Rat Creature's Journal

Stargate: Atlantis

Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology, by Anonymous. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 24,100 words)
It's a magic AU, and I really liked how the magic works here, and how it was mixed with science and Stargate mythology bits.

Little By Little To the Truth; or a Narrative of the Atlantis Expedition, by Anonymous. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 5,800 words)
This is a Steampunk!SGA AU, and beyond the inherent coolness of that, I also really enjoyed the detail and glimpses of their backstories we got here.

Promises of Return (ca. 3,155 words), Reflections on Return (ca. 3,500 words) and This Mortal Coil (ca. 6,630 words), by Azure_Horizon. Het, John Sheppard/Teyla Emmagan.
In this series Teyla didn't join the expedition, but stayed with the Athosians, and just has intermittent contact with John though they are allies. It's a bit bleak, but I enjoyed the John/Teyla relationship here.

Engineering the Fall, by Layton Colt. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 4,300 words)
This is a sequel to Gods that Slumber, which I have recced before, an AU in which John is an Ancient.

Pegasus Ascendant (part two, three), by Tielan. Gen, Teyla Emmagan, John Sheppard. WIP
The Wraith never subjugated Pegasus, so the Atlantis expedition makes contact with a city that has been settled by various Pegasus cultures and has to try to fit in. I've actually recced this before when the first part was posted as a flashfic on its own, but now it has grown into a longer WIP and I thought it worth pointing out again in case you missed the second and third bit being posted (I linked all the parts because last I checked they were not interlinked from the first).

The Year of Jubilee, by vain_glorious. Gen, Ronon Dex, John Sheppard. (ca. 20,750 words)
Ronon never joins the expedition because the IOA objected, but helps to fight the Wraith on his own by trading weapons he builds from a base in the ruined Sateda. He crosses paths with them again when he rescues Sheppard from slavery by buying him, and tries to return him to Atlantis, and things go kind of downhill from there. Part of why I enjoyed this is that I have a slavefic as well as a humiliation and mindcontrol kink, all of which are quite prominent here even though it is a gen story and Ronon doesn't want Sheppard humiliated or enslaved. So I think if either of those squicks you, you might want to skip this, though probably the story will also work for you if you just like h/c and Sheppard whumping.

Supernatural

But Deadly series, by Bella Temple. Gen and het, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Bobby Singer, some Sam/Jess. The individual stories are finished, but the universe is still a WIP.
So far I find the setup of this AU really intriguing. Here John was killed by the YED, Sam and Dean grow up with adoptive parents because Mary left their home right before the demon attacked for a reason that has not been revealed yet, though there are hints, and there is other stuff going on too... anyway, there's three stories so far and the universe has me hooked.

Steam, by Bella Temple. Gen, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, some Dean/Steampunk!Impala bonding. (ca. 30,000 words)
In a post-apocalyptic world Sam and Dean try to figure out what happened, to find other survivors and to make the impala run on steampower. I enjoyed the mystery and the plot twists here, and of course a Steampunk!Impala with Dean as its engineer is awesome.

And Won The Soul's Rest, by Concernedlily. Gen, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester. (ca. 31,000 words)
This is a medieval AU with Sam as a monk and Dean as a mercenary, and the plot parallels to canon with the demon worked very well. As a Big Bang story it also came with art by Glockgal and Reallycorking that complemented the story nicely.

Scheduled for Termination, by Dolimir. Gen, Mary, Dean, Sam. (ca. 20,945 words) This is a fusion between Supernatural and the Terminator universe. Here Mary survived the demon to become a hunter, which in turn equipped Dean to become part of the resistance. Then of course there's the Terminator kind of time travel, so in the end poor Mary has demons after her one son and robots after the other.

Older Than The Days He Had Seen, by Kellifer_fic. Gen, Dean Winchester. (ca. 3,700 words)
This AU is rather sad. It explores how the Winchester family would have been different and yet the same if Sam and Dean had had an older brother.

The Crow on the Cradle, by Kroki_refur. Gen, some Sam/Jess. (ca. 98,200 words)
The starting point here is that one day Sam walks out on Jess, who then searches for him together with John and Dean, and learns about hunting. Not just has this story Jess as a hunter, but Sam is kind of broken in an interesting way that I don't want to spoil too much.

Berserker!verse, by Leonidaslion. Gen, Dean Winchester, John Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, also some het, Dean/Cassie. The individual stories are finished, but the universe is still a WIP.
During Sam's Stanford days Dean has an unfortunate encounter with a berserker (in the context of this universe someone sharing their body with an animal spirit which more or less grants various superpowers), which leads to a wolf spirit choosing Dean as a host. Much angst and complications follow. The series eventually progresses through the first season episodes. (The above link goes to the verse's tag, but you can also go right to the first story Heart of a Wolf, as all following stories are interlinked.)

There is also a rather epic slash continuation of this universe, Fetters of Fenrir (mostly Sam/Dean, ca. 200,300 words), and even though I'm not much into Sam/Dean as a pairing the universe interested me enough to want to read all stories in it. And I enjoyed that novel for the plot which had me hooked, for Dean being hurt in various ways, and also for the supernatural mythology bits about the demons and the berserkers here, even though incest soulbonds are not one of my kinks. However if you are squicked by that pairing, the author's notes mentioned that the regular Berserker!verse will be continued as gen, so you should be able to just skip the slash spin-off novel without being left hanging once the next story of the regular verse gets posted.

Revelations, by Marina Rusalka. Gen, Victor Hendricksen, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester. (ca. 24,200 words)
Here, Dean is an ATF agent who works with Victor Hendricksen on the serial arson case of the demonkids' ceiling fires. I enjoyed that we were led into this AU through Hendricksen's POV, and how Dean and Sam's backstory was revealed gradually. Also it has great art by Ileliberte.

Daylight Refracted, by Pix. Het, Sam/Jess, Dean. (ca. 7,585 words)
This is a really happy making AU in which Jess comes from a family of hunters, survives the YED's attack, and hunts together with Sam and Dean.

Show me a hero and I'll show you a tragedy, by Unperfectwolf. Gen, Dean Winchester. (ca. 2,575 words)
The premise here is the basic "what if Sam and Dean grew up 'normal'?" that is they haven't been raised by John but by other relatives, though John is alive. What it made it stand out to me was that the reality of the demon and John's hunting of supernatural monsters remains ambiguous throughout.

I've updated my AU recs page, and also split it into subpages, which based on my poll from earlier today seems to be the much favored option over one monster page. I hope I didn't mess up anything when I c&p'ed all the stuff into separate pages, but it looks okay to me. The main URL is the same and continues as an index page to the subpages, so no links to my AU recs page will be broken. That page now also lists the most recent updates, like these update posts, so that people won't have to click further than the main page for the just latest recs.

Stargate: Atlantis

A Hundred Happy Things, by busaikko. Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 30,000 words)
Non-Stargate AUs always have a harder time to get me interested, because I like the action and SF elements, but this sucked me in completely even though it is a domestic AU, and a kidfic too. It's an earthside romance between Sheppard and McKay, who takes care of Madison (his career having been somewhat tanked thanks to a sexual harassment lawsuit), while Jeannie is pursuing her own career. The characters were all very human and real (including Madison who was smart but not annoyingly precocious).

The Difference Engine , by Copperbadge. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 21,600 words)
This AU was creepy, yet also funny. The premise was that John dies in Afghanistan and gets resurrected as robot via experimental SGC tech. And okay, I totally have a soft spot for "Sheppard as a robot" stories (though not because I think Sheppard was somehow emotionally stunted, but because robots are awesome), but this was just a quick and fun read.

The Best Things in Life Are Free, by Kajikia. Slash and het, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay/Ronon Dex/Teyla Emmagan. (ca. 3,800 words)
John and his team are con artists and have a run-in with his ex-wife, who works for the government.

Dreams Beneath Our Feet, by Neevebrody. Gen, team. (ca. 9,500 words)
This is an expansion of one of the scenarios from Sholio's Five ways they weren't pirates, which I recced previously. Ronon is captain of a space pirate ship and rescues Teyla and Rodney who managed to escape the Genii. I love this as possible background, and that we get an action-adventure in the an AU Pegasus galaxy.

Supernatural

Golden Lights Go Dark Tonight, by Pix. Gen, Sam Winchester, Ruby, Dean Winchester. (ca. 5,100 words)
I guess this AU is a take on the old theme of the road to hell being paved with good intentions. DarkSide!Sam is not normally my thing, but this story puts an awesome twist on this. It's a dark AU that sucker punches you with its brilliant premise.

Miles Before I Sleep, by Silverkit. Gen, Sam Winchester (there's a brief Sam/OFC sex scene but no relationship). (ca. 1,860 words)
It's a great, if painful, look at a Sam who decided not to go to Stanford, but to stay with his family.

To My Destiny, by Kodiak Bear. Gen. (ca. 8,800 words)
In this AU Janus convinced the Ancients to allow the use of his time travelling technology and they took Atlantis into the future, to present day Earth, when they continue the fight. It's an interesting premise and the Ancients here are just the right mix of ruthless and creepy but not actually bad guys.

Guardians of a rare thing, by Livia Penn. Het, Ronon Dex/Samantha Carter. (ca. 6,200 words)
This goes AU from Return I: Ronon comes to Earth rather than stay in Pegasus. Ireally like this take on Ronon at the SGC, and his perspective of Earth.

The Great Pegasus Train Robbery, by Sholio. Gen, team. (ca. 10,500 words)
This humor story casts the team as train robbers in the Old West, and they aren't very good at being bandits, but their efforts are very entertaining.

Knights Errant, by Sholio. Gen. (ca. 5,300 words)
So this is a Knight Rider fusion, with Rodney as the car, John as the driver. And okay, the story doesn't really have much of a plot beyond the setup of John meeting the car, but well, I think the scenario is awesome. (Don't judge me, okay? I liked the series as a kid...)

Bright Wings, by Snarkydame. Gen. (ca. 7,000 words)
In this AU Pegasus cultures are squatting in Atlantis, rather than it lying abandoned. It goes further AU than that because the expedition members are among the residents too, with the team running a salvaging operation looking for bits of Ancient tech in the older, submerged parts of the city, but the story still mixes in enough elements from canon Pegasus cultures and Ancient and Atlantis tech that the scenario isn't just some generic fantasy type of city.

Mona Lisa Box, by Tzzz. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 14,000 words).
This is a fusion between Terminator: The Sarah Conor Chronicles and SGA, and it is a rather creepy love story, with a great twist on the origin of Skynet. I was a bit bothered by the implications the ending had for Rodney's characterization (I don't want to spoil it by being more specific), but apart from that I enjoyed it.

Almost All Grown Up, by Xparrot. Gen, team. (ca. 5,900 words)
I really like AUs with John as a Pegasus native, and making John a Genii, but tell the story from Teyla's Athosian POV, when we as readers know there is more to the Genii, was a narrative ploy I really enjoyed.

I just read an awesome SGA story posted for the Second Verse challenge on SGA Flashfic:

Games of Chance, by xparrot. Gen, Rodney McKay. (ca. 12,000 words)
It's a great take on precognition/multiple universes/timetravel in the SG universe, and I loved the frantic, desperate pace of it. I was slightly confused at the beginning, but that turned out to be a very deliberate story telling choice, because it starts right in the action, and it all came together in a very cool plot.

AUs

Dearest, by Lavvyan. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 4,200 words)
The people with the ATA gene are regarded as pets in this AU, though then it turned somewhat atypical for slave/mindcontrol fic (and has a sad ending), but it still worked for my kinks.

After Such Knowledge, by Sarah T. Het, Michael/Teyla Emmagan. (ca. 7,500 words)
This is an AU of Michael's storyline, with the premise that Michael chose to remain human because Teyla was more honest with him.

Sequelae, by The Spike. Gen, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Jennifer Keller. (ca. 26,000 words)
It's a futurefic that goes AU during Adrift, though the past of how Atlantis was lost and the cause of the rift in John and Rodney's friendship is only gradually revealed, as John suddenly shows up at Rodney's doorstep, having a retrovirus relapse.

Pegasus Ascendant, by Tielan. Gen, Teyla Emmagan. (ca. 1,830 words)
Pegasus is without Wraith and various Pegasus people share control over Atlantis as the Earth expedition makes contact. I find the premise here very cool, though I wished there was more than this opening. I'm definitely hoping for a sequel.

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crossovers

Only Someone Running, by busaikko. Slash, Rodney McKay/Brendan Dean. (ca. 7,800 words)
Stargate: Atlantis/Thoughtcrimes
This crossover has awesome plot twists, and meshes the two universes well. It is rather sad though.

On the Use of Weapons, by Cofax. Gen, Ellen Harvelle. (ca. 1,600 words)
Supernatural/Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
In this snippet Ellen observes Sarah, John and Cameron at a gun show, and it gives a great outsider POV of the three.

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Also when I asked on the SGA genrefinder comm for stories with Sheppard as an Ancient or Sheppard ascending, I compiled a list of stories in that genre I had already come across, so I thought I might just as well repost that list on my website as reference. Here's a link collection with stories featuring John Sheppard as Ancient, Ori or Ascended. If you come across any I missed, let me know.

( sorry that the rec is inconveniently behind a cut, but the title and description have significant spoilers for the most recent SGA ep Outcast, even though it is not really an episode tag )

An Unlikely Meeting, by Cofax. Gen, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Chiana, Rygel, John Crichton. (ca. 1,030 words)
Farscape/Supernatural
This just a snippet, more an opening into a universe than a full story, but what we get is such a cool crossover setup that it's worth pointing out regardless.

Nor Hell A Fury, by Lucy Gillam. Gen, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Dennis Guilder, Christine. (ca. 14,800 words)
Stephen King's Christine/Supernatural
I haven't read Christine, but this was still a very enjoyable casefile type of story with neat twists in the the car's background. So if you like to read about the Winchesters hunting monsters or evil cars in this case, you should give this a try.

Untaken Roads, by Tassos. Gen, Dean Winchester, John Crichton. (ca. 4,500 words)
Farscape/Stargate: Atlantis/Supernatural
This gives us another glimpse at Crichton as Runner, like in the previous FS/SGA crossover by Tassos that I've also recced. And seeing him interact with Dean is just fun.

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Also, I forgot to c&p one of my SGA AU recs in the recs post yesterday, so I decided to tack it onto this one:

Choice of Duty, by Kyrdwyn. Gen, John Sheppard, Radek Zelenka. (ca. 4,680 words)
The premise here is that John is ex-military, and didn't join the Atlantis mission as military, but as a scientist. After Sumner's death, which happens later here than in canon, he's drafted back into active duty by Elizabeth. I'm not sure I see Elizabeth quite this way, but the interaction between John and Radek made this a nice read.

Stargate: Atlantis

Honor and Country, by Bluflamingo. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 25,000 words)
This is a fusion with a series called E-Ring, which I have never seen. Basically it is a non-Stargate earthside AU, in which the SGA and SG-1 characters are military intelligence operatives. Rodney is in the CIA, John in the Army, and there is a tense conspiracy plot involving Kolya.

we don't need roads, by Crimsonclad. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 1,750 words)
It's a short story that fuses SGA with Back to the Future in a surprising way that I don't want to spoil for you, however it gives Back to the Future a more sinister twist.

Si Muovo by Kass and Sihaya Black. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, John Sheppard/OMC. (ca. 39,400 words)
This has been widely recced already, so if you're inclined to give a somewhat unusual premise -- Rodney is a Jesuit priest and John a bush pilot, and they meet in Alaska -- a try at all you probably have already read this. Anyway it really pulled off a genuinely religious Rodney well, has an engaging plot (if slightly contrived, but it is Stargate after all) and a nice mix of angst, romance and quirky background atmosphere.

No Matter Where you Go, There you Are, by Kriadydragon. Gen, team. (ca. 6,600 words)
This is an apocafic with Goa'uld in the Pegasus galaxy and John arriving there by a different route than in canon. I found the worldbuilding premise really intriguing and would love to see a longer exploration, rather than just the initial meeting of John and the others, but I still enjoyed this.

Male Enhancement (The Soul and the Company Store Remix), by Leah. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka. (ca. 46,500 words)
I've already recced this right after it was posted because I couldn't contain my squee long enough to wait for my next regular AU recs update, but if you haven't read it already you definitely should, because it is an awesome story with John as an AI, that is heart-breaking at times, but also funny in places, and just great reading all around. Don't miss the gen prequel/companion story Muscle and Blood and Skin and Bones, also by Leah, featuring Evan Lorne, John Sheppard, Cameron Mitchell, Radek Zelenka, and Bill Lee. (ca. 18,100 words)

Tainted, by Madison. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 23,000 words)
It's a post-Common Ground story with the premise that the reverse feeding was addictive. I liked this for the angst and the kink, though I found it a bit hard to follow how the timeline of the episodes was shifted around in this AU.

Raiders of the Seven Systems, by Martha Wilson. Gen. (ca. 33,250 words)
I've recced this before when it was still a WIP, but I like it so much that I decided to point you in its direction again, now that it is finished. It's a space pirate AU, with a very cool premise for the Pegasus cultures, and lots of action and suspense. It hooked me right from the start.

Ascension, by Soraya. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 11,650 words)
This Star Wars fusion with John and Rodney as Sith was simply a lot of fun to read, and how could you not like them plotting to take over the galaxy together after their attempts to assassinate each other failed?

Blue, by Sorrel. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard/Ronon Dex. WIP
And yet another post-Conversion Bug!John AU (what can I say, I like the genre), also Atlantis is cut off from Earth for a while, which is another trope I like. This story is older, only somehow I missed reading it before, and still a WIP that unfortunately hasn't been updated in a while, but the parts stand well enough on their own.

Fly The Stars, by Tielan. Gen, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, some John Sheppard. (ca. 8,000 words)
This is a very cool fusion with the Firefly universe, with a focus on Ronon and Teyla, that made the SGA characters fit seamlessly in the other universe.

Living With It, by Tielan. Gen, John Sheppard, Samantha Carter, Jack O'Neill. (ca. 3,730 words)
This AU has Bug!John (which I love), however not as the aftermath of Conversion, but because it fuses SGA with the Marvel mutant concept.

Nexus, by Tielan. Het, John Sheppard/Teyla Emmagan. (ca. 4,300 words)
I like John/Teyla and I like post-Conversion Bug!John, so really this story is an ideal combination. The author labeled it as "porn with a little plot" but the AU worldbuilding still comes through nicely.

Supernatural

Five Families John Winchester Never Had, by Cofax. Gen, John Winchester. (ca. 4,500 words)
In this "five things" story I especially liked the last one, a "Mary survived" AU, but the others had interesting premises as well.

The Boy Who Walked On Stilts (part 2), by Kellifer_fic. Gen, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Pastor Jim. (ca. 6,640 words)
The premise of this is that John died early, and Sam and Dean are raised separately by Bobby and Pastor Jim for reasons that become clear over the course of the story.

A Heartbeat At My Feet, by Kellifer_fic. Gen, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, John, Winchester, Bobby Singer. (ca.7,400 words)
This is a fusion of Supernatural with His Dark Materials, i.e. Sam and Dean have dæmons.

To Catch a Thief, by Lyra Wing. Gen, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester. (ca. 8,600 words)
A while back Lyra Wing wrote an AU with Sam and Dean as FBI agents (Paradigm Shift), this is the prequel giving the background how they ended up that way. It splits from canon before the season two finale.

Forget Me Not, by maisierita. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 47,000 words)
If you're like me and have a soft spot for amnesia stories, you should definitely check this one out. But even if you don't have an amnesia kink, this is still a great story. The mystery of how they ended up like this in the first place had me hooked from the start, there's angst and some h/c without it being overwrought, and while the Pegasus culture doesn't take center stage in that we find out everything about it, that is simply because we see it from Rodney's restricted perspective, so while it is central to the whole set up and works as a plot device for the John/Rodney story, it feels real and not like they are merely some contrived wacky aliens just there for one purpose.

I'm still reading SGA holiday exchange stories and have also started browsing the now live Yuletide archive, so here's a couple of recs:

SGA

Red Flowers, by Anonymous. Teamfic. (ca 25,620 words)
This is a great action-adventure teamfic with cool world building of a Pegasus civilization. It has some Sheppard/McKay as established background pairing, but that is minor and the focus is on the whole team with Teyla and Ronon playing nearly equal parts to Rodney and John, though it is slightly Rodney-centric overall. So unless you hate the pairing like the plague, you'll enjoy it as a plotty team story with aliens, Pegasus politics, just the right amount of technobabble and explosions, even if the listed pairing isn't your thing.

Dresden Files (bookverse)

The World's Largest Kitten, by Anonymous. (ca. 1,200 words)
This is just really cute and fun fluff with Mister and Mouse.

Terminator

How to Change the World Without Even Trying, by Anonymous. (ca. 1,400 words)
It's a characterstudy looking at John, and how the world his mother raised him in is removed from the mainstream, and then John's view of his foster families and his changing perspective on his mother.

The memes where people list what books they've read the past year always end up really pathetic looking for me, because the bulk of my reading is fanfic, not actual books. So there's never much to show off. This year the handful of dead-tree fiction I've read was:

All nine volumes of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher, i.e. Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Death Masks, Blood Rites, Dead Beat, Proven Guilty, and White Night

Empire of Ivory, by Naomi Novik (and I've reread the previous parts, i.e. His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War)

Tintenherz, by Cornelia Funke

Camouflage, by Joe Haldeman

The Dispossessed, by Ursula LeGuin

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell

I've also reread Dune again.

I started reading The Years of Salt and Rice, by Kim Stanley Robinson, but for some reason I put it aside (iirc it started slow? I don't really remember), and then I couldn't extend the time I loaned it from the library because someone else had reserved the book, and so I never finished it.

And I read three SGA tie-in novels, though I'm not sure whether those don't count more as fanfic:
The Chosen, by Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen
Entanglement, by Martha Wells
Exogenesis by Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen

Right now I'm in the middle of Fire Logic, by Laurie J. Marks, so I expect I'll finish that this year as well.

OTOH using my del.icio.us bookmarks, which overwhelmingly are just a log of my fanfic reading (though some are tagged as "to read"), to estimate the number of fanfics I read this year, that comes up to well over a thousand. Okay, so most of those are short stories, but some were awesome novels and novellas. Most recently Judas Doesn't Answer by Auburn (ca. 75,700 words), which is a gripping SGA/SG-1 mystery/suspense story I can definitely rec.

To keep up the pretense that this journal is interesting, i.e. has content besides boring pet posts, here's an SGA rec, a rather neat SGA teamfic from the SGA Santa exchange:

They Might Be Giants, by Anonymous. Teamfic. (ca. 17,440 words)
It has some OT4, but it isn't a shippy story, but mostly an action-adventure, with some cool sf trappings, that show them as explorers. It has both the team and the remaining Atlantis expedition with Carter, Lorne, Zelenka and Caldwell on the Daedalus in it, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I updated my crossover recs page.

Take a Long Line, by Derry667. Gen, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Don Eppes, Charlie Eppes, Alan Eppes. (ca. 22,000 words)
Numb3rs/Supernatural
The Winchesters are trying to stop a psychic arsonist at CalSci, which we see through the eyes of the Eppes. I liked how competent Sam and Dean were in this story as well as the the outsider look at them.

Defect, by Kikkimax. Gen, ensemble. (ca. 39,600 words)
Criminal Minds/Supernatural
This is set after the second season finale of Supernatural. While Sam tries to get Dean out of the deal with the demon with the help of Bobby and Ellen, Dean is taken into custody by the FBI and interrogated and evaluated by the BAU team. I really enjoyed the take of the profiler team on Dean, and how they try to make sense of him and revise their opinions without ever actually buying into Dean's supernatural worldview.

Untitled snippet, by Pentapus. Gen. (ca. 230 words)
Highlander/Stargate: Atlantis
This is just a brief snippet, but it is a very neat idea to merge the mythologies of the two shows.

Take Atlantis, by Siegeofangels. Gen. (ca. 800 words)
Muppet Show/Stargate: Atlantis
This is quite short, and doesn't really have a plot beyond "the Muppets visit Atlantis", OTOH having the Muppets on Atlantis is awesome and funny.

So, I'm going to include this in my next AU recs update too, but you should read it right away, because it is an awesome story with John as an AI, that is heart-breaking at times, but also funny in places, and just great reading all around: Male Enhancement (The Soul and the Company Store Remix), by Leah. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka. (ca. 46,500 words)

Stargate: Atlantis

Everything But Love, by Cottontail. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 24,200 words)
This story adapts the plot of the movie The Lake House. I have never seen that, but the crux of it is that John and Rodney get each others' mail, but are living two years apart. The time travel paradoxes in this one made my head hurt a bit, but then the time travel here is more a vehicle for their romance than the point of the story, and the romance was a lot of fun to read.

East of The Sun, West of The Moon, by Dossier. Gen, John Sheppard, ensemble (there are some het relationships though they aren't the focus). (ca. 150,000 words)
This is simply an awesome SGA novel. The premise is that they don't quite have as much luck in the episode The Intruder, and the Daedalus is shipwrecked on a planet. It is John-centric in its POV, though it is very much an ensemble story, and the worldbuilding is fantastic. The alien culture is interesting and complex, the original characters are real people without taking away too much attention from our heroes, and it features Pegasus galaxy history and Ancient tech as background to the plot of the stranded Daedalus too.

At The Hour When We Are Trembling, by Frostfire. Slash, John Sheppard/Daniel Jackson. (ca. 36,000 words)
In this post-apocalyptic AU the Wraith make it to Earth, and John and Daniel lead a resistance cell. It's very griping, I couldn't put the story down once I started.

Not in the Stars, by greenconverses. Gen, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan. (ca. 3,900 words)
In this AU John is an Athosian and Teyla earth military. The story is mostly set pre-series, explores both their lives, and then ends with their first meeting.

Second Best, by Madison. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 29,800 words)
It's a quantum mirror story in which Rodney, after John's death, tries to fetch a John from another universe, who happens to be a down on his luck gambler. This was a solid action-adventure, with some angst thrown in, as Rodney and the team still miss the "old" Sheppard while getting to know his alternate universe version, while John has to cope with being a replacement.

The Protection Racket, by Pares. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 14,000 words)
This story is great comedy, and made me laugh a lot. Things are set in motion when Jack surprises Rodney as he plays strip poker with Sam, causing Rodney to flee, freak out, and fear for his life, and then to hire John as his bodyguard to protect him from Jack. Only professional bodyguards are harder to find on short notice than Rodney had hoped, so he hires John based on an ad in miscellaneous "Any Job. Sliding scale." Hilarious hijinks ensue.

A Rough Road Leads to the Stars, by Sonadorita. Slash and het, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex/Teyla Emmagan. (ca. 7,240 words)
It's an SGA version of the Apollo 13 mission, called Atlantis 13 here: Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla are the crew and Rodney coaches them from the ground. I found the choice to set it in 1967 instead of in the year of the actual mission a bit odd, but apparently the prompt it was written for asked for the 1960s, hence the random seeming timeline shift. But I enjoyed it otherwise.

City on the Edge of Forever by synecdochic. Gen, Elizabeth Weir, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Aiden Ford. (ca. 6,650 words)
I have no idea why I haven't recced this previously, since I first read it some time ago, but recently I reread it, and noticed that it wasn't on my AU recs page. So it's quite likely you've already read it as well, but if not, it's an AU retelling of the pilot Rising, close to canon but with a more cunning expedition, who come prepared for the worst, and make smarter, more tactical decisions. It's also a cool take on how Elizabeth could have been given more room as an expedition leader.

The Lonely Sea, by Tarlan. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Jack O'Neill. (ca. 26,500 words)
This is a fusion between the Stargate universe (both SGA and SG-1) and Waterworld, i.e. an Ori attack caused the polar caps to melt. I loved the worldbuilding and the way the two were merged. I cared a bit less about the John/Rodney romance relationship here, but the worldbuilding and rather cool action-adventure plot made more than up for it.

Supernatural

This Wheel's On Fire, by Marin Rusalka. Gen, Dean, Bobby, Sam, Jess. (ca. 27,800 words)
This is a fusion with the movie Ghostrider. I haven't watched that, and don't think familiarity is necessary as the basic explanations of the Ghostrider premise were covered and merged with SPN mythology too. In any case the image of the flaming Impala leaving blazing tire tracks is better than a flaming motorcycle, and I loved Dean's conflicted reaction to being a Ghostrider.

Rain Fall Down, by Nilchance. Gen, Dean, Bobby. (ca. 2,185 words)
It's the third part in Nilchance's series, and I've already recced the previous stories in this universe, but I thought I'd point it out again, in case you missed it, since it's been a while since the last part. This is a rather bleak AU scenario that explores what might have happened had Mike Gunther called Child Protective Services.

I updated my crossover recs page.

Old Country, by Astolat. Slash, Sam/Dean. (ca. 40,600 words)
Harry Potter/Supernatural
I don't read a lot of Wincest, but I think this crossover is a great read even if you prefer gen. It's a lot of fun, humor mixed into the angst and drama, and the merge of the Potterverse with SPN here works great, and I liked the take on goblins and their magic in particular.

Harvester of Eyes, by gwendolyngrace. Gen. (ca. 26,000 words)
Sandman/Supernatural
John Winchester hunts the Corinthian, meanwhile Sam and Dean get lost in the Dreaming. This crossover is a great blend of the two sources.

New Jersey Voodoo, by Rokeon. Gen. (ca. 1,020 words)
House/Stargate: Atlantis
This is short, but really funny. John has a relapse back towards Bug!John, starting with an at first innocuous rash and progressing from there, and House tries to diagnose.

Late Nite at the Sudzy Dudz, by Sarah Ellen. Gen. (ca. 3,500 words)
Supernatural/The X-Files
I have no idea how I could have missed reading this story for so long. This crossover is a lot of fun. I guess you could sum it up as "Mulder and Scully meet the Wincesters in a laundromat and talk about cattle mutilations." but the dialog is awesome and it made me laugh a lot, while still being plausible and in character within both series.

The Curious Incident of the Doc in the Night-time (part 2), by Taz. Gen. (ca. 2,920 words)
Highlander/House
House meets Methos in his morgue and is understandably curious. Snark ensues.

DCU

Mobius Paths, by Marcelo. Gen. (ca. 300 words)
This is short, but with a very neat though somewhat creepy premise: What if Alfred Pennyworth was really J'onn?

Stargate: Atlantis

None Can Quite Extinguish, by Cate. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 45,300 words)
This is a look at how things might have gone if there had been more survivors of Sateda, who then stayed on the planet. It has great world-building, and the internal politics of Sateda and the Genii in this story are interesting.

Curiouser and Curiouser, by Gaia. Gen. (ca. 4,300 words)
I wished this AU had been longer to really explore this world, but even as a short story the premise is great. In a reversal of the show's setup the Pegasus galaxy sends an interplanetary expedition led by Teyla Emmagan to search for the lost world of Earth, where the Ancestors are said to have gone, only to find Earth overrun by the Ori. The expedition, with Genii and Satedan forces find remnants of the SGC and set out to help their resistance against the Ori. I would have liked getting an epic chronicling their adventures, and seeing the conflict of the Pegasus expedition's goal to find weapons against the Wraith and Asurans, with the Milky Way priority of fighting the Ori, but this time with the Pegasus cultures at an advantage, and this story is too short to mor than tease with that, but very intriguing with its shift nevertheless.

Cage for Gods, by Kat Reitz and Perryvic. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett/Rodney McKay. (ca. 63,950 words)
In this AU Rodney has ascended in Tao of Rodney. I liked the story for its interesting view of the Ancients and ascension.

Raiders of the Seven Systems, by Martha Wilson. Gen. (ca. 9,150 words so far) WIP
It's a space pirate AU, with what seems so far like a very cool premise for the Pegasus cultures, and lots of action and suspense. I'm definitely hooked.

Good Guys Don't Always Wear White, by Nel. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 31,000 words)
This is a fusion with the first X-Men movie. I liked how the mutant powers were distributed among the SGA characters and their histories adapted (casting Michael as Magneto was especially awesome), and it was a good action adventure, that changed enough from the movie to keep the plot interesting too.

Winchesters at Hogwarts series, by Ignipes. Gen. (so far three stories with ca. 10,400 words)
Harry Potter/Supernatural
In this crossover AU John dies and Sam and Dean are sent to wizard relatives in England, so Dean attends Hogwarts.

And All the World Beneath, by Jenn. Slash, John Sheppard/Dean Winchester, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 67,000 words)
Stargate: Atlantis/Supernatural
This is a very cool and creepy apocafic, meshing Stargate and Supernatural in a way that makes sense for both mythologies.

Agents of Fortune, by Karasu Yurei. Gen, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Alec, Lydecker, Renfro. WIP
Dark Angel/Supernatural
So far this seems to be a basic "let's make these characters meet" crossover, but it has a plot that makes sense and the way the universes are mixed is interesting. It's not exactly the canon universe for Dark Angel in that there was no Pulse, but it still feels more like a crossover than an AU premise. X5-494 is given the mission to kidnap Sam for the Manticore program, so he tries to impersonate Dean.

Bent, by Rachel Martin. Gen, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ororo Munroe, Scott Summers, Logan. (ca. 12,300 words so far) WIP
Supernatural/X-Men
This is set during the SPN episode Benders. Scott thinks that one of the Winchestes is an out-of-control mutant and goes to search for them to stop the deaths he thinks the Winchesters are responsible for.

I've accumulated enough of these to make a page worthwhile, so I've compiled all my previous crossover recs on a webpage, so that I can fix links and such in one place rather than assorted posts.

Recs page maintenance is a nightmare these days with all the moving, and worse, f-locking of stories. Just between the last update about a month ago and today several stories have been yanked, actually almost as many as I'm adding in this update. :(

Farscape

Unrealized Peacekeeper, by OneEye. Het, John/Gilina, John/Aeryn. (over 175,000 words) WIP
This AU is inspired by the scene in the Farscape episode Unrealized Reality in which we glimpse the possibility of Crichton as a Peacekeeper captain. It's a very plausible background for how that could have come to pass through just a small change, i.e. what if the wormhole that brought him to the UTs deposited him about ten feet to the right of his original exit point. And this works actually without making Crichton not like himself in any way, nor does the story gloss over the Peacekeeper's ideology and actions we see in canon. Besides it is a great action-adventure that incorporates a lot of elements and events from the episodes.

Stargate: Atlantis

Wild Nest, No Prison (ca. 2,000 words), Sharp and Sided Hail (ca. 2,375 words), and I Am Not the Thing I Was (ca.2,500 words), by Brat Farrar. Gen, John Sheppard. The individual stories are finished, but the universe (with some more bits and fragments already posted here) is still a WIP.
These are set in version of the SGA universe where magic works and is as commonplace as science, and I really enjoy how parts of the larger mythology shine through, but then I adore world-building.

Splinters and Stones, by Kat Reitz and Perryvic. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay/Carson Beckett, Rodney McKay/Other, John Sheppard/Other. (ca. 100,800 words)
For the purposes of full disclosure, a big part of why I enjoyed this so much is that I have a slavefic and non-con kink, which is also why I liked the CSI story set in this universe by the same authors, which however was more focused on the kink aspects than this one. One of the main points of difference in this AU is that it has some kind of feudalistic structure with an imperial government and feudal houses, and people can be subject to certain kinds of slavery that works like debt bondage or indentured servitude. Anyway, even if you aren't into slavefic in particular, the world-building is very cool, and there is lots of plot and plenty h/c.

Theory of Evolution, by Lavvyan. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 42,000 words)
It's another Conversion AU in which John's transformation isn't fully reversed. This one is long and has a nice amount of angst. Also, I just have a soft spot for Bug!John in general.

Aegis, by Leah and Springwoof. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 90,700 words)
The ATA gene in this AU is somewhat more common than in canon and doesn't just enable people to interface with Ancient technology, but gives them special abilities.

Out into the real world, by Mithreon. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 20,000 words)
It's a fusion of the SGA characters with The Matrix. I didn't quite get all of The Matrix context, because I've only seen the first movie, and I think this takes place in the future after the third or something, but I could follow it well enough.

Five Ways They Weren't Pirates (or: Scenes from Five SGA Pirate AUs), by Sholio. Gen, Het, Slash, team, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Rodney McKay/Teyla Emmagan. (ca. 6,000 words)
So I'm not actually all that fond of pirates, and I am a bit frustrated with "five things" stories that kind of tease you with cool AU possibilities, and make you want to learn the whole story behind them, but the snippet is far too short. Still, the scenarios for various kinds of pirates were cool, and made me want to know more, in particular was there no way I could resist a Steampunk AU with them as air pirates.

Mirror Dance, by Trinityofone. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 45,000 words)
I guess technically this one could count as not-AU because they meet their canon universe counterparts later on in the story through a quantum mirror, so it's more along the line of multiverse fic, but most of this is about an SGA universe in which the gene therapy Rodney underwent had the side effect to transform his body to look like a twin to Sheppard's, and it was a lot of fun to read, with some angst as well.

Supernatural

Clangs, by Vehemently. Gen, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester. (ca. 14,800 words)
This was a rather creepy and bleak AU. At first I was confused about what exactly was the premise leading into this (which I won't spoil for you), but then when it became clear, it was even more horrible and hopeless than I expected. But it's a really effective, though tragic, "what if" scenario.

AU recs

Stargate: Atlantis

Push and its sequel Pull, by jane_elliot. Slash Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 39,000 words and 27,000 words)
It's somewhat like a Harlequin romance story. Rodney, who works at the SGC, has an accident with Sheppard, who lives on the streets as result from his severe PTSD and dishonorable discharge, which circumstances are slowly revealed through the story. Then friendship and romance follow with a fair but not overwhelming amount of angst.

Unidentified, by the_drifter. Slash Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. (ca. 30,000 words)
Everybody recced this already, but it a really good present-day (no Stargate) amnesia AU, in which Rodney looses his memory suddenly without explanation, and we see him (re-)discovering and to some extent redefining himself and his relationships to friends and family through Sheppard's POV.

Harry Potter

The If Sieve, by Cathy (crawfords_lover). Slash, Harry/Draco. (ca. 36,000 words)
Draco goes through potential alternative universes with a pensieve-like device, exploring what would have happened if he (or Harry) made different decisions. It's a cool magical device and the scenarios are HP fandom staples, but handled in an original way, often with not quite the expected outcome.

X-Men Movieverse

Forgotten, by cyndrarae. Slash, Scott/Logan. (ca. 2,450 words)
In this AU Scott survives X3 but has amnesia, and Logan eventually finds him. Also it is hookerfic, so you get two fannish tropes in one, which in this case is definitely a good thing, since they go great together with Scott angst.

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Crossover Recs

Untitled, by siriaeve. Gen, Aiden Ford, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, and the Endless. (ca. 750 words)
Sandman/Stargate: SG-1/Stargate: Atlantis
It's a "Five Things" type story in which SGA and SG-1 characters meet the Endless, and while each vignette is short, they are also gorgeous.