Put your listening ears on because it's time to learn about the wide world of audio works! In this episode your hosts and special guest of the pod Kassie talk about podfic history, fandom, and what goes into making an audio work. We also celebrate the joys of podfic's ultra supportive community, and highlight some events that intrepid podficcers old and new can get involved in. If you had a potato and a dream, you too could join this world.
Fics discussed in this episode:
"Behind the Pod S1, Episode 4: New(ish) & Old(ish)," by arkadyevna, BehindThePod, Opalsong
"Here," by impersonal_villain, sallysparrow017
"FAQ: The Goose Fight Portion of Your Thesis Defense," - please see link for authors
"Starting Playback…," by blacklgass, Cait_does_Podfics, coyotecrackers, edible_chemistry, olive2read, Ravin_Pods, wjgravity
Additionally:
The blanket permission extension can be found here: https://github.com/BrickGrass/Blanket-Permission-Highlighter
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
In this episode of Fic Clique, your hosts invite you to saddle up and buckle in for a thrilling discussion of recommendation culture in fandom, including three fics we found through curated rec lists!
Dive with us into the history of reaching and the impact of The Algorithm TM on modern rec culture, setting work wherein a setting can function as its own character, the many different forms an action hero can take, and our incredibly divisive feelings about women's wrongs.
Fics discussed in this episode:
"Benched," by Speranza (Stargate Atlantis)
"Unbranded Air" by suitesamba (Sherlock BBC)
"5 Times the Raptors Tried to Kill Miriam, and 1 Time They Didn't," by tardigradetardis (Jurassic Park)
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
In our second two-host episode of 2026, hosts Nic and Brenna join forces to discuss the current landscape of the fandom and fan fiction for hit HBO medical drama The Pitt. From major ships to the fragmentation o fandom across different social medias to fandom-savvy actors and writers, our conversation covers a lot of ground.
Mini Pitt Reclist from Host Nic
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
You thought Olympics season was over? Think again. We're always ready to talk about sports narratives on the pod and boy do we dig into some meaty ones here. Are you interested in how sports can be akin to martyrdom, and how an athlete's responsibility is not to their body but to the game? What about how fiction allows for tidy narrative arcs of redemption that aren't possible with real people? Perhaps how a family's legacy in sport puts the burdensome expectation of perfect representation onto those who follow in its wake? All that and ore awaits you in this episode.
Fics discussed in this episode:
"and so my heart beats wildly," by lily_winterwood (MDZS)
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
Happy Valentine's Day ficlets! Love is In the air, but perhaps the journey to a happily ever after isn't as straightforward as it seems. As we put some beloved characters through twists and turns on classic tropes, we also examine what it means to bridge the distance between your perception of someone and the reality of them, how sense of place can connect to moments of tension, and our lack of knowledge about the court system.
H/N (Host Note): Reid's mic was experiencing some difficulties this episode, we apologize for the occasional impact that had on the audio quality.
Fics discussed in this episode:
"One Last Time," by ElAurian (Ace Attorney)
"No Retreat, Baby, No Surrender," by itsnotbleak (MCU)
"loving this body," by beetlesandstars, kryptonian (HR)
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
Fic Clique goes TTRPG in Nic's 2026 birthday episode! Join us as our GM (Nic) leads two intrepid warriors (played by Brenna and Reid) through a variety of settings and tropes on a quest to save AO3 from bad actors and maintain the integrity of fanfiction as a vehicle for even the most unlikely characters to fall in love.
We're playing a system so simple it feels wrong to say it's adapted from D&D, but that's technically what's happening here! So whether you're a seasoned TTRPG fan or dipping your toe in for the first time, anyone should be able to jump in, get oriented, and enjoy the hijinks.
No fics discussed this episode!
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
All roads lead back to Sidney Crosby in host Brenna's 2026 birthday episode, where we discuss all things hockey! Guest of the pod Em joins us and provides vital information about the current state of hockey as we dive into: material-discursive analysis of masculinity in men's hockey, internalized homophobia, relative degrees of emotional safety as a fan engaging with different iterations on the same sport, generational talent and failure, and what give rpf the sauce. It's a meaty one, y'all.
Fics discussed in this episode:
"Yekaterinburg Standard Time," by sevenfists (Hockey RPF)
"the art of staying," by nightswatch (Check Please)
"love takes miles," by corsi (Heated Rivalry)
Other media referenced:
"'What a bust': Character selection and the possibilities of failure in hockey RPF," by Júlia Zen Dariva and Natália Brauns Cazelgrandi Ferreira (OTW Journal)
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
In 2025's last full-length episode, your hosts brought some hot fics and even hotter takes to the table as we discussed our perspective on what fandoms "hit (or remained in) the zeitgeist" this year. From The Pitt to Arcane to Interview With the Vampire our conversation led us to topics such as:
humor as a cultural indicator
the impact of big media companies in an increasingly siloed media landscape
the risks of creating progressive media
and science fiction as a reflection of social anxieties
Fics discussed in this episode:
"the fifth element," by copycat_punisher (The Pitt)
"love, letting go," by theroyalsavage (Arcane)
"Cunk on Fangs," by beemovieerrotica (IWTV, Cunk on Earth)
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
Welcome one and all to a rousing discussion of a long awaited topic: reader insert fanfiction! In our first ever two-host minisode, Nic and Reid get into the beautiful weeds of different fanfic traditions, degrees of closeness, and how POV can mediate your self-concept as a reader, fantasy and (dis)comfort, and communal fic reading experiences that will have you gathering hands and declaring: We are All Y/N.
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
This very exciting episode welcomes author @megfitz89 as a guest! Listen to us discuss Meghan's new comic series, delve into her fandom history and her work as an author. We had the pleasure of discussing sexism and misogyny in fandom/fanfiction, the stories and fandoms shaped us in our teenage years, and the importance of horniness in our stories.
Fic discussed in this episode:
"Search for the Lost Ones (Guardians of Light)," by Jensfire (Star Wars)
Other media referenced:
"Mary Sue," by Meghan Fitzmartin, Lisa Sterle (Issue #1)
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
Call for Papers: Reading Fanfiction/ Fanfiction Reading
Fanfiction can be many things: an interpretation of the source text, an insight into a fandom culture, or an exemplar of popular narrative tropes and themes. But fannish stories are also, always, works of fiction, and they reward in-depth analysis as much as any other work of literature.
In Reading Fanfiction/Fanfiction Readings, we aim to put together a collection of essays in which we treat fan fiction as an important form of contemporary literature, using the tools of close reading: focus on the author’s use of language, imagery, and theme. This project calls to all of us who have discussed a story for hours (or over many comments or DMs), or who have a story that we rec to friends who don’t know the fandom or the characters, because it just has that much to offer, or who have a story we come back to long after we’ve moved on to another fandom, a story that we have analyzed in passing but feel it deserved an article of its own. If you love close textual readings and love fan fiction and have a story that says and means so much more, we want your contribution!
We are looking for 3,000-4,000 word essays that provide a close reading of a specific story and whose argument addresses the relevance and impact of the story as literature beyond its status as fannish commentary. Every essay in this volume will focus on a specific story (or series), asking how a fan author uses a fandom’s narratives and tropes to think beyond the themes or interests of the fannish source; or, to put it another way, to ask what is the fanfiction author using the fandom to think about?
Please contact us with your ideas on a specific story, fandom, and, if applicable, pairing. We’d appreciate a brief abstract or an email detailing your basic argument and theoretical framework. We want to feature stories from a wide range of fandoms and genres. We don’t discourage the discussion of shorter works, but longer stories often allow fan writers to move beyond the direct focus on the source text and engage in broader philosophical, social, and personal engagements. Essays on lesser-known fanfiction stories are welcome, but a story’s respective popularity, enduring appeal, and appeal outside of its fandom can indicate how the story speaks to fans beyond its initially intended interpretive community. We already have some contributors, and we want to put together a collection of essays that offers a wide range of close readings over a diverse set of fanfiction.
The volume is contracted to The University of Michigan Press.
Happy Halloween, Ficlets! Put on your witch hats and Hamlet costumes because each of these fics is on theme! In this episode we do our best to dissect the question: Why is horror so wildly popular but disproportionately underrepresented in fanfiction? We also explore what makes horror so beloved as a genre in the first place, diving into horror as parable, subversion of expectations, catharsis, social and moral commentary, response to global crisis, queer allegory, and more.
Fics discussed in this episode:
"Where the Dead Live," by mirabella (Inception)
"three's a crowd," by ctimene
"The Seal Song" by Blackeyed_blackeyed
"A Cabin in the Woods," by nightwalker
Other media referenced:
"Why do we like horror?" from NPR
"The Psychology Behind Why We Love (or Hate) Horror," from Harvard Business Review
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
Okay three glasses of wine and a full day of work later, some thoughts
1) this was such a lovely discussion to listen to @ficclique. Thank you. The other three fics featured are immediately on my to read list (hello Stony my home-boy) ((hello Arthur/Eames, my rotten soldier)) (((hello, original fiction, my sweet cheese))). Hearing my little fic being talked about in the same breath as Frankenstein is, frankly, more than I could have dreamed of. I agree, btw, Alex would have loved a suit of armour in his spine. Get on it, George.
2) this has made my month during an absolute hell week. Work is a nightmare. The sun is gone. Various other shit of various degrees of complexity keeps happening (fucking wasps! In November?!). But three people I have never met thought my fic was worth talking about, into a microphone. I'll carry that for a little while and be warmed.
3) @testarossa, you are so kind. You are so kind.
4) this is a really good podcast. The subjects are held in tension and brought into comparison really nicely, there's a good amount of outside expertise and context alongside the personal stories, it doesn't feel rushed or overly structured but there clearly is a structure there... It's balanced and complex and fun.
5) finally, this kind of thing is why I went "nuance" on that poll going round about RPF fic recs in "open" spaces. It would be absurd to claim a podcast (or Spotify, Apple Music, or the app of your choice) as a closed, fandom-only space. And I put Three's A Crowd into the world to be read. Yes, it's locked, and always has been. But that's where my control of it ends. And I am so, so delighted to hear it discussed, publicly, by people who so clearly love fic and fandom. I wouldn't have stopped that for the world.
Thank you so much for listening and this sweet write-up! We had the BEST time reading and discussing Three's A Crowd and are always so grateful when authors listen and join us in celebrating fanfiction <3 We take "by fandom for fandom" really seriously and always want being featured on the show to be a positive experience.
With one long fic guiding our discussion this episode, we packed in everything a person could want: academic texts as reference, discussion of the queer as monstrous, breaking of cycles to forge your own path, and a whole lot of extolling the joys of femslash.
Fic discussed this episode:
"Blood in the Moonlight" by rosemeister (BG3)
Other media referenced:
"Come as you are: Sex, race and writing in f/f slash fan fiction communities" by Clare Sears
"Becoming the Monster: Queer Monstrosity and the Reclamation of the Werewolf in Slash Fandom" by Jaquelin Elliott
Zero to Well Read Podcast - "Twilight by Stephanie Meyer"
Diabolical Lies Podcast - "Biblical Womanhood, MAGA Girlbosses, and the Useful Myth of 'Tradition'"
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
Ficlets we are so back! Season two of Fic Clique kicks off with us honoring our long journey as a podcast alongside you the listeners, specifically by picking fic recommendations from three different eras of the pod. We dig in to what it is we love about fanfiction that has kept it so near and dear to our hearts for all these years, with some classic tropes to guide our way.
We also have incredible new artwork from friend of the pod @averytree !
Fics discussed this Episode:
"Dust" by levelone (TAZ Balance) - https://archiveofourown.org/works/12537664
"A Game of Two Halves" by stickmarionette (FE3H) - https://archiveofourown.org/works/27023386/
"the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you" by greatunironic (Stranger Things) - https://archiveofourown.org/works/40083423/
Fic Clique is a bi-weekly podcast about fanfcition and fandom!
