Black Shuck (A Study in Emerald, Holmes, Watson)

[puella_nerdii]

I wrote one story for Yuletide this year, as usual, because no matter how often I promise I'm going to pick up a treat or two, I never actually seem to. Er. I got an absolutely great prompt from inmyriadbits for Neil Gaiman's short story A Study in Emerald, which is a Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu version and is the HOTTEST THING EVER, particularly if you're into

Comments

[ivory_and_horn]

I remember reading this!! ...Pretty sure I kudos'd it too, but in case I didn't, let me say now that it was really cool and I liked it.

[puella_nerdii]

You did, I think! And thank you again. God, this was a blast to write.

[silver_sandals]

He knows no other way to do it, he has told me, for too many other meanings attach themselves to the whole.

That's really good.

Also this:

I am not him, and I can write as much.

I loved that even though the curiosity of you and the reader was focused on Holmes, you still managed to give us so much of Watson, and the contrast between Holmes the rationalist and Watson the survivor.

Maybe that's just me; I'm an intense Watson fangirl.

Also brrrr, the eldritch horror is just right. I like that Watson uses "journeys" instead of "adventures". Their lives are so far removed from sanity but they fight on anyways. ♥

[puella_nerdii]

So am I, actually. I love Sherlock but I don't think I can write the inside of his head in any incarnation -- I mean, maybe I could, but it'd be a struggle. Watson's voice is a lot easier to slip into.

It is so fun to cast them on the other side of the law, I have to say -- it does give their lives a certain amount of predictability, and seeing Holmes react to circumstances where he can't rely on a lot of his old material standbys is just delicious.

[megkips]

I read this before the reveals and loved it - I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone I knew to be awesome wrote it.

<3. Everything about this was awesome. Thank you for writing it!

[puella_nerdii]

And thank you for reading!

God, I had so much fun with this. The whole 'verse is great, really. And I got to pastiche Gaiman. GAIMAN. Fuck yeah. (The man basically molded my brain. I will never get The Sandman out of all the nooks and crannies in it.)

[megkips]

The fun you were having really shows in the piece, which is a great thing. You did a good Gaiman pastiche. (I think MOST writers in the 20s fanfic generation have no small amount of Gaiman influence. He did influence how I look at mythology and writing several papers that got to include Gaiman works were some of my proudest academic moments.)

[puella_nerdii]

I love pastiching Gaiman! The stories where I do so tend to be favorites of mine -- I'm still absurdly fond of the Vino/Corinthian Baccano!/Sandman crossover I wrote a while back.

(He's a staple, yep. The way he tells stories really speaks to me -- it's hard to explain because it's become so intrinsic to who I am as a writer, but I love the way he looks at the world and I want to do that when I grow up. "Grow up" being a relative term and all that.)

[pinstripesuit]

I-I LOVE YOU

and there might be fanart for this story

[puella_nerdii]

omgomgomgreallyyay

:D :D :D

[twigcollins]

I am absolutely crap at commenting on things, because it seems like I never know the right way to compose my thoughts after I've read something I really love, so this feature is friggin' awesome.

My sentiments exactly. Hence the kudos. ^^

Seriously, one of my more favorite Gaiman shorts, and this was easily its equal.

[puella_nerdii]

And they are much appreciated! (...what is the singular form of kudos, anyway.)

And oh god, thank you so much -- that's seriously the highest praise ever as far as I'm concerned.