#audio booking

[perfsonal]

Reading the hunger games while hearing to the audio book.

Im going to be done in no time. except like emm there like 50 parts and all of them are like 12 minutes so yeepp. And btw there are some chickens screaming. Im not joking thought.

[morriganfearn]

Audio Booking

That awkward point when audio booking that you realize the author is LBGT friendly, one of his main characters is gay, and is very much love married to another main character, and they are about to have sex, and you're reading this out loud to your father who is only slowly getting over his discomfort with non-heteronormative sexualities.

That wonderful moment when everything fades to black just as your mother walks downstairs.

Dad: ... Well, that was boring.

MF: ... Buh?

Dad: He cut off just as they FINALLY get together. I'm sitting here thinking that Eldyn is finally going to have a good life, and get his priorities straight, and hello chapter break.

MF: ... Well, this is an Austen-esque magicians run around fake London book. He was actually more racy here than when Ivy found the love of her life.

Dad: True. But he fades to black a lot, doesn't he?

That moment when you realize that this is someone who thought that the Dragons of Pern series, rife with late 70s, early 80s soft core porn, and later 90s conceptions of sexuality, was a great series for other reasons, and read them aloud to his 9-14 year old daughter.

I guess I'm saying that I always wonder why people need to have their faith in humanity restored. People are complex and fascinating, and just when you think that you might have gone too far with your audience, they might surprise you.

[morriganfearn]

Audio Booking

Audio booking ran long today. Not only was the chapter exceptionally long, but we managed to get side tracked into strange conversations. We had the best discussion about whether Sauron or Sarumon would have been more likely to write legal opinions like Antonin Scalia. It was brilliant.

We're in the middle of a regency magician's intrigue and then we're arguing whether Sauron's street cred as a practical biologist and metallurgist made him more or less likely to write serious academic papers on philosophy and law than the guy holed up in his tower reading the lore books. I maintain that Sauron, for all that he is a flawless evil overlord (he pracatically invented the title) was too busy going out and doing stuff like creating rings of certain natures, and keeping the orc hordes up to snuff, and messing with Denethor's mind to have time to write critical judgements. On the other hand, as my dad counters, between the two of them, Sauron is the one who is known for sending the best manipulative e-mails into people's minds and hearts, as Celebrimbor could tell you.

[morriganfearn]

Audio Booking

Dad: Are you wearing the microphone?

MF: Yep. The last 20 minutes would be pretty embarrassing if I wasn't.

Dad: Well, it's hard to see against your East German fashion statement.

MF: What?

Dad: Black microphone on a black shirt, and black pants. Ja, you would have fit right in with all the guys back in '89.

MF: I always wear black. Anyway, my pants are dark blue.

Dad: Oh no, that's too garish. You see, the Berlin scene requires a certain subtlety of color, with a wide selection of hues to choose from. For example you could choose black, black, black, black or black.

MF: It's a style that's in everywhere.

Dad: If you were really daring, you might choose black. Or black. Or black. And there's always the tried and true combination of black, black and more black.

MF: Well my pants are blue.

Dad: They look black from here. And you could be fitting in with the style that dictates that you wear a little bit of dark dark purple to be rebellious.

MF: I am very rebellious. Now, do you want me to continue reading fantasy novels out loud to you or not?

Dad: Just as long as the microphone feels as though it's among colorful friends.

[morriganfearn]

Reading Reviews

And now before I go to bed:

Today on audio booking with my father, we started on The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Bekett. Are you into really good Regency-analogue era (alternate Queen Elizabeth has happened, and alternate Oliver Cromwell was a Big Bad two generations ago, but no mentions of alternate French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, yet) fantasy? Magick (uh, I will never not hate this spelling, but moving on) is coming back into vogue. Ivy Lockwell's father was sent mad by his own explorations of magick, and she is determined to solve why he went mad, hopefully destroy the root of his madness, and maybe become a magician herself. Meanwhile a young  gentleman about town, Mr. Rafferty, is summoned back to his father's estate, while at a dinner party he reveals nearly radical views by coming out against enclosure.

Can I just say that any fantasy series that treats enclosure as the problem that it was (and still is, hello gated communities) will get all the stars?

Anyway, I'm really excited about this. The writing style is wry, and plays with the language of both Austen, Scott, and the Brontes freely. The amount of time in the first chapter devoted to the neighbor's opinions of Ivy's habit of reading while walking was delicious. I'm kind of terrified that her first spell is going to come back and bite her in the end. When did the idea of a variant on the spell that summoned a shadow army that cut down the "Old Usurper" (alternate Cromwell in my reading of this so far) sound like a good idea?

Anyway, anyone else read this? If not I'm reccing it heavily after the first two chapters. Though I have a hard time not reading Altania as Alternia. >.>;