Story 261: "Pillar of Salt" by Nascent

[wendelah1]

When I first began reading XF fanfic, crack_van was my, uh, crack supplier. I started at the top of the Memories and just kept on reading. "Pillar of Salt" was recced there by runpunkrun back in 2003. Unfortunately, by the time I found the site in 2007 or so, the links to this fic were broken. Eventually, I found a copy of "Pillar of Salt" archived—somewhere else—and was able to read it. I loved it. SO MUCH. Her Scully sounded just like the one on screen, and her Mulder did, too. Their relationship was just as codependent as the canon version. She wasn't trying to rewrite canon, she was enlarging it and adding to it! I had to have more Nascent fic. Because she'd taken down her website, it was a long, tough search.

But in 2011, Nascent archived some of her fanfic at Gossamer. This is particularly significant for "Pillar of Salt" because she rewrote an important section.

"Pillar of Salt" is set Winter 1998, post-"Fight the Future." It's told in first person, Scully's POV, which works wonderfully in Nascent's hands. As the story begins, Mulder has invited Scully away for a weekend, but under false pretenses. What can I say--it's Mulder being Mulder. I don't want to give anything away but let's just say the vacation does not go as expected--for either of them. Nascent is particularly good at integrating the relationship story into a well-plotted X-File.

Thank you to ledez_dreams for the nomination. The link is to Nascent's page at Gossamer. Please scroll to the fic. Don't forget to let us know what you think, and please keep the nominations coming.

Read Pillar of Salt by Nascent.

Comments

Great story!

[stefrobrts.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure I read it back in the day too, but it hooked me and I couldn't put it down this time. First person POV is a challenging choice, but it really works, she's got Scully's voice just right.

Also I was pleased to see another of her stories 'Mulder, it's May' which I always thought was a clever little piece, so read it to while you're in her Gossamer archive :)

Re: Great story!

[wendelah1]

It is a terrific story. First person POV is tough to pull off, but she captures Scully's voice perfectly. Her dialogue sounds great, too, which is also hard to get right for these characters. I read this story straight through the first time around--I couldn't put it down. After that I started poking around alt.tv.x-files.creative, looking for the rest of her fic. This must have been 2006 or 07? I was so obsessed with the series and the fic (not like now. LOL).

I loved "Mulder It's May", too. Gosh, it must have been amazing to read these fics back in the day, while the show was still airing.

In truth, I love all of her fic. I'm writing up "Metaromance" right now for 201daysofxfiles.

RE: Re: Great story!

[addisonzella.livejournal.com]

I had tried to find this story before because someone had recommended it, but I couldn't find it. Thanks for the link. What's 201 days of xfiles in relation to fanfic? I know people are watching one episode a day until the new series.

This story had me on the edge of my seat at parts. Clever plot. Could seriously be an actual episode. I'm a shipper all the way, though, so I wish it had ended with more than friendship.

Re: Great story!

[wendelah1]

201daysofxfiles is where I'm posting on Tumblr about each episode, including fic recs where applicable. I'm two weeks behind but if I don't make it all the way through season nine before the new season starts, that's okay.

I'm glad you liked the story. I'll be back with a longer comment tomorrow. I'm just on my way to bed.