Story 110: "Gutless" by Magdeleine

[wendelah1]

Yep, this is the one with the talking parrot, a pretty good casefile, and Scully having "Mulder Awareness Days." The author refers to the latter as Uber-UST in her summary. I think the term "parrotfic," not to be confused with parrotfic, might have originated here. "I mean why read babyfic when you can read parrotfic, right?" Truer words were never spoken, er, written, Autumn. There is a talking parrot in a Syntax6 story that I bet is a little shout-out to "Gutless." At least, I think it is a parrot.

If you don't find this to your taste, try "Bonemeal," which is a very different kind of story. You can find it on her author's page at Gossamer, along with "Gutless" broken into smaller bites. "Bonemeal" deserves its own discussion, but it's so short, I doubt we'll ever do it formally. If anyone knows if this writer changed fandoms, has a different email address, and is perchance still around somewhere, please let us know. Thanks to an anonymouse, you can go leave Magdeleine comments on her story at Archive of Our Own. You can read her fic for The Office there, too.

This story was suggested by amyhit as being one that would generate discussion. I guess it's time to read it and find out.

"Gutless"

Upcoming attractions: "Fathoms Five" by Penumbra, "Melancholia" by Jeylan, and "This House is Burning" by Tesla. If you don't like those, you can always go post your own suggestions at the nominations post.

Comments

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Maybe the Uber-UST is really the "A" plot. Maybe the two plots are so closely entwined that by the ending, they nearly climax simultaneously. Sorry.

Ha! i think it was a deserved joke.

But here, hasn't Scully been effectively replaced by the Fangirls/readers/writers?

you really don't think this characterizations is anywhere near the mark? one of the things i find most fascinating about this fic is that for the most part the scully characterization doesn't suck. her characterization is definitely stretched by the circumstances, but i find the way scully reacts to the circumstances quite in character, on the whole. remembering, naturally, that MOST of the UST isn't part of scully herself, but something forced on her by the supernatural element. it's only the way she deals with the UST that can legitimately be deemed part of her character.

[wendelah1]

I agree with you, after rereading it again. Scully and Mulder both stay remarkably in character, all things considered.