Fic Rec: SPQR

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Title: SPQR
Author: hoc_voluerunt
Pairing: Sherlock/John, or rather Celatus/Vannus
Length: approx. 118,500 words
Rating: explicit
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sollemnis Populusque Romanus
The year is AD 68. Emperor Nero is on the throne, the Jewish Revolt is nearing its end under the firm hands of Vespasian and his son Titus, and Marcus Caelius Piso Vannus, son of a British freedman and former surgeon to the Fifteenth Apollonian Legion, has just returned from the provinces with an injured shoulder and no veteran's benefits to rent a shabby room in the shadow of the city wall. Thrust into his life, however, comes Amulius Cornelius Celatus -- a noble man from an ancient family, with good hair, a better toga, and the biggest ego this side of the Tiber. You wouldn't think they'd end up living together, let alone fighting crime; but then, neither would you think that one shadowy criminal figure orchestrated the fire of 64...
(ancient Rome!AU of Sherlock)

Reccer's comments: An enormously fun and clever AU that transports the whole Sherlock BBC cast to ancient Rome, right around the time the Empire was shaking on its very foundations. The series consists of a retelling/recreation of the series’ episodes, with lots of little winks to the original ACD stories and a very ingenious use of both the setting of Rome and the materials provided at that time which are of course no match for the scientific equipment the Sherlock in the series gets to work with. But the setting gives the author the chance to have Vannus appear as a gladiator and recreate Irene Adler as a vestal virgin, which had me bouncing with glee in my chair.
Celatus is every way as brilliant and haughty as his twenty-first century counterpart and Vannus just as loyal, trustworthy and devoted to his friend as John Watson is.

The author makes frequent use of Latin. This might put people off from reading, but I think it actually heightens the atmosphere the author creates and thus adds to the stories. She’s very thoughtfully provided a translation so this really shouldn’t be a reason not to read.
Anyone who is at least a little bit familiar with the history of Rome and the lay-out of the city around the time will be delighted with the use the author has made of these in the stories. Anyone who isn’t will still get to enjoy herself and learn a lot besides.
The motto of the series for instance had me giggling like mad once I encountered the personage it refers to, Sollemnis Populusque Romanus, such a clever variation - totally befitting of the Sherlock BBC series - on Senatus Populusque Romanus, or was it Sono Pazzi Questi Romani?

Comments

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the rec... this is exactly what I wanted to read today. :)

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a lovely day you'll have ahead of you then for this is such an excellent series. And, once you've finished why don't you go check out AJ Hall's Gondal series which I recced earlier this month. I'm sure that will delight you just as much if you find you like this.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Oh, I ADORE this series! Thank you so much for recc'ing it here, this is fantastic. If you hadn't, I would have done it before the end of the month. A series whose day of appreciation has come! :)

Some of those Latin conversations just break my heart with their poetry and passion. And the author clearly cares a lot about ancient history and has brought a lot of wonderful authenticity to the stories.

That moment where Celatus holds Vannus's hands and sings him passages of The Iliad to distract him from pain...you deserve a crown of oak...my goodness, just so much to love!

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Oh, apologies for reccing it first but now perhaps we can see his as a double rec! And yes, I do hope the day of appreciation has finally arrived.

For this is a fantastic series, exceedingly clever and written so marvellously well. It's such a shame it's got so little readers because of course the Latin, and the Latin names, are daunting to a lot of people. But naturally using the characters' original names in this setting would be ridiculous and the Latin alternatives are such fun.

I just can't wait for the next part.

[ancientreader]

Wow, this is one persuasive rec, and for a fic whose premise would have kept me the hell away. Now I'm all excited to go read it! Thank you.

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you'll love it for it's gripping from first to last. And fun!

[hoc-voluerunt.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm the author of this fic, in case the username didn't let you in on that, and someone commented recently on the first chapter saying they'd been sent by this post (may have been you, snarryfool, judging by the profile pic), and I can't. I cannot express how very very much this means to me. That fic holds a very special place in my heart, and I'm so so happy every time I see someone reading and enjoying it. (I certainly recognise a couple of URLs above me!) I know it's a very niche fic, so I never really expected much response, but your support is overwhelmingly sweet!

Tibi gratias maximas ago, dioscureantwins, et cetera!!

(PS: Just letting you know, I'm a 'they', not a 'she'. uvu)

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

**drive-by squee** I'm so happy you saw dioscureantwins's rec! You are wonderful! Thank you for writing!

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

First of all apologies for not finding you here at LJ. I've amended your name in the rec. Also apologies for the 'she'. As a non-native speaker the whole pronoun thing is rather unclear. To be honest I assumed when writing the rec that as approx. 99% of the people in fandom are women 'she' would be safe to use.

Anyway, much like rachelindeed, who was also planning to rec this apparently, I'm so very, very happy you're writing this and enjoying your series so much. The rec is totally deserved and I do hope it will bring you more readers and lots of squee.

YAY!!

[hoc-voluerunt.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, that's fine, I'm only very very rarely around on LJ anymore, so I wouldn't expect you to have found me! And if you're a non-native English speaker, then I can definitely give you a free pass on that one. XD You weren't to know, anyway.


Thank you so much again!! I've been watching a new trickle of kudos come in on the early chapters on AO3, and I know it's all down to you two. 0v0

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Oh, the kudos trickle makes me very happy. The more people cross the Rubicon to read and squee over this marvellous series, the better.

[chapbook.livejournal.com]

Love this series. It looks like several of us wanted to rec it, which is usually a good sign!

One of the things I enjoyed about this series is the obvious growth of the writer. From the ASiP remake that relied very heavily on the source material to the later casefics and the beautiful interlude at Mycroft's villa (my favorite part of the series) there is so much improvement! I don't mean this condescendingly, I just love seeing people evolve as writers.

As a historian I adore people who go the extra mile(s) by avoiding genre cliches through the use of solid historical sources to make the reader feel they are actually there watching people of the past interact. For example, John is not against slavery vs. making him have modern views on slavery. Also John's bisexuality being not a problem in the Roman context, but Sherlock's asexuality being WRONG. So, it's made quite clear the cultural values are very different than ours. Nothing at all wrong with say writing a "Western" instead of something based on historical knowledge, it's just far easier for me to shut up the v. loud Inner Historian and enjoy in a true history au.

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I don't know whether the writer actually evolves into a better writer. They heavy reliance on the source material might have been a deliberate ploy to get the reader, who has to overcome quite a few things like the setting and the Latin names, engage and actually become invested. Than, once we're hooked, they (one lives and learns every day) are free to take us wherever they damn well please, because we're bound to follow. I'd say that's the art of an extremely crafty writer.

The care and love that went into the research for and writing of this fic are stunning indeed. One really strides along with Celatus and Vannus through the streets of Roma, where abject decadence and dire poverty mingled so freely and abundantly.
Also, I abhor fics or films that are staged in the past and have people voice modern ideas. The author never walks into that obvious trap, which is another accomplishment. BTW, I think even in our times a lot of people still don't understand asexuality, perhaps especially not as sex appears to be the norm.

But yrs, a wonderful, wonderful series that deserves far more attention than it's getting. But then, sadly, that's true for a lot of excellent fics and series in the fandom.

[hoc-voluerunt.livejournal.com]

Haha, you're giving me too much credit. I know my writing has definitely improved over the last two years (!!!) since I've been writing it, for one thing, which I'm very glad for. But honestly, I've said it a few times here and there: the reason 'STUDIUM GRAECE' is so underdeveloped is simply because I didn't know what I was doing. The whole idea of the AU was the product of a couple of long squee sessions with my friend verecunda, but it mostly consisted of headcanons, backgrounds, and names (SO MANY NAMES names are so hard oh my god). I wanted to write something for the AU, but I didn't know for certain if I wanted to stick with it, for how long, or where it was going to go. It was only after 'STUDIUM GRAECE' that I settled into the world, characters, and research properly and actually got comfortable with them, and knew where I was going. There's a part of me that still wants to go back and rewrite the whole first chapter because of this.
But thank you for the faith, and I do hope it works like that; in essence, that's almost how it worked for me! I lulled myself into a false sense of security and then suddenly found I'd plunged myself in way too deep. XD

Ohhh, chapbook, you've put your finger on one of my greatest values in writing this. !!! There are some things I'll always be wearing rose-tinted glasses for (the place of women, for example, and men's attitudes toward them; but, admittedly, the sources and historiography are so biased, it's really hard to know what day-to-day ordinary women's lives were really like); but I had a class recently on historical fiction, and one of the things I kept bringing up was how historical fiction writers have a responsibility both to the present (and the present audience) and to the past. Misrepresenting the past is an insult and a detriment not only to the people of the past, but also to understandings of the present. So I try to at least periodically cover something that clashes with modern western worldviews, because, as much as human beings never change (people were writing "Marcus was here" on walls in Pompeii, and they're doing it today in colonised Sydney), their societies and cultures and beliefs change so, so much, and the intersection of those two things is utterly fascinating.

And by the way, if your inner historian ever finds fault with something, please please do tell me! I can't research everything, and I want it to be as accurate as possible, so I'm always open to being corrected and going back to change something if I can.

[dioscureantwins.livejournal.com]

Well, it worked for me. And I mean it, the familiarity with the case and the dialogue work as a guide into this setting that contains so many unusual elements. Once there, we're willing to follow you to the ends of the Roman world. :) And I greatly enjoy your ingenuity in translating twenty-first Century London into first Century Rome.

I'm not a historian myself but I enjoy reading history very much and about the Roman world in particular. I admire them for their ingenuity, the way they constantly learned from the people they conquered and managed to adapt themselves and adopt the clever inventions of other people.