the night has a thousand saxaphones

( Summer TV roundup, including Leverage and Eureka spoilers. Long and babbly. )

( And two recs- SGA and Glam )

I always forget how many frogs you have to kiss to find the good stuff during Big Bang season, not to mention that I forgot that Kradam Big Bang even existed at all (I have so many more to get to!). This fic reading binge has involved lots of back-button usage and a huge backlog that I will eventually give up on, but it sure has been fun.

I adore fic exchanges.

The problem is that fics get posted in a flood, and I find (IMO) that they seem to get less feedback than they would have if they were posted outside the exchange. So I try really hard to do recs for exchanges.

I am so not fully caught up on sga_santa, and I won't be reading any more until after the Yuletide rush subsides (OMG you people have I said how much I love Yuletide? Highlight of my year), but here's a first-pass rec list! These are recs from among the shorter fics posted in the first half of the exchange. There are tons more I can't wait to read, after the New Year.

( lj-cut is stealthy! )

And anybody who is not hilarytamar and guesses my sga_santa fic totally gets a drabble.

I have been reading. Then today at lunch I wrote! It sucked, yes, but still. If all goes according to plan, one day I may actually be a real fangirl again. (OMG I MISS IT. There is this whole whiny angsty post in my about frustration and procrastination and the problem of knowing what I want to be doing with my time but not being able to get from here to there)

I have my Yuletide canon to review, and my SGA exchange assignment, which I have no clue about. I defaulted the last time I tried to force myself to write via exchange, but Christmas is different. I can do this.

( Recs! )

Point the First: I am having good luck with obscure movies lately. Where the Heart Is was almost embarrassingly adorable (not to mention surreal, bizarre, hilarious, and highly entertaining). Treed Murray was actually quite good- good in a very particular, writerly, theater-feeling kind of way. Actually, it reminded me of nothing so much as Twelve Angry Men, though I'd have a hard time justifying that comparison. In any case, the script was good, I enjoyed the one-set feel, and Hewlett absolutely carried the movie... except for the times when he was outshone by the startlingly magnetic, charismatic, powerful Cle Bennett as Shark the gang leader. And the last Hewlett thing I grabbed, Cube (which has been on my "SF cult movies" to-watch list for years) was creepy as fuck oh my god. So, all in all, I'm liking my movie-picking mojo right now.

Point the Second: In twelve hours, bdblack will be here. With luck, this will help immensely with the current funk.

Point the Third: wyomingnot talked to me about Leverage.

This makes me think: Surely somewhere out there is the crossover/fusion/AU that puts Alec Hardison and Rodney McKay in a room together. It must exist. Think about it.

(Seriously, if Rodney's life had taken only a slightly different turn, he could totally have become a brilliant cyber-criminal. And Rodney would be, like, the old acknowledged master, and Hardison would be the up-and-coming arrogant pup with no respect and they would totally hate each other and then somehow the Leverage team and the SGA team (Spies Getting Awesome! Because John thought the acronym sounded cool. Rodney cannot remember why they ever started letting John name things, but Ronon and Teyla don't care what they're called) end up working the same job. This has the added advantage of having Eliot and Ronon in the same room too, possibly beating each other up. While Rodney and Hardison snark a lot.

If somebody gave me the plot for the job, I would totally write this, but I can't imagine somebody hasn't already)

The thing about SF fandom, sometimes, is that the porn is hilarious. And I don't mean this in a bad way at all- not even a teeny-tiny bit. It's great.

I am speaking, you see, of john_farr, the multiple-AU built around that time John Sheppard went into Ponn Farr (subtitle: because mating cycles are hot!). Or at least, it starts that way (you should start here, which is short and sexy), and then balloons out into no less than four interconnected AUs where, due to Goauld manipulation, human physiology is very different. As an open 'verse the writing is inconsistent, of course- but might I recommend the sequel Skin Hunger, the John backstory Battlefield, and the Uni!John and Virgin!John AU branches?

And the thing about this is that I honestly have no idea if I have to hit my bunk or if I am just going to sit here giggling wildly. Because seriously: shit like this only happens in SF fanfic. Aliens make them do it! Ancient tech gives them telepathy/tentacles/an insatiable sex drive/whatever! Sex pollen! Elaborately constructed plotty setups that boil down to, "due to the applied phlebotinum, you must have sex or die. Get to it." And, seriously, it's ridiculous but it really hits the Id vortex buttons, doesn't it?

And just then I saw that paian posted fic, which always sends me into raptures of joy- but it turns out to be a double whammy. A sex pollen (in her warning, she says: aliens-gave-them-an-excuse-to-do-it. Truth in warnings! ♥) but also an alien-tech SF plot device that is on the face of it sort of ridiculous (in the best possible way) and yet allows for this intense, desperate, bizarre and disorienting non-con voyeurism thing that is hot as fuck and Jesus, I will be in my bunk.

Oh, science fiction. *rueful headshake* Ever since the original Star Trek writers came up with Ponn Farr, the descendants of which are God's gift to porn, I tell you. My love knows no bounds.

(And yes, I've been reading this stuff for a LONG TIME. I have no idea why the ridiculousness of it all hit me so hard just now)

( Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? )

( The Watchmen )

( SGA. Of course )

And for all that the writers didn't seem to know what the strength of their creation really was, that Ur-story of the city on the edge of forever, the expedition to another galaxy, the island-of-misfit-toys vibe of all these dorky, lonely, antisocial Earth outcasts and alien leftovers coming together into a family in the city of the Ancestors, the awe and the wonder and the geeky genre-savvy joy of it... No matter how badly it was mishandled, that basic story is so powerful to me that I can hardly bear it. That is all.

My GOD, y'all, so much drunken Twittering apparently happened last night! Happy 2009 to everyone. I'll be spammy today, as I have to post all my anonymous Christmas fic and answer feedback.

Slipping Into Place
Pairing: McKay/Zelenka, McKay/Sheppard/Zelenka
Rating: NC-17
A/N: sga_santa fic, originally posted here, for sirkate. She requested these characters in some sort of slash configuration, and "sex and cuteness and happy endings." I have no idea if this fits the bill, but it's the story I've got. Have an absolutely wonderful Christmas, and a rewarding New Year! (And thanks to bdblack for an incredible amount of handholding even though he doesn't like slash)

( Radek is lucky he's not a jealous man )

Well, I have gone back through sga_santa and left fb for everything I read before. I’ve been hopping around a lot, avoiding total AUs and anything over 10k words. Instead, I’ve been hitting everything that features Lorne, Zelenka, Ronon, or says “humor,” only foraying into McShep when the plot looks good. Not sure why- just the mood I’m in.

( SGA Recs )
I still have some long ones I want to read, but that's it for now!

Apparently I am capable of writing everything except what I actually should be writing. You see, I was rewatching late Season 1 and early Season 2 for my Zelenka voice... and let me tell you, I had forgotten how utterly wonderful SGA was back then! I mean, fresh and exciting and shiny, before the regular contact with Earth managed to make a far away galaxy seem boring and routine and before the weird colonialism and genocide and crap started up. And the characters! Grodin! Kavanaugh! Beckett! Ford! (Oh, Ford. Young and fresh-faced and innocent and wet behind the ears, so much enthusiasm and sincerity and potential and sweetness. He breaks my heart) Zelenka! (Oh, Zelenka. My Rodney/Radek love has come roaring back. I was Rodney/Radek OTP for so long before I was sold on the John/Rodney)

So, anyway, I watched Duet and Laura Cadman wouldn't shut up. This is an AU of the episode. WIP warning- I'll probably come back to it, but I have deadline obligations!

Open like the Morning Glory
Part 1/?
650 words
Laura Cadman/Katie Brown
Still rated G...

( What was that about the wildflowers on P6X-849? )

Also, I have no appropriate girlslash icon. Some kickass women- Hermione, Sam Carter, CJ, Starbuck, Kaylee, Chuck- but I don't have a single "shameless objectification of a sexy woman or pair of women" icon. Help?

Scratch the Itch
John/Caldwell, John/Rodney
1800 words, hard R.
Summary: John is an idiot.

AN: From the Fannish Bulwer-Lytton, the (fake) horrible first sentence awards. Quite a lot of people wanted to see this one as fic- see the thread. This is CRACK, utterly without pretense at quality. First sentence written by the hilarious tenshinya.

( In which John is an idiot )