How fun to get a chance to share recs before the reveals, thank you unovis! I thought this was a really amazing round of holmestice, so many great offerings. Swissmarg's choices are all fantastic. I particularly want to second "Coloured Pencils," which is fantastic, romantic, and strange. A few more personal favorites that I haven't seen on this thread yet include:
Title: Bright Heart Link: http://holmestice.livejournal.com/374114.html Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson; Mycroft; Pasiphae Rating: E Summary: At the center of the Labyrinth lives a monster — or so it’s said.
Rec: A sharply characterized, richly imagined, elegantly written revision of the myth of the Minotaur. I fell in love with it immediately.
Title: Particular Debts Links: 1) http://holmestice.livejournal.com/378818.html Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson (no pairings) Rating: Teen Warning: non-explicit discussion of sexual assault and medical abuse Summary: "And for another, Dr. Freud has saved my life. Had I not come to Vienna, and had your cure not been successful, sir, I should doubtless have missed this and every other intriguing little problem that may ever chance to come my way. And,” Holmes added, taking up his glass once more, “had you, Watson, not contrived to get me here against my will, Dr. Freud would never have had the opportunity to save a doomed addict. To both of you, in fact, I owe my life. To Watson, here, there will be a lifetime to repay the debt, but to you, Doctor, I confess I am at a loss." (Seven Percent Solution)
Rec: I was lucky enough to receive this fic as a gift. I had asked for a story set in the aftermath of Nicholas Meyer's novel The Seven Percent Solution. For those who don't know the book, it rests on the premise that the entire Moriarty plotline was a delusion brought on by Holmes's increasingly desperate cocaine addiction, though we gradually discover certain devastating emotional truths hidden within that delusion. Watson lured Holmes to Vienna to receive treatment from Dr. Sigmund Freud, who had become an expert on addiction therapy once he realized that cocaine, a drug he had once freely prescribed to his patients, had terrible effects.
This fic does not require knowledge of the novel, but it picks up the story several decades later as Holmes and Watson try to find a way to honor the debt they owe to the Freud family on the cusp of the first World War. The story engages with the historical realities of Freud and his theories in a way which the original novel does not, creating a delicately nuanced vignette which beautifully explores Holmes's unspoken feelings in the aftermath of addiction and recovery while also bringing a minor character in the novel to new prominence. It also navigates through the subtle conflicts between a Holmes and Watson who have not worked closely together for some time and who each strive to take risks and responsibility in their own ways. A wonderful, subtle piece.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2015-12-17 09:22 pm (UTC)Title: Bright Heart
Link: http://holmestice.livejournal.com/374114.html
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson; Mycroft; Pasiphae
Rating: E
Summary: At the center of the Labyrinth lives a monster — or so it’s said.
Rec: A sharply characterized, richly imagined, elegantly written revision of the myth of the Minotaur. I fell in love with it immediately.
Title: Particular Debts
Links: 1) http://holmestice.livejournal.com/378818.html
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson (no pairings)
Rating: Teen
Warning: non-explicit discussion of sexual assault and medical abuse
Summary: "And for another, Dr. Freud has saved my life. Had I not come to Vienna, and had your cure not been successful, sir, I should doubtless have missed this and every other intriguing little problem that may ever chance to come my way. And,” Holmes added, taking up his glass once more, “had you, Watson, not contrived to get me here against my will, Dr. Freud would never have had the opportunity to save a doomed addict. To both of you, in fact, I owe my life. To Watson, here, there will be a lifetime to repay the debt, but to you, Doctor, I confess I am at a loss." (Seven Percent Solution)
Rec: I was lucky enough to receive this fic as a gift. I had asked for a story set in the aftermath of Nicholas Meyer's novel The Seven Percent Solution. For those who don't know the book, it rests on the premise that the entire Moriarty plotline was a delusion brought on by Holmes's increasingly desperate cocaine addiction, though we gradually discover certain devastating emotional truths hidden within that delusion. Watson lured Holmes to Vienna to receive treatment from Dr. Sigmund Freud, who had become an expert on addiction therapy once he realized that cocaine, a drug he had once freely prescribed to his patients, had terrible effects.
This fic does not require knowledge of the novel, but it picks up the story several decades later as Holmes and Watson try to find a way to honor the debt they owe to the Freud family on the cusp of the first World War. The story engages with the historical realities of Freud and his theories in a way which the original novel does not, creating a delicately nuanced vignette which beautifully explores Holmes's unspoken feelings in the aftermath of addiction and recovery while also bringing a minor character in the novel to new prominence. It also navigates through the subtle conflicts between a Holmes and Watson who have not worked closely together for some time and who each strive to take risks and responsibility in their own ways. A wonderful, subtle piece.