The Spooky Awards were the annual awards given to X-Files fan fiction from 1995-2004 (except for, strangely, the year 1997). They were voted on by readers in a process that's a little unclear to me now--I know it must have been occasionally controversial, because there were sometimes concerns about "ballot stuffing." Full disclosure, I'm getting most of my info about this from Fanlore, although as an aged person I do remember the Spookys being a big deal back in the day. I might have even voted for them at some point, but I really don't remember how it worked. I sure af know we didn't have Google Forms. From year to year the categories changed, sometimes drastically, and sometimes they awarded honorable mentions. In the earlier years, from my point of view, it looks like a lot of the same fics and authors won again and again in lots of categories, but by the later years, it seems like it was a much more varied group of winners. I find the Spooky winners really fascinating to look at now because (1) they show what people liked to write and read back when the show was on; (2) they're an interesting documentation of early online fandom / fanfic, including how people liked to categorize fic and pairings; (3) there are a lot of fics and authors on these lists that people still read and recommend; (4) there are some fics that people really don't read and recommend, and I'm always curious why (some might deserve to be remembered more!). I'm going to list the 1998 Spooky winners below and link each fic as best I can so other people can explore them. I chose 1998 because there were a lot of familiar fics to me on this list--honestly, some real bangers--but maybe I'll do another year later. I found every fic but one still online. (Unacceptable by Justin Glasser anyone? - update: found, thanks to @lilydalexf !) A few random observations about 1998: obviously lots of movie fic. Less of a focus on strictly MSR, and plenty of same sex pairings, including Scully slash. More male fic authors / author names than we typically see nowadays. Also, in googling for a hard-to-find fic, I think I discovered another XF fanfic author who went pro (Saundra Mitchell). Look these over and give me your thoughts!

Outstanding Portrayal of Mulder Angst

First Place - Iolokus series - Mustang Sally and RivkaT

Second Place - The Cry of the Truth - A. I. Irving

Third Place - Eleventh Hour - Rachel Anton

Outstanding Mulder Characterization

First Place - Reach - Khyber

Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Third Place - Tangible - Blueswirl

Outstanding Original Character

First Place - Miranda Scully -- Iolokus IV - MustangSally and RivkaT

Second Place - Audrey--A Show of Strength - Meredith

Outstanding Original Villain

First Place - George Naxos --- Iolokus - MustangSally and Rivka T

Second Place - Mark Dupree --- ELS - Dawson Rambo

Third Place - Mr. Chancy/Simon Moloch -- Kevin Justin Glasser

Outstanding Portrayal of Scully Angst

First Place - Wallpaper - Annie Sewell-Jennings

Second Place - Primal Sympathy - Lydia Bower

Outstanding Scully Characterization

First Place - Reach - Khyber

Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Outstanding Characterization of a Recurring TV Character

First Place - Worth her Weight - Marguerite

Second Place - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Vignette

First Place - Fast Hard Screw on the Main Deck - Bidie McCucholl

Second Place - The Shadow of His Wings - Marguerite

Outstanding Humor Story

First Place - Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's Manual - Lilla Vaughan

Second Place - The Carrot and the Stick - Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Author

First Place - Dawson Rambo

Second Place (tie)- Lydia Bower

Second Place (tie)- Nascent

Outstanding New Author

First Place - Bidie McCucholl

Second Place - Annie Sewell-Jennings

Outstanding Drama

First Place - The Iolokus Series - MustangSally & RivkaT

Second Place - A Show of Strength - Meredith

Outstanding Mulder/Scully Friendship

First Place - Worth Her Weight - Marguerite

Second Place (tie) - The Abyss Looks Back - Kronos

Second Place (tie) - And Chaos Shall Reign - Kronos

Outstanding NC-17 Romance

First Place - Metamorphosis - Annie Sewell-Jennings

Second Place - Momentary Lapses Series - Dasha K. & Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Non-NC-17 Romance

First Place - Reach - Khyber

Second Place - Merry Christmas, Scully - Stephanie Kaiser

Outstanding Other Romance

First Place - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Plausible Deniability

Second Place - Loners - Anne Haynes

Outstanding Mulder/Other Romance

First Place - Banging Your Head Against a Red-Haired Brick Wall - Blair Provence

Second Place - Venture Forth - Punk Maneuverability

Outstanding Scully/Other Romance

First Place - Half a World Away - Jane St. Clair

Second Place - Wheels of Iscariot - Emilie Renee Karr

Third Place - Homicidal Tendencies - Swikstr

Outstanding Skinner/Mulder Romance

First Place - Baton Rouge - Frogdoggie

Second Place (tie) - Challenges - Te

Second Place (tie) - Lasting Consequences - Debra Fran Baker

Second Place (tie) - Rarest Man Series (Body of Evidence, Duty Before Pleasure, Feast and Famine, Resolution, Test of Endurance, Wet Dream) - Sergeeva

Second Place (tie) - Unacceptable - Justin Glasser

Second Place (tie) - Wakened by Silence - JiM Page

Outstanding Skinner/Scully Romance

First Place - A Cold Angel Eye - Jordan

Second Place - Red Valerian Series - Dasha K.

Outstanding Platonic Mulder/Scully Romance

First Place (tie) - The Shadow of His Wings - Marguerite

First Place (tie) - Theory and Practice - Nascent

Outstanding Mulder/Scully UST

First Place - Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's Manual - Lilla Vaughan

Second Place - Ninth Circle - Tim Scott

Outstanding Slash Story

First Place - Nightclub Girls - Dasha K

Second Place - Nightclub Jitters - Dasha K

Most Chris Carter

First Place - Kevin - Justin Glasser

Second Place (tie) - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Second Place (tie) - ELS - Dawson Rambo

Outstanding Series

First Place (tie) - The Iolokus Series - MustangSally and RivkaT

First Place (tie) - Momentary Lapses Series - Dasha K and Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Short Story

First Place - Day 17 - Khyber

Second Place - Fast Hard Screw on the Main Deck - Bidie McCucholl

Third Place (tie) - Camp - Shalimar

Third Place (tie) - All the Children are Insane - MustangSally

Outstanding Long Story

First Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Second Place (tie) - Reach - Khyber

Second Place (tie) - ELS - Dawson Rambo

Outstanding Story in a Series

First Place - Said the Spider to the Fly - Dark Nascent

Second Place - The Ghost at Her Side - Joyce McKibben

Third Place - Iolokus IV - MustangSally and Rivka T

Outstanding Unfinished Work

First Place - Paper Saints - Jill Selby

Second Place - Above Rubies - Rachel Howard

Outstanding Post-Episode Story

First Place - Camp - Shalimar

Second Place - All the Children are Insane - MustangSally

Outstanding Movie Fic

First Place - Worth her Weight - Marguerite

Second Place - A Makeshift Kiss - Jill Selby

Outstanding Action/Adventure Story

First Place (tie) - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

First Place (tie) - Iolokus - MustangSally and RivkaT

Outstanding X-File

First Place - ELS - Dawson Rambo

Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Outstanding Crossover

First Place - Homicidal Tendencies - Swikstr

This is from four years ago, but thank you so much, anon!

here’s what i learned today:

[ID: A chain link fence with a sign reading 'Bitter Old Fanfic Queen'. /End ID]

Happy Terminology Thursday! Today we’re talking about Bitter Old Fanfic Queen, or BOFQ for short. The term was coined in the X-Files fandom in a 1998 essay by Jennifer Oksana titled, “Bitter Old Fic Queens and Why They Need to Get Over It.”

BOFQ was originally intended as a negative descriptor, representing a particular type of fan who is unable to let go of the old days. However, while it is sometimes still used as a pejorative, the term has largely been reclaimed by BOFQs who are proud to wear their crown, and is used to mean something akin to "fandom veteran.”

Come learn more about this term and its history over on Fanlore!

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alt.tv.x-files.creative (ATXC) is an unmoderated usenet group created in 1994 dedicated to X-Files fanfiction.

Along with fanfic, users discussed fic, posted feedback, made story recommendations, proposed fic challenges, and made requests for forgotten stories and website announcements. Authors posted their fic directly to the newsgroup and it was automatically forwarded there by certain mailing lists. Depending on the author's wishes, the fic posted to this group was picked up and archived by Ephemeral and/or Gossamer.

Find out more about this important part of the X-Files fandom on Fanlore.

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As part of our Spotlight on FanloreProjects, Fanlore is publishing a series of posts highlighting pages that are part of our first three FanloreProjects: FanloreProject: Sci-Fi Fandom, FanloreProject: X-Files and FanloreProject: Meta.

The Gossamer Project is a group of speciality archives which combined, contain the vast majority of X-Files fanfiction on the Internet that was founded in 1995. 

The intent of the oldest X-Files fanfiction archive has always been to capture all stories available in the fandom regardless of quality, length, genre, or topic, depending only on the author's consent to archive. Find out more about this important part of the X-Files fandom on Fanlore.

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As part of our Spotlight on FanloreProjects, Fanlore is publishing a series of posts highlighting pages that are part of our first three FanloreProjects: FanloreProject: Sci-Fi Fandom, FanloreProject: X-Files and FanloreProject: Meta.