Special Episode 25: Tropefest: Modern AU

Where are we exactly? And who is this guy supposed to be?

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In Special Episode 25, “Tropefest: Modern AU,” Elizabeth and Flourish discuss the joys—and the pitfalls—of modern AUs. Topics covered include the fic subtropes “modern AU” sometimes encompasses, generic placelessness versus character and setting specificity, the challenges of non-powered/non-magical AUs, and what can make a story with a modern setting uniquely memorable.

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Show Notes

[00:00:00] As always, our intro music is “Awel” by stefsax, used under a CC BY 3.0 license. This time, it’s also our outro music.

[00:00:45] Previous Tropefest Special Episodes: “Trapped Together,” “Canon-Divergent AU,” “Enemies to Lovers,” “Omegaverse,” “Found Family,” and “Hurt/Comfort.”

[00:01:30] We discussed AUs for the first (extended) time in Episode 72.

 James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender sitting on the grass talking.

[00:21:17] Episode 66, “The Humanizing Turn.”

[00:27:17] Episode 153, “The Productive Fan.”

 An image of Brienne cradling Jaime and looking angry.

[00:41:03] Elizabeth is talking about the Reel Torchwood Fest. The story based on E.T. is “The Extraterrestrial” by NancyBrown

 Jack and Ianto smoochin’

[00:44:24] The Inception fusion fic Elizabeth is referring to is “Boden’s Mate” by kaydeefalls (and the sequel “Queen’s Gambit”)

[00:56:28] Alas: the ’90s music Reylo AU Flourish keeps talking about was called “The Great Big No” by DietPlainLite, but it has been pulled to publish! You can get serial-numbers-filed-off chapters on the author’s Patreon if that strikes your fancy.

 A gif: Rey says “I’ll help you” to Kylo.