I'm supposed to be doing something, but this seems like more fun

[sozuki17.livejournal.com]

I haven't been in the fandom for a very long time, and I'm sure I haven't come across anything 'classic' yet.

Are there any McKay/Sheppard fics that are considered 'classics' or a 'must read' for the pairing? You know, the kind of fic where someone goes, "You like this pairing but you haven't read that fic yet?!"

I'm open to a variety of genres and don't care about the rating. (But I will completely jump on fics that have Rodney being completely beat on, drugged, etc).

Comments

[karaotter.livejournal.com]

A Farm In Iowa by sheafrotherdon. The whole series is all kinds of awesome.

http://sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com/105567.html

[raindroproses.livejournal.com]

A few that I think are classics:

Written by the Victors (http://www.trickster.org/speranza/cesper/Victors.html) by cesperanza, an absolutely brilliant "Atlantis secedes" fic.

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/181367.html) by smittywing
In 1988, Cadet First Class John Sheppard stole a goat. In 2005, Major Lorne steals a Cat-Thing. It turns out that stealing mascots is never as good an idea as one would think.

Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose (http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/61471.html) by synecdochic
SGC finally stops calling him by December. Rodney celebrates by writing a final exam for his relativity class so difficult that it reduces four students to tears in the exam hall. Upon reflection, he decides to be merciful and offer partial credit.
(This one's past McKay/Sheppard, wirh Rodney learning to live after Atlantis, but it's absolutely amazing.)

[asugar.livejournal.com]

I am not a McShep fan but there is one story that is so good and so famous in the fandom I even count it as one of my favorites. In fact it might be one of the most famous and best stories in the SGA fandom.

Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose(http://www.kekkai.org/synecdochic/sga/freedoms_just_another_word.html) flat out BROKE me. I sobbed for hours as if my heart was broken during and after. I immediately reread it and sobbed some more. I am starting to cry again even writing this. Even reading the accompanying author's commentary (http://www.kekkai.org/synecdochic/sga/freedom-dvd.html)(which is incredible and not to be missed, I read a bunch of the stuff recommended therein), the sequel And The Band Played Hail To The Chief (http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/99159.html#cutid1) or thinking about this story makes me break into hysterical tears. It's THAT good. I despise McShep and yet I love this story and believe it is possibly the most powerful, insightful, beautiful and thoughtful SGA story ever. This is not hyperbole. The story follows Rodney for a period of many years as he teaches physics at a small and undistinguished college. At the onset, Rodney is completely trapped in his grief, shame and guilt for the loss of John, Atlantis, his innocence, his old life and much, much more than we can realize at first. It is beautifully structured and you are nearly at the end before you grasp fully everything that has happened. Sheppard never appears in this story and yet he is so present throughout. The author has some brilliant things to say about science, ethics, responsibility and war (I suspect Oppenheimer would have enjoyed this greatly if he was still alive and a SGA fan). Rodney submits John's solution to the Navier-Stokes equations Millennium Problem and creates a scholarship in John's name to teach scientists to fly. My sister and I were discussing this story the other day (Rodney in here reminds me greatly of her, i.e. the fierce intellectual curiosity for discovery's sake, the academic competitiveness, his newly and painfully acquired insight (as I would say in my day job when writing about the mentally ill (grin)) and his thoughts on science and math). We agreed that to us, the real theme of this story is that of forgiveness and grace. Rodney, over many school years, learns that forgiving yourself is much harder than forgiving others. As he repents for his sins slowly and painfully through his classes and students, he begins to forgive himself a little and heal. He can never forgive himself completely nor should he but he learns to live with what he has done, the cost of his actions, what he has lost and through this, he achieves grace. Grace in my mind being accepting your faults and sins and those of others and learning to live with them in some semblance of peace. There are incredible quotes, transcendent writing and the slash is subtle enough that I can pretend (although that it is not adds so much more to the story) that it is a brotherly love. To convince you to go read this, I will tease you with the incredibly memorable opening paragraph.

"There is a gravestone in Arlington National Cemetery. It sits watch over an empty grave, and there is a vine with small blue flowers, one the gardeners can't identify from any book, twining up its side.

It is an utterly unremarkable memorial, name and rank and dates, no different from the thousands of others save for the verse that graces its face:

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.

Every year, a few more flowers bloom."

Also check out legion the things I would give to oblivion, (http://community.livejournal.com/stargateficrec/265162.html), Written by the Victors (http://www.trickster.org/speranza/cesper/Victors.html), the Watergate/Retrogradeverse verse (http://www.ltljverse.com/watergate/) stories, Something more (http://seperis.livejournal.com/273516.html#cutid1), Small primes and square roots (http://community.livejournal.com/stargateficrec/239435.html), no refunds or exchanges (http://community.livejournal.com/stargateficrec/238706.html).

[keiramarcos]

"Freedom" is without a doubt my favorite McShep story ever. I sobbed like a child when I finished it and then promptly read it twice more the same day. Nothing is better to me-- nothing in the entire fandom.

[synekdokee.livejournal.com]

Goddamn you your comment was enough to make me cry :(


This is fucking ridiculous. I hatelovelovelove that fic.

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Ditto and I totally know!!!!!!! That is why I recommended it.

[debris_k.livejournal.com]

Just butting in to say that julad has written three long SGA (and SG-1) fics (http://www.yearningvoid.net/stories/julad/cat_stargate.html) and there's not one of them that's not my fave. ♥ (She's also written shoter stuff, linked on the page.) Her two Rodney/Radek fics are awesome beyond words, and the one McShep is my favest early!seasons John and Rodney visit Earth (and pre-canon Jeannie).

Also, resonant8, astolat and rageprufrock have their fic sites linked in their profile pages. I'm faily sure, at least. :-)

[strawfyre.livejournal.com]

There are tons more but these for starters. Also read their other stories all the ones below write excellent fic.

Geeks and Goons Guides
http://wraithbait.com/viewuser.php?uid=350
Start with The Geek's Field Guide to Arachnids

String Theory, a Concerto for Violin in D Minor
http://toft-froggy.livejournal.com/190025.html

Unidentified
http://fiercelydreamed.livejournal.com/8714.html

101 Ways To Get Lucky (In Love)
http://scribblinlenore.wordpress.com/home/stargate-atlantis/101-ways-to-get-lucky-in-love/

Fix
http://crys.mrks.org/sga/fic/fix-rodney-cyo.html

Transcendental
http://www.intimations.org/fanfic/stargate/transcendental.html

The Road To Nevada
http://lamardeuse.dreamhost.com/sg/theroadtonevada.html

Checkmate verse
http://beadattitude.livejournal.com/267757.html

These 2 writers are newish but are real good.

Sardonicsmiley's Fic
http://sardonicsmiley.livejournal.com/27429.html#cutid1

Keira's fic
http://keiramarcos.com/

[zee.livejournal.com]

I'll add to the list toft_froggy's All These Places We Have Met (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/565739.html).

Here's a link to rageprufrock's AU Hindsight (http://glitterati.talkoncorners.net/fiction/hindsight.php). Many of Pru's stories are classics, really, and hilarious to boot.

[myfanwy53.livejournal.com]

It's true, this is so much more fun than studying!

The classic post-Trinity love story: Tira Nog's Resilience, featuring much Rodney-angsting: http://www.wraithbait.com/viewstory.php?sid=4026

The classic Sheppard's emotional issues: Astolat's Touch:
"Rodney McKay was a cuddler. That was more than John had really wanted to know, but he'd involuntarily figured it out after the third or fourth time he woke up offworld in their shared tent, too warm, with a heavy arm slung over his chest and Rodney's face getting intimate with his neck."
http://www.intimations.org/fanfic/stargate/Touch.html

The one that was written before the episode of the same plotline, really: Rheanna27's Theory of Everything
http://rheanna27.livejournal.com/68371.html?style=mine

The classic Totally Oblivious: Crysthomis' Ways to Die:
"So he wasn't thinking about Rodney when the native kid came crying up to them on M4V-193. He wasn't thinking about much, except keeping up good relations with potential trading partners, and besides, it was a kitten up a tree. How hard could it be?"
http://crysothemis.livejournal.com/51373.html

The previously mentioned Not Really Stripper AU that should not be read with hot beverages: Rageprufrock's Bell Curve:
"Rodney let his head loll back, moaning, "I hate you. That beer was awful. You took off your clothes."
"You're just amazingly perceptive, aren't you?" John said charitably..."
http://www.glitterati.talkoncorners.net/fiction/bellcurve/bellcurve.php

The sort of Superhero AU: Springwoof and Leah's Aegis: http://sgabigbang.talkoncorners.net/?view=fic&id=16

The one where they meet in Antarctica: Kaneko's Intersections
http://anyroad.org/kaneko/intersections.html

And the one that might not be 'classic' but is one of my personal favorite re-reads:
Lady Ra's Wraithkillers
http://wraithbait.com/viewstory.php?sid=12387

[ceares.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go with A Beautiful, Lifetime Event (http://www.intimations.org/fanfic/stargate/lifetime_event.html) , but really most of Astolat's stuff. Definitely Pru's Hindsight or Ladies' Night at the Boom Boom Room(both are linked in other comments) Hindsight is what got me into the SGA fandom.

Maybe Seperis' Crimes Against Humanity series Crimes (http://seperis.illuminatedtext.com/sga/humanity.html)

Actually you know what...here's Seperis' rec page which has a lot of classic, older SGA McShep fic. recs (http://seperis.illuminatedtext.com/sgashep.html)

[ellie567b.livejournal.com]

I like long stories, with a plot as well as the McShep, so here are a few recs. I hope these work for you too:

Transcendental by shalott
http://intimations.org/fanfic/stargate/transcendental.html
Amazing story where Elizabeth is injured in a Genii plot and McKay takes command of Atlantis. As for the McShep, well Sheppard disobeys McKay, forcing McKay to jail him.

"You know," John said eventually, "there's got to be something in the Geneva Convention against using prisoners for sex."

War Bride by Speranza
http://www.trickster.org/speranza/cesper/Space.html

Told partly in flashback. I thought this was a very plausible story of how McKay and Sheppard might get together

(Linked video also on this site)

Ordinary Life by Shalott and Speranza
http://www.intimations.org/fanfic/stargate/Ordinary%20Life.html

A McShep on Earth fic. Lots of action.

(I've just realised most of my favs are by the same people!)

(And the above mentioned "Freedom ...", of course, If you like Freedom, its worth checking out this accompanying video, which is beautifully done. http://www.imeem.com/sublim/video/Tk2siKdd/this_is_how_it_works/)

There's another one I want to rec, I'm off to sgastoryfinders to try to ID it!

I try to do 50 minutes of studying then 20 mins of fic; but sometimes it becomes 50 minutes of fic, and 20 mins of studying!

[8dreamcatcher8.livejournal.com]

You can check my McKay/Sheppard recs (http://8dreamcatcher8.livejournal.com/tag/pairing:+mckay/sheppard) if you're curious.
You'll have to go through the summaries and warnings for a specific genre (first time, angst...).

[ldyanne.livejournal.com]

You're going to be reading for awhile ;-)

One of my favorite all time fics is Weddings Plural and a Yak - http://www.trickster.org/speranza/cesper/weddingsplural.html really lovely McShep

Fireball by Chelle - http://fanfic101.com/sga_fireball.htm It's an AU where John and Rodney are in Nascar. Really, it's the funnest story ever!

Also Unidentified by fiercelydreamed - http://fiercelydreamed.livejournal.com/8714.html It's an AU where John and Rodney have been friends for many years. I don't want to spoil it for you but it's a great story!!

My pick

[sgficfan.livejournal.com]

Don't know if this classifies as a classic but it's certainly my most favourite ever.

http://sgabigbang.talkoncorners.net/?view=fic&id=8

It's Every Day in Every Way by velocitygrass. Pretty much everything by her is worth reading but this one is the best.

[angellec.livejournal.com]

1)I have to add "The World According To Rover" and "Perceptions"from Rina and Orithain on wraithbait

2)I would also recommend almost any Mcshep by Tarlan
3)"Loving Rodney"and "Wraithkillers" by Lady RA

purses www.hermesbirking.net

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