Love's Austere and Lonely Offices by Aloysia Virgata (PG-13)

[dashakay.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Length: One-shot
Author on LJ: aloysiavirgata
Author Website: Fic tag on LJ
Why this must be read:

Many of us fans of the X-Files think that the ninth season of the show was a travesty, for many reasons. Which, of course, makes that season ripe for fanfic to explore the gaping holes the storylines left. This new story does just that and adds a human, three-dimensional element to a number of events that seemed poorly done and often inexplicable on the actual show. It's an epistolary story, replete with little twists and turns, coded messages, and rich characterization. And by the end, if you're not sniffling a bit, I'll be very surprised.

My mother and I took William to the beach for a couple of days. I dipped his feet in the surf and I was reminded that seawater has a similar chemical makeup to both blood and amniotic fluid. We crawled from those primordial seas so many millions of years ago and carry some of it inside of us to this day. I know you get seasick, but I think we are hardwired to crave the ocean and I want to take William sailing when he's older. I think he has the genes for it. You may not be a sailor, Mulder, but you know the unquenchable lure of the unknown and thrill of riding out a storm.

Love's Austere and Lonely Offices

Comments

[velena.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say - I'm loving your amazing recs. They are so very much appreciated. I'm not new to XF, but I am new to the fandom, and I'm having the damndest time finding fics I want to read. But all of your recs have been golden. I've just read everything that Aloysia Virgata has written, and I only wish there were more stories. So keep the recs coming! And if you have any guidance you'd like to dole out to a fandom newbie, please feel free; I'd be glad to hear it. ;-)

[dashakay.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO much! It's been ridiculously easy to make recs this month since the amazing fic just keeps on coming!

Are you looking for advice as a newbie reader or a writer? Either way, happy to help!

[velena.livejournal.com]

Newbie XF reader, definitely. I used to write in other fandoms, but I'm too lazy now. :-P

I've been reading your fic lj, cazfic, comice, and a bunch of stories over at Gossamer, but there's just so much out there that I would love some advice. And frankly, there's so much crap to dig through, that a little guidance would be greatly appreciated.

And again, thanks for your recs so far. I've loved them all, and they are what motivated me to go to your lj and read all of your fic in about two sittings.

[dashakay.livejournal.com]

I know, it's kind of overwhelming, isn't it? I remember having to plow through a ton of crap back in the day to discover what kind of fic I liked and which writers I found to be worth reading.

I'd say you're doing a lot of the right things right now, like belonging to this community. Many of the XF recs are excellent ones. The Television Without Pity's XF forums have a fanfic thread and there's often some good recs there. And the more you get involved with the XF fandom via LJ, the more recs you'll see on people's personal pages.

Another resource I've been using lately is del.icio.us. I've found a number of fantastic stories by reading the bookmarks of other fans. Not to self-pimp at all, but here's a link to my del.icio.us bookmarks (http://delicious.com/dashakay) and from there you can see the pages of other fanfic writers/readers. What I like about del.icio.us is that users can create categories. Are you looking for someone's humor recs? Click on that tag? Season 7? Same thing.

And mostly I think it takes time to discover what and who your favorites are. And sometimes having to read something bad to get to what's good.

Let me know if I can help you in any way with anything. I remember what it was like to be a newbie in this fandom and how a few kind people really helped make this a great place to be.