the giant Master and Commander pimping post of DOOM
Or, the one in which Isis attempts to gently coax more of her readers into Age of Sail fandoms. Which I know you are all primed for, after the various exchanges in nos4a2no9's post here about False Colors particularly the comments about the O'Brian book series on which the movie is based.
In a happy sort of concinnity, I first read the books while living on my sailboat in spring 2005. fabularasa had written a (lovely, and alas lost to the world at the moment) fic [ETA: Not lost! Linked below!], and as part of her devious plan to get me to read it (hah, I would read anything she writes, and she knows it) sent me the first several books as a gift. I picked up the first with trepidation...and couldn't put it down. It was fabulous - sly and funny, with compelling and entertaining characters and colorful language, and if O'Brian occasionally gets excessively swept up in describing a ship's rigging, or a battle, well, it's still not as excessive as Tom Clancy.
After I returned home, and loaned the books to a friend, my friend returned them along with two more - so I read those. Then I discovered that the library had the entire series, and over the last three years, I have been slowly exploring O'Brian's world. Slowly, because I like to savor rather than devour these books; I think I might lose interest if I were to read them all in a hurry, one after another. And I admit that I still have not finished the series. But that doesn't stop me from delighting in the fanfiction, and really, any of these stories can be read without having read more than the first book. Or even not having read canon at all.
(Speaking of the books, I shall be making a very relevant locked post shortly after this one. If I don't have you on my flist, and you are subscribed to my Dreamwidth journal either with your own or with OpenID, you should have access to the locked post there. You can also email or PM me for a link.)
The best fanfiction for this series is as gentle and as sharp as the canon. The relationship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin is a strong, deep friendship (which seems less potentially slashy, alas, as the series continues) and my favorite stories don't expand but simply foreground this relationship, perhaps deepening the subtext but never taking any remotely explicit steps. There is a very fine line between slash and gen in this fandom, and most of the ostensibly Aubrey/Maturin stories can be read as gen, although the one story I wrote in this fandom (The Waiting, 3500 words, R) most definitely cannot be. (I wrote it after having read only the first three books; I'm not sure I could write explicit Aubrey/Maturin now. I also wrote a drabble which is quite gennish.)
So. What follows are all the Master and Commander stories I adore. Most of them are on HieroglyFICS Recs, and the rest of them will be there shortly. These are vaguely in order of how faithful they are to canon, beginning with missing scenes and ending with outright AUs.
The Stolen First Lines series by diane_c | Aubrey/Maturin, G to PG, ficlets and short stories. Alas, my very favorite writer in this fandom vanished from LJ a few years ago. Her stories all begin with a short quote from canon, but were I left on my own I wouldn't be able to tell where O'Brian's words end and hers begin, so perfect is her voice. I adore her writing to tiny little bits. I especially love Sealegs, Unkindest Cut, At Dawn, and Blue Devils, but really, all these are wonderful.
Deep Water by daylightsparks | Aubrey/Maturin, PG, short story. While recovering from the torture he endured at Port Mahon, Stephen agrees to a swim with Jack. This is magnificent! The style is so beautifully O'Brian that I’m not convinced this isn’t a missing scene that I just missed on my first reading of canon.
The Murmuring of Bees has Ceased by gritkitty | Aubrey/Maturin, PG, short story. A sea battle, and a swarm from Stephen’s hives. The language is perfect, and the dialogue and actions sweetly in character. Written for Yuletide 2005.
Satellites by cruisedirector | Aubrey/Maturin, PG, ficlet. A missing scene which expands on the innuendo of the text (in this case, a discussion about the Sultan and his “Ganymede” in The Thirteen Gun Salute) but never takes it too far. Excellent character voices.
ETA: A Slender Knowing by fabularasa | Aubrey/Maturin, NC17, short story. The aftermath of Stephen's escape from prison and torture in H.M.S. Surprise. The one that started it all, for me! Gorgeous writing, hot and sweet.
And All the World Made New by Sholio (friendshipper) | Sophie/Clarissa, PG, short story. Clarissa comes calling on Sophie. The story is gorgeous, understated and gentle. The language is perfect, and the echoes of Jack off at sea in Sophie’s solitude are so nice. Maybe my favorite parts are the hints of Diana, and how the others see her. You don’t need to have read the whole series or even to have gotten to the books with Clarissa to enjoy this delicate femslash. Written for Yuletide 2007.
Small Acts of Chivalry by loneraven | Aubrey and Maturin gen, crossover with Temeraire, short story. Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin meet Captain Laurence and Temeraire. I love the way this is written, which seems very true to both sources, although I suppose that in a true crossed-over world, Jack and Stephen would already be somewhat familiar with dragons and their riders.
Master and Commander and Zombies by Anonymous. | Aubrey/Maturin, PG13-ish (for violence; it's pretty gennish), novelette. This story feels exactly like canon, except for the zombies, and I can't believe I actually wrote that sentence in a rec. No, seriously. It was originally written as a series of comments to the anonymous Aubreyad Kink Meme And it rocks utterly. It is the story of a plague that comes to London, and of sailing ships, and of politics, and how Jack and Stephen's friendship is sorely tested by difficult times; it is magnificent, and you should read it. There are clever references to canon and to other sources (I detected a Shackleton homage, and I am sure there are others.) And there are zombies. [Author's name and link to complete story removed at the author's request.]
Duende by Shalott (astolat) | Aubrey/Maturin, AU, NC17, novelette. If this is a fusion with something I don’t recognize, it’s brilliant, and if it’s an original fusion I’m floored. It takes O’Brian’s world into a different direction in the same way the Temeraire series does (but with its own completely realized execution: swords and sorcery, and a complicated feudal/sexual structure), and as such it would be fabulous as original fic. The dialogue and characterizations are fabulous, the minor characters from the series welcome grounding in canon, and the plot nicely done with a punchy ending. Written for Yuletide 2006, and I am modestly proud I guessed the author before the reveal.
Finally, I want to point to two communities I subscribe to here: perfect_duet, which is for Aubrey/Maturin discussion, links, and fanwork, and despatches, which is a weekly-to-biweekly newsletter for Age of Sail fandoms (defined roughly as 18th-19th century naval and military fandoms). There is also an Age of Sail community on Dreamwidth.
In a happy sort of concinnity, I first read the books while living on my sailboat in spring 2005. fabularasa had written a (lovely, and alas lost to the world at the moment) fic [ETA: Not lost! Linked below!], and as part of her devious plan to get me to read it (hah, I would read anything she writes, and she knows it) sent me the first several books as a gift. I picked up the first with trepidation...and couldn't put it down. It was fabulous - sly and funny, with compelling and entertaining characters and colorful language, and if O'Brian occasionally gets excessively swept up in describing a ship's rigging, or a battle, well, it's still not as excessive as Tom Clancy.
After I returned home, and loaned the books to a friend, my friend returned them along with two more - so I read those. Then I discovered that the library had the entire series, and over the last three years, I have been slowly exploring O'Brian's world. Slowly, because I like to savor rather than devour these books; I think I might lose interest if I were to read them all in a hurry, one after another. And I admit that I still have not finished the series. But that doesn't stop me from delighting in the fanfiction, and really, any of these stories can be read without having read more than the first book. Or even not having read canon at all.
(Speaking of the books, I shall be making a very relevant locked post shortly after this one. If I don't have you on my flist, and you are subscribed to my Dreamwidth journal either with your own or with OpenID, you should have access to the locked post there. You can also email or PM me for a link.)
The best fanfiction for this series is as gentle and as sharp as the canon. The relationship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin is a strong, deep friendship (which seems less potentially slashy, alas, as the series continues) and my favorite stories don't expand but simply foreground this relationship, perhaps deepening the subtext but never taking any remotely explicit steps. There is a very fine line between slash and gen in this fandom, and most of the ostensibly Aubrey/Maturin stories can be read as gen, although the one story I wrote in this fandom (The Waiting, 3500 words, R) most definitely cannot be. (I wrote it after having read only the first three books; I'm not sure I could write explicit Aubrey/Maturin now. I also wrote a drabble which is quite gennish.)
So. What follows are all the Master and Commander stories I adore. Most of them are on HieroglyFICS Recs, and the rest of them will be there shortly. These are vaguely in order of how faithful they are to canon, beginning with missing scenes and ending with outright AUs.
The Stolen First Lines series by diane_c | Aubrey/Maturin, G to PG, ficlets and short stories. Alas, my very favorite writer in this fandom vanished from LJ a few years ago. Her stories all begin with a short quote from canon, but were I left on my own I wouldn't be able to tell where O'Brian's words end and hers begin, so perfect is her voice. I adore her writing to tiny little bits. I especially love Sealegs, Unkindest Cut, At Dawn, and Blue Devils, but really, all these are wonderful.
Deep Water by daylightsparks | Aubrey/Maturin, PG, short story. While recovering from the torture he endured at Port Mahon, Stephen agrees to a swim with Jack. This is magnificent! The style is so beautifully O'Brian that I’m not convinced this isn’t a missing scene that I just missed on my first reading of canon.
The Murmuring of Bees has Ceased by gritkitty | Aubrey/Maturin, PG, short story. A sea battle, and a swarm from Stephen’s hives. The language is perfect, and the dialogue and actions sweetly in character. Written for Yuletide 2005.
Satellites by cruisedirector | Aubrey/Maturin, PG, ficlet. A missing scene which expands on the innuendo of the text (in this case, a discussion about the Sultan and his “Ganymede” in The Thirteen Gun Salute) but never takes it too far. Excellent character voices.
ETA: A Slender Knowing by fabularasa | Aubrey/Maturin, NC17, short story. The aftermath of Stephen's escape from prison and torture in H.M.S. Surprise. The one that started it all, for me! Gorgeous writing, hot and sweet.
And All the World Made New by Sholio (friendshipper) | Sophie/Clarissa, PG, short story. Clarissa comes calling on Sophie. The story is gorgeous, understated and gentle. The language is perfect, and the echoes of Jack off at sea in Sophie’s solitude are so nice. Maybe my favorite parts are the hints of Diana, and how the others see her. You don’t need to have read the whole series or even to have gotten to the books with Clarissa to enjoy this delicate femslash. Written for Yuletide 2007.
Small Acts of Chivalry by loneraven | Aubrey and Maturin gen, crossover with Temeraire, short story. Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin meet Captain Laurence and Temeraire. I love the way this is written, which seems very true to both sources, although I suppose that in a true crossed-over world, Jack and Stephen would already be somewhat familiar with dragons and their riders.
Master and Commander and Zombies by Anonymous. | Aubrey/Maturin, PG13-ish (for violence; it's pretty gennish), novelette. This story feels exactly like canon, except for the zombies, and I can't believe I actually wrote that sentence in a rec. No, seriously. It was originally written as a series of comments to the anonymous Aubreyad Kink Meme And it rocks utterly. It is the story of a plague that comes to London, and of sailing ships, and of politics, and how Jack and Stephen's friendship is sorely tested by difficult times; it is magnificent, and you should read it. There are clever references to canon and to other sources (I detected a Shackleton homage, and I am sure there are others.) And there are zombies. [Author's name and link to complete story removed at the author's request.]
Duende by Shalott (astolat) | Aubrey/Maturin, AU, NC17, novelette. If this is a fusion with something I don’t recognize, it’s brilliant, and if it’s an original fusion I’m floored. It takes O’Brian’s world into a different direction in the same way the Temeraire series does (but with its own completely realized execution: swords and sorcery, and a complicated feudal/sexual structure), and as such it would be fabulous as original fic. The dialogue and characterizations are fabulous, the minor characters from the series welcome grounding in canon, and the plot nicely done with a punchy ending. Written for Yuletide 2006, and I am modestly proud I guessed the author before the reveal.
Finally, I want to point to two communities I subscribe to here: perfect_duet, which is for Aubrey/Maturin discussion, links, and fanwork, and despatches, which is a weekly-to-biweekly newsletter for Age of Sail fandoms (defined roughly as 18th-19th century naval and military fandoms). There is also an Age of Sail community on Dreamwidth.