Despatches

Note from the Editor: I'm trying to post regularly. Getting back into the swing of it is all very well till you suddenly have a really busy Friday and everything goes by the board (now there's a Naval saying for you! :D )

Fanfic:
1776 by senmut; 1776; General audiences; Character: Abigail Adams

Son et Lumière:

Of historical interest:
anything_aos: ozfille posts Matthew Flinders Found

Miscellany and meta:
hmsacasta_feed: Two Years Before the Mast - a review
hmsacasta_feed: James Moon Potbury: Volunteer Second Class
hmsacasta_feed: Meet John Pickthorn

Communities and challenges:
friendsofenglishmagic: regshoe posts JSMN and music
friendsofenglishmagic: leahclaire is requesting a beta-reader
historium: thisbluesprit puts up a Resources post

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor:

Fanfic:

Son et Lumière:

Of historical interest:

Miscellany and meta:
regshoe: The geography of the Raven King's Northern England
hmsacasta_feed: A damned unfortunate business
hmsacasta_feed: A found letter
hmsacasta_feed: A letter to Mother Linden
hmsacasta_feed: Of further interest
ohveda: Childermass and Segundus whump

Communities and challenges:
corsets_and_carriages: New header + one thing to know

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor: If you want Despatches to include links to your fic, please make sure you include a rating of some sort above the cut! Also, if you know of any communities for a canon that falls under the Age of Sail banner, please let me know!

Fanfic:
Brigid's Gift by ozfille; Aubreyad; R-ish; Stephen Maturin, Jack Aubrey, Brigid Maturin, Killick, Amos Jacob, Mr Wells, Mr Reade

Son et Lumière:
amaraal: The Schwiboggen on perfect_duet

Of historical interest:
From hmsacasta_feed: HMS Victory: A Virtual Tour
From hmsacasta_feed: Find my Past: Trafalgar
From hmsacastsa_feed: A Happy Christmas for Acasta
From hmsascasta_feed The four biggest frigates on the North American Station

Miscellany and meta:
hmsacasta_feed: The Sailing Master: A Brief Review

Communities and challenges:
friendsofenglishmagic: regshoe posts Lots of fic!
friendsofenglishmagic: Christmas Round Robin fic

Rec of the Week:

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor: To new subscribers: Welcome! And to our old friends: Welcome back! Please tell your friends about despatches - and despatches about your Age of Sail fandom friends! The more the merrier, after all!

We had meant to post over the weekend but ended up trying to get a new battery for the car (it had to be jump-started three times in two days! Yippee!) How's your week been?

Fanfic:
ohveda posts A Warm Bed on a Cold Winter's Night; Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (JS&MN); NC-17; John Segundus, John Childermass, Vinculus, original characters
rosefox posts Making Arrangements; Original Regency fic; PG; Original characters

Son et Lumière:
Poetry! rifleman_s: The Rainbow of Jack at perfect_duet
Fic recs: ohveda at friendsofenglishmagic: Childermass/Secundus
bookhobbit: Norell headcanons at friendsofenglishmagic
wolfinthethorns: Norrell headcanons at friendsofmagic
ohveda Segundus headcanons"> at friendsofenglishmagic

Of historical interest:
austenblog_feed: Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!
hmsacasta_feed: Shirts!
hmsacasta_feed: Meet the REAL Acasta!
hmsacasta_feed: How to paint a bosun's hat

Miscellany and meta:
bookhobbit in friendsofenglishmagic: An Enquiry on the Nature of Eternal Darkness
bookhobbit in friendsofenglishmagic: On magic as a language
scripsi in historium: Fanfiction I have written (includes JS&MN, POTC and Sleepy Hollow 1999)
Book review: Slaver Captain on hmsacasta_feed
Picspam: Asleep on the job at hmsacasta_feed
Picspam: Images for nightwatch by hmsacasta_feed

Communities and challenges:
fukurodani: Any hopes that this community can be reignited? at temeraire (a Temeraire fanfic community)


Rec of the Week:

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor: I was away at wedding in Spain last week, hence why no Despatches, and as the English celebration is this weekend, I'm doing Despatches today rather than tomorrow. The Acastas are running their annual Press Gang Week this week, and I shall link to the various posts they put up on their blog for the week. I can't get back further than the 20th August in the Reader, so if you've posted something not covered that you would like me to mention, please drop me a line - a reply to this edition will be fine.

Fanfic:

Son et Lumière:
sharpiefan: Found while browsing the Internet
hmsacasta_feed: There's the Tender Coming
hmsacasta_feed: Shanties from the Seven Seas: A review

Of historical interest:
hmsacata_feed: Keeping it Legal
hmsacasta_feed: About Impressment

Miscellany and meta:
hmsacasta_feed: Pressgang Week is coming!
hm_jollies: sharpiefan: IUseful links
justincase: Mum's the word
ingreatwaters: More Memeage

Communities and challenges:
mandc_read: are reading The Nutmeg of Consolation Chapter Nine this weekend
mandc_read: The Nutmeg of Consolation Chapter Eight is still open for discussion

Rec of the Week:
I follow the Acasta blog (you can link to it yourself by following hmsacasta_feed so things show up right in your DW reading page. They post a whole bunch of interesting stuff, and this is a useful quick-reference guide to their tags and the sort of information those tags cover.

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor:

Fanfic:

Son et Lumière:
From hmsacasta_feed: Signal Flag Generator

Of historical interest:

Miscellany and meta:

Communities and challenges:
mandc_read are reading Chapter Two of The Nutmeg of Consolation this weekend

Rec of the Week:

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor: Hope the HTML's OK in this week's edition; I am about to toddle off upstairs for a sleep (early mornings do not agree with me, although I like seeing the afternoons from the perspective of one who has already been to work by the time twelve noon rolls around). Have a good one!

Fanfic:
A Link to the Past, A Bridge to the Future by sharpiefan; Show the Colours; U; George Thompson, Lil Baker, Bessie Thompson, Annie Thompson, Jesse Thompson; Thompson returns home during the summer of 1811.

Son et Lumière:

Of historical interest:

Miscellany and meta:
austenblog: JASNA Louisville announces the Jackie Johnson Memorial AGM scholarship
austenblog: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: A Musical at La Miradea Theatre for the Performing Arts
austenblog: Around the Austen Blog
latin_cat: A Thought

Communities and challenges:
sharpiefan posts The HMS Acasta Letter Writing Project
mandc_read is reading The Thirteen-Gun Salute this weekend

Rec of the Week:
The World Inside Out by alltoseek; Aubreyad; NC-17; Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin, Sophie Villiers, Diana Villiers; A genderswap AU fic that is a sequel to Astolat's incredible The World Turned Upside Down

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor: This edition comes to you courtesy of a bout of insomnia, hence the silly hour of day it was posted. Hope you've all had a good week!

Fanfic:

Son et Lumière:
Pic: sharpiefan posts The Last Days of the Sea-Soldiers

Of historical interest:

Miscellany and meta:

Communities and challenges:
mandc_read are reading The Letter of Marque, Chapter Eight this weekend

Rec of the Week:
This popped up on hmsacasta_feed and I thought you might like it: Signal Flag Generator - there is a generator available to render any message you like into Home Popham's signal code, used so famously by Nelson just before Trafalgar.

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope you've had/are having/will have a lovely day!

Fanfic:
The Road Home by barefoot_bard; Original; K+ (ages 1 and up); original characters; Two soldiers go home at war's end. Suffolk, December 1815.
North Sea Christmas by barefoot_bard; Original; K+ (13 and up); original characters; A Marine gets an unexpected surprise for Christmas. HMS Adamant, December, 1796.
Advent Calendar Day 18: Not Crossing the Bar by takadainmate; Aubreyad; M; Jack, Stephen; Without any indication as to why, without disagreement, Jack and Stephen are not speaking.
Ophelia's Debut by alcyone301; Aubreyad; ?; Jack; Christmas Day; Jack reminisces
Avent Calendar Day 21: Hoopoes Are Not the Only Birds by le_russe_satan; Aubreyad (modern AU); PG; Jack, Stephen; : Again, this is a modern AU. This time a university one. Hope you enjoy this offering.
Advent Calendar Day 16: Christmas Morn at Sea by ashley_pitt; Aubreyad; ? ; Jack, Stephen; some time after Jack rescued Stephen in HMS Surprise
Advent Calendar Day 15: Instruments by amaraal; NC-117; Jack/Stephen; Handling delicate things is Stephen's second nature.
My Captain, My Love by justincase; PG-13; Jack, Stephen; Captain Jack Aubrey had climbed into the top of his ship HMS Surprise, it was cold, dark, and wet; the dirtiest sort of night to watch for his particular friend’s signal from shore that his mission was completed. Yet Jack would be no where else but here unless he could be ashore with his friend.
From the Vickery Family Papers Letter 12 by sharpiefan: Show the Colours; G; Lady Saltash, John Vickery; Correspondence from the papers of the Vickery family, between Captain John Vickery of the 5/60th and members of his family.
From the Vickery Family Papers Letter 13 by sharpiefan: Show the Colours; G; Lady Saltash, John Vickery; Correspondence from the papers of the Vickery family, between Captain John Vickery of the 5/60th and members of his family.

Son et Lumière:
Screencaps: chrsvg posts Oliver Twist (200) Screencaps
Wallpaper: Advent Calendar Day 22: Wallpaper by miki_moo
Screencaps: chrsvg posts Catherine the Great (201) screencaps
Wallpaper: Advent Calendar Day 20: Jack/Stephen wallpaper by cienna
vanilla_elf: One for the family album... not
Music for the fic Ophelia's Debut by alcyone301
Art: Advent Calendar Day 17: Jack, Stephen and the Mistletoe by oftheisland; NSFW
Photos: Advent Calendar Day 14: A Menorcan Adventure by ylla
josbanks posts Patrick O'Brian Centenary BBC Radio 4 Bookclub Interview

Of historical interest:
hmsacasta_feed: Meet the Real Acasta
austenblog_feed: Happy birthday Jane Austen

Miscellany and meta:
sharpiefan posts Query for other AoS fans

Communities and challenges:
perfect_duet: esteven: Wishing Everyone Joy
hmsacasta_feed: A Christmas Letter Home 1806
mandc_read: Reverse of the Medal

Rec of the Week:
Famous Inboxes: Jane Austen characters found online. Famous inboxes with an Austen theme: Careful what you write, for his good opinion once lost…


Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.

Note from the Editor:
Reminder: if you want your fanfic to be linked here, please include a rating before any cuts, so that I can include one with the link. Also, I have chosen to stop including links to the Acasta blog in Despatches, although I can reinstate those links should the newsletter's readers wish me to do so.

Fanfic:
To The Last Syllable by alltoseek; Aubreyad; Gen; Stephen Maturin, Diana Villiers, Mrs Williams, Colonel and Mrs Cholmondeley, Mrs Morris; The full story of the incident at the bridge in Maiden Oscott.
A letter from Diana by justincase; Aubreyad; PG-13; A missing scene from Fortune of War. Diana has written to Sophie about Jack and Stephen being prisoners, injured, and in hospital.
A Man's Worth by barefoot_bard; Original; K+ (13 years old and up); Original characters; A Marine and his comrades face battle at sea. October, 1805

Son et Lumière:

Of historical interest:
sharpiefan links to Photos of veterans of the Grande Armee in 1858
latin_cat links to The Gibraltar Chronicle, 1805
sharpiefan posts about Trafalgar Day

Miscellany and meta:

Communities and challenges:
sharpiefan is trying to gauge interest in a Watch of Master & Commander
mandc_read is reading The Far Side of the World, Chapter Nine this weekend

Rec of the Week:
I should like to recommend the HMS Acasta blog, which I haven't linked to for a little while now. As you no doubt recall, there are some extremely interesting items on a regular basis. It can be found at http://www.hmsacasta.com/ and you can subscribe to the RSS feed here on DW at hmsacasta_feed.

Got a link for the next issue? Please comment and let us know. Remember to please tell your AoS friends about us. The more, the merrier, after all! And if you would like to include a particular favourite of yours in Rec of the Week, please leave a comment with a link.