Story 106: "Kevin," by Justin Glasser

[counterphobe.livejournal.com]

You'll remember Kevin as the boy with the stigmata from "Revelations." Scully takes on the role of his protector. She seems touched, even changed, by what she experiences, but the episode ends and he's forgotten.

Justin Glasser's story takes place three years after "Revelations." Scully has kept in touch with Kevin, at least sporadically, and now she gets an urgent call from him for help.

It's a casefile with an unusually good portrayal of Scully as a thinker and a believer. At twelve short chapters it's a brisk read.

http://www.reocities.com/Paris/Lights/7752/kevin1.html

For the final chapter, go here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050112214843/http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Lights/7752/kevin12.html

Comments

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

A great story--I, too really liked the thoughtful characterization of Scully. "Kevin" really makes sense at this point in the timeline--post-"Emily" and with Scully in this state of simultaneously grieving and throwing herself into investigation as a way of dealing with the world.

I was surprised and pleased by the subplot regarding Mulder's faith--something I always wished had been addressed more directly in the show. I've read a few stories where the author tries to address Scully's complete belief in the early religious X-Files along with Mulder's skepticism, but this is probably the best I've read--subtly written and very believable.

[wendelah1]

I'm so glad you liked it. I agree, it does fit very well into the timeline.

I've read a few stories where the author tries to address Scully's complete belief in the early religious X-Files along with Mulder's skepticism, but this is probably the best I've read--subtly written and very believable.

Subtle, believable, yes and yes. "Kevin" is an excellent treatment of this theme. When I've tried to write something addressing it, I always end up hating on Mulder, which isn't fair to his character. I'm curious to know what else you've read that fits this category. The good, the bad, the ugly.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

The good:

I really liked "The Thirty-Sixth", by xf_book_club favorite Jess M. A lovely case file story that addresses Mulder's faith while refraining from cheesy revelations.

I'm terrible with names and can't remember the specific stories that I thought *didn't* work--might have been some of Brandon Ray's? which I remember often had strongly religious influences. When I first started reading fanfic (would have been around summer of 2000, and I read *everything* that wound up in my inbox via atxc--I don't do that any more!), there was a lot of fanfic-speculation about Mulder losing his childhood faith due to trauma or childhood abuse, and thus being strongly anti-religion. Which is not something I ever saw in Mulder, myself.

[wendelah1]

Wow. I was thinking about reccing The Thirty-Sixth next. Maybe that's the one then. I love it, too.

[maybe-amanda.livejournal.com]

(Hi there - first time caller, long time reader)

I had never read this. It's amazing that I had never read this. And it's so nice this late it the game to find something new and well-written.

I've enjoyed Justin's stories. I admire his ability to pack so much into a few words. For example:

She ignored him, moving to sit behind his shoulder, resting herself against the thin lumpy motel pillows. Mulder rolled onto his stomach so he could see her. He was so comfortable in himself sometimes that it startled her. He twisted himself into convoluted and unmasculine postures, sitting indian-style on a bed, pulling his legs up into an armchair, sprawling on the carpeting like a kid. She envied him that comfort, keeping her knees together, legs crossed at the ankle.

It's a terrific, brief character sketch, and it tells us so much about them, about their relationship, about how Scully sees Mulder and sees herself.

I thought the story was strong, the plot engaging, and the characters believable.

A

Welcome!

[wendelah1]

I had never read this. It's amazing that I had never read this. And it's so nice this late it the game to find something new and well-written.

This makes me very happy.

I think I tried reading this back in 2005, when I was first getting into TXF, but before I'd actually seen many episodes. I think I decided I should wait at least until I knew who Kevin was. *g*

This story slides into canon so perfectly, I can imagine it being filmed.

I admire his ability to pack so much into a few words.

This is much harder to do than I would have thought before I tried it myself. His style is very precise, but at the same time not fussy; there's nothing awkward that takes the reader out of the story.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I had never read Justin Glasser either. How is this possible? He's a fabulous fic writer, and I've heard his name forever.

There are so many good things about this story. It's literate, exciting (the kind of exciting where you really need to know what happens next), and introspective without neglecting the tough professional obligations of working a case. Kevin's brother is an excellent character, a poignant mini-Mulder. Scully's religion is treated as the great mystery it is without getting overly literal and vulgar. It is perfect that the partners agree to talk at the end and mutually realize that talk will solve nothing.

It's a good length, halfway between the slice-of-life vignette and the novel. There should be more this length. Why aren't there?

I kept thinking that it would be an appropriate touch to have Scully cross herself--heck, I do that and I'm not Catholic--and then the writer finally did. At exactly the right moment.

There are two weak points which surfaced in my brain after the satisfaction of the reading experience. With all Mulder's mythological/paranormal research and Scully's training by the nuns, neither of them spotted the mention of Moloch? As gods go, he's not that obscure. Also, it bothered me a little that the sexual abuse aspect was raised, to the apprehension of any reader, and then dismissed so conveniently. Of course Glasser knew that he couldn't really get away with having Malachai rape Kevin, but it still seemed like a deus ex machina kind of resolution--except in this case the evil god exits rather than appears.

I guess I've just spoiled the hell out of "Kevin". Read it anyway; it's great. And I'm inspired to read all the Glasser at his site.

[wendelah1]

He is fabulous. He's another writer who is just not read enough now. I have recced his FTF Mulder-and-Scully-get rescued-off-the-ice story, Certitude, everywhere I can think of to rec it, from my personal journal to crack_van. He is still writing in other fandoms from Sports Night to My Chemical Romance, too, as synchronik. His website is Joe's Eats and Christian Bookshop.

Now go watch FTF and then read Certitude. Or just read the story.

[wendelah1]

Someone asked for Dana Scully: Faith as one of their halfamoon prompts. "Kevin" fits that so perfectly I'm tempted to email the requester. There haven't been very many stories written that deal with Scully's spiritual side. Jintian's "God's Breath" is a well-done story, but unfortunately, thanks to those site-blocking robots, like all of her TXF work, it's now unavailable online. (Although, if anyone out there wants to read it, I have a copy on my hard drive and can email it to you.)

The casefile is well-done, and as always, Justin Glasser's writing is excellent, but what I enjoyed most about Kevin is how it deals with Scully's religious beliefs, especially the strain they place on her partnership with Mulder.

She could only imagine what Mulder would say when she told him. Kevin's case had been the beginning of the on-going . . . disagreement they had about religion, the first time that she had been foisted into the role of believer. Mulder hadn't even bothered to consider that Kevin might really be a stigmatic, and his dismissive attitude had continued through every case that bore even an hint of the miraculous in the divine sense. He hadn't considered that Kevin might be touched by God, just as he hadn't even heard her suggestion that those poor deformed girls might be something different, although normally he was so quick to pick up on the slightest allusion to the paranormal in her analyses.

I like the appearance that Psychic! Scully makes in the first chapter.

That night, after erasing a boy's request for help from her answering machine, Dana Scully had a dream.

Kevin stood in the front yard of a white two-story house. Kids rolled past on bikes and in-line skates, skipped by with jump ropes. He was watching her as she approached, his eyes following her car as she cruised up in front of the picket fence.

Hi, Kevin, she said, but the words did not come out of her mouth, they came from her head. He smiled.

His smile changed, gradually, as if he were under water, and his finger reached toward the sky.

Scully looked over her shoulder and saw it, an inky blackness with eyes of gold, shapeless, and she was out of the car, running, sprinting through the gate, head down. If she could reach him first, she thought, if she could reach him first.

But she couldn't, and Kevin was swooped up in a tornado of hot wind with fangs or teeth, and Scully grabbed for him, catching only one white tennis shoe. The kids at the edges of the fence laughed and pointed. Missed him, missed him, now you have to kiss him, they cried. And she cried out, too, watching the shape recede in the distance.

I know you'll come for me, Kevin said, from within that darkness, from within the heart of evil.

She woke up sweating.

This makes me think of the scene in Ascension, where Mrs. Scully tells Mulder that she had a dream that her daughter was going to be taken away. That she wanted to warn her, but knew Dana wouldn't listen, because she didn't believe in that kind of thing. But by now, Scully has had visions of her own, so she isn't so quick to dismiss this dream. The imagery is effective at evoking evil: swirling darkness, golden eyes peering out, the single white tennis shoe in her grasp.

[wendelah1]

When it turns out that this dream is prophetic, she panics. The little glimpse of stream-of-consciousness is revealing.

She went back into the bedroom and opened her suitcase, mentally cataloging what she found there. She had packed the top half of the beige silk suit without the skirt, only one of the black mid-heel pumps, and no stockings whatsoever. She was panicking. Kevin was fine, or he would be as soon as she got there. She would come in to his middle income ranch house and he would be sitting there on the couch watching tv, or frozen in front of the Nintendo moving only his fingers, eyes rapt on the screen, and she would make dinner and they would be happy and Kevin would be fine and she would be fine and she would never have to worry about losing him again, no matter where he went or what he thought about his sister. He would always be around when she called and she would tuck him into bed at night, and be there when he came home from Washington for milk and cookies and help him with his homework. She could do autopsies in the basement, like her dad had done woodworking, and ship the results all over the country and be a world famous forensic scientist and a mother and a lover and there would be no distinction because Kevin was fine and he was fine and they would always be--

It's a mash-up of her unconscious desires and anxieties. Worries about Kevin mixing in with her anxiety about Mulder, and her clear desire for some kind of a normal life: career, motherhood, love. She wants what she can't have, and is more aware of her needs than perhaps she has been for years, partly because of her cancer, and also because of Emily.

Continuing our Spooky Award's theme, "Kevin" won the 1998 award for Most Carteresque Story.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I noticed that passage on my read-through. It's a combination of magical wishing and panic and the surrealism of it really sells the emotional punch.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks so much for posting this! I've been away for awhile, but it was great to come back and see a story up by an author I had never read. The writing was strong and the story was interesting both plot-wise and as a character study. It's true that there aren't many stories dealing with Scully's faith, which is disappointing because it's an area rife with potential for insight, interpretation and depth of character. It's interesting that the strongest foundations of her character, faith and science, are so contradictory in nature, and it's rewarding when an author really explores them.

As soon as I was done with Kevin, I went to read his other stories... particularly enjoyed Lonely Nightmare and Certitude.. where has this author been all my life?? :)

-Kate

[wendelah1]

where has this author been all my life?? :)

I have some idea of why he isn't read and recced more: (1.) in the XF fandom, he wrote gen and fandom is obsessed with pairings and sex (2.) his prose style is not currently en vogue. Don't get me wrong, he's a fine stylist, but his stories are not full of the extraneous imagery and meaningless metaphors that currently pass for "poetic" in fanfiction. Personally, I think that style is overdone and tedious to read, not to mention usually plot-free. There are some writers who do it very well, but they are fewer in number than most readers seem to think. God, I'm opinionated today.

Anyway, I'm delighted you are back and that you enjoyed Justin Glasser's writing. Comments like this make my day.

[wendelah1]

Wow. I just reread "Lonely Nightmare." Guh. I had forgotten how terrific that story is. I knew someone had written a great post-ep for Never Again. So scary, so emotional. Perfect Mulder voice. I've got tears in my eyes and I'm not a weeper. Thanks, Kate, for reminding me of how good it was.

[wendelah1]

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that there are a couple of fine stories of his at Gossamer that, oddly enough, never made it to his old website: "Orrery" and "Wake."

[bmerb.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've read everything on his website so now to peek at gossamer. Also happy that the final chapter was included since I couldn't find it on his website when I was reading originally. I really enjoy his writing, so well done and it doesn't feel like anyone else's xf fanfic to me, sort of it's own flavor while feeling "true" somehow. Am I remembering correctly that there is something of a Skinner/Mulder slash feel (or outright writing) to many of his stories?