Ladies Big Bang -- Women of the Sentinel Podfics
I thought that this challenge, to focus on the women in fandom, was an interesting idea, so I took a look at the Sentinel fandom and chose four stories to podfic.
Spoiler alert for some of the show's canon, and for these podfics. If you don't want to know anything about the stories, skip to the downloads.
All four stories turned out to have Naomi Sandburg in them, which was not by design. Naomi is an interesting character, and her values and lifestyle have obviously influenced her son, Blair Sandburg. Three of the stories, Maternal Instinct, Something Told the Wild Geese, and Forever and Always, explore Naomi's past, how she came to embrace life as an "original hippie," and how she raised her child as a single mom who never kept a steady relationship. One explores her future, and is based on the idea that being a guide is genetic. Blair is a guide to Jim, and a lot of fanfiction, fueled by the vision of Jim Ellison's spirit animal, a black jaguar, crashing and melding with Blair Sandburg's spirit animal, the gray wolf, has them experiencing a bond, sometimes spiritual, sometimes physical, or both. So if Blair has guide genes, perhaps Naomi does, too. But not all of those with sentinel genes want to protect people and the story Oil and Water explores what if Naomi met up with a sentinel who is twisted? How strong and binding would that connection be?
Two other canon characters are explored in two of the stories. Alex Barnes, in Oil and Water, is the twisted sociopath who first accepted Blair's help in guiding her, and then turned on him. Now, she's found a new guide. And in Maternal Instinct, Grace Ellison, a mystery woman in the show who is only referred to a couple of times, is shown to be a woman who loves her children, and yet we see the cracks in the foundation of that suburban life that will result in Jim finishing growing up without his mother in his life. And in canon, sentinel abilities are genetic. Maternal Instinct also takes a look at where did Jim's enhanced senses come from, and the nature of the sentinel-guide bond.
There is a wonderful meta essay by magician114 where she not only discusses the role Naomi, Grace and Alex played in the show, but takes a look at most of the other women characters, and how the show treated them. She did this as a complement to my podfics, and I'm very happy she did so. So take a look, she's done a thorough and intelligent job. The Women of Cascade, or how a shoot-em-up show about a superhero treats its female characters.
I also did a fan-mix of songs based on these four stories, and it can be downloaded from Megaupload.
Ladies Big Bang 2010, Women of the Sentinel Fandom podfic fan-mix
Oil and Water(author:Jane Davitt) Songs
Golden Slumbers (Ben Folds)
With or Without You (U-2)
Every Day is Exactly the Same (Nine Inch Nails)
Find You at Last (John Hiatt)
Forever and Always (Author:Rent Girl 2) Songs
Time Is (It's a Beautiful Day)
California Dreamin' (Mamas and the Papas)
My First Lover (Gillian Welch)
San Fransisco(Be sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)(Scott McKenzie)
Aquarius (Lillias White from Hair)
How I Love My Hippie Life (Edin Espinosa, Harris Doran from Hair)
Bookends (Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel)
Born to the Breed (Judy Collins)
Blackbird (Sarah McLachlan)
We Can Work It Out (Heather Nova)
Something Told the Wild Geese (Author: Blue Wolf) Songs
White Bird (It's a Beautiful Day)
I Feel Free (Eric Clapton)
Maternal Instinct (Author: Autumn Skies)Songs
We'll Sing in the Sunshine (Gale Garnett)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Slip Sliding Away (Paul Simon)
Podfic download links are courtesy of the Audio Fic Archive and I thank general_jinjur, cybel and aphelant for their generous assistance.
I thank the authors for allowing me to record their works. Ladies, it's been an honor.
Link to text and Mp3s
Something Told the Wild Geese by Blue Wolf. Het,Naomi Sandburg Rape Scene
Something Told the Wild Geese Podfic(music version),Naomi's part 47.4 MB; 0:51:47 time
Something Told the Wild Geese Podfic(non-music version),Naomi's part 40. MB; 0:43:46 time
Link to text and Mp3s.
Oil and Water by Jane Davitt Gen, Naomi Sandburg, Alex Barnes.
Oil and Water (music version)7.11 MB; 0:07:46 time
Oil and Water (non-music version)4.61 MB; 0:05:02 time
Link to text and Mp3s.
Forever and Always by Rent Girl 2 Het, mention of slash relationship with Jim and Blair, Naomi Sandburg.
Forever and Always (music version)30.7 MB; 0:33:33 time.
Forever and Always (non-music version)25.8 MB; 0:28:16.
Link to text and Mp3s.
Maternal Instinct by Autumn Skies Het,Grace Ellison, Naomi Sandburg, Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg.
Maternal Instinct (music version)93.7 MB; 01:42:23 time.
Maternal Instinct (non-music version)86.5 MB; 01:34:34 time.
Link to Podbooks, compiled by cybel (for Ipods or listening on your computer)
Ladies Big Bang 2010Women of the Sentinel Podbook (no music)
Ladies Big Bang 2010 Women of the Sentinel Fandom Podboook (music).
Laurie