Story 163: "China" by Punk Maneuverability

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

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 runpunkrun, and you can find our recommendation page over here.

Comments

[maybe-amanda.livejournal.com]

I don't know where to put this so I'll put it here:

If someone already said this, I'm sorry.

Here's the thing about the ending.

The phone is off the hook and there's a handprint in the dust. Scully may have been the victim of a violent kidnapping.

The reason I do like the ending is that we are Richard, and just like him, we don't know what the hell is going on. A lesser writer might wimp out and tie it all up with a bow. Punk makes the harder choice - to unsettle the reader. Which is awesome.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

The reason I do like the ending is that we are Richard

This goes back to what I was messily trying to articulate about why I like all the exposition we get about Richard's life. And I agree.

I think the fact that we're told this fic was supposed to have a different ending has effected how we're thinking about it. It has effected how I think about it, anyway. When I first read China I didn't know the ending was tacked on, and I accepted the loose ends as deliberate. But when I realized the loose ends maybe weren't deliberate I started looking at everything more critically. It's one of those Watsonian vs. Doylist perspective issues.

The only thing I really wish is that Punk had made it so that the fic asked questions a little more clearly. Not much more clearly, just a little. If I felt like the fic presented me with a number of possibilities about what was going on - some of them more well defined than others - and none of them could be deemed conclusive, that would be ideal. As it is, I'm not sure if I'm even supposed to be confused.