Not In The Stars by greenconverses (PG-13)

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Teyla Emmagan/John Sheppard
Pairing: pre-ship (pre-meeting) Teyla Emmagan/John Sheppard
Category: Teyla Emmagan/John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, John Sheppard, Character study, Alternate reality, Role swap, Gen, Het
Warning: PG-13 for realistic soldier language
Author on LJ: http://greenconverses.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/179301/Kioko or http://greenconverses.livejournal.com/tag/fic
Link: http://greenconverses.livejournal.com/59360.html or http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4140213/1/Not_in_the_Stars

Why This Must Be Read: Teyla is the Air Force major and John the Pegasus native in Not In The Stars by greenconverses aka kioko. tielan's also done a series of stories exploring with this genius concept. I love both author's different approaches and recommend both. I chose to spotlight greenconverses's more lyrical and less humorous take because it's the less well known piece.

Not In The Stars is deeply moving. The author plays thoughtfully with the differences in their lives due to the role switches and how both lives would diverge from canon due to their difference in gender and essential natures. This is a fascinating pre-ship and gen character study of what parts of John and Teyla are nature and what parts are nurture. Of course, nothing could change their electric chemistry, displayed when they meet at the story's end. I long for a sequel (hint, hint).

( A snippet... )

What Happens In Vegas by wedjatqi (PG-13)

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Het
Pairing: Teyla Emmagan/John Sheppard
Category: Het, Teyla Emmagan/John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan & John Sheppard friendship, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Comedy
Warning: hangovers?
Author on LJ: http://wedjatqi.livejournal.com
Author's Website: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/953524/Wedjatqi or http://wedjatqi.livejournal.com/28033.html
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4656869/1/ or http://wedjatqi.livejournal.com/31423.html

Why This Must Be Read: John wakes up to find himself naked and in bed with a sleeping Teyla after a wild and drunken night on the town in Las Vegas in What Happens In Vegas by wedjatqi . He struggles to remember what happens before Teyla wakes up. The story doesn't need much more introduction after an enticing lead line like that. wedjatqi delivers her usual humor, beautifully-written emotions and excellent John point-of-view. It's as deliciously awkward, angsty and tension-filled a morning after as one could hope. I cannot beg enough for a sequel.

( A snippet... )

Diplomatic Relations by b5delen (R)

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Het
Pairing: Elizabeth Weir/Steven Caldwell, hinted Lindsey Novak/Ronon Dex
Category: Het, Plot-What-Plot, Elizabeth Weir/Steven Caldwell, Elizabeth Weir, Steven Caldwell
Warning: explicit heterosexual sex
Author on LJ: http://b5delenn.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: none known
Link: http://b5delenn.livejournal.com/2456.html

Why This Must Be Read: Weir and Caldwell are a rather an ignored pairing but they had such great love/hate chemistry.  b5delen will hopefully win you over to the possibilities of their contentious and fiery relationship in the very enjoyable Diplomatic Relations.  When the two finally give into their attraction/irritation, the sex is explosively hot and definitely not for the prudish! The story, which also can be read in Spanish, won an Isis award. 

( A snippet... )

Coming Back Home by EvaFlack001 (PG)

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Het
Pairing: Laura Cadman/Evan Lorne, past Laura Cadman/Carson Beckett, Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill, Jennifer Keller/Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan/John Sheppard, Rodney McKay/OFC, Vala Maldoran/Daniel Jackson, Carolyn Lam/Cameron Mitchell
Category: Het, Angst, Comedy, Original characters, Laura Cadman/Evan Lorne, Laura Cadman, Major Evan Lorne, Team, Teyla Emmagan/John Sheppard, John Sheppard, Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter, Alternate reality, Jack O'Neill, Jennifer Keller, Jennifer Keller/Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Rodney McKay/OFC, Ronon Dex, Vala Maldoran/Daniel Jackson, Carolyn Lam/Cameron Mitchell
Warning: none
Author on LJ: http://evaflack001.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1571239/EvaFlack001
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4386920/1/Coming_Back_Home

Why This Must Be Read: One of my favorites for either show, the utterly charming, warm and engrossing Coming Back Home has something for everyone, balancing tense emotional drama with delightfully light comedy. This wonderful story by the talented EvaFlack001 is at its heart a study of the relationships on Atlantis and in the SGC, not just romantic but those of friends, coworkers, parent and child and superior to subordinate. Here as in canon, the bonds of marriage, partnership and friendship are a source of strength, comfort, guidance and joy, and the author wisely allows the dramatic conflict to arise naturally from how these relationships overlap, intersect and change. The list of pairings seems enormous yet each utterly believable couple has palpable chemistry and receives enough attention from the author to make their fans happy. The exquisitely written narrative focuses primarily on is the 'will they or won't they?' relationships of Laura Cadman and Evan Lorne and Sam Carter and Jack O'Neill. Coming Back Home won a 2008 Isis Award in a tough category so, though I am biased as its beta, I think I can safely say you'll love it too.

The enjoayble story opens with Laura Cadman returning back to Atlantis five years after the death of her fiance Carson Beckett, with their daughter, Cara. Laura was pregnant and stationed at the SGC at the time. With the help of friends like Cameron and Carolyn, she survived but her saucy and cheerful demeanor is deceptive. She never recovered from her grief and is thrown off-guard that the base in a warzone she left is now a community of military and scientist families, full of old and new friends who are overjoyed to welcome her back. She's shocked at how quickly it becomes home. Laura tries and fails to keep from losing her heart to Evan, leaving her emotionally torn and fearful. She is wracked with guilt for betraying Carson. The sarcastic Lorne is irresistible as he wholeheartedly courts her and is just as smitten with Cara as with her stubborn mother. He is so brave in his emotional vulnerability that I hurt for him when Laura tries to keep him at arms’ length. In sad contrast to this fragile and tentative love in first bloom, the tortured nonrelationship between Sam and Jack has reached a painfully abortive end. Sam, still the expedition leader here, has finally hit her limit after more than thirteen years of his mixed signals. After an ugly confrontation at Cameron and Carolyn’s wedding, she decides to stop hoping for Jack to be anything but her superior officer and former teammate and to stand up for her self-respect and emotional health. Sam is determined to move on but an equally determined and contrary Jack refuses to let her. Of course their friends meddle with these relationships even while embroiled in their own dramas. Ronon and Jennifer have reached a critical point commitment-wise in their relationship. On the eve of giving birth to their first child, Teyla worries about whether John will still love Torren as much and how their marriage will change. Vala longs for more from Daniel and Rodney tries to woo a pretty and smart major without being humiliated by his friends and godchild Torren, who spies on him and gleefully reports back to John.

The story's quite long but so well paced that the tension never lags and events never feel drawn-out. The author has a canny ear for dialogue and ace comedic timing. There are many laugh-out hilarious scenes, which she expertly builds to a fantastic pay-off, particularly with Rodney and the kids. All the characterizations are incredibly multidimensional and logically evolved from canon, carefully fleshed out with perfect details. The original characters of Cara and (to a certain extent) Torren, are standouts. Even those who despise kidfic will enjoy these precocious and funny cohorts in mischief and mayhem, who have all of Atlantis and the SGC firmly wrapped around their little fingers. Equally vividly drawn is John and Teyla’s adorable newborn (and how enraptured John is with his daughter), enough to kickstart your biological clock. I won’t bore you with a recital of all my other favorite parts but I have to mention how much I love the quiet scenes of female friendship, John and Lorne joking as they efficiently run the military installation, Laura and Rodney's mutually begrudging friendship, the utterly right-feeling depiction of John as an adoring, fun and supportive father, both to Torren and the new baby, and the endearingly soft-touch Rodney, despite his loud protests that he hates children.

( A snippet... )

May Day

[angelsgracie.livejournal.com]

[Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and I are working on the rec'cer list now. The first of the month literally sneaked up on me. While she's going through the list of volunteers, I wanted to take a moment and go over a couple of things quickly.

1. Just a brief reminder that tags are created according to the Rec Category and Category line. Also, certain warnings will be tagged as well. If your entry is tagged by one of the volunteers and you go back and edit your entry, there's no guarantee that the volunteer will go back and correct the tags. The comm is just too big and too busy for me to ask our hard-working volunteers to go back and check and recheck entries. If you ever have any questions about what to list as a category or what to put in the warning, please email me. The Rec Category is always set because that is the category you signed up to rec for the month.

2. I would like to take a moment to clarify that when you volunteer to rec for a pairing (for the intents of this comm), you are volunteering to rec for characters in a romantic or UST relationship. We sent up the friendship category for people who were interested in a gen relationship between two characters. So, for example, if you choose to rec for Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill, you would select stories that have them in a slash or UST relationship. If you volunteer to rec Daniel Jackson & Jack O'Neill, this is a story about their friendship. No romantic involvement. Please watch your categories on these recs. The volunteers will no longer put a friendship tag on a Pairing entry.

Now, there are stories out there that start out as friendship but lead to romantic involvement. These would be Pairing stories as well.

Lastly, if you have a story that you feel is well and truly both, then there's a category for you too. :) Just go to the character section and volunteer for one of the characters for a month, and rec that story there.

We really strive here to make sure that there's something for everyone. We've been very fortunate that everyone on this community shows respect for other people's tastes and fandom love. I just want to make sure that we keep the categories straight and don't start crossing them over into one another.

Thank you!

May Rec'cers

[angelsgracie.livejournal.com]

Character

Teyla Emmagan-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
John Shepherd-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Rodney McKay-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Cameron Mitchell-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Evan Lorne-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Teal'c-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]

Friendship

John Shepherd & Rodney McKay-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]

Genre

Five Things-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]

Pairing

John Shepherd/Rodney McKay-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Rodney McKay/Teyla Emmagan-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Jack O'Neill/Samantha Carter-- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]