#aubreymaturin — Public Fediverse posts

Admiral Jack is a lucky fellow,
His hat is black,
and his flag's not yellow.

#LotR #AubreyMaturin

#AubreyMaturin + #StarTrek shipmates: in the opener to a Strange New Worlds episode two weeks ago (s04e02, “The Griffin Incident”), Kirk is dumping out his backpack to get a flashlight, and a paper novel slides out. It’s “Master and Commander”.

#PatrickOBrian

I finished the original run of the Lubber's Hole podcast covering 21, and the best part is this year's revival is already queued up next!

Wittles is up!

https://lubbershole.podbean.com/

#AubreyMaturin #MasterAndCommander #PatrickOBrian

On my re-read of "H.M.S. Surprise", and this time through I picked up something new on the scenes in Bombay. Jack has had the crew search for Stephen for days, and I missed on previous reads that Stephen had not just taken leave. He had written a letter to the ship, but Dil never completed the delivery.

It adds more to the "missed connections" going on in that whole chapter. 🥺

#AubreyMaturin #PatrickOBrian

@Kirkman Joshua Corey, who blogs the Aubrey-Maturin Review, has a footnote in a separate post about "Bartleby the Scrivener" on Davies's devotion to Jack. Since Jack saved Davies from drowning, Jack providing for him is an "obscure justice", even if Davies could be a handful. https://joshuacorey.substack.com/p/bartleby-boys?utm_source=publication-search#footnote-anchor-1-148123935

#AubreyMaturin #MasterAndCommander #PatrickOBrian

This summer I completed another "circumnavigation" — a complete reading of all the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian — and I was struck by something about the character Awkward Davies that I hadn’t noticed in previous readings.

https://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/2025/09/awkward-davies-at-end-of-aubrey-maturin-series.html

#AubreyMaturin #MasterAndCommander #MasterCommander

Books I’ve finished recently - https://www.web-goddess.org/archive/88769

In recent weeks I’ve powered through three more of the #AubreyMaturin books… plus one very, very weird one from Kate Folk that I had to wait for months to get my hands on. Here are my review notes if you’re not on Goodreads.

- The Mauritius Command (Aubrey & Maturin #4) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7091291-the-mauritius-command) by Patrick O’Brian – There were fewer gaspworthy moments, mostly because POB sticks pretty close to the actual historical record, as I understand it. Less romantic entanglements, and more sea battles. But Clonfert was such an interesting psychological study, and it was cool to see Jack level up as a leader of leaders. Loved seeing some of our old friends again, including Killick (who is a LEGEND). There were several cheerworthy moments, especially the ending… though every time Jack seems to be on the up, the next book will start with him in a low I’m sure!
- Desolation Island (Aubrey & Maturin #5) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/902653.Desolation_Island) by Patrick O’Brian – Once I realised what Desolation Island referred to, I was actually reluctant to finish the book for fear of what lay ahead for Stephen and Jack!
- Sky Daddy (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216247489-sky-daddy) by Kate Folk – Roger Ebert always said you should judge a work of art not by what it ought to be, but by how well it achieves whatever it’s trying to be. I’ve never read a book about a character romantically and sexually obsessed with airplanes. That’s not a metaphor. There are obviously depths to the character, but as she’s the only narrator, it’s up to you to come to your own conclusions about why she is the way she is. (Is it wrong that I want to make a vision board now?)
- The Fortune of War (Aubrey & Maturin #6) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77426.The_Fortune_of_War) by Patrick O’Brian – It’s astonishing how much HAPPENS in this book. (Explosions! Shipwrecks! Cannibalism! Defeat! Lunatics!) I got worried when it turned into a spy/action movie in the second half (though I did laugh at the “Titus Andronicus” reference), but I loved when we ended with yet another famous historic sea battle. I also like that even though POB managed to get me rooting for the British over the Yanks, the Americans are mostly all excellent fellows and it’s just the evil Frenchmen that are the real villains. I miss Killick and all the old crew though and hope they’re all back together again soon.

DUUUUUDE. Early in the book I recognised one of Pontet-Canet’s bits of dialogue as coming from the famous gastronomer Brillat-Savarin in real life. I wondered if POB was putting Savarin in the story, maybe disguised? But I just got to the part where Pontet-Canet surprises Maturin in the hotel, and DUUUDE. I yelled out loud. DEFINITELY NOT SAVARIN. 😮🗡️😂😂😂 #AubreyMaturin

I’ve asked a question on the #AubreyMaturin subreddit about “greasy Snooks”! https://www.reddit.com/r/AubreyMaturinSeries/s/s0RdhHJU47

Give me joy, shipmates! The packet came in!

My previous circumnavigations have all been on audiobooks.

#AubreyMaturin #PatrickOBrian

I’ve been powering through Desolation Island, looking forward to Jack and company finally getting to Australia. I can’t decide if Stephen is the Greatest Spy Ever, or if he’s completely getting played by this American lady. Hmmmm… #AubreyMaturin

Greasy Snooks! - https://www.web-goddess.org/archive/87955

Just finished #AubreyMaturin book 4, The Mauritius Command. I gave a scream of laughter when Captain Jack predicted his daughters’ future:

‘No, no. It is not the same thing at all. Now, thank God, they have portions; and so eventually they will marry some greasy fellow called Snooks—you must admit, Stephen, that it is not the same thing at all.’

Yes, my Snook took quite a bit of offence.

I’m up to book 4 of #AubreyMaturin and I’ve finally stopped looking up every nautical term. Now I just let them wash over me. 😂 But I really want to shake Lord Clonfert and tell him to listen to some Taylor Swift. Jack Aubrey is living rent free in his head, and it is *not* healthy.

It’s a book where someone had their fingernails pulled out, and a sloth got debauched, and there were vicious sea battles, and a surgeon performing surgery on themselves… and still, the moment I GASPED was when a man felt a ring in an envelope. 😭 #AubreyMaturin

Wait wait wait. Is Jack resting his injured foot in a BUCKET of SESAME OIL?! Does sesame oil have healing properties?? Because I’ve got a sore bum and a bottle in the pantry… 😂😂😂 #AubreyMaturin

@annathepiper Yes, definitely the world-building feels a part of lots of good Star Trek writing.

An older essay on Reactor covers this ground too: https://reactormag.com/not-a-moment-to-be-lost-patrick-obrians-aubrey-maturin-series/

#AubreyMaturin #MasterAndCommander #PatrickOBrian

Catching up on The Lubber's Hole podcast, and hey, there's my buddy @redbluething getting interviewed! (THE MAPPING PROJECT TOOK 14 YEARS?!) #AubreyMaturin

I didn’t expect this book would make me cry. (I got to the end of the chapter with Dil.) #AubreyMaturin 😢

I’m very pleased that “debauching the sloth” was not nearly as bad as I had been imagining. 😂 Good ol’ Lethargy… 🦥 #AubreyMaturin

Now there’s a sloth. I’ve seen references to the sloth on blogs and such. Nothing bad better happen to this sloth! #AubreyMaturin

I feel very bad that the midshipmen ate Stephen’s rats, but tell me he’s not giving them laxatives so he can get the bones to examine?!?! Stephen’s experiments would never pass an ethics board. 😆 #AubreyMaturin

Whoa! No silliness or bear carcasses in this one—we’re straight into it with a daring rescue of tortured prisoners. 🫣 I need to pause and research the history of Minorca… #AubreyMaturin

LOL. Some rejected emo kids would be content with merely stalking their crush through her Instagram, but angst-ridden Dr. Stephen Maturin literally spends every cent to buy SPY REPORTS on his wannabe gf and her sugar daddy. 😂 #AubreyMaturin

Okay, that’s #PostCaptain finished! I was surprised to see on the Metafilter discussion that most folks think this is the worst one. I loved it! So different from the first. And how can it be that no one on Ravelry has yet designed Stephen Maturin’s rational wool one-piece garment? Clearly, this is destined to be my next Easter Show entry. 😂 #AubreyMaturin

Bwahahahahaha 🐝 #AubreyMaturin

If you had told me even three months ago that I would vocally cheer a fictional sea captain getting promoted, I would not have believed you. 😯 #AubreyMaturin

“Every since I was breached, I’ve pined to see a narwhal.” I much prefer giant nerd Maturin to depressive emo Maturin. #AubreyMaturin

Ffs Stephen. A wineglass of laudanum, just because you smelled her perfume? What a drama queen. 😂 #AubreyMaturin

“Post Captain” continues to astonish me with its dramatic plot twists. Did Jack just… straight up kill a dude in Hamstead Heath?!? #AubreyMaturin