The Ten Greatest X-F Fanfics You've Ever Read

[badforthefish.livejournal.com]

Have you ever struggled whenever you've ventured inside a new fandom to find the really good stories?

With the Revival attracting a whole new generation of fans, I thought it would be a good idea for us to list the X-Files fanfictions that made our hearts beat faster, the ones that blew our minds, those stories we never forgot, the ones we've kept coming back to, or remember fondly because they were SO DAMN GREAT.

Our fandom is blessed with so many talented authors, but with more than 35,000 stories on Gossamer (and these numbers date from 2007), more than 4,000 on AO3 and around 8,000 on FF.net, plus God knows how many floating about on Tumblr, how can newcomers be expected to find the truly good stuff?

The rules are simple: list a maximum of ten fics you love the most followed by a short explanation of why you do.
Is it the plot? The writing? The characters? Something else?
You can list less, but not more.
No "everything by [insert author's name]" please, we're looking for specific stories here.
Let's rec!
ETA: you don't have to pick different stories if they have already been mentionned by someone else. Your list is *your* list.

Comments

[sinkwriter.livejournal.com]

xfdryad, if it's any comfort, I just wanted to let you know that your link to the Bardsmaid Sanctuary series is a very old pathway. She did finish the Sanctuary series as a trilogy, here:

http://www.bardsmaid.org/XF/fic.htm (http://www.bardsmaid.org/XF/fic.htm)

It's Paradise Lost (part 1), Walking Through Fire (part 2) and Sanctuary (final, part 3). That series is complete and it's wonderful. I highly recommend it. I know the original post says not to just say "everything by this author," but in Bardsmaid's case, it's completely true. I love everything she's written and wish there could be more of it.

Unfortunately, she was working on the sequel to that trilogy (called Topaz) when she died, so that is what will never be completed. Which breaks my heart, because she had such a thorough mapping-out of what she wanted to do with the series as a whole and how she would connect it to the actual show's events. I once visited her over a Thanksgiving holiday and she showed me this amazing chart she'd made of the show's events and how they interconnected, and how they'd line up with parts of her Sanctuary series.

She was such a mentor and friend to me, and I mourn all the stories we won't get from her, especially with this new revival of the series. Every time I read something new about it, I wonder what she would have thought and what she would have created in response to all the new energy in the fandom. It's such a loss.

Anyway, thank you for all your other links - I don't think I've read them! :)