Luzula

So, I have posted two Big Bangs! \o/ I actually finished the podfic about four months ago, and the fic maybe two months ago, except for some small bits at the end, so it feels weird that they are only posted now. These are old news, people! Except they're not to you, I guess. I have still not reached the point where I can re-read the fic and tell how well it works, though--I am still too close to it.

Partners In Exile (20168 words) by Luzula
Fandom: due South, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Diefenbaker & Benton Fraser
Characters: Benton Fraser, Diefenbaker, Bob Fraser (due South), Buck Frobisher, Gerard (due South), Ray Kowalski, Ray Vecchio, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Temeraire Fusion, Dragons, Partnership, Case Fic, Canonical Character Death, Episode Remix
Summary: A retelling of the due South pilot as a Temeraire fusion: When Benton Fraser's father dies, he teams up with his father's dragon partner Diefenbaker and together they chase his father's killers to Chicago.

Notes: mergatrude gave me the idea for this one. She said: "someone should write a modern-day dS/Temeraire fusion!" And I did. I had a lot of fun writing a gen story about Fraser and Dief (who is a dragon, obviously) and also a lot of fun with the worldbuilding. I am very grateful to my betas and cheerleaders: keerawa read and gave feedback on an early version, and so did mergatrude. sage helped me brainstorm at one point. Most of all, seascribe was with me all the way, reading new bits as I sent them to her, and Skyping with me to give me feedback. Finally, malnpudl read the whole thing at the end and gave me valuable feedback. (I hope I didn't forget anyone!) I am blessed with wonderful art by mific for this story; do check it out! Wow, I love it so much. ♥

[Podfic] Xeriscape (32 words) by Luzula (written by katallison)
Fandom: Hard Core Logo (1996)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: John Oxenberger/Original Female Character
Characters: John Oxenberger, Billy Tallent, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Mental Health Issues, Marriage, Podfic
Summary: Years after the movie, John has found a kind of peace. But then Billy calls, and he wants something from John.

Notes: So I also did a podfic! I love this story, and it was wonderful to record, in the kind of way that challenges and makes you grow as a podficcer. I absolutely love it when you manage to find a character voice that just works for a character, and John felt that way for me. Thanks to malnpudl for beta-listening! Also check out the lovely art that rose_malmaison made for the podfic! Thank you so much.

My due South/C6D Big Bang contributions! Yay! Check out the whole collection over here.

Title: Unsent
Author: nos
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Dan Jarvis/Duck MacDonald
Rating: R
Length: 3 h 16 m 24 s
Author's summary: After his failed suicide attempt, Dan Jarvis is struggling to put his life back together and overcome the depression that has haunted him for years. He finds a peaceful haven in the arms of Duck MacDonald, but soon old echoes of the past, as well as a disturbing series of hate-filled letters, threaten Dan’s fragile new life and his romance with Duck.

Podfic post at AO3 (more notes there).

This one was a pleasure to read. Dan reads as pretty low-key to me, and it was interesting to try to make the reading nuanced while still staying in this quiet, restrained register. There are a few times when I do raise my voice, and it really stands out against the rest of the reading, I think. Listening to it afterwards, I sound a little bit like malnpudl to myself? Not that she's always low-key or anything, but there's something about my phrasing here that reminds me of her for some reason.

Title: To Strive, To Seek, To Find
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: R
Length: 22,200 words
Summary: A story where Fraser is asexual, Fraser and Kowalski do a lot of relationship negotiation, and they also fall into Lake Michigan while in pursuit of miscreants.

Story post at AO3 (more notes there).

This story started its life as a kinkmeme prompt that I left myself. And then I wrote a Big Bang story about it. *g* In the meantime, Sock_Marionette and desiree_armfeldt also wrote stories inspired by the prompt. I didn't read them all while writing, because I didn't want to interfere with the writing of this story, but I can read them now!

I am...mostly pleased with this story, I think, although I'm probably too close to it now to be able to judge well. I don't think it's one of my best, but it's not bad, either, and I am proud to have finished it. Writing long stories is hard--this is my longest one ever, in fact--and I'm looking forward to doing some short ones now. Maybe some flashfic before I tackle a long WIP again?

So, it was my birthday yesterday: I am now 33. Thanks to the people who wished me a happy birthday, and especially to andeincascade, who made me a podfic of my story about Maggie and her mother. I know I wrote the fic myself, but hearing Ande read it actually put tears in my eyes. ♥

I'm going to a math conference over the weekend, and getting to meet some old friends there, which is good. I'm writing this on the train, which sadly has no internet, and I just watched "Paris or Somewhere" (yes, I know you're all surprised that I actually got around to watching something on my own). Hi, baby!Callum with longer hair! He's so young, and his character is so young, too. I don't think he's as hot as somewhat older Callum, although his little whistles are very charming. CKR reached his peak of hotness somewhere around the Ray Kowalski-era, IMO. Molly Parker, though--wow, it's like she doesn't age or something.

Hmm, I know there's a Paris or Somewhere/Getting Married in Buffalo Jump crossover with Christy Mahon/Alex Breshnyachuk, possibly written by aukestrel and someone else? Will look it up, because that pairing makes a lot of sense to me (although to be fair, I did actually like the het pairing in GMiBJ).

In other news, I am in a "podfic all the things!" mood, so expect podfic soon. : )

ETA: And now I am posting this after the conference dinner. Amusing thing: they put deepfried reindeer lichen (Cladina stellaria) as a garnish on the entrée. Hee, I have never seen that before--I think they did it to emphasize that this was Food from Above the Arctic Circle. But my amusement was sadly drowned out by getting into an argument with a complete fucking idiot about healthcare and women's reproductive rights. Arrrrrrrgh. *stabbity*

Here are the podficlets people requested on More Joy Day. I hope they bring you joy! Out of these, I am most happy with the recording of "Tongue Tied". Hottest podfic I've recorded in a long time!

( Four due South podfics, one Gunless )

Title: Five Times Simon Tam Left Serenity (and then came back)
Author: ana_grrl
Reader: luzula
Fandom: Firefly gen
Rating: PG
Length: 8 m 21 s
Summary: See title, I suppose.
Notes: Recorded for podremix, original recording by sly_hostetter. I didn't actually listen to the original podfic before recording it. I figured that I could always re-record it after I listened if I wanted to, but I couldn't un-listen to the original podfic if I changed my mind. As it turned out, I didn't have any new brilliant ideas after listening to the original podfic (which I enjoyed a lot, btw), so I went with my first recording. There's one thing in the original which was pretty cool and that I didn't think of doing, which is having two voices speaking simultaneously when two characters say the same thing at the same time. Thanks to the author for letting me record it!

Download at Sendspace.


And a bonus remix!

Title: A Natural History of the Watch
Author: gloss
Reader: luzula
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Duck/various
Rating: R, perhaps?
Length: 20 m 55 s
Summary: Duck can't imagine doing it in a bed.
Notes: I was kind of hoping I'd be assigned malnpudl to remix, because I love both this story and her reading of it. It's probably the podfic I've listened to the most times. I'd never thought of reading it myself before podremix, but now I got the idea in my head, and did it while I was waiting on author permission for my actual assignment. It was a pleasure to read. Thanks to the author for letting me record it!

Download at Sendspace.

Happy birthday, andeincascade! I know you love Wilby podfic, so I wanted to record one for you. You suggested I record Nos' "Quiet In Drowning", and I'm in the process of doing that, but I just couldn't bring myself to give you such a sad podfic for a birthday present. I would have recorded your recent story, but I didn't want to do that after suggesting you record it. So I ended up doing this story, which seems like it was made to be podficced.

I hope you have a really good birthday! &hearts

Title: The Cinema Show
Author: exeterlinden
Reader: luzula
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Carol/Buddy, mentions of Duck/Buddy, pre-Duck/Dan
Rating: PG-13
Length: 36 m 10 s
Summary: It is Sunday, the 1st of August, 1923 – and this is the opening day of Wilby Island's first movie theatre.
Notes: This story was posted recently for the C6D Midsummer Challenge, and it's a delightful historical AU for the movie, with an external narrator, which is always a lot of fun to podfic. There are a few gulls crying in the background occasionally, but I decided they were appropriate for the canon and left them in. Thanks to the author for letting me record it!

Download at Sendspace.

Creative numbering, à la akamine_chan. *g*

2i) Tomorrow night I will be in Seattle! Aaaaah. I'm excited and a tiny bit nervous.

-4) I'm DONE with my grant application! *dances triumphantly in its entrails à la troyswann*

-8i) I recced Wilby Wonderful on crack_van in March; here's a list of the recs. Next up: due South. Fortunately I've prepared half of the recs beforehand, so I just need to copy and paste during the first half of April.

16) I'm excited about podfic for the first time in a while! I think it's partly because amplificathon is starting up again, partly because I am finally free of the everlasting cold of doom, and partly because I'm taking singing lessons. The singing lessons are awesome; I feel like I'm finding support muscles I didn't know were there before. And it's spilling over into the podficcing, too. I've been slogging along on a hugely long podfic, and I've been feeling like I'm caught in a rut. But now I started recording some shorter stuff in other fandoms for Amplificathon, and it's fun! I feel more expressive and less awkward than I've felt in a long time.

32i) Oh, dear. I am not easily squicked, but there was a prompt on the Age of Sail kink meme about sea life in people's pants, specifically starfish. Starfish are voracious predators that latch onto their prey and digest it by turning their stomach inside out. Augh, not in my pants, thank you! (Yes, I know, the prompt was probably meant to be funny and I'm just taking it too seriously.)

-64) I'm listening to a Jules Verne audiobook. I read lots of his books when I was twelve or so, and I remember thinking they were exciting adventures. Now I just can't listen unironically. There are all these serious scientific Victorian men, and they are going to shoot off a giant cannon at the moon (which is explicitly called "she"). America is going to penetrate the mysteries of the sky. Ahem.

Okay, off to pack.

So tonight I watched Men With Brooms, and that is one movie I'm not going to watch again. Then again, my expectations were rather low to start with.

General impressions, aside from that: wow, the C6D factor is really through the roof. Hi, Hope. Hi, Dan. Hi, Welsh at the fake NASA. Ouch, it's giving me whiplash. PG is looking good, though.

Also, what is with the sort-of paternal figure dying at the start and then haunting PG's character (okay, not literally in this case)? I was willing to accept the similarities in dS and S&A as being coincidences, but again?

I am kind of amused by "if a Swede can do it, you can do it", and also the gratuitous beavers. And hmm, so that's Peter Outerbridge. I'm considering watching ReGenesis, does anyone have an opinion on that series?

Today I also discovered the joys of searching for my user name on del.icio.us. It's like getting a whole load of feedback that I had no idea was out there. For example, there was one person who had this to say about my Fraser-as-a-werewolf fic: "I went in expecting lolz, and it ended up being a good fic." Hee, I count that as a win.

Right, now I'm going out to weed the garden.

For now, please comment at the LJ entry.

I feel kind of relieved that it's over, even though it was fun. Here are my last couple of podfics:

The Story of Marli-hrair and the Black Rabbit of Inle, by edonohana (Watership Down, G, 16 min). The link goes to the podbook that cybel made.

Shelter from the Storm (Twitch City, Curtis/Hope/Newbie, PG, 7 min), and Strangle the Stars (BSG, Kara/Leoben, R, 14 min), both by sionnain. They're here.

Lomendánar (Little Love for the Things of My Love), by vulgarweed (Lord of the Rings, G, 16 min). This is probably my best reading of all that I've done for amplificathon this year. Let's just say that it wasn't very difficult for me to identify with an ent who was mourning the loss of his forests...

Also, I posted two songs on a whim. They're poems from Kipling's Jungle Book that I've set to music. Composing music to lyrics is actually one of my earliest ways of being fannish--I remember being pretty young when I first started making up melodies for the poems in Lord of the Rings.

For now, please comment at the LJ entry.

Oops, forgot to crosspost again. *determines not to forget*

Title: The Lights
Author: cesperanza
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairings: Dan Jarvis/Duck MacDonald, Duck MacDonald/OMC:s
Rating: NC-17
Format: mp3, 192 kbps
Length: 42 m 13 s
Notes: I love this story: it's about Duck's history with the Wilby Watch, and leads up to the events just before the start of the film. Thanks to the author for letting me record it!

Download at Sendspace. Permanent link at the podfic archive.

For now, please comment at the LJ entry.