(no subject)

[quigonejinn]

A Wild, Unaccustomed Thought: One of the few good Bush characterizations I've found so far, and the way the sex is structured is also utterly on-target and fantastic and ldkfj;gdf man. The Bush characterization is spot on. From the metaphor/cliche language (any jokes about Sancho Panza and I'll kill you where you stand) to his attitude towards his body to the way he thinks of his sisters to how he feels about Horatio -- this mix of admiration, amazement, desire, and almost motherly tenderness. Some of the language is a little plumy, but oh, oh, oh. The description of Bush's scars. The kissing. The description of Horatio pawning half of his kit. It's darling and perfect and makes me so happy.

Knowledge, late in the day: Not as good as "A Wild, Unaccustomed Thought" just previous -- the edges are a little bumpier, and I'm not convinced of some of the attempts to mirror CSF's language -- but asl ;dkjf;algihd;lfkj PELLEW/HORNBLOWER that doesn't make me want to throw up! That is actually good! And is hot as anything, and stella_belli does not believe me, but oh my God, I don't care if this veers OOC at times, oh my GOD.

SW fandom has a serious thing for ass-sex. It's much, much, much rarer in Hornblower fiction, which is understandable and even commendable on a certain level, but it's currently getting rather difficult to press the keys on the keyboard because HELLO, NOSEBLEEDING ALL OVER SHUT UP I KNOW THE LANGUAGE GETS SKETCHY BUT HOLY JESUS WHEN HORATLDKJF KDJ:LF

A Woman's Love: Shut up. I am, indeed, so hard up for Horatio/Bush that I'm currently watching a Duty video set to LINKIN PARK, but I love the fancy in this. The language is kind of purple and funky at times, but man oh man, there are some good lines. And it really fits with the way that Forester always talks about the officers of a ship making her a tightly-run organism and how Bush loves his ships and thinks of them as being "beautiful."

And I'm a sucker for Hornblower/Bush, shut up.

Less: By the same author as previous. Like you'd get two writers in the same fandom with both this style and this mastery of the stuff, right? I mean, I don't have some kind of genetic objection to rich prose -- I just object because most of the time, the people who're doing it are using rich writing in place of a rich story.

This story, though, is absolutley fabulous. It's probably the first Bush amputation fic that I've read, and it's pretty much definitive -- the Bush characterization sings, and the action is beautifully, wonderfully realized. I love the fact that the author is so ruthless about comparing Bush's body to the Sutherland, and goddamn, can you tell how much dastier knows about ships or what? It's brilliant stuff.

Telemachos: Also titled the Genealogy of Buggery. Hello, resonant8 and her usual insane ability to write hot cross-gen sex, and excuse me, that detail about Horatio and Pellew's voice. ^________________________^ God bless Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, man. God bless.

Doppelganger, The Other Shoe: I'm not as big a fan of Janis Cortese as a lot of people are, but man oh man. These are fun little stories. I'm not sure I buy the Horatio in the last half of the first story (or the setup -- couldn't they just have sex at wassisname's house? that'd be even kinkier and wronger and interesting), but there's no denying that the writing is solidly, solidly constructed throughout and that Cortese knows how to write the emotional parts of sex very well. I've got the Scarlet Pimpernel series on order because of the second story, in fact. She just makes the series sound so damn interesting and thoughtful.

She's also got an excellent eye for teenage boys. I laughed for about fifteen minutes over the bit about the table leg because ahahahah, oh God, they really do think that way. "MY COCK IS AS BIG AS A TABLE LEG, AND I WILL DIE, JUST DIE IF I DON'T GET SOME RIGHT NOW!" <33333333333333333333333333 It is perfect, and the story is mesmerizingly good in the last three sections.

I still disagree with Cortese's characterization of Bush in this, though, and disagree pretty goddamn violently.