Subject: A Feast of Fanfic

From: jordan <jordan@jetson.uh.edu>

Date: 1998/05/13

]

A Feast of Fanfic

Two whole days of nothin' but net...catching up on the fanfic, since

the posts leave me so utterly puzzled I have no idea how to respond.

So I'll stick to the fic, as we move along towards the End...

La la la,

walking along on this lovely morning,

picking flowers, blue skies, birds singing,

what's this? our first story!

"Sundered Monsters" by syn...

oh, good...

la la...

la...

8O

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

Thank God you have a positive attitude in this! Your writing is

frighteningly good at frightening ...

From the story:

" Staring at the

ceiling, lying there wondering what monsters live under...no,

strike that, live -in-your bed with you? Wondering when the cold

scratch of their fingers will brush along your leg, or arm, or even

your face, frightening you so badly, you neither leap nor scream,

but simply tremble as every inch of nail and bone scrapes slowly

down your spine? Wondering if, and when, they will reveal

themselves to you, body and soul, in all their horror "

(shiver!)

High quality writing, nice perspective; now we see why Scully

is in denial all the time. Acceptance is Insanity! The quality of

writing is sustained throughout the short piece, by the way,

with passages even scarier than this...

Good for you, Scully! I mean, good for you, syn!

**********************

High on adrenaline now, I sway back and forth with my hands out,

like a wrestler, about to grapple the GIGANTIC masterpiece from

Booboocato and her evil cohort,Miss Elise, two of my favorite

writers, and somewhere in here lurks the promise of a naked Skinner,

so I bring plenty of wet-naps for my drool...the lemony scented ones

(an image you'll take away as memory from the novel)...

(snip snip )

He was no longer tired--the prospect of what he was about to

do had sent adrenaline through his veins. Just a couple of hours.

That's all they needed.

They would go and-- They would go.

Skinner rose from the bed and crossed to the door that lead

to Scully's room. He didn't bother rapping on her door and somehow,

he knew it would be unlocked. As predicted, it yielded to his touch

and he stepped inside, finding her lying

on the bed, looking through files.

Scully looked up, sliding her glasses off as she looked at

Skinner. "Sir?" She frowned, as if wondering what hell had broken

loose now.

"You're coming with me," he said, smiling.

Scully's frown deepened and she sat up. "What's happened

now?" she asked.

She glanced at her watch and then up at Skinner.

"I have to take you somewhere."

Scully slid off of the bed and stood, shaking her head. "Is

this about the case? Have you found something new?"

"It's-- It's a kidnapping. Dana Scully, I've come to

kidnap

you." Skinner reached out and stroked his fingers down her cheek,

shrugging as he smiled.

"Only for a few hours," he amended. The look in her eyes was

one he would treasure forever.

snip snip

heh heh heh

the buildup drives you crazy, but the climax is worth it (according

to them both) and I still don't know who the hell the damn killer

is. If you like a long, leisurely read without losing interest,

with

tension building and building throughout the work, then this is a

great way to spend a long rainy evening.

one little quibble, and you know what it is, your author-nesses.

whose idea was it to "tie up" the "ending" that way? You better

have that "lay of the land" thing ready pdq or there's going to be

BIG trouble.

Don't be surprised if feedback is

slow--I'm a lightning reader and it took me hours. But I don't

regret it. Great work, guys!

Oh, and your portrayal of Mulder and food--absolutely hysterical!

Loved it all.

thanks.

****************************

first scared to death, then left hanging by my toenails,

I moved on to Dreamerlea's "almost blue":

This story caught me like a daydream, when the eyes lose

focus and you just go with the poetry of the language. Such

beautiful language!

"The girl turned to him, her eyes like

windows in her head, shining right through to the sky

behind her, the burning, swollen, almost blue sky

that was in the end like nothing in this girl at all,

like nothing at all except for Her eyes."

" he looked down at the

ground beneath his feet. Old stone, dust for

thousands of years, thirsty and sterile in the

yellowed field. He kneeled in the dust and rubbed his

hands in it, making dark smears of earthy mud. The

hollow inside him was great and black, charred from

the forge and the flood of fire, but he could hardly

feel..."

I read this aloud, as is my wont:

The hollow inside him

was great and black

charred from the forge

and the flood of fire

but he could hardly feel...

see what makes GREAT, lyrical writing?

Thanks for putting the lyrics at the end, where I could skip

them. Don't you realize YOUR writing puts that stuff to shame?

wow.

*****************

Crampton:

by

Thomas Ligotti,

Dude. Be grateful. By the time Carter got finished rewriting this

well done piece, the house would be a brownstone somewhere in

Maine, and the magic show would be a television commericial for

ventriloquist dummies. They'd cost $10.13 to buy, and in the

end the Millineum Group would send an angel to free our heroes

from the false constructs of time. I'm not trying to trivialize

your

work, which is superb, though it has an ending like Quantum Leap's

ending, but I'm saying that it would be so trivialized by the

time they finished changing it around, you'd lose that wonderful

creepiness that makes it such good reading. Just ask Mr. King.

Doctor Jordan (yeah, I got one too)

*********************

Euphemisms by nikki

Mulder's old "girlfriend" shows up to discuss their "youthful

indescretions" while Scully "overhears" some "conversation"

about their "relationship" when they "knew each other" at

Oxford. (Fill in euphemisms as necessary)

This story a has poignancy that kept me on the edge between

giggling at Scully's silly situation and feeling sad for Mulder's

not so silly situation. You know, in all these years I never even

wondered what was on that tape Phoebe left him...Good

speculation, nikki!

*******************

Believe

by Linda Phillips

Something that made me sniffle, but in a good way;

I can't post the best parts because it would ruin the story, but

it had real impact...

"She walked around to

face him and lay her hand on his arm. Mulder looked down at

her hand, marveling at the touch. She was so good at it, this

simple act of touching. It was so natural for her. And

somehow, it always helped. His own mother had long ago lost

the magical power that a mother's touch held..."

The only problem I have with this story is the title, which I'm

afraid will make it hard to find when it's archived. But once I

read it, I can't think of a more appropriate title...(shrug)...so

I guess the other guys will need to change THEIRS. And I'm

safe because I already downloaded it to my twelve gig hard

drive. (There was JUST enough room after downloading Booboocato's

piece.)

very powerful work, Linda! Your descriptions in particular are

so visual and sensitive, they would elicit emotion even if it wasn't

such an emotional situation.

******************

"Sick Day VII" (most of us only get 6, jen!)

by jen

Mulder's gonna need a sick day after this episode! I like each

of these little pieces more and more, as your writing seems to

grow smoother and better. It's like a written version of those

trading cards kids swap; each "Sick Day" has its own little feel

to it, very distinctive, and starting to get addictive. They're so

short they don't take any time to read, but they leave me with

a particular emotion--in this case, humor; Mulder is such a dufus,

but in a funny way, not mean-spirited. ("Look out for the

computer wire--" Too late.)

Keep 'em coming!

***************

Lord, I just realized how long this is getting. If I didn't mention

your story, I'm sorry; I try to do feedback through private e-mail

most of the

time but I can't on this particular computer because everyone

else could read my private mail then.

thanks to everyone for the excellent writing and again, if I

missed you, it's no reflection of my opinion of your story, just

the constraints of time.

jordan