221B Recs

Title: Mrs. Hudson's Guide to Care and Control of Household Pests (When to Call a Professional)

Author: vulgarweed
Pairing: Mrs Hudson/Sherlock/Irene
Length: about 7,800 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: The ageing housing stock of central London is picturesque but delicate, and often harbours destructive pests who wreak havoc on the fragile structures. If such damage is spotted, building owners and managers are advised to contact a skilled professional who is well-versed in the control of vandalous creatures.

Reccer's comments: How about some lovely, genial porn that’s also quite unexpectedly and insanely steamy to round off this August month?

Mrs Hudson knows exactly who to engage to deal with the pest who’s been shooting her wall. Putting it on the rent is one way of teaching him a lesson but there are other, ultimately more pleasurable and effective methods to teach your wayward tenant a lesson.

This fic is both wonderfully funny and wonderfully hot. One minute you’re howling with laughter and the next…

Well, you know.

Just go and enjoy it!

Title: Toplock Talent Search
Author: anarfea
Pairing: Sherlock/John, Sherlock/Irene, Sherlock/Jim/Molly
Length: approx. 25,000 words
Rating: explicit
Warnings: top!Sherlock (the reason the fic exists)
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Author's summary: “It’s frankly alarming,” said the Sherlock in the fishnet top, “watching you simper and fawn and make puppy eyes over John like a … sad, gay baby.”
Sherlock’s mouth fell open. “I am not a sad gay baby!”
“Yes, you are,” said Irene.
“Well, what is he, then?” sputtered Sherlock. “Splaying his legs open so everyone can see his cock through those trousers. Sitting there leering at the rest of us like some sort of superior … Dark fuck prince.”

Currently a WIP. Last updated July 2015. There should be one more chapter according to the author. However, as chapter three to five are pretty much stand alone's you can really go ahead and read!

Reccer's comments: This fic is proof of the human mind’s remarkable talent to turn something vile into something hilarious. Written in response to the vagaries imposed upon last year’s 221B con by a this fic has the show’s characters discuss fanfic, gender politics, sexual roles, ship wars, and fandom, as they search for the perfect incarnation of Toplock.

The author masterfully plays with tropes and head!canons as exploited in the series by Moffat and Gatiss, by fanfic writers (the author included) and readers and shows that the pen, especially when wielded with a humour that manages to cast everyone in a satirical light, truly is the strongest weapon ever invented.

The fic heads off with lots of clever banter flying around the living room. Anthea presides and has a hard time keeping the various characters in their respective incarnations in check. We get to meet DarkFuckPrince!Sherlock, GayBaby!Sherlock, JustTransport!Sherlock, Angry!John (well, he doesn’t get laid, obviously), Saint!John and BAMF!John, Virgin!Sherlock and all these incarnations, traipsing around 221B’s living room together, are totally IC. As are Irene, Mycroft, Anthea, Mrs Hudson, Jim and Molly and even Sebastian Moran. Because no fic featuring Jim is complete without a truly creepy Moran in the background. Fie Moftiss.

Once Anthea has waved her magic wand and decided upon the various pairings we follow those to the rooms allotted them for yet more talk, debate, argument, conference, exchange, review, conversation,consideration, dialogue, consultation, seminar, discourse, deliberation,symposium, colloquy, confabulation not to mention examination, investigation, analysis, scrutiny and dissection that will have you screaming with laughter and chuckling over so much cleverness. Then in each chapter the whole delicious concoction gets topped off with some scorchingly-hot sex, with Sherlock topping of course. Yes, even GayBaby!Virgin!Sherlock gets to do the topping.

What really blew me away in this fic however is the encounter in chapter four, between JustTranpost!Sherlock and a beautifully brave and tender Irene. Even if you don’t read the rest of the fic, read this chapter at least for the wonderful insight into their relationship. You won’t regret it.

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?