A lovely, slow and stately portrait of Jack and Stephen growing old together. The language is beautiful, subtly weaving together the threads of their interactions with their families, old friends, and each other until the picture emerges.
Perhaps this is AU, perhaps it just supposes that the narrator of the books (and movies; this is blond movie-Legolas) was led astray by certain assumptions. Whichever it is, I adore this Gimli, who also appears in the not-quite-as-good but still worthwhile Keeping Secrets (kind of a prequel, but both stories can be read independently). I will say no more so as to preserve your delight!
It’s hard to summarize this without giving away too much (and unfortunately the author’s summary errs, I think, on the side of not saying anything at all), but: it’s about perception and reality, identity and appearance, which are themes that I love writing and reading about. This was a Team Whimsy entry for the second DS Match, so you can expect magical realism rather than conventional truth. This elegant story takes canon and turns it sideways; the language and the structure work together to create a very believable and compelling world. And I was a little teary at the end.
Anna-centric mostly gen with a bit of Anna/Nahum. This was my absolutely favorite Yuletide story this year, and is my favorite S&A story ever. Anna returns from Bolivia to the “Theotre sons Argent,” as typed with Geoffrey’s old typewriter that turns a’s into “circular blobs,” and takes charge. The dialogue is fabulous, the details wonderful, and every character voice absolutely perfect. Quirky and charming, and as those who were in S&A chat with me know, Anna/Nahum is my seekrit OTP.
Gen with references to unrequited Vecchio/Fraser and Vecchio’s canon het relationships. I am a sucker for stories told from an outsider perspective, and this one, narrated by the Vecchio family priest, is wonderful. Father Behan is a fully-realized character, sensitive and perceptive, and he brings another dimension to the canon events we know, from Ray’s childhood conflicts with Frank Zuko to his acts as Armando Langoustini. I got weepy at the end.
Could be considered either Fraser/Vecchio or gen, depending on how you read it. Victoria shows up in Vegas, and the Bookman responds. What a fabulous angsty gem of a story this is.
Post-CotW, Ray and Fraser get together, but it doesn’t work out. I have a deep love for this story despite (because of!) its bleakness and unhappiness. I don’t have an OTP, and I don’t have a fixed idea of the characters, so any good author who starts with canon can convince me of any particulars, and I don’t need a happy ending (or hell, everyone alive at the end, even). I adore emotionally-stunted Fraser, who is really locked inside his own skull in many ways even as he embraces the loneliness of the great unbounded Arctic, who has things he needs more than love. And I adore the idea of a Ray who defines himself by his relationships but has so much difficulty coming to terms with the definition of himself as queer. (It strikes me as oddly and ironically subversive, in slash, to have a character who is unhappy with his sexuality, and to acknowledge the gritty realities of anti-gay prejudice rather than either pretending that the world approves, or waving the question away entirely.)
I loved this. It’s a kind of AU take on the end of the series, I guess, because the circumstances around Vecchio meeting Kowalski are entirely different, but oh, man, this is awesome. Victoria is caught in Atlanta, Fraser must go there to give a statement, Vecchio calls Ray K and warns him that Fraser is probably going to go crazy - and it turns out that crazy, for Fraser, means drinking heavily and sexing up everything in sight. (Including Ray, of course.) Yum.
Multifandom slashy vid. Everybody’s doing it, doing it, doing it, and what’s really fun is how they’re doing the same things in the same ways in all our fandoms! Awesome clips, perfect timing.
Fraser and RayV friendship, Fraser/RayK, vid. I am very narrative-oriented when it comes to vids, and this one has a clear and engaging narrative, moving from Fraser “learning to fly” in Chicago with Vecchio, and then passing on his experience and knowledge to Kowalski. I think the change of POV works well here. Also, it doesn’t hurt that I adore Tom Petty. Nor that I wrote a F/K story with the same title, la la la.
Fraser/RayK/RayV-ish. [It’s more F/K and F/V, not really F/K/V. But the only way I can see it as gen is if I ignore the sequence of clips from Vault and MotB.]
Their summary: Fraser has two Rays…and boy, does he drive them nuts. Okay, I like the music, so that’s a start. But oh, man, this is so funny and well done. The clip choices are brilliant, particularly the mirroring of similar actions from both Ray seasons (the eyeglasses! the opening doors! the HANDING UP OUT OF UNDERGROUND YAY!). I thought the ‘pound note’ went a little obvious, but oh, the ‘don’t smoke’ with the gun KILLED ME. And only the briefest hint of Ms. Fraser with the ‘makeup’ line - nice avoidance of the obvious there. And the Fraser thumbs up mirrored by RayV, and the Fraser licking mirrored by RayK! I think this is my new favorite vid, ever. If you are in DS fandom don’t miss it.
Diefenbaker thinks Ben and Spiky-Ray ought to form a pack-of-two, but “problems with Pack and Sex” pretty much sums up all humans in five easy words. This totally adorable story is from Dief’s POV, and yes, it’s been done before, but this is a fresh and entertaining take on it, and the cameos by Not-Here-Bob and walking-pebble are wonderful. I was grinning from start to finish.
Joe/Billy, Billy/various both m and f. I assume if you’re reading this rec, you know the movie, but be warned there are spoilers in this rec (as well as, obviously, in the story itself).
Maybe it’s because I started out in HP fandom, where ghosts are characters too, but I really adore afterlife fic. This story begins with Joe’s death - how Billy deals with it, and how Joe deals with it. And neither of them deal with it very well. But then Joe’s shade starts haunting Billy, so to speak, and things start to change. I won’t say too much about how they change, because the slow build of the story to the eventual realization and climax is so artfully done that I don’t want to spoil it. I’ll just say that the author is very clever, and everything fits together beautifully and logically.
The story is structured beautifully, with clever choices of repetition and variation. Each scene contributes something, and the bits wrap in on themselves perfectly. One of my particular favorites is the scene with Bucky Haight; another is the scene just before that, with Ashley’s dad. Finally, there’s a lot of very hot sex throughout, but none of it feels gratuitous. It’s all there for a reason, and the reason becomes clear as the story builds to, er, the climax.
Ronon/John, Ronon/F, John/Rodney. An incredible Ronon character piece written for the Seven Deadly Sins challenge at sga_flashfic, this consists of 7 pairs of vignettes, each pair dealing (sometimes elliptically) with one of the deadlies in one year as a Runner and the corresponding year in Atlantis. Overall it builds up a remarkably deep portrait of Ronon and his relationships with others. The other characters are all beautifully drawn as well. Very highly recommended.
Yeah, everyone’s read it, but I have to mention it, because it’s a perfect example of taking things just one surreal step beyond reality, as Bob communicates with Ray via Scrabble tiles.
This story has amazing structure. It’s told in scenes, each focusing on one aspect of Ray K (from Ray V’s POV), and the scenes are not in chronological order. A little confusing at first, but the picture emerges from the chaos, and what a picture: it’s Ray/Ray bodyswap fic! The nonlinear structure works because of the relationship aspects which are foregrounded in each scene - the intensity builds in a satisfying arc. Plus, hot like whoa.
Novella-length WWII-era AU. Elegantly conceived and beautifully written, with spot-on characterizations (and excellent casting choices in most cases) and scorching sex. I love this story so much. Easily my favorite of the 2005 sga_santa stories, and a strong contender for favorite SGA story ever. Seriously. Go read it.
McKay/Zelenka; another one of the stories I read and loved shortly after getting into SGA.