Fig Newton's SG-1 Gen Recs

Rec Category: Crossover
Categories: Vala, Jack, Sam, SGC and SGA ensembles, original characters, humor, friendship, science shenanigans
Warnings: none
Author's Journal: unknown
Author's Website: arwenlune
Link: Saw This and Thought of You

Why This Must Be Read: Jack and Vala go shopping for Atlantis. Things escalate from there.

Yes, there are some serious notes here and there, but this is mostly an unashamed romp of SGA and SGC personnel being delightfully themselves with bonus Sam-in-command. Guaranteed to leave you grinning!


"Colonel, permission to fire that whale through the gate?"

Rec Category: Episode Related
Characters: Samantha Carter, Vala Mal Doran, Teal'c, Cameron Mitchell
Categories: teamy goodness, character study
Warnings: none
Author's Journal: stringertheory
Author's Website: Fic List
Link: V is for Viable

Why This Must Be Read: This one is for the fans of nu!SG-1 (aka S9-10). Remember Line in the Sand opening with the team returning from a successful test of Merlin's device? This is a great peek in Sam's head during that mission, reflecting on team and teamwork and the loss of Daniel.


If the best they could do for now was hide, then Sam would figure out how to hide the whole damn galaxy, if she had to. But first, she had to start small.

Rec Category: Vala Mal Doran
Categories: Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, Cam, Jack, character study, five things
Warnings: none
Author's Journal: grammarwoman
Author's Website: Fic and Vid List
Link: Four things Vala would miss about Earth if she left & one that she wouldn't

Why This Must Be Read: This is an excellent character study of Vala as outsider, considering her options and the people she's met on Earth. Her thoughts on Sam are my favorite, but they're all very well done with stellar characterization!


Vala had a series of escape plans worked out even before she stepped through the Gate that first time to Daniel's world, plans that were discarded and replaced on her initial evaluation of the layout of the SGC. As her stay with the Tau'ri went on, the constant calculations for strategic withdrawal running through her head became a soothing background noise. A jarring note introduced itself, though, when she realized how much she would miss what she would be leaving behind.

Rec Category: Jonas and Vala friendship
Categories: Sam and Jonas friendship, angst, hurt/comfort, post-series
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: gingasaur
Author's Website: Gingasaur at AO3
Link: Wherever We Go

Why This Must Be Read: I could try to be pithy and summarize this as "Vala and Jonas bond over being tortured by the Ori," but this story has much greater depth than that. It's an honest, clear-eyed look at a long, painful recovery from abandonment, pain, and loss of hope. This is a perfect Vala and an excellent Jonas, with bonus well-characterized Sam, dealing with the fallout of Langara's fall to the Ori. It feels very real, and very well done.

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Rec Category: Sam and Vala friendship
Categories: humor, character study
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: jedibuttercup
Author's Website: Jedi Buttercup at AO3
Link: V is for Velocity

Why This Must Be Read: Vala thinks Sam's oh-so-sober rationalizations for having fun are adorable, but she's more than willing to join her!

A lovely post-series friendship piece, complete with the promise of allies surviving the Ori. What more do you need?


"Oh, no," Vala replied, breezily. "Just wondering. Teal'c said we were coming here to reconnect with long-missed allies. Colonel Mitchell said we'd be spreading the good word about the final defeat of the Ori. The IOA spokesman said we'd be renegotiating for technology from a position of greater strength. And Daniel gave you a wink and told us not to have too much fun. One of these things is not like the others, Sam. What are we really doing on Hebridan?"

Rec Category: Sam and Vala friendship
Categories: ep related, hurt/comfort, humor, character study
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: splash_the_cat
Author's Website: splash the cat at AO3
Link: When I've Got Nothing On But the Radio

Why This Must Be Read: This is Sam and Vala fanfic at its best, as Vala kinda-sorta kidnaps Sam for some badly needed R&R in the wake of Line in the Sand. Characterization is perfect and feels wonderfully real. We can only hope that both Sam and Vala had some restorative moments like this!

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Rec Category: Crossover
Categories: Vala, Jeannie Miller, drama, action/adventure
Warnings: crossover with SGA
Author on LJ: sholio
Author's Website: Sholio at AO3
Link: Another Day at the Office

Why This Must Be Read: A great outsiderish perspective in the form of the very civilian Jeannie Miller, who is stuck offworld with a wounded Vala and a hopefully not-dead Daniel who is supposed to have gone off for help. I love her rambling thoughts and anxiety, and her interactions with Vala. Add a cameo or two from Cam and Jack for a most satisfying adventure!


Note to self, Jeannie thought, throwing herself down behind a crumbled rock wall as an explosion kicked sand and smoke into the desert sky. Next time the SGC wants you to consult for them, do like the American drug ads tell you, and just say NO.

Rec Category: Teal'c
Categories: AU, drama, episode related, Baal, Bra'tac, Qetesh, Vala Mal Doran, Apophis
Warnings: minor AU character deaths
Author on LJ: aurora_novarum
Author's Website: List of My Stories / Aurora at AO3
Link: Path of Good Intentions

Why This Must Be Read: I believe this fic is actually unique: an exploration of Teal'c's life in the alternate timeline of Continuum, when Baal is playing with foreknowledge and already has his eye on the young Jaffa he wants to claim as his own First Prime.

This is a great sketch of Teal'c's experiences of Baal's cold manipulations, the way the timeline keeps twisting away from reality, and the underlying Goa'uld hubris that is actually creating the potential for Baal's eventual defeat. Add great cameos by Brat'ac and Vala (complete with a perfectly sensible handwaving of that "fifty years" quote) and a perfectly in-character Teal'c, and your only regret will be that Aurora didn't make this fic any longer!

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Rec Category: Team
Categories: humor, crossover with SGA, Teyla, Vala, original characters
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: tielan
Author's Website: Tielan at AO3
Link: How Not to Eat an Elephant

Why This Must Be Read: Because Teyla and Vala are undeniably awesome, and rescue their imprisoned teammates with a rousing game of Good Cop, Bad Cop!

...What? You're still here? :)

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Rec Category: Teal'c and Vala friendship
Categories: Teal'c, Vala, humor, team, five things
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: penknife
Author's Website: Penknife at AO3
Link: Fair Play

Why This Must Be Read: Teal'c pwnage, meet Vala at her most gleefully outrageous.

Everyone else: duck. :)

And for an encore, check out the original fic that got remixed for this: The Case of the Missing Jello (Among Others), by amathela!

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Rec Category: Sam and Vala friendship
Categories: Sam, Vala, humor
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: jdjunkie
Author's Website: unknown
Link: In Cake is Truth

Why This Must Be Read: Enchanting Vala stream-of-consciousness, as she and Sam enjoy death-by-chocolate and Vala shamelessly eavesdrops on Sam's phone conversation with her niece. Read this for the sheer pleasure of the unspoken casualness of their friendship, and a perfectly in-character Vala!


She didn’t mean to overhear the conversation, but how could she not, when she was sitting next to Sam in the restaurant and her cell phone rang in the middle of death by chocolate. Vala knew of many ways to die but this was her favorite.

Rec Category: Sam and Vala friendship
Categories: Sam, Vala, character study, ep related, angst
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: caladria
Author's Website: Caladria at FF.net
Link: Coming Home

Why This Must Be Read: In the wake of Memento Mori, Sam takes Vala home to recuperate with ice cream, movies... and some sobering reflection on their shared experience as former hosts.

Caladria does a wonderful job of drawing both the similarities and the contrasts between these two women, in how they cope with their pasts and face the future. This is honest, genuine friendship, and a real pleasure to read.

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