Fic Rec: if nobody speaks of remarkable things

[verdant_fire]

Title: if nobody speaks of remarkable things
Author: darcylindbergh
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 34328 words
Rating: Explicit
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: Maybe that was why: you only get the one miracle.

Reccer's comments: I'm sliding this one in under the wire, because it just concluded and it's astonishing. The prose is excellent; there isn't a word out of place, and it's powerful and deeply evocative without ever being showy. It's almost breathtakingly emotionally honest--it deals with difficult topics, but the characters' healing process is realistically fraught yet hopeful, and the love between Sherlock and John is not a magic cure-all, but it's no less beautiful for that.  I felt all the emotions right along with the characters. I once read a descriptor of visceral storytelling as being 'writing with blood in the mouth,' and that's what this is. It's so believable and achingly true and in-character, and it's one of the very best post-S3 fics I've read.

Warning: this story centrally involves miscarriage/stillbirth and the resultant emotional trauma; please proceed with caution if those are triggers for you.

August recs

[tanpopo03.livejournal.com]

The intro post for August is a day early, since both unovis and me will be absent tomorrow.

We welcome dioscureantwins and scfrankles for the next month! Thank you for signing up.

If anybody else is interested in posting recs for August, you can still sign up here.

Thank you to our volunteers for July, verdant_fire, pipmer1, ficklepig and dognmonkeyshow! (You can still post recs today of course.)

Fic Rec: Ruins of the Dark by philalethia

[ficklepig.livejournal.com]

Title: Ruins of the Dark
Author: philalethia
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, John Watson/Mary Morstan
Length: 8,205 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic/extreme violence, non-consensual sex
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Three years after “The Reichenbach Fall,” Sherlock comes back. But he comes back wrong.

Reccer's comments: Sherlock comes back very wrong, and he doesn't care what John thinks about it. This is very dark, no kidding. Non-con note for apparent consent under extremely dubious conditions.

A passing conversation in this story regarding what might have happened to someone who got too nosy is still giving me bad, bad feelings. In the good way, obvs. This is a neat shot of something strong and bleak to make you forget S3 ever happened.*


*I liked S3, don't get me wrong. Just, you know.

Fic rec: No Place Like Home (or, Return to Royston Vasey)

[dogandmonkeyshow]

Title: No Place Like Home (or, Return to Royston Vasey)
Author: daasgirl
Pairing: Mycroft/Sherlock/John, past Mycroft/Sherlock
Length: ca. 15,000
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: The author's warning's are pretty much spot on, so I'll just C&P them here: May be offensive/squicky/disturbing on a multitude of fronts. I was going to try to warn individually, but I felt I would only overlook something. While notionally a comedy, The League of Gentlemen is dark, twisted, and frequently tasteless, so while I don't think there's anything worse than already found in the show, kindly read at your own risk. Fic-wise, none of the characters suffer any permanent damage, although John may beg to differ.
Verse: Sherlock BBC, cross-over with League of Gentlemen
Author's summary: In which John accompanies Mycroft and Sherlock on a trip North, and encounters more than he ever bargained for.

( Cut because Reccer's comments are long: )

Fic Rec: Love Letters by helicidae

[ficklepig.livejournal.com]

Title: Love Letters
Author: helicidae
Pairing: Jim Moriarty/John Watson, John Watson & Sherlock Holmes
Length: 39,260 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Everything. All of it. There is not a thing that should not be warned for.
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Dearest John... Moriarty sends love letters. When it's over you'll have your own blood and my come in your mouth and on your lips, John, and that'll be the most beautiful sight in the world.

Reccer's comments: Horror. Horrific horrible horror.

Here is the full list of author tags: Mind Games, Bloodplay, Cannibalism, Child Death, Child Torture, Forced Self-harm, Minor Character Death, Necrophilia, Non-con, Body Modification, Rape, Torture, Sadism, Sexual Violence, Starvation, Extreme Underage, Horror, One-Sided Relationship

Moriarty is John's stalker. Almost every horrible thing is an exercise in imagination. Somehow, that makes it worse - there are places people can go in their heads that it might be hard to sell them going in a fic that stayed in character.

There are not enough capital "D"s and colons in the world to express my reaction to this as I read it. Well-regarded published horror does go this dark, but somehow it was just not something I was prepared for in fan writing.

The development of John and Sherlock's relationship throughout is a marvel of authorial ... something. Deftness? Delicacy? John is trying to keep a secret, and Sherlock is trying to uncover it, and it's never entirely certain how their friendship will survive the onslaught of Moriarty's obsession. (This is an S2 canon divergence, and takes Reichenbach a different direction.)

This story was written for the kink meme; the AO3 version is somewhat amended. The effect in the end is a little different, but probably not enough to worry about. Read it twice! But really, not if any of the tags tweak you too hard, because the author does not pull punches.

Fic Rec: Within by songlin

[ficklepig.livejournal.com]

Title: Within
Author: songlin
Pairing: none
Length: 992 words
Rating: Teen+
Warnings: none
Author's summary: Amazingly enough, John notices it first. It must be something to do with combat instincts, or paying attention to nagging feelings despite any amount of contradictory evidence, or just paranoia. Whatever it is, it boils down to this: something is wrong.

Reccer's comments: Busy this month, running late on everything, crabby and hot, scooped on a couple of recs, kicking puppies, and suddenly realizing that ... no, really?

*squints*

*reloads spreadsheet*

How has songlin not been recced here?

Songlin has written a little of everything in the BBC fandom. The quality of this writer's off-the-cuff prompt-driven work amazes me. This horror ficlet is a good sample - smart, sharp, and satisfying. It's also creeeeeeeeeeeeepy. Eeeeeeee. Eee.

Eee.