Comments | xf_book_club: Story 233: "Ad Vitam Aeternam" by Foxsong

wendelah1 in xf_book_club

Story 233: "Ad Vitam Aeternam" by Foxsong

Oct 31, 2013 15:09

Happy Halloween! For a show about things that go bump in the night, this fandom is surprisingly short of genuinely scary stories. They must be hard to write, or at least write well. This isn't exactly a ghost story, but it's plenty disturbing all the same ( Read more... )

pg-13, xfile, season 7, au, short, msr

Comments 11

(The comment has been removed)

wendelah1 November 1 2013, 05:29:52 UTC

You're absolutely right. People write what they want to see.

It's a short, short story.

badforthefish November 5 2013, 10:31:30 UTC

I've read very few books that scared me. The Amityville Horror scared the pants out of me, but I was 10. And the Exorcist, because again, I was too young to see the movie but I'd managed to borrow the book from my local library.

I think films convey fear better than books. So I guess this is why there are so few genuinely scary fics around. I found Goshen's Secret World scary, because the drug that nearly killed Scully was horrible, then again I guess I was more creeped out than really scared.

badforthefish November 5 2013, 11:50:18 UTC

Hm. I can't decide whether I like this one or not. The writing is good, that's for sure, but I have experienced a few "speed bumps" with this story ( ... )

wendelah1 November 5 2013, 16:34:28 UTC

I so appreciate your commenting, even though you have mixed feelings about it. Most people won't.

1. It's dated. Yeah, I know it's frustrating when you write something while a show is airing and a few months down the line, pooof, your story is kicked out of canon and into the obsolete ditch. I got a few like those. Sadly, Scully having a girl is not canon, so as I was reading my brain went "wait, what? A girl?"

Well, I can't fault the writer for that. Most of what we read here is "dated," in that sense. I try judge the story on whether or not it works. The canon is closed now but it wasn't when people were writing 99% of these fics.

2. I don't find Mulder as a green blooded clone wildly original (says the woman with the clone fetish).

I've only read one other Mulder clone story. Is there a list somewhere?

3. I LOVE streamlined fics, but this one could have done with a little fleshing out. It jumps from Scully explaining she and a returned Mulder spent "two years in the sun" which I assumed meant, they had moved some place quiet ( ... )

badforthefish November 7 2013, 08:46:26 UTC

*grmfff* what is it with me and clicking the wrong button?

I so appreciate your commenting, even though you have mixed feelings about it. Most people won't.

I find that there are more things to discuss if a story has flaws than if the story is perfect (if there is such a thing). I guess my inner beta never shuts up. *g*

Well, I can't fault the writer for that. Most of what we read here is "dated," in that sense. I try judge the story on whether or not it works. The canon is closed now but it wasn't when people were writing 99% of these fics.

Oh definetely. I was just pointing out the things that pulled me out of the story flow. I know it can't be helped.

I've only read one other Mulder clone story. Is there a list somewhere?

Was that All the Mulders? I don't know of any list, but it seems to me there's been a few of them around. Ok, I've just checked Haven. Donna has written two apparently - True Family and Simple Choices. Then there's The Coriolus Effect by Zuffy. The Other Man by Jess M. which I seem to recall we discussed ( ... )

badforthefish November 7 2013, 08:46:49 UTC

The series was very inconsistent about the green goo. I think Mulder's fear is supposed to convey how toxic he thinks he will be to Scully.

Yeah, I know, but she still breathes the fumes and seems all right, which doesn't match Mulder's mad panic. This could have done with some work. I'd have been happy with a line saying she had to check in with the hospital, or that whatever experiments she endured gave her a resistance or immunity. It was an easy fix. This is just sloppy.

The story is a little inconsistent about that, too. It starts out with her saying, "It troubled her for a long time afterward that she had not heard his last words to her." But it ends with her saying that she did understand that he was really gone this time. But it doesn't explain why she came to that conclusion.

Agreed. This story could have been great if more work had been spent on it. It feels a bit like it's been rushed.

Everyone is different in their response to grief. For me, talking about the person who has died is helpful. Scully doesn't sound ( ... )

Thread 5

mogster495 November 16 2013, 23:18:03 UTC

This story is very well written. I like the tone and the prose quite a bit.

'Stream of consciousness' stories are sometimes hard to follow. In Ad Vitam we don't know where Scully is experiencing these thoughts and emotions. If Foxsong had framed the stream of consciousness with a setting and plot, I think it would really work for the story.

I've always enjoyed Mulder as a jerk (probably says a lot about me but whatever). Sometimes I read stories about Mulder "spending two happy years raising their daughter" and I have to roll my eyes. Even if Mulder was a father, I imagine he would still pursue investigations into the paranormal. If he did I find 'two happy years' free from any kind of conflict hard to believe.

Before her daughter had been born, when she was only an idea, an abstract thought, the notion of giving up the search for Mulder had been unthinkable.This was a very strong line for me. I can recall being pregnant and not really 'knowing' my baby. After she was born I started to know and understand her as a person, and not ( ... )

bmerb August 7 2016, 02:00:08 UTC

Agreeing with what has already been said, although the sticking point for me was that hybrid Mulder died from abdominal injury. The show has been quite consistent about only the stiletto to the back of the neck killing the alien bounty hunters, rebels and hybrids, so his convenient death is hard to believe. I can get past Scully having less problem with the green blood since they were outside and she was warned to stay away. Apparently she did stay far enough away to not hear his final words, and she did pass out from exposure so yeah, that bit plagued me less. Still I liked it. Liked the twisty darkness of it, flaws and all.

wendelah1 August 7 2016, 02:50:49 UTC

The show has been quite consistent about only the stiletto to the back of the neck killing the alien bounty hunters, rebels and hybrids, so his convenient death is hard to believe.Was it that inconsistent with canon? The first successful alien/human hybrid was Cassandra Spender. You could cut into her and she would heal herself spontaneously--we saw it onscreen. It took 30 years of experimentation to make it work. There was nothing on the series to prove that another successful hybrid was created. The scientists who had worked on the project were murdered. Emily died of toxemia. The clone Mulder believed was his sister drowned ( ... )

bmerb February 21 2017, 16:33:50 UTC

Reread your comment and you are right. Cassandra Spender was the first successful hybrid, Emily wasn't killed with a stiletto, and the others were clones. The Kurt clones and the Jeremiah Smiths were killed with a stiletto to the neck but there was that Samantha clone that died in other circumstances as well I think... Oh inconsistent canon!