The Taste of Apples by Auburn (PG)

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Gen
Pairing: none. characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagen, Aiden Ford, Elizabeth Weir, Carson Beckett, Sergeant Bates, Radek Zelenka, OCs.
Category: SGA, First Season, team-fic
Warning: none
Author on LJ: auburnnothenna
Author's Website: Allusions
Link: The Taste of Apples
Why This Must Be Read: We're fans of a science fiction show, and it's only relatively rarely that the fanfiction reflects that--a lot of the fanfic could take place in an office or a lab or a military base, not necessarily in another galaxy (and, with all the SGA AUs out there, a lot of times even the pretense of a sci-fi show is dropped). This story doesn't let you forget that our heroes are inhabiting a sci-fi world...

"It's spooshy," Ford said. "The ground, sir."

"Spooshy?" McKay echoed. "Don't get too technical there, Lieutenant. It's some sort of ground cover. Like ice plant, only… not." He donned gloves, crouched and scooped a sample into a vial. It was actually a semi-transparent mat of thin, hair-like growths. Pressure bruised the almost fleshy sprouts; they had a high moisture content apparently and broke easily under his fingers.

"What would you call it, Rodney?" Sheppard asked. "Because I'm favoring 'smooshed', myself."

Besides the SF flair, this is a moving, character-driven story about the nature of self. I loved how this story explores the relationship between the four Season One team members.

*~*~*

Comments

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of anything Lois Mcmaster Bujold (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-0661124-9517661?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Bujold%2C+Lois&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go) writes, and I just read and liked The Sharing Knife and its sequel, although those are fantasies rather than hard SF. She does write military-style SF in her Vorkosigan series, though. What good SF have you read lately?

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

So, I just finished "The Taste of Apples", excellent rec, thank you!

Bujold- I love her SF, but don't care for her fantasy at all. I read the first one of The Sharing Knife books (which I reviewed here (http://redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com/12169.html#cutid2)). It's frustrating, because she's a good writer in many ways. I just wish she'd bring some of the plotting and pacing skill she shows in SF into her other work.

I think what I've most liked in recent SF is Tanya Huff's Valor series. Classic military SF, with enough humor to make it enormous fun.

If I were going to recommend just one SF book for all time, I think it would have to be Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky. Big ideas, creepy bad guys, sense of wonder, terrific characters, and a twisty plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I keep trying to reread it to figure out how he did it- and every time, I lose track of what I'm doing and just get sucked into the plot.

Let's see... (one of my resolutions this year was to keep track of everything I read, which makes this whole rec thing so much easier!)... Oh! Yes, Steve Stirling's new book The Sky People was a lot of fun. Venus. Dinosaurs. Dirigibles! Okay, so not so SFnal. It's a 'what if the solar system had turned out to be like the writers of the pulps imagined it' novel. (Which I also reviewed. (http://redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com/12708.html#cutid1)) I'm looking forward to the next one of these.

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

thanks for the book recs! I love Tanya Huff's fantasy, her Blood Books (http://www.amazon.com/s/103-2899302-4121441?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link%5Fcode=qs&field-keywords=%26%2334%3BTanya%20Huff%26%2334%3B%20Blood&sourceid=Mozilla-search) and Keeper Series (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-2899302-4121441?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22Tanya+Huff%22+Keeper&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go) (that last series is just damned funny, if you're into humor), but I've never seen her SF, so it's time for a visit to the Library, methinks.

I also used to read a lot of Vernor Vinge, so I'll check out his stuff, too.

Have read some Steve Stirling, but don't recall if I liked him or not...

Have you read any of Kage Baker's Company (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-2899302-4121441?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22Kage+Baker%22+Company&Go.x=11&Go.y=9&Go=Go) books? What did you think?

I'm glad you liked the rec!

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

Oh, if you love the Blood books, you seriously also need to read her Smoke series. Tony, from the Blood books is the hero of those. They're terrific. I may have to reread the Keeper series- I read them when they first came out but don't recall much about them.

Vinge- Deepness is kind of a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep, but they're like 10,000 years apart and you really don't have to have read Fire first. Fire is excellent too, but deeply geeky, and rather harder to get into at first.

S.M. Stirling is probably best known for Island on the Sea of Time, a fantasy where he sends the island of Nantucket back to pre-colonial America. Good, but rather more conservative than Sky People.

I've read most of the Company books. All but the last one, or maybe two? I enjoyed them, but I didn't adore them the way some of my friends do. I didn't care for what'sername, Mendoza. I liked Joseph. Interesting ideas, but sometimes weakly plotted.

One of the things I really look for in fiction is plot and structure, preferably with ideas. Gratuitous POV shifts throw me out very quickly. And stories that just kind of wander around exploring their environment have to have a seriously cool environment to distract me from the lack of plot. I'm a bit more forgiving of stories with a novel structure, where character development is the main point, but I have to really like the character. I love mysteries, and SF mysteries especially. John Stith isn't the most lyric writer around, but I really enjoy his plots. Reunion on Neverend is probably his best work.