#earlgreytea68

[fansplaining]

But actually? Fan creators might be the “real” artists here. Because fan creators know that all art is built on building blocks. It’s not hidden; it’s explicit. Fan creators know that creativity isn’t a finite resource that needs to be kept behind lock and key. With those same basic building blocks, from trope to trope and fandom to fandom, an infinite amount of vitally important creativity can be built. We know; we’ve done it. The law just needs to catch up. 

— @earlgreytea68 in her article "How U.S. Copyright Law Fails Fan Creators." Read it, then listen (or read a transcript) of our conversation with her in our most recent episode, "The Copyright Conundrum."

[maxylovesfic]

Fic Rec Friday!

It's baseball season in America! Which means it's time for not only hours of tv and radio while spinning/gardening/whatever, but it's time for baseball-themed fic! Of which there is never enough.

This is an absolutely delightful Sherlock AU where the boys are baseball players. The author ( @earlgreytea68 ) knows their stuff--all the baseball is totally accurate (except maybe those pesky rooming arrangements.) Plus their characterizations are an absolute delight to read, in any of their Sherlock fics, actually. A consistently fluffy, feel-good author with a fic set in my favorite sport. What's not to love?

[elizabethminkel]

Totally delighted to represent the "I have worked in service roles too long to find coffee shop AUs romantic" stance in this fantastic piece about the trope and how it explores ideas about public space by Alexandra Lange.

(I've never worked in a coffee shop or any other food service role, to be clear! But I have been flirted with—sometimes pretty aggressively—by bazillions of men in my two decades as a mutuel clerk, and idk, customer/employee is not a dream fic scenario of mine lol.)

Also delighted to appear here alongside @earlgreytea68, I'm glad coffee shop AUs have a top-notch defender. 🥰

[bakerstmel]

Fall Favorite Fic Festival, Entry 5

Remember, winter doesn't officially begin until December 21, she said pedantically.

I've delayed writing this entry because I was trying to define the reason (or reasons) why I love this fic so damn much. I read this fic at least twice a year, usually sometime in February and then again in the fall. It's a sports fic, and while I am not in general a sports person, I do love me some baseball. But the sport isn't the reason I love this fic, and I think I may have figured it out. Stick with me.

I started the link at Chapter 2, because Chapter 1 is a guide to baseball for the uninitiated. Some of it is out of date now, because MLB in its STUPIDITY has messed around with the rules this year because GOD FORBID people have to wait longer than a minute for anything to fucking happen on a sports field, and of course only HITS matter, but it is still fun to read. You don't need it to appreciate the fic, though.

Whilst I was processing this fic, I spent some time thinking about sports fics in general, and that led me to reread a couple of other favorites. One was A Study in Winning, by Jupiter_Ash. I really like that fic as well, even though I know next to nothing about tennis. I like the drama of the story, I like Sherlock faking his nationality just because, and I enjoy John being a petty little bitch to Moriarty there at the end. I feel like there for a while everyone had read or was reading that fic. Another one I went back to was Of Ice and Men, by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John, which is an OT3 set during the Winter Olympics. That one has John in the Paralympics, which gives the relationships an entirely new dimension. There are other good sports fics - throw your favorite in the comments, if you like. I'm mostly limiting my scope in these musings to Sherlock, as I've said before, but I'll read anything if it's good. Links to these two fics are below.

One of the ways in which sports fics have an advantage is that they have a built in structure. There's a match, or a tournament, or a season, and the relationship drama plays out against that backdrop. Writing classes always talk about the "ticking clock" approach to narrative tension, and almost every sport has some type of literal ticking clock. The Bang and the Clatter plays out over a full baseball season, including Spring Training and the postseason. That's basically a year minus the main American holidays, and EarlGreyTea does a really good job of letting the story play out at an appropriate pace. That's very impressive considering that she was posting this as a WIP over the course of an actual season.

(I need to take a minute to talk about my issues with EGT, and by "issues" I mean "soul churning jealousy." EGT is ridiculously prolific. If you go back into the fandom annals and look at the timing of some of her biggest fics, she was posting what became major reference points for the fandom in tandem, writing multiple fics at the same damn time, while, you know, teaching law or moving cross country. She is the best example I know of the importance of writing regularly. Of course, she's incredibly gifted, highly skilled at plotting, characterization, pacing, and just words. She has a fabulous imagination. Her dialogue rings true, and it's fun. But she can turn really good stuff out relatively quickly because she's limber AF. She writes. Anyone who comes to Word Sprints on Sundays or just hangs with me writing knows I'm not fast. I'm lucky to break 100 words in 15 minutes. Part of that is that I edit as I go, but it's also that I don't write as often as I would like to, so it takes me some time to warm up. I would like to be more like EGT, which probably sounds kind of creepy. I hope she doesn't see this. Anyway, she's written many of my top 20, and she actually finishes her stuff. So, yeah. Issues.)

So here is where I ended up: this is a good AU that takes advantage of the time crunch of the sport in which it is set, but that is not why I read it 2+ times per year. I read it because this is one of my favorite John and Sherlock relationships ever. It feels so in character for the way we see them in the show (at least through S2; this was written in 2013). We see them meet, we feel their attraction, we feel Sherlock's very authentic confusion. We feel their fear at being caught out, at first by each other and then by the world. They earn their angst. The way to my heart is good characterization, and this has that. Alongside the battery, the OCs (especially Sherlock and John's families) are complex and have issues of their own. Moriarty doesn't show up until the All Star Workout, which is halfway through the season for those of you who don't know, but it works because by that point, John and Sherlock have things to lose. Lestrade is the best effing choice for a beleaguered, exasperated baseball manager there ever was. Mycroft saves the day AND fucks it up, which I wish we'd seen more of in those days.

Also, John and Sherlock never get too far away from each other, and when they're separated, it's usually for narrative reasons. I like that in a fic, I've come to realize. I like to watch the characters' interplay. It's hard for Sherlock to keep secrets from John when they work together, commute together, and live together, and John is no fool. Their office isn't 221b Baker Street, it's a stadium in Austin, TX, where shit plays out in front of 30k people. John loves baseball. Sherlock loves John. They fight, they fall in love, they eat Chinese food, and they play baseball. And best of all, they are themselves together.

If you read the parts that EGT wrote after the big story, there's a mention of Sherlock pulling together a pick up game in London made of American ex-pats for John's sake, and I'll tell you what. That really pulls this fic together for me. This Sherlock would do that for this John, and we end up a little on the outside looking in, and it's just charming as fuck.

In conclusion, read this even if you don't know baseball, if you want great characterization, a chance to be reminded of how beautiful John and Sherlock were together back in the golden age. Pay attention to the ticking clocks in your favorite fics; intentional or not, there's almost always some time pressure ginning up the conflict. If you're a writer, the best way to get better is to write more. Feels like bullshit, but it's true. And finally, fuck MLB forever for going the completely wrong way on the DH. Pitchers in both leagues should have to/get to hit, and more to the point, DHs should have to fucking do something when their teams are out in the field. I will die on this mound.

(Also, if I'm being honest, Bull Durham is probably my favorite movie, so maybe I'm more of a baseball fan than I'm letting on. I do generally love baseball in popular media. But I still think it's the characterization.)

[eleanorfenyx]

I was tagged by @earlgreytea68, thank you! I always love talking about music lol

You can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your favourite playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs then tag ten people! no skipping!

So I actually have a playlist of like 48 hours of music that I listen to almost exclusively because I play it on my community radio show every Friday -- I put it on shuffle and whatever plays, plays, so I just have to own up to my all-over-the-place music taste, sometimes chatting about particular songs or artists as I feel like it, aaand that's the whole show lol. But anyway I'm going to put that playlist on and see what comes up!

The Doorman by Watchouse (formerly Mandolin Orange)

Forrest Gump by Frank Ocean

Polaroid Love by ENHYPEN

Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa by Yuki Saito

Baby I'm a Star by Prince & the Revolution

Sagittarius Superstar by COIN

Old 45's by Chromeo

Viva la Vida by Coldplay

Sin Wagon by The Chicks

I Got You (I Feel Good) by James Brown

Okay I feel like that actually wasn't as weird as it could have been. There was one show a couple weeks ago where I ended up playing Bubblegum Bitch by Marina and the Diamonds and it was immediately followed by Come Away With Me by Norah Jones (a transition that literally made me laugh out loud by myself at the station) and then it was Uptown Girl by Billy Joel..It was a bit of whiplash haha, and that's usually pretty standard.

But anyway! No pressure on anyway to play, but I'm tagging: @wei--wuxian, @wincestielfttfwin, @labyrynth, @forever-niji, @lansplaining, @oft-goes-awry, @omgpurplefattie, @scarlet-gryphon, @wishthatiwasnessiesgirl, and @epistemologys (sorry epi I have no idea why I can't tag you properly lol) plus anyone else who sees this who wants to play along! I'm terrible for picking people to tag in these kinds of games but I'd like to hear from anyone who wants to share their music ♥

[consultingreaders]

Personally speaking, I spent part of tonight thinking about Swan Song (not even re-reading! just thinking and marveling) and tbh I feel like I had a better evening than many 

[zenosanalytic]

It's funny cuz the reason the Win97 Word is "better" is because it's trained my the user. When it falsely pinged a word and you "added it to library", or similarly corrected its grammarcheck, 97 Word recorded that and didn't return those as errors anymore. Like: removing humans from the process of training is PRECISELY why the contemporary ~AI~ versions of these programs are worse.

And, Gods, the word changing is awful. I dont use GoogleDocs but OfficeLibre does that too sometimes(tho thankfully only with words&phrases YOU SPECIFICALLY have used in that specific document, not based on Pan-Internet Usage), and every time it does I want to pull my entirely metaphorical hair out X| X|

Okay. It's time for an AI rant.

My nephew is 13 years old. Whenever he writes a paper for school, I check it over and fix all of his mistakes for him. He said to me, "Maybe I'll proofread your paper for you in exchange," meaning one of the scholarly articles I write for work. I said, "Cool," and gave him the file. And he said, "Well, this is full of errors! See, you always say you have a lot to correct on my stuff, and look at all the stuff you got wrong!" And I said, surprised, "What? Where?" Because I'm sure there are typos in the draft I sent him, but not, like, that many.

And then he pointed to the screen and said, "Look at all the blue and red lines you have."

And I said, "Yeah, but those are wrong. Like, those are blue and red lines I'm ignoring because the computer is wrong." And then I paused and added, "You know you can't proofread a paper by just looking at the red and blue lines, right?" And he gave me the blankest look, because that clearly is EXACTLY what he thinks. And it became even clearer suddenly why, whenever I correct something on his paper, his immediate reaction is, "It didn't have a blue or red line."

There's a very good reason for that: THAT'S BECAUSE THE COMPUTER ISN'T SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT IT WAS WRONG.

I am so tired of being sold the idea that computers are better than humans and so we should just outsource everything to them, which is clearly the lesson my nephew is absorbing in U.S. middle school. COMPUTERS ARE NOT BETTER THAN HUMANS. Like, maybe they are better at humans at crawling through rubble to find people trapped inside. They are also better at preserving things in a searchable format. Things like that. Very limited circumstances.

I don't want to sound alarmist but everything I hear about people using generative AI freaks me out. It's not just that I'm freaked out by people being like, "I use it to write novels!" (Although I don't see how they do, I have tried to have it write fiction for me and the output was truly terrible.) But I recognize my bias around creative writing and so no one needs to credit my views on artificial writing. But! Other things are alarming, too! "I use it to brainstorm x, y, or z." But...why? Why not just...use your own brain...to...brain...storm? The computer doesn't even have a brain to brainstorm with! And you might be like, "But it comes up with things that my brain would never think of!" So would other people! You could also brainstorm with other people! Or even through Google to see what other people have thought before you (not AI). Please don't belittle the wonder of thinking.

I just feel like the marketing around generative AI boils down to "Wouldn't it be easier not to use your own brain to think about things?" Everyone. No. It would not be. Please just trust me on this. I'm not just an old person who is out of touch with technology or something. I promise. USE YOUR BRAINS. IT WILL BE OKAY.

[roosterbox]

Fic Rec Friday 4/28/23

Title: Next Big Thing

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandom: Inception (2010)

Relationship: Arthur/Eames (Inception)

Characters: Arthur (Inception), Eames (Inception)

Additional Tags: HGTV

Summary: Eames is certain that they will excel at being celebrity judges.

Arthur is not so sure.

But then, that's usually how their relationship goes.

———

This rec. Hooboy, this rec. I had to re-read this fic to insure that, yes, it really is still just as good as it was in 2015. I was absolutely correct.

First, don’t be intimidated by the length. It’s 231 chapters, but every single one of them moves so quick, you’ll have it halfway done before you realize. Easy breezy beautiful Covergirl.

Second, the best single thing about NBT might be the Original Characters. There are a lot of them - befitting a fic about a reality competition show! - and every single one is interesting. Even the ones who are jerks (*coughcoughAlec*). I dare you to read this and not fall at least a tiny bit in love with Sunny or Gon or Julia or Misty Rainbow. Speaking of Ms. Rainbow, there is a scene in this story that, when I first read it eight years ago, affected me so much, I had to put my phone down and pace around my room for like five minutes. So good that I remembered it word for word. You’ll be happy to know that The Scene is still incredible, even now. The unquestionable high point of the story for me, though everything around it is also amazing.

Another aspect I appreciate (and did back then too!) is how the Drama(tm) is never about risking Arthur and Eames’ relationship. Never once did I fear that there would be a big fight or a breakup or something. Which is very soothing to know - that while all this nonsense swirls around them, our boys are always together and in love. That constant is like the calm eye of the reality TV storm.

Overall, this one comes very very highly recommended. I know I say that a lot, but seriously, if you call yourself a fan of inception fics and haven’t read this one? Please do!

———

Next Week: Time for some Hannigram again! This one is one of my favorite one-shot AUs. Built around a simple premise: what if Will’s dad (and, naturally, Will too) lived/worked at the Lecter household in Lithuania? What if Will and Hannibal grew up together? Definitely intriguing.

See you next time!

[winterdaphne2]

Favorite Johnlock Fics (BBC Sherlock)

I went on a bit of a fic-reading spree this spring, and this list of favorites is the result! There are many other fics that I’ve enjoyed reading, but these are the ones that I’ve really loved for one reason or another.

I’ve tagged the authors whose tumblrs I could find. If that’s you, thank you so much for sharing your writing with us. If your work is on here, you wrote something that I really treasure.

1. A River Without Banks, by Chryse. E, 203,286 words. Starts right after Season 3. A mix of Sherlock’s perspective, John’s perspective, and the perspectives of other characters. Sherlock-focused for the first half.

Author’s summary: “‘You love this, being Sherlock Holmes.’ He had once. When had it all gone so wrong?”

This is my absolute favorite. The author’s characterization of Sherlock is amazingly accurate, and Sherlock’s character development over the course of the story is breathtakingly executed and moving. The plot is fantastic and takes you on a page-turning emotional roller coaster, especially for about the first half of the story. I was also continually impressed by how many details from the show and references to earlier parts of the fic the author was able to weave in throughout while still keeping the story creative and original. Most importantly, though, I love this fic for the message that it sends about Sherlock and John’s love, which is a far more positive message than the one that the actual show settled upon in the end. I’m grateful that we have this version of their love story, and, personally, I like to pretend that this was Season 4 and how the show ended.

2. Another Country, by Chryse. E, 67,414 words. Starts right after the end of TAB. Sherlock’s perspective.

Sherlock spends one month and three days under house arrest in 221B, trying to get clean from the drugs, track down the new Moriarty, and figure out what the hell is going on between him and John.

Another fantastic work by Chryse. This author really gets Sherlock’s character, and once again the characterization of Sherlock is spot-on and convincing. There are a few other elements that also make this a compelling story, including smart use of minor characters, a solid central mystery, and a complicated relationship between Sherlock and John that includes a pretty convincing post-Season-3 version of John. Excellent.

3. walk through ghosts, by @augustbird. M, 6,125 words. Written between Seasons 2 and 3. Sherlock’s perspective.

Author’s summary: “The thing is: Sherlock thought that the two of them would have forever to figure it out.”

This is the saddest fic I have ever read, and so beautifully written. The author captures Season 2 Sherlock’s character perfectly; the fact that this story feels so real is what makes it devastating. The day after I read this, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and walked around with my heart physically aching in my chest.

4. Nature and Nurture, by @earlgreytea68. M, 203,273 words. Set sometime after Season 2. Alternates between John’s and Sherlock’s perspectives, but mostly told from John’s.

The British government clones Sherlock. He and John decide to raise the baby.

A true fandom classic. The premise sounds super cracky, but somehow it really works. This fic is surprisingly serious at times, but overall it is the cutest and funniest thing I have ever read in my life. Basically 200,000+ words of Sherlock and John being adorable gay fathers together and working through some feelings, with line-by-line some of the most hilarious dialogue ever. The five accompanying ficlets that the author wrote as short follow-ups are also worth checking out; my favorites were School (T, 4,753 words) and The Radovljica Apicultural Museum (T, 4,540 words).

5. To a Friend Who Sent Me Roses, by @algyswinburne. E, 16,147 words. Set sometime after Season 4 (but ignores TFP, as we all should lol). Sherlock’s perspective.

Author’s summary: “Five times Sherlock is mistaken for John’s partner and Rosie’s father, and one time it isn’t a mistake.”

This fic is sad, sweet, and hot by turns. Absolutely lovely to read in so many ways, and with so many great details and lines. I think this story offers convincing portrayals of what Sherlock’s and John’s characters might be like after it all and how they might finally get together. This and A River Without Banks are my favorite alternate endings to the show. Beautiful!

6. for all that bitter delights will sour, by @darcylindbergh. E, 9,585 words. Set sometime after Season 3. Sherlock’s perspective.

John initiates a sexually and emotionally abusive relationship with Sherlock.

The second saddest fic I have read. I would never want what happens in this fic to happen to Sherlock and John, so I don’t exactly recommend it as a Johnlock fic. But as a short story, this is a gem, full of absolutely gorgeous and incredibly moving writing. It depicts difficult themes very deftly, in lines and paragraphs that I had to stop to read over and over. I appreciate this as an emotionally powerful and thought-provoking piece of writing inspired by Sherlock, so for that reason I think it deserves to be on this list.

7. The Ground Beneath Your Feet, by Chryse. E, 68,803 words. Set after Season 3, but as if the last two minutes of HLV never happened. “The plane went on to Eastern Europe, and this is what came after.” John’s perspective.

This fic is pretty dark; the author describes it as “a PTSD story in which John was wholly devoted to Sherlock.” I don’t love it quite as much as the other two fics by Chryse that I’ve listed here, but that’s mostly because those two are just so amazing! I still really enjoyed this one. It was wonderful to see a kind and caring version of John emerge out of Season 3, and the story had several memorable moments, including one particularly nail-biting scene. I also really liked seeing John and Mycroft become friends as they bonded over their shared concern for Sherlock.

8. The Adventures of a Single Girl in London (Plus a Consulting Detective), by @earlgreytea68. M, 32,913 words. Set soon after Season 3. Alternates between different characters’ perspectives.

Bored with life at her new cottage in Sussex, Janine returns to London and moves in with Sherlock at 221B. Hilarity, heartbreak, and eventual Johnlock ensue.

This is a Season 3 fix-it fic that features an absolutely lovely friendship between Sherlock and Janine and the best version of Janine that I’ve come across in a fic. Sherlock is vulnerable and sweet, John is an absolute idiot, Janine is perfect, and the last two chapters just make me scream. Great stuff.

And that’s it for now! If you know of any other fics that I might like based on the above, I’d be happy to hear about them, so drop me a line!

Happy reading 😊

[justlikethatonecommunityepisode]

i reread lucky by @earlgreytea68 fanart for fanfic time.

i love them to bits

[swissmissficrecs]

A-Z Classic Johnlock Recs

This really just scratches the surface but I had so much fun making this, maybe I'll do another one. These are all fics I consider fandom classics. I limited myself to one fic per author and tried to include a mix of genres.

A gainst the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (151K, E, Post-Reichenbach)

B e Here Now by Todesfuge (94K, M, post-Reichenbach)

C ooperative Principle by bendingsignpost (56K, E, Uni profs AU)

D eflowered - Director's Cut by Lorelei_Lee (328K, E, Mafia BDSM AU)

E lectric Pink Hand Grenade by BeautifulFiction (67K, E, Sickfic/Casefic)

F ill Our Mouths With Cinnamon Now by lbmisscharlie (114K, E, Parentlock)

G host Stories by SwissMiss (22K, M, Domestic)

H itting the Water at Sixty Miles an Hour by what_alchemy (30K, E, Fake relationship)

I n deed accomplish our designs by greywash (95K, E, Post-Reichenbach)

J ust a Kiss by emmagrant01 (19K, E, 5 Times)

K intsukuroi by sussexbound (91K, E, S4 Fixit)

L eft by lifeonmars (45K, M, Magical realism)

M aintenance and Repair by patternofdefiance (106K, E, Sci Fi AU)

N ature and Nurture by earlgreytea68 (203K, M, Parentlock/Clonelock)

O ur Enthusiasms Which Cannot Always Be Explained by withoutawish (32K, M, Casefic/Romance)

P erformance in a Leading Role by Mad_Lori (156K, E, Actors AU)

Q uintessential by thisprettywren (49K, E, Senseverse AU)

R iptide Lover by jinglebell (114K, E, Merlock AU)

S chool for Scandal by orphan_account (222K, E, Boarding school AU)

T hirst by bittergreens (122K, E, Post-pool casefic/Romance)

U nwind by illwick (752K, E, BDSM series)

V essel by Rhuia (15K, E, Sickfic/Casefic)

W atson's Folly by Diana Williams/dkwilliams (299K, M, Regency AU)

X mas: Goodness Gives Extras by mydwinter (39K, E, Romance/Casefic)

Y ou Give Me Fever by michi_thekiller (16K, E, 1950's Greaserlock AU)

Z ombies: Coins on My Eyes by indybaggins (35K, M, Sickfic)

[fansplaining]

Today we're thrilled to publish our latest article—a piece on U.S copyright law and fandom by @earlgreytea68!

Fan creators don’t speak with one voice any more than any creative community speaks with one voice. I am well aware that I am one of you, but I am definitely not all of you. But most fan creators don’t consider themselves to be lazy or thieves—including me. In fact, all the fan creators that I know work very hard on our creations. We don’t consider ourselves to be stealing anything, because what we “steal”—some characters, some settings—is part of our cultural heritage, part of the world around us, part of the raw material we’ve been given to examine and make sense of our world, the way creators have for millennia.

She'll also discuss the topic on this week's episode, out today for Patrons and tomorrow for everyone else!

[g0ff1k]

based on that one scene from the christmas fic by @earlgreytea68 that i did a few months ago that i never got to post here :P

[pixelatedquarter]

As requested by @earlgreytea68 the Sandwich With Cheese Speech (intro to Heaven, Iowa) (from fairypsychic on Instagram)

[sits-bound]

Bound: Nature and Nurture by @earlgreytea68

What an utterly fantastic fic! I'm happy with how the bind came out, but I have a few things I'd change if I did it again:

I wouldn't forget to put the ribbon in before the endbands

I would make the style more consistent. The chapter headings and the cover do not match at all.

I would be more careful when ironing the HTV on the spine

Not put a dang ampersand in the title on the header and the cover page. Argh.

I WOULD NOT MISSPELL THE AUTHOR'S NAME wow this is embarrassing

Also to note about this bind:

I was going to print the chapter pages in color. I used this lovely graphic and beautiful drop caps, but a 57 chapter fic when you don't have a color printer is maybe not the best choice. Half the sheets would have had color on them, and it would have cost a fortune to print.

I scavenged the end bands and the boards from a book I bought at a library sale. Just to see. I feel like the glue didn't stick as well to the smooth cover as it does to bare chipboard.

The HTV on the spine got messed up a little bit when I was ironing it on, but I was able to pick off the bits that were messed up and iron on a fresh set of lettering/graphic and you really can't even tell now! Whew. (Note to self: Cricut brand metallic htv has been the best of all the brands I've used as far as application goes.)

But all in all, I'm happy with it. It's just for me, after all, so it's okay if it's not perfect. That said, if I do this one again, I'd make a different cover that's more consistent with the chapter headers. (Like, if the author wants a copy?)

Bookcloth: Allure Bookcloth Indigo Body Text: Corundum Text Light Chapter Headings: MrKeningbeck Pro Drop Caps: FLOWER Inside title: FLOWER and MrKeningbeck Pro and Filson Pro Cover: Filson Pro All icons from The Noun Project

[meetinginsamarra]

Fanfics I Really Liked in February 2024

So. Since I keep a list of what I´ve read anyway (there´s always a list), I will rec all the fics I´ve wholly enjoyed on a monthly basis. Old and new, canon or AU, big or small authors, long or short but nearly always Johnlock (-ish).

Walk of Shame by 72reasons @onesmallfamily

John is just back from the war and lonely. He distracts himself with casual sex. Sherlock usually refrains from sex, but in trying to stay sober he indulges in it now and again. One day, Sherlock meets John on the street and sparks fly. Casual sex is one thing, but what about something more?

Hurt/Comfort, vulnerable characters and sex. Great.

Exsanguinate by 7PercentSolution @7-percent

A Five+1 of missing scenes from HLV when Sherlock nearly bled to death and what happened next.

Way more logical explanations for what happened medically and psychologically in canon HLV and afterwards.

Compartmentalised Troubles by BakerTumblings

John Watson is in financial need, so he finds a job for a home monitoring company. Next client? Mycroft Holmes.

Something is amiss in the mansion and then a mighty thunderstorm happens and John has to use all of his doctoring skills to save the unusual visitor.

Time in a Bottle by DiscordantWords @discordantwords

One wasted wish, five wishes that changed the world, and one wish that changed nothing at all.

Such a clever premise and suspensful fic. A genie gets to grant Sherlock and John three wishes and they use it to change things in the past. What they wish for is very telling about their characters but the changes made are not what they expect them to be.

Nature and Nurture by earlgreytea68 @earlgreytea68

The British Government accidentally clones Sherlock Holmes. Which brings a baby to 221B Baker Street.

I am so very late to this fandom classic but somehow the sheer length and the concept of a clone baby always kept me from reading. A huge mistake! The fic is very diverting albeit the length and the Sherlockian clone baby is one of the best and funniest OMCs (if you can call it that) I have read about. Also, lots of insight into the inner workings of John and Sherlock via their accidental (and awesome) parenting. Brilliant!