Fire Juggler

Two things today. First of all, I am way behind on all the wonderful things posted for pod_aware. I'm slowly working my way through them, and yesterday I stumbled upon this post by pennyplainknits, who I secretly adore and am in awe of in such a way that I kind of feel like I'm too in awe of her to actually talk to her *headdesk*. She posted this voice blog for the last day of pod_aware, Encouraging Podfic, and when I listened to it, I cried. In fact, I am crying even as I am writing this post. She just perfectly expresses so many of my thoughts about podfic and why I love it and why I think it is amazing and wonderful, and why, even when I am feeling awful about my own podfics, I keep going. Anyway, I'm embedding the stream here in hopes that this might reach a few more people. I really encourage you to click "play" and listen for the 8 minutes it runs and then maybe record a new podfic of your own. pennyplainknits is not on my flist (did I mention that I am awe-ful and shy about her?) so she probably won't see this, but to her, I say Thank You, for expressing so beautifully, that which I seem unable to.

Encouraging Podfic Voicecast by pennyplainknits

Pod aware last day by pennyplainknits

Second thing: A Podfic Rec: The (not actually) Vampires!verse

So, a little background here. I use podfic as a way into new fandoms (everyone on my flist knows this by now). The thing is, you have to pick the right podfics for this purpose, because when you know nothing of the fandom, fic in that fandom can be really confusing. You really need fics that stand on their own and don't require a lot of background knowledge about the fandom. Since there are so many people on my twitter list that record Bandom podfics, I felt like I was missing out. So I asked my twitterers to please, please rec me good podfics for beginners. In response, knight_tracer created the amazing Beginner Bandom Podfic Post. It is filled with podfics that fit the bill for someone just starting to wander around in Bandom (go look at it now!!!). This podfic was amongst them, and I'm so glad it was.

Title: The (not actually) Vampires!verse: Vampires Will Never Hurt You (But I Make No Promises About Zombies) + You Only Hear the Music When Your Heart Begins to Break (Link to Fic 1 | Link to Fic 2 | Link to Podfic Post)
Fandom: Bandom (MCR)
Pairing: Frank/Gerard
Author: solarcat
Reader: isweedan
Summary: [Elementary School AU] Gerard clenches his fists tighter. "It's a disease," he says defensively. In which Gerard has a disease that means he can't go out in the sun, Frank is the New Kid, and they are as married as it is possible for fourth graders to be. AND Frank has high school figured out. His mom has given up arguing about the amount of time he spends in Gerard's basement, and he doesn't actually care if people think it's weird that he and Gerard hold hands in the hallways and go to the bathroom together. The only thing Frank cares about is figuring out why Gerard's suddenly avoiding him -- because what's the point of losing your virginity on Prom Night if you can't tell your best friend about it in the morning?



The Story: This fic! Oh my god! I wish I could flail like a flaily person about this fic. I almost didn't listen because I see any kind of "pairing" associated with the words "Elementary School AU" and I back away slowly. But THIS! This gorgeous 'verse that starts when the boys are in the 4th grade and finishes when they are seniors in high school is just breathtakingly lovely. I can't express enough how much I love Gerard and Frank in this. Their absolute loyalty and adoration of each other and their growing understanding of what that actually means. The dialog and prose just flow and the storyline filled me with this warm, gushy feeling of teary happiness. Mikey, as a supporting character, is equally amazing. It's. Just. Perfect.

The Reading: isweedan does such a lovely job of reading this fic. Her pacing is spot-on (neither too fast, nor glacial), and her voice just kind of resonates with the prose. She reads the interactions between Frank (with his innocent enthusiasm and flaily love for Gerard and his drawings) and Gerard (with his guarded awe and adoration for Frank) so perfectly. When she read "A disease that makes you a vampire" at about the two and a half minute mark, I was hooked. From there, she took me on this beautiful ride, so smoothly and with such compassion that I got to the end and felt kind of bewildered. Like, it can't be over!!! *wails* There was clearly nothing else to do except start it over from the beginning again. Which I did. I know that 98% of my flist do not read or know anything about bandom. Please don't let that stop you from enjoying this podfic. You don't need to know anything about bandom. Really. Download this. Put it on your mp3 player. It will make your day so much better. Trust me.

This entry was originally posted at http://fire-juggler.dreamwidth.org/75771.html.