Fic Rec: Lilies on the Hill

[swissmarg]

Title: Lilies on the Hill*
Author: Snommis
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 48,931 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: 'Time. For the first time John could see it, feel it, taste it like a tangible presence. The years and decades stretched out in front of them, together, were so vivid, so certain. They had all the time in the world. Everything was going to be fine and the things that weren’t, would be. There was time. Plenty of it. The rest of it.'

Reccer's comments: Guh, this fic. This was the fic I rewarded myself with when I was pushing myself to finish a piece I was writing, and it was an extremely viable incentive. It contains one of my favorite set-ups, with John and Sherlock going to Sussex for a couple of weeks, just to get away from things. This often leads to fluff, but there isn't a crumb of fluff to be found here. It's angst, pure and simple, with John and Sherlock - but especially Sherlock - suffering both from the strain of their last, horrific case and under the burden of no longer being able to deny the strong feelings they have for each other.

Although this is presented as the second part of a series, I didn't actually read the first part and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. The slightly disorientating sensation of walking into the middle of things at the beginning isn't due to carryover from the first part of the series, but because of the nonlinear structure of this fic, in which we skip back and forth between the trip to Sussex and the case that is driving them out of the city.

To add another layer of complication, they find themselves in the middle of a new murder investigation in the town they are staying in. It's a rehash of the ACD standby, The Case of the Devil's Foot, but even though I knew what was going to happen, it didn't diminish the emotions arising from the events. The focus isn't on the case, though; it's on John and Sherlock as they try to define their relationship and shift it into something that they both desperately want but are completely unable to articulate.

Here's Sherlock angsting over it:

( Excerpt... )

This was written pre-series 3 and as such is set somewhere in an AU-ish area with references to a past Mary who isn't the Mary we meet in the series. But this could actually work just as well as a post-series 3 piece, once Mary is out of the picture via whatever mechanism that turns out to be. ;)

*Edit 15 Dec 2014: This link is no longer accessible on AO3. You can still view it in html here and in PDF here.

Vid Rec: Say My Name

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Title: Sherlock Holmes Dr. John Watson Say My Name (Multiverse)
Music Title & Artist: "Say My Name" by Within Temptation
Vidder: quantum861
Pairing or Character: vidder did not specify pairing; the characters are Sherlock Holmes and John Watson
Verse: Multiple: Sherlock BBC, Ritchie films, Granada, Rathbone films, and Spielberg's Young Sherlock Holmes film
Link: Note: this is a YouTube link: Say My Name

Reccer's Comments: This is a lovely vid about the timeless connection between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. It keeps up a very fast pace with an incredible number of quick edits which spin the song's lyrics in interesting directions and create striking visual parallels between moments in multiple versions of the characters. With the simple line "I breathe the air," for example, we see the fog of modern Baskerville, the reviving gasp of RDJ's near-dead Holmes, the smoking lamp of Granada's Devil's Foot, and the choking atmosphere of Rathbone's Spider Woman.

The song's chorus summarizes the powerful theme of the vid: "I cross the borders of time, leaving today behind to be with you again."

Note: The vid's effects include quick zooms and occasional brief flashing effects, so if you are visually sensitive you may want to be careful.

Fanfic Rec | Dangerous Girls, by zemph147

[bowl-of-glow.livejournal.com]

Title: Dangerous Girls
Author: zemph147
Pairing: fem!Sherlock Holmes/Mary Morstan/John Watson
Length: 9676 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: n/a
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock is a girl. John likes Sherlock. Sherlock likes girls. Sherlock likes Mary. They work something out.

Reccer's comments: Series 3 didn't bring the influx of threesome fics one might have hoped for (well, understandably so.) I've never considered the idea of Sherlock and Mary as a pairing if John were to be taken out of the equation – it might be because I can't quite see Sherlock as straight, since it turns out I can definitely see the appeal with a genderbent Sherlock Holmes.

I had never read a fic in which John was attracted to Sherlock while Sherlock was solely attracted to Mary, and it is a fascinating dynamic (probably because I still like the "ops, I'm in love with my best friend's wife" trope, overused as it might be). Regardless of what you think of Mary it's obvious that Sherlock liked her almost right away and really cared about her, so Sherlock's attraction to her doesn't feel far-fetched here – in fact I'd go as far as to say that the fact Sherlock didn't notice something was off about Mary is proof of how much he had come to trust her. In this fic, Mary is intriguing and still John and Sherlock's blind spot – she isn't simply written as a "nice" character but nor is she gratuitously turned into a villain. Also, I've always liked the idea of a female Sherlock and a male John still being best friends (or the other way around, I don't particularly care which) and I think it's interesting to see how one of them being a woman might put a different spin on their relationship.

Much of this fic is explicit scenes, but the characters have depth and the prose is beautiful, and it was a very satisfying read.

Excerpt:

Sherlock knows she is blind when it comes to Mary. She knows it, and she still stumbles along, feeling the curve of Mary's neck and the bumps of her spine like the walls of a labyrinth, hoping there is not a monster waiting in the center. And there shouldn't be, because John is there, holding her hand, checking the moral compass and then confirming their righteous path in the stars. Attraction poisons Sherlock's mind, but John is a doctor. John would never love something toxic.

Fic Rec: It's Not Pretty

[frozen_delight]

Title: It's Not Pretty (or on AO3)
Author: sariagray
Pairing: None
Length: 1,100 words
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: A train leaves London for Leeds at 1:42pm. Two men are on it. This is a brief moment between them.

Reccer's comments: This beautiful little fic incorporates everything that is a hallmark of sariagray's writing: It's rich in culture, full of well thought-out little nods and references, it creates a unique, somewhat enchanted and timeless atmosphere and it manages to present a profound character study in just a couple of lines.

Sherlock and John are sitting on a train, talking. Nothing much happens. And yet it's utterly irresistible and magical. This is the first story I've encountered where John starts to make deductions about other people - or rather randomly makes up stories about them, which is probably what Sherlock's deductions look like to the rest of the world anyway - and Sherlock actually indulges him and plays along. It's fascinating to see where John's imagination takes them and how ultimately they end up talking about much, much more than what's simply being said. This is subtle, quiet and tender writing at its best.

As the author herself says, it may be read as gen, established, or pre-slash, so any fan of Sherlock and John should be very happy with this story and how it presents their relationship.

Fic Rec: What He Likes

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Title: Series: What He Likes
Author: solojones
Pairing: Sherlock/Irene
Length: about 65,300 words
Rating: mature
Warnings:author has put up warnings in the summary. Reccer has included those.
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Six months post-Reichenbach, Sherlock approaches Irene with an unusual job offer: he wants to shoot up, and he needs someone to mind him. But can she remain detached whilst Sherlock spirals deeper and deeper into his addiction? This series spans 5 different escalating encounters Sherlock and Irene have over the course of eleven months. This is a dark and frank character and relationship study, and a look at the terrible pull of addiction. M for pervasive drug use, some language, and sexual content.

Reccer's comments: This series is everything the author promises it to be and so much more. It is indeed very dark, and a frankly terrible read at times. However, thanks to both the beautiful and precise language and the thorough examination of the motivations and actions of both Sherlock and Irene the reader becomes committed to the fic, and decides to push on regardless, thus mirroring the main characters’ approach to life and the trials and tribulations they have to confront.

Here be dragons. Sherlock’s addiction pulls Irene irresistibly towards territory she’d rather not explore, but, just like he can’t resist the drugs, she can’t resist him and together they spiral ever deeper downwards to confront his demons, and maybe, ultimately, hers as well. Layer after layer is peeled away, until, in the end, two naked, vulnerable people remain, who have just discovered that in choosing the other, they might actually make it through the rest of their lives.

After having dwelt amidst so much dank and dark despair that tentatively hopeful ending feels almost like a catharsis.

Not the easiest of reads, but definitely worthwhile.