Fic Rec: The Baker Street Nativity

[blissthisway.livejournal.com]

Title: The Baker Street Nativity
Author: SwissMiss
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 99,662 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC crossover with Nativity! (the movie)

Author's summary: Fusion between Sherlock (BBC) and Nativity! (2009 movie starring Martin Freeman). Sherlock is a primary school teacher and John is assigned to be his classroom assistant. Together, they are charged with putting on the school's Nativity play. What could possibly go wrong?

Reccer's comments: This is a fun story. It stays true to Sherlock while still managing to keep the flavor of Nativity!, not an easy feat as they are very different works. Her Sherlock POV voice is convincing, and her John working with the kids is a joy. Heartwarming Christmas fun. With sex, boundary issues, and Moriarty. Highly recommended.

Fic Rec: Unkissed Series

[blissthisway.livejournal.com]

Title: Unkissed series
Author: 221b_hound
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 19,433 words (so far)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: (for the first story) Sherlock returned from the dead a year ago. John returned to Baker Street six months ago. They've been in a couple since then. or at least, not NOT a couple. For two smart men, they sure can be dumb. Luckily, an art thief tries to drown Sherlock, Sherlock has a fever dream and things are about to change.

Reccer's comments: I really like the progression of the relationship here - from some sort of unstated love to what passes for a conventional relationship for John & Sherlock. The emotional storytelling is compelling and sweet; I got verklempt a few times, and I really like her take on John's and Sherlock's characters. Well done!

Fic Rec: Exchange

[frozen_delight]

Title: Exchange
Author: narsus
Pairing: Sherlock/Mycroft
Length: ~ 6300 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: Interactions between brothers.

Reccer's comments: A deliciously saucy Holmescest fic which presents more or less the same set of events, first from John's POV, then from Mycroft's, then from Sherlock's, giving us a kaleidoscopic view of the complicated relationship between the two brothers.
John is suitably observant and confused by what he observes, whereas Sherlock presents himself as a terribly manipulative, spoilt child and outdoes himself to add to John's confusion by exposing him to the Holmes brothers' far from conventional moral standards, and Mycroft, finally, comes across as the enigmatic, manipulative politician we know him to be, but with the added playfulness of a Bond girl - an image I can no longer get out of my head whenever I think of him.
The characterisations of all three men are aweworthy, and in particular the intricacies of the Holmes brothers' relations have rarely been captured so well and certainly never so funnily as in this brilliant paragraph:

After a further few hours spent looking over portrayals of Captain Hook, Sherlock comes to the conclusion that it wasn’t that he wanted to be a pirate in his youth, but instead that he’d rather fancied the idea of being carried off by a dashing gentleman who’d turned to a life of crime. None of which helps the situation any. Presumably other boys had wanted to have adventures with Peter Pan, or at least boys other than Mycroft. Sherlock can’t imagine Mycroft having wanted to do anything other than set up a decent economic structure and quite possibly Neverland’s first bank if given the chance.

A very rewarding read, because the author doesn't actually tell us everything and expects us to draw our own conclusions.

Fic Rec: Tea and Bitching

[venusinthenight]

Title: Tea and Bitching
Author: gardnerhill on AO3
Pairing: None
Length: 688 words
Rating: not rated
Warnings: Author chose not to use warnings (see reccer's comments)
Verse: Elementary, Sherlock BBC, Doctor Who, and Torchwood

Author's summary: Some things are universal - like white male privilege.

Reccer's comments: Three women of colour -- Elementary's Joan Watson, Sherlock's Sally Donovan, and Doctor Who + Torchwood's Martha Jones -- walk into a bar/pub. They eat, drink, and swap stories. Hilarity ensues.

(Although the author chose not to warn, I don't see anything in the fic that requires a warning. I'd also add that you don't need to have seen, or know much about, Doctor Who or Torchwood to enjoy this.)