Podfic of "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades" by Omphale (due South)

[luzula]

Title: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
Author: omphale
Readers: luzula as Benton Fraser, crinklysolution as Ray Kowalski, izzady as Ray Vecchio, and helens78 as Frannie Vecchio and assorted other roles.
Fandom: due South
Characters and pairing: Benton Fraser, Ray Kowalski, Ray Vecchio (preslash Fraser/Kowalski)
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Length: 2 h 27 m 16 s
Author's summary: A midcentury AU, in which there are photographs, parachute troops, invasions, exploding trees, foxholes, misunderstandings, bullets, letters from home, smokejumpers, roommates, and more exploding trees. Ray Vecchio gets a lot of sand in his boots, Benton Fraser gets a little disconnected from reality, and Ray Kowalski gets to jump out of airplanes and maybe fight a war.

Notes: Thanks to the author for letting us record this! It was so rewarding, and collaboration is so much fun, and frankly, I am so proud of this podfic that I could burst. If you don't know due South, you can still listen to this, since it's an AU. Be aware that it's a story about war, though, so check out the warnings on the original story post.

The sound clips separating the sections are from all over. Many of them are from this torrent where you can download a huge collection of WWII radio news clips. I don't know how much time I spent listening to them to find ones that fit! At least I know more about WWII now? In the smokejumper sections, most of the audio is from this 1949 documentary about smokejumping (which, hey, also features a guy firmly grabbing another guy's crotch). The music used is, in order, "The White Cliffs of Dover" with Vera Lynn, "Il est Rythme" with Johnny Hess, "When the Lights Go On All Over the World" with Vaughn Monroe, "What's the Use of Getting Sober" with Louis Jordan, "Bed on the Floor" with Woody Guthrie, and finally "Cold Missouri Waters" with Cry Cry Cry at the end (the only one that isn't period music--it's about the historical event that inspired the end of the fic). The remaining sound clips are mostly from freesound, I think.

podfic_lover beta-listened, and also put together the podbook. There are two versions of it: one plain m4b file with a cover, and one "picturebook version" using the period photos from the original story post as chapter covers. The podbook cover was made by podfic_lover using caersmane's original Big Bang art for the story.

Download mp3.
Download plain podbook.
Download picturebook podbook.

Comments

[dodificus]

Your archive pages are here: Audiobook | mp3 | Picturebook

[elemgi]

Absolutely wonderful, moving podbook. Thanks you all.

[luzula]

Thank you! I am so happy to hear that it moved you. ♥

[blueyeti]

This sounds awesome. I'm really looking forward to listening to it. Cheers guys for all the hard work.

[luzula]

I hope you enjoy it! And yeah, hard work, but it was worth it.

[endeni]

Wow, amazing work! I'm listening to the podfic right now while housecleaning and it's really making my day! ;)

[luzula]

Oh, cool! Thanks for coming back to tell us so. : )

[greeniron.livejournal.com]

I'm really impressed by the excellence of the story, the reading, and your use of historical audio to supplement the story. This is wonderful.

[luzula]

Oh, thank you! I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed it. ♥

[jinkyo]

I'd intended to listen to this whilst doing some work this sunny Saturday afternoon. I ended up lounged in the sun and lost in the reading. I loved the layered narrative and all the special effects - I really loved the special effects. I thought all the readers where great at getting across the horrors of war, the heartache of the curtailed romance, and all the concened voices from home.

I'm only passingly familiar with Due South but that did not impair my enjoyment at all. The story itself was crazy engaging. I'm much more inclined to listen to a story from an unfamiliar fandom than I'd be to read one, especially a fic that is however many words go into a near 2 1/2 hr. podfic).

Thank you all for creating and sharing this podfic!

Found: from a rec from a pod_aware 2011 podcast on collaboration. I did not note the URL, unfortunately.
Version: mp3 (only because I don't know what a podbook is yet)

[luzula]

Hey, thank you so much! I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed this, and thanks for coming back to tell us so. : ) Yeah, I don't think you need familiarity with the fandom to listen to this--I mean, it's an AU, and the only potentially confusing thing is the fact that there are two characters called Ray. But since they have different voices, I guess that makes it easier.

[feroxargentea]

Thank you for the wonderful podfic. (I think I left thanks somewhere already? But also leaving some here just in case.)

So much time and love must have gone into making & editing this & finding just the right sound clips, it's hard to fathom, but the end result is perfect, & after repeated listenings it's right up there in my top half-dozen Cheering-Up Podfics. (Which maybe it shouldn't be, 'cause tragedy etc, but also the hope and the glimpses of the future, so it is :) Thank you all.

[luzula]

Hey, thanks! Yeah, this was a ton of work. And now I feel like I'm barely making podfics anymore (though I do have one on the way!), but I am so happy people are still enjoying the ones I've already made. Ha, it must take people some time to work through my back catalog. *g*

And yeah, I get that, how things that are tragic are sometimes comfort reading/listening.