http://discordantwords.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
discordantwords.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
xf_book_club2014-04-02 07:43 am
discordantwords.livejournal.com) wrote in xf_book_club2014-04-02 07:43 am
Story 242: "Skin" by Annie Sewell-Jennings
I'm not much of an AU person. A lot of what drew me into the X Files was the dynamic between Mulder and Scully in their particular set of circumstances. That said, I've been hankering to revisit an AU that I remember reading and enjoying back when it was originally published. It may actually have been the first AU I ever read. I thought of it again recently and wondered how it would hold up to a reread all these years later.
"Skin" has a pretty standard set up. What if Scully caved to familial pressure and never joined the FBI? What if Mulder never reopened the X Files?
This story occasionally makes its way onto "classics" lists, although I don't see it recced as often as some other AUs. Possibly because it's very long, possibly because it's somewhat harder to find (it is not archived at Gossamer), or possibly because I've viewed it too fondly through the lens of nostalgia. The author is probably best known for "Erosion," which I have never read, but which has a reputation as one of the saddest MSR fics ever written.
This is a long one. Novel length, MSR.
SUMMARY: In a world where Mulder and Scully have never met, fate intervenes and brings two worlds colliding in the city of Charleston, as a vicious murderer reigns and a storm approaches.
Read Skin.
"Skin" has a pretty standard set up. What if Scully caved to familial pressure and never joined the FBI? What if Mulder never reopened the X Files?
This story occasionally makes its way onto "classics" lists, although I don't see it recced as often as some other AUs. Possibly because it's very long, possibly because it's somewhat harder to find (it is not archived at Gossamer), or possibly because I've viewed it too fondly through the lens of nostalgia. The author is probably best known for "Erosion," which I have never read, but which has a reputation as one of the saddest MSR fics ever written.
This is a long one. Novel length, MSR.
SUMMARY: In a world where Mulder and Scully have never met, fate intervenes and brings two worlds colliding in the city of Charleston, as a vicious murderer reigns and a storm approaches.
Read Skin.
no subject
But. There are just too many words for the amount of content. Lots and lots of descriptive language. I have never read so many adjectives in one place that mean red/brown/blue/hazel in the context of hair and eyes. I guess all this description is supposed to help create atmosphere...the storm, the romance, the weird cross-over with their "other" lives, but it's just overdone.
I may have more to say when I'm finished.
no subject
It's way overdone. The descriptive language is mostly detracting from the story she's trying to tell. That's obvious just from reading the prologue.
I agree that she's trying to create atmosphere. It's not working, except for the physical descriptions of Charleston and even those could have been tightened up.