, that'll be ... next week, when (knock on wood), I should be less insane and more ready to grapple with SGA fandom's greatest hits.

But anyway! Prequels are (obviously) fics that focus all or most of their energies on the years before SGA canon. I love this type of story for much the same reason that I like de-aging and amnesia fics: it gives authors the chance to explore what traits they feel are inherent to the characters, versus what they learn as a result of their Tragic Backstories. So much fun! ( A list of what came before ... )

I am so wildly tired and out of sorts, I can't even tell you. Sometimes RL *sucks*! I would really appreciate the gift of some extra time: where is Hermione's time travel thingamajig when I need it? The one silver lining to my day has been Mad Maudlin's perfect, retro h/c fic -.-. --- -. -. . -.-. - .. --- -., in which Rodney is trapped by an ancient device that makes him blind and deaf, which leads him to negotiate a silent language of affection with his team, with John (yay! Morse code!), and with once-a-telegraph-operator Zelenka. The team bonds in this are rich and palpable, and it's one of those gen fics that is so much about emotional fulfillment that the lack of explicit slash or romance seems incidental. *Happy sigh* I know this has been recced all over the place, but it's well-deserved.

I find it ironic, given my terrible mood, that today's topic is death fics, but maybe what I need is a good bawl. I'll mark clearly the ones that are fake death fics (you know, where a character's gone for a time, but he gets to come back after everyone's had a suitable opportunity to mourn him) and which ones are the real thing. ( Enjoy! Or experience whatever emotion you feel is appropriate when confronting the death fic ... )

Fics dealing with memory (as distinct from fics dealing with mourning) seem to follow two distinct trajectories: first, there's amnesia, which is always awesome because the characters either (a) do things they'd never do with their memories intact, leading to awkward revelations and post-amnesia angst, or (b) reveal sides of themselves that age has taught them to keep hidden (I particularly like this one). Second, there are inadvertent sharing fics, in which one character sees another character's memories and it leads to uncomfortable or unwanted revelations, something along the lines of the feeling you get after you've confided more than you meant to in a vulnerable moment with another person. These tend to be more genuinely angst-ridden. I've got a bit of both going here — I love fics that deal with the ways that memory makes a character (clearly, Blade Runner has been a huge influence on my psyche). ( Memory Fics: Get It Here! )

Well, I'm back! And not appreciably caught up on work, but oh well — I really need a bit of today's category, which is laffs — not too heavy on romance or anything, just a lot of dry situational humor. And the fresh scent of pine. Enjoy! ( Humor )

Guys (and Self), I have to admit that, while this project is definitely increasing my SGA squee, it's decreasing my work squee. I have to take two days off to catch up, so my next post will be on January 15th — this Thursday. And it'll be on Hilarity. See you then!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Well, okay, I feel kind of weird reccing pr0n, but I also don't feel like I can skip over this category, because I certainly read PWPs, and a lot of people write them really well. It's just that — again, talk about a genre where everyone's tastes are pretty specific. One person's kink is obviously another person's squick. So, here are some examples of what I like from these authors; if something doesn't work for you, I hope you'll consider checking out their larger bodies of work for something that will. ( And now for something explicit ... )

Ha! Eleven minutes before midnight; I'm still technically on Day Twelve.

Once again I have to start an entry with an unrelated rec: Rheanna (author of Rewind, Reboot, Restore, fangirled on Day One) just posted the most amazing post-apocalyptic John/Rodney fic that I have yet to encounter, a take on a The Stand-style global pandemic that leaves John and Rodney perhaps the last people alive on earth. The Hard Prayer is incredibly atmospheric, focusing on the hazards of a deserted Earth as John and Rodney struggle against the psychological effects of being at the end of the world. But Rodney always has a plan, and John needs something to live for. This fic is perfect; please, go read now.

But first! A quick look at a bunch of (by and large lighthearted and funny) ( jealousy fics in the SGA fandom )

Well, so there that was: Enemy at the Gates has aired. I'm sad about the show ending, but I didn't mind this episode, and I'm feeling really good about what this fandom will be like post-canon. Still, I'm really going to miss these guys on my TV every week :- [ So I will now turn back to my self-indulgent and surprisingly laborious efforts to cheer myself up: today, fics that focus on marriage!

First, though, apparently, this lobster was born in the same year that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted, Disraeli became prime minister of Britain, and the Meiji Restoration began. I salute you, George, the 140 year-old lobster! To you, I dedicate the following 10 SGA married!fic recommendations, of which you will (probably) remain blissfully unaware until the end of your days in the open sea. ( This Way to Wedding Bells for the SGA Team )

Hmmm ... I've just been wondering if I can call a fic "Genderswitch" in stories where a character is born the opposite-from-canon gender; like, is it a switch if the character in the fic has always been that way? Well, I guess it's like meta-genderswitch, since we the readers there's been a change. And I am waaaay overthinking this. Anyway, so — here is ( my day ten gender canon )

So, in the broadest possible sense, the romantic comedy is any text that features romance as its subject, in which the central plot line involves funny misunderstandings that provide obstacles to the attainment of true love. The reason I called this post "Funny Valentines" is that, while AUs are often really given over to this type of initial misunderstanding (e.g., Lenore's A Boyfriend for Christmas), this post is mostly for canon-compliant or Atlantis AU fics, and it's tough (though not impossible!) to work in romantic-comedy-type misunderstandings into fics where the main characters already have histories together. So, to accommodate a lot of they're-already-on-Atlantis romances, my emphasis in this category is on fics that focus on a pairing but that also make me laugh: they are romantic *emphatic pause* comedies, if you will. ( Funny valentines this-a-way! )

So, maybe it's a little weird to start a recs post with a completely unrelated rec, but — yesterday, I was in a brown study, in a funk, oppressed with malaise, whatever you want to call it, and I couldn't shake it off, until right before I went to sleep, I logged on for five minutes — and found this: The Girls of St. Mary's, Part 3. Now, I had read and enjoyed the previous parts of this no-longer-a-WIP a while back, but I don't generally hang on to WIPs, so I must confess that I had clean forgotten about it. But this third part — oh, it's so evocative, I could practically smell the tea. The crowd scene reunion of Judy and Mer could not be improved upon. Yay! (By the way, I fangirled the author of this, Toft Froggy, on Ficlet Day.)

So, back to this whole personal canon thing I have going: ( Fairy Tales! )

Blurg, I'm feeling rather melancholy — there's this whole thing with Brad Wright in Joe Mallozzi's blog? And the weather is grey and cold, and things just feel rather sad. Perhaps that explains why for some reason, my earthside list has spiralled out of control in terms of length, for which I apologize. I think one reason (besides self-indulgence) is that I've tagged a number of writers for this who who do not generally write in SGA fandom, so there are several people on this list who have to be in this category or nowhere. In a way, I think this profusion makes total sense, because a lot of fanfic came out of The Return 1 to 2 hiatus, and I feel like maybe SGA was at its height of fandom popularity then? Anyway, rationalizations aside, ( day seven's personal earthside canon )

Ha! Believe it or not, I actually managed to finish a major work project in the midst of typing yesterday's list; as a reward for myself, I am throwing in an additional drabble on this list. I am, sadly, not being similarly productive today, which is unfortunate because I have three major projects I have to finish by Saturday. Perhaps this will jump-start my urge to work on RL matters ...

Edited to Add: I have now discovered, somewhat belatedly, that the definition of a drabble is really a fic of *100* words — looks like I added an extra zero, there. So my definition is even more idiosyncratic than I had intended — sorry about that! For the purpose of this post, when I say drabble, then, I guess I really mean — short fic? A title that's sadly less exciting, but more accurate ... Anyway, here's the original post; sorry about the mess-up in nomenclature (I know my OCD self is going to chafe at this ...).

( Day Six: Drabble Canon )

I love crossovers and fusions, so this list is going to get involved — I'm starting to worry that I'm going to develop arthritis in my fingers from all of this unaccustomed typing. Also, I continue to procrastinate. What is wrong with me? ( Day Five: Crossing and Fusing )

Hoo boy, is everyone excited about "Vegas." I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the soundtrack for that episode. I mean, "Solitary Man" for John? It doesn't exactly take a psychic to see his projection here; it's not exactly what one would call subtle. However, I have enjoyed the flurry of fix-it episode tags, particularly busaikko's Three Times John Sheppard Woke Up in the Infirmary (And One Time He Didn't).

But anyway, the fannish hive mind continues: the day after I blurbed about And Hope, it appears once again in Sga Storyfinders. Evidence of psychic activity?! Well, possibly not. Anyway, ( Day Four Canon Formation Coming Right Up ... )

Ha! Vindicated! The day that I posted my blurb on Are You There, God? It's Me, Rodney, someone searched for it on SGA Storyfinders. My life is complete: god, I am such a giant nerd. I should be, like, the fandom librarian. I suppose it's rather dubious to be proud of this encyclopedic memory because it is either (a) not complete enough, since I can't answer everything, or (b) much too complete. How much time do I spend reading fic, anyway? Best not to ask. ( Day Three: My AU Canon )

Blurg, I feel disgusting — why do people drink too much on New Year's Eve? It's like, seriously, why would you want to start the next year — a time of new beginnings! — unable to leave your bed? But anyway, as I lie here clutching my laptop and some Gatorade, I am going to persevere with my ( Personal Canon Formation II: Ancient Tech )

To me, "altered" means any fic that features, first and foremost, a major character behaving in a way he or she would not normally behave. Causes might include sex-pollen, de-agefying (personal favorite!), rampant amphetamine use, etc., etc. I'm also throwing in physical alterations and mutations into this grab-bag. While a lot of the fics in this category skate really close to my magnificently strong humiliation squick, I particularly love SGA altered stories because it's a great chance for the Team to show its love for the addled member — and I love me some team fics.

( Twelve Altered Fics + Exigesis! )

Now I'm off to get drunk and ring in the New Year: happy 2009, everybody!