astridv | a few more sga fic recs...

My computer chose today to break down. Which is actually exceptionally good timing as I'd finally finished the last bits of my jobs yesterday. Anyway, I think I managed to ruin the coolers in just over a year. At least I hope it's the coolers. I was about to back up my data when it shut off again, so I gave up on that and brought it to the shop.The most recent back-up must've been months ago *slaps self* so right now I haven't got my bookmarks or my notes. Not to mention Photoshop. Or Word. Or a TV picture. But, I got my trusty laptop, and I got internet access, and the thing's even got a DVD player, so all is good.

fic recs:
Yes Sir, That's My Baby
Sam/Rodney; SG1/SGA; PG-13; 6313 words
Spoilers: No spoilers past the end of season three Atlantis, season ten SG1. Specific references to events in 'The Road Not Taken' and 'Unending'.
Summary: She's pregnant, and it's complicated.

I don't exactly seek out babyfic. In fact, putting the word "baby" in a summary is a safe way to make me back off slowly and shut the window. But I adore McKay/Carter so I checked this one out, and I really liked it. It's cute, it's fluff, the dialog is really on and, yeah... this one's fun, I enjoyed it. I also like the basic idea a lot.

snippet: His face had been falling rapidly as she spoke and he suddenly blurted out, "I hate children!"

"Okay," she replied dubiously.

"They're tiny," he said, "And weird. And you can't employ anything approaching logic with them. I mean, this one's all right so far, but the fact that she represents some sort of legacy which, unlike my life's work, I have absolutely no control over but that people will look at and for some reason associate with me - frankly, it's incredibly disturbing. What if she likes loud, popular music, or ponies, or... other children?"

and another McKay/Carter one:
Torn by

fiareynne
Carter/McKay; PG-13; General spoilers for SGA s4; short

The first time it happens, she tells herself it’s a fluke. It’s very different here, and she’s lonely. They start bickering, like old times, and it’s comfortable, like a pair of jeans you’ve washed a hundred times. Before she knows what’s going on, they’re in her bed and McKay’s got that smug, satisfied look he gets when he’s won an argument, even though she’s fairly certain she got the last word in before things went non-verbal. When he leaves, she gathers her blouse, torn in their haste, and she swears to herself it won’t happen again.

More crack? Why not :)
Coming Soon to a Galaxy Near You! by

trinityofone
McKay/Sheppard; R; 4300 words; humor
Summary: “You’re not the least bit disturbed by this?” John asked. Rodney shrugged. “Well, I’d have preferred a Coffee Bean, but...”

Starbucks, on Atlantis. Doing that thing that they do.

Earth on a Shoestring (Remix of $173.23) by

friendshipper
Team, gen; 3000 words

Roadtrip with aliens.

"Grapes," Rodney said, shoving a handful at him. "You can sample the grapes. Not the eggplants. God."

Charting The Motion Of Planets by Dasha
McKay/Sheppard Pre-Slash; Action, Angst, Drama; Season 2; PG; length: 60K
Summary: On a 'need to know' basis, he probably needed to need to know a little more.

Rodney gets captured by the Genii and, knowing that he won't stand up to torture, decides that suicide is his only possible option. Interesting twist right in the beginning, and the characterizations really ring true.

I've been wanting to rec some genfic over at

stargategenrec. Going through their tags it looks like they already got a lot of my faves listed, unsurprisingly. I have to dig through my fic printouts, I'm sure there must be something gen to rec in there. (Weirdly, upon closer look I noticed that a lot of the stories I mentally stored away as 'gen' do have shipping of some sort or other in it, just not as the main focus.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yikes! Sorry to hear that about your computer, and hope it gets fixed pronto.

Meanwhile, I've been meaning to ask--I am working on comic strip silliness and was toying with the idea of doing color with (say) Prismacolor markers or something, but I remember you said waaaaaay back somewhere that markers made it difficult to get shades without a lot of layering (uh, forgive my lousy art vocabulary) and that it wasn't too hard to pick up basic watercolors. The strips aren't going to be anything fancy, but it would be nice to have a little color. Anyway, are there particular markers you would recommend? Or would you recommend forgoing that option altogether and trying for watercolors? I suspect markers would be easier for me to learn (at least for the very basic things I want to do) but this could just be ignorance speaking.

(I have to admit that I'm worried about the lizard getting into things either way--watercolors could get messy, but if I got less-expensive watercolors and watched her like a hawk maybe she could have fun with those. Markers, on the other hand, I'm afraid she'll leave the caps off and cause them to dry out...)

It's tricky to say, I can't really say which of the too is easier to learn. But Marker might be better suited for what you have in mind, because you might not even want to do much shading and gradients. So they should work perfectly well.

Just one tip: regardless of whether you're going with markers or watercolors, I wouldn't get the less expensive version. It doesn't pay off and makes things a lot harder. Same with paper... if you're doing watercolor, the right brand of paper really matters for the result.

My favorite watercolor brand is Winsor & Newton. And I buy the tubes, not the cakes. Last longer, easier to mix. You can get any color you want with just over a dozen tubes. I use 19 different tubes (while I have 100 markers).

I use Copic and Pantone markers, I think they're the best on the market here. I don't know Prismacolor, I don't think they sell them here. But I hear people mention them a lot.

And yeah, markers: not good for lizards. Or rather vice versa ;). Though even if she got her hands on one and let them dry out, they're always refillable, and you can exchange the tips.

Thank you for the advice. I've heard of Copic and Pantone, I think I even might have a couple Pantone markers from back in grad school when I was messing around.

Maybe I should invest in some washable Crayola markers for the lizard and hope they mollify her. Yay kids' art supplies!

I don't exactly seek out babyfic. In fact, putting the word "baby" in a summary is a safe way to make me back off slowly and shut the window.

Good thing you mentioned that, or I would have skipped the rec altogether! :)

I'm pretty much the same about any kitschy domestic arrangement - in fic, that is.

First I thought I'd title this post "In which Astrid recs babyfic"... but then I figured that way I'd make sure nobody would read it :P

a few more sga fic recs...

and an OT art question

Re: and an OT art question

Re: and an OT art question

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