I think that "Unfinished Case File #4664" is the metafic of all metafics, just wonderful, and very hard to describe. So if I seem to ramble hysterically, please forgive.
This is a universe in which Mulder and Scully are both characters in a tv show *and* actual breathing people who must, presumably, be kept occupied and amused in the interstices of the foregoing. They depend on writers who exist in *our* world--Jess Mabe being one, and blessings on whatever career she is now pursuing--but also in theirs, where flukemen, sexual predation by enemies, and now cancer-conferring mutants also reside.
The set-up gives me shivers of Pirandellian delight.
In this complicated reality Mulder and Scully are stars, and they exhibit star behavior. Narcissistic and demanding, they also show the psychic wear of human beings who have been pushed and shoved by their fans into many torments and indignities. Once presumably innocent, they have been turned into sexual playthings and made to enjoy it. Manipulated, they now manipulate.
In my experience this is a unique idea, and Jess has plunked herself spang in the middle of it. No passive-aggressive MarySue, she appears under her real name and reveals her own story ambitions and secret fantasies. This is, of course, what all fic writers do, though somewhat less overtly.
There are numerous bits of sly series commentary on the way. I especially liked the elevator operator/writer who admitted to not watching the show. And the luxurious living arrangements and good weather, which all-powerful Jess can control with, at most, a fast rewrite. Though she soon realizes that her role in this scenario is less than goddess-like.
Probably some would be unhappy with this cynical view of our heroes. But everyone knows I'm a sucker for a laugh. And "Unfinished Case File" is absolutely rollicking, as well as being the most hardheaded view of fandom this side of Livia Balaban's "M. Luder: King of 'Set Troopers' Fanfic."
no subject
This is a universe in which Mulder and Scully are both characters in a tv show *and* actual breathing people who must, presumably, be kept occupied and amused in the interstices of the foregoing. They depend on writers who exist in *our* world--Jess Mabe being one, and blessings on whatever career she is now pursuing--but also in theirs, where flukemen, sexual predation by enemies, and now cancer-conferring mutants also reside.
The set-up gives me shivers of Pirandellian delight.
In this complicated reality Mulder and Scully are stars, and they exhibit star behavior. Narcissistic and demanding, they also show the psychic wear of human beings who have been pushed and shoved by their fans into many torments and indignities. Once presumably innocent, they have been turned into sexual playthings and made to enjoy it. Manipulated, they now manipulate.
In my experience this is a unique idea, and Jess has plunked herself spang in the middle of it. No passive-aggressive MarySue, she appears under her real name and reveals her own story ambitions and secret fantasies. This is, of course, what all fic writers do, though somewhat less overtly.
There are numerous bits of sly series commentary on the way. I especially liked the elevator operator/writer who admitted to not watching the show. And the luxurious living arrangements and good weather, which all-powerful Jess can control with, at most, a fast rewrite. Though she soon realizes that her role in this scenario is less than goddess-like.
Probably some would be unhappy with this cynical view of our heroes. But everyone knows I'm a sucker for a laugh. And "Unfinished Case File" is absolutely rollicking, as well as being the most hardheaded view of fandom this side of Livia Balaban's "M. Luder: King of 'Set Troopers' Fanfic."