Rerun: "Strangers and the Strange Dead" by Kipler

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

Strangers and the Strange Dead, 7982 words, is genfic told from the PoV of an OC. The story was first recced here in 2009 but I thought I'd run it again, if only for the benefit of those who haven't read it before.

Author's summary: In which dead bodies and shivering people disturb the hilltown of Bradenton, and our young, orphaned narrator serves hot beverages to the investigating agents even as she ponders the peculiar, elusive nature of their relationship.

An extract:

The male agent smiled at the woman as he passed her the cream; she smiled back distractedly. Her attention was focused on a set of files she had spread open on the table. Her feet - in the high shoes - were bent under her seat, crossed at the ankle. Her partner's legs sprawled into her space; his feet rested inches from hers, settled there in a gentle fencing-in that she didn't know about.

I watched the man, saw the way his eyes did not leave the woman. It was the same as it had been in the library. It was as if she were a thing he was studying. I looked at his face and again at their feet in a snow-melt puddle under the table, and wondered what lines ran between them.

The story thoroughly exploits the outsider-perspective genre and gives its readers a ride they'll never forget. It's also one of the most original stories I've ever read. The atmosphere of the story is beautifully created, and really establishes the feel of a small town, reinforcing the status of the two agents as outsiders, a fine bit of world-building that fades into the background because of the stunning way the fic is orchestrated. I'll confess the end made me go right back to the beginning and start over, just to find the clues that I'd missed. If you haven't read it before, do ~not spoil yourself for the ending!

Read "Strangers and the Strange Dead".

Comments

[a-is4addiction.livejournal.com]

I read it twice and I admit I'm still confused by the ending. I'll be over here waiting for someone who gets it to post an explanation. ;)

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

The previous discussion (http://xf-book-club.livejournal.com/22951.html) may clarify a few things. :-)

[(Anonymous)]

I think I originally had to make Cliff Notes when I first posted the story. So... you're not alone. :)

Kipler

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I'm always terrified excited to see writers commenting here when we discuss their stories. :)

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

Lovely to see you here! :-)

I think I might have 'got' the end the first time if it hadn't been for that awesome bit of misdirection with Scully referring to the other agent as 'Mulder'. Once I went back and read that again, it was pretty clear. :-D

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

One of my all-time favorite XF stories :). I really wish I could reread it without knowing the ending, because I'd love to experience it again, and I usually dislike "twist" endings. I think because those kinds of endings are usually a way for the author to show how clever they are, or make a statement about how little the reader understood the characters (which I find frustrating because a. I read in large part because I like the opportunity to understand characters, and 2. because if an ending is going to surprise me I think I should at least be allowed the opportunity of clues, even if I miss them). The things I like about the twist in Strangers though, is that the hints are there, and the characterization is true. There's no twist for the sake of a twist, it's a story told truly from the point of view of the narrator.

I've discussed Strangers with other fanfic readers more than any other story, I think (okay, not more than Iolokus :). I think it was published slightly before my vintage (I was on atxf and atxc, but not the AOL forum) and I've always enjoyed hearing people's reactions to it. A few people have told me they had the whole thing figured out all along, which I think is pretty impressive. It took me several rereads to work out the clues. I love that when you go back and read them, you think, "Ah! Of course!". It's such a satisfying read.

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

The things I like about the twist in Strangers though, is that the hints are there, and the characterization is true. There's no twist for the sake of a twist, it's a story told truly from the point of view of the narrator.

Absolutely! I had a line in my rec post that I edited out, which said that this is an 'intelligent' story rather than a 'clever' one. I agree completely; the clues are there, but one doesn't quite know what to make of them. Even in that excerpt I quoted, which I love, I thought it was a little strange that Mulder was 'studying' Scully, because surely they know each other well enough in S7. I just put it down to interesting characterisation. :-D

I wish I'd been on the AOL forum! I've heard so much about it. I was on the Fox official forum when the first few seasons were airing, but it shut down somewhere around S5, IIRC.

It's such a ~hugely satisfying read. Definitely a story that made me go right back to the beginning and read it over again. :-) It also really changed the way I look at first-person narratives and outsider perspectives. Such a great, innovative way to use those genres.

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

All I can say right now is 'whhhaaaaatttt'! I can not believe this was written pre-Requiem. I won't even act like I predicted the twist.
The prose was very nice. It was a well executed POV that really put you in the narrator's shoes.
For my clarification, did Scully mistakenly call Doggett (I guess it doesn't have to be Doggett but whatever) Mulder?

[echynoderm.livejournal.com]

Yip. That one threw me too... :p

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

I absolutely did not predict the twist either. :-D I had the feeling ~something was up, but I wasn't even close to guessing what it was.

She did! That was such a fine bit of misdirection. This was written before the end of season 7 but I think Doggett fits in pretty well when we read it now. Scary how well this fits into canon.

[zinnia03.livejournal.com]

I haven't read this story in a number of years, though it's lived on in my memory. Even now, even knowing how it turns out, the story packs a punch. If anything, it's even more incredible to realize that well before S8 the author nailed the return. What actually played out is eerily similar to this story -- and I would have loved to see this version done.

You're pulled in from the first sentence. Re-reading it now, I started thinking about when the narrator wrote this -- at what remove? It seems like some time has passed, that she's thought about the events over time. Even though there is an immediacy to the story, there are grace notes that sound like she's turned it over in her mind before putting the words on paper. For me it's also a mediation on writing and memory. The much-overused description "lapidary" comes to mind. Like the river in the story tumbling the rocks and not revealing everything, there's a lot going on under the surface here. Just lovely.

The misdirection and subsequent "reveal" was so well-done. It was a pleasure to read again. I still felt that little "frisson" when the final stranger shows up, and the last image is classic.

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

It seems like some time has passed, that she's thought about the events over time. Even though there is an immediacy to the story, there are grace notes that sound like she's turned it over in her mind before putting the words on paper.

I was just reading somewhere about how there's always some discrepancy between the speaker of a story and the author, and I think this fic illustrates that point really well. :-)