Musings of a Fanfic Reading Fan

"Grotesque" is easily Howard Gordon's best script for the series so far. It's well-directed, beautifully filmed, and has a great score. I want to like it. Heck, I want to love it. While it has some genuinely scary moments, there is something hollow at the core. It has to do with Gordon's characterization of Fox Mulder.

( more about Grotesque )

This episode is ground zero for all of those Profiler! Mulder fics where Our Hero Goes Crazy while tracking down a serial killer. "Corpse" by Livengoo and "Oklahoma" by Amperage and Livengoo are two of the best known of the genre. Both are at Gossamer. There's a long list of titles at The X-Files Lost and Found. These are a few of my favorites.

Rivkat's "Acadia" is a fine representation of the genre, and is filled with rich descriptions of Maine in early spring which give it a sense of place. Her Mulder is a bit crazier than some and her Scully quite a bit angrier than most, but if you've read "Iolokus," that's hardly going to come as a surprise.

Acadia (35958 words) by rivkat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
Additional Tags: Serial Killer
Series: Part 1 of Acadia
Summary:

Mulder and Scully track a killer in the woods, while struggling with the various issues unresolved between them. Fourth season, between Demons & Gethsemane.

In "A Case of Compromise," I admire how deftly Humby gets both characters involved in the case without contradicting canon and having them meet in person. I adore stories that remind us of how smart both of these characters are.

A Case of Compromise by Joann Humby
Rating - PG (but with a warning for strong language)
Classification - X
Summary:
It's 1991, Mulder has the X-Files and no partner. Scully is working at Quantico. A Senator's daughter goes missing and Mulder's life gets difficult.


"The Eye of the Beholder" is such a well-conceived and well-executed x-file/casefile that it was hard to believe it was her first "real story" (her words, not mine).

The Eye of the Beholder by Nascent
Rating - Mature (violence, language) (My rating, not Nascent's)
Spoilers - Emily
Keywords - Mulder/Scully Friendship/UST
Summary:
Mulder and Scully are called in to help track a serial killer whose victims have a guilty past. But the killer draws their personal lives into a high-stakes game of vengeance, which poses a risky
opportunity for to learn more about the Syndicate and lots of opportunities for almost-gratuitous Angst.


In "Gerber Daisies," DiscordantWords tackles a difficult genre, skillfully setting a new casefile into the events of season eight, following Mulder's return in "Dead Alive."

Gerber Daisies (53660 words) by DiscordantWords
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Charlie Scully, John Doggett
Additional Tags: Season 8, casefile, Serial Killers
Summary:

Mulder, adjusting to life after death, comes face-to-face with one of the most dangerous criminals he's ever encountered. Set against the backdrop of Season 8.

"This House is Burning" is flat-out the best Profiler!Mulder series I've ever read. Tesla's writing style flows effortlessly, and is, by turns, unobtrusive and lyrical. Her Mulder is both much more competent at his job and much less crazy than he's often written, which is a welcome relief. But THIB is more than a series of meticulously constructed casefics, it's also a believable, emotionally involving Mulder/Scully romance. So let's see: great writing? Check. Exciting plot? Check. Scorching hot sex scenes? Check, check, check.

This House is Burning by Tesla
Part 1: Blood on the Snow
Part 2: A Thief's Diet
Part 3: The Quiet Glades of Eden

"The Walk" marks the beginning of the third season plot/relationship arc long referred to as "The Rift," or if you're British, "The Tiff." Opinions vary about where (or why?) the rift begins but everyone agrees it ends with "Pusher." After re-watching "The Walk," I can't say I noticed any signs of a rift between Mulder and Scully. What I saw was a well-done classic horror episode, directed by Rob Bowman from John Shiban's first script for the series.

( more episode commentary )

On to the recs.

"Capacity" is a nuanced character study of Dana Scully in "The Walk."

Capacity (1022 words) by tree
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder, Margaret Scully
Additional Tags: Community: picfor1000, Interstitial, Episode: s03e07 The Walk
Summary:

Character is what you are in the dark.

"No Greater Love" is a third season fic that takes place during the infamous Rift, but that’s not really what’s it’s about. The title is from John 15:13. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This story is about sacrifice and the redemptive power of love. And, since this is casefic, along the way, we get lots of dead bodies.

No Greater Love by Karen Rasch
Rated R | 335K | Category XR | Archived 96-06-11
Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance.
Summary: Mulder and Scully travel to a small town in Missouri to investigate a series of deaths involving a faith healer. Along the way, questions are raised concerning their relationship and their feelings towards matters of the spirit.

Winner of 1996 Spooky for Most Carteresque (First Place), Best Platonic Mulder/Scully Relationship (First Place), Best Non NC-17 Mulder/Scully Relationship (Third Place), Best Scully Characterization (Second Place), and Best X-File Story (First Place).

Here at xfilesficrecs, at long last, we've reached the end of season two. To celebrate, I'm posting more recs for season two-ish stories. These are all fics that I love, and have read again and again. I hope you'll enjoy them, too.

"Genius" won the 1995 Second Place Spooky award for "Most Carteresque." Kipler's clear-sighted empathy for her characters informs and shapes every scene. There is no villain; in the end, there is just something new to understand, something quite miraculous. What elevates the story out of the MOTW category into something rarer is the ending, as we observe Scully begin to comprehend what drew Mulder to this case.

Genius (16058 words) by Kipler
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: X-Files - Fandom
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Mulder/Scully MSR
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder, Mulder, Scully
Summary: The story of a young girl who disappears and returns smarter than she was before.

Written and originally posted in the summer of 1995. Posted to AO3 on the 20th anniversary! That's kind of cool.

I don't know if anyone else remembers but "A Midnight Clear" was the second story in what was intended to be a series of Christmas stories. Syntax6 wrote the first fic, "Roman a Clef," from Mulder's POV, then "A Midnight Clear," for season two, which is from Scully's POV. Then they just stopped. I'd always hoped she'd complete the series, but you don't always get what you want. They work fine as standalones.

A Midnight Clear by syntax6
I've filled in the blanks to the best of my ability, including the summary.
Rating: Gen
Warnings: none
Characters: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully
Spoilers: Scully's abduction arc, so through "One Breath"
Keywords: Angst. Christmas.
Summary: Scully has recovered from her ordeal and is ready to return to work, as Mulder's partner on the X-Files. Mulder isn't ready but it's not for the reason Scully suspects.

Also at Gossamer.

"This House is Burning" is flat-out the best Profiler!Mulder series I've ever read. Tesla's writing style flows effortlessly, and is, by turns, unobtrusive and lyrical. Her Mulder is both much more competent at his job and much less crazy than he's often written, which is a welcome relief. But THIB is more than a series of meticulously constructed casefics, it's also a believable, emotionally involving Mulder/Scully romance. So let's see: great writing? Check. Exciting plot? Check. Scorching hot sex scenes? Check, check, check.

This House is Burning by Tesla
Part 1: Blood on the Snow
Part 2: A Thief's Diet
Part 3: The Quiet Glades of Eden

You can also read these at Gossamer.

My last rec is also by Tesla. (I should probably just give Tesla, Kipler and syntax6 their own tags, I rec them so often.)

Tesla claims "Sense Memory" doesn't have a plot but I beg to differ. Why, heck. It even has an X-File. No spoilers, set during an unspecified early season, which to me means season two. Why? Because I said so. It's funny. It's short. It's sexy. It's even, dare I say it, rather romantic.

Sense Memory by Tesla
Rating: R. Smut.
Spoilers: None, but set really early in the series.
Keyword: MSR, PWP...
Summary: none provided. (Wendelah's note: none needed)

Also at Gossamer.

I like back story but this one seemed...off. Phoebe Green, “game-player extraordinaire,” is an unlikely ex-girlfriend for “the truth is out there” Spooky Mulder. Poor Mulder is too preoccupied with his ex-girlfriend to work on her three-pipe problem. Good grief, he practically swoons when Phoebe hints he can spend the night with her. Fortunately, he has Scully to pick up the slack. Agent Scully uses old-fashioned detective work to solve the case, which, of course, made me very happy.

Amanda Pays is enjoyable as Phoebe. The truly ancient among us may remember her as Theodora Jones in Max Headroom. Mark Sheppard does extra creepy (and extra crispy) as Cecil L'Ively. Sheppard has been in everything, most recently as Crowley in SPN. David Duchovny provides the eye-candy again. Did Shirtless Mulder become a regular thing? I should start keeping a tally.

I was surprised by how many post-eps there were for "Fire," and by how many of them I actually liked.

I'd love to read a fic where Phoebe Green was just in an ordinary, failed college relationship with Mulder. This is not that story but it's a fun, creepy, and sexy pre-x-files fic.

Dead Romantic by ML
Email: msnsc21@yahoo.com
Feedback: appreciated and always responded to
Timeline: pre-XF
Rating: adults only, please
Synopsis: Phoebe takes Mulder on a mystery tour.
Disclaimer: They are not mine.
Note: This is a continuation of the vignette, At the Cross Keys. However, this can stand alone if you haven't read that one yet.

Many thanks to beta Carol, who gave me the correct quote and set me on a path that ended up being much more interesting than the original!

Dead of Winter by Jane Lumley
Rated NC-17 | 202K (both parts) | Category SA | Archived 99-08-24
Spoilers: Fire
Keywords: Mulder/other romance. Pre-XF.

Summary: In Oxford, in 1983, two men are obsessed with a brilliant psychology tutor. One is a killer who likes the feel of warm blood. The other is a vulnerable undergraduate called Fox Mulder. Which of them will finally possess her?

The author was at Oxford at the same time as Mulder, although she admits to taking liberties with the setting for the sake of her plot. When Fox Mulder put on "a jumper," I knew she wasn't an American. (We call them sweaters or pullovers.) Also, Mulder is not from the Maritimes. That's still in Canada as far as I know. Nit-picking aside, "Dead of Winter" is Profiler!Mulder: The Oxford Years.

Embers by Foxsong
Rated PG | 16K | Category | Archived 02-02-13
Spoilers: Fire
Keywords: Pre-XF. Post-episode.
Summary: When I was a kid, and my best friend's house burned down, I had to spend the night in the rubble to keep away looters.

"When I was a kid, my best friend's house burned down. Had to spend the night in the rubble to keep away looters. For years, I had nightmares about being trapped in a burning building."

Mulder's story about being afraid of fire didn't quite ring true. The truth had to have be more complicated. Foxsong uses second person POV for this story, an unusual choice, but one which works very well. Her website was preserved on reocities: The Foxsong Files. Her fic is also archived at Gossamer, if you prefer plain text to Geocities Retro.

one plus one equals zero by Khyber
Rated NC-17 | 13K | Category VA | Archived 05-11-13
Spoilers: Er, "Fire," and the orgy scene in "Detour II." What, you haven't seen that one?
Keywords: Mulder/Scully/other sex. Scully/other sex. Slash.

Summary: Scully finds it harder than it used to be.

This is not MSR, and it's not exactly femslash either. What it is, is a scorching hot, twisted, sexual fantasy threesome. I consider Khyber to be one of the best writers (no longer) in our fandom. He wrote complicated plots, complex characters, both canon and original, witty dialogue, and really hot sex. Though he ships Mulder and Scully, and some of his stories are humorous, his version of them is kind of messed up, psychologically speaking.

Madeleine by Amalnahurriyeh
Pairing: Mulder/OMC; Mulder/Scully
Rating: R (nonexplicit sex)
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: (if any) Written for a prompt for queer_fest 2011, "Mulder's Oxford girlfriend showing up was a disaster. His Oxford boyfriend, less so." Posted for the queer_fest 2012 Free For All, and for xf_is_love. (I'm efficient and/or lazy.)

Title after Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past; a good explanation here, complete with baking discussion, and the full quote here. [wendelah note: it links from her post] Gayest possible literary reference, y/mfy?

This is by another of my favorite writers (no longer) in the fandom. Amal ships Mulder and Scully so this fic, like all of her X-Files slash, ends with her OTP. I loved her Sebastian so much I was hoping she'd write more fic for him. Alas, she began writing for Sherlock BBC instead. Grumpy Wendy is grumpy.