Books
  • Ashes to Ashes - in this 1999 suspense thriller by Tami Hoag there are 2 X-Files references. The first (on page 256):
    - "Damnation. It's Scully and Mulder," Tiny Marvin said, unimpressed, as he pulled a coffeepot off its warmer."
    ... and on page 291:
    - "Sleep? I gave that up. It was taking the edge off my paranoia."
    - "Careful with that John. They'll pull you out of CASKU and stick you in The X-Files."
    - "I am better-looking than David Duchovny."
    - "Far and away.""
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Sunnydale High Yearbook - On page 22, there's an article about the Sunnydale High newspaper, The Sentinel. The first line reads: "Not to be trite, but the truth *is* out there." Beavis and Butthead as Mulder and Scully
  • The Butt-Files - in the new "Beavis and Butthead's Guide to Sci-Fi and the Unknown", the X-Files is referenced in both the title of the book and in a short parody within (Beavis is "Skully", Butthead is "Molder").
  • Cat and Mouse - a James Patterson thriller - in Chapter 84, a character named Dr. Smith, a vicious serial killer, is described as "...the evil E.T. Something for X-Files fans to contemplate between TV episodes."
  • Computer Ghost - in this Malorie Blackman book (which is in Swedish), the teacher character asks Ricky if he's got any examples of paranormal phenomenon. After Ricky rattles off a long list of various phenomenon involving telekinesis, astral projection, vampires, and people crawling through small vents, she stops him and comments that he knows a lot on the subject. He replies "I watch 'The X-Files', miss!"
  • A Dark and Stormy Night - in this Harlequin Romance by Anne Stuart - on page 185 Fiona (who is a ghost) says:
    "Mrs.Marvel has a satellite dish and TV in her room. O'Neal doesn't know about it, of course, and since the storm hit, I haven't been able to get any reception, but in the past past I've spent many an hour watching it with her. Mind you, she doesn't know I'm there." She smiled sweetly. "I'm particularly fond of "The X-Files"."
  • The Devil's Teardrop - this book, by Jeffrey Deaver includes a scene in which one of the main characters, Peter Kincaid, answers his front door to find two FBI agents on his doorstep. He doesn't want his children to see them, so he asks the agents if they can talk outside. The scene continues with (on page 37):
    "Her (one of the agents) eyes flickered and he wondered if she considered this a snub. But that was just too bad; the kids' exposure to the Bureau was limited to sneaking a look at Scully and Mulder on The X-Files when sleeping over at friend's houses. He planned on keeping it that way."
  • Desperation - in this Stephen King book, one of the characters is asked how he made a bizarre connection. The character's reply is "I learned it all watching the X-Files".
  • The Eleventh Plague - in this book by John Marr, people at a hospital must be quaranteened when an anthrax outbreak occurs. The Infection Control Nurse (ICN) is in charge of getting people quaranteened. She is not a very nice character, and is described as being like someone "...from the X-Files".
  • Girlfriend in a Coma - This 1998 book by Canadian author Douglas Coupland (who's other works include Generation X and Microserfs) contains the following dialogue:
    "Then came word that Fox was filming a series pilot in Vancouver, one of dozens filmed here annually. Phone calls were made and shortly Pam, Hamilton, Linus, and I wound up working on a new show in which conspiracies, be they alien, governmental, paranormal, or clerical, impacted on the lives of everyday people. These visitations would in turn be investigated by a male detective who has belief in the paranormal and a female detective who has her doubts. It was a simple formula, but one that resonated with us."
  • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - this 1999 Steven King book centers around a girl who is lost in the woods, struggling with her fears. On page 99 King writes: "That's right! the cold voice agreed at once. It sounded amused. Quicksand! Alligators! Not to mention little gray X-Files men with probes to stick up your butt!"
    Another reference on page 172: "...a large black helicopter - the sort of helicopter the sinister government conspiracy guys used in The X-Files -- came and hovered over Trisha's head."
  • The Hammer of Eden - in this book by Ken Follett, the main character is a female FBI Agent. When she questions a scientist about some facts for her case, the scientist's son wants to see her badge -- because he likes to watch the X-Files.
  • The Hanging Garden - This crime novel by Ian Rankin is one of a series of books on the character of Inspector Rebus, which take place in & around Edinburgh, Scotland. On page 277 of the British Hardcover edition, Rebus calls another detective, who gives him some information about a criminal known as the Crab: - "...there was a hit outside the club. Guy got his face half torn off with a carving knife."
    - "You put the Crab in the frame?"
    - "He had an alibi, of course, and the eye-witnesses all seemed to have suffered temporary blindness. Could be a plot for the X-Files in that."
  • Hogfather - this book by Terry Pratchett includes dialogue about the government hiding the existance of aliens: "But the govenment hushed it up...". There is discussion on how aliens are just as confused about humans as humans about aliens, and the passage ends with: "The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head."
  • The Hypochondriac's Handbook - This Wendy Marston book contains the passage:
    After a long night of drinking, you swear that petite beings with elongated limbs and wide staring eyes abducted you:
    1) Your friends creatively shaped your drunken experience.
    2) You were abducted, a relatively pleasant experience that nearly 4 million Americans claim happened to them.
    3) You are suffering from a symptom of Korsakoff's psychosis, which follows postalcoholic tremors, and really believe that last night's episode of The X-Files happened to you.
  • Inner Harbor - This Nora Roberts book contains 2 references:
    Concerning buying school supplies (on page 16):
    "Sharp pencils, blank notebooks, pens full of ink. He'd refused the X-Files lunch box she'd wanted to get him. Only a dork carried a lunch box in middle school. But it had been really cool and tough to sneer at."
    ... and another (on page 103):
    "He hadn't forgotten where he had been a year ago. There'd been no big backyard that fell off into the water, no woods to explore, no dogs to wrestle with, no little girl who looked at him like he was Fox Mulder, all the Power Rangers and Superman rolled into one"
  • I Want to Buy a Vowel - this book by John Welter is about illegal aliens trying to live in small-town Texas. In this excerpt, a sheriff is calling in the FBI to look at some suspected Satanic activity, which is really just a teenager trying to get attention. - "...McLemore didn't think the pentagram and the burned jawbone meant very much at all, but he called the FBI office in Dallas and explained to an agent there what little he knew about the supposed evidence of Satanism."
    - "'Maybe you should call directory assistance and ask for the X-files,' the agent said."
    - "'You mean there really *is* an X-files?' McLemore said.
    - "'On TV there is. We watch that show every Friday night, just to see what stupid shit Mulder and Scully will do again. Investigating aliens from outer space is far more interesting than what *we* do in the FBI.'"
  • The Lion's Gate - this book by Nelson Demille contains a number of references to the X-Files, including: - Male character (MC): "this is just like a scene in the X-Files ---"
    - Female character (FC): " Stop with the f**king X-files."
    - MC :"BUt doesn't it bug you that those two never get it on ? "
    - FC: " She doesn't love him. She respects him and he respects her, and they don't want to lose or complicate that special relationship of trust."
    - MC: "Say again? "
    - FC: "Personally, I think they should be f**king by now"
    The main male character always is saying "This is just like the xfile where..." and then makes up something that isn't really an x-file at all.
  • Roswell High - "The Outsider" - in this book by Melinda Metz, some tourists are talking to Liz and question her about the famous Roswell crash. She thinks to herself, "These two are a total trip. I bet they have every episode of The X-Files on tape".
  • Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot - The X-Files gets a mention in Al Franken's book as a show that would be blocked with the X-Chip (a parody on the v-chip which parents can use to block violent programs -- he also suggests the g-chip [blocks Geraldo] and the s-chip [block sitcoms] among others).
  • The Serpent - in this "underwater adventure book" by Clive Cussler, Marine Archeologists and Biologists are investigating pre-Columbian antiquities that may prove that Christopher Columbus was not the first European to discover America. Professor Orville, a respectable archeologist, but one who is quite vocal about his own 'bizarre' discoveries and theories - receives a phone call from one of the NUMA scientists. He answers the phone on page 390 saying: - "Ah, Mulder and Scully, " Orville said, referring to the FBI characters in the popular TV Program. "How are things with the X-files?"
    - In the most serious tone he could muster, Trout said, "We've uncovered solid proof that those mysterious carved boats are from the lost continent of Mu."
    - "You're Kidding!" Orville replied breathlessly
    - "Yeah, I'm kidding. I just like to say the word Mu."
    - Well, moo to you too Mulder. Now please tell me the real reason you called.!"
  • Somewhere Out There - this Harlequin Romance by Connie Bennett includes a main character named Kit Wheeler (Kit = baby fox), a former astronaut who becomes an unwitting witness to a UFO sighting, as well as a woman named Brenna Sullivan, a UFO researcher who believes that her father was killed in a complicated cover-up by the government. At one point, Kit asks the woman "Has anyone told you you've seen one too many episodes of the X-Files?" Later, Brenna puts on a night shirt that reads "The Truth is Out There".
  • Strange Highways - In this short story by Dean Koontz, a person meets a monster described as not "being like one of the relatively polite monsters out of the X-Files."
  • SVH Senior Year - So Cool - on page 131 of this book by Francine Pascal (creator of Sweet Valley High), Jessica Wakefield has a written journal entry (just like the rest of the main characters). She was the blond, blue-eyed Miss Popularity with a smart twin sister until this other chick came along. Jessica writes about not caring anymore because she is a social outcast now: "Like all those nerds I used to laugh at who dress like they’re color blind and pattern blind and pore over X-Files books during their lunch periods."
  • SVH Senior Year - Split Decision - on page 8 of this book by Francine Pascal, Andy is thinking about his future and he had promised the guidance counselor that he'd join a club. His journal entry reads: "Like a laser-tag team or a study group for the X-Files conspiracy theorists."
  • Sweet Valley University - Killer Party - on pages 91-92 of this book by Francine Pascal, the guys have vanished from a college New Year’s party. The girls are freaking out, and Jessica Wakefield’s imagination is running away with her:    Jessica shook her head. The black out had kind of thrown her, and her thoughts of the events preceding it were too fuzzy now, with events blending togehter and blurring. It was all very X-Files.
       “Maybe this was an alien abduction," Jessica thought wildly, her mind beginning to crawl out on an X-Files limb. Okay, so maybe that was out there, but at least it accounted for the mass disappearance.
       "Maybe the blackout occurred as a result of the alien’s powerful forces, which somehow interrupted the flow of common electricity!" That would at least explain the sequence of events. But Jessica wasn’t about to speak her theories out loud, and in fact, she bit her lip to keep from blurting anything out. Even if it was just a theory, she didn’t feel like being blasted sarcastically down to earth by skeptical Elizabeth 'Scully' Wakefield.
  • Tick-Tock - in this book by Dean Koontz, the "believer" character tells the skeptical one "Well, the world is full of strange stuff". When the skeptical one replies "Huh?", she asks "Don't you watch the X-Files?" (page 123).
    Later, she says "He's just not prepared for this. He doesn't watch the X-Files.", to which the astonished Vietnamese character asks, "You not watch the X-Files?", then shakes her head in dismay and adds, "Probably watch junk detective show instead of good educational program" (page 309).
  • The Uninvited: An Exposé of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon - In this book by Nick Pope, the author is described (on the cover, no less) as "The Real-Life X-Files Man", and the back cover adds "Now the real-life version of the X-Files agent Fox Mulder presents his shocking findings." There appear to be a few mentions of the show in the book, and "The X-Files" is also listed in the book's index.
  • The Vampire Armand - In this book by Anne Rice, Armand describes his power to fly by saying "I have rather tiresome supernatural explanations that read like tomes by members of The Society for the Study of Psychic Phenomena or the scripts for Mulder and Scully on the television show called The X-Files." (Chapter 23, page 354)
  • A Walk in the Woods - In this non-fiction best seller by Bill Bryson, Bryson's hiking buddy, Katz, complains that he's missing The X-Files while they are off hiking the Appalachian Trail.
  • When the Wind Blows - The following paragraph can be found in this book by James Patterson (on page 31):
    "He opened the the cabin door and slipped outside into the crispy, cool night air. He felt little like Mulder in the X-Files. No actually he felt a lot like Mulder-and Mulder was a fricking nutjob and a half."
  • Wife is a Four-Letter Word - in this book by Stephanie Bond (a part of the Harlequin Love & Laughter line) the two main characters are watching X-Files reruns together. The two of them get into a discussion about the Mulder-Scully relationship that goes on for almost two pages!
  • X-Men: Smoke and Mirrors - in this book by Eluki Bes Shahar, Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey make the comment that they could be Mulder & Scully look-alikes.
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    Laura Witte
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    The X-Files In-Jokes List © 1996-2003
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