eXotica

Zine
Title:	eXotica
Publisher:	Star Borne Press
Editor(s):	Margaret A. Basta
Date(s):	1996-97
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	X-Files
Language:	English
External Links:
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eXotica is a gen and adult het X-Files fanzine.

Issue 1

front cover, issue #1 by Jayne Largent

eXotica 1 was published in May 1996 and contains 61 pages. It is printed on only one side of the paper.

• The Girl with the Catfish Eyes by Laura Triste ("The catfish were following him... Fox Mulder Knew it.... The catfish were large, scaleless and close to the ugliest bottom feeders Mulder had seen since a fluke or two...") (11 pages)
• A Voice in the Darkness by Margaret A. Basta (Star Trek: TNG crossover) (7 pages)
• Confessions by Nancy Nivling (15 pages)
• Night, Knight by Margaret A. Basta (Forever Knight crossover) (30 pages)

Issue 2

eXotica 2 was published in January 1997, contains 173 pages, and required an age statement to purchase. It is a single adult het novel by Nancy Nivling called "The Bright White Place." The cover is by Jayne A. Largent.

cover of issue #2, The Bright White Place

It is online here, where it was posted in November 1999.

flyer for issue #2

From the zine's editorial: "Relationshippers, on these pages you get your wish. Enjoy!"

Summary:

Mulder is shot, and apparently dies, but his body disappears from the hospital morgue. Scully doesn't believe he is dead, but there's nothing she can prove... Until another man is brutally murdered in a back alley in New York City... and the DNA evidence points to only one suspect... Agent Fox Mulder.

Disclaimer:

The Obligatory Disclaimer Page:

The characters contained in this novel are not my property(although what I'd do with Mulder if I had him is...well, see the middle of the novel) — never have been, never will be. They belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Twentieth-Century Fox Broadcasting. So go write them if you've got problems with what they're showing (or *not* showing) every Sunday night.

This story is set mid-third season. Forget anything after "Nisei" and "731" happened. Forget Clyde Bruckman gave Scully that ugly little mutt(sorry, Queequeg fans!). X still lives. Krycek still has his arm. Everything else is up for grabs. And I do mean everything...

This is an adult novel. NC-17 rating. Explicit sex and violence. Yes, there is a rape scene. No, Scully is not the woman who is raped. And that's all I'm saying about it. I make no apologies; it is integral to the story. If you can't handle it, this is not the zine for you. Move on to the next table, please.

With that warning given, plunge in. Enjoy. Lots of relationshippy stuff. Lots of hurt/comfort. Hope you like it.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

Unknown Date

The author doesn't provide a summary, so I'm going to have to come up with one...let's see - this is very disturbing, and very angsty. If you can't handle that, stay away from this fic. There are a lot of disturbing images, including rape. Story: Mulder has had his memory taken away, and wakes up believing that he works for CSM and the Syndicate. Scully believes he is dead. Neither can forget the other... It's MSR, but very, very dark.

2007

Okay, I read the whole thing. So I get to talk and talk. Spoilers below.

I'm glad to have actually read this, since it seems to have gotten an odd lack of attention considering the hideous scene that stopped me cold at my first attempt. The scene involving rape, murder and Mulder. Except that, through a combination of kidnapping, drugging and long-term mind-meddling, Mulder isn't who he is.

The writer deserves credit. There is some very clever plot-making involving Consortium plans--all rendered inoperative now, of course--and the prose, though certainly not flawless, carries the action efficiently. This is an ambitious story about terrible psychic damage, and we know that Mulder has sustained more than his share. It tries to be responsible.

The bad news is that it doesn't succeed. For whatever reason, the writer skates over phenomena that should be the makings of tragedy and forces them into a conventional msr. Scully, having rescued Mulder and gone on the road with him (sacrificing family, career, etc.) does not let the fact that she has seen her lover perform an *unspeakable act* interfere with a pretty nifty sex life. Mulder is going through severe drug withdrawal. Even in his nausea, however, he can't keep his hands off the redhead.

(Is this even possible? I don't know any addicts to ask.)

We all want Mulder and Scully to be happy. The writer does too; she makes it so and thereby loses her credibility. Mind you, there seems to be some uneasiness on her part in that Mulder endures several momentary lapses involving the rape and lapping blood with Kristen. But Scully calls in Frank Black and the pre-evil Millenium Group, and finally hypnosis brings about a happy ending. The pacing suffers, though, and the sex gets tedious and the dialogue--let's say that Mulder talks more like a gloomy teenager than an Oxford-educated neurotic.

Some readers would be disturbed by this material. *I* was disturbed. The real problem here is that the writer wasn't disturbed enough.

Couldn't rec, sorry. It was a major effort.

...Krycek is a real shit in this one.

Major Spoilers Ahead!

So the tragic ending you were hoping for was more along the lines of a murder/suicide?

Maybe the next story we should read [at XF Book Club] is Tikkun Olam by rivkat and Mustang Sally - it is full of mayhem, yes?

I have some problems with the beginning of this story, actually. So, the story that has been implanted to cover the fact that Mulder has been Kidnapped, Drugged and Brain-washed by the Consortium is that Krycek shot him, because the smoking man was mad and told him to? Huh? So, now what? He shot him and missed? WTF? Mulder is a pretty smart guy considering that evil doctors have been turning his brain into chopped salad his whole life. I think he might have found the plot holes in that scenario pretty quickly.

Having had to swallow that one, right from the beginning must have blinded me to some of the problems you pointed out. I had no problem with her having rough sex with Mulder the first time because "I was drugged." is her excuse. She had already had some of the tainted water by that time, which must contain some kind of an aphrodisiac in it, in addition to the rest of the cocktail.

As for the rest of the sex, she wanted him. Bad. She used her well known powers of denial (I'm fine, Mulder!) to keep having sex with him. Every time a doubt would surface, and how could they not considering how bizarre Mulder was acting, she would just make up a little story about how it would all be ok. Scully is a survivor, and denial is a powerful survival mechanism.

Was there too much sex? I don't know how to measure that. For me, yes, although it was both angst-filled and a little twisted, so that part was okay. I would have liked a longer flash back to the nasty blood-sport sex with Kristen, but I am a sick fuck.

The dialogue was not sophisticated, but since this was a plot (and sex) driven story, I didn't really notice until you pointed it out. I was too busy reading to find out what sick, twisted thing Mulder would do next.

I, too, was waiting for the murder/suicide to happen. But when it didn't, I felt only relief. (she saved him again, thank god) I got very sucked into this story, after the shaky beginning, and read IT STRAIGHT THROUGH.

I guess if you throw enough twisted sex at me, it fries me brain. Yep, I liked it. Surprise!

Die, Krycek, Die!

There were two "uh-oh" lines in BWP where I hefted the towel and prepared to throw. One, Scully commenting roguishly on Mulder's shaggy hair: "Makes you look like a bad boy." To a rapist, in questionable taste. And then Mulder on Kristin: "I was glad she died in that fire, because if she hadn't, I would've wanted to see her again." Mulder finds a silver lining in somebody else's painful suicide.

I did think for a while that this might turn out like "Said the Spider to the Fly." I thought the ending a bit of a deus ex machina.

Although much of it squicked me, it is compulsively readable. Just don't think too much about the details. I felt compelled to read the whole thing, and couldn't stop.

The whole "bloodsport" subplot actually seemed a little like a red herring ;-). It was something that could have been developed more but seemed like kind of a throwaway. Was that the thing that was supposed to convince us it was really Mulder in there? Hmm.

Ah.....now I recall this story. And yes, I read it right through to the end though, to be honest, i did skip some parts - mostly because I have read it before. The whole rape thing was detestable - but I suppose the writer was making it clear that Mulder was not under his own control. I did not like the "bloodsport" thing - it could have been dropped and i would not miss it - it didn't really add much to the story line nor did it do much for me as a reader.