Story 245: "A Thin Veneer" by Analise

[wendelah1]

First, your Fanfiction BINGO Update. We're getting so close! Come on, people, we can do this. We still need a story for each of the following categories: Aah-aaah!, Best Friends, MY ASS, and Straight People Do Not Exist in This AU. I can imagine exactly what the latter would look like. It would be an AU with these pairings: Mulder/Krycek, Skinner/

Comments

[tri_sbr]

It honestly felt a bit like an excerpt from a longer work. We drop in on the story and meet a whole bunch of new characters without any real introduction.

I'm torn because I also felt like some things could have been more fleshed out (I wanted to know a bit more about some of the others in their small group, especially Roz as you say) but at the same time, I'm not sure I would have wanted the story to be a whole lot longer than it was. To me, it seems like two stories that sort of collided, neither of which would completely stand on its own, but the result seems slightly disjointed to me.

[wendelah1]

"It honestly felt a bit like an excerpt from a longer work." That's an interesting observation. I wonder if it was meant to be at one point.

"We drop in on the story and meet a whole bunch of new characters without any real introduction. It took me a couple of read-throughs to get everyone straight in my head." That's always the case for me with large casts of characters. LOL. I assumed that was because it was a mystery, so figuring out who the characters were was part of solving the mystery for the reader? If she had revealed too much too soon, it would have ruined the tension she was trying to build.

"I would have liked to know more about Roz, the hybrid, and how they joined up with her, too."
Yes, and about how Mulder interacted with her, given that she looked like the clones he had encountered before. She deserves a story of her own. Have you read badforthefish's big mytharc story, Human Credentials?

[tri_sbr]

I hadn't read this one before. I thought it was good, but probably not so good that I'll read it again soon. The whodunit was decent but it wasn't too hard to suspect the culprit (there is a really really limited set of suspects, and you just know the new visitor was supposed to be a red herring). I would have liked a little more connection between the murders and the post-col world; I'm not even sure I know what I mean, but it felt a little disjointed or something

[wendelah1]

One thing that annoyed me (and has tended to annoy me in some other fic) was some of the treatment of Scully's pregnancy, on a few fronts. The story seemed to pretty much ignore the question of how did it happen (despite the brief mention of "the fact that she shouldn't have been pregnant to begin with" and calling it a miracle). This is a pretty big thing to just kind of side-step.

I hear you, although isn't that exactly what the series did? And their options post-colonization for investigating the possibilities would be limited. I assumed it was the usual way: one egg, one sperm. Random luck. Maybe Scully decided it was a "miracle"--the word most scientists hate since it's essentially meaningless.

Maybe the pregnancy was basically used to give the killer a reason to target Scully, but that's kind of convenient. Well, yeah. That is the plot of the fic, essentially. But I was okay with that.

The story also promoted the idea that she shouldn't be doing any exercise/physical labor because she is pregnant; it does say that "it had

[tri_sbr]

You're right, it makes sense that they are being extra careful in this case - the fact that Scully is their only doctor, the cold/snow, no hospital, the shredders, etc are all factors.

I am surely projecting based on my own experience, but I got really tired of people's misconceptions about pregnancy, especially about exercise/physical activity and pregnancy (and people are not shy about sharing their opinions). I was one of those people who continued my pre-pregnancy exercise routine, with a few modifications, all the way through the day I went into labor, and was happier for it (as was anyone around me!). Of course, I had no complicating factors or post-col extenuating circumstances.

[wendelah1]

I understand. Don't we all project? I talked a little about my discomfort with infidelity in fanfic. I have similar biases against hurt/comfort fanfic and rape fanfic and anything to do with the cancer arc. I have to work to judge stories in those categories fairly and I'm not sure I succeed.

"Of course, I had no complicating factors or post-col extenuating circumstances."

I am so happy to hear that. ♥

[infinitlight]

I read the text-only version and am now scrolling through the pictures. Like tri_sbr, I like them a lot. People often do book covers for their fic but I don't think I've ever read one that was illustrated throughout before.

I liked that there were plenty of newly introduced characters and enjoyed the mystery, although I figured out the killer early on. Despite the fact that it's set post-colonization and there are Shredders, it didn't feel very X-Filesy to me, more like Mulder and Scully were dropped into a regular mystery novel. Overall I enjoyed it a lot.

[wendelah1]

Yeah, I figured out the killer pretty early too. I think. There weren't all that many potential suspects, so it's like one of those Agatha Christie novels where you have to watch for the clues, except Agatha Christie is much better at misdirection than your average mystery writer, let alone an average or even a very good fanfic writer like Analise. I read this originally back in 2005 or 2006, I suspect, so my first impression is a little vague. Anyway, it was back when I was still lurking but hadn't yet made a journal, and was reading through the recs from crack_van.

The only other story I've read that's illustrated all the way through is Machines of Freedom, but those were done by Scooly, not Amal, for the big bang.

[infinitlight]

I'd never read this before, although I'd read some other by Analise. I remember liking Lucky Lizzy.

I read Machines of Freedom in plain text too. Look at the fun I've been missing out on.