by jordan
Sun, 17 May 1998
Speaking of choices, Anna Hutchinson asks for some with a 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