So well written that a normally squicky-to-you theme didn't bother you

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

I'm curious what stories people have read that were so very well (ETA: or cracked-out hilariously) done that a theme that would normally squick you didn't bother you -- or at least not enough that you didn't read/or didn't enjoy the story -- in it.

The normally squicky-to-you theme could be anything -- bloodplay, mpreg, wingfic, humiliation, penguin!sex, body modification, tentacle noncon, whatever. For example, ponyplay is normally a big turnoff for me, but I saw a bunch of recs for Bucephalus by filenotch, and read it and found it good.

Thank you, readers!

ET add crack awesomeness factor, delete anon part.
ETA2 Wow, thanks for the responses! It's good to hear that –- as pru said in my favorite squick-what-squick "how often is he beating you?" story -- "you are not alone" (or well, that I'm not), and that there are some really good examples of pretty much anything.

Comments

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

Seconded on the ponyplay thing..Its creepy what SGA can get us to like.

Um, can't remember the name, but it was the Benefactors and Companions fic. Carson/John and Kolya/McKay, with later Carson/John/Rodney.

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

http://www.caffiends.net/viewstory.php?sid=464
Second the Best. I would do a text link, but I've forgotten how.

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for jumping in!

For me sometimes it's the amazingly funny crack that makes me like an "omg no never that" type of story. Such as several in svmadelyn's 2006 badfic summary challenge...

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

>.> Ya, I know what you mean.

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

:) I'm sure I should have been squicked by the dolphin-blowhole bestiality porn entry (http://svmadelyn.livejournal.com/321001.html?thread=3941097#t3941097), but I wasn't. And though I was kinda scarred by the (warning, warning!) Scat Humour R Us! (http://svmadelyn.livejournal.com/321001.html?thread=3888873#t3888873) entry, I was laughing too hard to build up a really appropriate level of squick.

...what was that famous saying again? "There is no shame in reading any kind of fic. Or searching for it."

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

Wait, you can set it up to automatically link what fanfic you're reading to facebook?!

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Not that I know of! Was just thinking of that time when Facebook suddenly automatically showed your amazon.com purchases for a few days.

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

I know when I post something it shows up, which is why I've pretty much warned my family away from my facebook page.

and, that would be cool. Kinda.

[em_kellesvig]

I was never able to read hard core kink until I read Harmonic Function by shaenie. At least, I think it's hard core. Maybe it's tame for others but it's still what I consider the most extreme kink story I've ever read. YMMV.

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Ha, my reaction to that one (also) was "ah, too hardcore, too owie for me, oh wait, really well-done, hey did I finish that already?"

[em_kellesvig]

Exactly! I was all, "Wait, what? OMG, I read that! And it was really good!" It prepared me for some of the rest of the BDSM stories found in SGA.

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Some of the BDSM and kink writers are right on the edge for me, and some are over, though I can't say "I won't read (to me) hardcore BDSM or kink (or actually any blanket statement about any genre/theme)" anymore, because if a story is recced a lot or by a writer whose other stories I liked I'll try it, and sometimes like it way more than I thought I would :)

Pondering some more, I think that both Harmonic Function and Bucephalus worked well for me because to me, they're deeply emotional complex love stories and character studies disguised as kink.

Harmonic Function is about a John who's more than half-shark but needs to be prey sometimes, and a Rodney who may look like a lava-lamp but is actually a big fast nuclear missile, and how they form a very intense connection almost instantly and play off each other (just like some of canon showed). It touches on the deep emotional responses they have to each other (trust, possessiveness, etc. as in canon), and shows hints of how while those might give them more to fight or stay sane for in stressful circumstances, those responses also might not be healthy or maintainable at that level during the times of stress.

Bucephalus plays with the canon aspects of John being wholly unable to communicate anything about emotions or needs, and how he's normally either really repressed and in control or really out of control in a violent way -- and looks at how John's potential deep-seated to sometimes be neither might manifest, and his desire to be able to rely on Rodney for this wordless need. Rodney is completely out of his depth and has no clue about the specifics of this particular form of need, but for John uses his intellect to brute-force his way to understanding and a(n implied, from the ending) satisfactory solution.

(might need to ponder this a little further)

[em_kellesvig]

I think that's the difference for me. A PWP may cause some squick but a story that's based on the characters and their emotional journeys will work.

[utterfrivolity.livejournal.com]

Maybe Spill (http://chopchica.livejournal.com/93368.html) by chopchica?

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. I may have to brace myself and, ah, enter the waters....

[mod]

[debris_k.livejournal.com]

Dear anon whose IP addy I have logged for future reference,

Describing a watersports story that may be McShep and may be Sheppard/Zelenka in a comment and leaving it at that is against our rules, as it's just a badly disguised specific story search. This is why I'm deleting your comment.

And for future reference, not logging in to livejournal does NOT give anyone the right to break comm rules thinking there will be no consequences. There are always consequences, and anonymous commenting at this comm is a privilege, not an entitlement.

[gaffsie.livejournal.com]

So, mpreg. It's not that mpreg as a genre squicks me, it's that mpreg stories tend to remove the carrier's choice in the matter, and *that* squicks me. For that reason, Surrogate (http://sgabigbang.talkoncorners.net/?view=fic&id=85) by seekergeek is the only mpreg story I've read that doesn't squick me the hell out. It also features believable characterization, which isn't something a lot of mpreg stories can brag about.

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

I hear you... Maybe those factors explain why my favorite McShep kidfics don't feature mpreg but handy/handwaved uterine replicator-type devices. :)

[race-the-ace.livejournal.com]

Mine would definitely have to be The Ties That Bind by Keira Marcos. BDSM squicks me big time, but I got over it to read that story since I loved all the rest of her stuff. Although, admittedly sometimes I just skim the more hardcore stuff.

http://keiramarcos.com/stargate-atlantis-fan-fiction/ties-that-bind-sga-au/

[(Anonymous)]

That's funny, because a friend had the same reaction and rec'd the story to me, knowing that I love kinky stuff but am super super picky about it, and I was totally squicked by the characterizations. Just goes to show, what works for some totally doesn't for others! :)

[race-the-ace.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for her stuff I just sorta have this giant AU filter over my eyes. The characters have some of the same baser qualities, but some of that is gone with the difference verses she puts em in. =)

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

So true that what works for or squicks one person will have the opposite effect for another! I like that there is just so much interesting fic in this fandom that it seems there's something for everyone, even if not everything is for everyone. :)

[keenoled.livejournal.com]

I am not made for crack fic. I'm just like, what's the point? And then I read the rainbow/unicorn one (Sheppard/McKay), and wasn't completely disgusted, but sort of... charmed.

http://thingswithwings.livejournal.com/18384.html

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for chiming in -- and lol, of course you just cited what is one of my top 10 favorite fics in this entire fandom!

[keenoled.livejournal.com]

Haha, some people like crack, that's why it was written. :) I was just surprised *I* liked it.

[xylohypha.livejournal.com]

Slave-fic usually makes me wince and hit the back-button. (Personal squick only, not a value judgement!) But as if to prove there's always an exception (or two!), I love Advantage (http://trickster.org/res/advantage.html), by Resonant, and The Slave Trade (http://runpunkrun.livejournal.com/204398.html?mode=reply), by runpunkrun.

edited for html failure

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for chiming in -- it's so interesting what some of the standouts-despite-it-hitting-their-squick stories are for people. I also liked Advantage and The Slave Trade (and Term of Service) a lot, in part for playfully subverting the genre -- though there are some non-genre-subverting ones I like a lot too. :)

[wanted-a-pony.livejournal.com]

OMG yes!! Jumping-up-&-down, arm-waving second to Bucephalus by filenotch--I could not grok ponyplay before I read it, tho' I'd really tried to. Spill by chopchica is also a good answer to 'WTF watersports?!?' squinchy-faces.

For those who cannot-cannot-cannot imagine or bear the thought of John calling Rodney Babe, try Two Left Feet by almostnever (http://community.livejournal.com/casa_mcshep/20699.html). At the other extreme, John attempts erotic torture & piercing for masochist!Rodney in Accomodation by moria_mine (http://community.livejournal.com/atlantiskink/137490.html). In his entry in the Brand-New Dom's Overachiever's Contest, Rodney nervously tries to dominate John with dogtag CBT, knifeplay and bloodplay in Edges by neery (http://neery.livejournal.com/24448.html).

Finally, altho' I actually don't mind mpreg fic, it's really squicky if you think about the details at all seriously. Those who think, 'Oh, hell no!' about Aliens/Ancients Knock Them Up fics may enjoy Choice by esteefee (http://esteefee.livejournal.com/26074.html). (Hint--it's not a Hallmark moment. The author's Summary: This is not your Pegasus miracle.)

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for chiming in and for the stories/links!

[csd0484.livejournal.com]

ok so i'm totally surprized no one has put up When push comes to shove series. its starts out as a non-con and goes into a very squicky situtation. has a happy ending so no worries there but be mind full of it.

http://wraithbait.com/viewseries.php?seriesid=27

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for chiming in! I couldn't quite get past the start of this one, but I did lmao at Get Your Own (http://mithreon.livejournal.com/4237.html) and its sequel, where the complete cracked-outness outranked the squick for me. :)

[irinamarenco.livejournal.com]

Last Will and Testament by Speranza (slash, John/Rodney) - http://www.trickster.org/speranza/cesper/Testament.html
I said I'll never enjoy an incest fic. Then I found this on a rec list and saw Speranza was the author. I liked every of her fics I read, so I gave it a try. I'm still choosing to think Rodney and John aren't brothers – and the story was great.

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for chiming in! Speranza's were some of the first SGA stories I read, and they're so good they may have inured me a little to, oh, dolphinsex and John/Rodney incest and a few other things I didn't think I'd like, in some of those "well, I liked these other stories by this writer, so maybe I'll click anyway despite the warnings" moments. :)

[galaxy-song.livejournal.com]

I have looking for this one for a couple of days now to post here,

It's a Carson foot fetish fic that would usualy have me running because feet just freak me out (is strange I know) but this was just so well written and Radek and Rodney just sort of put up with it. Rodney even does a strip tease for him taking of his boots lol

http://zellieh.livejournal.com/68594.html

[skaredykat.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'll have to check it out. :)