that isn't a hack - its just using the normal core functions that are available

Instead or working against the system work with it.

this assumes you want to keep frontpage funtionality for rss feeds etc

go to your menu tick the frontpage component & copy - now you'll have two com_frontpage with different ids

com_frontpage&itemid=1
com_frontpage&itemid=XX

put com_frontpage&itemid=1 as the first item in your menu

open the parameters & change the settings for com_frontpage&itemid=1
leading=0
intro=0
columns=1
links=0
pagination=hide
pagination results=hide

then use a module like bknews, flexcontent or mod-html to include what you want on the com_frontpage&itemid=1 where your content would normally appear. If you haven't got a module position where mosmainbody would normally appear you could just use the pathway position (might have to apply a page suffix for styling).

you can copy the frontpage as many times as you want to get different views like by category or alphabetical/newest/oldest/author-alphabetical ect BUT pagination can only be on for one version otherwise it could screw up your feeds.