Audiobook experiment

[altivo]

Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago, while talking about the Fabulous Furry Tales podcasts, I promised an "experiment". Well it, and the podcast, were interrupted by a cold that cost me my voice and my ability to speak without coughing. Now that I've recovered sufficiently to record, the experiment is complete.

I am pleased to present:

My Resting Place, read by Altivo the Clydesdale Librarian

This is not a furry story. It is a romantic tale set in New York City, about two men meeting under unusual circumstances and falling in love. Worksafe, no pr0n, rated PG-13 at most. It has Jewish culture, folk music, and gay aesthetics without (I think) being pushy or obnoxious about any of those. It's just a sweet and touching story. The reading runs 24 minutes, and the download is 8.7 MB. I wrote the story as well as narrated it.

Hope you enjoy it, and as always, comments are welcome.

Comments

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

I'm not gay. I could possibly understand it if it was a
one to one personal thing but these days...*looks away
and shakes his head* Its all politics. Either "Gay is
straight to hell" or "I hate mommy and daddy and
since they did boatloads of drugs fucking this guy is
the only way to rebel."

And...I usually skip ahead, skip ahead, with stories that
are uninteresting.

Your story was not uninteresting.

I'm reminded of The Young Unicorn's of L'engle with
your descriptions of cold Feb in NYC.

Well done.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm glad it didn't bore you at least. You're right about those two extremes being present in our US culture with respect to homosexuality. Let me assure you, speaking as one who knows, that they are just that, extremes. The big bulge in the bell curve falls somewhere in the middle, distant from both, and most gays and lesbians are just ordinary people except for that one difference. Thanks for listening to it. :)

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

Wow.... That is an excelent story... one of those that touches the heart all the way through...

Nice Job, 'Tivo!

And if I may say so, someone would make a nice bass I think in a choir.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I sang bass with Windy City Gay Chorus, and before that in the choir when I was in seminary and in the church choir long ago and far away. :) In fact, after enjoying your choir CD so much, I went looking for the recording I have of WCGC in which I was a participant. It's on cassette, from 1979, and listening to it now the quality is not great. But the performance was good, its the recording itself that is flawed. I may try to clean up a couple of cuts to share with you.

I'm glad you liked the story. Believe it or not, I have others like that, as well as some that are more adult-rated. Only one was ever published. Thanks for listening. :)

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

I'd like that 'Tivo. I think you must have a lovely singing voice...


Well, you may just have to do this again for us sometime 'Tivo. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it.

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

Your story sure did paint some vivid pictures for me. The warm, steamy kitchen, we could never see out of our windows in the winter, when cooking was going on.
And the Eastern Orthodox sick room. I've seen so many of my great aunts, and uncles on their death beds, as a child.
Good story-telling.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's easier to tell about something you've actually seen, and I've seen much of that. I was only in NYC once, way back in 1972. But working class or lower middle class living looks much the same in Chicago, so I could cheat and draw on some of what I saw there as well. The idea of music to sooth a soul's passing is of course very old, going back at least to the Egyptians, and I'm waiting for someone to say I "stole" the idea from this or that author.

My knowledge of Jewish culture and Klezmer music is all very second hand, but I had the fortune of a couple of early readings by Jewish friends who helped with terminology and reminded me to use terms like "schlep" and "schlemiel". LOL.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for the validation of my imagery. :)

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

It's really a lovely little story, and I enjoyed a lot hearing it. ^^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for taking time to listen. :)

[doc-moreau.livejournal.com]

I listened to this last night, not knowing exactly what to expect...
But i enjoyed it. It's well written, and the imagery did a fine job helping to illustrate the story in my mind.
The subject matter is pretty ordinary... to me, something i wouldn't normally be interested in. But, it was told engagingly enough to hold my interest for the duration. :P

Tivo, I have a cd I'd like to send you a copy of, because it made me think of you and i wonder if you might appreciate it. (maybe not, but it's possible, being that you're the literary type.) I'd need your address though - and thus it's perfectly understandable if you decline.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That is of course the point. It's sometimes called "Domestic Fiction", meaning fiction about ordinary, everyday things and situations that still add up to an interesting story, without any need for violence, sex, or other extremes. ;)

That and a sort of counterpoint to the sensationalism of something like Brokeback Mountain which has been on my mind recently.

I've e-mailed my address to you. Thanks for listening to the story.