The Darkness Within
Sep. 14th, 2014 06:34 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
badforthefish.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xf_book_clubI CAN POST ENTRIES ON THE BOOK CLUB! MWWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
*coughs*
Anywayyyy...
Wendy said I was welcome to post that here, so here we go.
~~~~~~~~~~
(First posted on Haven)
Moose and Squirrel - before being declawed and tamed by scores of fic writers intent on giving them the white picket fence happiness they were never designed for in the first place - were pretty dark and tortured characters to begin with. A given, considering how much crap they went through in the show.
Back in the days many fic writers explored that dark path and gave us many incredible stories, the quintessential one being, of course, the infamous Iolokus. Stories where the characters' traumas weren't swept under the carpet of True Love (TM) Hot Sex, Domestic Life and Fat Babies. Stories where bad things happened to good people.
They were stories such as:
Arizona Highway by Fialka
Secret World by Bonetree
Grace Realized by Michaela
Injuries to The Spirit by Mystphile
The Mill by Cofax
...to name just a few off the top of my head.
In these stories Mulder and Scully were flawed and damaged. Years of turmoil and horrors weren't cured with a kiss and a soft bed. They had issues with one another, they argued and fought. They could be unfair, cruel, monstrous even - their claustrophobic co-dependency toxic, yet unavoidable. They suffered, battled illnesses both mental and physical, and sometimes they even died. Some stories made a point of reminding us how dangerous their job really was - that the human monsters could be worse than the alien ones. But their spirit shone nevertheless through it all, pure and bright, that elusive spark of magnificence that made them - well, you know, THEM.
As a reader I always found those tales much more emotionally rewarding than those of the bunnies and rainbow - Mulder and Scully in love forever in their pretty house with their pretty children - aw, look he has his mother's eyes and his father's nose - variety.
No pain no gain, uh?
I guess my question is: have you read such stories? Do you enjoy them? Can you rec the ones that stayed with you?
~Fish~
*coughs*
Anywayyyy...
Wendy said I was welcome to post that here, so here we go.
~~~~~~~~~~
(First posted on Haven)
Moose and Squirrel - before being declawed and tamed by scores of fic writers intent on giving them the white picket fence happiness they were never designed for in the first place - were pretty dark and tortured characters to begin with. A given, considering how much crap they went through in the show.
Back in the days many fic writers explored that dark path and gave us many incredible stories, the quintessential one being, of course, the infamous Iolokus. Stories where the characters' traumas weren't swept under the carpet of True Love (TM) Hot Sex, Domestic Life and Fat Babies. Stories where bad things happened to good people.
They were stories such as:
Arizona Highway by Fialka
Secret World by Bonetree
Grace Realized by Michaela
Injuries to The Spirit by Mystphile
The Mill by Cofax
...to name just a few off the top of my head.
In these stories Mulder and Scully were flawed and damaged. Years of turmoil and horrors weren't cured with a kiss and a soft bed. They had issues with one another, they argued and fought. They could be unfair, cruel, monstrous even - their claustrophobic co-dependency toxic, yet unavoidable. They suffered, battled illnesses both mental and physical, and sometimes they even died. Some stories made a point of reminding us how dangerous their job really was - that the human monsters could be worse than the alien ones. But their spirit shone nevertheless through it all, pure and bright, that elusive spark of magnificence that made them - well, you know, THEM.
As a reader I always found those tales much more emotionally rewarding than those of the bunnies and rainbow - Mulder and Scully in love forever in their pretty house with their pretty children - aw, look he has his mother's eyes and his father's nose - variety.
No pain no gain, uh?
I guess my question is: have you read such stories? Do you enjoy them? Can you rec the ones that stayed with you?
~Fish~
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Date: 2014-09-22 02:37 pm (UTC)I have a low threshold for tears, I realize, but I sobbed through FYaON the first time I read it. I avoided it for a while, and still cried the second time. It's one of those that makes me sad but I still like it. Probably because of the semi-happy ending. Give me a ray of hope and I will hang on to it! For me, it's definitely in an entirely different category from Above Rubies.
For Iolokus, I'm finding it hard to articulate exactly why, but it just pretty much revolted me from beginning to end. I read it because I heard how big a deal it was and how polarizing it was; otherwise, I may not have finished it. I found it over the top in a lot of different ways and not at all funny. I recognize the statement the authors were making, that it was good that they made it, and that it was done through good writing. But that's pretty much it for me. Oh well.