Story 201: "Sandcastles for Pele" by JL
Of all the XF fanfic authors I can call to mind, I tend to think of JL (the artist previously known as Jamie Lyn) as the one whose writing has undergone the greatest transformation over the years. Even accounting for the fact that her fics were posted over an almost ten year period, there’s still a remarkable transformation in her work, from the
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The best place I've found to ask if I've been unable to locate a fic is The X-Files Lost and Found Message Board. It is rare for no one there to recognize a fic, even if all you have is a vague storyline.
Maybe I should post a link to it in the sidebar.
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Thanks for the link... :)
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I recced this fic because I love it so, because it's as pitch perfect, character-wise, as any of the best work I've ever read in this fandom (IMO), and because it doesn't seem all that widely known, which is an egregious error that I felt a ridiculous desire to correct.
I've always felt that this story really "fixed" things after IWTB, at least for me. Just brought it all back together, brought the characters back to how I remember them and returned their attention to the greater story of their lives. That alone is enough to make me happy, but of course there's so much more going on here, too. There are so many great lines that I can't even begin to choose a favorite. One of them has always been: "Scully's size was her dirty secret, her Trojan horse, and objects in mirror were much more badass than they first appeared."
LOVE. IT.
Even accounting for the fact that her fics were posted over an almost ten year period, there’s still a remarkable transformation in her work.That ( ... )
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I first jumped on board with this fandom right after movie #1 came out, and I read a TON of fic between that time and the show's final episode (seriously, it's embarrassing how much).I didn't watch the series while it was first run. I watched episodes at random on the Syfy channel and stayed up late to tape them on Fx (I think?). It was a revelation. I was lucky in a way that the fandom was reinvigorated by the movie; if not for that, I doubt this community would have thrived as it has, so I am grateful that it was made ( ... )
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I liked the central tenets of the story, though. The offerings to Pele were interesting and the kind of thing Mulder might do, half-joking, half-seriously. The scene between Scully and the woman in the hospital waiting room (I really need to learn to use that spoiler text thing) was good, and emotional. I thought the use of her name at the end was overkill, though.
I didn't really understand why Scully was SO shocked to be healthy, at the end. I mean, she went from terminally sick to in perfect health with no real explanation before. Is it so strange that she'd be completely healthy? I'm also not so sure about the doctor's dialogue.
"You're more than welcome to go wandering up and down the coast getting second, third, fourth, and fifth opinions for ( ... )
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Yeah, I guess it was supposed to be a little shout-out to "Paper Hearts," but it didn't work for me. I thought it was just because that is my least favorite episode ever.
I didn't really understand why Scully was SO shocked to be healthy, at the end. I mean, she went from terminally sick to in perfect health with no real explanation before. Is it so strange that she'd be completely healthy? I'm also not so sure about the doctor's dialogue ( ... )
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Well, there really isn’t any sense in attempting to sugar coat it: I didn’t like this fic at all. Which I honestly wasn’t anticipating, because JL has three or four fics from the second half of her fanfic writing days that I like very much.
Before going any further, I want to give my apologies to selynne, because reccing something only to have it criticized at length really sucks (I know from experience) and it’s bound to suck even more when one is a new participant in the community. Please don’t let my rather emphatic negativity put you off ( ... )
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My least favorite part of the plot, though, was when it ties in William, or should I say William’s death. I’m not sure what the point of it was supposed to be. Scully has some kind of weird spiritual brush with her son, which she apparently doesn’t remember later. Then he dies, she comforts his grieving mother without knowing that it’s William who’s just died, and then she goes off and learns that she’s healthy as a horse. Um, yay? Am I supposed to be glad for Scully that she got to have a spiritual meeting with her son before he died? Am I supposed to think that the universe is merciful because Scully gets to be there for her son’s death but doesn’t have to actually know he died? The narrative doesn’t seem overly concerned about the fact that WILLIAM JUST DIED, and I can’t figure out why, because it’s a tragedy. And the way he dies at the same time as Scully is magically healed kind of makes it seem like his life was traded off for Mulder and Scully’s chance to go on and be healthy as horses together and have babies that ( ... )
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