A Feast of Fanfic 2
jordan
Another weekend of seining the group for good
fanfic, hating to narrow my choices to these
stories, but oh, well...I wanted to give some
feedback for....HEY! WHO ARE YOU GUYS?
(bunch of people running across the computer
screen with their arms
outstretched, calling, "Iolokus! Iolokus!
Wherefore art thou?")
Did you see that?
anyway...
Speaking of choices, Anna Hutchinson asks
for some with a "Choose
Your Own Adventure" story. I scanned through
it, not making any jump cuts, but reading the whole
thing and just putting it together in my head,
until I came to the lines:
With a sigh, Scully opened the door. She
was surprised to see Mulder, Skinner,
and Krycek standing in her doorway, holding
a ten-pack of condoms and a huge bottle of
lube. "Hi Scully," Mulder grinned. "Can we
use your apartment for a while?"
I thought I was the only one who had
that dream! And it just gets funnier, too,
although I can't reveal anything else
without giving too much
away.
Red Valerian wrote a story a bit like this in
"11:21 Saturday Night" on the Skinnerotica site,
where you had to guess one of three endings
(but you could only get the ending if you
e-mailed her for it!) Luckily, that's now posted
on the site, too.
It takes a good writer to do a parody
as skillful as this one; Hutchinson's good humor
skirts sarcasm and is never mean-spirited.
I got a good chuckle out of each well-realized
stereotype of both character and plot device.
You gotta know that stuff really well before
you can imitate it successfully.
Thanks for the fun.
"Everything Turns and Slips Away"
by Jennifer Maurer.
something
catches my eye: the round, purple mark on my shoulder.
I clearly remember Mulder biting me as he shuddered
inside me, afraid even in his moment of release to let
too much out.
Yep, that sounds like Mulder to me. First, turn on your
vcr to the tape of the very last scene of "The End."
Then read this story, glancing up from time to time at
Scully and Mulder standing there in that...um...position.
Then look at the story, look at the screen, look at the
story...GET IT? Gibson's not the only precognitive one
here, Jennifer, but it took some very good writing to
bring us to the same emotional state that the freeze
frame leaves us with. It's not the greatest feeling in
the world, but somehow you got it exactly right. I
am impressed.
I caught a glimpse of Iolokus! I got four sets
of 11/20. And I got the first two. In them,
I read a quote from the Tempest (Shakespeare) and
I saw some familiar characters from that play, Miranda,
a Prospero type guy, Mulder, I guess, who's Miranda's
dad...and an .edu domain from
the author, so someone
seems to have done their homework...read a snatch or
two of very nice prose... the narrator needed "weapons
grade chocolate" ...so some talented, educated
writer is being chased all over the place by fans. I'm
thinking it's worth tracking down.
"She's Your Cocaine" by Jennifer Stoy
Special Agent Fox Spooky Mulder, who's
without a doubt
the best-looking man I never fucked.
Oh, I don't know. There are better looking men I
never...Ahem! (jordan's eyes snap back in focus,
suddenly remembering where she is).
This seems to me a very fresh
perspective.
I really like the use of first person narrative
to describe a situation hateful to the narrator but
which with the reader is sympathetic. It gives
us a feeling of being smarter than the guy telling
us the story. It's easy to read, too; a flow very
much like real stream-of-consciousness, but
focused enough to be easy to follow. So is this
slash? Seems like anyone,
slash-friendly or homophobic, could like this story.
I know I did, and I'm neither of the above.
Dasha K --"Musings of a Professional Girl"
Again, the unknowing narrator tells a story new to
her but familiar to the reader. In a bizarre way, this
woman is very much like Krycek, both of them amoral,
which frees them to do things most of us wouldn't do,
kill or have sex for money. The wonderful thing about
this tale is that we are horrified at what Mulder does,
but we sort of love him for it, too; it's so tender and
sweet it's more than a sexual release. And your
portrayal of Scully was really great.
This made me fall in love with Scully all over again
with just those few paragraphs at the end. Nice work!
Elements
A Net to Catch the Wind
by
Michelle Shackleton
it can only be felt. Pushing, pulling, resisting,
assisting. An unseen force of manipulation.
This vignette is shorter than most posts, and thus
irresistible; it's based on a really interesting
premise. Each element could be considered
as a metaphor for some aspect of the X-files'
"interconnectedness." It's well written and
I can hardly wait to see what you do with
fire.
And last but not least, for tonight, anyway,
is "One of Those Days," by Pyrephox,
I guess--phlox is Greek for flame, and the
Greek work for fire is "pyr" so I keep
accidentally typing the l in there. Sorry.
Alzheimer's kickin' in again.
Anyway, who couldn't love a Skinner story?
I see these people moving in slow motion
towards a romance, and I want to say, HEY,
quit fucking around and start fucking around!
But that just means the writer is very skillful
at creating tension, which is why I'll patiently
wait until another segment comes out, and
then pounce on it. I very much enjoyed this story,
nicely paced, good attention to detail, and a
yummy portrayal of Skinner which gives him
his dignity but makes him human, too.
Don't stop now!
so...
One more time for the writers I missed, I am
sorry, and I'll catch you next time if I can, or
by e-mail during the week.
If anyone wants me to not post feedback,
please make it clear in your work that you
only like it in e-mail, and I'll happily oblige.
thanks for writing
jordan