Fandom Snowflake 2019 #7: Try Something New

[silveradept]

Stretch yourself a little and try something new. Go play in a new fandom or with a new pairing. Try working in a new medium. Or check out some fanworks that might be new to you.

There's also a suggestion that Day 2's recommendations might be a good place to start to find something new.

I got recommended a Stargate Atlantis alternate universe. I realize from fannish osmosis that Stargate Atlantis is a place where a lot of very happy shippers make a home, but I haven't seen any of it, or any other Stargate other than the movie, once, i think.

Keira Marcos's Ties That Bind series wasn't recommended to me on the basis of the canon on which it rests, but on the specific that it's an alternate universe where BDSM practice is so tightly integrated into everyone's reality that it's basically the background, and everyone takes into account the dynamics of the relationships involved when it comes to getting things done. Unfamiliar fandom and an AU that I might give the side-eye to, given how uch that prompt idea could become something more like "I'm creating a universe that gives my characters free reign to do terrible things to each other and hide behind the idea of BDSM as their justification."

I read the first of the works in the series, and am happy to say that the worst fears I had about the AU aren't present, and that the first work revolves, to some degree, around what to do with someone whose past has a severe breach of protocol and mishandling of a submissive to the point where it seems like the general consensus of the people around, except for the person who did the things, is to treat it like abuse. (Hooray.)

What I actually had the most trouble with in the first work was the concept of a military organization where all of that BDSM was so tightly integrated. I have naught more than a layperson's understanding of command, fraternization, and all of the protocols in place in military organizations to prevent someone from engaging in abuses of power, retaliation, or other situations where a subordinate could be put into a compromising or otherwise improper situation at the behest of someone higher-ranking, but I know they exist, and they seemed fundamentally incompatible with the way the BDSM relationships were portrayed. It's just a show, it's just a show, I know, but it kept pinging in my head wanting to get an explanation of how everyone has these power-dynamic relationships and still manages to respect the chain of command. If there are conflicting orders between a commander and a dominant, whose orders prevail? It's entirely possible those questions get answered in later works in the series, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to commit to further readings in the series if all I was going to do was start mentally yelling every time something came up where I couldn't see how those power structures could be integrated into each other.

But, here's a challenge about branching out and trying new things, and so in this case, I think I'm going to try sticking with this series a little more and seeing whether I still bounce out hard because I can't accept the construction of the world, or whether things go smoother (or address the issues) in later works where I can settle in and start paying attention to the other parts of the world. The parts that I'm sure are supposed to be the things I'm paying attention to, instead of pointing out this other thing that may not have been all that much on the mind of the author.

ETA: In comments, lonespark wonders if any of the people who have looked at this and remember it might have been in the SGA fandom when it was most active on LiveJournal.

Comments

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

Yep, I remember that series! Very readable, very id-based, interesting world building. I don't know if you were also recommended Helenish's "Takes Clothes Off As Directed", but it's a famous response, sort of, to the SGA BDSM trope, very based on social commentary but also a good read. I like them both.

[azurelunatic]

That one is also great!

[littlelostcat]

I've never seen this fic, so thanks for linking it! I'm not all that comfortable with BSDM so it's definitely outside of my usual reading (although Iv'e read some). I'll bookmark it for later! :)

[silveradept]

Let us know how you like it, or how you don't like it.

[littlelostcat]

I will! It'll probably be a while, but it's on my to read list for when I have a long weekend to relax and indulge :)

[kiki_eng]

I made an actual "ooh" sound when I read what you were reading. It has been some time since I've read or thought of that 'verse, but it is a thing remembered, apparently. I hope you enjoy the rest of it. :)

[silveradept]

We'll see how it turns out. It might be good, it might be NOPE.

[kiki_eng]

Yeah, I have not reread any of it, I think, and I feel like it is a thing that is probably simultaneously exploratory and solidly of its time, which can be a weird mix. It's also the sort of thing that's going to be pretty id-y, which can be a bit of a toss up. But I wish you joy.

[killing_rose]

Oh gods. I can't think of that one, Clothes off, or Xanthe's sprawling opus without seriously considering a drink. Because they don't get better. They get steadily worse. And worse.

Now are there fabulous Stargate fics? Oh hell yes. Is SGA the fandom that had the really, really weird crack? YUP. Do I recommend Stargate as an easy fandom to enjoy AUs out of? Yup.

Do I hate and loathe the BDSM verses and how badly they devolve into nothing rational, reasonable, and completely abandoning the culture of the military with a shrug of "eh, no one will notice. we don't have to explain!"? Yup.

If you want to start in AU land somewhere, work your way through Synecdochic and Ivorygate's work, specifically Clan Mitchell. Freedom's just another word (for something left to lose) by Syn is one of my all time favorite fics (not in Clan mitchell but amazing anyway)

Like, if you want utter crack? I'm sure I can find it. I mean, there's taht one universe where the men incubate young in their marsupial like pouches. No, I'm not kidding, and that pair of writers were prolific with their marsupial universe. (Don't ask me which set it was, I just remember that it was a tag team duo.)

Busiakko's work? Also amazing.

And if you're going "kr, I can't find these authors": Look, my spelling awful. However, other than IG, they should both be spelled correctly in my reading list.

[silveradept]

Good to know there are alternatives in case I go noping out in a hurry.

[ilyena_sylph]

"Freedom's just another word (for something left to lose)" -- you meant "nothing" left, not "something" left and you are why i was crying last night because I had to go reread Freedom.

+snugs on KR+

[lonespark]

Hey, I wonder if I know any of you commenters from SGA on LJ back in the day?

I can't remember if I read this one or not.

I was definitely not a very critical reader in those days.