September 25, 2003
Guest Ghost Title
Guest Ghost

Mysteries of the human heart are often buried deep, mired as they are in the quicksand of denial, repression, and self-delusion. Only in writing -- the kind scribbled furtively in diaries during dark nights of the soul -- does truth escape the shackles that hold it prisoner in the harsh light of day. The following classic stories all feature diaries or journals, so read on, steal a glimpse at the secret fears and longings of those whose words you pilfer, and remember to send feedback. It's probably the best encouragement a lonely author, staring hopelessly, endlessly at a vast, blank page, receives.

New Stories
A Feynman Diagram
By suspect affiliations (no_romo@yahoo.com)
Post "Nothing Important Happened Today"
(No classications ** Not rated ** 16K)
Padgett's Rec: The beginning of season nine is a very tumultuous time for Scully and Mulder, and this story captures the insane highs and lows of the time with great emotion, sweetness, and high angst.
Forecasts
By MCA (mcaxf@juno.com)
Why do I tell you about the weather? Perhaps it is the only simple thing left.
(No classifications ** PG-ish ** 27K)
Padgett's Rec: This lovely story set after "The Truth" fits in perfectly with this update's theme. While enduring yet another separation from Mulder, Scully writes to him in her journal. What she writes is revelatory and moving, and says a lot about the woman she has become.
Four Star Weekend
By Maureen B. Ocks (maureen_b_ocks@yahoo.com)
No summary
(No classifications ** Rated R for Reviews ** 4K)
Padgett's Rec: Mulder and Scully read the critics' takes on "The Lazarus Bowl" in this fun and charming story.
Frederick
By Lilydale (lilydale10@yahoo.com)
"To love one child and to love all children, whether living or dead - somewhere these two loves come together."
(Angst ** Not rated ** 14K)
Padgett's Rec: Mrs. Scully has secrets of her own in this sad, creepy story. Lilydale does a good job of exploring a fascinating possible scenario about the Scully family's conspiracy connections.
Full Reward
By Bonetree (Bonetree@aol.com)
After the end of all things, how would you choose a beginning?
(Post-Col, Vignette, Angst, Implied CD ** R/NC-17 ** 13K)
Padgett's Rec: A delicious story with wonderful twists of fate and heartbreaking emotion, this one can make you reel with angst and despair even as it reaffirms life and love with joy and hope.
Gazing
By Maureen B. Ocks (maureen_b_ocks@yahoo.com)
No summary
(400 words, schmoop, dark skies ** Not rated ** 4K)
Padgett's Rec: There's almost nothing better than great conversational banter between Mulder and Scully, and Maureen delivers an excellent exchange in this short tale about a glittering moment in time.
The Ghosts of Future Past
By Anjou (Anjou@rocketmail.com)
Post "The Truth;" assumes that William was born in May 2001, given up for adoption in April 2002 and that Mulder and Scully fled in May 2002. The Ghosts of Future Past is set present day, in the late summer of 2003.
(MSR ** R ** 66K)
Padgett's Rec: Mature, loving, and dedicated to helping save the world and to preserving their fledgling family, Anjou's Mulder and Scully are a pleasure to read about. This story follows Anjou's Ghosts and The Ghosts of Christmas Present.
Green Tea and Mint
By ML (msnsc21@aol.com)
Sometimes the strangest thing can be a catalyst.
(Vignette, Mulder/Scully UST ** R ** 52K)
Padgett's Rec: Sweet and sexy, this story adds a special meaning to Scully's actions during the final scene of "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati." The challenge elements ML used are seamlessly woven into this MSR set during the sixth season.
Growing Pains
By J.S. Michel (jsm25@hotmail.com)
A day in the life.
(155-word challenge ** G ** 2K)
Padgett's Rec: Every word counts when there are only 155 of them, and J.S. Michel succeeds in expressing the thoughts and feelings of Gibson Praise in this succinct 155-word vignette.
An Honorable Man
By ML (msnsc21@aol.com)
"I come to bury Caesar, not to honor him."
(Vignette ** PG ** 11K)
Padgett's Rec: In this intriguing vignette, ML takes us back to they heyday of the mytharc, shedding a little light on Well-Manicured Man's ambiguous and shady motivations.
Let's Play House
By Polly Burns (go_rimbaud@hotmail.com)
After being separated from his arm in Russia, Alex begins to consider a career-change.
(No classifications ** R ** 44K)
Padgett's Rec: Krycek is marvelously mean and manipulative in this fascinating, gritty tale spanning a few fateful years.
She Who Watches
By Sarah Segretti (mrsblome@yahoo.com)
At least he made chocolate pie.
(VA ** R ** 9K)
Padgett's Rec: The characterization in this story is so good that you'll probably be able to perfectly picture the words being said and the actions being done. Sarah writes an interesting mix of happiness and sadness in a holiday story that runs the emotional gamut.
Sign Language
By Emma Brightman (emmabrightman1013@yahoo.com)
No summary
(V, MSR** PG ** 12K)
Padgett's Rec: Mulder finds himself silenced the morning after "all things" in Emma's softly romantic story. The emotional closure for both Mulder and Scully has a deep sense of realistic comfort.
Submersion
By Oracle (apollostemple@yahoo.com)
"You know I'll always save you from drowning."
"You always do. You always keep my head above water."
(Mulder/Scully UST ** PG ** 19K)
Padgett's Rec: Scully's cold-induced fog combines with her residual anger and sadness over Mulder's near-death in this angsty, sweet post-ep for "Triangle."
Swimming Upstream
By Lakticia (lakticia@yahoo.co.uk)
A chance remark on a case leads to a late night conversation.
(S, Post-Detour; UST ** PG ** 20K)
Padgett's Rec: Good old-fashioned UST, witty dialogue, and a healthy dash of angst make this post-ep for "Detour" a wonderful treat. Lakticia mentions being a new author, but the writing here is so surefooted and the characterization so spot-on that you'd never guess it.
Untitled Five Minute Fic
By JET (jetpaine@yahoo.com)
If context helps, this scene is somewhere in the quasi-Small Lives Awake-sequel I've been bouncing around for a while.
(No classifications ** Not rated ** 3K)
Padgett's Rec: Scully family arguing, Mulder and Scully romance, and brownies. Who can ask for more? (We all can - ask JET for more!)
What Happens to the Dreamers
By Buckingham (buckingham15@yahoo.com)
If only you believe in miracles...
(S, M/S ** Not rated ** 121K)
Padgett's Rec: With insights into Mulder and Scully's relationship after the events of "Per Manum" as tracked through season seven, this is a story you'll want to read more than once, each time marveling at the beautiful language and touching emotional content Buckingham brings to the page.
Words Left Unsaid
By Lakticia (lakticia@yahoo.co.uk)
"Day or night. I can be here in 20 minutes."
(Story, Angst, M/S UST ** PG ** 15K)
Padgett's Rec: Mulder and Scully are achingly unsettled and vulnerable as they muddle through a sleepless weekend in this beautiful story. Lakticia perfectly captures the way their relationship can be so complicated and obtuse yet so loving and perfect.


Classic Stories
Hieroglyphs of Memory
By Zuffy (zuffynuffy@yahoo.com)
Mulder didn't forget his sister, Scully knows whose baby it is, Maggie still cares about her daughter, and the brain disease makes sense after all. This story is for anyone who has gnashed their teeth at the inexplicable holes in Season 8.
(MSR, angst ** PG-13 ** 49K)
Padgett's Rec: Samantha Mulder's diary figures prominently in this mysterious and bittersweet tale set after the events of "This is Not Happening."
Kabuki
By LoneGunGuy (lonegunguy@aol.com)
In Dallas, the man who conquered cancer is found brutally murdered, his office splattered with blood, his killer on the loose. It's gonna be a long night...
(X ** PG ** 81K)
Padgett's Rec: LoneGunGuy writes an extremely smart science-based casefile where a journal counts among the important clues. The story highlights Mulder's and Scully's talents and intelligence while weaving together interesting and thrilling ideas.
Open Sea
By Vickie Moseley (vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com) and Summer
Mulder and Scully's journal entries during the episode "Beyond the Sea".
(S ** PG ** 159K)
Padgett's Rec: Mulder and Scully are so young and innocent in many ways during their first year on the X-Files, and their journals well capture their excitement and awe at their jobs and with each other against the backdrop of a particularly meaningful case.
The Road North
By CazQ (CazQ@tesco.net)
What makes a happy ending?
(V, A, UST, post-ep for Closure ** PG ** 18K)
Padgett's Rec: In this quiet, introspective story, Mulder hits the road alone to read Samantha's diary, exorcise some demons, and finally find the closure he's been searching for.
A Rose In The Deeps
By K.B. Yeats (Kelley Walters and Brighid (earthstone@lycos.com)
Scully receives a great-aunt's journal, and an invitation to stay in a haunted house. With them comes a new understanding of loss, and second chances.
(S, A, MSR, ghost story ** PG ** 247K)
Padgett's Rec: An interesting mystery of sorts finds Scully and Mulder in this layered story that reveals its secrets slowly, one by one, with sweet old-fashioned emotion.
She Is and She's Never Been
By Abra Elliott (xilerui@hotmail.com)
Doggett finds more than fish food in Mulder's desk drawer...
Mulder's back and Doggett's still got the journal...and something else of his.
(MSR; John Doggett POV ** PG-13 ** 6K and 10K)
Padgett's Rec: In this touching vignette and its sequel, Doggett's discovery of Mulder's journal leads him to a new understanding of Mulder's relationship with Scully.
Shock the Monkey
By Kassandra
No summary
(SA ** R ** 162K)
Padgett's Rec: Krycek's inner self crackles to life through his journal entries in this story that simply makes you like him even as you read about everything that makes you hate him. The characters are written with a complicated, interesting mix of desperation, humor, anger, comfort, and a general respect that helps make this one of the best X-Files slash stories.
Treasures
By Linda Phillips (rn500@ozline.net)
After Mulder's death, his grown daughter discovers an old journal of Scully's.
(Mulder/Scully UST, Mulder/Other Romance, character dies, S/A ** PG ** 33K)
Padgett's Rec: Scully's struggle with cancer is thoughtfully remembered many years later, as is her undeniable bond with Mulder, in this heartbreaking but redemptive, loving story.
Twice
By Susanne Barringer (sbarringer@usa.net)
Missing scene from Sixth Extinction. A little bit of Scully's journal, written during the long trip from the Ivory Coast back home to Mulder.
(V ** G ** 4K)
Padgett's Rec: Set during her time in Africa during "The Sixth Extinction", this short but affecting vignette shows Scully reaching out to an ailing Mulder through her writing.


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