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ext_20969 ([identity profile] amyhit.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] xf_book_club2011-05-29 02:33 pm
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Story 163: "China" by Punk Maneuverability

Punk Maneuverability is one of the X-Files fandom's long-time authors. A quick scroll of her Gossamer page tells me she did most of her writing for this fandom in 1997, but she continued to write XF fic for close to a decade. China, posted in 2006, is one of the last XF fics she's posted to date.

It's a short AU in which Scully has made a drastic change in her life, one that has left both she and Mulder's lives torn asunder. I don't want to say too much more about the plot, because part of what makes this fic intriguing is the way the reader doesn't immediately know exactly what's going on. I picked this fic because, though they are very different fics, the central tension of China is very similar to that of last week's rec: Scully's discontent and her desire for a "normal life".

China by Punk M

You can also find the author at [livejournal.com profile] runpunkrun, and you can find our recommendation page over here.

[identity profile] tiger-bay.livejournal.com 2011-06-01 11:47 am (UTC)(link)
One of the reasons I like this story is that there is as much we don't know as we do. Why did Mulder come, what did he say that made Scully leave? (I don't go for the abducted scenario...her behaviour was more indicative of one who was mentally distancing herself, the evidence feels pretty conclusive). And indeed, why was she with Richard in the first place? Was it her attempt to find a "normal" life? The story she told Richard, was that true?

Maybe she was undercover and torn about having treated Richard so badly? But if so, what was so nefarious about Richard and his family that she needed to be so deeply undercover in the first place?

But really I think Scully did leave the X-files, did make great efforts to find her normal life, but Mulder's arrival - and maybe whatever he said to her too - unravelled all of that. Scully is terribly upset because she knows she cannot make her "normal" life work, however lovely Richard might be. It's her coldness and emotional distance from Richard which is the most hurtful for him, her leaving was just the inevitable conclusion that doesn't surprise even him. It is uncharacteristic of Scully, to a point - the abandonment without a word is, but not her reserve, her lack of explanations and sharing. It's who she is taken to the extreme.

So Richard is the hero of this story, not Scully and Mulder is a catalyst to Scully's actions, an all-pervasive presence more in the abstract than in reality. Not the usual XF fanfic. It's daring and it's intriguing, but given all of that I can see why it might have been hard for PM to find an easy resolution to it, hence the hanging threads.

What else I love about this, is that through following the link I found one of her stories which I had never read before and made me actually weep with laughter. If you haven't read "Lost in Translation" then do, especially if you need some cheering up.

[identity profile] estella-c.livejournal.com 2011-06-05 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
OMG thank you for making me reread this! I had absolutely forgotten this hilarious tidbit. And I just finished watching Jet Li in "Hero," and the synchronicity is just...just... The mind goes into spasm.

You live for these moments. Well, when you're me.