xf_book_club | Story 236: "A World to Save" by Geb

To those who celebrated, I hope you had a happy Christmas.

If you were hoping for Christmas recs, sorry, I'm fresh out. Try our holiday tag. You can check out this Tumblr rec post, too. For the "access denied" Gossamer links, just highlight and hit enter.

Since the beginning of the month, I've been driving the

crack_van, doing one last set of recs for The X-Files before the community closes for good the middle of January.

"A World to Save" is one of the stories I posted to

crack_van. Since I reformatted this and put it up at Fugues, I thought it might be a good choice for discussion. It's Scully-centric, dark but not unrelievedly so, in the way so many post-colonization stories are. I think it's one of the best colonization stories out there, right up there in quality with "Life During Wartime," although vastly different in scope and content.

Read A World to Save. Let us know what you think, where possible, leave feedback for the author, and put your suggestions in the nomination post.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I do see Scully's strength of purpose and her willingness to persevere against the odds and that is very much Scully, but I guess for me it seems more like grim determination and less like something I can find hope in. (Maybe I see a global sense of hope for the world there, but not as much a sense of hope for Scully personally.) But maybe my impression of this part of the story is unfairly influenced by my being saddened by Scully's feelings / pseudo-memories about Mulder.

As an aside, I am really new relatively-speaking (to reading fanfic and to this community), so I don't know exactly how shippers are conventionally defined. I certainly don't think a romantic relationship should have been overtly introduced into the show (any more than it was, and whether TPTB even did that well is another story), but the fic stories I like best are those that have an M&S that get along (as partners, friends, and/or something more) as they solve a case and/or those that explore how M&S get to a place where they get along without ignoring the character flaws and quirks that make getting along difficult for them (all the better if a case is going on at the same time). And sure, I like the stories where the getting along is wrapped up in a (non-sappy & at least somewhat realistic) romantic relationship. I feel like there were enough terrible things that happened to both M&S and I don't like it when their relationship is yet another thing that causes them pain. Of course there are terribly-written msr stories that I skip over. And there are a lot of well-written stories that don't fit this criteria that I have appreciated, been drawn into, and loved. But, the stories that I like to go back to and reread and call my favorites tend to cast the M&S relationship (at whatever level) in at least somewhat of a positive light. If this makes me a conventional shipper, I am ok with being lumped in with the masses :)

As an aside, I am really new relatively-speaking (to reading fanfic and to this community), so I don't know exactly how shippers are conventionally defined. I certainly don't think a romantic relationship should have been overtly introduced into the show (any more than it was, and whether TPTB even did that well is another story), but the fic stories I like best are those that have an M&S that get along (as partners, friends, and/or something more) as they solve a case and/or those that explore how M&S get to a place where they get along without ignoring the character flaws and quirks that make getting along difficult for them (all the better if a case is going on at the same time).

I often like those stories, too. I wish there were more of them that I liked. I love Kel's writing for this reason. Her characters, her plots, the writing. It's all good AND her fic mostly fits with canon, too, which is always a plus. If you haven't, you should check out her fic at Gossamer.

And sure, I like the stories where the getting along is wrapped up in a (non-sappy & at least somewhat realistic) romantic relationship.

That's why I'm certain I'm not a shipper. I don't mind if there's a romantic ending, depending on who's doing the writing, but I don't need one. I am interested in reading stories about their relationship but it doesn't have to end up with them falling in love. Or getting married. Or even liking each other. I just want to read interesting, well-written stories about them.

Probably my favorite in this genre is Syntax6. She can convince me that they could be a viable couple, and tell a good story, too. But there are others whose writing is such that I can be convinced, at least for the duration of the fic.

I feel like there were enough terrible things that happened to both M&S and I don't like it when their relationship is yet another thing that causes them pain.

This is completely understandable. It is a widely felt emotion in fandom. Trust me, I am the outlier here, not you. I had a discussion about this with a friend at Dreamwidth. Along with a handful of other people, I am a "fannish statistical anomaly." For the longest time, I honestly thought I was the only one who felt this way, but as it turns out, I'm not. They all have icons that say "fannish statistical anomaly." (I need one of those). But it does impact how I read fic, how I write it, and certainly yes, what ends up being discussed here. This is why I miss

amyhit so much. She was a Mulder/Scully shipper so she could bring that sensibility into the discussion.

Of course there are terribly-written msr stories that I skip over. And there are a lot of well-written stories that don't fit this criteria that I have appreciated, been drawn into, and loved. But, the stories that I like to go back to and reread and call my favorites tend to cast the M&S relationship (at whatever level) in at least somewhat of a positive light. If this makes me a conventional shipper, I am ok with being lumped in with the masses :)

This means among other things that there is a lot more fic you can enjoy. And it is a canon ship now, so it has that going for it. I had a version of this discussion with a Mulder/Krycek shipper a few months back. She and I feel exactly the opposite about that pairing. She only likes stories that end up with them together in a romantic relationship. To me, M/K is a ship that is doomed from the get-go. The only stories I like about them are stories that end exactly how they end up in the series. My favorite story is one she absolutely hated even though it was perfectly consistent with canon and had scorching hot sex scenes. I could post more happy-ever-after M/K fic for her but I'd only end up either saying it wasn't believable to me, or having to sit out the discussion altogether. It's a problem.

Edited for typo-sorry.

Edited 2014-01-20 17:18 (UTC)

I have read all (I think) of Kel and Syntax6's stories, and I agree, they are both absolutely fantastic writers and I have re-read many of their stories. I would be hard-pressed to name a favorite from either of them. I also have an addiction to re-reading Paracelsus (prufrock's love), Water's Edge (elizabeth rowandale), and Small Lives Awake (jet). So I guess I am just a hopeless romantic after all ;)

Done with random fic facts about me. Moving on to the next story...

I love "Small Lives Awake." It's comfort food fic for me. Though I love her writing, I've never been a fan of prufrock's love's historicals. The problem I think is with the historicals the characters don't seem anything like they do on the show, especially her Scully. I'm surprised you like her fic. She torments her characters and most of her stories end badly for them. She's my kind of writer.

Onward...

Well, paracelsus doesn't end so badly for them (after they go through a bunch of torment). I am honestly scared to read some of her other stuff though. I don't know if I can take the heartache if there isn't any silver lining.

"The 13th Sign" is great, plus it has a sequel, but you can only read "7 Days in May" at Gossamer. I'd stay away from her post-col fic "Negative Utopia." That 's a dark story. No silverlining in that one. "Inventing the Mulders" is good. There's an early season casefile that's good. It's NC-17 for very adult content, though it's not MSR. "Flesh and Blood." It's not anti-msr, it's partnershipfic. I really liked "Pascal's Wager," too.

Well, those are my favorites.

http://web.archive.org/web/20091026191244/http://www.geocities.com/prufrocks_love/index.html

Flesh and Blood - yes! I did read that one and really liked it. Also read The 13th Sign; 7 Days in May just killed me, ripped my heart out, haunted me for weeks. It was excellent, but I haven't been able to bring myself to re-read it even though I feel like I should. I will take your navigational advice for the others - thanks :)

Story 236: "A World to Save" by Geb

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