Tuesday and a Fic Rec

[nightdog_barks]

It was below freezing this morning, and for a while I wished I'd still had the flannel sheets on the bed. At least the blasting winds have finally died down and it's sunny.

Here's a rec for a fic I saw recommended on a meme -- it's an Aubrey/Maturin fic (the Patrick O'Brian books, the Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World film). It's strongly h/c -- the aftermath of Stephen being tortured, his subsequent PTSD (as we would call it today), and his struggle to recover. The writing is uniformly excellent, the characters warm and human. It's not a short fic (19K words), and potential readers should note the warnings. It's by someone named teh_elb, and it's called These Dull Colours. I'm not really in the fandom (although I did know who Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin were), and I was able to pick up the story with no problem. :-)

Comments

[hannah]

Because it's been raining on and off all day, I'm fantasizing about Australia. Or at least reading about it. I miss dry heat, and I've never read any Bill Bryson - maybe in a couple of weeks I'll pick up something.

[nightdog_barks]

I've never been to Australia, although Mr. N has (Sydney and Melbourne), years and years ago. He loved it.

Bill Bryson is a terrific writer! His A Walk in the Woods, which is about the Appalachian Trail, is such a wonderful read. A Short History of Nearly Everything is also great, and I'm about to start his At Home: A Short History of Private Life.

[(Anonymous)]

I've been to Cairnes and Darwin, and they were both fantastic - I still remember that glimpse of wild horses up North. You'd love the bats.

At Home sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to your review.

[hannah]

Rassa-fricking-frassa, why does DW allow for anonymous commenting like that?

[nightdog_barks]

*g*

I allow anonymous comments. I have it set so that DW logs the IP address of the person commenting -- that generally discourages trolls. :-)

[nightdog_barks]

Aw, that sounds so lovely! I'd like to visit Australia someday.

Bryson is such fun to read -- I'm looking forward to At Home also. The book I just finished (Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook) was an excellent, excellent read. I highly recommend it. :-)

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of Aubrey/Maturin in particular as well as hurt/comfort in general, so this rec sounds right up my alley - thanks! Bookmarking for when I'm not a couple of class preps behind...

[nightdog_barks]

Yay! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

:-D

[pwcorgigirl]

It's sunny and cold here again. We had a night of walloping thunderstorms that dropped the temperature by 40 degrees in about an hour, and I woke up freezing this morning. The cats are very unhappy that the porch door is not being left open for their convenience today. :D

[nightdog_barks]

It was sunny and cool all day here -- I think it only got up to about 73. I had the back door closed for quite a while but finally opened it. Chango went outside and almost immediately found a lizard to chase. :-D

[pwcorgigirl]

Sunday was so warm that we saw our resident king snake (it lives in the side garden near the bird feeders) and the first blue-tailed skink of the year. I bet they're holed up freezing their little scaly behinds off today. :-D