Amplirecathon 2012: Podfic for Insomniacs, and Podfic for Waking

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Podfic for Insomniacs

It's past 1AM. You have to be up in less than five hours. With the lights off and the house quiet, there's nothing to disturb or distract, but you can't even hear the clock tick because thoughts are flying round in your head like race cars. It's no real surprise, it's played out the same way every night for the past ten days. There's not much for it but to toss and turn, try to at least get comfortable, hope the night passes quickly and that maybe tonight, sheer physical exhaustion will finally catch up with you (please, please).

Thus ran the nights of one chronic insomniac, until she happened to stumble upon the miraculous concept of podfic.

Sleep has always been an elusive beast for me, and looking back, I don't know why it never occurred to me to try and find it in audio stories. But now I am a devoted listener, whenever insomnia strikes, the Walkman is the first thing I reach for. With a lilting smooth voice recounting stories about my favourite characters, the anxious fidgeting and inability to relax all but disappear within the first ten minutes, and the whirlwind thoughts calm as the story gradually takes over. This may seem an odd thing to be reccing podfics for - their ability to lull and soothe - but the readings listed below are permanent residents on my Walkman, and their readers have my endless and eternal gratitude, for this very reason. Listening to them, steady, warm and familiar, I can close my eyes and rest.

• 'Strawberry Pavlova' read by elaineofshallot
      BBC Sherlock - John/Sherlock - by entangled-now - PG - 6:46
       Mrs Hudson notices more than people think.
  
  Elaine of Shallot has a great knack for character voices, and her Mrs. Hudson here is perfect. The intonations are so close and accurate to Una Stubbs' it's uncanny, right down to the age of the voice, and listening to other podfics she's done, it's hard to believe it's the same reader sometimes. Elaine, you are one amazingly talented person! The story is adorable in a very practical and unflappable way - much like Mrs. Hudson herself - and the outside perspective it gives on John/Sherlock is quite interesting. The distance that perspective affords to the listener, and its inherent passivity, makes it an ideal reading to unwind with.
  
  
  
• 'Slippery', read by pandarus, aka Fayjay
      Good Omens - Crowley & Aziraphale - by fayjay - PG-13 - 12:26
       In which Crowley and Aziraphale eat sushi.
  
  It was Fayjay's readings in Sherlock that first got me into podfic, and she's given some incredible vocal performances, but this is the one I keep coming back to. It's calm and measured even with all the delightful intonation that Fayjay is so good at, it's snarky but in a gentle way, it moves and muses much in the same way that people's thoughts do, and Fayjay's reading highlights all of these things (as well it might, considering she wrote the fic). She gives us a more introspective look at the inside of Crowley's head, a taste of just how much history he's seen, and what he just might sound like, thinking to himself. Listening to this fic feels a lot to me like the warmth of a sheepskin hat and thick woollen gloves on a snowy day.
  
  
  
• 'A Story Set in Modern Times, About Something That's So Much Older', read by klb
      Glee - Kurt/Blaine - by parsnips - G - 9:53
       A bedtime story.
  
  This one was made for pod_together last year, and it is so sweet I don't think there's anyone who could listen through to the end without smiling even a little. I love KLB's reading style, unhurried, as though she's savouring each sentence - it was actually a toss up for me between reccing this or another of her Glee podfics, 'Give and Take', but then, I couldn't write a list of bedtime podfic recs without including at least one actual bedtime story, could I? ^_~
  
  
  
• 'Sweltering', read by erica_schall
      Merlin - Arthur/Merlin - by astolat - R - 9:04
       The castle is sweltering in the midsummer heat, stones breathing damply under the sun's height when even the air lies still.
  
  I'm a huge fan of accents of all kinds, and particularly in fits of sleeplessness - there's something in the differing emphases and intonations that makes my hyperactive brain roll over and bask like a cat in the sun. The fic is all about the lazy heat of summer, and Erica Schall's reading reflects that perfectly, all languid lassitude for an Arthur who's too hot to even move off the coverlet of his bed. Perfect listening for a hot August night, when sleep never finds anyone.
  
  
  
• '40 From the Mirror', read by fresne
      Mythology - various - by fresne - PG-13 - 24:20
       Somewhere, there is a City where all myths and legends mix and stand on street corners to wait for the bus...
  
  Among the many stories my parents would read to me at night as a child, the books of Greek and Egyptian myths were high up on my list of favourites (though nothing could top 'Peter Pan' at the time). Fresne's takes on mythology are fascinating, melding ancient and contemporary with a sense of playfulness the ancients themselves would be proud of, and her podfic readings carry much of the same flavour. Reccing this one in particular for its lilting delivery and fragmentary structure that seems to mimic the shifts of a dream... and the fact it contains Greek and Egyptian gods and Peter Pan in the one fic!
  
  
  
• 'Charmbreaker', read by randomicicle
      Harry Potter - Remus & Sirius - by orange-crushed - PG-13 - 46:17
       Prompt #31: Remus is forced to leave school after the Prank.
  
  It's no secret that I'd happily listen to Randomicicle read the phonebook, and a good many of her podfics have kept me company on sleepless nights. Combine her gentle voice and all its notes of emotion with Orange-Crushed's lyrical prose, in a 'ship that doesn't get all that much podfic attention, and you have one of my absolute favourite readings in all podficdom.
  
  
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• 'Wane', read by diane_mckay
      Harry Potter - Remus/Sirius - by rageprufrock - PG - 28:55
       Of gaining and giving and gone, a fairytale for Remus.
  
  This gorgeous, gorgeous fic, read calmly and with great warmth by Diane Mckay, has never once failed to reduce me to tears (in a good way). When not even the above-listed podfics are enough to lull the thoughts to rest, this is the podfic I turn to. A good cry always helps to release some of the tension.

Podfic for Waking

And then there's the flipside of a night of no-sleep. With dawn crawling up across your windows and the alarm shrieking in your ear, very few things seem worth the supreme effort of getting out of bed. Below are listed podfics that always manage to make me smile (if not laugh out loud like a loon), and brighten the day enough to make it worth facing.

• 'Hook, Love, and Sinker', read by argle_fraster
      J-Pop RPF - various - by argle-fraster - PG-13 - 23:39
       Jimmy Mackey is Cupid. Seriously.
  
  Argle-fraster has a way of writing the absurd that renders it both cutting and hilarious. It's the same in her reading of this fic, delivered with absolute conviction that Jimmy Mackey is the greatest thing to have ever happened to the J-pop idol industry, and disbelief a touch Machiavellian that everyone else could possibly be so hapless in comparison. A warning: on the ride to work, I almost crashed my bike straight into a river I was trying so hard not to laugh. Best not to operate any heavy machinery whilst listening to this one ^_~
  
  
  
• 'Postcodes', read by becquinho
      J-Pop RPF - Jin/Kame - by hermiones - R - 52:40
       Jin and Kame move in together.
  
  This is such a playful and snarkily domestic fic, and Becquinho reads it with a light and airy, emotive touch that reassures even in the moments where things seem like they might just maybe go south. The banter between the characters (replete with in-jokes about taxi drivers) is impossible not to grin at, as much for the affection and warmth in Becquinho's voice as the conversational ripostes. For all this is a Christmas fic, it feels a lot like standing before a summer breeze.
  
  
  
• 'The Dapper Highwayman and the Lima Job', read by jennacorinth
      Glee - Kurt/Blaine - by mothergoddamn - R - 3:25:10
       Heading back from college for the summer, Kurt decides to pick up a hitchhiker. And gets a lot more than a traveling companion.
  
  Blaine and Wes have got to be some of the most inept thieves in the history of highway robbery. Throw in Finn's fixation on a jar of pennies, Kurt's attempts to keep up the pretense he's a crimelord of the Liman underworld, and Jenna Corinth's amused, understated delivery of the whole fiasco, and you have one of the funniest podfics I've listened to all year. It's not so much a question of getting up with this one as not falling out of bed with laughter on the way.
  
  
  
• 'Holmes vs. Harkness', read by lunchee
      Torchwood + Sherlock - Jack & Mycroft, John/Sherlock - by coinin - PG-13 - 30:47
       In which Captain Jack gets in a little over his head and is introduced to the myriad joys of bureaucracy, Mycroft is smug, the Guide offers up some helpful advice, John Watson doesn't share, and, in a strange turn of events, Jack doesn't get laid even once.
  
  Lunchee is one of my favourite podficcers of comedy, she brings so much energy and just plain delight to every reading she does. And she has fantastic taste in fic, which means even if I'm unfamiliar with the fandom, I'll still give the podfic a go - odds are, it'll be worth it! Choosing which podfic to rec was a tough ask in itself, so much so in the end I just went with the last one I listened to XD. Lunchee brings an arch tone to this tale of come-uppance, with every character's voice distinctive and perfectly fitting, from Jack's arrogance to Medea/Anthea's amused condescension. This is one to inspire hope that person in the office who really has it coming might just get their due (and you wouldn't want to miss that lying about in bed all day!)
  
  
  
• 'Lord Drake's Bequest', read by pennyplainknits
      Merlin - Arthur/Merlin - by pennyplainknits - R - 59:33
       Arthur needs to marry to take control of Tintagel Distribution. Fortunately he knows the right man for the job.
  
  That this one opens with Merlin having a bad morning is usually enough to get me throwing back the blankets in solidarity. Or sympathy. Penny's reading style in this one is well suited to an early morning, when one is not quite awake - paced slow enough to catch but fast enough to make a sleepy brain work for it, emoting the snark in Merlin and Arthur's banter but gently so, not enough to overwhelm before the first cup of coffee and piece of toast. The narrative is a meld of several Harlequin novel tropes, written as it was for the harlequinmerlin challenge, and delights in poking fun at them while still faithfully building to a Happy End. A sweet one to linger over breakfast with, if you have the time.
  
  
  
• 'Cliche #5', read by reena_jenkins
      Harry Potter - Remus/Sirius - by rageprufrock - PG-13 - 20:52
       The problem with teaching someone with a deeply vindictive personality Occlumency was the inevitable problem of his using it to evil ends. Or, Remus Lupin, Sultan's Pleasure Slave.
  
  Cool and collected as a cucumber, Reena Jenkins reads all the crack and insanity of this gem with a storyteller's gravity. Combined with the full emotional range in each character's speech - she has the Very Disconcerted James Potter Squeal down to an artform - it makes for rollicking listening. Has not once failed to make me a curiosity on the morning train with a hand pressed over my mouth to stem the giggles ^_~
  
  
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• 'The Shoebox Project', read by sbp_aloud and many others, compiled by greeniron
      Harry Potter - Remus/Sirius, Lily/James - by dorkorific and ladyjaida - PG - 17:41:53 (unfinished)  20+ hrs
       The Marauders, from the Summer of 1975 to the Spring of 1978.
  
  This one comes as a plus one, a) because it's unfinished, and b) seeing as it was a collaborative project with many and varying members recording over the course of several years, the sound quality fluctuates drastically. That said, anyone familiar with Shoebox knows the fic itself is a riot, full of joyous wordplay and over-the-top scenarios, and the performances, ranging from comically exaggerated to deadpan, highlight this even more. Delightful to listen to, even with the missing chapters and mish-mash of different styles, and also interesting as an artefact of podfic history, since a good lot of these recordings were produced before podfic as a Thing really existed.
  
  ETA: greeniron has compiled all extant chapters with new recordings and The Shoebox Project Aloud is now finally complete! \(^-^)/