Me and AU is a queer romance, written by Andrea Klassen, and is part of the Procyon Podcast Network. Me and AU follows fanfiction writer Kate, as she becomes friends with Ella, another fanfiction writer. The show is set in Canada, with Kate living in British Columbia, on the West Coast, and Ella in Ontario, almost on the other side of the country.
Kate is a university student, it’s the summer before her final year, and she’s working in a coffee shop. She’s also a big fan of TV show Selkirk, a paranormal Canadian TV show, set in a tiny mountain town.
Fanfiction culture is extremely important to the show. Episode one instantly sets the tone, as it opens with Kate writing fanfic – when she should be working. In Ella’s narration in episode one, she explains not only what fanfic is, but why Selkirk and fanfic are so important to her. She’s found a home, and by writing more fanfic she gets to stay in that home, in that familiar place, for longer. But the Selkirk fandom starts off very small, with only about six people posting about it online, partly because the show isn’t airing in the US yet. Because the fandom’s so small, Kate’s frustrated at the lack of interactions her posts about the show are getting. But thanks to the fandom being so small, she meets someone who goes by the username of hella–enchanted – Ella.
Kate starts by commenting on a post by hella–enchanted, about Selkirk and her theories on the show, and the rest is history.
There are several excerpts of fanfic in the show, from both Kate and Ella – there’s the classic coffeeshop AU, of course; romance, and werewolves, so many werewolves. We get their reactions as they post their fanfic, they liveblog episodes, and one of my favourite moments of the show has been when Ella sends Kate the second chapter of the fic she’s writing, with Kate messaging Ella her reactions as she reads through it. At one point Ella has to go to sleep – a three hour time difference does come into this, after all – but Kate still sends her messages when she finishes the chapter, including the classic response of ‘How dare you’, which had me howling with laughter!
We watch the two become closer as the first season of Selkirk progresses. They talk about their lives outside the fandom, their jobs, their families, their studies. And in episode six, we reach something of a turning point, when Ella casually mentions an ex-girlfriend when talking to Kate, which leaves Kate ever so slightly flustered.
About half-way through the season, there’s a huge piece of news – Selkirk is coming to Fan Fest, a convention in Toronto, in August. It’s actually Kate’s friend Whitney who breaks the news to her, and she invites Kate to stay with her in Toronto. With the con taking place in Toronto, there’s also the small fact, the teeny tiny fact, of how Ella lives near the city.
Whitney and Kate have been best friends since they were children, and even though this show focuses mainly on Kate and Ella, Whitney is one of two other friends’ of Kate’s who we meet during the season. Kate and Whitney, as so often happens, have grown apart as they’ve got older. Whitney has an internship in Toronto during the summer this season’s set in, and she hasn’t come home for the holidays, as she’s always done before. Whitney is watching Selkirk, but she’s a few episodes behind, and doesn’t seem to be all that enthusiastic about it. The other friend we meet is Kate’s co-worker, Stuart, who does get into Selkirk, even though they do this by randomly catching most of an episode and not knowing the rest of the backstory. Kate is, naturally, more than happy to fill Stuart in on everything that’s been happening, and all her theories about the show, though she desperately tries to keep it cool!
And so the season progresses, with the countdown to Kate going to Fan Fest to see the Selkirk cast and writers getting closer with each episode. And going to Fan Fest also means going to meet Ella.
I’ve never been much of a fanfic writer (I enjoy reading fics, but I personally find writing them hard, so I admire folks who do!), but I still find Me and AU very relatable. Fiction podcasts in general are still seen as a ‘niche’ medium by many, and through various shows I’ve got to know folks from all over the world – and I’ve also met my boyfriend. Me and AU is a heartwarming story of friendship, romance, and belonging; and what it means to call somewhere home.
RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/4401217/episodes/feed
Status: As of the publication of this post, the season one finale is due to be released in one day.
Episodes: 15 full episodes when season one will be complete, one minisode and one trailer.
Episode length: Full episodes are between 11-16 long.
Transcripts: Yes; on the show’s website, and linked in the show notes of each episode.
Website: https://www.procyonpodcastnetwork.com/me-au
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeandAUpod
A Sky Full of Pods 