Comments | xf_book_club: Story 258: "SN 1572" by prufrock's love

wendelah1 in xf_book_club

Story 258: "SN 1572" by prufrock's love

Jul 01, 2015 14:48

I'd been thinking about posting this so when it was nominated by an anonymous lurker, I decided to go ahead. It's a major new work by a talented writer. Dear Anon, thanks for the suggestion. I hope you will join the discussion.

Title: SN 1572 ( Read more... )

season 8, post-col, season 7, msr

Comments 27

infinitlight July 3 2015, 04:45:53 UTC

I thought I'd commented on it at the time but maybe I wasn't a member when we discussed Negative Utopia. NU was the first fanfic I ever read and I remember it very fondly although I haven't revisited it in years. This should be interesting.

wendelah1 July 3 2015, 05:58:41 UTC

"Negative Utopia" was Story 76 so it was an early one.

infinitlight July 3 2015, 07:25:41 UTC

I'm terrible at putting times into context, I know I was ON livejournal then but beyond that I remember nothing :)

somewhat spoilery response to story zinnia03 July 11 2015, 16:16:04 UTC

I have read many of the stories but seldom comment. Thanks for continuing to post these in the face of apparent apathy. I think we are out there but speaking at least for me, RL doesn't allow me much time to indulge myself in reading (I'm the half-hour before bed kind of reader these days), or even much brain space to think about the things I read when I get a chance to read them. This story I stayed up late to read over two evenings ( ... )

Re: somewhat spoilery response to story infinitlight July 18 2015, 09:07:50 UTC

I'm glad you mentioned the women's choices aspect of the story because I have been mulling this over myself. To be honest I was quite perplexed that when Scully was presented with a patient she immediately believed to be in captivity, the first thing she said (to the men she believed were the woman's captors) was that she would not perform an abortion. I'm not sure if there's something I'm missing there, but I also found the "prostituting herself" phrasing confronting. I think because these instances are presented from Scully's point of view - if one of the men in the story spoke like this, it wouldn't be as noticeable to me.

Re: somewhat spoilery response to story wendelah1 July 18 2015, 13:46:46 UTC

So, you don't accept that this Scully would refuse to perform an abortion on a rape victim? She's also portrayed as disapproving of polyamory and strongly against prostitution. Whether I agree with the characterization is another matter, but I think it's internally consistent. From the character's perspective, these practices are all immoral. For many people who believe abortion is murder, there is no exception to be made for rape. She believes that allowing women to trade sexual favors is degrading, for them, and for what's left of humanity. She doesn't want sex to be a commodity, she doesn't want women's value to be reduced to sex and procreation. From what I read in the text, she thinks procreation is immoral because if humanity survives, the alien colonists will return to harvest us again.

Re: somewhat spoilery response to story infinitlight July 19 2015, 09:06:08 UTC

It's not so much that I have trouble with Scully refusing to perform an abortion, it's that that is her first thought and first action, before consulting her patient, before examining said patient, and in this scene the most important thing to Scully is that (the people she believes to be) her patient's abusers know that she will not perform an abortion. I have trouble with this because it completely removes the autonomy of her patient and also puts the needs/requests of the abusers above her patient's needs ( ... )

Thread 6

whithersoever July 14 2015, 23:58:51 UTC

I'm about halfway through, but I thought I'd comment on what I've read so far just to get the ball rolling. I took notes as I read, so sorry if my thoughts seem disjointed ( ... )

whithersoever July 14 2015, 23:59:34 UTC

(continued ( ... )

wendelah1 July 18 2015, 16:18:40 UTC

I haven't read the historicals from start to finish either. As I said in the post, I did read "Negative Utopia," and loved it.

I'm an RN by training. I have no training, formal or otherwise in anything else. My knowledge about writing comes from having read widely, mostly novels, science fiction, mysteries and classics, but a fair amount of fanfic. I write fanfic too. There were a couple of people here in the past who'd worked in editing, or some other field related to writing, and a lot of fanfic writers have participated, but they've mostly moved on to other fandoms or out of fandom altogether.

Your analysis so far seems well-reasoned and supported by the text. Even if it wasn't--shit, it's a fanfic discussion group. I'm interested in hearing everyone's opinions, even those I disagree with. Especially those I disagree with. It's hard to have a lively discussion without some dissent.

There's definitely enough recognizable about her characters to tell an entertaining story, but there is rarely a time when I can 100% reconcile her ( ... )

ledez_dreams July 15 2015, 22:49:05 UTC

Hmmm. Although I love post-col stories, this didn't work for me, same as Negative Utopia never has. I do however have a hard time figuring out why exactly this is the case. I like the detail, and this story definitely fleshes out Negative Utopia in a way that complements them both. The world is described well and I find it quite believable. I have probably read and watched too many dystopian movies and books that I have a dim view of what would happen to the position and rights of women in such scenarios. So I did find Scully's position believable as well ( ... )

Part 1 wendelah1 July 18 2015, 19:45:15 UTC

I had to divide this comment into two sections.

That being said though, I think it was Scully's lack of control in a post colonization world and her seeming acceptance of this. I suppose this is somewhat in contradiction to what I just said in the previous paragraph, but it does bother me. She relies on Skinner to protect her, and having to be labelled as "his" as a result, and she also requires Mulder's protection to an extent once she is reunited with him.

It's meant to disturb the reader. You've read enough dystopian novels, so you know the drill. It's realistic for the weaker to need protection in a world gone mad. If anything, Scully wants the few remaining women and their children to be more protected, not less. She wants civilization back.

I know she exerted some authority as a physician back at the camp, but it almost seemed like an indulgence afforded to her, and this was proven when it became apparent that Skinner was actually preventing people like Byers from reaching her and he faked an injury just to come talk to her. ( ... )

Part 2 wendelah1 July 18 2015, 19:53:03 UTC

The story sort of gives Mulder all the power and reduces Scully to a bit of a sidekick to him, the equality in their relationship seems to disappear in this world, which even if it's plausible given the circumstances, I don't like it.

But that's not what happened. At the beginning of the story, Mulder sacrifices himself to save Scully, and arguably the other people in the bunker, from the colonists. He's tortured and experimented on and used by them. He's been driven completely crazy. He kills Skinner because he sees a threat to Scully that isn't there. I would argue that apart from his decision to leave and give himself up to the colonists, he's the one who has no agency whatsoever. The line that keeps getting repeated in this story is Mulder's question to Scully. "Are you real? Are you really Dana Scully?" He's that disconnected from reality.

I also didn't really like that despite all the detail and building of this world, there really wasn't more to the plot than Scully wanting to be with Mulder, and Mulder wanting to be with ( ... )

infinitlight July 19 2015, 09:13:50 UTC

I liked Negative Utopia when I read it back in the day, and the differences in this story (as far as I can remember NU - I'm a slow reader and I'm pretty sure if I try to reread I will still be here commenting in a month's time) were interesting in the expanded details - but overall I preferred that Negative Utopia felt like an end of everything, whereas SN 1572 is more hopeful.

I usually like hopeful! But I suspect I want a different story, too. Which is not to say this is not a well-written story, just that I wasn't really feeling it, either.

Thread 5

anonymous August 8 2015, 07:48:56 UTC

Hello hello! I hope its okay to leave a comment, I’ve never been a part of this reading group. I have known of its existence, and ages ago would pop on for a story recommendation here or there… and I am pleasantly surprised to see it still up and running! I used to love reading x-files fanfiction years ago, but only now has my interest re-sparked with the upcoming new series. I’m pretty out of the loop and have no idea who the good authors are anymore ( ... )