Cenotaph

[idler_1814]

Originally posted to aos_challenge

TITLE: Cenotaph
AUTHOR: Idler
CHARACTERS: Hornblower, OCs
RATING: G
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, not for profit
CHALLENGE PROMPT: Ghosts (Oct 2007)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Makes reference to characters/situations from Run Aground, but familiarity with the background is entirely unnecessary. One may, however, consider this to be the true

Comments

[pamdram]

This is lovely - poignant, and so true to character. Thank you! x

[idler_1814]

Thank you!!! I'm delighted that you liked it!

[shezzawatto]

Have finally figured that I can track your entires Joan. Unbelievably chuffed to regain contact.
Have commented elsewhere, but once again. wanted to say how brilliant this is.
Thanks for the pleasure.
PS. You evoke Hornblower / Bush so well. Where do you stand on the Archie thing?

[idler_1814]

Hey, Sherry! It's wonderful to reconnect with you, too!!! Thank you again for your most generous comments--here, and elsewhere.

PS. You evoke Hornblower / Bush so well. Where do you stand on the Archie thing?

Hmmmm. What I write can be interpreted by the reader any way she sees fit, but honestly, my personal interest in the relationship between Hornblower and Bush isn't from a slash perspective. Just like the slash writers, I see Hornblower and Bush as two men with a deep emotional bond; however, in my own writing I find it more intriguing to explore these emotions when they are not openly expressed. Developing a sexual relationship between them changes everything, and that's an avenue I'll leave for other writers to pursue.

As I see it, writing Archie requires portraying the more emotionally open Horatio that we found in the films. As I've slowly developed my own identity as an amateur writer, I've found that this isn't the Hornblower I'm comfortable with, so I'm leaving the *Archie thing* alone as well.

[jestana]

I read this and Run Aground yesterday morning and I was completely absorbed. You told the story in Run Aground so vividly and Bush so well that I hated to pause to take care of stuff around the house. More than the story itself (though that was well thought-out), I really enjoyed the journeys Bush and Fanshawe made. Bush from hating having to use the wooden leg to getting used to it (even though he did fall on his face, poor man) and Fanshawe from being almost useless as a lieutenant to defending Bush when he's unconscious

[idler_1814]

Thank you so much!! I'm so glad you liked them! You're right: this story was as much about personal journeys and growth as it was about smuggling. I've always been far more fascinated by the extraordinary acts of ordinary people--and how they came to that moment--than by the deeds of larger-than-life heroes

[jestana]

Yeah,I like stories of people who manage to exceed their own expectations of themselves.

Who wouldn't? He despaired of Fanshawe ever becoming a proper officer, but he was already proving to take Bush's lessons to heart. I've had that happen, too.

Yes! I did! Too Much (Not Enough), remix of Once Burned. I knew I had!

Click on the 'fanfic: hb' tag on my writing journal to get all of my Hornblower fics.

I don't have the money to buy the books, but I can see if the local library has them.

[idler_1814]

I re-read "Too Much" and you definitely caught the flavor of what I was going for in "Once Burned"! I'll have to go back to your fic list and explore further!

Books can get awfully expensive: I've had very good luck finding things through abebooks.com: a brief perusal there showed me Hornblower titles at $1.00 apiece, so if you decide you want them as permanent additions to your library, there are options!

[sanguinity]

Good on you, Hornblower. I do like to think that you have it in you, however cross-grained it runs to your training and nature.

And lovely to see Fanshawe's success, too! And aping his mentor so strongly that even Hornblower can recognise it, never mind that the two men don't physically resemble each other at all.

[idler_1814]

Good on you, Hornblower. I do like to think that you have it in you, however cross-grained it runs to your training and nature.

For Bush--or more properly, Bush's memory--I think he might.

And lovely to see Fanshawe's success, too! And aping his mentor so strongly that even Hornblower can recognise it...

I guess if I'm not willing to raise Bush from the dead after Caudebec, I'd at least like to see some aspect of him live on in another. And, as I've said elsewhere, Fanshawe kind of grew up on his own, regardless of the initial plans I had for him!