"You're not just a guy with a flying broomstick. You're a misogynist with a flying broomstick."
(So, I've been sitting on this one for a little while - not long, only a few weeks or so - because I'm really trying to stick to the three-days-or-more-between-posts rule I imagined for myself in regards to posting podfics. If I don't, then...well, for all that I enjoy delayed gratification, I'd probably wind up posting all my hoarded podfics at once, and have no stash to tide me over the droughts in recording that pop up sporadically. Who knew that things like home renovation projects and school vacations could put a crimp in one's podficcing productivity, huh? But, even though it's Sunday night right now, by the time I finish writing this post it'll be Monday morning, and Monday morning is at least three days after my last podfic post, so it's all good.)
A Conversation About Magic, written by ignipes, is the crossover story between Harry Potter and My Chemical Romance that you never knew you were waiting for. Harry's all grown up, post-Deathly Hallows (I envisioned it as an epilogue-compliant story, but not in any way that really made me want to strangle anyone with the strength of my OMG OEDIPAL COMPLEX MUCH? reactions), and he's so very much himself in this fic - rule-breaking a little, and living his life as a grown-up with a job that caters to his "saving people thing", and still just a little bit starry-eyed at magic. And then there's Gerard Way, an American musician with strong opinions on gender politics and unicorns, who just happens to be out on a smoke break when Harry comes in for a landing.
I really loved how in A Conversation About Magic, ignipes managed to address some topics that had raised my own ire a bit (once I recovered from my 17-straight-hours-reading haze, and started thinking in full sentences again) - but did so in such a way as to seem completely natural to the dialogue between characters. It would not be completely unexpected for Mr. Way to say some of the things he said in this fic in a press conference; Mr. Potter responds with exactly what you might imagine someone with his upbringing and subsequent cultural inundation to say. There are questions about the legitimacy of magic, and the existence of unicorns, and references made to comic book esoterica, and even philosophical queries raised as to the sexism of language use in the Wizarding World ("See, you even call it wizarding law. I don't care what you say, dude. That's really fucking sexist."). Plus, it's a story that's both cute and bittersweet - the body of the fic is funny in all the right ways, but the end might make you sigh and shake your head at Harry - and still leaves you wishing for more, in the same style crossover vein.
For the coverart, I tried to illustrate the scene where Gerard is observing Harry's landing. I honestly think I had the hardest time finding a suitable picture of Harry on a broom - and even then, I ended up making the whole thing black and white to hide the fact that none of the color saturation or light levels matched up in any of my collage-esque cutouts. The intro/outro music for this podfic was Do You Believe In Magic, as performed by The Lovin' Spoonful - it's a song about the magic of music! This is a fic about a musician discovering magic! The lyrics of this song eerily excellently echo the dialogue of the story!
Clocking in at just over ten minutes long, you can find the mp3 of A Conversation About Magic right over here (thanks, paraka, for hosting me!), or you can stream the story by clicking below:
At this moment in time, I'd like to give a shout-out to ignipes, whose stories were some of my earliest exposure to MCR fic (hooray for crossovers!); to fire_juggler, who is currently running the holiday-themed Harry Potter podfic extravaganza (hp_podfic_fest) which made me want to get back on the HP-podficcing horse; and to bessyboo, who has just had no luck in the non-craptastic stakes these past few weeks (here's to hoping this will act as a bit of a pick-me-up *crosses fingers*).
***(Also, I'm using this podfic to fill the "magic" square on my au_bingo card, for obvious reasons. This story is a crossover between a magical and non-magical fandom, as well as a conversion from a non-magical to magical perspective on the world at large. Happy listening!)
A Conversation About Magic, written by ignipes, is the crossover story between Harry Potter and My Chemical Romance that you never knew you were waiting for. Harry's all grown up, post-Deathly Hallows (I envisioned it as an epilogue-compliant story, but not in any way that really made me want to strangle anyone with the strength of my OMG OEDIPAL COMPLEX MUCH? reactions), and he's so very much himself in this fic - rule-breaking a little, and living his life as a grown-up with a job that caters to his "saving people thing", and still just a little bit starry-eyed at magic. And then there's Gerard Way, an American musician with strong opinions on gender politics and unicorns, who just happens to be out on a smoke break when Harry comes in for a landing.
I really loved how in A Conversation About Magic, ignipes managed to address some topics that had raised my own ire a bit (once I recovered from my 17-straight-hours-reading haze, and started thinking in full sentences again) - but did so in such a way as to seem completely natural to the dialogue between characters. It would not be completely unexpected for Mr. Way to say some of the things he said in this fic in a press conference; Mr. Potter responds with exactly what you might imagine someone with his upbringing and subsequent cultural inundation to say. There are questions about the legitimacy of magic, and the existence of unicorns, and references made to comic book esoterica, and even philosophical queries raised as to the sexism of language use in the Wizarding World ("See, you even call it wizarding law. I don't care what you say, dude. That's really fucking sexist."). Plus, it's a story that's both cute and bittersweet - the body of the fic is funny in all the right ways, but the end might make you sigh and shake your head at Harry - and still leaves you wishing for more, in the same style crossover vein.
For the coverart, I tried to illustrate the scene where Gerard is observing Harry's landing. I honestly think I had the hardest time finding a suitable picture of Harry on a broom - and even then, I ended up making the whole thing black and white to hide the fact that none of the color saturation or light levels matched up in any of my collage-esque cutouts. The intro/outro music for this podfic was Do You Believe In Magic, as performed by The Lovin' Spoonful - it's a song about the magic of music! This is a fic about a musician discovering magic! The lyrics of this song eerily excellently echo the dialogue of the story!
Clocking in at just over ten minutes long, you can find the mp3 of A Conversation About Magic right over here (thanks, paraka, for hosting me!), or you can stream the story by clicking below:
At this moment in time, I'd like to give a shout-out to ignipes, whose stories were some of my earliest exposure to MCR fic (hooray for crossovers!); to fire_juggler, who is currently running the holiday-themed Harry Potter podfic extravaganza (hp_podfic_fest) which made me want to get back on the HP-podficcing horse; and to bessyboo, who has just had no luck in the non-craptastic stakes these past few weeks (here's to hoping this will act as a bit of a pick-me-up *crosses fingers*).
***(Also, I'm using this podfic to fill the "magic" square on my au_bingo card, for obvious reasons. This story is a crossover between a magical and non-magical fandom, as well as a conversion from a non-magical to magical perspective on the world at large. Happy listening!)