xf_book_club | Story 95: "Iolokus" by Mustang Sally and RivkaT

A few days ago, someone was talking about fic and the phrase "most famous fic in our fandom" came up. I'm not sure what story she had in mind but surely "Iolokus" has to be a contender for that title. I have seen it nominated by many people for the best fan fiction novel, not just in our own, but in any fandom. I have also seen people say they couldn't finish it because Mulder and Scully were too "out of character."

The misspelled monster that started it all. Although I'm told it promotes heteronormativity in the end, we were more going for polymorphic perversity; you'll have to judge for yourself.

Summary: Painted across the barren and desolate reaches of Texas, the shadows of the Project put additional pressure on Scully and Mulder's already fragile relationship. After a hostage crisis raises more questions about the Project's breeding program, Scully begins her own investigation, leaving Mulder to choose between saving her and saving himself. Finally, the investigation leads to tragedy and Mulder and Scully find that more questions have been asked than answered.

The title reference was to an island mentioned in Medea, to which we turned for fairly obvious reasons.

Warnings: extreme violence, including the death of children.

There are four long sections to this behemoth. My first time through this fic I hadn't much knowledge of canon, so I am curious to see what I think of it now. Thank you to

sangria_lila for this excellent nomination. If there is enthusiasm to continue, I suppose we can forge through to the end or just quit with book one. It's your call.

Please leave feedback for the authors and then come back and let us know what you think. Nominations for next time are made here. Since

rivkat's site is down at the moment, the link is to the wonderful Fugues Fiction Archive. Of course, the story is also available at Gossamer.

Iolokus

Edit: Since Rivkat's site is back up, here is another link to the story: Iolokus.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hello from the future! I just started reading Iolokus today (yup, it took me SIX YEARS), and as I googled for a current link, I found this. You're famous!

Someone on USA Today mentioned us, too. (shakes head) I liked flying under the radar.

We've added to the lurker population but not the participants, alas.

Let me know what you think. I reread it--just the first section--on a long plane ride a few years back. It still held up for me.

I just finished the first section, and it looks like I agree with most people. It's solidly written for sure, but it's so dark, and it feels really out of character for me. That doesn't mean I don't like it. I'm just struggling to wrap my head around these versions of Mulder and Scully, and battling my need to see them all shmoopy all the time. I'm going to start the second book tonight, so I'll let you know what I think after that.

Spoiler alert: If you stick it out to the end, it gets very shmoopy.

I had a sneaking suspicion. ;)

Nope. I made it through the third book and I just can't anymore. I hate it.

It's not just that the characters don't act like Mulder and Scully; they don't act like people. Every single character is a sex addict (Scully and Marita? Also, come on, you don't almost have sex with a serial killer just because he looks like your lover), and the level of violence and callousness is just...too much.

To wit: Scully is abducted, made infertile, had her eggs stolen, given cancer, tenuously cured, discovers that she has a daughter, has said daughter die in her arms, walks in on a room full of strangled schoolchildren, discovers that she has a warehouse full of monster-babies, kills said monster-babies, kills woman she slept with the night before, gets brutally raped, discovers that she has even MORE children, walks in on a room full of slaughtered pregnant women and dead babies (all of which are hers), rescues one but decides that she's not in great shape to parent and gives her up, witnesses her lover savagely ripping a man apart, is stalked by a serial killer and nearly murdered, finds a dead body in her bed, has psychic dreams of children being murdered, AND I'M PROBABLY FORGETTING SOMETHING. All this, and Mulder calls her a bitch every other paragraph because she doesn't want to cuddle? Fuck you, Mulder.

I don't care how they manage to end up together in the end, because they shouldn't. Mulder is a monster (even if they try to say that the twins were invading his mind or something), Scully needs to be a psych ward, and Miranda should be with more stable parents. It looks like the third book is about a custody battle; I hope the other couple wins.

Also, all the plot holes. I tried, I really did, but I'm done.

It's not for everyone. Life is too short to read fanfic--or anything--you don't enjoy.

Given the Grand Canyon-sized plotholes in The X-Files itself, the ones in Iolokus seem minor by comparison.

You don't think that Mulder and Scully would be just as crazy/monstrous/wacko as a result of everything that gets done to them by our esteemed friends at 1013? I think that's the point of the series--that no real person could remain sane. I think the writers were particularly outraged by the events of CC/Emily, especially coming so soon after the cancer arc. The sexual-acting out, child murders, and all of the other crazy bits are all there to provoke the reader into feeling outraged, too. It worked, just a little too well for many readers.

My personal take on it: I also think it's meant to be a slap in the face of ye olde Relationshipper contingent. I wasn't in the fandom back in the day, but if the Tumblr MSR folks are anything like them, I can understand where MS and Rivkat are coming from.

Spoiler Alert:

NO. You don't want the other couple to win, they're being manipulated by the Consortium.

Haha, you're right about the show—it's chock-full of holes too, and those bother me as well. I guess I can forgive those more easily because the actual plot is almost not the point of the X-Files. To me, it's a show about light in the darkness, about two good people who are imperfect but never stop trying. It's a show about characters, not events—which is why for most people, it tanked when the leads left the show. On the other hand, the fic is just unrelentingly dark. And its darkness is explained as a normal reaction to the horror of the plot, which makes me look harder at the plot itself. I do agree that in the real world, the litany of abuses that I mentioned in my last comment would drive a person insane. I just disagree that it would manifest like this, especially in the people we know from the TV series.

Also, the fact that they're going to end up together in the end bothers me tremendously, given that what I've seen of their relationship so far is incredibly abusive. I don't see any love in them at all. If you're going to hate-fuck each other because you blame that person for what happened to you, fine. But don't try to tell me that's love.

Well, I guess in the end, Rivkat and MS loved Mulder and Scully too much to leave them unhappy. I know exactly what you mean. All I can tell you is it's redeemed--they're redeemed--by the love they share for their child, and the sacrifices they're both willing to make for her sake. What's the lyric by Leonard Cohen?

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

I am always drawn in by stories about redemption--and that's what Iolokus is ultimately about.

Guess I quit right before the redemption part. :)

Story 95: "Iolokus" by Mustang Sally and RivkaT

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