Title: A Failure of Leadership
Author's LJ/DWJ: trindajae
Categories: other media, episode related, Jack, character study
Warnings: none
Author's Webpage/Fic list: unknown
Link to story: A Failure of Leadership

Why this should be read: This fascinating character study of Jack and how his leadership (or lack thereof) impacts his team was posted back when redial_the_gate did The Other Side, but it's stuck with me ever since. I really like how Trindajae gives us a different perspective on why everyone behaved as they did during this rather fraught episode. Don't forget to browse the comments, too, for further discussion!

Full disclaimer: Why, yes, I was a mod at Redial. :)

Title: Child, Choice, and Crocodiles
Author's LJ/DWJ: I think magistrate
Categories: Character Study, Friendship, Sha're & Janet, Sha're, episode related (Forever in a Day)
Warnings: none
Author's Webpage/Fic list: http://archiveofourown.org/users/magistrate/
Link to story: Child, Choice, and Crocodiles
Why this should be read: There absolutely need to more fics about Sha're. This one is a real gem. Sha're after being rescued, speaking to Janet, speaking of fears and gods and... crocodiles. It's touching and raw and true.

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Title: Structural Integrity
Author's LJ/DWJ: etrangerici
Categories: episode related, theme: Jack friendship, angst, character study, team
Warnings: none
Author's Website: unknown
Link to story: Structural Integrity

Why This Must Be Read: Just when you think there can't be possibly be yet another good episode tag for Shades of Grey, you discover an absolute gem like this one, in which a heavy-hearted Jack thinks he's lost his team and their friendship... and discovers that he hasn't.

Stellar Jack POV and characterization lend an extra degree of impact to etrangerici's story. Teal'c is a stunning bulwark, both figuratively and literally. Sam uses her military knowledge to comprehend Jack's choices. And Daniel - watching Jack watch Daniel slowly talk his way into understanding will move you nearly to tears.

Lovely, lovely teamy goodness. This one is just plain fantastic.


He finally felt that he was solid on his foundations once more. Because they were his team. And they weren't letting go.

Title: The Undefended Territory
Author's LJ/DWJ: juliefortune
Categories: team, lost episode, drama, Jacob, angst, friendship
Warnings: references to canon minor character deaths, team whumping, language
Author's Webpage/Fic list: currently unavailable
Link to story: The Undefended Territory

Why this should be read: SG-1 gate to an ice planet and plunge, quite literally, into disaster. When what ought to be a routine rescue fails, Sam and Teal'c are forced to retreat to the Gate for help while Jack and Daniel struggle with injuries and hypothermia. With the SGC in lockdown and something deadly waking up beneath the ice, how can Sam and Teal'c get to Jack and Daniel in time?

Tok'ra cold-blooded pragmatism goes head-to-head with SG-1 loyalty and loses miserably; Jack and Daniel make the ultimate emotional sacrifice and give up their most cherished pasts for each other's lives; and the reader comes away from this amazing story with the mental shakes and a burning need to read everything else Julie has ever written.

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Title: The Knife's Edge of Madness
Author's LJ/DWJ: none known
Categories: au, drama, episode related, awesome women, repercussions, super sam
Warnings: None
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Strix_varia25
Link to story: The Knife's Edge of Madness
Why this should be read:

In Desperate Measures, what if the team hadn't found where Sam was being kept?  That's the premise of this well-written AU.  Instead, Sam escapes on her own ... but with a traumatic brain injury that leaves her disabled and with only fleeting memories of who she is and where she comes from, and what she does for a living.  This is a Sam stripped of everything she takes for granted: her status in the Air Force, her team, her body, even her mind.  This is a Sam struggling with the frustration of trying to relearn the basics of every-day life.  This is a Sam trying to reconcile memories of impossibilities--wormholes, aliens, starships--in a world that doesn't know about the Stargate Program.  Yet through it all, she remains the Sam we know and love.

 

( The physical therapists descended like locusts )

 

The Knife's Edge of Madness

Title: Tarantella
Author's LJ/DWJ: gooligan
Categories:  team, suspense, era: season 3-5, character: original
Warnings: language, creepiness, violence
Author's Webpage/Fic list: fanfiction.net
Link to story: fanfiction.net
Why this should be read:

During a scientific mission gone wrong, SG-1 plus Daniel find out that the uninhabited planet they're studying isn't quite as empty as they first thought. Now, chased by something through the ruins of a jungle city, Daniel and the sole surviving member of SG-10 must make it back to the gate alive. Meanwhile, rescue is having problems of its own and radio contact is sketchy at best.

Everyone's characterization here is just perfect, including the original characters. Daniel is true to form, trying to unravel the mystery and understand their pursuers even when he's just as terrified as everyone else. The rest of SG-1 shine as well, as they balance concern for their teammate with the duties of a rescue team. The emotions are very well written; you can feel the desperation as they try to keep calm and try to stay alive in a situation that is way over their heads. And the pace doesn't let up until the story is over, keeping you on the edge of your seat until the very last chapter. A note, though: if you find the premise of the series Alien too freaky to watch, you might want to tread carefully.

Thsi may or may not fall under the stranded off-world category. There's nothing actually wrong with the Stargate and the SGC even sends help, but the characters are several days away and there's a horde of creatures between them and it.

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Title: What Do You Get If You Cross...
Author's LJ/DWJ: pepper_field   pepper
Categories: Kidfic, Teal'c, Cassie, Humor
Warnings: None
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Stargate fic on LJ   Stargate fic on DW
Link to story: What Do You Get If You Cross...

Why this should be read: When I was looking at Pepper's fics I saw another fun kidfic with Cassie and Teal'c, how could I resist? In this sweet little fic, Teal'c goes to fellow alien Cassandra Fraiser after the rest of SG-1 compeletly fail to understand Jaffa humor in the third season episode "Seth".

There is a wonderful remix by sixbeforelunch, Elephant Jokes (the only slightly evil remix), which I also recomend highly.

No one gets Teal'c.

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Title: Second Chances
Author's LJ/DWJ: n/a
Categories: kidfic, team, angst
Warnings: none
Author's Webpage/Fic list: on JD Divas
Link to story: Second Chances

Why this should be read: Remember how awful it was when the Gamekeeper made Daniel rewatch his parents getting squished? You know how Daniel impulsively acts to save people? Yeah, well ... when SG-1 goes on a mission into a parallel universe, thirty years in the past, Daniel sees little Daniel still in shock from his parents' death, and snatches him away from the indifference he knows the boy is going to experience.

SG-1 has to help big Daniel through the emotional issues from his childhood he never really got over, find a real home for little Daniel, deal with the physical symptoms of two of the same person in the same universe, and figure out how not to screw up the reality's future. Along the way Jack enacts another fix, played out beautifully in an epilogue by Darcy. It's everything you could have wished for our angsty heroes, even if only in the parallel reality.

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What happened to all those enthusiastic kidfic reccers?

Title: Coming Into Being
Author's LJ/DWJ: loneraven
Categories: kidfic, team, humor, Hammond, Janet, Rothman, Nyan, Jacob
Warnings: none
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Sleeping With Ghosts
Link to story: Coming Into Being

Why this should be read: So the members of the team are suddenly downsized. What makes this so much fun, though, is the secondary cast of characters – Hammond, Janet, Jacob, and even Robert Rothman and Nyan (two of my favorites, to be honest!).

While the antics of the children are enjoyable – Jack’s Froot Loops, Daniel’s passive resistance against speaking (or wearing shoes), Sam’s flat refusal to wear anything pink and frilly – it’s really the reactions of the adults around them that make the reader smile. There’s Rothman’s frustration that his boss has turned into what he considers to be a horrible child; there’s Jacob’s secret delight at having some time back with his little girl again. And there’s Teal’c’s bemusement at the personalities of his younger teammates, and Nyan’s drive to help, and Janet’s struggle to communicate with Daniel...

This one is fluffy and fun, with a little character study sneaking around the edges. And it’s definitely a fic that you’re sure to enjoy.

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Title: I Like the Quiet
Author's LJ/DWJ: sg_wonderland
Categories: Ep related, Janet friendship, Janet, Hammond, angst
Warnings: none
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Wonderland's Fanfiction
Link to story: I Like the Quiet
Why this should be read: This short, sweet piece offers a different perspective on Out of Mind/Into the Fire - what it was like for Janet and George during those wrenching three weeks when SG-1 was MIA and Teal'c was near death. The extra humor of the teamy goodness at the end just makes it that much more fun!

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Title: Through the Eyes/Legacy of the Serpent
Author's LJ/DWJ: unknown
Categories: getting snaked, Daniel, team, drama, angst, Jack and Daniel friendship
Warnings: language, violent imagery, Goa'uld torment of the host
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Eos at Stargatefan
Link to story: Through the Eyes of the Serpent/Legacy of the Serpent

Why this should be read: Written in fantastic Daniel-voice with wonderful characterization all round, these two fics are a double treat. In the first, Daniel is taken as a host; in the second, he and the team struggle with the aftermath. Superb team interaction, Jack at his most dangerous, snappy dialogue with just the right leavening of humor - it's all here, and it all makes a riveting, intense read.

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Title: Az'heni
Author's LJ/DWJ/AO3: aurora_novarum   aurora_novarum   Aurora_Novarum
Categories: Sam, Team, Tok'ra, Drama, Angst, Adventure
Warnings: None
Author's Webpage/Fic list: List of My Stories   Aurora Novarum at AO3
Link to story: Az'heni

Why this should be read: Because it's a fun, well written, off-world team adventure with freezing weather, daring rescues, unexpected goa'uld, and snow ball fights. And it's also an excellent exploration of the repercussions for Sam of having had Jolinar as host and her own responsibility for Jacob's current position as a Tok'ra host. About 10,500 words.

A stressful first encounter with some offworld natives leads to more of the unexpected and causes Sam to wrestle with some of her recent past. Set pre-Seth Season 3

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Title: Lost in Translation
Author's LJ/DWJ: unknown
Categories: under the influence, drama, team, humor, Walter, Janet, Hammond
Warnings: influence-induced kinda-sorta pairings (nothing explicit)
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Vathara at FF.net
Link to story: Lost in Translation

Why this should be read: A Goa'uld is too lazy to read the instructions, and a rabbit-shaped yellow furball almost takes down the SGC... entirely by accident!

I am very fond of this fic - it was the first ever story I recced! - and it is both hugely entertaining and easy to visualize as an episode happening on-screen. Like many other older FF.net fics, the scene breaks have been stripped out, making it somewhat hard to follow; but trust me when I say that it's worth it. Even with the extra "Danny"s. :)

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Title: Control
Author's LJ/DWJ: mrwubbles
Categories: Under the Influence, WIP, Hurt/Comfort
Warnings: Violence
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Yum@'s Stargatefan Page
Link to story: Control
Why this should be read: Yes, this is a work in progress and unfortunately I don't think it'll ever be finished. That being said, though, I believe this is one of the classics in fandom and should be read and savored. Daniel is rescued from a mission (one he was on without the rest of SG-1) in terrible shape. We learn what did/might have occurred throughout the fic and meanwhile we also watch Jack trying desperately to get through to Daniel and always believing the Daniel he knows will truly come back to them once again whole. It saddens me that this fic was never completed (because selfishly I want to find out what happens), but it doesn't keep me from re-reading it. Set aside plenty of time to read this and then plenty of time after to imagine your own continuation of the story.

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Title: Infirmary Notes
Author's LJ/DWJ: aurora_novarum/aurora_novarum
Categories: Drama, Humor
Warnings: Mild Language (by author)
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Master Fic List on Dreamwidth
Link to story: Infirmary Notes

Why this should be read:
This is probably one of my all time favorites. Its a day in the life of the SGC's Chief Medical Officer, as narrated by the CMO through her dictaphone. She brings in many characters from several teams, including SG-1, and Janet's day is filled with stress, drama and a bit of humor each day.

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