stargate: atlantis recs
primary 'ships: Sheppard/McKay, Ronon/Teyla

Well, this show swallowed fandom (for awhile).  My cup runneth over with slash . . . and particularly with AUs, crack, and cliche!fic.  Sorted by 'ship, though the bulk of it is certainly Sheppard/McKay.

Sheppard/McKay

About a lamp
Author: torch
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash
Rating: NC-17
Description: John's Ancient lamp keeps showing up in Rodney's room in the morning; John himself also turns up every night.  It's rather fishy, though it doesn't occur to them to be suspicious.  They're kind of busy.
Comments: Pleasantly plotty with a side of slash.

Abstain
Author: Resonant
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, humor
Rating: NC-17
Description: Aliens force Rodney and John not to have sex.
Comments: Hee.  Reverse-cliche fic; very funny, and pretty hot as well.  And, um.  Blooming.

always should be someone you really love
Author: thingswithwings
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: femslash, slash, genderfuck, crack!
Rating:  NC-17
Description: John and Rodney are turned into women.  Wacky hijinks ensue, along with lots of sex.
Comments: Scorching hot lesbian smut . . . about male characters.  If only fandom could write the actual women like this, I'd be ecstatic.  Still, it's great, and it's always fun to watch the men suffer the trials and travails of female biology.

Ardhanishvara
Author: Mona and Thena
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay, Sheppard/Ronon
Category: het, femslash, genderfuck, multipart, WiP
Rating:  NC-17
Description: In the course of visiting a very friendly-seeming, technologically-advanced planet, the team unwittingly experiences some dramatic changes.
Comments: Unpronouncable epic genderswitch adventure. How often do I get to use a phrase like that?  I was even inspired to make fanart.

Arizona
Author: jenn
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU
Rating: NC-17
Description: Rodney McKay, brilliant scientist, is on the run from two governments.  John Sheppard has been sent to kill him.
Comments: This story is really pretty awesome.  jenn can carry suspense like few fic writers I've ready%20Art/.

A Beautiful Lifetime Event
Author: shalott
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, Futurefic
Rating: R
Description: John and Rodney have an accident with a random piece of Ancient technology, the results of which bring them together in surprising ways.
Comments: Okay, huge chorus of awwws.  This fic singlehandedly converted me to 'shipping Sheppard/McKay by easing me into it in such an irresistible way.

Bell Curve, or, Ladies' Night At The Boom Boom Room
Author: Pru
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU, humor
Rating:  R
Description: Rodney McKay is a professor with no life.  John Sheppard is a bartender who does a little something extra.  Oh, yeah: and he's about to be Rodney's new T.A.  Needless to say, hilarity ensues.
Comments: Atlantis fandom just gets crackier as it goes, and Pru's a master.  This was before we'd met Jeannie; I like her take.

The Best Things In Life Are Free
Author: smittywing
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, het, AU
Rating:  NC-17
Description: Based on a movie I've never seen; high school nerd Rodney buys himself a period of friendship with popular jock John.  And then.
Comments: There are kind of a ridiculous number of teen AUs in this fandom, but this one's my favorite.  And it's lovely and long.

Care In The Holding
Author: Lacey Mcbain
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, angst
Rating: NC-17
Description: Set during season one.  John teaches Rodney to shoot, and the armory becomes a place of refuge and bonding for them.
Comments: This is an excellent story.  It beautifully illustrates the gradual growth of their friendship (and more) over the season.

Fair
Author: minnow
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU, crack!
Rating:  R
Description: Rodney doesn't remember, but he and John have met before.  Something involving a wish.
Comments: This fandom does love its Harlequin crack.  This one's a lot of fun.  I'm always amused by the wild theories people apply to John Sheppard, trying to explain why he's so . . . odd.

Hindsight
Author: Pru
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU
Rating: NC-17
Description: FBI Agent Sheppard meets grumpy scientist McKay, with no connection to a certain top-secret project.
Comments: This is a very entertaining AU.

The Hostage Major
Author: Frostfire
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU, crack!
Rating: NC-17
Description: Rodney is a billionare, and John is his captive.  It's all very silly.
Comments: Why am I such a sucker for these Harlequin stories?

Human Vacillation and Grace
Author: trinityofone
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU, genderfuck
Rating:  NC-17
Description: A previously undiscovered effect of the ATA gene; regeneration with a twist.
Comments: These are short and simple, but how much do I love the concept?

Interface
Author: Resonant
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, multipart
Rating:  NC-17
Description: There's no end to the things you can do with Ancient technology . . . such as exploring the inside of one another's minds.
Comments: Metaphorical, beautiful, and rather hot.  (It's in three parts, don't forget to scroll down.)

Intersections
Author: Kaneko
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU
Rating: NC-17
Description: What if Rodney and John had met up in Antarctica, way before the Atlantis mission even started?
Comments: This story is adorable, though the best thing about it are the flashbacks to both characters' childhoods.  Wow.

It Stops Being Funny At Skirts
Author: svmadelyn
(and) But Some Things Never Stop Being Funny
Author: shalott
Pairing: Sheppard/Ronon, Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, genderfuck, crack!
Rating: NC-17
Description: Wacky Ancient technology has turned John into a female of the species.
Comments: I really enjoy genderfuck, and this is one of those fandoms where it's actually kind of plausible.  I want a girl!John of my very own, please.

Latency
and
Entelechy
Author: Zoe Rayne
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, angst
Rating: NC-17
Description: Rodney's virtual reality world is invaded by a very forward John Sheppard.  But is it real, or just his wishful thinking made virtual?
Comments: I really love the whole questionable reality thing.

Life (Sometimes It Washes Over Me)
Author: kyuuketsukirui
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU, angst
Rating:  R
Description: John and Meredith Rodney: teenaged runaways from a foster home, just trying to grow up.
Comments: This story deals with transgender issues in a pretty realistic way, which I think is a first among fic that I've read.  (Not categorized as genderfuck, because it's a real-life take, not a wacky technology adventure.)

No Refunds or Exchanges
Author: shalott
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU, crack!
Rating: NC-17
Description: Rodney McKay needs someone to clean after him in Atlantis, so he gets a mail-order bride.  Er, make that "groom."
Comments: Seriously, the Harlequin Romance challenge was completely my undoing.

One Life To Ascend To
and Shenanigans #1, #2, and #3
Author: Pru
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, humor, crack!, meta
Rating:  PG
Description: With the discovery of an Ancient soap opera, cue the cracktastic meta as the Atlantis cast create their own wacky fandom.
Comments: Ridiculously hilarious, and I do love a spot of meta.  Hee.

The Other Half of the Equation
Author: lamardeuse
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, angst
Rating: NC-17
Description: After The Defiant One, Rodney discovers heroism.  John tries to discourage him.
Comments: John is so bitter in parts of this, so harsh.  The whole thing is very raw and poignant.

The Physicist Bride
Author: Zulu
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, parody, crack!
Rating: PG
Description: Rodney's a genius, with a handsome flyboy who always says "whatever you say."
Comments: Um.  This is an Atlantis version of The Princess Bride.  What can I add?

The Road to Nevada
Author: lamardeuse
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU
Rating:  NC-17
Description: It's 1938. There are Wraith and Nazis, and some Navajo who still speak Ancient. And John and Rodney are on the run, of course.
Comments: I love all the wacky Atlantis AUs, and have a soft spot for historical settings.

Sing The City Electric
Author: trinityofone
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay, Ronon/Teyla, Weir/Zelenka, Cadman/Lorne, Jack/Daniel
Category: slash, humor, angst, crack!
Rating:  NC-17
Description: If SgA had its own Musical Episode, complete with parodies of various songs from existing musicals . . .
Comments: This is bizarre and hilarious and must be read.

Six Degrees of Transformation
Author: Nel
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash
Rating: R
Description: They find another chair in Atlantis, one that seems to be more intimately connected to the city itself.  Rodney, against all reason, not to mention orders, sits in it . . . and then John has to find a way to save him.  Also, there are creepy dreams.
Comments: Plot!  Oh, there's nothing I like more than an Atlantis fic with plot.  As you could probably guess by this point.

Small Primes and Square Roots
Author: Livia
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, AU
Rating: R
Description: Rodney is raising his niece, who happens to be John's biological daughter.
Comments: Another Harlequin story.  I'm also a sucker for kidfic, so you know, there I go.

Something More
Author: jenn
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, angst, futurefic
Rating: NC-17
Description: John went AWOL during his leave on Earth three years ago.  Rodney has managed to track him down.
Comments: Emotional and not implausible.  Is it wrong that I like our government to be written as creepier than the relatively fluffy Stargate version?

Thicker Than Water
Author: Julad
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, slight AU
Rating: NC-17
Description: Rodney takes John with him to Canada to visit his sister and her family.
Comments: There's a lot in here about the meaning of home and the importance of family, what-may-that-be, and it's incredibly sweet.

Transcendental
Author: shalott
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash
Rating: NC-17
Description: After an accident, Rodney temporarily takes over command of Atlantis.  He proceeds to brilliantly torment the Genii (and John).
Comments: This story is genius, with a fabulous plot that I can sink my teeth into.  Also, Dominant!Rodney is very hot (if slightly out of character).

We All Arrive By Different Streets
Author: The Grrrl
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Category: slash, angst
Rating: NC-17
Description: John has massive internalized homophobia, but Rodney refuses to put up with it.
Comments: Is it really strange that I actually enjoy slashfic that deals with Gay Issues?  Because I really really do.

Written By The Victors
Author: Speranza
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay, Sheppard/Teyla, Teyla/Ronon
Category: slash, AU, angst, Futurefic, meta
Rating:  NC-17
Description: Atlantis has a revolution.  Ordinary storytelling is interspersed with copious academic accounts and criticism.
Comments: Holy fuck.  No, really.  This story blows my mind.  It has everything: epic battles, adorable team moments, smut, plot, politics, and piles of meta.  I can't believe she wrote all those academic excerpts.  Honestly, if you only read one SgA fic, this needs to be it. 

miscellaneous pairings

Absurdity Theory
Author: Julad
Pairing: McKay/Zelenka
Category: slash, humor
Rating: NC-17
Description: Um . . . quack?  There's a curse, and Rodney and Zelenka start quacking like ducks.  Then they invent a brilliant theory and have lots of sex.
Comments: Actually, the smut in this doesn't do much for me.  The plot and premise, however, are fucking hilarious.

Taking Time
Author: Janne
Pairing: Sheppard/Tenth Doctor
Category: slash, crossover (with Doctor Who)
Rating:  NC-17
Description: A blue police box inexplicably appears in the middle of the conference room.
Comments: I love this story to death.  It's kind of ridiculously sweet, and talk about an inevitable pairing.

The Trouble You're In
Author: lily
Pairing: Teyla/Sora
Category: femslash
Rating:  NC-17
Description: After the Genii coup, Teyla searches for Sora.
Comments: I'd been wanting a story for this pairing, and this one's perfect.  There's a sense of history to it, and also inevitability.