Sherlock fanfic recs?
April 19, 2013 9:38 PM Subscribe
Please post your fanfic recs here for posterity.
(Continued from the conversation in chat.metafilter.com, which keeps crashing.)
I mostly enjoy angsty #johnlock porn, but I'll read anything good. (Except for Omegaverse -- I do *not* understand the appeal of that genre.)
Thanks!!! I'll be in my bunk. :)
(Continued from the conversation in chat.metafilter.com, which keeps crashing.)
I mostly enjoy angsty #johnlock porn, but I'll read anything good. (Except for Omegaverse -- I do *not* understand the appeal of that genre.)
Thanks!!! I'll be in my bunk. :)
My favorite is branwyn's Compatible Damage series, which features a genderswapped John, angst galore, and mysteries other than the six already used by the BBC.
posted by asperity at 9:45 PM on April 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by asperity at 9:45 PM on April 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
Indecorous - kinky sex-positive stuff, probably the best I've read even though none of the kinks described are actually my kinks.
Sherlock/Kushiel crossover AU, just for the WTFness of it. It sort of works. (Not worth reading if you haven't read the Kushiel series, though.)
posted by restless_nomad at 9:50 PM on April 19, 2013 [5 favorites]
Sherlock/Kushiel crossover AU, just for the WTFness of it. It sort of works. (Not worth reading if you haven't read the Kushiel series, though.)
posted by restless_nomad at 9:50 PM on April 19, 2013 [5 favorites]
I enjoyed working through this extensive rec list.
posted by mysh at 10:01 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by mysh at 10:01 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Here are some rec lists from various tumblrs. I can't vouch for all of them, but rec lists are better than "here's a million pieces of fanfiction--good luck!":
anarmydoctor's recs
recs based on fanmade book covers for stories
recs with zombies in them
"Sherlock has a good heart, even if no one can see it" recs
porny recs
ununpentium's rec list
"interestingly written" recs
first-time stories
post-Reichenbach fics
superpower/telepathy recs
A tumblr post linking to a variety of different kinds of John/Sherlock recs pages
special circle in hell recs (for teh seXX0rz)
UST recs
BBC Sherlock "classics"
Sweet dreams!
posted by tzikeh at 10:04 PM on April 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
anarmydoctor's recs
recs based on fanmade book covers for stories
recs with zombies in them
"Sherlock has a good heart, even if no one can see it" recs
porny recs
ununpentium's rec list
"interestingly written" recs
first-time stories
post-Reichenbach fics
superpower/telepathy recs
A tumblr post linking to a variety of different kinds of John/Sherlock recs pages
special circle in hell recs (for teh seXX0rz)
UST recs
BBC Sherlock "classics"
Sweet dreams!
posted by tzikeh at 10:04 PM on April 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
The amazing Paradox series by Wordstrings has kind of ruined me for all other Sherlock fanfic...so you might want to save it for last. :-)
Oh! and The Least of All Possible Mistakes by rageprufrock--it's Mycroft/female!Lestrade and it's incredible. And it's finished!
posted by exceptinsects at 11:37 PM on April 19, 2013 [4 favorites]
Oh! and The Least of All Possible Mistakes by rageprufrock--it's Mycroft/female!Lestrade and it's incredible. And it's finished!
posted by exceptinsects at 11:37 PM on April 19, 2013 [4 favorites]
I actually have a great, great rec, strangely enough - although this is not my fandom or sort of fic. All, all should read The Violet Hour, which is actually good enough to stand on its own two feet. (I mean, I read lots of fic that isn't good enough to read the way you'd read a regular short story - I was just very impressed by this one.)
It's an AU set in the twenties, in which Watson was a medic in WWI. He and Sherlock are called to solve both a contemporary disappearance and a very, very cold case with bearing on the Irish troubles. The regular part of the story is far better than average-written but there are some letters late in the story that really shine - very convincing and unique in voice, unlike anything else I've encountered in fic. It's a story which left me wanting to read a novel about one of the original characters, something else that seldom happens.
Sherlock and John also meet members of the Bloomsbury set, which is handled quite well and based in quite a lot of research.
There's a very interesting section on Limehouse as well, which is obviously intended as a critique and correction for a lot of the orientalism in the original stories and - in particular - in the recent movie.
It's totally amazing, very long and plotty. Not incredibly pornographic, although it is slash.
posted by Frowner at 6:33 AM on April 20, 2013 [11 favorites]
It's an AU set in the twenties, in which Watson was a medic in WWI. He and Sherlock are called to solve both a contemporary disappearance and a very, very cold case with bearing on the Irish troubles. The regular part of the story is far better than average-written but there are some letters late in the story that really shine - very convincing and unique in voice, unlike anything else I've encountered in fic. It's a story which left me wanting to read a novel about one of the original characters, something else that seldom happens.
Sherlock and John also meet members of the Bloomsbury set, which is handled quite well and based in quite a lot of research.
There's a very interesting section on Limehouse as well, which is obviously intended as a critique and correction for a lot of the orientalism in the original stories and - in particular - in the recent movie.
It's totally amazing, very long and plotty. Not incredibly pornographic, although it is slash.
posted by Frowner at 6:33 AM on April 20, 2013 [11 favorites]
How the mouth changes its shape (132522 words) by breathedout
Chapters: 20/20
Fandom: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Victor(ia) Trevor, Original Characters, lots of them, John(nie) Watson, Sally Donovon
Additional Tags: Genderswap, Alternate Universe - Historical, Butch/Femme, World War II, 1950s
Summary: 1955. Under the placid veneer of suburban playparks and middle-class conformity churns a hidden London: femmes and butches dancing close in basement bars; clandestine love between women. To Sherlock Holmes, struggling private detective and mistress of disguise, it’s a realm she renounced years before. To Johnnie Watson, daredevil ambulance driver turned auto mechanic, it’s become a little too familiar. But when someone is murdered in the washroom of the city’s most notorious lesbian club, the investigation will lead both women to reconsider their assumptions about themselves, each other, and the world in which they live.
Okay, so as it says, this is Sherlock genderswap fic, AU set in the 1950s. The beginning (which I wasn't as crazy about) is Sherlock at boarding school; but then it moves ahead to Sherlock and John meeting in the 50s, moving in together, and solving a mystery. I thought it was a tiny bit too critical of butch-femme dynamics but that so didn't even matter because... this is GOOD femmeslash. I really, really enjoyed this: it's long! It has a plot! I didn't even hate the sex scenes! The characterization was pretty believable (although I can't quite see John as a butch lesbian, I'm sorry: original book!Watson, yes; BBC Sherlock!John, no). It reminded me in good ways of lesbian pulp (of course), although it just as clearly wasn't one (also, happy ending).
posted by lysimache at 9:19 AM on April 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
Chapters: 20/20
Fandom: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Victor(ia) Trevor, Original Characters, lots of them, John(nie) Watson, Sally Donovon
Additional Tags: Genderswap, Alternate Universe - Historical, Butch/Femme, World War II, 1950s
Summary: 1955. Under the placid veneer of suburban playparks and middle-class conformity churns a hidden London: femmes and butches dancing close in basement bars; clandestine love between women. To Sherlock Holmes, struggling private detective and mistress of disguise, it’s a realm she renounced years before. To Johnnie Watson, daredevil ambulance driver turned auto mechanic, it’s become a little too familiar. But when someone is murdered in the washroom of the city’s most notorious lesbian club, the investigation will lead both women to reconsider their assumptions about themselves, each other, and the world in which they live.
Okay, so as it says, this is Sherlock genderswap fic, AU set in the 1950s. The beginning (which I wasn't as crazy about) is Sherlock at boarding school; but then it moves ahead to Sherlock and John meeting in the 50s, moving in together, and solving a mystery. I thought it was a tiny bit too critical of butch-femme dynamics but that so didn't even matter because... this is GOOD femmeslash. I really, really enjoyed this: it's long! It has a plot! I didn't even hate the sex scenes! The characterization was pretty believable (although I can't quite see John as a butch lesbian, I'm sorry: original book!Watson, yes; BBC Sherlock!John, no). It reminded me in good ways of lesbian pulp (of course), although it just as clearly wasn't one (also, happy ending).
posted by lysimache at 9:19 AM on April 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
Here are some of my favorites:
Saving Sherlock Holmes, a fantastic AU where John and Sherlock are school boys at Eton. Seriously, I had my doubts about this one, but I really, really loved it.
Nothing to Make a Song About. The blurb: When Sherlock returned from his faked death, John could not forgive him for the deception and broke off their friendship. Ten years later, John returns to London in search of yet another new beginning. Sherlock, not surprisingly, is waiting.
Disguise. The blurb: Sherlock's disguises are little more than a nuisance to John until one day he walks into the kitchen dressed as someone from John's past, someone John had tried to forget. This one is super-hot.
The Chemistry is Incredibly Simple and Very Destructive. The blurb: Sherlock is too busy to continue to go out and procure willing sex partners for himself so he comes up with the perfect solution: John. After all, he knows John is attracted to him and they are already living together. Why not make their friendship one with benefits? What could go wrong?
The Progress of Sherlock Holmes. You wanted angsty? Here you go: Sherlock is head over heels for John, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him. First-person present-tense series of short scenes from Sherlock's point of view, borrowing heavily from Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.
And because I like funny Sherlock stories, here are a couple of my favorites of those. Think of them as palate-cleansers between servings of porny angst:
Ridiculous. John is the best retrieval expert the British Army has, and so naturally it's him that's sent in when some man with little sense of self-preservation keeps getting himself taken hostage - again, and again, and again.
Big Brother is Watching You. Sherlock and John enter the Big Brother house.
On the courting behaviour of the British Sherlock. Sherlocks can be destructive when bored. We're hoping the introduction of a companion John Watson will improve matters.
(It's sort of terrifying to me how much I enjoy this fandom.)
posted by That's Numberwang! at 1:05 PM on April 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
Saving Sherlock Holmes, a fantastic AU where John and Sherlock are school boys at Eton. Seriously, I had my doubts about this one, but I really, really loved it.
Nothing to Make a Song About. The blurb: When Sherlock returned from his faked death, John could not forgive him for the deception and broke off their friendship. Ten years later, John returns to London in search of yet another new beginning. Sherlock, not surprisingly, is waiting.
Disguise. The blurb: Sherlock's disguises are little more than a nuisance to John until one day he walks into the kitchen dressed as someone from John's past, someone John had tried to forget. This one is super-hot.
The Chemistry is Incredibly Simple and Very Destructive. The blurb: Sherlock is too busy to continue to go out and procure willing sex partners for himself so he comes up with the perfect solution: John. After all, he knows John is attracted to him and they are already living together. Why not make their friendship one with benefits? What could go wrong?
The Progress of Sherlock Holmes. You wanted angsty? Here you go: Sherlock is head over heels for John, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him. First-person present-tense series of short scenes from Sherlock's point of view, borrowing heavily from Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.
And because I like funny Sherlock stories, here are a couple of my favorites of those. Think of them as palate-cleansers between servings of porny angst:
Ridiculous. John is the best retrieval expert the British Army has, and so naturally it's him that's sent in when some man with little sense of self-preservation keeps getting himself taken hostage - again, and again, and again.
Big Brother is Watching You. Sherlock and John enter the Big Brother house.
On the courting behaviour of the British Sherlock. Sherlocks can be destructive when bored. We're hoping the introduction of a companion John Watson will improve matters.
(It's sort of terrifying to me how much I enjoy this fandom.)
posted by That's Numberwang! at 1:05 PM on April 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
Seconding "how the mouth changes its shape" for an example of fantastic genderswap. And I also agree that the story doesn't really get going until a few chapters in when Sherlock and Johnnie meet.
posted by book 'em dano at 7:49 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by book 'em dano at 7:49 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I bookmarked everything I read in that fandom, and the ones I liked have a little heart and a short commentary :)
posted by snakeling at 5:17 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by snakeling at 5:17 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]
Here are more of my must-reads. Forgive me if I'm duplicating from other rec lists, I haven't looked at them all.
Synthesis. Sherlock, head injury, aphasia.
The Plan. John had a plan, and its name was Get Some Sex. And the capitals were most certainly necessary.
Left. John Watson is left-handed. He’s tried not to let it affect his life, but as any Lefty knows, that’s almost impossible.
All That's Made. The blurb on this one doesn't really do it justice. No porn, but still angsty and rather sweet. (This story falls into one of my favorite kinds of Sherlock story: told from the perspective of the Yarders.)
See Recipe For Details. John knows Sherlock’s mouth will never water over the sweet smells of baking chocolate biscuits or a lovely roast chicken, but he’s watched Sherlock nick mince pies out of Mrs. Hudson’s fridge often enough to deduce that the man does have taste, albeit confusing and obscure. So John makes a list: Things Sherlock Likes.
Holmes-Breaking. John has finally had enough, and decides to find out if you can teach a theoretically-post-adolescent feline new tricks.
First Night Out. As John recovers from the effects of a brutal kidnapping, he and Sherlock attend the Yarders' Christmas Party. There are... developments on the dance floor... (Another one from the Yarders' perspective. Also, anything by the author of this one is almost guaranteed to be clever, gripping, and sexy. She is very good at this stuff.)
Follow My Voice. Sherlock's voice is all John has.
What He Wrote. Sherlock isn't sure if John's flirting or just an exceedingly inept typist.
Man and Beast. Sherlock's a werewolf! This is sort of an overdone trope in this fandom, I feel, but this story does it really well.
I Just Had Sex. Sherlock just had sex and he's going to make sure everyone knows.
The Internet Is Not Just For Porn. John is Sherlock's internet boyfriend - from CANADA. No one thinks he's real.
Let me know if you need more. :)
posted by That's Numberwang! at 9:18 PM on May 12, 2013 [4 favorites]
Synthesis. Sherlock, head injury, aphasia.
The Plan. John had a plan, and its name was Get Some Sex. And the capitals were most certainly necessary.
Left. John Watson is left-handed. He’s tried not to let it affect his life, but as any Lefty knows, that’s almost impossible.
All That's Made. The blurb on this one doesn't really do it justice. No porn, but still angsty and rather sweet. (This story falls into one of my favorite kinds of Sherlock story: told from the perspective of the Yarders.)
See Recipe For Details. John knows Sherlock’s mouth will never water over the sweet smells of baking chocolate biscuits or a lovely roast chicken, but he’s watched Sherlock nick mince pies out of Mrs. Hudson’s fridge often enough to deduce that the man does have taste, albeit confusing and obscure. So John makes a list: Things Sherlock Likes.
Holmes-Breaking. John has finally had enough, and decides to find out if you can teach a theoretically-post-adolescent feline new tricks.
First Night Out. As John recovers from the effects of a brutal kidnapping, he and Sherlock attend the Yarders' Christmas Party. There are... developments on the dance floor... (Another one from the Yarders' perspective. Also, anything by the author of this one is almost guaranteed to be clever, gripping, and sexy. She is very good at this stuff.)
Follow My Voice. Sherlock's voice is all John has.
What He Wrote. Sherlock isn't sure if John's flirting or just an exceedingly inept typist.
Man and Beast. Sherlock's a werewolf! This is sort of an overdone trope in this fandom, I feel, but this story does it really well.
I Just Had Sex. Sherlock just had sex and he's going to make sure everyone knows.
The Internet Is Not Just For Porn. John is Sherlock's internet boyfriend - from CANADA. No one thinks he's real.
Let me know if you need more. :)
posted by That's Numberwang! at 9:18 PM on May 12, 2013 [4 favorites]
Sherlock Odd Fic is a good place for recommendations of more off-beat sorts of things (some of which I see recommended by name above).
Disclosure: Not my blog, I don't know the blogger, but some of my stories have been mentioned there. :)
posted by tomboko at 11:00 AM on May 14, 2013
Disclosure: Not my blog, I don't know the blogger, but some of my stories have been mentioned there. :)
posted by tomboko at 11:00 AM on May 14, 2013
I have spent way too much time investigating this topic -- here's my list of recs, categorized and reviewed. (I like angst a lot, too -- there's plenty of that.)
Also, shameless but relevant self-promotion (if that's okay? someone please tell me if that's uncool) -- I write some angsty Johnlock fic myself. A couple highlights:
Every Night I Look For You: Every night I look for you. Oh, I know. It’s a pointless search. I’ll never find you. You’re dead. Post-Reichenbach John -- darkness, angst, angsty sex, and a bit of mystery.
The Sound Of Settling: What would it be like to date someone? (Unknown.) Would it be interesting? (Not with most people.) (John is not most people.) Would he learn anything? (Science?) It might be worth it to see what he can learn.... He teeters on the edge of saying something. Angst and some humor; scenes from canon reinterpreted.
posted by destinationtoast at 10:29 AM on May 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, shameless but relevant self-promotion (if that's okay? someone please tell me if that's uncool) -- I write some angsty Johnlock fic myself. A couple highlights:
Every Night I Look For You: Every night I look for you. Oh, I know. It’s a pointless search. I’ll never find you. You’re dead. Post-Reichenbach John -- darkness, angst, angsty sex, and a bit of mystery.
The Sound Of Settling: What would it be like to date someone? (Unknown.) Would it be interesting? (Not with most people.) (John is not most people.) Would he learn anything? (Science?) It might be worth it to see what he can learn.... He teeters on the edge of saying something. Angst and some humor; scenes from canon reinterpreted.
posted by destinationtoast at 10:29 AM on May 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
I've been obsessively commenting on the fics I enjoy as I plunder the Archive of Our Own. The result (at this writing), 58 recs, with a paragraph explaining why, plus an excerpt of the fic in question.
posted by Jesse the K at 7:05 AM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Jesse the K at 7:05 AM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
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posted by tzikeh at 9:44 PM on April 19, 2013 [4 favorites]