Spontaneous Human Combustion

Veteran fic writer. Xphile and MSR shipper since 1993. Yes, I am OLD.

[koburg]

[larameansxf]

Inspiration for the name of my blog. 😊

[orchisailsa]

HEY. OKAY. SO. I went off in the groupchat this morning a little and I think I want to say this in public to ALL of my fellow Fandom Elders. I have been a fangirl online for thirty years now, and YOU KNOW WHAT? I'm tired of my peers apologetically calling themselves ancient grandma fandom mummy hags!

It's not weird that we are here! There are SO MANY OF US! We're not outliers, we're not oddballs. We are occupying a space we CREATED and we are still fucking here, having fun with all our younger online friends, which is COOL AND GOOD and NOT EMBARRASSING ACTUALLY. It's fucking rad.

Look. We *built* online fandom, comrades! We built it with Angelfire and Geocities and the fucking telephone cables we unhooked from our phones to plug into our enormous, boxy desktop computers to suffer through glacial download speeds that today's children can't even fathom. I think we should all agree to stop apologizing for being here when this is our fucking house. An excellent sentiment (not mine):

To all of my beloved young friends - remember this when you get older. You don't need to grow out of fandom. Who the fuck cares if it's cringe? Childlike joy is something to CELEBRATE, NOT SOMETHING TO BURY AND HIDE!

Fandom costs no money! Fandom doesn't require gas mileage or plane tickets! Fandom promotes human connections! The world is cold and miserable and full of pain. Don't fucking give up simple things that fill your heart with joy just because you feel like you should now that you have arbitrarily grown 'too old' to enjoy them.

[lunarriviera]

you know what, as someone who wrote kirk/spock with ballpoint pen in her spiral notebook and later was a MSR on listserv, i will ABSOLUTELY accept "fandom upperclassmen" over fandom grandma, since i'm not even anyone's MOM except the cat. (also it makes me think of x-men first class and i like the idea of being sir patrick or sir ian)

[larameansxf]

You know what, I'm okay with "fandom elder." I am an elder. I found fandom in the mid-/late 90s -- MSR on alt.tv.x-files.creative, Ephemeral, and Gossamer. My first website was on Angelfire, next was on Geocities, Tripod after that I think. I was around for the Shipping Wars (Shippers vs. Noromos) and the No Mulder No Watch folks after season 7.

I'm Generation Jones, a term I found on Reddit. Late Boomer/early GenX. I'm 3 years older than David Duchovny, 4 years younger than Anthony Stewart Head. I was an active fic writer 1999-2005, then Life Happened.

In 2024 I was back home, stagnating creatively. My elderly dad was living with me, diagnosed with dementia and declining. I was balancing a full-time job, taking care of Dad (with some help from my self-employed sisters), sinking deeper into a decade-long chronic depression. I started watching The X-Files again in the evenings when Dad would start to sundown, and good lord, did that show still ROCK. I started watching more, found the X-Files and X-Files Fanfic subreddits, found out about Tumblr, and most importantly started feeling like I wanted to write again.

Dad died in April 2025. I posted my first new story in 20 years three months later. I posted all my old fics to AO3 and I'm still writing new stuff -- will be posting a new fic hopefully next week.

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that fandom -- specifically THIS fandom, The X-Files fandom -- saved my life.

[gr8writingtips]

writing tip #4179:

staring at a blank page? well it wouldn't be blank if you put some words on it, would it

[all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth]

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Plus One (11x03)

Read the rest of All Eyes Lead to the Truth on Archive of Our Own!

@monikafilefan

[larameansxf]

This whole fic is amazing. This chapter especially is hilarious. 😆

[larameansxf]

Just so y'all know, I am living vicariously through everyone who went to Fan Expo Denver.

[rosees3ray]

reblog if it's okay for your mutuals to message you and create an actual friendship, not just interactions

[msrafterdark]

She Comes First

It has been literally years since I've done a collaboration project with a fellow X-Phile creator, and so I'm grateful I had the opportunity to do so with fan-writer @xfnessy for one of her stories.

Nessy, thank you for the opportunity to work with you and thank you for the endless patience over the many months it took for me to complete this project.

[ Full drawing on AO3 ]

Read "She Comes First" on AO3 here! Please make sure to comment and support Nessy's lovely work!!

[larameansxf]

This art and this fic are both just incredible. Love them both sooo much!

[larameansxf]

I think I'm confusing the Tumblr algorithm.

I look at pictures of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Tumblr responds by showing me pictures of random naked people.

Dudes. I'm ace. Aegosexual, actually. Just because I like looking at certain people doesn't mean I like looking at some rando posing in front of their bathroom mirror.

Sheesh.

[larameansxf]

Reposting here the two Mother's Day fics I wrote back in the day:

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

First posted to Gossamer on 5/9/2000.

CW: grief, suicide, minor character death

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

First posted to Gossamer on 5/10/2001.

CW: possible cavity-inducing fluff

Enjoy! 🥰

[all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth]

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Jump The Shark (9x15)

Read the rest of All Eyes Lead to the Truth on Archive of Our Own!

@fridaysat9

[larameansxf]

I love all of these little stories, but there's a special place in my heart for the ones like this, that are done in a different format. Awesome, inventive. 💖

[nowwhateinstein]

2026 MSR Bingo Challenge Card

Today’s the day, fam: the unveiling of the 2026 MSR Bingo Challenge Card!

For a plain text version of the bingo card: MSR Bingo Challenge 2026

HOW TO PLAY

Simply pick a row, column, or diagonal line on the board and write stories for those squares. You can write several short pieces or one longer story that combines multiple prompts.

The bingo element is meant as a fun challenge, but if you don’t want to write a fic with several prompts (or don’t have the time), no worries. Pick however many squares you’d like, in whatever combination suits your fancy!

*** I Want to Believe (Free Space): This is your chance to personalize the board! Maybe you want to include some domestic bliss in the Unremarkable House, explore an AU, or include a prompt not on the card. Do with it as you like! *** 

POSTING:

Post finished fics to the AO3 Collection (please read through the Rules before posting).

Authors are encouraged to share their fics when they post to AO3 on their socials!

Fic submissions will remain open indefinitely, but to be included in the official Challenge Master Fic List post on the socials, your stories must be submitted to the AO3 collection by Sunday, 6/28. Questions? Message me. Happy writing!

[heartpdfs]

[redlighted-deactivated20120429]

Whenever I see this gif, I end up staring at it for, like, twenty minutes.

[iheartthexfiles]

[larameansxf]

I too have been staring at this for at least half an hour... sigh... 🔥🔥🔥

[pupki0o]

Yet again I think fox would have this in his office

[larameansxf]

Mulder has a subscription to Weekly World News.

[snoopyoftheday]

snoopy of the day

[liver-and-chianti]

I made something.  It’s not good. 

[laurencem]

yeti's xf textposts (8/?) – soulmates edition

(h/t to @calimanc, my forever partner in textpost mebacery)