Comments | xf_book_club: Rerun Request: "To Carthage Then I Came" by Annakovsky

wendelah1 in xf_book_club

Rerun Request: "To Carthage Then I Came" by Annakovsky

Jun 07, 2010 23:05

Thanks to all who voted in my poll re: story reruns. Although the turn-out was low, the trend seemed clear enough: the vast majority of voting members were fine with reruns. If you feel differently, now is your time to let us know. I'll leave the poll open until I figure out how to close it. Ahem.

Originally suggested by emily_shore, we first discussed "To ( Read more... )

mulder/samantha, dsr, short, rerun, msr

Comments 24

amyhit June 9 2010, 05:15:20 UTC

oh.

words. gone. not doing justice.

wow.

the last line. every line. maybe not quite 'my' mulder, but way, way too close to 'my' mulder. that's what it always is, i think, with fanfic horror. it's not that the characters are 'your' characters. but that they could be. they're so close already, if you tilt your head and hold your breath they just...line...right...up.

oh my god, this fic. *goes off to hyperventilate*

ETA: wendelah1 what's the general policy/preference on swearing in this comm. because my honest response to this story was a rather Detective Mannersian, 'holy banking bleep'. and it's not as though swearing is really all that communicative in the typical sense. no one in the comm is going to benefit from my potty mouth. but i was thinking how at that moment, pretending i really wanted to say anything else was kind of selling the story short.

wendelah1 June 10 2010, 04:00:04 UTC

There is no policy regarding swearing. Use your best judgment. Or should we do another poll?

maybe_amanda June 9 2010, 15:37:35 UTC

Well, I love this story, which is why I nominated it (I had no idea it had been discussed before). It's very tightly written - I don't think there's word out of place - and terrifically balanced. Also, very clever. Very very clever.

Plausible? I think so. I mean, in as much as there might be dozens of SamanthaClones running around out there.

heartequals June 10 2010, 15:46:30 UTC

wendelah1 June 12 2010, 04:10:24 UTC

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised at the reactions to this story. I mean, it is definitely very disturbing and painful to read but that in no way negates how beautiful the story is -- and it is beautiful for all the reasons you mentioned -- and it might be my favorite thing I've read in this fandom.

It is a beautifully written story, for all of the reasons mentioned; however, for me, its language and powerful story-telling in no way mitigate how painful it was to read.

For me at least, it isn't even the incest that hurts the most, it's the lies. Fox Mulder, the man who has spent his life in pursuit of the truth, is reduced to living a lie. What makes it out of character to me is that my version of Fox Mulder is a good man, a man who might lie to avoid hurting someone, but who wouldn't lie for no good reason, or to get his sister in bed.

heartequals June 12 2010, 07:09:33 UTC

a man who might lie to avoid hurting someone, but who wouldn't lie for no good reason, or to get his sister in bed.

I'm kind of starting to wonder whether or not he's lying to protect himself. I can think of good, solid reasons why not to (and why it doesn't make sense to) lie to protect the Samanthas or Scully, but that just leaves me with him.

estella_c June 9 2010, 23:05:16 UTC

What a great piece of writing. I appreciated it better when I reread, but I don't plan to read it often. Because it burns.

Mulder's paranoia always correlated with actual real-X-File-life threats, so we don't think of him as, well, warped. But this story--so starkly told, like a cautionary folk tale or a classic tragedy--displays the incest nightmare that for all we know is one from which he actually woke up sweating.

The conclusion eerily displaces Scully from wife to sister. She's the new Samantha, as impossible to possess as the old had been. And for all we know, or for all canon tells us, Mulder had sex just once with her too. And was punished for it.

This is a fic to visit, not to live in.

FCTIC was discussed at Fic_Talk. Not here, I don't think, though Wendy can tell us.

estella_c June 10 2010, 01:13:00 UTC

Um, that should be TCTIC. I was just telling someone that acronyms are fusing my brain.

wendelah1 June 10 2010, 04:44:50 UTC

We did discuss it here, just a long time ago, in the first year of the community. I posted a link to it up in the body, but here is one just for you: CLICK ME! There are a few of us from back in the day who are still hanging in here. You know, I'd forgotten we discussed it at fictalk. Maybe I said something brilliant there that I can cannibalize.

It looks like some of us were scratching our heads and wondering why there wasn't more incest fic in the XF fandom.

Mulder's paranoia always correlated with actual real-X-File-life threats, so we don't think of him as, well, warped.

Actually, I do kind of think of him as warped. But I think I know what you mean.

But this story--so starkly told, like a cautionary folk tale or a classic tragedy--displays the incest nightmare that for all we know is one from which he actually woke up sweating.I think my first reaction to finishing this story was to burst into tears. I don't think I did much better this time around. I was obsessing about the ending all day at work. It does feel like a ( ... )

estella_c June 10 2010, 10:44:32 UTC

This is embarrassing. Guess I should actually read the words you actually write.

About the incest thing. Nobody mentioned it on the first go-round, but I'm thinking by now most of us have read 1,000,009's Gingersnaps for Oedipus. Also brilliant.

Thread 5

anonymous June 17 2010, 21:31:05 UTC

I recently discovered this community while searching for xf fanfic...I just wanted to say thank you for a rec like this one. The story was haunting, unsettling, and right on the edge of plausibility. It wasn't much of a stretch for me to imagine this happening (not that it would have ever happened on the show ;-)). This is what I love about The X-Files: the fact that the characters have so many layers and so much depth that it's possible for writers to create these alternate realities for them and leave it up to the audience to connect the dots. To say "yes, I can see the potential for this" or "no way" and then move on.

I haven't read fanfic since...ooo, I'd say 2004, or so....but this story reminded me of how great it can be (even though I am a die-hard shipper, hahaha). I can't wait to go back through the recs in this com....I'm sure I've missed some wonderful stories over the years! :-)

KT

wendelah1 June 18 2010, 01:57:55 UTC

I haven't read fanfic since...ooo, I'd say 2004, or so....but this story reminded me of how great it can be (even though I am a die-hard shipper, hahaha). I can't wait to go back through the recs in this com....I'm sure I've missed some wonderful stories over the years! :-)

Welcome KT! I hope you enjoy the community. Come back anytime. You can leave comments on any entry, they all get emailed to me, as well as to whoever made them.

823freckles June 27 2010, 05:14:03 UTC

This is just my cup of tea...not to make me sound too twisted or anything. I love the concise writing. I often find myself too impatient to read many of the longer stories here. *shrug* I was delighted to see this story because I am a big fan of annakovsky's stories in The Office fandom.

I'm a bit surprised at the negative reaction to this story in this community. I guess it is too difficult for many to imagine a Mulder not in love/infatuated with Scully. Or maybe it was just too disturbing. I personally love it for both of these aspects; isn't that the point of fanfiction-to explore new avenues outside of canon?

I don't know how to explain my feelings towards this story. Like certain books I've read-it's certainly not going to be one I cherish and re-read multiple times, but it has infiltrated my consciousness and will stay with me in a chilling, thought provoking way, for a long, long time.

wendelah1 June 27 2010, 06:58:22 UTC

She's a very talented writer. I guess I'm not seeing the negative reactions here as being to the story so much as to the idea of Mulder being in a defacto marriage with his sister. For me, it was also disturbing to think of him being on the on the run for years, separated from Scully and William.

I think it is a very memorable story, too. I'm glad you found it and found us.