Mixed Bag.

[facetofcathy]

There's everything under the sun here—all the fic, and one meta link, I forgot to post before I got into the SPN Big Bang, and some other things I've read in the last few days when the Big Bang fizzled out for a bit.

• sgareversebang | Fic: Under Fire

Ronon POV on an AU where John and Cam come to Atlantis and find it staffed by Satedans. Young, untempered Ronon is great here, he is noticeably different from canon, as he should be.

I'm not sold on the Cam characterization or the Cam/John, although watching Ronon watch them is fascinating. The culture clash is told brilliantly.

I don't buy the superficial Cam is only the joshing good ole' boy he appears to be any more than I buy the usual John is a tortured soul fanon. Cam is putting on a front, and John is really kind of a privileged asshole in my book, so this is not my version of these characters, but it's a very good read.

Fandom:SGA Cam/John/Ronon

• sgareversebang | Fic: In the Place of Jackals

Atmospheric and somber. Takes the SGC from SG-1--the politically motivated connivers--and puts them in charge of Atlantis on Earth.

Rodney's slow, slow revenge is chilling, but I honestly think he'd lose control more often, be more obviously cracked.

I would have liked this as much (possibly more) without the sex scene and the Keller really isn't as important as John theme. But that's me.

Good yarn.

Fandom:SGA John/Rodney

• Opacity of Paradise - thehoyden - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [Archive of Our Own]

Interesting episode related fic (set after that one where Julian learns all about Garak's father--see how long it's been since I watched this show?) where Garak's method for ensuring he and Julian keep each other's secrets is a sort of marriage.

Fun in places, very good Garak voice and an appearance by Bashir's family that is no more annoying than in canon. Good read.

Fandom:DS9 bashir/garak

• The Pressure of Being Expected To Know: Reflections on Sexual Fluidity - The Pursuit of Harpyness

Insight into the fluidity of human experience. Sometimes you don't know when you're a child. I've seen responses to this saying, yes, lets throw out the whole Gay-Bi-Straight framework, it doesn't work. Except it does work for a lot of people. A lot of people really yearn for an identity that will be understood. They want that Gay label, and they want to make it something of value. So no, let's not throw it all out. Let's try to remember that everybody gets to decide for themselves how to describe themselves, and I don't know is an answer.

Not_Fandom Meta Sexuality

• My Own Adrenaline Needs - sinuous_curve - Fast and the Furious Series [Archive of Our Own]

Brian wants to play. Dom indulges.

We get this from Dom's POV so we get the double track of his playing and his thoughts about the game, which is often not my thing, but this worked really well.

(I wonder if Brian still has that shirt from Tej's garage?)

Fandom:Fast&Furious Brian/Dom

• The Dead Ringer - peggy_lane - Supernatural RPF [Archive of Our Own]

Thin Man AU!!! Modernized but it works. This is essential a pre-threesome, so be prepared for lots of lust for Jensen. The idea of Jared as Nora Charles is just too sublime for words, and it works really well.

The weakness is in the Misha characterization. American culture is so dramatically different now in terms of pop culture moralism about alcohol, that the functional drunk character is impossible to portray without inspiring instant loathing or pity. The reactions of those around him, the kind of happy indulgent and charmed response Nick Charles got, just wouldn't play as believable. I almost think he needed to be a pot head for this to have worked.

Fandom:SPN_RPF Jared/Misha

• Stay Lucky - Chapter 8 - rhiannonhero - As the World Turns [Archive of Our Own]

I read kid fic, and I liked it. Okay, not the first time I've said that, but it is a rare event.

I love this author's take on Reid and Luke and some of the surrounding characters too. Reid in this fic is Reidly hilarious. The scene where he kicks Katie out is perfect.

This author also doesn't hate Chris Hughes, hurrah, so we get canon-compliant Chris-Reid interaction.

It's a long, romantic angst-o-rama with hot, slightly kinky sex with a really interesting dynamic to it.

Gets a little bit too into the symbolic and meaningful sex and relationship stuff at the end, but the ride was great.

Fandom:ATWT Luke/Reid

• A Matter of Death and Life - Rheanna - Stargate Atlantis [Archive of Our Own]

I love the basic idea and the stuff John goes through--such an interesting choice of character to put through such an internal existential crisis!--but the ending is for OTPers, not for me. It's not horrible, far from it, but I didn't have the right emotional reaction to make it work. I do absolutely 100% love the way Rodney's scientific explanation for what John was going through worked with the more woo woo way he saw it.

Very engrossing read and shippers will love it.

Fandom:SGA John/Rodney

• Changes - Chapter 1 - Loz - Life on Mars (UK) [Archive of Our Own]

Gene waits for Sam to grow up and visits him when he's just 18, like Sam asked him to. Then he can't make himself leave Sam alone.

I love the Gene voice in this in particular. Sam is less the oh, so sure he's right modern liberal and there is a portrayal of a realistic sort of prejudice and bigotry in this story that gets exactly how people think the way they do. Fearlessly put in the mouth of the POV character too.

I really enjoyed this story, but I don't quite buy the Annie characterization. She's a bit too accommodating for me to believe.

Fandom:LifeOnMars Gene/Sam

• Fire By Night - free_pirate - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own]

Alternate reality where Sam comes home to John and Dean when Jess dies, and is shocked to hear Dean talk about Demons and monsters.

Dean ends up in a mental institution that is not any worse than what you see in the movies, and Sam spends all the time he can manage with him.

Fairly honest look at how the family without the family business is totally non-functional. I found the story of Dean's experience of what we know as canon as a sign of madness engrossing.

I think I liked it for its bleakness and its unwillingness to make it all better.

Fandom:SPN Dean/Sam

• Match Made, A Fine Job of Bending All the Rules and Be Waiting Where I Left You by longsufferingly

Background for the uninitiated on knotting fic:

There is an unofficial shared universe in SPN RPF fandom within the fans of knotting fic. It began on the kink meme and draws on the idea of knotting--stories where someone, either human, were or shapeshifter/skinwalker, has a penis that "knots" like a dog or wolf. The origin story created a complex world where people are divided into Alphas, Betas and Omegas and draws on kinks of animalistic traits, mating, breeding, non con to some extent, and rigid sexual dynamics that are heteronormative in the extreme.

Most fics don't challenge the underlying ideas in these kinks. The concepts arise out of the same sort of thing you see in a lot of standard werewolf fic, where the pop culture or folklore ideas of animal behaviour are mapped onto people uncritically. Those ideas are often total bunk and are either not based at all on observed behaviour of actual animals or have had a great deal of culture spin applied to genuine animal behavioural science.

The cultural values that underlie that spin are where the unexamined misogyny comes into play, in my opinion. While the stories themselves may be kinky play/subversion on the heteronormative themes, the sources of the trope are never called into question. People think up fantasies about what wolf or dog sex means because they want to shore up their own attitudes about human sexuality, and oddly enough women never come out on top! These stories are nearly all m/m, and so far no one seems to want to write an Omegaism movement into the world.

The three stories linked above arose out of what the author said was her question, "What about the girls?" The first is Danneel/Jensen where Danneel is the Alpha. The second and third are linked stories where Adrianne Palicki and Genevieve Cortese are an Alpha and an Omega who meet in college and don't play by the rules.

And this is what fandom is all about, Charlie Brown. I love these fics, because they don't deny the kinks that are at play in the originals, don't shame the original ideas, and wouldn't exist without the original stories, but they do start to ask some questions, not just, "What about the girls," but other questions about how a society would function with these dynamics. Also, they're funny and sweet and romantic and about queering a text that thought it was already queered. Awesome.

• Step Outside
 by Anon for sga_genficathon

Teyla-centric adventure where our friends live on a single planet being menaced by the Wraith. John, Rodney and Aiden are "from the South" and the story never really explains that, which is a bit distracting actually.

But, it's a well-plotted adventure with some excellent OCs, Sora in a big role, and has a very interesting look from outside at the Team! dynamic we all seem to love on the show.

• Icarus, On a Cloudy Day by Anon for sga_genficathon

Deceptively simple John, Rodney, Ronon, Teyla story about a trip in a Jumper. Lovely imagery, and a beautiful short story.