Story 209: "Sokol" by Khyber

[wendelah1]

Happy Canada Day and Happy Fourth of July.

Sokol was suggested in March of 2011 by estella_c, which tells you that we're a little backlogged. It's a good summer read: a novella length, fast-paced thriller, a myth-arc story that gives us an alternative ending to the series. I consider it essential reading for this fandom. In the MSR category, I'd put it up

Comments

[estella_c]

Halfway through (again) and I'm short of breath. It's large, to paraphrase Olive Oil. It's very,very large.

But It's also very, very good. I doubt we'll ever hear from Khyber again, but he is undeniably one of the best fan writers The X-Files ever produced. This was his swan song, and it's word for word gorgeous.

I often wish--though we would have missed some nifty eps--that the show had actually gone in this direction. Such a wealth of imagination.

Later--must shower, hydrate, and rest.

[amyhit]

he is undeniably one of the best fan writers The X-Files ever produced.

Every time I read something of his, I think this same thing.

[wendelah1]

As good as his body of work is, I think Sokol is in a different league than say, "Reach," or even the best of the stories in Kv7.

[wendelah1]

Because of RL stuff, I just now started rereading this. Not only is Khyber one of the best fanfic writers TXF ever produced, Sokol is even better than I remembered it being. How often does that happen? More often, I'm disappointed or bored by a reread.

This story feels new. No one to my knowledge has written anything remotely like it, in any fandom that I've read fic in. It is so suspenseful I think I stayed up all night reading it the first time through and if I didn't have compelling other duties, I'd be tempted to do it again. It's mysterious. It satisfies my unusual (in fandom, at least) need to be surprised by what I read. I don't want to read yet another predictable tropey story featuring--name your favorite pairing.

To clarify, there is nothing wrong with loving that kind of fic. Those who do are in good company. It just doesn't do it for me.

I just finished part two but I will return at some point with more to say.

[infinitlight]

I'm NEARLY finished and really want to have reread the whole thing before I make any real comment. I agree that Sokol is essential fandom reading. It's a hell of a story.

[wendelah1]

Isn't it a remarkable piece of writing? It's even better than I'd remembered.

I just started rereading it today, for reasons. I am hoping you'll meet me back here when you're done to discuss it.

This novel deserves more than I've been able to give it. Though there's nothing I could do about it, I still feel like I've let down the community by not being around to get discussion going.

[infinitlight]

You absolutely haven't let anyone down. It's a long story so we were going to be slow to start discussing it. I'd actually been planning to reread it for a while so at least this got me moving.

Since you will understand my Noromo perspective: I really like the way Khyber writes their relationship. It's how I think the relationship would be, if there had to be one: not hearts and flowers, but mutual respect and care for one another, without discounting either of their characters or how difficult they would find a relationship. Any relationship.

Or making their relationship boring or predictable, either.

[wendelah1]

I like how he writes their relationship in Sokol much better than in Khyber v. Season Seven. He gets the their internal/external balance better here, I think. They're so messed up in Kv7. I don't think the Kv7 Mulder and Scully had much of a chance at sustaining a non-platonic relationship. They were in too much emotional pain, at least according to the internal canon of Kv7, and seemed to be hurting each other as a result. But Reason/Sokol picks toward the end of season five, so no The End, no Fight the Future, no hallway, no bee, and no Diana Fowley (sob!). He definitely takes into account their personal idiosyncrasies. He writes them smart, too, giving them witty dialogue that Mulder and Scully would actually say. Khyber's version of MSR is not boring or predictable, that's for sure. (Fans self)

[obviousanswer]

Just finished reading this for the first time (wanted to read Reach first), and I'd have to re-read to make better comments, but I wanted to comment now

[infinitlight]

Hi and welcome!

The "pleasantly confused" feeling you mention is a good way of describing it. There was a lot of pleasantly confusing times in the show (some of them were unpleasantly confusing, too) and yeah, that's one of the ways Sokol feels so like canon to me. There's still elements I don't totally understand about Sokol, but it's compelling.

Spender: Sokol made me wish we got to see Spender working on the X-Files more. I don't think I ever wished that before.

[wendelah1]

Hi! Welcome to the book group. Let me just say your comment is pretty much what I'd say if I had the time right now to say it (maybe by this weekend if RL lets up a bit) so thank you. This felt like a godsend. ♥

The X-files isn't the great show it is because of water-tight plots, it's great because at it best it touches on huge themes and leaves a spooky, thoughtful, pleasantly confused feeling, and Sokol achieves that, it's both an amazing tribute to the potential/awesomeness of the X-Files universe, whilst being a wonderful new addition to this.

Yes, yes, yes. The new elements fit into the existing mytharc canon seamlessly, far better than what 1013 came up with starting with FTF.

This doesn't read as a script without a cast to act it, it reads as a novel. Other great writers often achieve this through focusing on the characters' thoughts and feelings (which I love too), Khyber instead achieves this mostly through a very ambitious storyline.Sokol is very plot-centric (I'm sure there's a better term but I can't think of it just

[obviousanswer]

I'm glad my comment hit the mark. I'm relatively new to this, I was stoked to find this community and see that the recent posts were from 2012!

Yes, plot centric, that's what I meant in a round about way! I definitely agree that the characterisations are revealed really well as part of the plot, it all fits together so seamlessly.

[estella_c]

Still reading. I have gotten appallingly slow, even though this is at least my third time through. It's SO WEIRD. (I love weird.)

Meanwhile, it's great to see some new names hooked in, not that there's anything wrong with the old ones. I know our W co-leader has some heavy responsibilities just now, so we must all pitch in an analyze our tushes off. ( Although I'm not super-good at that; vague description of personal response is more my thing.) Amyhit, you still on-board? This is your ultimate challenge.

Back later. It's storming here, but my cat is just sitting on the porch watching the lightning. He's so tough.

[wendelah1]

I'm still reading, too. I think I'll be done by the weekend.

[amyhit]

Amyhit, you still on-board?

Uuum, I'm working on it? *gulps*

It's storming here, but my cat is just sitting on the porch watching the lightning.

Oooh, reading Sokol during a lightning storm. That seems pleasingly appropriate. A lightning storm during a heatwave, that would be even better. For some reason Khyber's always been one of those writer's whose fics I associate with summer.

[estella_c]

Okay, first of all, Olive Oyle. I knew that

[szgrey]

Khyber has turned Krycek into a total psychoTHAT'S the other thing I wanted to say. I really, really liked the way Krycek's deterioration was handled. I liked, first, that we got notes before his character entered the story directly. Then, I liked how he was written. He rang truer to me than most of the fic Kryceks I've seen, though I haven't really seen many. (If anyone has good Krycek fics to recommend, I would be all over that.) Krycek at the beginning of the story isn't psychotic (he may be a sociopath, I guess, but that's a whole nother thing). His loyalties and motivations are uncertain, just like in the show, and he's got a coldness and a black-edged humor that I found delightful, and the increasing stress he's under, his lack of sleep, and the hideous things he witnesses serve to mask the degree to which he's really losing it over the course of the story. By the end he *is* psychotic, but I knew that the moment Mulder did and no sooner. Of course, at that point it snapped perfectly into place, all the ways in which I saw

[estella_c]

szgrey, I have no idea whether this would be to your taste, as it's Scully/Krycek. But I believe that it's the only believable Scully/Krycek in existence, and it is moreover wonderfully written: Half a World Away by Jane St. Clair. You'll find it in the discussion list along, well, with the discussion. Let me know if you get to it and don't hesitate to post your opinion. We made a kind of agreement that people could time-travel to previous postings, though I'm not sure whether they are really doing it.

[szgrey]

Any ship or none, and any genre- I'm easy, as long as it's well-written and has believable characterization :)
And I've been going through the discussion list in a haphazard fashion, reading the discussions on stories I know, and reading the ones I don't know and then the discussions. It's wonderful for me as a baby phile to have a whole long list of varied, quality fic, especially as it seems a lot of the old rec sites and archives no longer exist. I haven't been commenting, but perhaps I will start.