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.

[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]

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

[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!

[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. :)

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Self-pimps are fine by me. Thanks again :)

[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. :)

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

Thank you :) I love that the first heading on that list is 'epic'!

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! As for Ronon recs, some of my favorites are My Home and Native Land (http://community.livejournal.com/i_defeated_sga/11675.html) by copperbadge and any of hth_the_first's stories (http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hth/pseuds/Hth/works) featuring Ronon (you'll need to filter for the Stargate Atlantis stories at that link, as Hth's old off-lj archive died, and most stories in Hth's lj or dw aren't tagged).

[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).

[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]

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!!

[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. :)

P.S.

[skieswideopen]

Some Ronon-centric recs, in no particular order:

Dum Vita Est by miss_porcupine - Ronon-centric gen focusing on his early days in Atlantis.

Fourteen Years by hth_the_first - Ronon history, eventually Ronon/John

Blood in Old Snow by Jane St. Clair and mimesere - Threesome porn.

Feel you Breathe by seperis - Ronon/John, post-Outcast.

Dandelion Clock by bluflamingo - Ronon/John post-Enemy at the Gate.

Five Ways Ronon Dex Kisses a Team Member by minnow1212

And you can find the various Ronon stories recommended at stargateficrec here.

Oh, and I completely agree with you that Ronon (and Teyla!) were seriously under-developed in the show. And there is some good stuff out there that does something about that, if you can find it amidst the McShep. :)

[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.

[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!

[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 :)

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

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

[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)

Re: P.S.

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

That you so much! I'm pretty sure I've read fic by hth_the_first in the past, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she's written for SGA.

I really appreciate you taking the time to type out all these reccs. I know how much of a pain in the ass it can be :)

[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.)