Is here, for those who aren't comm members.

Whoo hoo fucking hoo.

"Men have dreamed of liberating machines. But there are no machines of freedom, by definition."
-Michel Foucault: Space, Power, Knowledge

Title: Machines of Freedom
Author: Amal Nahurriyeh (amalnahurriyeh, amalnahurriyeh@gmail.com)
Illustrator: Scooly (scooly42, welost9minutes)
Summary: The end of the world is coming. And they're doing everything in their power to stop it.
Pairing: On the gen/MSR border, with mentions of slash pairings.
Rating: R (non-explicit sex, language, adult subjects)
Warnings: None for major triggers, but includes some descriptions of violence (in a R-rated movie kind of way). There are also people under the age of 15 in this story; be forewarned.
Timeline/Spoilers: Post-IWTB, seasons 8 & 9 compatible; exists in my post-IWTB universe, which also includes Whiteboard, The Keeping of Secrets, and Five Times Mosley Drummy Wishes He Never Met Fox Mulder, but not necessary to have read those first.

Written for xf_bigbang 2009.

Amal says, "I want to thank idella, my trusty beta, for falling as in love with this story as I did over the past four months, for helping me keep it on track, and for convincing me Consortium is a proper noun; Aloysia Virgata, who did an late-stage second reading that was very helpful, and also for permanently changing the way I think of the word "swipe" in the context of the X-Files; and for bravenewcentury and scullyseviltwin, for helping to make up for my lack of knowledge about sports with bats in them. Also Scooly, to whom I have proposed marriage no fewer than four times over the course of this collaboration."

Scooly would just like to say that this was the coolest fandom project she has taken part in so far.

There are three ways to read Machines of Freedom. First, it can be downloaded as a PDF, with both text and illustrations. To do so, click on the image below.



Second, if you've got a slow connection and want to minimize bandwidth, etc, you can download Amal's text as an RTF file here, and check out Scooly's illustrations separately, here.

Finally, the text is posted as as 12 separate posts on Amal's Livejournal, with thumbnails of and links to Scooly's illustrations.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

Author's Notes
Illustrator's Notes (at welost9minutes)

Machines of Freedom: The Soundtrack

If you just want to download the music, you can go directly to this link. Below the cut are the song titles, quotes from them, and matching quotes from Machines of Freedom. While the quotes don't actually reveal anything about the plot, they do hint at some of the things--and, in particular, some of the people--that appear at various points. If you want to be strictly unspoiled, don't read below the cut.

( Gnarls Barkley, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, Regina Spektor, and Others )

Poll #1480561 Help a sister out
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27

Have you ever read a piece of fic that was in pdf format--laid out in booklike fashion by its author?

If a long (really long, like really really long) story were offered both as PDF and as a series of LJ posts, which would you be more likely to read?

If you were reading a pdf fic, how would you expect it to be laid out?

If a story is longer than a livejournal post, should comments be open on all posts or just the final or header?

Amal should go to sleep.

The Eight Biggest Television Series Flameouts of the Decade

1. X-Files
Peak Ratings: 27 million viewers (Nov. 2nd, 1997)
Series Final Season Average: 6 million (March 2, 2002)
Difference: 21 million viewers

Consider this an open thread to hate on s9, if so desired. Or just to laugh, that once upon a time twenty-seven million people sat down and watched our tv show at once.

PS Sorry if I'm spammy at the moment; my LJ-ing increases drastically as I get busier. Guess why.

Poll #1470419 In Which I Write My Big Bang By Plebicite
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 31

So. Skinner/Doggett. (Of a non-NC-17 variety.)

I realize I was brainwashed by early exposure to the TWoP recaps, and thought maybe I should get a broader perspective.