Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer | “Drive” (06×02)

The spontaneously combustive teenagers in Aaron Starmer’s new novel Spontaneous (out 8/30) remind us of this season 6 Monster of the Week episode, in which Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame plays a man whose excruciating head pain can only be eased by driving west–or else his head will explode, just like his wife’s did. Mulder and Scully trace the man’s condition back to a secret government experiment (isn’t it always a secret government experiment?), but what’s causing the characters in Spontaneous to go boom? You’ll have to read it to find out!

Rocks Fall Everyone Dies by Lindsay Ribar | “Syzygy” (03×13)

In the thirteenth episode of The X-Files‘ excellent third season, two teen girls get strange powers when the planets align in a special way (ok, yes, it sounds crazy but it’s actually funny and delightful, and bonus: Ryan Reynolds is in this episode). The moral ambiguity with which Aspen Quick, the main character in Rocks Fall Everyone Dies, uses his power to steal things – not just objects, but hopes, fears, memories, and even love – from the people he knows kind of gives us “Syzygy” vibes. Hopefully Aspen wakes up and realizes he better use his ability for good, or else his town is in some serious trouble.

Iceling by Sasha Stephenson | “Ice” (01×08)

In Iceling (out 12/13), something strange is lurking in the Arctic, and we couldn’t stop thinking of this episode as we read about seventeen-year-old Lorna, her non-verbal adopted sister Callie, and their frantic journey to the frozen north on the hunt for Callie’s mysterious origins. Luckily, they don’t encounter the primordial (and possibly…alien?) parasite Mulder and Scully have to contend with in “Ice”, but we couldn’t get the episode’s creepy mantra – We’re not who we are – out of our heads as we turned pages long into the night.

Control/Catalyst / Humbug

Scan

Survive the Night by Danielle Vega | “Agua Mala” (06×13)

Whether it’s

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith | “War of the Coprophages” (03×12)

Things Grasshopper Jungle and “War of the Coprophages” have in common: A. they’re both about killer bugs, B. they’re both the perfect blend of funny and serious, and C. they both explore the horrifying (and creepy crawly) possibilities at the intersection of technology and nature. Grasshopper Jungle won a Printz Honor for its portrayal of two teens who inadvertently bring on the bug apocalypse, and “War of the Coprophages” is widely considered one of the best X-Files episodes in the show’s ten-season run. Case closed.

Paper Valentine / Paper Hearts

The Merciless / The Calusari

The Art of Wishing / Je Souhaite