by rory midhani
It’s time, at last, for the return of The X-Files, which means I can finally share with you some fan fictions I’ve had bookmarked for about a hundred thousand years. The X-Files is the second most important TV show ever (after Star Trek, of course) when it comes to the genesis of online fandom. It started all the way back in 1993, when the internet was just a tiny little baby, with Usenet newsgrous, mailing lists, and fan sites like Ephemeral and Gossamer. The X-Files fans were some of the first folks to make the leap to LiveJournal in the early aughts, and also some of the first fans to begin using LiveJournal as a host for single-user fan fiction.
The X-Files also takes credit for being the fandom that actually created shipping! Even in those early days, the internet was strongly divided between NoRoMos (fans who didn’t want the show to focus on the romance between Mulder and Scully) and Shippers.
It’s crazy to think about this now, but in the mid-90s, Fox actually threatened to sue fansites for using images and audio clips from the show. “Foxed” is the word fansites used when they referred to having legal action taken against them. Now, of course, networks want their images and video clips everywhere, and they hire entire PR teams to make sure their chacters’ faces are spread as widely as possible across every social media platform.
I love thinking and talking about fandom from 20 years ago because it also makes me think about how obsolete our way of doing fandom will look when we gaze back on it with the gift of time. For example, please enjoy this still-standing NoRoMo fan site called The NoRoMo Defense Guide. I hope I’m still alive when Tumblr looks this antiquated to us all.
Fan Fiction Friday: Monica Reyes and Dana Scully
Blah blah Mulder and Scully. I’m all about Monica and Scully. Here are seven reasons why.
The Dedication by dhamphir
Pairing: Monica Reyes/Dana Scully
Plot: “Will a chance meeting, five years after Scully and Mulder went on the run, change anything?”
Length: 3,400 words
complexity by beepollenkick
Pairing: Monica Reyes/Dana Scully
Plot: Scully can’t fight that (lesbian) feeling anymore.
Length: 2,800 words
How Monica Reyes Stole Christmas by Adrian D. Ives
Pairing: Monica Reyes/Dana Scully
Plot: Rated M for Mature. A Mature Scully/Reyes Christmas, and that’s all you need to know.
Length: 5,000 words
Jello Shots by Ann
Pairing: Monica Reyes/Dana Scully
Plot: Just two girls, a hotel bar, and some red Jello.
Length: 1,000 words
Karma by Celievamp
Pairing: Monica Reyes/Dana Scully
Plot: Some karmic numbers lead Scully and Monica to a deeper exploration of their relationship.
Length: 3,000 words
With Wishes for A Happy New Year by ocean gazer
Pairing: Monica Reyes/Dana Scully
Plot: Okay, but what if Scully HADN’T gone with Mulder at the end of the series?
Length: 7,300 words
The Genesis Series by Radclyffe
Pairing: Dana Scully/OFC
Plot: A whole series for you, a femslash feast. This one’s a classic. I think it’s on everyone’s list of best X-Files lesbian fic.
Length: Many, many, many words. All of them delightful.
Listening to the news! Again?
Fandom in the news and around the world this month.
+ Here’s a fun article from The Week about how The X-Files gave birth to “obsessive fandom.” It stats out skeptical, but ends up drawing a very logical line from fan culture to top-notch TV criticism.
But zealous and dogged and occasionally irrational as it may be, it’s that same level of passion that created the boom in top-notch TV criticism today. Numerous early reviews of the new X-Files episodes have included sheepish disclaimers from critics who originally cut their teeth as X-Files fans, eager to analyze a show that actually seemed to reward those who took the time to scrutinize every episode. The X-Files may be an elder statesman in the TV landscape, but there’s one thing you can count on: When you log on after Sunday night’s episode, you’ll find thousands of fans eager to pore over every frame of it.
+ George R.R. Martin is feuding with fan fiction writers again, I guess.
+ I am of the firm opinion that Dumbledore’s gayness is as influential and relevant as an after-book reveal as it would have been inside the Harry Potter books (and anyway, it would have given away the entire plot of the last book if J.K. Rowling had revealed it earlier; and plus we didn’t know anything about any of the professors’ love lives; and plus also Harry — our narrator! — didn’t even know Ron and Hermione were infatuated with each), but some people disagree. Salon has a hot take about Dumbledore and Luke Skywalker and Captain Jack Sparrow, and a little bit of commentary into how fan fiction always knew they were gay.
+ Some Star Trek fans tried to make a crowdfunded fan film. Obviously, they got sued.
+ Star Wars: A Wookie Cookie Bookie is a beautiful kind of fan fiction.
+ I never stop loving it when local newspapers write about fandom. Here’s the Philly Voice asking: What Is Slash Fiction?
Well, there’s different ways of answering that question. Why do women fans write slash fiction that focuses on same-sex relationships? The answer I’ve gotten from authors I’ve spoken to, the most interesting response I’ve gotten is that writing slash fiction is a chance for women to author male sexuality. They enjoy the creative experience of authoring male sexuality. And fan fiction, generally, there are a lot of men who write fan fiction, but I think most indications we have is it’s mostly women writing a lot of fan fiction. It seems to appeal to female fans in particular.
+ Entertainment Weekly hosted a fan fiction competition earlier this month. It went about as well as you would have expected if you actually knew anything about fandom and how hard they work not to be derided and exploited.
I’ll be back next month with some answers to your TV questions and a really exciting interview with someone who works on your favorite web series. Have a very Scully weekend, my friends!
heather why are you so good to me
I can’t help myself.
Actually The Genesis Series is not about Dana Scully & Monica Reyes, but about Dana Scully & Marshall Black (yep, she’s a woman but Radclyffe is and forever would be obsessed with using unisex/male names for her characters).
But please, don’t take these fics out of your list because, as you said, these are pretty good and classic.
Whoops! Thank you! I was copying and pasting and meant to change that to OFC!
I can’t believe that Scully Slash Archive is still alive.
By the way, by any chance, do you know if it’s possible to find some fic with Dana Scully & Marita Covarrubias? Yes, I know, they didn’t have much interaction with each other in the show but strangely enough that was my ship in the early years.
Is chacter’s a typo or a subtraction of character/actor’s? I actually can’t tell :/
I almost forgot about a little thing that’s happening on Amazon. It seems that some people are really abusing the copy/paste function. This is happening against some authors and their original fiction posted in The Academy of Bards and XenaFiction.
One person, Tannya Gibson, plagiarized BadSquirrel and Anj (this last case is ridiculous because she did it with a book that was already published in 2002). Her four books were all plagiarized fics.
Another case is KMorgan, two of her original fics were on Amazon, under the name K. Morgan. This is her message in The Academy of Bards:
“A message from KMorgan
Through the years many of you have indicated that you would purchase my books, if I ever published them. At the moment three of my books are for sale in Amazon.com . My request to you might sound strange, but I am asking everyone NOT to purchase these books.
I have been the victim of copyright infringement and Amazon is in the process of removing the books and investigating the infringement. I am also looking into possible legal action.
If I can find an interested publisher, I have decided to publish the stories in the future. I will let you know when this happens, here in the Academy’s web page, so that you can be certain that you are getting good copies. The unauthorized books were not professionally edited and contain typographical errors. I’ve also alerted Amazon of my other stories in the Academy’s web page to prevent the possibility of further infringement.
As a personal favor to me, please, do not buy the books, and/or return them for a refund. If anyone bought those books, your money went to an unknown source.
Please, help me stop copyright infringement!”
All the books were removed from Amazon (unfortunately Tannya Gibson page on Goodreads is still alive) and my message is: Remember that Xenites have a very good memory with the authors they love.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/forum/cd/discussion.html/ref=ntt_mus_ep_cd_tft_tp?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx10UZYTET1OW12&cdThread=Tx1AOGLR3BV619U
The Scully Slash Archive! I used to spend hours reading the stories there. Man, this takes me back!
I read Dumbledore as gay in Deathly Hallows long before JK Rowling announced it was so (it just seemed obvious to me) – not sure how it would’ve ruined any plot points.
Also, the only canon gay character in the entire universe never has sex, his gayness ruins his family, he is so gutted by the experience of his first (unrequited) love (he falls in love with evil, it turns him almost evil) that he never dates again apparently. Whatever, JK Rowling, zero points for you. I’m tired of the continued lionization of this whole deal – Dumbledore was an interesting character but if we’re supposed to accept JK Rowlings version of his sexuality he is hardly good representation.
I completely agree. I can’t see how knowing he was gay before DH would have given anything away about DH at all (especially given that so many fans, myself included, never saw him as gay even after reading the book). It infuriates me that we’re supposed to be excited about Dumbledore supposedly being gay (idc if people think he is or isn’t, I don’t consider her pronouncement canonical and don’t have much of an opinion on his sexuality myself) when the supposed love of his life is consistently referred to as his “best friend” throughout the book (no het couples are ever referred to as “best friends,” obviously). The comments she made explaining why she didn’t make it explicit in the book are super sketch, also.
(From what I’ve seen of JKR’s other books -I’ve read The Casual Vacancy, The Cuckoo’s Calling, and The Silkworm- she writes LGBT characters pretty badly in general. Especially in The Casual Vacancy. The one and only LGBT character may as well have had the word “token” written across her forehead.)
For me, Deathly Hallows had enough hints that Dumbledore could be gay, but I didn’t really try to figure out whether he actually was or not. This description was coming largely from Rita Skeeter, after all, and she certainly fabricated enough tales about other characters’ love lives.
Of course, perhaps a bigger barrier to me reading Dumbledore as gay was that because he is the first wizard we meet, it was easy to assume that most wizards dress as flamboyantly as he does (or that it is a reflection of his many titles).
I have been a long time lurker, but I would like to come out of the shadows just to say that the fanfic “6 Keys” by Politic X needs to be on this list. I have read and re-read it for years. The author also has a brilliant, longer piece called “Secret Bird” which I’m both embarrassed and proud to say has shaped my thoughts on women and relationships.
I agree. Politc X was excellent. She’s one of my lost writers that I always hope will write something else whatever fandom they choose. I too re-read it every few years. I wish there was more of the story. There was such depth.
Lurker fans of Politic X unite! Gosh those stories remain some of my favorite fan fiction ever across any fandom. Brilliant stories.
Scully/Reyes is actually a latecomer to X-Files femslash. X-Files fanfic exploded right off the bat with tons of OFC/Scully pairings. Genesis by Radclyffe was only one of them. Another, of which I believe came out the same time if not before, was the Walking the Line series by XF-Stew.
I never could get into the Reyes side of the fandom since I had been invested for years in the various OFCs running around with our favorite FBI agent but I give that pairing their due… Which is why I’m rather sad to see NO mention of massive amount of Scully fic that was written in the numerous years before Reyes came on the scene.
Of course, as has been mentioned, Genesis is NOT a Reyes fic.
I wrote a Fan Fiction you might like. The Piano Maidens, starring Eugenie Danglars and Louise d’Armilly.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11852987/1/The-Piano-Maidens
http://archiveofourown.org/works/6333346