Reading

Come Back Later (by Cottontail) (Mature)

Shows: SGA, SG1
Rec Category: Alternate Universe - canon divergence
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, Jeannie Miller, Caleb Miller, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter, Teal'c, Cam Mitchell
Categories: M/M
Words: 8673
Warnings: no AO3 warnings apply. Grief.
Author on DW: n/a
Author's Website: Cottontail on AO3
Link: Come Back Later on AO3
Why This Must Be Read: This goes AU at the end of Tao of Rodney - Rodney ascends, rather than figuring out a last minute save. So the fic starts with John's grief, linked to his unacknowledged feelings about Rodney. He returns to Earth to tell Jeannie and finds he can't bring himself to return to Atlantis. But then, some time later, Rodney returns. I enjoy ascension stories, and this delivers, with an eventual happy ending to comfort us for the pain John has to go through at the start of the fic. An excellent read.

( snippet of fic )

Accepting Me by Tazmy (T)

Show: SGA
Rec Category: Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Madison Miller, Jeannie Miller
Pairings: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Categories: slash, emotional hurt, family, nonbinary character, on Earth
Warnings: No warnings apply
Word count: 3,962
Author's Journal:

sgatazmy
Author's Website: Tazmy on AO3
Link: Accepting Me

Author’s summary:After receiving an email from 12-year-old Madison, Rodney rushes back to Earth with John in tow.

Why This Must Be Read:
This new fic by the wonderful Tazmy revolves around Rodney and his niece Madison, and it's wonderful on so many levels. It's a companion piece to Festering Wounds, Hurting Souls, Loving Hearts, which I recced here, but can easily be read as a standalone.

There’s so much empathy, understanding, and unconditional love woven into the story, making everything feel deeply palpable and giving it real emotional weight. At its heart, it’s about how every living being deserves to be seen, heard, and treated as they wish to be—simply accepted for who they are.
You get to experience all of this through some endearing McShep vibes, with all the best Rodney-ness and John’s loving insights. The glimpses into their own, partially hurtful life experiences are emotionally perfect and add so much depth.

It’s a beautifully written fic where every word lands, leaving you with a warm feeling in your heart.

( snippet of fic )

Entry tags:

a fish called Mac, by Moonlitesonata (PG)

Show: SG-1

Rec Category: Daniel Jackson
Characters: Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, Samantha Carter, Jonas, Cameron Mitchell, team, original character
Categories: gen, episode related, team, angst, Jack and Daniel friendship, friendship, character study
Warnings: Jack warning for some profanity
Author's Journal: unknown
Author's Website:

moonlitesonata
Link: a fish called Mac

Why This Must Be Read: I almost tagged this as "original character" just because of the fish. :) (There are original characters here, too.)

This delightful, insightful story takes a few seconds from Fire and Water and uses that brief snapshot of Daniel's aquarium to create an entire series arc that begins with the acquisition of a fish called Mac at the beginning of S1 and ends after Ark of Truth with, well...

There's friendship and wry humor and thoughtful observation and heart-wrenching grief, and it's both outsider POV and Daniel POV all in one. A very satisfying and intriguing read!

( snippet of fic )

Hathor's New Jaffa, by Rosemarycat5 (T)

Show: SG-1

Rec Category: Self Rec
Characters: Samantha Carter, Original Character, Hathor, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill
Pairings: Samantha Carter & Original Character friendship,
Categories: Gen, Angst, Whump, Episode-related, Episode: s03e01 Into the Fire (Stargate SG-1), Alternat Universe: Canon Divergence
Warnings: None
Author's Journal:

nuh_s
Author's Website: My Ao3
Link: Hathor's New Jaffa

Why This Must Be Read: Written for Whumpex 2025, this one was really fun to play around with the concept, what if Carter was turned into a Jaffa by Hathor? I got to explore a few of my Jaffa cultural headcanons and, of course, whump Carter.

( snippet of fic )

Mirror Image, by cmdonovann (G)

Show: SG-1

Rec Category: Samantha Carter
Characters: Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, There But For The Grace Of God!Samantha Carter, George Hammond, Catherine Langford
Pairings: Samantha Carter & Daniel Jackson friendship, Samantha Carter & Samantha Carter friendship
Categories: Gen, Episode Related, There But For The Grace Of God, Alternate Universe: Canon Divergence
Warnings: None
Author's Journal:

cmdonovann
Author's Website: cmdonovann's Ao3
Link: Mirror Image

Why This Must Be Read: This is such a fun fic written for the Kill Your Double Exchange featuring Carter and TBFTGOG!Carter. What if Carter had followed Daniel through the quantum mirror? The treatment of Carter as a familiar face vs Daniel as an unfamiliar face in canon is interesting.

( snippet of fic )

More Than a Monster, by phantisma (T)

Show: SG-1

Rec Category: Samantha Carter
Characters: Samantha Carter, Janet Fraiser, Daniel Jackson, George Hammond, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, Jacob Carter
Pairings: Samantha Carter and Janet Fraiser friendship, SG-1 Team
Categories: Gen, angst, hurt/comfort, friendship, dramaeral and SG-1/SGA specific; drama; episode related; five things; friendship, both generic and specific; gen; het; humor; hurt/comfort; kidfic; slash; and team]
Warnings: Temporary Character Death
Author's Journal: unknown
Author's Website: phantisma's Ao3
Link: More Than A Monster

Why This Must Be Read: Imagine, if you will, vampires in SG-1 science fiction style. This fic perfectly keeps with SG-1's tone and characterization for a vampire story. Carter dies. And wakes up. But she's different and has to deal with that. Carter, Janet, and Daniel especially shine in this story. There are also some Jack moments that are just perfect even though he has a smaller role.

( snippet of fic )

Entry tags:

monthly reccers

July reccers

Many thanks to

cassiope25,

goddess47,

mific, and

nuh_s for all their June recs! We had 13 recs this past month.

Our reccers for July are:

cassiope25: Rodney McKay

goddess47: Jack O'Neill

mific: AU

nuh_s: Samantha Carter

smilebackwards: John Sheppard

Reccers, you all have access and can start posting at any time. Remember that you have committed yourself to reccing at least two fics over the course of the month, although of course we will be happy with more. Feel free to use the copy-and-paste template from the reccer's FAQ for your convenience.

If you wanted to volunteer for this month and didn't have a chance to sign up, drop a comment here and I'll happily add you to the list.

The Matchmaker by lavvyan (G)

Show: SGA

Rec Category: Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay, OC, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, John Sheppard
Pairings: Rodney/John
Categories: slash, pov outsider, hurt/comfort, future fic
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Words: 4,231
Author's Journal:

lavvyan
Author's Website: lavvyan on AO3
Link fic: The Matchmaker
Link: podfic

Author’s summary: Nelan goes to see the Matchmaker.

Why This Must Be Read: I love stories with a sensitive, loving outsider POV on Rodney, and this one by the amazing lavvyan is one of the best. It’s beautifully written and an absolute joy to read. It starts like a fairy tale—neatly woven, with lovely, heartwarming world-building—and quickly adds the shadow of something horrible that has happened. You’ll get to see how Rodney has adapted, still being his unique, unmistakable self.

This story will get under your skin, break your heart a little, and make you feel deeply for Rodney, seen through the eyes of a wonderful, sweet OC. It’s an outstanding piece, and there's also an equally outstanding podfic by cookiemom6067 that adds beautifully to the experience.
I can promise you a heart-wrenching, deeply moving, yet joyful happy ending.
And one thing: make sure to have some tissues nearby. Trust me — you'll need them!

( snippet of fic )

Rebuilding journal search again

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

Routines (and a missing scene) (by lavvyan & temaris) (Teen)

Shows: SGA
Rec Category: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Characters: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Categories: M/M
Words: 1719
Warnings: no AO3-type warnings apply
Authors on DW:

lavvyan,

temaris
Authors' Website: lavvyan on AO3, temaris on AO3, terialk on the Audiofic Archive
Link: Routines on LJ (backup)
Missing scene on LJ (backup)
podfic by terialk of both parts here
Why This Must Be Read: Routines is a charming fic featuring Atlantis's AI subroutines and their relationship to Rodney, with John and Rodney's relationship implied. That fic is from the POV of the city's self-defence AI while Rodney's battling a catastrophic fault in an overloading naquadah generator. In the Missing Scene (co-authored with

temaris) we're in John's POV - his feelings and helplessness from outside the room, where Rodney's locked him out. The sentient AIs are interesting, and it all works out very satisfactorily.

( snippet of fic )

Entry tags:

volunteer post

July reccers volunteer post

This entry will be open through the 30th. The July reccers post will hopefully go up some time on Tuesday.

Comment with the username you'll be using to rec and the category you want. Choose a category from the list below or select a more rare category that has been used in the past. If you want to rec a category that is not on the list below or in Memories, that's fine, too: you may volunteer for a category that isn't listed.

By signing up, you are committing yourself to reccing at least two (preferably four) stories in that category during the month of July. June reccers who wish to sign up again should rec their minimum two for this month before doing so. You don't have to check the Memories before choosing which stories to rec. If you have a good fic to rec, go for it! Do remember, though, that story links must be freely accessible, without requiring any sort of login to view. The FAQ and rec template, with detailed instructions, can be found here. Reccers may add self-recs once they have done their minimum two for their category of the month, and see more details at the FAQ entry.

You must be a member of

stargateficrec in order to post. So if you're a new reccer, be sure to join the community.

( Common but not exclusive categories )

Remember: first come, first claimed!

Identity Crises by busaikko (T)

Show: SGA

Rec Category: Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard
Pairings: Rodney/John
Categories: slash, emotionalhurt/comfort, alternate reality
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Words: 1,485
Author's Journal:

busaikko
Author's Website: busaikko on AO3
Link: Identity Crisis [Fic and Podfic]

Author’s summary: Rodney, the wrong John, and the right John.

Why This Must Be Read: This is a short but powerful fic by busaikko that features Rodney, who's confronted by an alternate John and dealing with it in his endearing, bulldozing way. It’s a story full of subtle humor, but also brimming with raw emotion, conveyed through Rodney’s oh-so-familiar rants—and an ending that won’t let you go: quiet and bittersweet.

You get the fic along with a fantastic podfic from bessyboo that captures all the emotion and atmosphere in an exceptionally vivid way. So don’t miss out on this amazing, perfect double treat!

( snippet of fic )

Where You Want To Be (by semivowel) (M)

Shows: SGA
Rec Category: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Carson Beckett, Elizabeth Weir
Categories: M/M
Words: ~13,000
Warnings: no AO3-type warnings apply
Author on DW: n/a
Author's Website: semivowel on LJ

Links: part 1 on LJ & part 2 on LJ
(backups on Wayback) part 1 & part 2
podfic by constance_b on the Audiofic Archive

Why This Must Be Read: This is a classic, but it's never been reccd here and might be a bit overlooked as semivowel's fics are only on LJ. It's from John's POV as he finds himself increasingly attracted to Rodney after an AMTDI ceremony. There are adventures, and missions gone wrong, and through it all John pines and gives Rodney mixed messages and denies himself. But fear not, it all comes right in the end! A great read, and the podfic's also excellent.

( snippet of fic )