A few people have mentioned that it would be nice if I posted links for my Second Series, as well as a brief story summation (since they are all rather distressingly similar, I can see a need for this).  Most of these stories were written before I joined the LJ community and gosh knows, they are too bloody long to re-post them here.  Hopefully I know what I'm doing in setting up this little archive here.  If I am, I will probably gradually make a list of all the stories over time.

The Second Series was never meant to be a series--just a one time story idea that somehow kept sparking others within me.  I guess the easiest explanation is that I enjoy examining my favorite characters through a slightly different lens and wondering 'what if...?'

All of the Second Series stories take place in an alternate universe and deals with Rodneys or Johns from one universe meeting their opposite counterpart in another alternate universe--usually because of the death of a character in the primary universe that has already taken place before the events in the story begin.  The only exception to this is Second Chance, which was written for the 2008sgabigbang and the characters in that story do intersect with canon as part of the big bang prompt for that year.  All are McShep and rated NC-17.


Second Best
This is the story that started it all.  Lt. Colonel Sheppard from one universe is killed in the middle of vital trade negotiations.  Rodney uses a quantum mirror to find a down-on-his-luck Major Sheppard, gambling heavily and in trouble in Miami and persuades him to take on the role of the Colonel. Jay's life is on the skids--he takes Rodney's offer and then finds out he's taken on more than he realizes.  I swear this was written nearly a year before the episode Vegas aired.

Second to None
Sequel to Second Best, where someone in Atlantis has discovered Jay's secret and is threatening to expose him as an impostor, even as a major threat to the city is about to unfold.

Second Fiddle
In a world without a Stargate program, Rodney McKay is undervalued and under-appreciated.  When a Lt. Colonel John Sheppard rescues Rodney from a mugging under mysterious circumstances, Rodney discovers there's a universe out there that needs him.

Second Chance
Major Sheppard makes a last minute decision not to join the Atlantis expedition, with disastrous consquences for all concerned.  An accidental acquistion of a Ancient artifact gives John the chance to make things better for our canon universe.

I want to complain about this past week's episode of The Mentalist, so behind the cut for spoilers...

So I have been playing around with creating a story rec site of my own on delicious, ala cupidsbow. I adore the rec_room; I have found some terrific recommendations there--not just stories but videos as well. And not just McShep or SGA, but across many fandoms, most notably TW, Merlin and the ST:Reboot.

That having been said, it seems that rec_room is devoting less time to my obsession beloved show, and I found myself motivated to go back and dig up some of my favorite stories (many of whom I never bookmarked in the first place) as well as making sure I keep track of new favorites that I run across. This is most definitely a WIP and I will be gradually adding to it over time. But I certainly hope that you all drop in and take a look at some of the stories and vids that have made an impression on me over the years and maybe add them to your own must-read lists. As a WIP, I plan to add a few bookmarks every couple of days until I catch up with my cache of unbookmarked stories--titles collected over 2 years of reading primarily SGA.

I am terribly new to this process, and like all new technical things, I will probably make some glaring mistakes. If you run across some major bloopers here, please point them out and I will try to fix them.

And maybe someday soon, I will stop messing around with things like this (and attempting to podfic *shudders at the efforts*) and get back to doing what I like best, namely writing. And if for any reason this link doesn't work, please let me know. For some reason it does not come up on a search of the delicious site nor when you google it...

sgamadisons_recs

We interrupt the profound silence generated by the vast numbers of people immersed in sgabigbang right now to bring you this important message...


I tend to avoid GW these days, but I occasionally drop in to see if there is anything worth reading. This interview with Rachel Luttrell made me smile..especially this little snippet...

*insert high pitched dolphin noises of squee here*

I just scanned my f-list and saw no mention of sgabigbang so I wandered forlornly over to the site to discover YES! It's up and it is *gorgeous*
May I present 2009 sgabigbang?

And you *must* OMG go LOOK at the artwork bluespirit_star created to go with my story, Second Verse and tell her how fabulous she is. "Another place, another time" Here and "Sunrise" Here.
She gave me everything I could have wanted in these amazing pieces that so capture elements from the story. *happy sigh*

Um, you can go read Second Verse too, which is another in the Second series, this time dealing with an AU Atlantis that didn't have a Rodney McKay in the expedition and what happens when they pick up one by accident. Not necessary to have read any of the other Second stories first--but it follows the usual course--though a bit darker and sadder than my usual fare, I'm told that it has a happy ending and that I shouldn't scare anyone off with overly pessimistic warnings.

My extra-special thanks to the_cephalopod , bluespirit_star , lantean_drift and lisas_secret for their excellent beta support, without which I probably would have given up on the story a long time ago. Thanks guys, you are very special to me. :-)

And if you will excuse me, I'm off to go immerse myself in some awesome stories....

Another SGU rant, so skip it if you have not yet drunk my kool-aid.  :-)

A review of SGU by Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune.

Brad Wright's prickly response and Maureen Ryan's rebuttal.

That he would see fit to make such a statement in a public forum is really mind-boggling to me.

I know, I know, this is my own personal bugaboo, my blind spot, the thing which I cannot let go.  But between Mallozzi's rant the other week and now this, you have to wonder what is going on behind closed doors...

It's no secret that I am a) not watching this show and b) want it to fail in a big way.

But when people ask me why, I can only point to this kind of arrogance.  Mo Ryan's piece echos the concerns I've had about the show based on everything I've seen and heard.  Brad Wright's reaction is utterly in keeping with everything that has pissed me off about the whole show so far.

I just came back from posting a comment on mischief5 's LJ (where she had received an anonymous virtual gift).  I had commented there that I needed to check out the virtual options because I could think of a person or two on my f-list that could use a virtual hug.

I just checked my inbox and saw that a whole host of my f-list just received anonymous virtual gifts...myself included.

I got a virtual typewriter.

*fans self and get stupidly teary-eyed*

Guys.  Guys.  Whoever you are, you can't know how deeply touched I am.  I am currently loathing my nano effort and trying to decide whether I should quit nano altogether (because obviously original fic is beyond my scope) or whether I should substitute a story I'd rather be working on...like one of my backlog of owed McShep stories or one of my smallfandom_bb ideas.

In other words, the typewriter and the encouraging 'good luck for November' couldn't have come at a better time.

Just a quick note to invite everyone to check out the comm known as beer_onthe_pier , the site created by busaikko as a way of allowing people to go and let the mods and awards team for the McShep Awards to know just how much you appreciate their hard work and amazing efforts in bringing together the fans, artists, writers and lovers of everything McShep.

The 2008 Awards came together solely because of the unbelievable dedication of these people, despite the kinds of setbacks that would make a lesser group of people mutter, "aw screw it," and walk away.

The boys would be proud.

Please go tell them how much their efforts, and the McShep Awards themselves,  mean to you.  :-)

A plea from the_cephalopod sent me searching Amazon just now and I discovered that YES!  Defying Gravity (S1) will be available on DVD after Jan 10th.  I can only hope this means the show is doing well enough in Canada that there will be a season 2...

So for giggles and grins, I searched for Women's Murder Club and though the only season has not yet been put on DVD, there was an option to receive an alert for when it did--which I find a hopeful sign.

So even though it would seem the number of people who watched these shows can be counted on one hand, I can at least get my very own DVD copy some day.  Because as much as I appreciate being able to get downloads--I just like watching TV on my TV, you know?

Italics are a convention best used sparingly.  Like salt.  Too much and everything tastes the same.

Do not make the mistake of re-reading your earlier fic when it's already been posted long ago.  Particularly when you've had less than 3 hours of sleep and have been on the road all day.  Because...not only bleh, but majorly cringe-worthy as well.

It's the same reason why you don't revisit medical cases from earlier in your career.  Or think about your life choices at three am in the restless hotel where intermittent sounds bleed through the walls every time you close your eyes.  Like the woman in the next room inexplicably still holding a conversation with someone as you watch the digital numbers change over on the clock and dread the 5 hour drive you are facing at dawn's light.  Or the television somewhere nearby, too low to make out the dialog but hovering subliminally in your conscious thought just the same.

Oh well.  They say we should learn from our mistakes.  But do they have to haunt us?

Why oh why do so many of my LJ friends have birthdays at this time of year?  :-)  I wanted so very much to post something for each and every one of you, but am so far behind now that I fear I will never catch up.  So I am making this a blanket birthday post for the three most recent birthdays that I have already or almost missed: zinfic , neevebrody and bluespirit_star .

You guys (as well as everyone else on my f-list) have greatly enriched my LJ experience and my life. You've been wonderfully supportive and you are all extremely talented.  I wanted so much to provide each of you with an individual gift, but the older I get the more I come to the realization that if you don't have time to make homemade cookies, stop by the bakery and buy some.

Well, I didn't 'buy' this ficlet, but I am asking you to share.  :-)  I hope you all had wonderful birthdays and are looking forward to the upcoming year.

It's not much *places cookies on a dish to pretend they're homemade*, but I hope you like it!

Story title: Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Part of the Cabin Series
pairing: McShep
rating: R
word count: 1,188
Summary: Rodney was determined to win this argument, but John was terribly...persuasive...when he wanted to be.

Pointless and pathetic grumblings behind the cut.


( No, I am not a starving girl-child in Iraq, but... )

So.

I hear there's a John Sheppard That Thing We Don't Talk About meme going around.  Like it was the flu or something.  I gotta tell you, I had a hard time not sniggering my way through the comments there.  Or doing something that might blow my coolness factor, like squeeing or using smiley faces.

So go check it out.  Particularly if you really should be doing something else instead.

Not being technically gifted but not entirely dumb either, I played around with this after following neevebrody 's lead and figured out how to link back to the comment thread in question.  Cool.  My comment thread is here. 


In other news, I've submitted the sgabigbang story and it's out of my hands now, to stand or fall on its own merits or shortcomings.

It's freezing here today and the idea of getting into the pool...*shudders* 

Yay!  The McShep awards are officially open!  I'm so glad that the voting will be open now and only for the next couple of weeks--this way it won't overlap with the sgabigbang , which goes live Nov 12 and I won't be trying to read everything while at the same time slogging away at nanowrimo!

*happy dance*

Go forth and read some excellent fic, people!

*throws confetti in the air and cheers*

I wish I had the time, talent and skills to embed this YouTube video in this post.  Maybe someone will tell me how to do it and when I get back from my out of town trip I can post this properly.  But D sent me this link and I nodded and put it on the backburner list of things to do while I instead dealt with packing and reviewing my presentation and OMG, submitting the sgabigbang story (which I pray they will tell me I successfully submitted before I leave town tomorrow morning or else I will stress about it for the whole 14 hour RT car drive).

I finally got around to checking out the link today and I was blown away.  You should really see this:

Greeting card emergencies (for the person who doesn't know what to say on all sorts of occasions, but especially for coming out)

You know, I simply cannot express how terribly pleased I am with D right now.  Because when you love someone, it is always incredibly validating to receive confirmation that he is more than just a decent guy.  He has his head screwed on straight, that man.

EDIT: On another note, the most recent posting at the 2008 McShep Awards states that voting will open on Friday and remain open for 2 weeks.  I started not to mention it, because they've had so  many RL set-backs, but I got all excited anyway. 

I really can't explain what happened to this story.  I started writing it a few nights ago, intending to create a nice little porny PWP for vida_boheme 's Everything is Better With Porn project (promoted by the inventive and talented melagan ) and somehow it just turned...mushy on me.

*hangs head*

I'm not even sure what to make of the characters here--everything feels a little off and out of balance to me, but maybe that's because the original premise turned on me without warning.  Anyway, for what it's worth...

McShep.  NC-17 to be safe, though the sex is largely fantasized.  Mention of het, in case that offends.

EDIT:  It has been brought to my attention that this story contains an eerie number of similarities to a story written by runpunkrun called A Short History of Dog Tags.   I'm at a loss as to how to explain that, other than the fact that I apparently read and reviewed Punk's story on wraitbait in 2007, though I had no recollection of that until I went on a story search.  It was truly not my intention to place so many similar elements in a story--regardless of the fact that I took them to a different conclusion.  I would invite you to read both stories and then let me know what you think.

I truly love this time of year.  The humidity has finally broken--the days are pleasantly warm and the nights deliciously cool.  The air is crisp in the morning and there is the smell of woodsmoke and autumn leaves all around.  I love the way the light slants through the trees all golden and warm, not yet having slid into the colder, whiter light of winter. 

I love riding in this weather.  I love walking in the woods with the crackle of leaves underfoot and the soft, snow-like way they flutter to the ground with a passing breeze.  I love watching H thunder down the trail past me, only to stop and wait at the bend, tongue lolling as he glances back over his shoulder, his expression saying, 'isn't this fun?'

I often do my best plotting under these circumstances and today was no different.  I'd been playing around in my head with what kind of story I'd do for my Hewligan entry into the smallfandom_bb .  I was having a hard time deciding which characters to pair up, had thought about offering a poll, and had bounced around some minor ideas with various people, like mischief5 , neevebrody and bluespirit_star in comments on another post. 

And suddenly it hit me--the pairing, the basic outline of the story, everything.  I started bouncing up and down in the woods.  "Ash and Moore!" I exclaimed to the trees.  "And I'll make Moore...no, no, wait!" *snaps fingers*  "I'll make *Ash* be the one...oh yes, that will make for a *much* better story because he can be all cool and enigmatic and then when *that* happens, he won't be able to deal and then MOORE will have to be the one who..."

And so on, and so on.

Which made me want to go home and start writing *right away*, despite having to like, you know, work as well as having other stories that take precedence now.  Problem is, I've always thought you should write the story you can see in front of you and the hell with the others--if you're not seeing them, they were meant to wait.  What this will do to my ability to participate in nanowrimo, I don't know.  I was kinda wanting to do some original fic there, but maybe one of my big bang challenges was meant to be this year's project instead...

Speaking of Hewligan, someone asked me the other day for some good links and I had to shrug and point to the 2008 McShep Awards because I don't know of any specific sites other than communities devoted to a particular pairing.  Sites anyone?

Also, (the main reason all this is not behind a cut) I have to take several LONG car trips this month.  I'm looking for some good audiobook recommendations as well as podfic.  Yes, I am still thinking about trying my hand at producing podfic (late one night in secret so that I can destroy the evidence if it truly, truly sucks) but I don't have time to learn how to do something new right now.  So podfic recs?

D sent me this link concerning an article that asked many psychologists what was the one nagging thing about themselves that they did not understand, stated in 150 words or less.

It seemed like a good conversation starter...

My nagging thing is behind the cut.  What's *yours*?

( My one nagging thing... )

I can't believe I've just done this, but I signed up for the smallfandom_bb challenge.  And I chose to do *two* stories!  *gulp*  A Castle (gen/UST fic) and a Hewligan story (slash).  My first ever foray into fanfic waters outside McShep. I've also committed to this year's nanowrimo.

What was I *thinking*??


I find that I'm ridiculously excited!  Which is a good thing.  Just think, I have a lovely excuse for revisiting season 1 of Castle and re-watching Thoughtcrimes...I'm leaning towards a Brendan Dean/Jerry Moore (The Closer) fic for my Hewligan story--I think I've got more to work with there than the John Ash/Moore pairing I was thinking about earlier.  Whee!

And then remember my mentioning that con friends P and M took a picture of me to the Chicago con with them and then sent me pictures of 'myself' doing things at the con?  Well, yesterday tangotabby sent me a picture in the mail--a copy of my photo op with Amanda Tapping from Vancouver--signed with a personalized message from Amanda!  tangotabby , you ROCK!  I can't tell you how ridiculously pleased this made me--almost made up for not being able to attend the con this year.  I'd never really thought about bringing the photo op pix from previous cons for signing before--now it makes perfect sense!

On a less than happy note, ATG bopped me in the eye this morning while he was trying to encourage me to get out of bed.  I suspect I did the eyelid flutter thing as I was waking up and *pow*, he pawed me in the face.  I don't see any dye uptake when I stained it myself this morning, but then again, it's hard to see your own eye...it's definitely irritated. We'll to see what it's like later in the day.  I *really* don't want to spend all afternoon at the ER...