Open Recs

[tanpopo03]

It's time for another Open Recs Weekend!

Read something intriguing, something that made you smile or tear up? Came across amazing art or a great vid?

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Any version of Sherlock Holmes is welcome, as are WIPs.

We're also looking for reccers for August! If you'd like to be a reccer please head over

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[chapbook]

WIPs I am following:

Wonderful history AU set in 1860 in England. I LOVE that the author does not shy away from period gender prejudice. Even "good" characters like John Watson have biases; they're not relegated to villains so that the hero/ine can be ahistorically progressive. Which means (I suspect) heartbreak ahead and sympathy not just focussed on the primary romantic couple. Also, an understanding of the subtle differences created by class (middle =/= upper class), which many fanfic authors minimize:

All We Ought To Ask (26956 words) by achray
Chapters: 6/?
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Characters: Molly Hooper, Greg Lestrade, Mary Morstan
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Clergymen, Religion, First Time
Summary:
1860. Change is in the air. John is a clergyman and former army chaplain, attempting to settle down in a country parish and lead a quiet life. But with Sherlock Holmes, reputed to be England's most dangerous religious controversialist, as the local aristocrat, what are his prospects of success?

Another history AU, this one is set in 1920s Paris. John is closer to Doyle's Watson in that he is more obviously broken by the war:

A Fragrant Phantom (15090 words) by fleurs_du_mol
Chapters: 7/?
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mary Morstan/John Watson, Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Greg Lestrade, John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, Mary Morstan, Jim Moriarty
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe, POV First Person, POV John Watson, Sexual Tension, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Identity, Established Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Historical, Queer History, Queer Themes, Alternate Universe - 1920s
Summary:
1920's AU. John Watson, an English expat and ex-army doctor, lives in Paris. He's making a cheap living off of travel articles written about the Left Bank and staying in a barren studio. Due to the mental toll the war took, he's recently separated from his wife, who can't see the current veteran as her old husband. When Greg Lestrade, a longtime friend who's on holiday, convinces John to go to a party at the British consul's house, John meets the consul's younger brother... an aloof young man named Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock needs a flatmate, and after agreeing to live with him, John gets drawn into his line of work via a criminal case that involves 'poltergeist' activity, blackmail, and the poisoning of a young girl. Of course, Sherlock is unconvinced that the problems are supernatural. John, meanwhile, tries to reconcile with the physical reactions and emotional responses he has to the dynamic and often petulant consulting detective.

Mirith Griffin's "crack" sci-fi AU takes a turn towards the dark:

XO (50372 words) by MirithGriffin
Chapters: 19/?
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Summary:
When Benedict Cumberbatch went on Top Gear and said, "There's a load of fan fiction which has me and John Watson floating in space on a bed handcuffed to one another," three people wrote me within an hour to say it sounded a heck of a lot like this. Alternate universe. Almost literally.

[chapbook]

Complete:

Sorrow comes to Sherlock and John in the shape of a war. John leaves home to follow Lord Garrideb. Gorgeous, poetic approach to prose:

Hollow to Your Bones (884 words) by wiggleofjudas
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson
Additional Tags: 221B Ficlet, War, Frogs, Autumn
Series: Part 2 of The Snow Queen
Summary:
Truth outs bright as coreopsis, painful as buckthorn.

Anyone who knows of the symbolic link between tree blossoms (which are ephemeral) and the death of soldiers, will understand the jagged beauty underlying this prose poem:

Genus Prunus (221 words) by aderyn
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson
Additional Tags: The Adventure of the Empty House, Reunion, the laws of nature, cherry blossoms & returns
Series: Part 18 of Deep Map
Summary:
Three years gone and loved, god, more than another life.

[swissmarg]

You are totally my WIP reccer! Subscribed to everything. :D