The Bookshelf - Rec List #1
Here it is, our first fic rec post! My plan is to do this once a month, or whenever we feel like it, whichever happens first. This is a place to recommend to your fellow readers good pastiches, essays, adaptations, and even music that features our beloved Holmes and Watson.
This month, we're out for recs that have something to do with Study in ( Read more... )
This month, we're out for recs that have something to do with Study in ( Read more... )
Author: No Less Remarkable Alicia
Rating: R
Category: au, perhaps, but close to canon, pre-slash
Reason for Rec: This story was meant to be a prequel to an AU, but can stand alone. It's told from the point of view of a tattoo artist, who has been asked to remove a tattoo/scar from a young man who calls himself "Will Prescott". Warning: this is a dark AU in many ways. Mention of past torture, among other things. But Alicia is/was an amazing wordsmith, and I promise you the angst is well worth it.
The Case of the Cunningham Heritage
Rating: G
Category: television show
Reason for Rec:
The Ronald Howard/H. Marion Crawford series that was done in the fifties has one of the few filmed versions of the "Meeting", done in this pilot episode. While it took me a while to get used to Watson's mustache, I must admit to being terribly fond of this series overall. Ronald Howard's Holmes is young, brilliant, and just a bit absent-minded, and he truly benefits from the brawny contributions of Crawford's Watson.
The link above goes to Hulu, but the entire series is out on DVD and very cheaply too. Try Borders, or Amazon. Or This link to the internet archive.
(You know this has me hunting out everything I can think of... what fun!)
SIGN ficlet
Author: Jane Turenne
Rating: pg for mild language
Category: canon, H/W preslash and W/M
Reason for Rec:
In this brief (just over 500 words) piece, Jane manages to take Holmes through the entire emotional journey of SIGN and bring him to a decision that is both beautiful and painful at the end. Wonderfully done.
On Afghanistan's Plains
Author: Pompey
Rating: K+
Category: Gen, canon
Reason for Rec: This is without question the best fanfic I have found about Watson's experiences at the battle of Maiwand and afterwards. Pompey ties in the benefits of her research effortlessly, and gives us a view of Watson before Holmes that expands elegantly on the few clues we're given at the beginning of SIGN.
The Sign of Four
Rating: G, or PG for violence
Category: Movie
Reason for Rec:
When Arthur Wontner played Holmes in 1932 they updated Sign of the Four, I think so that Mary Morstan could be an independent business woman. But the movie is well worth watching. Ian Hunter is a young and dashing Watson, and the script writer had far too much fun with the "Elementary" line. The movie also has the creepiest Jonathan Small on film -- much more menacing than the original!
(Alas, the Reginald Owen film of STUD from the following year is not nearly so watchable.)
An Ordinary Meeting
Author: aragonite
Rating: G
Category: Gen, canon
Reason for Rec: Aragonite is one of my all time favorite writers, and the first chapter of this story is why. I love her Lestrade and I love her Watson, and in this, their first meeting, you'll see exactly why.
Aragonite has taken a good part of her fiction from the net and published it at Lulu, and believe me, if you are at all a Lestrade fan, (or a Watson fan!) you'll find it more than worth your time to hunt it out. But start with this -- trust me!
Reply
Leave a comment