A THING! AN AMAZING THING! · 11:44pm Jul 19th, 2015
I...
...uh...
...um...
words.
I remember when I could word. It was fun, wording. Great fun. No words now.
...
*takes a stiff drink*
Some context:
It's... well no, I can't call it a reading of my story. That would be an insult. It's more of a cross between a reading[1], a fully-produced radio-drama, and a miracle. It's astounding. Amazing. Unspeakably magnificent in every conceivable way.
I was not involved—I'll get to that—so it is particularly fascinating, the choices they made[3]. Dotted Line sounds amazingly Patrician-like[5] which is an interesting interpretation. Well. A frustrated Patrician. A volatile combination to be sure. He actually exudes menace. Very interesting. Leafy Salad I utterly adore. I've never had a clear voice for him in my head, not really.
Well I do now. 
It's one of those things where it is better than perfect. It's like when JediMasterEd reads your story and finds treasures within that you don't remember putting there? Like that. On reflection, that's exactly what Leafy sounds like. I can't imagine ever thinking otherwise.
But I could go on listing all the amazing things about this for ages... So I will!
Wonderfully done Cutie Mark Crusaders! A very dignified Spinning Top. Very serious. I do like it. And a very peculiar interpretation of Balanced Ledger. Being a foreign sort I don't have much of an ear for accents but I suspect that was a New York accent? So be it. Balanced Ledger is from Manehatten and has a distinctive accent. Good thing I never settled on a full backstory for her[6]. :)
Have I told you yet how good the narrator is? I have? Tough! I'm going to say it again. The narrator is excellent. Exquisite. Spectacular. Give me a second, I'm sure some more adjectives will occur to me. Splendiriffic. That's not strictly speaking a word, but normal adjectives won't do. Not for this.
In shot, it is excellent, and it is well, well, well worth your time. Listen to it.
Which just leaves one other matter...
As I've finally understood after reading the entry deviously protected between Ghost-kryptonite, I have some people to thank. Yamgoth, Arcshod, RBDash47, Super Trampoline, Horse Voice, horizon, Bradel, RandomString, toafan, Augie Dog, Skywriter, and of course the instigator, chief architect, and evildoer-in-chief, Bad Horse. There's just one problem.
I can't.
I mean, I'm thankful when someone reads a story of mine. I'm gleeful when someone leaves a comment. I'm overjoyed when they say interesting things about it. This? I can't possibly express my gratitude for this[7]. Up to today, I did not know that gratitude went this high. So, here's my utterly inadequate attempt to express it:
Thank you. This is by far the nicest thing anyone's done for me, ever. I am indebted, overjoyed, and very, very, very glad I know such people. You are, all of you, magnificent.
And and a 'thank you' to the wonderful team of people who made this and to Scribbler in particular. I understand that your motives may have been borne of professionalism, but all the same, you all surely went above and beyond in taking excellent care of my words. Thank you.
And finally, an additional thanks to the person who thought this all up. There's nothing I can say here that you wouldn't find unforgivably sappy so I'll just say... y'know. Thanks.
[1] By a narrator who is at the very least equal to any narrator of any audiobook I've even listened to. Probably vastly[2] better. She does not merely read the story, she preforms it. Magnificently, too, might I add.
[2] I originally caught myself typing 'vastly' here for an entire line, caught on autopilot. I'm not entirely in control of my faculties.
[3] They cut out a lot of the footnotes but I recognize that there's simply no way to pull them off in a production like this and make it all work. My fault for using them, really. There's a reason it's a bit of a gimmick[4], after all.
[4] And no I'm not giving up on it. I like gimmicks.
[5] If you don't hear it, just imagine Greg F saying "Don't let me detain you." Works, doesn't it?
[6] She was to be in a fic just for her, actually, teaming up with Sky Scribe, but I couldn't get it to not be a lesson on derivatives trading.
[7] Probably for the best. None of you would appreciate a random guy tackle-hugging you out of the blue. Every day. Until the heat death of the Universe.
congrats!
I loved the story when I read it and I'm seriously looking forward to hearing what Scribbler has done with it! I am not surprised by any of your gushing compliments when her name is attached to it. (My dream is to find the courage to ask her to do a reading of one of my stories)
again, congratulations! That story deserves a reading by Scribbler and it was an awesome surprise to see the announcement.
I've only listened to a few minutes of this, (gonna listen to it all later,) but it really is fantastic on the level of demanding excessive praise whenever praise be given. It's quite the thing.
I don't see the problem here.
Six minutes into the reading, and I'm captivated.
i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/ShyRangerSMRPG/Twilight-clap.gif
If any story deserves the best reading it can get, it's that one.
I'll be honest, I hadn't made the Dotted Vetinari (Haveline?) connection until you pointed it out, but now that you have, it is forever lodged in my mind. (Of course, I just reread the story after listening to the performance, so with Room 7a freshly lodged in my thoughts, I'm in an exceptionally Discworldly state of mind.)
Leafy I always imagined as a tenor. I tend to associate attitudes and vocal tones, and it feels weird to have someone like him with a voice that deep.
And Balanced Ledger sounds uncannily like Rainbow Dash to me, which leads to a beautiful mental image of her somehow getting enmeshed in the Civil Service.
Again, congratulations. You've more than earned this.
Or, y'know, you could just recognize this as a
weaponizationinstantiation of the Magic of Friendship, which even made Bad Horse's heartgrow three sizes that daytemporarily un-freeze.ALERT. All hands, we are at CODE BLUE. Footnotes have reached critical mass -- there's just too many of them, we're going to have to evac before they go supercritical. Make your way to your ready stations and await further orders. And God help us all.
Very nice. Congratulations! :)
Holy Shih Tzu :O
Man, Ghost, that's incredible :D Happy Birthday! It's not your birthday, but who cares! Happy you-ness! Today, being you is 20.1% cooler than it already is.
Also, can I be retroactively involved with this so as to look like an awesome person, too? No? Aww...
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Nor do I, naturally.
And a very merry un-birthday to you!
If anyone could make such a thing an enormously entertaining word forest, it would be you.
I want to leave work early just to listen to this.
This is an appropriate reaction to getting a Scribbler reading. :3
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[footnoting intensifies] is GoH's natural defense, like a sea cucumber spitting up its intestines to ward off predators.
I can't wait until this finishes up. Want to just listen to the whole thing from start to end. Not to mention spread it around to a couple of people who don't read fan fiction.
...Hmmm.... maybe hand out cds or cheap usb drives with this on it somewhere...
Congrats! That was a great reading.
I definitely didn't expect Leafy to sound like that, either, but now that I've heard him, the voice fits him perfectly.
Oh lord, Dotted's voice. It's incredible.
This is probably the first audio reading of a story I have heard that I have actually enjoyed listening to.
I think I actually like Cheerilee's voice in this better.
Balanced doesn't sound like New Yorker to me...though granted I am hardly an expert on accents... I am trying to place it... Californian perhaps?
Actually I think she sounds a bit like Rainbow Dash.
Just curious, will you be uploading each chapter onto here? Or will we have to be finding it ourselves (which we will)
I'm glad:
I was able to make a contribution.
Mike
That does sound quite exquisite! And the words deserve no less.
Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today.
You're right. This is amazing. Grats on being given such a wonderful gift!