Fic Series Rec: Long Ago and Far Away
Title: Long Ago and Far Away AO3 LJ
Author: lotherington
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 58,106
Rating: ranges between T, M, and E
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: WWII AU in which John is an army doctor and Sherlock is a cryptographer at Bletchley Park.
Reccer's comments: One of the first series I read in the fandom, recently completed. Marvellous from start to finish. Lotherington brings John and Sherlock back to the 1930s and '40s, maintaining their core personalities while skilfully altering certain details to fit the culture and society of pre-war and WWII-era England. For example, the dialogue: her characters use period slang and syntax, yet still make use of verbal tics of the canon characters. As someone fascinated by the history of gender, I was blown away her ability to show different contemporary models of masculinity (Sherlock as a man of the upper classes, John solidly middle class) without doing violence to the characterization or making it seem artificial or didactic. I can go on and on if you like: Lotherington's attention to gesture and costume, the superb realization of rural and urban Britain of the 1930s and 1940s, the gorgeous romance of two men in love who are forced to hide it, the vibrant OCs, the use of motifs to...well, you get the picture. Even if you normally avoid AUs, I would give this series a try.
Excerpt: The underground was crowded, sweltering and noisy. People filled every square inch of the station, children lying on spread out coats, women sitting against the wall, old men standing at the foot of the stairs and talking. A dull roar could be heard above their heads, above ground. A baby cried.
‘This is hateful,’ Sherlock muttered under his breath, looking over John’s head into the darkness of the station’s tunnel. He frowned and pulled a cigarette out of his solid silver case with shaking hands, biting down on the end of it. John struck a match, cupping his hand around it to make sure the draught from the tunnel didn’t extinguish the flame as he lit Sherlock’s cigarette for him.
‘I know,’ John murmured, shaking the match until a thin line of smoke curled up towards the ceiling. The baby continued to cry.
Sherlock drew the smoke into his lungs with a quick, deep breath. ‘The last time we can be together for God only knows how long,’ he spat, pressing the tips of his fingers to his forehead, elbow resting on his drawn-up knee. Smoke escaped his mouth as he spoke. ‘The last time before they keep me under lock and key at Bletchley bloody Park and you get sent to the buggering continent and--’
‘Sherlock,’ John said, his tone quiet and firm as ever.
‘It’s not fair, John,’ Sherlock hissed, inhaling deeply again, locking his wide, wild eyes on John’s. ‘It isn’t fair, and it’s horrid and hateful and beastly and it’s our last night together and we’re in this Godforsaken place and I...’
‘Sherlock,’ John whispered, wrapping his hand around Sherlock’s ankle and squeezing briefly. ‘Calm down.’ The baby let out a loud wail. Its mother rocked it frantically, cooing to it under her breath.
Bristling, Sherlock straightened his back and turned to glare at John. ‘Don’t treat me like a child, John. I don’t want you to go and I don’t want to be here.’ He dropped his voice. ‘I want you in our bed, underneath me. I want my hands on your skin, my lips against yours, I--’ He broke off and brought the cigarette to his mouth, sucking in a shaking breath. He fisted his other hand in the material of his deep grey suit, where it covered his strong thighs. The heat from John’s body next to his bled through the layers of clothes they were both wearing.
‘It isn’t fair,’ Sherlock whispered. ‘It isn’t fair.’
-from "All that May Fall from the Skies Above"
Author: lotherington
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 58,106
Rating: ranges between T, M, and E
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: WWII AU in which John is an army doctor and Sherlock is a cryptographer at Bletchley Park.
Reccer's comments: One of the first series I read in the fandom, recently completed. Marvellous from start to finish. Lotherington brings John and Sherlock back to the 1930s and '40s, maintaining their core personalities while skilfully altering certain details to fit the culture and society of pre-war and WWII-era England. For example, the dialogue: her characters use period slang and syntax, yet still make use of verbal tics of the canon characters. As someone fascinated by the history of gender, I was blown away her ability to show different contemporary models of masculinity (Sherlock as a man of the upper classes, John solidly middle class) without doing violence to the characterization or making it seem artificial or didactic. I can go on and on if you like: Lotherington's attention to gesture and costume, the superb realization of rural and urban Britain of the 1930s and 1940s, the gorgeous romance of two men in love who are forced to hide it, the vibrant OCs, the use of motifs to...well, you get the picture. Even if you normally avoid AUs, I would give this series a try.
Excerpt: The underground was crowded, sweltering and noisy. People filled every square inch of the station, children lying on spread out coats, women sitting against the wall, old men standing at the foot of the stairs and talking. A dull roar could be heard above their heads, above ground. A baby cried.
‘This is hateful,’ Sherlock muttered under his breath, looking over John’s head into the darkness of the station’s tunnel. He frowned and pulled a cigarette out of his solid silver case with shaking hands, biting down on the end of it. John struck a match, cupping his hand around it to make sure the draught from the tunnel didn’t extinguish the flame as he lit Sherlock’s cigarette for him.
‘I know,’ John murmured, shaking the match until a thin line of smoke curled up towards the ceiling. The baby continued to cry.
Sherlock drew the smoke into his lungs with a quick, deep breath. ‘The last time we can be together for God only knows how long,’ he spat, pressing the tips of his fingers to his forehead, elbow resting on his drawn-up knee. Smoke escaped his mouth as he spoke. ‘The last time before they keep me under lock and key at Bletchley bloody Park and you get sent to the buggering continent and--’
‘Sherlock,’ John said, his tone quiet and firm as ever.
‘It’s not fair, John,’ Sherlock hissed, inhaling deeply again, locking his wide, wild eyes on John’s. ‘It isn’t fair, and it’s horrid and hateful and beastly and it’s our last night together and we’re in this Godforsaken place and I...’
‘Sherlock,’ John whispered, wrapping his hand around Sherlock’s ankle and squeezing briefly. ‘Calm down.’ The baby let out a loud wail. Its mother rocked it frantically, cooing to it under her breath.
Bristling, Sherlock straightened his back and turned to glare at John. ‘Don’t treat me like a child, John. I don’t want you to go and I don’t want to be here.’ He dropped his voice. ‘I want you in our bed, underneath me. I want my hands on your skin, my lips against yours, I--’ He broke off and brought the cigarette to his mouth, sucking in a shaking breath. He fisted his other hand in the material of his deep grey suit, where it covered his strong thighs. The heat from John’s body next to his bled through the layers of clothes they were both wearing.
‘It isn’t fair,’ Sherlock whispered. ‘It isn’t fair.’
-from "All that May Fall from the Skies Above"