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ext_20969 ([identity profile] amyhit.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] xf_book_club2012-03-12 05:57 am
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Story 200: "a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" by zauberer_sirin

Gosh, look at that startlingly large number in the heading! It appears that our little (but oh-so-tenacious) community has reached its two-hundredth fic.

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Cheers everyone!

I must say, I’ve been adoring you guys’ recommendations even more than usual lately. There have been a few fics I am particularly fond of come up, including a very recent rec by [livejournal.com profile] littlegreen42, which I am going to pounce on immediately like a cat on a jubilant grasshopper. It was written in the pre/post IWTB era, making it relatively new by this fandom’s standards. It’s short – but with an endearingly long title – and the prose has an idiosyncratic sort of poetry about it. Ultimately, I think the author herself sums it up best when she says, These are not all the ways and whys and hows Mulder loves Scully, just some. In reverse.

Read a weatherman to know which way the wind blows by [livejournal.com profile] zauberer_sirin

[identity profile] estella-c.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I've read this before, and always liked it. Some aspects I like better than others. Since I derailed our last discussion, it behooves me to open this one.

The style of Weatherman is its major selling point. It has an eccentric, witty, poetical mode of Mulderexpression, and it is endearing and repays close attention. I also especially liked the backwards direction of the thoughts. It's so--time-travely.

The author does admit to a bit of Scully-dislike, and I'm afraid this comes through not in a harsh perception of Scully herself, heaven forbid, but in a very mother's-favorite take on Mulder. This is not a very long fic, but it long enough to make the Mulderangst cloying. Mulder is so much in love with his partner and so down on himself that the reader is almost brought to the point of wanting to warn Scully that she has an emotional dead weight on her hands. Which is unfortunate, because we all love Mulder and want him to be loved back by other than moony extratextual fans. The problem, I think, might have been solved if zauberer_sirin had elected to make Mulder fall in love a bit later than episode two or three. It would have been fun to see Mulder deny and tough out his attraction to his partner, and would have lent some suspense to the downcounted chapters. How often, really, do we need to hear about his unrequited, unspoken adoration. Better to hear about him fighting his lust as his respect for Scully disarms him. Really, the piece would lend itself to a simple rewrite. I'm not offering, for heaven's sake. And I almost never give even this much advice. Who do I think I am?

It's a good choice and I think lends itself to discussion. Even though it veers pretty close to Mulderemasculation.
wendelah1: (The light at the end of the tunnel)

200 Stories, 250 members, 4,430 comments received

[personal profile] wendelah1 2012-03-13 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
We also have 300+ watchers and an unknown number of lurkers.

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I like that we're mixing it up a bit and reading more contemporary fic, too.

Here's to many more days and nights of reading and discussing X-Files fanfiction. Now I'll promise to read the story and try not to post too many irrelevant off-topic comments.

Edited to make the picture smaller.
Edited 2012-03-13 02:14 (UTC)

[identity profile] nailseabelle24.livejournal.com 2012-03-13 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Has anyone noticed the sly reference to James Joyce in 'chapter' 11, where Mulder mentions attending a Joyce seminar while at Oxford? I had a 'Eureka!" moment at that point and wondered whether the author was subtly sign-posting her inspiration for the Mulder "stream-of-consciousness" narrative (less obvious in the early parts, but more noticeable later on in the story). If that was a hint of what she was attempting to emulate I thought she did partially succeed with her noticeable lack of punctuation in places, and long, rambling, slightly disjointed sentences. I thought this was quite effective.
On the subject of this fic focusing heavily on Mulder's thoughts/state of mind, I'd like start by positioning myself firmly on the Mulder side of the fence here. I do love Mulder-centric stuff because as I've said before, I am a Mulderist, but also a shipper (sorry Wendy) so a huge part of me really enjoyed reading him as a love-struck, 'pile of mush' ; I suppose that secretly I hope deep down that maybe, just maybe, this might be an accurate insight into Mulder's actual thoughts at each stage of his relationship with Scully. It made me want to go and have a mini-rewatch of some of these scenes all over again in the light of this interpretation. However, that said, I did shudder a little at the rather too familiar, over-used fanfic trope of Angst!Mulder and his over-active guilt complex. I just can't quite see where fanfic writers got this idea from but it pops up everywhere in fanfic, almost as if it is based on actual canon (fanon more like!). I've watched the whole 9 Seasons over several times and I just don't see this guilt-tripping, "I'm such a bad person" Mulder to any great significance in the show itself, so I wonder where this trope originates from, and - oh dear, now it's here too, in this otherwise excellent story. However, despite the criticism, I did still greatly enjoy reading this and re-reading it a second time was a pleasure. Great choice.

[identity profile] infinitlight.livejournal.com 2012-03-16 11:13 am (UTC)(link)
I like the feel of the story, other than that last line (ha). The weird jumping around in subject fits well for the character's internal thoughts. I also like the dialogue and the way it becomes a part of his thoughts, blending together until it's part thought, part recollection.

Admitting to not being a fan of Scully in your author's notes is never a good way to get me on side, though, and I think the author's difficulty with the character comes through clearly in the story. Even through Mulder's rose-tinted glasses, she comes across as kind of a jerk, as not really worthy of his devotion. I cannot imagine Scully saying really, Mulder, for such an egotist you are so insecure, because it seems like such an attack on his character, which she never does. (I have no such problem with turn that damn thing off, although I note that Canon Scully can sleep through just about anything).

I like some of Mulder's thoughts in terms of the relationship. For me they would work better as part of a bigger story, maybe? In the context of this (short) story, it feels like Mulder spends all his time and thoughts on Scully.