Story 24: "To Carthage Then I Came" by Annakovsky

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Another weird mostly-non-MSR story nominated by me. Note the warning!

Title: To Carthage Then I Came
Author: annakovsky
Rating: R
Pairings: Mulder/Samantha, Mulder/Scully, implied Scully/Doggett
WARNINGS: INCEST, more or less. SO BE AWARE.
Summary: Clones of Mulder's sister Samantha are being terminated. Mulder tries to save them.

Comments

[threeguesses.livejournal.com]

I love this story too. It's heartbreaking and you're right, daringly original as well.

I love annakovsky. She writes for a lot of fandoms and it honestly seems like she can do no wrong. I can accept that Mulder would not tell his sister she's his sister mostly because the fic is so well written. And finally sleeping with Samantha? That I can see perfectly. He just... let's it happen. His behavior seems almost resigned.

What I'm interested in: this is the only fic in the entire X-files fandom (that I've seen) that has gone down the windy incest road. If you look at other fandoms, there's a lot of incest fic floating around. Fic breaks down many taboos, including that one. So... why not more in this fandom? Was the X-files just too early for that breed of radicalism?

This leads me to another (completely unrelated) point: has anyone else noticed that X-files fic written now differs greatly from that written during the original run of the show? I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly, but something important and elemental has shifted.

[wendelah1]

Fic breaks down many taboos, including that one. So... why not more in this fandom? Was the X-files just too early for that breed of radicalism?

Have you read Tikkun Olam yet? It's pretty radical.

This leads me to another (completely unrelated) point: has anyone else noticed that X-files fic written now differs greatly from that written during the original run of the show? I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly, but something important and elemental has shifted.

I think I know what you mean, but this deserves more than a throw-away comment. I will ponder more about this and be back.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

What I'm interested in: this is the only fic in the entire X-files fandom (that I've seen) that has gone down the windy incest road. If you look at other fandoms, there's a lot of incest fic floating around. Fic breaks down many taboos, including that one. So... why not more in this fandom? Was the X-files just too early for that breed of radicalism?

I've wondered this too, and I think you're right that it was just too early for it to become a major theme. This is the only story I've read that has Mulder/Samantha as a major plot point. There are a few little flirtations with the idea in the "Iolokus" series, but that is so long that there are a few flirtations with just about everything in there!

This leads me to another (completely unrelated) point: has anyone else noticed that X-files fic written now differs greatly from that written during the original run of the show?

finisterre discussed this a bit during one of our earlier discussions.

http://community.livejournal.com/xf_book_club/2669.html?thread=40557#t40557