1. Dear Sweet Jesus, why did I not remember to put this song on the MoF mixtape?




Fencing off my little piece of heaven
Polishing up my AK-47

The worst part is, it was actually a part of my thought process for writing. True story: in the original head!draft of MoF, ( spoilers through, err, chapter 8ish )

2. Because I am a giant egomaniac, this page makes me deleriously happy. An entire page of people using spoiler bars to talk about my stupid internet novel. (And then a TWoP Mod has to step in and impose discipline. Awesome.) EPIC WIN.


3. Anyway, I'm thinking enough of my flist has read MoF by now, so I can post this poll. I'm going to write more in this universe, but I'm looking to gauge interest in what sorts of things other people would be interested in reading--because, you know, I'm happy to keep things in my head.

The poll below the cut is spoilery for the entire fic, so don't click through if you haven't finished. (I think you could go right to comments if you wanted to, though, without seeing the poll; but there'll be spoilers in comments.) In addition, if you have specific prompts, put them in comments; no promises, but I'm interested in other ideas. The presence of something on this poll means I've at least contemplated writing it; my responses (if you click through) indicate things I'm already actively working on.

( Spoilery Poll )

If you'd be interested in beta-ing pieces from this universe, let me know, so I don't bug people who aren't interested.

( POLL-RELATED ETA )

ETA Again: Guys, you are really pro-ponies.

1. Because I'm one of the mods, and you like me. (Not that I think my modding--which is really only going to take effect after my semester ends--is going to influence your experience of the event. But Still.)
2. Because presents are good. Everyone likes presents. Sign up, and you get presents.
3. Because the more awesome people who sign up, the more awesome presents are given, and then there is more awesomeness in the universe. Come on, awesome people.
4. Because, as great as it is that you're doing Yuletide, that's not gonna eat up 100% of your writing time between now and January, is it?
5. Because xf_santa is responsible for The Ledger, and for Pretend We're Married, and How A Resurrection Really Feels, and other truly remarkable things, and don't you want to make sure more truly remarkable things get made in our fandom?
6. Because the X-Files fandom is beginning to shrink back to the size it was before IWTB, and this is not acceptable to divas like me who came in at the height of movie euphoria, OK?
7. Because xf_santa is one of those things that makes us more like most other LJ-based fandoms, and helps cement us in people's minds not as a relic of the far-off days of atxc and plaintext, but keeps us a living, vibrant community that needs to be considered as a part of the landscape of contemporary fandom. YES, I'M A FANDOM ETHNONATIONALIST, SHUT UP.
8&9. I don't even have an eight and nine, Mulder. Four hundred and forty-six million dollars.
10. Because I told you to, OK?

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: 28

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.