221B Recs

Title: The Case of the Fleeing Frenchman
Author: PenelopeWaits
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, past Sherlock Holmes/OMC
Length: 26,000 words
Rating: E
Warnings: period-typical homophobia and anti-Semitism (the story begins in 19th century France)
Verse: Sherlock BBC, crossover with the myth of the Flying Dutchman and specifically Wagner's opera on the subject
Author's summary: Captain James Watson and his son John have been protecting each other and their beloved Harriet for years. Where will true safety reside when a handsome sailing ship and her haunted captain arrive and he makes a shadowy proposal? This is a crossover with the myth of the Flying Dutchman. John is Senta.

Reccer's comments: I have no familiarity with the Flying Dutchman myth or opera, but it turned out to be a perfect fit with the Sherlock characters. Reminiscent of both Beauty and the Beast & Brigadoon, with ghostly, century-spanning piracy and self-sabotaging love thrown in, this tale is a delight! The author has done a marvelous job of capturing the feel of a small seaside town and the risky lives of fishermen, and they have drawn each of the characters with depth, mixed motives, and originality. Particularly complex is Harry, whose secrets we gradually uncover but who keeps managing to surprise. The John of this story never went to war, but he and Sherlock help each other to win their oldest battles nonetheless.

Sexy, exciting, with heart-felt pining and beautiful action sequences that capture the wonder and danger of sail, this is a gem that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did!

(Editing to add: for those worried about the warnings, or about Wagner, I should add that the author wrote this fic in critique of Wagner's racist attitudes and changed the original story in order to make the injustice of those views a central theme).

Title: Beneath These Skies
Author: bendingsignpost
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Molly Hooper, Bill Murray, Mike Stamford; gen
Length: 37,000 words
Rating: M (for violence and themes)
Warnings: references to past rape, trafficking, and torture, depictions of attempted genocide
Verse: Sherlock BBC, fusion with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Author's summary: An ex-soldier-turned-healer, a priest, and an unhorsed knight flee for their lives after the invasion of their homeland. John didn't expect the road to safety to be easy, but the addition of a petite mage and a scowling former prisoner to their small band opens his eyes to horrors beyond imagining.

Reccer's comments: Bendingsignpost is one of my favorite BBC Sherlock authors. He excels at layered world-building, subtle characterization, well-paced reveals, and powerful prose. His John POV is among the best in the fandom, in my opinion, and I particularly appreciate the way he keeps the characters' emotional expressions trimmed down and indirect without reducing their profundity.

Though basically all his stories are widely read, in comparison to his other works this one has been relatively overlooked. I imagine there may be several reasons for this. It is gen. It is a fusion with a video game universe. And it has some serious warnings attached. But, although it is at times a grim story that deals with very dark subjects, pretty much all of the most disturbing themes are dealt with indirectly through implication and we only glimpse the aftermath. I found it much less harrowing to read than I had initially feared. The elements taken from the video game are a constellation of magical creatures and a political setup for war; to me it simply read like magical realism and my unfamiliarity with "Fire Emblem" was no obstacle at all to my immersion into the story, the political, natural, and supernatural contours of which Ben sketches with great skill.

A romance in the context of this story would have been inappropriate given the level of trauma Sherlock is dealing with, but the power of the relationship he forms with John is striking -- their mutual trust grows quickly, they work well improvising together in the midst of danger, and they wind up protecting each other and making sacrifices to save each other in ways that pay tribute to the depth of their connection. In addition to the lovely character work done on its two protagonists, this story reaches further to examine the ambiguities of warfare, where basically decent people can find themselves in the ranks of an army bent on atrocity, and where even justified battles for self-defense can descend into indiscriminate slaughter. A compelling, imaginative, well-grounded story that leavens its sadness with touches of humor and the healing that comes through friendship and loyalty.

Title: Bel Canto Opera (The Opera of Sherlock Holmes) -- see links below
Author: belcantoopera on tumblr (this is an umbrella tumblr name covering the contributions of a number of individual artists)
Pairing: no pairing in the current music, though the fic which inspired it is Sherlock/John
Rating: not rated, but I would say G
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC, based on bendingsignpost's fic Bel Canto, which was a fusion with Phantom of the Opera
Author's summary: A blog dedicated to writing the opera from bendingsignpost's fanfic Bel Canto.

Reccer's comments: So, a number of musicians read and enjoyed bendingsignpost's wonderful Phantom of the Opera AU Bel Canto (which was recc'd on this comm here). In the story, Sherlock composes the libretto and score of an opera set in ancient Rome which presents the story of Antony and Cleopatra, but instead of focusing on the famous lovers, his opera focused on the ordinary Roman soldiers who found themselves betrayed and ruined when their loyalty to Antony led them to support him even against Rome itself. In the fic, Sherlock drew upon John's military experiences to write a brutally honest, tragically beautiful opera focused on the common man's disillusionment with war, and in the process he accidentally fell in love with his subject. A number of musicians found the fic so inspiring that they set out to...Write. The. Opera.

That's right. They wrote the libretto for key scenes described in the fic (in some cases incorporating lyrics that bendingsignpost had originated), translated it into Italian, composed the music, orchestrated it, and sung it. This is still very much a work in progress, and it has been on hiatus now for more than a year (it's very time-consuming and the artists are focusing on real life at the moment), but they have already created a number of really impressive musical pieces, and the whole project strikes me as something really special that deserves more applause. What an amazing thing to do! I love this fandom.

Here are two of my personal favorite musical pieces from this project:

The Mutiny Theme, originally composed on piano by logicaldisaster, then orchestrated by praeclaruswands with piccolo, flute, oboe, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, timpani, and strings.

Siamo Una Stessa Schiata, an aria/duet (sung in the fic between Sherlock's baritone and Irene's mezzo-soprano), portraying the fatal moment in which the captain persuades the young soldier to give up his dreams of returning home to Rome and accept the call to sacrifice himself for the sake of loyalty to Antony. At this stage the recording is a capella and there are empty spaces which will ultimately be filled by orchestration, but the two singers do a lovely job on their own of conveying the passion and beauty of the music. The baritone part is sung by ijvevhm, the mezzo-soprano by Seteskh. And here is a translation of the Italian lyrics: "“We are of a kind, and so I know you. We are of a kind, our hearts are one. I have dreamt your dreams and lived your life, and I know they both lead to Antony. I know you, we are the same. The loving touch of Lady Rome is a touch you never shall know. Take Duty as your wife, (My heart does not belong to Ceasar) for you are Loyalty (I serve Antonio). And Glory shall be your (my) daughter, Honour your (my) son, and Antony grandfather of both Glory and Honour.”

Anyway, I am really impressed by this project, and if you'd like to explore more of what they've done, you can scroll through their blog at belcantoopera on tumblr.