Arvy

Author at http://unmaicentral.tripod.com/arvy/.

Reflections In The Water (X-Files)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (14)
Tags: Short Story
(12K)

The summary goes as follows: "Imagine a Scully consumed by the quest, a Mulder brought in to temper the fire. How would it begin?" This story is basically the opening parts of the first episode of the X-Files, with Scully in the Mulder role, and visa versa -- while still being themselves. Indeed, this is an intriguing prospect, and the result rings reasonably true.

Futures Past

(1) The Awakening (X-Files/Highlander)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (3)
Tags: Vignette, Crossover
Characters: Dana Scully
(6K)

This attempts to be a very subtle, short explanation as to why Scully's cancer went into remission so rapidly. Which you can already figure out simply by reading what this is crossed with. Not to say that this is a waste of time reading it, it's the little details that you might want to look at. This is really a prologue to the next story, so go on and read the next review...

(2) The Light of Day (X-Files/Highlander)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (4)
Tags: Novella, Crossover, AU, Immortal
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(127K)

If you haven't figured it out by now, this is a series where Scully is Immortal. This was fairly good. I like how they investigate what is going on with Scully, have theories, just like it was any other X-File, rather than having it all explained to them by some convenient good guy. This isn't quite the take on Immortality that I have, but they were some interesting theories.

If you don't like UST with your Mulder and Scully, beware, but I didn't mind at all.

If I were more of an in-depth X-Files fan, I'd comment on the continuity references, as to how good they were (or not), but as it is, all I'll say is that I'm glad that a casual viewer such as I, was still able to follow the story.

(3) My Funny Valentine (X-Files/Highlander)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (5)
Tags: Short Story, Crossover, AU, Immortal, Romance
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(29K)

This third story in the series was an engaging little interlude if you don't mind romance (though I did get a little irritated at how a complete stranger jumped to the conclusion -- however true -- that the two loved each other and were denying it).

(4) Crossover (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (6)
Tags: Novella, Crossover, AU, Immortal, Adventure
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(257K)

This story was a long (very long!) adventuresome case story which kept me up reading until 1:30 am! There were things I didn't like about it (such as one of the things that happened to Mulder) and there were far too many coincidences for me to find believable -- however delightful the initial juxtapositions were... And there were just some good lines, and some more interesting theories. Something just kept me reading.

(5) Flying Lessons (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (7)
Tags: Novelette, Crossover, AU, Immortal, Romance
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(52K)

The opening part was very amusing and interesting, but the rest of the story has practically nothing to do with it, being an M-rated collection of moosh, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but I think it was a little too mooshy for me. One of the assertions made about immortals was something I didn't think was very plausible, though it probably makes things easier for the author.

(6) Hazel + Gold = Green (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (8)
Tags: Short Story, Crossover, AU, Immortal, Romance
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(19K)

There are no adventures in this one, just office relationships. (And I did get the title without need of the explanation in the post-story author's notes). There was an amusing line about nothing going wrong with paperwork... and if you want to continue reading the series, don't skip this one, as it gets referred to later.

(7) Phoenix (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (9)
Tags: Novella, Crossover, AU, Immortal, Adventure, Romance, Canon-Sue
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(218K)

This one jumps back into the adventuresome adventures, another long story! The summary says: "You didn't think it was all happy sailing, did you? With their relationship in doubt, the agents must find a way to look past their differences in order to find each other. Meanwhile, a figure from their past conspires to control their future."

I disagree with some of the theories and consequences thereof (Mulder having all of the advantages of his condition and none of the disadvantages seems, well, too good to be true) but this is an action-packed angst-packed piece which ends with mooshy niceness (ah, reunions are so pretty) and a sinister epilogue. Another thing I had a problem with is that I consider this universe to be already so AU that the events of the episode "The End" (which is supposed to happen just before this) could not realistically have happened the same way in this universe as they did in the canon one, yet the author says they did, and uses them as the basis for the breach between Mulder and Scully that happens at the start of this story. On the other hand, given that scenario, it was nicely done how their own uncertainties and misunderstandings led to the breach.

Oh, and for canon junkies, a note that the origins of the Cigarette Smoking Man are different here than they were later revealed to be -- presumably because this was written before the episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man".

(8) Sweet Dreams Are Made of This (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight/Star Trek: Voyager)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (10)
Tags: Novelette, Crossover, AU, Immortal, Adventure
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(109K)

Here we flash forward to the Starship Voyager, where one of its crew is...
    The silence of space was shattered by the sudden gasp. Of course, the actual sound could not be heard by anyone other than the source. The effect of the gasp, however, was slightly more noticeable, as evidenced by the little twitch of the white suit as it slowly tumbled over and over, weightless, in the vast emptiness.

But the Voyager story is mainly the frame around which another story is told in flashbacks, back in 2010, when some terrorists take over an aircraft... one of the weird things about reading this story is that it so obviously was written before September 11th 2001 because all of the reactions were those typical of the days before then, when the normal reaction to terrorists was to sit tight and hope for negotiations. That would never happen now (and presumably not in 2010 either). Some events just change the world.

But anyway, here we get more action and more interesting theories (and Treknobabble). One little thing though: I feel cheated -- I want to hear the explanation that Mulder gives to Janeway! The story finished too soon! Wah!

(9) From The Ashes (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight/Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (11)
Tags: Novel, AU, Crossover, Immortal, Adventure
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(416K)

Well, if you thought the some of the previous ones were long, they're nothing to this one! This is full of exciting action and rescues, plus a few explanations and more teasers. This is two stories in one, and this time both stories are full-on adventures of themselves, flashing back and forward. I'm not so sure about the science again, but I don't think the author is an immunologist. Ah well, more Treknobabble.

(10) Tchaikovsky Unbound (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (12)
Tags: Short Story, Crossover, AU, Immortal, Romance
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(21K)

This one is basically a missing scene from the previous story, an R-rated missing scene. No more need be said. If you like that kind of thing...

(11) Fallen Skies (X-Files/Highlander/Forever Knight/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine/Star Trek: Voyager)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 19th February 2002 (13)
Tags: Novelette, Crossover, AU, Immortal
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
(69K)

The summary says: "And you thought Scully had been ditched before? Hah!" A rather amusing summary of the situation that arises, actually. This story ties up loose ends (though not all of them) left by previous stories, and clears the decks for the next phase of the adventure. Yet more interesting theories, and we get some cute anecdotes.

This was archived in the year 2000, so I'm not so sure if and when the next part may or may not come out, but unless it's a massive piece, I suspect that the author has run out of steam, which is a pity.