X-Files Book Club

We're continuing with the theme of stories that are gap-fillers.

After discussing "Atlas," I knew I wanted to post another story about Mulder and Scully which dealt with the disruption in their lives after leaving the FBI. Since the six episode revival was announced, I thought it would be fun to read a story set in the time frame immediately following IWTB, leading up to the present day. "The Tourists" is set post-series, post-IWTB, and post-2012, the year in which alien colonization was supposed to begin--except--it didn't.

Rating: Teen and up, no warnings apply
Summary: Struggling to find purpose in a world where they are no longer relevant, two former FBI agents take an aimless trip through their own past.
Author's Notes: Written in a big, sappy rush of nostalgia and affection for the show. So much nostalgia.

Wendy's Notes: But it's nostalgic in a good way, I promise you.

Read "The Tourists" - at AO3 | at Discordant Words

I'd love to know what you think of the story. The nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

This fic wasn't on the nomination post; instead, an earlier story of Seema's, Where the Heart Is was the nominee. After reading, I resisted posting that fic for a number of reasons. The person who nominated the story wasn't a member, which was fine, but she had no interest participating in the discussion, which seemed odd--at the time. It's not a bad fic but I had trouble with the characterization of Scully, which is unsurprising given how I felt about the movie.

Wanting a shorter fic to post, I reread it this weekend. I also read "Compass," her prequel to the movie. I think Seema's telling essentially the same story in both fics but in this case, the longer story works much better. "Compass" didn't get a lot of attention back in 2009, which is a shame. It's closer in theme to the movie than more popular pre-movie stories such as onpaperfirst's "Home, Home," or CazQ's "Hard Times Come Again No More." (Don't get me wrong, I loved both of of those fics.) I wish I'd read it before crack_van closed.

Summary: The truth was a harsh compass. Set after "The Truth" and before the XF2 movie, "I Want to Believe." Anything up to and including the movies are potentially spoilerific. Just one interpretation of how our heroes got to where they were in the movie.
Rated: Teen - Drama/Romance - Fox Mulder, Dana Scully - Words: 22,155

Read "Compass" at FF.net | her website. Leave feedback for the author, and join us for the discussion.

Recently, I was asked to post another very fine IWTB prequel story here, but I'm posting this instead because in a very few days I expect you will not be able to read it anywhere on the internet, not unless I go ahead and create THE OUTLAW FANFICTION ARCHIVE, Where Unwanted Stories Go to Hide from Their Authors.

If you read my fandom journal, here or at Dreamwidth, then you already know that CazQ has deleted cazfic, taken down her website, and requested that all of her stories be removed from fanfiction archives, including Gossamer. Since then, she has also blocked her site from The Wayback Machine with robots.txt. Her Author's Page at Gossamer is still up, but will most likely be gone by the next update, which I expect will be in July, since the last one was April 8th. This is a grievous loss.

Just as she is one of the finest writers to have ever graced our fandom, "Hard Times Come Again No More" is one of the best, if not the best story to have come out of the ashes of the second TXF movie. It's so good that I can almost forgive 1013 for inflicting that travesty on the fandom.

She feels, out of nowhere, deeply and unassuageably homesick for another Mulder, one she knows is a long time dead now: a lean and hungry-eyed white knight in a horrible tie, with much of the wide-open wonder of the boy still clinging to him, who would stick his fingers straight into any unidentified substance but could never just come right out and say what he meant. That Mulder who stood too close to her in morgues; always assumed he was going to drive; raised his hackles every time another man leant in too close to talk to her; stood like a gunslinger with his hands on his hips whenever he wanted to argue a point; made her sit through innumerable basement slideshows, and played travel Scrabble with her in hospital rooms for hours on end.

This is exactly how I feel about both of them. I miss them terribly; sadly, I missed them even more after seeing I Want To Believe. CazQ wrote the story I had been wanting to read ever since I left the theater back in July 2008.

Go read it. Go read all of her stories and save them to your hard drive. Comment about any of them; I'd love to know what you think. Just do it soon.

The link is to her page at Gossamer, scroll down until you find the title. Her Gossamer Page has now been deleted. If there is something of hers you want to read, I have everything saved.

"Hard Times Come Again No More"

This week I am posting a wonderful The X-Files/Dr.Who cross-over story by finisterre,"The Flexible Concept of Tomorrow." finisterre is the fic journal of the artist formerly known as Marasmus. She left our fandom, and came to LJ, I suppose, with the big fandom migration from the usenet groups. From what I can tell, she had virtually stopped posting her fic writing.

I didn't want to admit even to myself at the time how much of a high-wire act writing felt like to me and when my friends came in with all kinds of corrections and opinions -- even though they were solicited and almost always correct in what they said, particularly about structure and inauthenticity -- it started to interfere with my enjoyment of the process.

Then last year, she fell in love with the character of Donna Noble from the new Dr. Who series.

On Valentine's Day, she gave us a gift of a story so tender and moving that I can barely type, because I keep having to stop to wipe tears from my eyes. The origin of the story is, quite ironically, a prompt someone posted last year, at the first xf_pornbattle, for Mulder/Donna: redheads.

Despite this quirky beginning, it is absolutely not a Mulder/Other story, nor is there any porn. The story is definitely MSR, but it would help, if you are not a Dr. Who fan, to acquaint yourself with the character of Donna, most especially with her fate at the end of the 2008 season. Knowing this will give additional meaning to the story, although I read and enjoyed it for the first time knowing nothing more about Donna Noble than that she was the tenth doctor's companion for the past season.

"The Flexible Concept of Tomorrow, or Five Times Donna Noble Remembers Meeting That Bloke With The Stupid Name (And One Time She Doesn't)." Part I and Part II.

( a short excerpt behind the cut )

Go read, fall in love, and give praise to the author. This story is officially my favorite cross-over ever. Now I have to start watching that show.

I may have mentioned here once before my aversion to babyfic, kidfic, anything having to do with William, really. Ahem. Then along came this vignette by Meredith, which was originally posted in 2002, for a Scullyfic challenge, then reposted here on Live Journal, just this past July. What can I say, I love this little story about William, as he is growing up with his adopted parents, all the while using his special abilities, to listen for his "Faraway Parents."

Said the Night Wind

As always, let the author know what you think; let us know what you think; and please, give us your suggestions for next time.

In her post-episode short story "Grace," Bardsmaid takes on the unenviable task of creating a sympathetic portrayal of a character who is little more than a cypher in the series. The story's structure is simple: it takes Marita Covarrubias from her drive home after her unwilling appearance as a witness at Fox Mulder's trial to her small apartment, where she takes off her clothing, puts on a nightgown and goes to bed. The more important journey is an interior one, into her mind and her psyche. The writing is exceptional, full of the details and nuance that create a character with whom one can believe in and empathize.

Grace

As always, let the author know what you think; let us know what you think; and please, give us your suggestions for next time.

This Scully POV vignette takes off immediately after the end of "The Truth." All they have now is a black SUV, the clothes on their backs, and each other.

Almost

As always, let the author know what you think; let us know what you think; and please, give us your suggestions for next time.