Give Your Heart to a Wild Thing

Title: Give Your Heart to a Wild Thing
Author: kenopsia
Fandom: Sherlock / His Dark Materials
Characters: Sherlock/Victor, Mycroft, Mommy Holmes
Warning: PG-13, slash, character death (Father Holmes), AU, crossover
Length: Medium
Status: Ongoing


Mycroft is just hoping he doesn't have to kill Sherlock's daemon in her sleep to help Sherlock live to see adulthood. It might as well be his prime directive, because nobody else seems capable of doing it.


AO3


Bloody brilliant story. This has just hit my all time favorites! Last time I was as impressed with a story as right now was when I read Chrysalis by starcrossed_lover or Mad Lori's Performance in a Leading Role.

Sun that Burns on a Cloudy Day

Title: Sun that Burns on a Cloudy Day
Author: InsaneTrollLogic
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Mycroft, Sherlock, John, Lestrade
Warning: AU
Length: Short
Status: Completed


Sherlock and John are rebels in a dystopian world.

AO3


AU with Mycroft who has taken over the world. Very in-character but darkish. He is still Mycroft, and Sherlock and John are Sherlock and John. Mycroft is simply guided by other moral concepts. His brother, however, will always be his world.

Fairy Tale of Regent's Park

Title: Fairy Tale of Regent's Park
Author: Basingstoke
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Lestrade, Mrs Hudson, Jim
Warning: PG, AU
Length: Short
Status: Completed


There is a swan, and he's not named Sherlock. And there is a duck, and he's not named John.



AO3

Utterly cute story of Roadblock (Sherlock) the Swan, and Johnny the Duck. And Norbury, their peachick.

Golden Boy

Title: Golden Boy
Author: paperandfeather
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Jim
Warning: R, slash, magic, AU, amnesia (Sherlock)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


"Do you know what you have done? A bond was created. You two are now irreversibly connected to each other..." At first neither Sherlock nor John is happy about it but their animosity begins to fade...



AO3

Another AU for the list.

The Vibe

Title: The Vibe
Author: ms_soma
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock/John, Jim
Warning: R, slash, AU
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

(Mostly straight) John is desperate for a change in vocation. Along comes the imposing, and slightly intriguing, Mycroft Holmes with an offer for John to join his brother's shop. Sherlock is doubtful his brother is capable of hiring anyone who is not prudish, squeamish or a complete prat, yet maybe he's on a winner with the good doctor. Not that he'll admit it. Yet.

Featuring all the regulars you know and love (and hate), a trip to Sexpo, pining of the requited and unrequited variety, and lots of talk of butt-plugs and dildos.

AO3

The setting is just too funny not to rec it. The end is somewhat rushed but well... it's funny. Check it out.

Baker Street

Title: Baker Street
Author: StarMarple
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock, Molly
Warning: PG, AU
Length: Medium
Status: Completed


John Watson, lately of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, has returned from war with a limp, a bullet in the shoulder, and very little in the way of job prospects. He's down to his last dime and about to be kicked out of his bedsit when he runs into his old classmate Mike Stamford who insists on taking him for pastry and a coffee at a bakery located at 221 Baker Street, where he meets a very unusual pastry chef.


AO3

A yummy story in which Sherlock is a pastry chef who owns a strange but good pastry shop.
You really should have a sweet tooth for this. There's not much up and down. It's more about a wonderfully fluffy universe. In which there is a lot of cake. And biscuits. And don't forget the tea. To compliment the biscuits.

The Ichor of Talos

Title: The Ichor of Talos
Author: Nikoshinigami
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock, Lestrade
Warning: PG-13, character death (Sherlock - but not like you think)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


After being convicted of the murder of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson is sentenced to confinement, therapy, and to the constant companionship of a hologram of his victim to aid in his rehabilitation. While John remains uncertain of his guilt, Sherlock is only too happy to engage in the mystery of his own murder to try and discover why he died and how events set his path to cross with the war ravaged stranger he's now posthumously bound to.


AO3

Another work of Nikoshinigami's that I fell in love with. It's an anxious relationship, though. Unlike with stories like "Chrysalis", there's so much right about the setting, and yet you feel the darkness hovering over everything. I cannot but be wary of what is to come.
Still, I love it.
Definitely one of the best authors in the fandom right now.

Same author as:
The Circle of Fifths
Two of Every Kind
Naked, Stripped, and Raw

Predator

Title: Predator
Author: emptycel
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock
Warning: PG-13, mention of non-con, AU
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


John Watson just wanted a nice, peaceful year at Baker Academy, but when a sexual predator and serial rapist makes the school his hunting ground, John gets caught up in the crime solving whirlwind that is Sherlock Holmes.


AO3

A good case fic set in their school days. I don't rec school fics that often, so take my word. This one is good.

Same author:
The Six Steps of Courtship

The Letter of the Lore

Title: The Letter of the Lore
Author: Anonymous
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock, John, Mycroft
Warning: PG-13, murder (Sherlock), AU
Length: Short
Status: Completed

Sherlock is a half-faerie. It is not easy to live under ancient laws.

LJ

I really love the embedded fantasy elements. And how John reacts. You feel the love in there. The author truly loves BBC Sherlock.

Spare Change

Title: Spare Change
Author: Ermerness
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock (switch), Mycroft, Jim, Mummy Holmes
Warning: NC-17, slash,AU, slash, marriage
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


The Holmes family is one of the richest and most powerful in England. Sherlock spends his time flying around the world on the family's private jet drinking a lot and shopping at expensive boutiques as a way of trying to alleviate his endless boredom. His mother decides it's time he settles down with someone powerful, wealthy and well connected. John Watson happens to be none of those things.


AO3


A nice AU with rich!Sherlock who is supposed to marry a dull person. Then John Watson happens. And Sherlock is no longer bored.

This Thing All Things Devour

Title: This Thing All Things Devour
Author: cypress_tree
Fandom: Sherlock / In Time
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Molly, Sally, Lestrade
Warning: NC-17, slash, AU, crossover
Length: Novella
Status: Completed

 In 2169, time is money—literally. Humans are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, when the numbers on their arm start counting down from one year. When that time is up, they die. The only way to get more time is to earn it, borrow it, or steal it.

John Watson lives day-to-day in the crowded slums of Zone 13. He never imagined living any differently—until he meets the practically-immortal Sherlock, and helps him on a case to track a local time-thief...

AO3

Brilliant story. I didn't know "In Time" but I think the main elements of the universe are very conflicting and dark. Putting Sherlock and John in there... yes, it works. It does.
I loved the general mood. You can feel "the time is running." You expect it to run out.

The Only Emperor

Title: The Only Emperor
Author: coloredink
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock
Warning: PG, AU
Length:, Medium
Status: Completed

It never occurred to Sherlock Holmes that an ice cream shop might attract children.


AO3


Sherlock is a very eccentric cook who is specialized in ice cream flavors. John is a sous-chef. Now he's distributing ice cream.
You think that sounds boring?
Believe me. It isn't. The Only Emperor is one of the sweetest, fluffiest AUs I've ever read. The characters are are still recognizable, and yet they have been completely taken from their usual surroundings.

Two of Every Kind

Title: Two of Every Kind
Author: Nikoshinigami
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft
Warning: PG-13, AU, illness (Sherlock), character death (Molly)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


A viral outbreak has caused the world to take doomsday precautions. While the best and brightest are locked away in the Ark, the rest of humanity has only death as a comfort to the pains of infection. John and Sherlock must either survive or die, but neither option is the easy way out.


AO3

A very angsty and apocalyptic story. I feared for Sherlock for some time. Great series though the last instalment is rushed and not as finely written.

Same author as:
The Circle of Fifths
Naked, Stripped, and Raw
The Ichor of Talos

Possessions

Title: Possessions
Author: lostwithoutmydoctor
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Jim, Mrs. Hudson
Warning: NC-17, AU, vampire, animal ( bat, cat), character death (John, John Watson)
Length: Novel
Status: Completed

Sherlock Holmes was a bored, socially isolated vampire living in London, and John Watson was just a bloke looking for a flatshare after returning home from a war that left him a wounded, broken man. Lets all take a moment to thank Mike Stamford for bringing them together. Maybe, just maybe, they'll survive together instead of fading away apart.

AO3


I loved the first part, the second part was a bit mushy. Still, one of the best vampire fics out there. Deserves to be rec'ed.

Above, Below (Through the Cracks)

Title: Above, Below (Through the Cracks)
Author: doodle
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Jim/Moran
Warning: NC-17, slash, character death (Mycroft, Jim, Moran), murder (Sherlock), AU, crossover (Neverwhere - book)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

London is a city with two faces. There is Above and there is Below. And Below is the city of people who have fallen through the cracks, the lost, the forgotten and the broken.

John Watson returns to London from the war, broken and lost until fate leads him to a man who calls himself the consulting detective and the mercenaries who are hunting him. As the result of a single act of kindness John finds himself pulled in the strange, and wonderful, world of Below as the consulting detective attempts to get to safety and solve the string of violent deaths plaguing Below before he is next.

AO3
also on LJ

Brilliant AU. Truly. The universe is fascinating, and the plot is a bit thin for the great setting, but the characterizaton was on the spot.
Mycroft as a baddie, well, okay. I prefer him to be besotted with Sherlock but he is a terrifying power. I buy that because it's an AU.

Long Ago and Far Away

Title: Long Ago and Far Away

Author: lotherington
Fandom: Sherlock

Characters: John/Sherlock, Mrs Hudson, Mommy Holmes, Mycroft

Warning: NC-17, slash, injury (John), war, AU

Length: Novella
Status: Completed

‘Are you in the habit of inviting queer men back to your flat, John?’ he murmured, his eyes half-lidded as he stared at John again.

John huffed a breath through his nose. ‘None quite so peculiar as you,’ he said after a long pause, lifting his eyes to Sherlock’s.

October, 1937. A chance encounter late one night leads to Sherlock following John home. I can’t really put it much better than Vera Lynn herself: That certain night, the night we met / there was magic abroad in the air.

AO3

Frantic relationship in a very gloomy setting. The narrative is beautifully done, it makes you feel the pressure of the war.

Spans from 1937 to the beginning of 1945 (exception: one story set in 1951).

Mise en Place

Title: Mise en Place
Author: azriona
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Molly, Lestrade, Jim, Harry
Warning: NC-17, slash, AU
Length: Novel
Status: Completed


John Watson had no intentions of taking over the family business, but when he returns from Afghanistan, battered and bruised, and discovers that his sister Harry has run their restaurant into the ground, he doesn't have much choice. There's only one thing that can save the Empire from closing for good – the celebrity star of the BBC series Restaurant Reconstructed, Chef Sherlock Holmes.


AO3

Mind-blowing, and how come I have almost no warnings to tag? I don't believe it. Shame on me.
I love Mise en Place. I had no real expectations, even though I know azriona and I liked some of her previous works. Mise en Place has got many elements that "could" work, but also some that made me frown. I mean, seriously, Sherlock as a TV chef? I can see him tearing into people, yes. But I can't see him motivating the staff.
Azriona combines the series and the story by putting in quotes - which make you smile every time, just because you recognize them! I never felt like the AU world was overbearing or too vast to explore. A good AU, definitely.

Same author as:
The British Government Only Asks Twice
The Adventures of the Resurrected Lover
A Matter of Convenience

Pull the Stars from the Sky

Title: Pull the Stars from the Sky
Author: roane
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Jim, Lestrade, Harry, Irene
Warning: NC-17, slash, injury (Irene, Sherlock)
Length: Novella
Status: Ongoing


It’s the fall of 2000, and to help him out after his military career has ended due to injury, John Watson’s sister Harriet gets him a job as US tour manager for rising star of the industrial scene and enfant terrible, Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock’s not long out of rehab and there are plenty of doubts as to whether he’s serious about recovery. Plus, the music industry is shaking in its boots over the Napster mess. All John has to do is keep the money coming in and make sure his star doesn't screw things up. After the army, that should be easy, right?


AO3


A music AU; there aren't that many well-done AUs, so a rec for this work. Its pacing is good. Otherwise, well, enjoyable. Not deep, or very artistic. Not the author's intention. I think it's more of a "light reading". Good for relaxing.

The Baker Street Nativity

Title: The Baker Street Nativity
Author: SwissMiss
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Lestrade, Jim
Warning: R, slash, violence, AU
Length: Novel
Status: Completed


Sherlock is a primary school teacher and John is assigned to be his classroom assistant. Together, they are charged with putting on the school's Nativity play. What could possibly go wrong?


At AO3

Hilarious, insightful story with a very good John. He's patient, kind, good with children, good with and for Sherlock... god. I finally got some of the high esteem in which I once held him back. I have to admit that the Mary thing has shaken me, just as much as many of those fics that I began to read and discontinued reading. I hate stories where the author put him as some faithful husband that just doesn't want to hurt any party. I like him better when he knows that he should either lay in the bed he's made himself or admit that it was a mistake and set it right. John's decisive - and in this story, while he wants to please, he is decisive.
Finally. I love him.
Sherlock's actually rather self-conscious in this story. Don't know if I have read something similiar as of yet. Usually, when he's self-conscious, he's often depicted more mental (not in a degrading way!). Sherlock here is brilliant but not overly sociopathic. Just self-conscious and he has had some pretty rough experiences which shaped him.
To me, one of the most surprising stories I've read in the past weeks. It restored my faith in John, and that makes it one of my favorite stories ever right now.

Art of the Reasoner

Title: Art of the Reasoner
Author: Tellytubby101
Fandom: Sherlock
Character: John, Sherlock, Lestrade, Sally
Warning: PG-13, AU, character death(Sherlock)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed


A world in which Sherlock is an artist, not a detective. Though that doesn’t mean he can’t help solve crimes. 



At AO3

This is magnifiscent, artistic, and beautiful. Just like "The Art of Seduction", this story managed to capture Sherlock's make-up and depicts him in character while exchanging his obsession with crime solving. In here, he solves crimes but he isn't obsessed with it. Instead, there's art, and crazy, insane thoughts about art and art expression.
John's a great chap, too. Loved everything. Even the last chapter which came like a blow against the stomach. At first I believed there'd be an epilogue of sorts. There wasn't. I really wished to have a slower "curtain fall".

Same Author as:
#ibelieveinsherlock