Fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Stephen Caldwell, Elizabeth Weir, Laura Cadman, Radek Zelenka, Lindsay Novak - the usual Daedalus and Atlantis suspects.
Rating: Teen
Length: 100,449
Content Notes: Contains descriptions of serious injuries, animal attacks, extreme environmental conditions, violence, murder. No AO3 warnings apply.
Creator Links: Sholio on AO3, Sholio's old SGA website
Themes: Working together, Action/adventure, Competence, Hurt/comfort, Novel-length, Epic work, Genfic, Worldbuilding

Summary: When a scientific mission goes wrong, the Daedalus crashes on an ice planet along with Atlantis's top scientists and a ruthless saboteur. Will rescue come before injuries and the elements take their toll? Roughly season two era.

Reccer's Notes: This is a gripping, full-blown novel. The Daedalus crash-lands on a Gateless, uninhabited, icy planet while carrying a number of Atlantis personnel (Rodney, Radek, Elizabeth and Cadman), while back on Atlantis, realising something's gone badly wrong, John, Simpson, Carson, Lorne, et al try frantically to locate them, then to reach them by puddlejumper. It's a thriller about surviving both a disastrous crash and the freezing, inhospitable planet, plus searching for the saboteur or saboteurs who caused the crash. There's tons of detail about how the two groups separately work together to survive, and to find and reach the crashed ship, and then once the relief party arrives their troubles aren't over, with the saboteur still working against them and the logistics of only having puddlejumpers to perform a complex rescue. Sholio weaves it all together masterfully and it's an extremely good read with excellent worldbuilding, better than most pro thrillers. Highly recommended.

Fanwork Links: The Killing Frost on AO3, or here

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Genfic. John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Evan Lorne, Ronon Dex, Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagan, Original characters
Rating: Teen
Length: 79,623
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Grim at times, as it depicts an aspect of WWII.
Creator Links: kristen999 on AO3, everybetty on LJ
Themes: Working together, Action/adventure, Teamwork, Friendship, Genfic, AU: historical, Novel-length

Summary: WWII-based AU. The Team as we know it has been transplanted to the South Pacific.

Reccer's Notes:
This tour de force is a novel-length story by kristen999, assisted by everybetty, an historical AU set in Papua-New Guinea, in WWII. It's pretty male-centric because of that, but does include Teyla as a local liaison with intel about the enemy. It's got lots of plot, great action and adventure, and an excellent sense of place - you can almost feel the tropical heat making you sweat and hear the mosquitoes whine. The story is illustrated throughout with lots of period photos from the time. It's told from all of the team's POVs, particularly John's (he's a pilot, of course, with Rodney and Ronon on his flight crew). Naturally, John gets thoroughly whumped, in the best genfic tradition. There's tons of atmosphere, friendship and teamwork, and it's a really great read.

Fanwork Links: Long Ago (and Far Away)

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG1
Characters/Pairings: Teyla Emmagan, Cam Mitchell, John Sheppard, Jack O'Neill, Ronon Dex, Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter, Miko Kusanagi, Rodney McKay, Teal'c
Rating: Gen
Length: 1505
Creator Links: LtLJ on AO3
Themes: Working together, Teams, Humor, Action/adventure

Summary: Five things that happen on missions where SG-1 and SGA-1 go through the gate together.

Reccer's Notes: A great example of the 5-things format - five dramatic, telling, and sometimes amusing times when members of the premium gate teams of Earth and Atlantis worked together. The last one's an absolute classic!

Fanwork Links: Five Joint Missions, Post-Retrograde on AO3
and I podficced it, here.

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Genfic. John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Elizabeth Weir, Rodney McKay, Aiden Ford, Steven Caldwell, Jack O'Neill, Cowen
Rating: G
Length: 27,574
Content Notes: Major character death. John has no special relationship with Atlantis and dislikes the city's voice in his head. Dossier's original Notes are here.
Creator Links: dossier on AO3
Themes: Working together, Character development, Teamwork, Action/adventure, Genfic

Summary: I had set the galaxy afire because she had given me her loyalty and trust.

Reccer's Notes: Yes, it's MCD, but hear me out. Dossier creates an AU story of Sheppard as Laurence of Arabia, eventually saving Pegasus from the Wraith. Like Laurence, he dies in a motor vehicle accident, which happens right at the start so you know what you're in for. The structure works well - a 3rd person account of his death, then the story itself from the expedition's arrival in Atlantis, told in John's first person POV like T. E. Laurence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", then a last 3rd person section about his death and the birth of his legend. Sheppard doesn't mercy-kill Sumner in this - he remains ostracised and mistrusted by the mainstream military and carves out a role for himself by "going native" and working together with Teyla and the Athosians, and eventually other Pegasus peoples, finally masterminding an alliance that destroys the Wraith, but being wounded himself and losing 20 or so years from a Wraith feeding. As with Laurence, he's ultimately tormented by the deaths he feels responsible for along the way, especially the massive genocide of the Wraith, and he dies on Earth, alone and largely unrecognised. But in Pegasus, it's a very different story. Not a comfort read, but a powerful and well-told story that fits Sheppard's character.

Fanwork Links: Nils Nisi Bonum