Hello all!

I'm thehappyreturn and I'm absurdly excited to be driving the crack_van for the Horatio Hornblower fandom this month. A new overview for this fandom is also on its way - which will bring us up to date, has pretty pictures, and covers both the book and the TV canon - I'll link us to it in the next post.

Anyway, I'm late enough as it is! So, on with those pretty sailor boys whose only real girlfriends are square-rigged and made entirely of wood!

Fandom: HORATIO HORNBLOWER
Pairing: Archie Kennedy/Horatio Hornblower (implied); Archie Kennedy/Jack Simpson
Length: 2640 words
Author on LJ: anteros_lmc
Author website: Just at her LJ, which is fandom-specific.
Warnings: Non-explicit reference to non-con in the past.
Why this must be read:

I have to start with this, as aside from being a stunning piece of writing, it incidentally works as a brilliant introduction to one of our key characters from the TV series, the young midshipman Archie Kennedy.

This little history has been written backwards, upside-down and inside out in this fandom, and yet it's like you're reading it for the first time. This is achieved through pure storytelling ability, brilliant handling of flashbacks, an innate eye for authentic and fresh detail, and a writer who understands Kennedy through and through. If that weren't enough, the story's final payoff adds an exquisitely painful twist.

Oh. and. This was her first ever fic, ever. Read it and, literally, weep.

Grey to Black

In true Kennedy fashion, Archie's moment of joy and brief bright dream of glory was evaporating with the mist that hung in damp banks over the Gironde estuary. He was alone again.

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Length: 12k
Author on LJ: merryish 
Author Website: http://anyroad.org/cascade.htm
Why this must be read:

This story is a great, quick read about Jim and Blair and Jim's new car. It's funny, cute, and has some great smut to boot! It makes me chuckle every time I read it. I think the author's summary puts it quite well: 

A funny little first-time PWP starring Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg and introducing... The Mommy Car.

Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to feed the author!

Auto Erotica at 852 Prospect

Auto Erotica at the author's website

Fandom: DC UNIVERSE: BATMAN NOLANVERSE
Pairing: Gen; Rachel Dawes
Length: 1,145
Author on LJ: [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Author Website: Fanfiction Index
Why this must be read:

Because canon dealt Rachel Dawes a harsh hand, and what's the point of fandom if not to fix the mistakes of the original source, give layers to seemingly one-note characters, or in the case of this story give a female character who many might dismiss as "just a love interest" a very satisfying ending.

She wakes to a brand new Gotham. The news plays Harvey's 'memorial' and Leslie tells her the truth.

"It's over then," she says. The weight of it presses down on her. If she could run, she would. She remembers her parting words to Alfred. She looks at Leslie, wanting to ask how she keeps doing this, but she can't. Not without betraying Bruce's secret and she won't do it. She's done enough already.

Leslie smiles, a quick, wry twisting of her lips. Her tone is knowing as she says, "My dear, it's only just begun."

The Clock Strikes Twelve

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Characters: Duncan, Methos, Joe
Length: 5,900 words
Author on LJ: ishafel
Author Website: http://archive.skyehawke.com/authors.php?no=541
Why this must be read:

Nailing characterization can be particularly hard in Highlander; when a person lives for hundreds or thousands of years the layers of that make up that character are outside the scope of mortal experience. We can only imagine what it must be like to be that person. The characterizations really shines in this story, in particular, Methos's actions are well anchored in the context of his ancient experience.

Preemptive Strike

Fandom: STARGATE: ATLANTIS
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Length: 780 words
Author on LJ: linabean
Author Website: fic tag
Why this must be read: Has this really never been recced on the Van before? I checked back for at least 150 recs, and it wasn't there. So I guess that makes me the lucky one, because this? Is a gen-u-ine fandom classic. "Found" is poem remixed from storyfinder requests, and under Linabean's careful touch, it works both works as meta, and as a genuinely poignant ode to fannish passion. What more can I say? It's brilliant!

Found

Fandom: TORCHWOOD
Pairing: Jack/tech, Jack/Ianto
Length: 1,900 words
Author on LJ: iamshadow
Author Website: shadowfiction
Why this must be read: This is a happymaking fic. It sounds like it should be pervy, with that pairing, doesn't it? But by Torchwood standards it's not. I guarantee, though, that it will make you smile, and go, "Oh."

I'll Give You What You Need