Art Rec: Coffee

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Title: Coffee (unconventional medium challenge)
Artist: ladyt220.tumblr.com
Pairing: Gen, Sherlock
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Artist's summary: Here, I’m going to annoy you with some tenuously linked fanart I did for my fortnightly arts challenge group. Painted entirely with instant coffee and water.

Reccer's comments: This is just so unexpected, unique and beautiful. The artist has used instant coffee to paint a portrait of Sherlock, and the remarkable detail she/he has achieved using this ‘unconventional medium’ is impressive.

To me the portrait speaks of some powerful sadness – Sherlock seems to be on his knees, his body halfway hunched over, his hair wild and his eyes closed. The rich browns of the coffee, which the artist has shaded delicately throughout the painting, create a kind of sepia tone that, to me, adds to the drama and grief of the image. The artist has even managed to contain the splotchiness of the coffee grains to the shoulder of Sherlock’s coat, where they add texture.

A remarkable piece, I think.

Fic rec: Lost for words

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Title: Lost for words, also here at at AO3
Author: awanderingbard
Pairing: none
Length: 57,000 words
Rating: M
Warnings: This story features a character who has lost the ability to speak and move without difficulty. Some people might find this upsetting. There is also some discussion of withdrawal of life support and DNR orders in the first few chapters, but no instances of either.
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock is assaulted by an unknown assailant while John is away at a medical conference, leaving him with a severe brain injury. While his intellect and personality are intact, he's lost the use of his right-side limbs and his ability to speak freely. John suddenly finds himself as the main source of support, and possibly a caregiver, to a flatmate who is struggling to do the things he loves most. And Sherlock Holmes has never been the best of patients.

Reccer's comments: The author’s summary sums up the content of the fic pretty well.

The idea of taking Sherlock’s words from him is incredibly cruel. To read such a story would be pretty upsetting and this tale could easily have dissolve into an angst fest. The author is certainly walking the line, especially in the first few chapters, but she manages to handle the potentially very disturbing material beautifully well. Instead of angst we get a warm story of the marvellous friendship between Sherlock and John and great scenes with all the loving supportive people surrounding them. The author doesn’t spare her characters, nor the reader, but every scene and interaction between the characters is totally believable and the story reads as if it could have been an episode in the series.

We also get a truly great Mummy Holmes, who struck me as a far more probable mother of the Holmes brothers than the one we have been given in S3.

Add to that some wonderful dialogue and lovely OC’s, and to top it all off a case that is of course solved by the world’s only consulting detective. Because he is too smart for words, really!

Fic Rec: Returning to Tomorrow

[frozen_delight]

Title: Returning to Tomorrow
Author: Setep Ka Tawy, Kaelir of Lorien
Pairing: None
Length: 93,000 words
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: Six months probably isn't long enough for John to begin picking up the pieces. Fortunately, Sherlock is trying to ensure that he doesn't have to. But in the meantime, a good old-fashioned friend is already setting up the board for the next round - and this time there's an ominous twist in the story that's more focused on John than Sherlock cares to admit. Post-Reichenbach plot-arc.

Reccer's comments: Written after the second season, this is a brilliant and tremendously exciting story that, like any Post-Reichenbach story, tries to explain what really happened before, during and after Sherlock's fall. But it does so with some highly individual twists and odd details that are intriguing and convincing and don't make this feel like the umpteenth or so Post-S2 fic. On top of that, in the light of recent developments, this story with its return of "a good old-fashioned friend" can be read not just as a Season 3 AU but also as a foreshadowing of what's coming in Season 4.
The dialogue and the characterisations are magnificent, especially that of said "good old-fashioned friend". I was giggling with glee every time he made an appearance because he was just that good.
Most of all, though, what sets this story apart from many others is the meticulous plotting behind it. It's a highly complex story, told from multiple POVs, but it never gets out of hand and you always have the safe feeling while reading that the authors knew exactly what they were doing. Obviously, a lot of time and care went into plotting the fic and it really shows and pays off. The story sucks you in and gradually turns into a tense, breathless chase full of devastatingly clever and thoroughly unexpected events and deductions so that you simply can't stop reading.
What makes it so satisfying a read, ultimately, is that the story doesn't just tell us that this is a tale of two incredibly clever people battling with each other, it actually succeeds in being that tale because it's so cleverly written.