Must Read Slash Fic?

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

I’m pretty new to the fandom side of SGA... and I’ve got to say it’s probably one of the biggest fandoms I’ve ever dipped my toes into!

I've found some great stories and some less-than-impressive ones, so I started thinking - in every fandom I've ever been in, there's been a handful of stories that everybody has read. These classics of the fandom are the kind that everybody is familiar with - except us newbies.

So what stories are the ones you would nominate as classics? I'm admittedly a slash fan at heart and I’d love to hear about any recs people have with Ronon as a key character. I love h/c, angst, first time... oh and kink, kink is a very good thing... but mainly I'm just genuinely curious to learn which stories are considered the well-known, cut-above-the-rest ones?

Very many thanks in advance for any responses!

Comments

[annieb1955.livejournal.com]

I have two stories that I reread over and over

Apple Pi's The Paradox of Vision

http://pi.anatsuno.net/archives/sga/paradox-of-vision/

and

The Iron and Steel series by Leah

http://leahwoof.livejournal.com/23609.html#cutid1

There are so many good writers in this fandom though. It'd take me forever to name all my favorites. Both of these are John/Rodney slash but Iron and Steel contains other pairings including some het ones as well.

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Thank you :) I really appreciate you taking the time. It's such a massive fandom I've been pretty lost with were to start!

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend starting here: and then randomly there was a McShep primer on your flist (http://bookshop.livejournal.com/958654.html) by bookshop -- not only points out most of the classics, but also recommends a few of the ones you're sure to be recced as better to save/not read too-too early (which I'd agree with).

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Ohh thank you! This looks like it was made for people exactly just like me :)

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

also (sorry for the self-pimp), as a relatively new entrant into the fandom, I recently consolidated a bunch of the resources that helped me find a lot of really good fic into one SGA fic readers guide (http://skaredykat.livejournal.com/1083.html), in case that's useful to you. :)

[folavril.livejournal.com]

for mcshep slash. I rec you start with
Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose, by synecdochic
http://synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/59305.html

then read everything on this list - unamaga's greatest hits rec post
http://unamaga.livejournal.com/218317.html

enjoy!

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

note for the original poster: yes, synecdochic's Freedom is fantastic and amazing, but I'm on bookshop's side here -- save it until you've read some of the other good stuff so you can appreciate it even more. :)

[skieswideopen]

As you've probably noticed by now, SGA fandom learns heavily toward John/Rodney and thus most of the everyone's-read-it stories are also John/Rodney. There are people (and stories) that aren't McShep, but you may have to hunt for them. I'm not sure you'll find much Ronon-centric slash fic that's considered Must Read by the general community, but if you're just looking for good Ronon slash fic, you might try asking at some of the Ronon-centric communities, like ronon_sex or sheppard_dex (if Ronon/John happens to appeal to you, and if it does, I also recommend keeping an eye on satedan_grabass, an exchange community currently in the writing stage of its ficathon).

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

I guessed I was probably going to be pushing my luck on the Ronon-centric idea, which is why I tried not to be too specific. lol I swear I always end up liking the wrong characters, fanic wise.

It's not that I object to John/Rodney, it's just that it always felt to me as if the show didn't maximise the potential of Ronon's character... and I was hoping fandom might have made up for that.

I'll happily take good Ronon fic in general, slash or otherwise, so I'll definitely give those comms a try. Thank you!!

[wanted-a-pony.livejournal.com]

Check out the 2005-2008 winners & 2008 nominees at the mcshep_awards comm [or on the Website (http://www.mcshepawards.com/news.php)]. Of course these all feature McKay/Sheppard slash but you'll find Ronan (among other tasty characters) in the Threesomes/Moresomes fics, & they're pretty concentrated awesome!

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm up for giving Threesome/Moresome fic a go :)

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

besides the Ronon fics I mentioned above, you might want to check the OT4 Forty Days (http://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/73870.html) by thingswithwings, Ronon's role in it is very important. :)

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Thank you... lol again. I definitely appreciate it :)

[vicki_rae.livejournal.com]

Someone upstream linked to the McShep Primer post which has fantastic links. She lists three SGA must read fics. One of them is A Beautiful Life Time Event, which was my introduction to SGA last summer. Hadn't seen any episodes, this was the first SGA fanfic I ever read, it totally hooked me and it's still one of my favorite fics in any fandom. By the time I got around to watching my first epiosde, I'd read well over a million words of fanfic.

A Beautiful Life Time Event
http://www.intimations.org/fanfic/stargate/lifetime_event.html

Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose is also on tons of lists of memorable fics but I agree with those who say wait to read it. This isn't a spoiler because it's in the first parargraph, but it's a death fic. The overwhelming emotional impact is partly dependant on a total familiarity with who the charactors are, and the relationships including the gen relationships.

SGA fanfic is just amazing.

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

I've watched a fair amount of the show over the years, so I'm pretty okay with the characters, but I'm not sure I'm up to a death fic just yet. That said I will definitely keep that one in mind. Thank you :)

[crysothemis.livejournal.com]

For Ronon/John slash, I'm partial to thisisbone's Revelation Series (http://www.mrks.org/~bone/atlantis/01/index.html) (all but the first one are NC-17).

I also recommend esteefee's Ronon/John stories (http://esteefee.livejournal.com/tag/sheppard/dex) (ratings vary by story).

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

OMG... Bone has Ronon/John fic? Why didn't I know this?! I think you've just made my night! I'll check out esteefee's fic too.

Thank you!

[jennytork.livejournal.com]

The best Ronon story I've ever read isn't even a romance one. It's Ohashi (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/563915.html)

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

I'm more than happy to read gen fic, so thank you!

[busaikko]

Healing Station Argh is both laugh-out-loud hilarious and hot. It's OT4, and Ronon's backstory is brilliant. (There is also podfic of this, which is great.)

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

This sounds great! Thank you :)

[kirinin.livejournal.com]

I've got my faves on my delicious account.

Wow, okay, so I put in as tags:

sga + bestofthebest + john/rodney (my main slash pairing)... and there are still 43 fics to choose from (http://delicious.com/Kirinin/sga+bestofthebest+john%2Frodney).

Admittedly, this narrows it down from over 800 SGA fics...

...I read too much! ;)

[kirinin.livejournal.com]

John/Ronon plays an important part in Ardhanarishvara (http://www.eternalvox.net/~auburn/Ardhanarishvara_1-12.html), which focuses in on Ronon well at certain points. (It IS epic, however.)

Five Kisses that Haven't Happened Yet (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/803670.html) has a great OT4 moment.

I should also say that you could just surf in my delicious account. The fics I gave you are ONLY the ones on my 'bestofthebest' tag because you asked for must-reads. It looks like you'll be busy for quite some time with what you've already garnered here, but if you get bored you can always look up the 'excellent' tag, which is the next echelon down. :)

-K

Sory if repeats

[galaxy-song.livejournal.com]

Any of Keiras fics are amazingXD She is my fav writer

Most of them are Shep/Rodney with one Lorne/McKay. The ties that binds is a BDSM verse and a fusion with the sentinel.

Warn you make sure you have a free day or two when you start reading, is very addictivexD

http://keiramarcos.com/


The Hard Prayer is fantastic it is a SGA twist of I am legend.

John and Rodney are 2 of the few people left on earth after the plauge.

http://www.goldenmaze.com/hardprayer.htm

Re: Sory if repeats

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

I love the I am Legend idea. Thank you!!

[galaxy-song.livejournal.com]

Just read the Ronnon part lol


Still rec fics above but Crossroads has a huge amount of fics of all kind and very nicley tagged so easy to find.

http://www.fictionresource.com/sga/tags.php

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply. No worries, I wasn't just after fic with Ronnon, I'm happy to give most things a try. Thanks again!

[ex-kisa-haw.livejournal.com]

Vita Ante Acta (http://idyll.livejournal.com/319170.html) by idyll is the first of three absolutely LOVELY gen fics about Ronon (well, team, really, but Ronon and Sateda too).

Healing Station Argh (http://toft-froggy.livejournal.com/376385.html) by toft_froggy is a fabulous OT4 fic with an absolutely fantastic Ronon backstory.

Written by the Victors by cesperanza (recced above) has a terrific Ronon too.

Also recced above is astolat's Time in a Bottle, which has a brief but terrific turn by Ronon on the end (one of my favorite McKay/Sheppard pieces of all time).

In general, AUs often have really interesting Ronons, even if he is not the focus. For example, the Foster's Bakery series (http://almostnever.livejournal.com/631350.html) by almostnever (and anatsuno sometimes) and Strangers on a Six Train (http://eye-queue.livejournal.com/680.html) by eye_queue. Both of those are McKay/Sheppard with minor parts for Ronon, but interesting turns, nonetheless. For more AUs, there's the gigantic list of McShep AUs (http://elderwitty.livejournal.com/11289.html). That post is part one (A-K). There's a link to part two (L-Z). For some reason, AUs in SGA tend to be incredibly well done, so I recommend that genre in general, and there's likely to be a lot of interesting Ronons in there (though it'll also be a lot of McShep, so keep that in mind).

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you so much!! I know astolat's writing from other fandoms, I hadn't thought to look at her fic for SGA before... and I love AUs so I'll definitely keep that in mind!

When I think classics...

[readsaphonebook.livejournal.com]

When I think classic McShep I think:
resonant (esp. Cred and Resolution http://trickster.org/res/#sga)
speranza (esp MVP and OK Computer http://www.trickster.org/speranza/cesper/atlantis.html)
and astolat (esp. a beautiful lifetime event, no refunds, no exchanges, and oblivious http://www.intimations.org/fanfic/#Stargate:%20Atlantis)

Re: When I think classics...

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you so much for these :)

[wanted-a-pony.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, I have time now to link a couple of my personal favs.

First, 13 absolutely amazing drabbles describing hot/sometimes hilarious/surprisingly touching SG1/SGA vignettes where the guys & a photographer band together to fight DADT: Circadian Rhythms by Brain of CK (http://brainofck.110mb.com/Circadian.html)
...which lead to a smokin' ficlet in which Ronon fantasizes about Radek's appearance & we learn fascinating tidbits about his society & kinks: Subjectivity by Dragon Lady (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/791127.html).

Second, a dark, complex, moving h/c fic about Rodney & Ronon being tortured, breaking and surviving, & the bonds they form: Kept By Ourselves In Silence and Apart by The Spike (http://spike21.livejournal.com/274341.html). I'm not a huge fan of h/c, & furthermore my tolerance for dark!fic & physical violence is limited, so the fact that I love & rec this should tell you something....

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply. I've been overwhelmed by the number of recs I've received!

I love the sound of these! lol in fact I think your descriptions have bumped them both to the top of the must read now pile. Thank you :)

[vicki_rae.livejournal.com]

Here's a fabulous post with all kinds of links to fanfic and fanfic resources. There are a few Ronan fic recs in there.

http://skaredykat.livejournal.com/1083.html

skaredykat is fairly new to SGA fanfic and this is essentially a resource post for people just starting to read SGA fanfic. It starts with a link to bookshop's "and then randomly there was a McShep Primer on your flist" and then she adds pages and pages of other links.

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Thank you :) skaredykat has given me some great recs already!

[astridv.livejournal.com]

I just remembered this Rodney/Ronon vid:
http://www.blithesea.net/vids/#sga
Too Good To Be True by [info]blithesea
Rodney/Ronon pining
very funny vid, the editing is brilliant. Some of the edits I only realized on second viewing (during the first viewing my brain was scratching its metaphorical head, going waitaminute...). Watch it, you'll see what I mean.

If you're also taking gen recs, I have a great Ronon&Rodney frienship fic, in which they are bonding over comic books and hero tales:
Hero for a New Age by [info]smittywing
http://smittywing.livejournal.com/423913.html
gen; PG; characters: Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Atlantis cast; 11,600 word

There is a lot of fic and art in this fandom that's not McShep, it just takes a bit of hunting around for it, while the McShep is right there.

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Ohh a vid. Thank you! Sorry for the late reply, I can't believe how many great recs I've been given! I'm definitely happy to red gen fic and I love the sound of to two of them bonding over comic books :)

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

Probably the first Ronon/Rodney I ever read, a lengthy one I'm inordinately fond of, is Smiley's Three Hundred and Sixty-Four (http://smiley.zonezine.net/html/96860.html).

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you! I love long fic. I'm not sure I would have thought of Ronon/Rodney before... but I'm all for giving new things a go :)

[cadencecascade.livejournal.com]

here is my sga delicious tags. I always put in a summary so you kinda know what you're getting into...

http://delicious.com/CadenceCascade/sga?page=1

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Thank you. wow, that must have taken some time! I never think to look on delicious, I'll definitely take a look around :)

[daizy2k2.livejournal.com]

Anything by Sam is always worth reading. My Home and Native Land is a special favorite. All of his stuff is posted here:
http://community.livejournal.com/i_defeated_sga/profile