Story 168: "The Crouching Thing" by Sarah Ellen Parsons

[wendelah1]

This story was suggested by infinitlight (thank you, thank you, thank you), who thought it might generate controversy and discussion! Though I'm just back from vacation, and I'm still pretty jet-lagged, I'm always up for that. Since I haven't had a chance to read it yet myself, here's the header.

TITLE: The Crouching Thing
AUTHOR: Sarah Ellen Parsons
E-MAIL ADDRESS: se_parsons@yahoo.com
DISTRIBUTION: Wherever you want, just tell me.
SPOILER WARNING: Very mild spoilers for: Everything including Requiem
RATING: PG-13
CLASSIFICATION: Story, horror
KEYWORDS: Scully, Scully-angst, Skinner
THANK YOUS: To M. Sebasky and Perelandra for uber-beta and, Sab, Ropobop,
Livia, Alicia and the YV gang for comments and nit-picks.
SUMMARY: Sometimes we see things we don't want to see.


"The Crouching Thing"

Ready, set, read!

Please leave your recs for next time here.

Comments

[write-out.livejournal.com]

And, with her stony, unyielding prose, I think she did a pretty good job. Mulder is dead. Something unmentionable killed him and turned him into a pathetic, predatory presence that his own beloved can't stand to see.

You pretty much nailed it for me here. This is such a creepy story and I can appreciate it on one level (I do read a lot of horror and think the author nailed some aspects), but this:

Yet I still believe you're staring into the wrong corner while the Ultimate Horror looms behind you. Neither Mulder nor Scully are very sensitively characterized. I mean, can we imagine well-dressed Agent Mulder with his Vineyard rearing chomping on voles? And I really, as I said, can't see Scully walling herself into such a stubborn little domestic role. All either convincingly own is a personality hook: Mulder is driven, Scully is denialist.

Is what stops me from buying the story as a whole. Scully as Skinner's wife and mother to his children? It's really hard for me to buy that. Then again, I do love to read a story that challenges my own canon, but does so in an original way.