xf_book_club | Story 209: "Sokol" by Khyber

Halfway through (again) and I'm short of breath. It's large, to paraphrase Olive Oil. It's very,very large.

But It's also very, very good. I doubt we'll ever hear from Khyber again, but he is undeniably one of the best fan writers The X-Files ever produced. This was his swan song, and it's word for word gorgeous.

I often wish--though we would have missed some nifty eps--that the show had actually gone in this direction. Such a wealth of imagination.

Later--must shower, hydrate, and rest.

he is undeniably one of the best fan writers The X-Files ever produced.

Every time I read something of his, I think this same thing.

As good as his body of work is, I think Sokol is in a different league than say, "Reach," or even the best of the stories in Kv7.

Because of RL stuff, I just now started rereading this. Not only is Khyber one of the best fanfic writers TXF ever produced, Sokol is even better than I remembered it being. How often does that happen? More often, I'm disappointed or bored by a reread.

This story feels new. No one to my knowledge has written anything remotely like it, in any fandom that I've read fic in. It is so suspenseful I think I stayed up all night reading it the first time through and if I didn't have compelling other duties, I'd be tempted to do it again. It's mysterious. It satisfies my unusual (in fandom, at least) need to be surprised by what I read. I don't want to read yet another predictable tropey story featuring--name your favorite pairing.

To clarify, there is nothing wrong with loving that kind of fic. Those who do are in good company. It just doesn't do it for me.

I just finished part two but I will return at some point with more to say.

Edited 2012-07-23 08:08 (UTC)

I definitely stayed up all night reading it the first time through, with the result that even though it was at most four months ago my memory of it is sleep-deprivation-fuzzy. That's ok; it means it's almost equally suspenseful and surprising on the second go round, just heavily tinged with deja vu. I adored it the first time and am enjoying it just as much now.

I reread Reach before starting, just 'cause I felt like it, and I agree that this is in a different league. Maybe a different division. And an entirely different sport from most of the fic I've read, in this or any fandom.

Oh, and hi, everyone. I'm S Z. I'm new.

Welcome :).

I didn't stay up all night, but there is something that feels addictive in the way Khyber writes, I think. As you say, there's a lot of suspense. I think the stories move quickly, too, even at Sokol's length. There's not much wasted description or story. Everything ties into the whole--like the case Scully gets called out on, that I originally had thought was a red herring or an unrelated sidestory, turned out to be very important to the rest of the story.

Hi, S Z. Welcome to the group.

Now I wonder if I should reread "Reach," too. I do feel like "Sokol" doesn't address the fallout from Patient X/The Red and the Black, so I'm assuming "Reach" did? I haven't read it since we discussed it here in June 2008, and I barely remember it.

Welcome to the book club,

szgrey!

I guess I'm the odd one out, here, in thinking that Reach is just as good as Sokol, but in a slightly different way. Though I do seem to recall it being rougher around the edges than Sokol.

Oh, Reach is excellent, it's just a different kind of story- a romance, well-written, with excellent characterization, some great humor, and a pretty straightforward plot. Sokol takes a much more complicated plot and a larger cast of developed, believable characters, and makes it work- it's much more ambitious than Reach, and therefore more impressive in its success. I don't mean to knock Reach, at all, by saying that I see Sokol in a different league.

I'm NEARLY finished and really want to have reread the whole thing before I make any real comment. I agree that Sokol is essential fandom reading. It's a hell of a story.

Isn't it a remarkable piece of writing? It's even better than I'd remembered.

I just started rereading it today, for reasons. I am hoping you'll meet me back here when you're done to discuss it.

This novel deserves more than I've been able to give it. Though there's nothing I could do about it, I still feel like I've let down the community by not being around to get discussion going.

You absolutely haven't let anyone down. It's a long story so we were going to be slow to start discussing it. I'd actually been planning to reread it for a while so at least this got me moving.

Since you will understand my Noromo perspective: I really like the way Khyber writes their relationship. It's how I think the relationship would be, if there had to be one: not hearts and flowers, but mutual respect and care for one another, without discounting either of their characters or how difficult they would find a relationship. Any relationship.

Or making their relationship boring or predictable, either.

I like how he writes their relationship in Sokol much better than in Khyber v. Season Seven. He gets the their internal/external balance better here, I think. They're so messed up in Kv7. I don't think the Kv7 Mulder and Scully had much of a chance at sustaining a non-platonic relationship. They were in too much emotional pain, at least according to the internal canon of Kv7, and seemed to be hurting each other as a result. But Reason/Sokol picks toward the end of season five, so no The End, no Fight the Future, no hallway, no bee, and no Diana Fowley (sob!). He definitely takes into account their personal idiosyncrasies. He writes them smart, too, giving them witty dialogue that Mulder and Scully would actually say. Khyber's version of MSR is not boring or predictable, that's for sure. (Fans self)

He writes them smart, too, giving them witty dialogue that Mulder and Scully would actually say

This is one of my favorite things about Khyber's writing. It's not just M&S, either; he nails voice pretty consistently, so that as I'm reading it's easy to hear the characters I know speaking these lines. The only exception I can think of is Spender, and that's because Khyber's Spender is a more developed and interesting character than the version we got on the show.

Khyber's version of MSR is not boring or predictable, that's for sure

I KNOW, right? Even when he picks up a well-worn scenario- frantic sex in a motel room, anyone?- it feels real in a way that many fics, even well-written ones, just don't.

Just finished reading this for the first time (wanted to read Reach first), and I'd have to re-read to make better comments, but I wanted to comment now.

Dot points:

-Like Wendelah says, the story does feel new, but it also stays very true to the sensibilities of the X-files and the myth arc. So many of the classic X-files themes/features are in here, and they are interwoven into a story so well: throwing in a new bizarre danger/monster into the mytharc mix ("OK kids, there's these NEW kind of even freakier aliens and they are at war with each other too"), consortium politics, mind reading, death, reincarnation and destiny, Russia, creepy (antiquated in this case) technology, human space exploration, heroism. The X-files isn't the great show it is because of water-tight plots, it's great because at it best it touches on huge themes and leaves a spooky, thoughtful, pleasantly confused feeling, and Sokol achieves that, it's both an amazing tribute to the potential/awesomeness of the X-Files universe, whilst being a wonderful new addition to this.

-This doesn't read as a script without a cast to act it, it reads as a novel. Other great writers often achieve this through focusing on the characters' thoughts and feelings (which I love too), Khyber instead achieves this mostly through a very ambitious storyline.

-Spender/Skinner (..!) I liked how Khyber explored Jeffrey Spender further. I'd never seek out a Spender fic, but I'm really glad he was included in this. Pairing up these two to form their own ambivalent/conflicted/regretful/torn/come-through-heroically-in-the-end team to support the idealistic/brazen/uncompromising/etc. etc. Mulder & Scully team we all know and love, rather than just having Skinner fulfill this role on his own like usual, led to some interesting character insight into Spender and some great dialogue.

- I love the way Khyber writes the Mulder and Scully relationship. It's like version of Mulder and Scully we see in "The Unnatural"- bouncing off each other socially as well as professionally/intellectually- but in a different context to happy, overt flirting. They have a whole world of easy, funny, idiosyncratic private jokes with each other. I find this adorable:
"A feeling? I'm impressed. Are we going to have to chalk this one up to 'Satan' too?"
She snorted. It was an occasional joke, where they considered handing some utterly
convoluted and indecipherable investigation back to Skinner marked 'Satan,' written
in red Sharpie, with no explanation.

An hi everyone, I'm new too.

Edited 2012-07-24 00:36 (UTC)

Hi and welcome!

The "pleasantly confused" feeling you mention is a good way of describing it. There was a lot of pleasantly confusing times in the show (some of them were unpleasantly confusing, too) and yeah, that's one of the ways Sokol feels so like canon to me. There's still elements I don't totally understand about Sokol, but it's compelling.

Spender: Sokol made me wish we got to see Spender working on the X-Files more. I don't think I ever wished that before.

Hi! Welcome to the book group. Let me just say your comment is pretty much what I'd say if I had the time right now to say it (maybe by this weekend if RL lets up a bit) so thank you. This felt like a godsend. ♥

The X-files isn't the great show it is because of water-tight plots, it's great because at it best it touches on huge themes and leaves a spooky, thoughtful, pleasantly confused feeling, and Sokol achieves that, it's both an amazing tribute to the potential/awesomeness of the X-Files universe, whilst being a wonderful new addition to this.

Yes, yes, yes. The new elements fit into the existing mytharc canon seamlessly, far better than what 1013 came up with starting with FTF.

This doesn't read as a script without a cast to act it, it reads as a novel. Other great writers often achieve this through focusing on the characters' thoughts and feelings (which I love too), Khyber instead achieves this mostly through a very ambitious storyline.

Sokol is very plot-centric (I'm sure there's a better term but I can't think of it just now), but I think the characterization is there, it's just revealed through the plot line, which is what you just said, isn't it? Anyway, that's generally how I prefer character stuff to be handled.

I'll have more to say in response once I finish the reread. I must say, I'm envious of you getting to read this for the first time.

I'm glad my comment hit the mark. I'm relatively new to this, I was stoked to find this community and see that the recent posts were from 2012!

Yes, plot centric, that's what I meant in a round about way! I definitely agree that the characterisations are revealed really well as part of the plot, it all fits together so seamlessly.

As newbie--though I'm sure not to reading the fic--you may want to scroll back to earlier stories/discussions when you have the time. There have been some doozies. (Now I wonder whether I spelled that right.)

Thanks for the tip! This group is guiding my reading. I've started from the beginning and am slowly (somewhat selectively) making my way through. It's absolutely brilliant to read a fic for the first time then read the comments here, I feel less 15-years-too-late...!

Welcome to the book club

obviousanswer! I really enjoyed reading your comment. It brings me back to when I first read Sokol.

rather than just having Skinner fulfill this role on his own like usual

I remember being kind of confused the first time I read this fic, because I was so unused to anyone handling Skinner's character this way - with the sensitivity to consider him as his own person and not just a tool/obstacle for Mulder and Scully. Not to mention the basically unprecedented manner in which Khyber writes Spender's character. I started off going, "Wait, wait, who the hell is this guy? Isn't he supposed to be that whiny prick who bitterly tries to trip Mulder up for like a season?" (I hadn't actually seen up to S6 at that point). But Khyber's writing developes Spender into a much more real and interesting character, and by the end I found that I felt acutely how flimsily he was characterized by the show's writers.

For me, if there's one thing I most value about Khyber's writing (though it's tough to choose, because there are so many great things about his writing), it's that it never stops working to tell a story that will do reality justice, no matter how epic and bizarre the plot is. I get the impression that Khyber was probably pretty deliberate about always going, "Is this what a person would really think/do in this situation? Is this how a situation like this would really go down?"

So many of the classic X-files themes/features are in here, and they are interwoven into a story so well: throwing in a new bizarre danger/monster into the mytharc mix ("OK kids, there's these NEW kind of even freakier aliens and they are at war with each other too"), consortium politics, mind reading, death, reincarnation and destiny, Russia, creepy (antiquated in this case) technology, human space exploration, heroism.

Also, a strange and slightly creepy child with knowledge he really shouldn't have- classic X-Files.

I agree with

wendelah1 that Khyber's continuation of the mytharc works better than the canon version, and I love the fact that even though the pieces do fit together in a coherent whole, that coherence isn't apparent to the reader. That mystery, spookiness, confusion- however we describe it, I think it's a fundamental part of the XF experience, and I love that Khyber preserves it. Like

infinitelight, I haven't figured it all out. I think it's a more compelling story because of that. We don't get all the answers.

That said, I'm interested in what you guys think about the few scenes where Mulder and Scully die, or I guess have died- the alternate end to Pusher focalized through Skinner, and the post-funeral Scully suicide focalized through Langly. (Maybe also the one in the burning house.) I find them really powerful but I don't know how they fit. Anyone have thoughts about those bits?

That said, I'm interested in what you guys think about the few scenes where Mulder and Scully die, or I guess have died- the alternate end to Pusher focalized through Skinner, and the post-funeral Scully suicide focalized through Langly. (Maybe also the one in the burning house.) I find them really powerful but I don't know how they fit. Anyone have thoughts about those bits?

I was thinking about that, too. I do think they tie in with the ending somehow, Mulder says that both he and Scully had to be present to free the Russian cosmonaut and stop the aliens from the other dimension from destroying ours. I think they also tie in with the idea he's playing with that Mulder and Scully share a destiny, that they are fated to be together. So if something happens whereby one dies before they fulfill that destiny, the survivor must inevitably perish as well? I'm not saying it very well, but in Kim Stanley Robinson's novel, "The Years of Rice and Salt," there are groups of souls who travel through lifetimes together, and are reborn over and over again, playing different roles.The series brought up the idea in "The Field Where I Died." I'll need to look at the passage again but I recall that Mulder seemed to believe that by becoming lovers in this lifetime, he and Scully have fulfilled their karmic destiny. Maybe Khyber believes it .

Since I do not believe in karma, fate or destiny, this was a sticking point for me in this fic. I think I read this the first time through before I'd seen the entire series. The ending didn't bother me then, but this time I have to say, it did. I don't like the idea of Mulder and Scully leaving the fate of the world in the hands of the Consortium and the Alien Colonists. It's not right and I don't believe that they'd do it. I see them as heroes and I want and expect them to live and if necessary, to die as heroes. I could accept an ending to the series that did not result in their being together romantically but I can't accept an ending where they give up their fight to go play house somewhere.

If by stopping the aliens from the other dimension, they have also saved the planet from colonization, then we don't have a problem. But that's not what I got from this fic. I don't think Khyber believes they could stop colonization so he has them opt out of the game and in effect live out their remaining lives together. I feel a little sick even writing it.

Maybe he thinks Skinner and Jeffrey Spender can stop it. LOL.I love the idea of Jeffrey Spender taking over the X-Files,with finding his mother driving his search for the truth.

There are, as you know, two sort of elegaic wrap-up stories that were posted at the end of Sokol. "Dancing Skeleton Day" was one and the other my mind's a blank. Don't you think people should be able to access them? As you also know, I would be the last person to be helpful. But they exist. I remember Frohike describing rusticating Mulder as looking like a drug dealer.

I knew I'd forgotten something I wanted to discuss...

The Scully story struck me as odd, because what? Mulder dies and there's nothing left in her life? I agree with what wendelah said above, that it seems like Khyber's playing with the idea that their fates are somehow tied together. What I find hard to believe is that Scully would accept that to the point of suicide.

You mean this passage?

"Vodka," she whispered. "And... some borrowed, non-prescribed
medication." There you are, Mulder, I've said it, she thought.
Almost wasted your money. She watched Mulder look out between the
curtains, trying to pretend she hadn't said what she did. You knew
I'd die for you, that's easy for us, but die over you, like a poor
little Capulet debutante? You didn't want to know that, did you.

I don't think that Scully would commit suicide if Mulder died at the hands of the Consortium. I don't understand where that bit of characterization is coming from. It's Khyber-canon, not 1013 canon. I also dislike the description of Juliet as a "poor little Capulet heroine." That doesn't sound like it's from Scully's head either. It's too hipster/ironic and just not very honest. Not the best of his writing, I'm afraid.

Mulder's propensity for violence is real but it's not planned out and calculated. It's always in the heat of the moment. Maybe he thinks he'd be up for launching an attack on the Consortium in the wake of Scully's death but his history indicates otherwise.

That's the one. I don't even like the phrasing of it. "borrowed, non-prescribed". It's so vague and imprecise for Scully, who usually thinks in and almost takes comfort in clear medical details. For some reason I feel like if she was willing to DO it (I'm not convinced) she'd be more than able to speak clearly about it.

It's not precise or logical or well-planned. I mean, why vodka? Why not scotch? Or even tequila? And from where/from whom would she be "borrowing" the medications? She doesn't work in a medical setting where she might have the kind of access you'd need to "borrow" controlled drugs. Is she going to hold up a pharmacy at gunpoint? I don't follow the logic there. This plan is not a plan at all. And anyway, it's more like she's saying to get at him than that she means it, and that doesn't seem like her either.

These are people declaring their intense love for each other in the brutal terms circumstances have dictated, Remember that Khyber is of that extremely rare breed, particularly in fanfic: a male heterosexual romantic.

Why not vodka? I'm always of the opinion that there is more to these people than we saw on the show.

Each writer has his/her own canon. Within limits.

Yeah, I get that it's a high drama scene he's going for, but I still think he needed a different female character to make it work. I try to picture Scully saying anything like that to Mulder and imagine her thinking a phrase like "poor little Capulet heroine," and I can't do it. I can imagine the opposite a little more easily: Mulder eating his gun, maybe after consuming most of a bottle of scotch, and Scully ruthlessly planning to take out as many Consortium goons as she can to avenge his death. But really, I think she'd mourn him and then get back to work. She'd want to go down with the fighting, because that's what good soldiers do.

Being a guy (and a romantic) doesn't give Khyber a free pass to write Scully badly.

Badly! BADly!!

I haven't been so offended since I visited Huffington Post several minutes ago.

I'll get over it.

Still reading. I have gotten appallingly slow, even though this is at least my third time through. It's SO WEIRD. (I love weird.)

Meanwhile, it's great to see some new names hooked in, not that there's anything wrong with the old ones. I know our W co-leader has some heavy responsibilities just now, so we must all pitch in an analyze our tushes off. ( Although I'm not super-good at that; vague description of personal response is more my thing.) Amyhit, you still on-board? This is your ultimate challenge.

Back later. It's storming here, but my cat is just sitting on the porch watching the lightning. He's so tough.

I'm still reading, too. I think I'll be done by the weekend.

Amyhit, you still on-board?

Uuum, I'm working on it? *gulps*

It's storming here, but my cat is just sitting on the porch watching the lightning.

Oooh, reading Sokol during a lightning storm. That seems pleasingly appropriate. A lightning storm during a heatwave, that would be even better. For some reason Khyber's always been one of those writer's whose fics I associate with summer.

Okay, first of all, Olive Oyle. I knew that.

My comments will be coming in bursts, probably unconnected. I have a compact, studio-sized attention span.

Such an overwhelming tale, and so expertly controlled. I like what infinitlight said about not quite getting everything at the conclusion. I've often felt that the books I really like--and this is a Book--are those created by people I know are much smarter than I am. (A rl example of this would be Tim Powers.) Reading easy-to-understand genre gets dull. This is great science fiction. Khyber could have gone pro, and he knows it, but the money...

The scenes in which Mulder/Scully appear to be dead are an example. I still don't get them, but I suspect they are a function of the fragmenting of reality, the multiplying of outcomes. Some will remember that lovely, color-coded scene in "Where I End and You Begin," which within the storyline just doesn't happen. Alternate realities surround us, waiting to comfort or pounce.

I'm sorry Wendelah is unhappy with the quest opt-out, but that is in keeping with her admiration of the work and her kink for tragedy. I personally think we can ask no more of Mulder and Scully after vanquishing indescribable, unspeakable, Lovecraftian (yes!) monsters. Possibly the consortium and aliens will wise up and leave Earth alone already. Earth is a lot of trouble!

Like obviousanswer, I so love what Khyber did with Jeffrey Spender, who never rose above weakling status on the show. Here he is a smart, professional guy with a moral center, intent on undoing his mistakes. There is that wonderful moment when CSM (aka "the Smoker") informs someone that he has two sons. And then he goes on, coldly and bloodily, to protect the most difficult one. It is a striking irony that this villain does the essential thing, and moreover has fathered one honorable man and one global hero.

Also, rather refreshingly, Khyber has turned Krycek into a total psycho. This is a foretaste of what the Lovecraft aliens will wreak on human beings. So it's not entirely his fault, Krycek-lovers. Nonetheless, it's nice for Wendy, who hates him. (g)

Khyber has turned Krycek into a total psycho

THAT'S the other thing I wanted to say. I really, really liked the way Krycek's deterioration was handled. I liked, first, that we got notes before his character entered the story directly. Then, I liked how he was written. He rang truer to me than most of the fic Kryceks I've seen, though I haven't really seen many. (If anyone has good Krycek fics to recommend, I would be all over that.) Krycek at the beginning of the story isn't psychotic (he may be a sociopath, I guess, but that's a whole nother thing). His loyalties and motivations are uncertain, just like in the show, and he's got a coldness and a black-edged humor that I found delightful, and the increasing stress he's under, his lack of sleep, and the hideous things he witnesses serve to mask the degree to which he's really losing it over the course of the story. By the end he *is* psychotic, but I knew that the moment Mulder did and no sooner. Of course, at that point it snapped perfectly into place, all the ways in which I saw it happening all along without recognizing what I was seeing.

The scene in the restaurant might be my favorite in the story. It was tight and intense and at first I was reading up and down the page with a ridiculous grin feeling like I had to double back in case I missed something, it happened so fast, and then at the end of just under three pages I was breathing like I was back in high school track, and liking Spender more than I ever thought I would, and THEN assassins in Mulder's apartment. Shit just got well beyond real.

szgrey, I have no idea whether this would be to your taste, as it's Scully/Krycek. But I believe that it's the only believable Scully/Krycek in existence, and it is moreover wonderfully written: Half a World Away by Jane St. Clair. You'll find it in the discussion list along, well, with the discussion. Let me know if you get to it and don't hesitate to post your opinion. We made a kind of agreement that people could time-travel to previous postings, though I'm not sure whether they are really doing it.

Any ship or none, and any genre- I'm easy, as long as it's well-written and has believable characterization :)
And I've been going through the discussion list in a haphazard fashion, reading the discussions on stories I know, and reading the ones I don't know and then the discussions. It's wonderful for me as a baby phile to have a whole long list of varied, quality fic, especially as it seems a lot of the old rec sites and archives no longer exist. I haven't been commenting, but perhaps I will start.

Edited 2012-08-01 13:28 (UTC)

Oh, we all certainly hope you do! A baby phile. Who would have thought, twenty years after the fact. It's sort of like a pregnancy in your sixties. (Not that I'd know.)

I was surprised by how many other babies I found on tumblr, although most of them seem to be not much over half my age. I'm one of those who managed to miss it entirely, in my case by growing up in a nearly TV-free household and maintaining the habit until the advent of Hulu. I just started the series this year.

I always liked Wheels of Iscariot for Scully/Krycek, although it's been a long time since I last read it.

Never got into that, for some forgotten reason. Maybe should try again.

He's a piece of work even in canon; by the end of this fic, he's pure evil.

I love the scene where Scully gets to shoot and kill him. Die, Alex, die.

Wow, four years late to this discussion but wow what a ride. How did I miss Sokol back in the day? Maybe it wasn't finished within my fanfic window (1998-early 2000)? I think I remember reading that intro years ago... How did I never read anything substantial from Khyber? I guess I read a couple of his smut biscuits, which I appreciated from the point that they were written by a man and thus just feel different.

But back to Sokol... Such intense driven plotting, twisty and more canon than canon. Interesting characterization, particularly Krychek and Spender. It was fantastic watching Spender go from ignorant lackey at the beginning, spying on
M&S to sudden balls of steel badass during the diner shootout with Krychek. So awesome!

Also I really enjoyed CSM and his ambiguous role. So in character to play all over and outside the lines, protecting his own interests whatever they may be.

Also really enjoyed Pandu and the insights he afforded us regarding the differences between the colonizers and the gatekeepers/rebels (and the clarity that the colonizers are obviously the actual foolish rebels). Was that a colonizer he had captured or a gatekeeper or? Fascinating nonetheless.

And for what it's worth, I loved Galina, the cosmonaut. What a fantastic character. She is an excellent alternate Scully, utterly heroic and brilliant. I honestly choked up in that moment where she breaks free, plunging down in free fall, flying. That was powerful and beautiful and tragic.

Did I love everything? No. Was I capivated? Utterly. Also, pretty sure Khyber was indicating there was a child conceived in that against-the-wall hotel room sex. Just to throw some canon parallel in there.

Story 209: "Sokol" by Khyber

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Can't believe I never read this!!