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I did in fact add the Stargate SG-1 novels to my Christmas list this year because I would like to read them. I don’t know if I’ll be doing the same thing as with Atlantis though. I think for SG-1, because it’s so huge, I’ll just read the books and do reviews for them.

However!

There are apparently audiobook original stories?!

I also put those on my list and my mama said she’d buy some of them for me!

Now the problem is finding the others that aren’t being sold for $50 or so…

Anyways, for this week I’ll be talking about the Wraith!

We know the theory of where the Wraith came from couldn’t be true because of the timing itself and because of conversations throughout the Legacy series. In ‘Secrets’ we find out the truth and dang y’all. Just dang.

As if we couldn’t despise the Alterans enough already for what they’ve done to our peeps and the others in the galaxy, they went and tortured humans and changed them into Wraith.

The ‘Old One’ who serves Death was one of the original. His name used to be Kairos and he was an Athosian until he went to serve the Ancestors and found himself helping in the experiments and inevitably becoming one of the subjects himself.

Newly named Ashes, he is the first Master of Sciences, though I believe he had to be of both biological and physical as he tried to figure out exactly what they could and could not do and what had been done to them that let them survive when so many others didn’t.

After running for a time from the Alterans, the new Wraith go to Athos where Ashes’ ex-wife (don’t forget the Athosians view marriage differently so they had parted on good terms) still lives. He believes she will either help them or at least listen to what he has to say concerning what the Alterans did to him and the others.

What’s so heartbreaking here is that his former wife, Rissa, doesn’t listen. At all.

In fact, she blindly believes what the Alterans told her about Kairos/Ashes being a demon despite being a woman of science herself. She doesn’t listen, not really, to what Ashes tells her and the whole thing is a setup.

Alterans are outside waiting. No doubt they had patrols stationed throughout the galaxy where their victims families lived to try and catch the Wraith when they tried to go home.

Ashes is devastated at the betrayal, who wouldn’t be, but it isn’t until Rissa shoots him that he attacks and feeds on her.

This is where his hatred of humans comes from. Not just the Alterans, but ALL humans.

Because Rissa saw that it was him. She recognized him, but instead of questioning what the Alterans had told her, now that the evidence was literally staring at her face, she shoots her former husband and friend.

I think the Wraith and humans’ story would have been a lot different if Rissa had just asked one question.

But she didn’t and so the story continued until Atlantis came into Earth human hands and we forged the friendships and relationships that should have existed with the Wraith’s human families all along.

What makes this a particularly hard scene is that Ashes is crying as they escape the Alterans and Athos. Something he had noted not long before that he hadn’t known Wraith could do.

Can you imagine being surprised that you can cry?

That’s how badly the Alterans screwed with them. They literally thought they were so far removed from what they had been that they were surprised they could cry.

The Wraith we know are a direct result of being thrown away by their families and loved ones, because you can’t convince me that others didn’t try to contact their families after that. Wanting to see their children and spouses, their moms, dads and siblings.

The Alterans didn’t want anyone to question them so they lied and started a war instead that cost countless lives.

I’ll end it here because otherwise I’ll want to talk about their progression as a people and we don’t really have time for THAT long of a post… I also want to read one, if not both, of the novellas I got for Christmas (we celebrated in March if you recall).

See ya’ll!

I forgot to mention that the Stargate RPG Manual is almost ready!!

I’m so excited and looking forward to my stuff arriving. It would be cool if it arrived for Christmas but the production and shipping issues are still a thing.

I’m just glad they got final approval and things are moving forward again!!

In other news!

I got $5 in tips my first week at my second job! Might not seem like a lot, but I only worked 6 hrs for that week and I’ve worked far more than that this time. To say I’m excited to see how much I get this week is an understatement.

I mean, I’m not saying I took this job for the tips, but I’m also not saying I didn’t. (It’s really just a nice bonus that I look forward to every week and I plan on counting my tips on my birthday as a fun thing to do because I like counting money!)

Obviously this isn’t an Atlantis post, I will get one for next week, because my schedule this week is outside my availability but due to a situation they needed the extra (early) help and so I said I could work it.

After this though I really can’t work outside the agreed upon hours because I don’t get enough sleep between jobs to be safe. Thankfully! My part time boss is really nice and said it wouldn’t be an issue and thanked me for letting him know.

Next week should be Atlantis again but until then, I think I’ll put the Stargate SG-1 novels on my Christmas list…

See ya!

A little bit of Atlantis today because Radek doesn’t get as much time in this book.

Having said that!

Radek is doing a good job of being in charge of the science peeps. I mean, Rodney wasn’t bad per se but he definitely lacks the social awareness needed to be in charge of so many different people.

Does he challenge them to be better?

Absolutely!

Does he push them further than they think they can go?

All the time!

But I bet you anything that the person making sure the team didn’t have internal strife over the years was Radek.

Being in charge now is only a little different in that he’s calling the shots. We all know he and Rodney would love to go back to how it was, but Woolsey isn’t stupid and things are different wether they want them to be or not.

Now that Rodney is back though, I feel like things get better with the science peeps. They were all worried about him and leaned on Radek a lot.

Radek, in turn, did a great job keeping them focused and even made things run more smoothly than before because he has the temperament to deal with so many different people at a time.

His interactions with William are interesting, to say the least, because we know he has a temper but I don’t believe we’ve ever seen him actually dislike someone.

He definitely has a problem with William and the feeling is somewhat mutual.

I like that Radek still listens to him when William brings something up that he thinks is important. It isn’t the most opportune time, what with the Wraith and the Genii and everything else going on, but he listens and even goes to Woolsey and Sheppard with the idea.

The Radek and Rodney thing here isn’t really that big of a deal when it comes to the ‘being on SGA-1’.

Radek hated it. Or at least really, really, REALLY didn’t like it. Having Rodney ‘convince’ him to trade places for the mission where they find Alabaster, wouldn’t have taken more than Rodney saying he wanted to go.

Their friendship is such that I get the feeling that Radek would have been okay with Rodney staying fully Wraith if they hadn’t been able to reverse the process. At least, I feel like he would have acclimated to it a lot faster and dealt better with it than anyone else.

Before I sign off for this post, a small scene that’s really quite cute (and sets us up for a novella later on) is when Radek takes William to a room deep in Atlantis and shows him an alien cephalopod that seems to be communicating with him via light signals.

Radek shines a light at the window where the cephalopod is looking in and turns the light on and off in a pattern, which the cephalopod mimics.

The reason it’s so cute is that Radek is showing this almost-enemy-definitely-not-a-friend person a cool thing. Something he knows William will find fascinating even though he doesn’t like William.

It shows a level of growth I enjoy seeing in characters. It doesn’t always have to be huge gestures shouting how they’ve grown . It’s the little things that really make us love characters.

I will see y’all later and pray you have a wonderful week!

I honestly forgot what day it was and didn’t have anything prepared. Sorry!

Truth is, this week I’ll be doing training for my new part time job and I wanted to spend some time truly relaxing.

Which for me means reading.

I’ve finished ‘Secrets’ so there should be about 2-3 more posts from there, but what I planned to write about for this week I have a suspicion I already did.

So I’m gonna have to reread my posts for this one to make sure I’m not plagiarizing myself.

But! I got to read 2 1/2 entire books yesterday (the half was from a book I was up until 1am Sunday morning reading and finally had to go to sleep) and hope to read a couple more this week before my schedule is full of work again!

I will see y’all next week with new material from Legacy and until next time, don’t let current events pull you down! It’s hard, trust me I’m struggling and stressed too, but try to remember to be lights.

We could definitely use more of those right now!

Interesting thought reading the last paragraphs of chapter 13.

Jennifer fixed up Teyla as best as she can from the cosmetic surgery (doing a dang good job of it too!), but after so many rounds Teyla has a small scar on her ‘feeding’ hand.

Teyla isn’t concerned about it. Being who she is and having grown throughout the series (both TV and book) she sees it as inconsequential in the scheme of things.

Keller, however, sees it as a change. Considering what’s been happening the last several months it’s no wonder she’s not happy about the scar.

She isn’t too happy with change.

She doesn’t make a big deal out of it but the insight to her thoughts at the end of the chapter had me thinking because I’d never seen the actual wording before.

(I have a tendency to skim when I first read a book even when it’s extremely engaging because I want to know what happens next. It’s the next read-throughs that let me see more of the story.)

‘Not being afraid of the dark but of the creatures that live in it’, is the part I’m interested in and that caught my eye this time.

I agree with the sentiment and so apparently skipped the last line which reads, ‘some of them were way too interesting’.

Keller then thinks about Guide giving her back her life, when the first attempt failed at the retrovirus, and there is definitely a feeling of fascination in those thoughts. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but she herself is disconcerted and quickly thinks about something else.

So, two things about this-

1: Keller is attracted to Guide, if only a little. It no doubt stems from the two working together and getting to know each other better during that time.

2: I’m not sure Keller would make the best choices if given the chance to run her own experiments on the Wraith. Even if it was meant to help them.

Being attracted to Guide is understandable. He’s smart, interesting and (pretty sure it was Keller who thought this) a gentleman. Being an alien would just add to the attraction for a medical professional. There’s nothing wrong with it, even Teyla has admitted to being attracted to the Wraith in some sense. (Though her attraction is along the lines of having power over them as a Queen).

The problem comes with the sense of a slight medical fascination I got this time around.

It’s entirely possible I’m reading too much into it. I admit that wholeheartedly and understand if anyone disagrees.

However, that Keller finds the creatures in the dark ‘too fascinating’ makes me nervous. It could simply be that they’re alien and she’s curious, but it could also be more along the lines of the Alterans and their fascination with ascension.

Nothing mattered but their end goal. Everything was within the limits so long as they gained some new understanding that might possibly lead to their ascending.

It would have been interesting if the show had taken the books as canon and continued on, to see if Keller pushed to try and ‘help’ the Wraith again like the first time (when they got cancer instead) and how far she would have justified her work.

Dr. Beckett did that once, we know how that ended, but we’ve also kind of seen how Dr. Keller can convince others that it’s worth the risk (See the current retrovirus she tried on herself).

If she got it into her head (and you can’t convince me it’s not still there simmering) that the Wraith would be better off not having to feed at all and they were closer with the retrovirus…

Well.

It’s certainly an interesting thought, isn’t it?

I shall let y’all go and enjoy that strange rabbit hole I’ve dropped you in this week and see you next time!

Pending a successful background check, I will have a new part time job that will mostly be 4 days a week at 5 1/2 hrs each day.

I’ll still be getting up early but not as early. I get an extra 1 1/2 hrs of sleep!

It’s also higher pay! 😁

Less days, almost the same hrs, more money, and this part time job gets tips!

If I get it I’m hoping to pay off my credit card sooner than planned. I have to do the math again, but it may still take me until middle of next year to completely wipe it out.

Which won’t be too bad at this new part time because it’s generally a fast paced work environment which I like. Makes the time go faster.

Anyways!

With 3 days off a week I’m really hoping my sleep will improve and I’ll be able to get back to reading and writing again.

Until next week, read something for me and I hope you enjoy! (A hilarious and short read is Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman, try it out!)

As the title says, there won’t be a post again this week.

I handed in my two-week notice to my part time job and have an interview with a new place that hopefully has better hours.

As in, not so early.

I have literally been falling asleep at my full time job the last few days when I’ve sat down to do something at a computer. Not even going into the lack of sleep and driving thing.

I’ve stayed longer than I had intended, and would still like to have extra money to pay off my credit card faster, but the negative impact to my health is taking a noticeable toll. A few people have commented so it’s time.

This week and one more then mebbe a new job with later hours. I’ll let y’all know.

I have two days off in a row so I’ll try and get something Atlantis related put together for next week.

Stay safe and get plenty of rest! I’ll see y’all next week!

A little different this week because something hit me today that pushed other post ideas to the way back of my mind.

Jeannie is knitting while waiting for Rodney to wake up from his surgery.

What she’s knitting isn’t really important so much as what she’s using as ‘yarn’.

It’s a wool-like fiber that comes from a goat-spider type thing. Obviously native to Pegasus, there would certainly be ramifications if she brought it back to Earth.

It got me thinking.

One of the premises of the series (the whole thing not just Atlantis) is that going through the Stargate can net some advanced technology for Earth. Throughout the series we see how advancements are made in the medical and technological economies using tech brought from other worlds.

It explains how technology has jumped so far ahead in such a short period of time.

With that in mind, what if it’s NOT just tech and medical stuff brought through? What if they are trading with other worlds or personnel are simply bringing things back (intentionally or not) and it’s getting out into the world?

Consider the blackest black color that was ‘found/made’. Wouldn’t it be more likely that it came from another planet? One that had different methods of making paint based on their local flora?

What about new ways of making fiber for clothes? Or a more efficient way of gathering solar energy? Or a ‘new’ plant discovered?

Human ingenuity, to be sure, but from what planet?

I like this thought a ton so figured why not make a post about it.

It can’t all be advanced technology this and miraculous medicines that. With so many people who go through the Stargate it would make complete sense that other things came back with them ya know?

That’s all for this one! I’ll see everyone later and have a fantastic rest of your week!

Subtitle being – ‘why there’s no post this week!’

Sorry y’all, but it is kind of a funny story.

A few days ago I get a call to come pick up my mama and sister for their hair appointments. Mind you, I was asleep at 10:15am (give or take) because it was the first day I didn’t work both jobs and I needed the extra sleep.

Me, being confused but happy to help, go to pick them up and I am thus told about the nail in my sisters tire.

I get them to their appointment on time (amazingly enough) and go about my day as usual.

Now, yesterday I worked at my second job which is the godawful early morning one. When I’m done I’m driving home and my car indicates a tire needs the air pressure checked because it’s low.

My first thought?

Oh heck no!

My second thought (because what would the chances be?) is that the changing temperature is effecting it and after driving on it for a bit it’ll correct itself.

I tell my brother about it and he has the same thought I do.

After pouring water on it to see if any bubbles pop up from a leak, I decide it really does just need a little air and that’s easy enough to fix.

However, there’s the slightest chance that the problem is centered on the part of the tire I can’t see at the moment so I pull back a bit.

There’s a screw in my tire.

🤣

I’m hoping it’ll just need a simple patch cause those are way cheaper than a new tire but at least my card (thanks to my second job!) has plenty of space if I do in fact need a new tire altogether.

Which is why, even though I don’t work my second job tomorrow, I do need to be up earlier than usual so I can be at the oil change place when they open.

I will get another Atlantis post ready for next week while I’m waiting on the tire.

See everyone next week for more secondary character appreciation!!

Let’s talk about Captain Laura Cadman, shall we?

As our first ‘secondary character’ she is a really good one! I could have gone with Radek, and I may do a short post for him, but I really enjoyed Cadman’s screen time (as it were) in this book!

First of all, she is really good at going along with hair-brained schemes.

Which I believe is a must-have quality for anyone who joins the SGC in any capacity.

Case in point- Teyla claims Cadman is Carter’s heir. Thus setting her up for any future interactions she will have with the Wraith because the Wraith ALL know about Carter. They respect her too, even if they’ve only heard stories.

Cadman just stood there looking professional and didn’t betray Teyla at all.

Now, a really cool thing with this book (as has happened with a few others earlier on) is that we get to have flashbacks for characters. Cadman is one of them and when she goes to debrief Carter about what happened, we get to go back to when she and Lt. Ford (remember him?) went through SGC training together.

It’s fun to see that the SGC is still messing with their new recruits and making them prove themselves in a ‘foothold’ situation. It’s just such a classic.

Anyways, Cadman, and Ford of course, proved themselves and went on to either join an SG team or travel to Atlantis.

Cadman, amongst her other credentials, is one of the few Lt.’s to survive Atlantis and go back to Earth alive (I’ll have to check, but she may be the only one actually).

I like that we see how unsure of herself she is and how touched she is that Carter believes in her enough to have a private conversation to, essentially, kick her butt into a higher gear. Cadman is good, really good.

The fact that both Teyla and Carter see such potential in her makes me think that she very likely goes on to command her own ship. I doubt we would have gotten to see that far ahead even if the series’ hadn’t ended, but it’s fun to imagine (and write fics to explore such things).

Can you imagine Cadman going up against Guide? At this point in her life she’d be eaten alive (pun not necessarily intended) which means she would be even worse off dealing with the Queens. She has it in her. You can see it in how she reacts to things, adapting as needed without losing herself, she’s a good person who tries to do the right thing.

Sounds like Carter, doesn’t it?

The parallels are great when you see them, which is why I really think she’d get her own ship or command at least if she didn’t want a ship (she does, let’s be honest here). Carter would no doubt be right there during the ceremonies with O’Neill, beaming at how far Cadman had gone an dhow far she’d go yet.

Wouldn’t it be REALLY cool if the authors got to revisit the Stargate world and write new material where we got to see what happened? Even if it was one of those ‘alternate reality’ situations it would be fun because of how things are set up in the Legacy series’ you can tell there’s more that can be told.

In any case, enough for tonight because I work early tomorrow. I will see people next week!