To Every Craft, Its Proper Mystery

Originally I was going to focus this post on the 1999 Spooky Awards because, you know, they came consecutively after 1998 (and because @amplifyme won a lifetime achievement award that year! did y'all know that? it seems deserved for sure, although she must have been awfully youthful to be getting a lifetime achievement award). But once I looked over the full list for 2000, I couldn't resist choosing 2000. Nearly every fic on the list is familiar to me. These are some masterpieces. This had to be one of the high point years for fic, at least in my book. So many of these are still on my rec lists! (And not just mine!) I mean, right? Some trends I notice for the winners of this year: lots of angst. XF fic always includes angst, but oof, 2000's winners had so much. More angst than smut, I would say, although there's smut, too. This is interesting because in 2000 canon, of course, we're in season 7 and things are generally lighter and flirtier. Well, I guess Sein und Zeit / Closure, Orison and the season finale are plenty angsty, and there are fics here about those episodes.

I also notice a 2000 trend for post-apocalyptic fic and fic with clever and grim twists. Of course, in canon, the mytharc is pointing to likely colonization at this point, there were lots of 90s alien invasion stories in general. And who knows, maybe we have some general turn-of-the-millenium apocalyptic vibes in the air, too? Pop culture of the late 90s / early 2000s also really liked clever plot concepts and twists (See: Se7en, Sixth Sense, Usual Suspects, The Others). So these make sense as fanfic elements.

At any rate, I present to you ... the XF fandom's Spooky Award Winners of 2000. (I will get back to 1999, I promise! And the others!) I do have to split this up in two posts because of link limits, but I will link the second part below. Let me know what you notice / think.

SPOOKY WINNERS 2000 Outstanding Short Story, Vignette or Poem

First Place - Black Hole Season - Penumbra

Second Place - Nobody's Son - Marguerite

Third Place - Cellphone - Marasmus

Outstanding Midlength Story

First Place (tie) Aquinnah - Anjou

First Place (tie) Strangers and the Strange Dead - Kipler

Second Place - Night Giving Off Flames - Jesemie's Evil Twin

Third Place - A Candle for Katherine - marasmus

Outstanding Long Story

First Place - The Dreaming Sea - Revely

Second Place - The Second to Last 7-Eleven - V. Salmone

Third Place - Malus Genius - Maybe Amanda and Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Novel

First Place - Arizona Highways - Fialka

Second Place - Blinded by White Light - Dasha K. (@dashakay)

Third Place - Blood Oranges - Syntax6 @syntax6

Outstanding Series

First Place - Life During Wartime - cofax, Maria Nicole and Marasmus - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Second Place - Intuitive Reasoning Series Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 - Mish

Serendipity Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 - Sue Schramm

Outstanding WIP

First Place - All the Way Home - syntax6 @syntax6

Second Place - Ersatz Promises - Suzanne Barringer and Suzanne Schramm

Third Place - Almost Home - Shoshana

Outstanding Angst Story

First Place - Arizona Highways - Fialka

Second Place - Night Giving Off Flames - Jesemie's Evil Twin

Third Place (tie) - Cellphone - Marasmus

Third Place (tie) - Strangers and the Strange Dead - Kipler

Outstanding Apocalypse / Post-Colonization Story

First Place - Blinded by White Light - Dasha K.

Second Place - Night Giving Off Flames - Jesemie's Evil Twin

Third Place - Life During Wartime - cofax, Maria Nicole and Marasmus - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Outstanding Crossover Story

First Place - Thanks of a Grateful Nation (The West Wing crossover) - Sabine

Second Place - Straight on 'Til Morning (Peter Pan crossover) - Brandon Ray

Third Place (tie) - Glass Hearts (The Sandman crossover)- David Hearne

Third Place (tie) - Mezzo Luna (Like Water for Chocolate crossover)- Michelle Kiefer

Outstanding Humor Story

First Place - Malus Genius - Maybe Amanda and Plausible Deniability

Second Place - Good Vibrations - Lysander

Third Place - Midnight Mark-up - Louise Marin

Outstanding Post-Episode Story

First Place - Black Hole Season - Penumbra

Second Place - Aquinnah - Anjou

Third Place - Nobody's Son - Marguerite

Outstanding X-File

First Place (tie) - Arizona Highways - Fialka

First Place (tie) - Blood Oranges - Syntax6

Second Place - Malus Genius - Maybe Amanda and Plausible Deniability

Third Place - Gutless - Magdeleine

Outstanding Scully Characterization

First Place - Arizona Highways - Fialka

Second Place - Blood Oranges - Syntax6

Third Place - Blinded by White Light - Dasha K.

Outstanding Mulder Characterization

First Place - Aquinnah - Anjou

Second Place - Arizona Highways - Fialka

Third Place - Night Giving Off Flames - Jesemie's Evil Twin

Outstanding Skinner Characterization

First Place (tie) - Abject - PD

First Place (tie) - Whom My Soul Loveth - Marguerite

Second Place - The Measure of My Days - Marguerite

Third Place - Six Months - Keleka

Outstanding Krycek Characterization

First Place - Crashing in the Same Car - Rachel Anton

Second Place - Useful Idiots - Brandon D. Ray

Third Place (tie) - My Little Demons - a frightened little girl

Third Place (tie) - Mapping the Veins - she who hides

Outstanding Other Series Character Characterization

First Place - Arizona Highways (Kresge) - Fialka

Second Place - Intuitive Reasoning Series (Karen Kosseff) Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 - Mish

Third Place - Getting Used to Gunfire (Maggie Scully) - cofax and Maria Nicole

Outstanding Original Character

First Place - Strangers and the Strange Dead - Kipler

Second Place - A Candle for Katherine - Marasmus

Third Place - My Favorite Word - Mish

Outstanding MSR UST

First Place - Strange Fruit - Punk Maneuverability

Second Place - Good Vibrations - Lysandra

Third Place - The Dreaming Sea - Revely

Outstanding Non NC-17 MSR

First Place - Atoll - Terma99

Second Place - Black Hole Season - Penumbra

Third Place - In the Night Season - Revely

Outstanding NC-17 MSR

First Place - Landfall - Ambress

Second Place - Worth Breaking - Narida Law

Third Place - Blinded by White Light - Dasha K.