hmsloop_hotspur | Recent Entries

sanguinity

Hello, and welcome to

hmsloop_hotspur! Your mods are

sanguinity and

colebaltblue -- please feel free to drop us a message at any time. We envision this to be a community where we can chit-chat about Hornblower things particularly (from the books to the miniseries, and all the media in between!) and Age of Sail more generally. All engagement is welcome: meta, fic, art, recs, whatever!

For now, we'd love it if you could introduce yourself in a new post:

Who you are, and where else we may find you around the web (should you like to be found elsewhere!)
What you've read / watched / listened to
What drew you in to the fandom? What do you love in it? Why do you stay?
What kinds of activities would you enjoy doing?

As we appear to be a small and (relatively) quiet bunch, at this time anything goes, but if or when we change things about any of the above, we'll communicate here and on the profile. Until then, please feel free to engage in whatever way you feel most comfortable!

dasmims

For years now I've been thinking in vague terms about Hornblower in Space. That's mostly born out of a discussion about Hornblower influences on scify media like Star Trek and Honour Harrington, my personal feeling that scify usually doesn't have the vibe I love about age of sail and for some reason the abandoned fic The (unexpected) Return - I don't know if I have a point here. But I'm very curious if anyone else has some thoughts on this?

Current Mood: curious

sanguinity

I just finished reading a queer Hornblower-adjacent novel by Katie Daysh, called Leeward. I have a full review at my journal (tl;dr I enjoyed it very much!), but I very much recommend it for anyone who loves the Hornbower novels but wished they were more upbeat and explicitly queer.

sanguinity

Cross-posting from my journal, another rec list! This one is art and fic recs for Commodore Hornblower.

As with my previous rec list, these are bookverse, various pairings, and compiled under the assumption that one is reading in publication order -- i.e., these recs presume knowledge of The Happy Return/Beat to Quarters through Commodore, but do not require knowledge of the prequels, nor do they spoil later books. This list is compiled from all over, including some of the livejournal fandom that never made it over to AO3.

Enjoy!

sanguinity

Crossposting from my journal, a rec list for Beat to Quarters through Flying Colours.

Mostly fic, bookverse, various pairings, and compiled under the assumption that one is reading in publication order -- i.e., these stories do not presume knowledge of the prequels, and do not spoil later books. This list is compiled from all over, including some of the livejournal fandom that never made it over to AO3.

Enjoy!

sanguinity

Another modern AU from

dolly_bassett!

The waste of waters
1300 words
Pairings: Bush/Kennedy, Kennedy&Hornblower friendship, past Simpson/Kennedy (abusive) implied
Rating: M
Warnings for: death of a minor character, implied past abuse, recovery

At the beginning of the war, Archie receives news of an old acquaintance. modern!AU

sanguinity

dolly_bassett posted a ficlet over at her journal:

Rack Time
Archie Kennedy/William Bush
PG
modern!AU

tgarnsl

(cross-posted from my main blog)

Title: Dominion
Rating: G for now
Pairing: HH/WB

Author's Note: About a year ago I began what has become probably my most consuming piece of fic ever written — a Titanic AU. No, not the James Cameron film — although I may have nicked one or two ideas from that — but rather the sinking of the ship herself. However, as I did not feel comfortable basing a romance fic around a real-life event in which 1500 people died, I chose instead to write about a ship identical-in-all-but-name-and-company, with different passengers and crew, although much of what happened remains the same as I have based many of the details on accounts given by survivors.

And now, without much ado — the first chapter of Dominion.

( Read more... )

sanguinity

dolly_bassett posted a lovely little collection of Christmas-themed Hornblower ficlets and drabbles over at her place! They range from the Indy to the Nonsuch, most are Bush/Kennedy/Hornblower, and two feature Edward Pellew's (entirely historical!) pet tiger.

Hornblower fic - Christmas assortment

tgarnsl

Title: A Good Life
Pairing: Maria Mason/Horatio Hornblower/William Bush
Rating: G (T? There is kissing.)

For September's prompt "domesticity." A disgustingly saccharine ending that I suppose falls into the 'Across the Line' universe.

Lady Maria Hornblower contemplates her new life.

--

( Read more... )

tgarnsl

Title: Across the Line
Pairing: HH/WB
Rating: M (This part is... T? I think.)

Part 3 of 3. Finally.

( Read more... )

colebaltblue

For September, the theme is Marriage. Marriage to what or to whom? To your ship, to your wife, or to the lovely lady you've never met before who came out to visit in a tender that you'd like to spend a little time with? You decide.
Two quotes this time! Both quotes are from the the book Hornblower and the Hotpsur
Hotspur settled sweetly on her new course. Hornblower was growing intimate with her ways, like a bridegroom learning about his bride.

and,
"You've given no order about wives, sir."

"Wives?"

"Wives, sir."

There was an interrogative lift in Hornblower's voice as he said the word; there was a flat, complete absence of expression in Bush's. It was usual in His Majesty's Ships when they lay in harbour for women to be allowed on board, and one or two of them might well be wives.
The trope is Domesticity -- home or family life. What makes a home or a family? Is it the company of the ship, the ship herself, your country house, or just simply wherever you happen to be?

Mix and match the prompts, or use just one! Then come back and share what you made!

sanguinity

On the poop Crystal with his sextant was patiently trying to instruct the midshipmen in the elements of navigation — the young devils were fidgety and restless as Crystal droned on. Hornblower was sorry for them. He had delighted in mathematics since his boyhood; logarithms had been playthings to him at little Longley's age, and a problem in spherical trigonometry was to him but a source of pleasure, analogous, he realised, to the pleasure some of those lads found in the music which was so incomprehensible to him.
— A Ship of the Line

Back in July I started reading John Barrow's Navigatio Britannica: or, A Complete System of Navigation, a popular eighteenth-century text on navigation, largely because I wanted to find out about this "spherical trigonometry" that gets mentioned every now and again in the Hornblower novels. (I wanted to know just what it is that Bush has nightmares about!) I had hoped to be farther along in it by now, but I'm about halfway through, and what with August almost over, I thought I'd post a round-up of random observations on the first five chapters for the Mathematics prompt.

( Time, Tides, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Logarithms )

And voila! That's the mathy first half of Navigatio Britannica! If you're interested in more detail, I liveblogged it on tumblr, and of course I'm always happy to nerd out in comments!

colebaltblue

This is a little 'verse I wanted to write in where Bush and Hornblower are professors at a small liberal arts college on the East Coast. Hornblower is a mathematics professor. Bush is an engineering professor who just moved there from a large public research university in Texas. The school doesn't have its own engineering program, but rather has a relationship with a couple of top-tier programs that it funnels students into after completing their general education requirements at the liberal arts college. Bush was hired to bolster the academic rigor and increase the preparedness of the "pre-engineering" students.

Right now, in this universe, Mariah is a good friend, roommate, and bartender at his favorite bar. Archie is Hornblower's best friend and a history professor. I'm not sure about any further history.

I've got three complete, but unedited stories written - Morning, Noon, and Night - that chronicle different moments in the Bush/Hornblower relationship. I also have a couple of half-written vignettes. I don't have any current plans to post these anywhere else online (basically, AO3 since I don't post anywhere else) since I'm focusing on some other Hornblower fic and these are very low in the priority list.

If you'd like to see more in this 'verse I do take prompts! What will likely result is a vignette of about 1,500-3,000 words. I'll post it here at the DW community.

Anyway, since Hornblower is a mathematics professor, I wanted to post these for our August prompts!

( Morning )

( Noon )

( Night )

sanguinity

For August, the theme is Mathematics. Obviously, literal mathematics is important to the art of navigation -- as well as playing whist! -- but you might also use mathematics figuratively. (Witness Pellew speaking about "the mathematics of defeat"...!)
The quote is from Mr Midshipman Hornblower, "The Even Chance":
He may have been weak in mathematics, but he was diabolically clever at making other people's lives a burden to them.
The trope is Polyamory. Triangles and triads; OT4s and more!

Mix and match the prompts, or use just one! Then come back and share what you made!

sanguinity

(Art re-posted by request and with the artist's permission)

In Discord this week, Lilliana posted this charming art of William, Horatio, and Archie hard at work at the Cafe Indefatigable:

( Cafe Indefatigable )

( Discord transcript )

colebaltblue

I wanted to write a little something for Sanguinity, who has had a tough couple of days of adulting. So I asked for a prompt and then sat down to just get something out. This is that "something". It's not much, it's not reviewed/beta'd, and is really just for fun. The prompt was What's in Bush's Sea Chest.

Title: Sea Chest
Pairing: HH/WB
Rating: G
Notes: set vaguely in Sang's Tegmore 'verse. Hornblower isn't married to Barbara, he lives in a country house, Tegmore, and Bush has finally been convinced to come live with him more or less permanently.

( Sea Chest )

tgarnsl

Title: Across the Line
Pairing: HH/WB
Rating: M

Part 2 of 3. The actual bed-sharing bit! Also the part where this fic gets its M rating.

( Read more... )

tgarnsl

Title: Across the Line
Pairing: HH/WB
Rating: M (this chapter is technically G though as nothing happens. But it will!)

This was due in... May. Sorry. And it’s not even the full thing! But I want to give you all something. So. Behold: the obligatory "but there's only one bed!" fic.

( Read more... )

sanguinity

New Hornblower fic published elsewhere on Dreamwidth:

Lies
by tgarnsl, rated All Audiences.
Maria Mason character study, up through her meeting Barbara Wellesley.
Maria Mason did not lie to herself.
Frogs and Lobsters
by colebaltblue, rated All Audiences.
As a child, then as a young civil servant, Mycroft Holmes meets the First and Second Lords Hornblower.

sanguinity

First off, please accept our apologies for missing out June prompts -- June is a bit jam-packed for both

colebaltblue and myself, and it was late in the month by the time we realised we'd forgotten! Kudos to

tgarnsl for self-prompting anyway: please go read Fair Seas, featuring Bush and Hornblower having a lovely day together after the trials of Flying Colours.

Each month, we'll post a trio of prompts -- a theme, a quote, and a trope -- for you to use as a jumping-off point in whatever medium pleases you. Anything goes, fiction or meta, from drabbles through dissertation chapters. Fic, art, photo-essays, vids, and more are welcome!

For June, the theme is Birthdays. Because yesterday was Horatio Hornblower's birthday, after all, and we see no reason not to celebrate all month. Of course, whatever you choose to do with the theme doesn't have to center on Horatio's birthday: you could center on another character's birthday, or write historical meta about Georgian birthday traditions, or do something about someone's literal day of birth. Possibilities abound!

The quote is from Mr Midshipman Hornblower, "The Penalty of Failure":

The day of his birthday, when he looked at himself at the vast age of eighteen, was the worst of all.

The trope is Gift-Giving. Gifts given on whatever occasion you choose, or for no occasion at all!

Mix and match the prompts, or use just one! Then come back and share what you made, here or in a new post.

And if you're looking for more prompts,

historium is issuing Bingo Cards for all historical fandoms! If you choose to get one for Hornblower purposes, let us know how it goes -- we'd love to see what you make!

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HM Sloop Hotspur

Recent Entries

Sticky: Welcome!

SciFy AU?

Hornblower-Adjacent: Nightingale and Courtney

Rec list: Commodore Hornblower

Rec list: Beat to Quarters through Flying Colours

Fic: The Waste of Waters

Ficlet: Rack Time

[fic] Dominion: Chapter I

Ficlets and drabbles!

[fic] A Good Life

[fic] Across The Line III

September Prompts!

Navigatio Britannica: or, A Complete System of Navigation

[Fic] Professor AU

August Prompts

Art: Cafe Indefatigable by Lilliana

[Fic] Sea Chest

[fic] Across The Line II

[fic] Across the Line

New Fic Elsewhere on Dreamwidth

July Prompts

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