This is a primer on the fic in this fandom for tidus.

There is actually a surprising amount of fic in this fandom for how long it's been around. I've read and tagged about 700 stories at this point. I've also been collecting recs and a list of reclists.

Here are ten stories that are a good introduction to the range of the fandom and that I think are very good:

1. You Can Imagine the Christmas Dinners by ardenteurophile (John/Sherlock)
This is actually the first fic I read in this fandom. A friend of mine linked it to me and said “Okay, read this, and decide if we are going to watch this show or not.” So I read it, thought it was adorable, and decided to watch the show with her. The plot of this one is your standard forced-to-pretend-to-be-married type plot, and it’s done so well. I love that type of story to begin with, and this one is a great example of it.

2. Wherein There Is a Case, Several Mysteries, John Coming to the Rescue, and an Old Folk Saying by parsnips (John/Sherlock)
This is a great humor fic. It takes a real-life fact about one of the actors and uses it to hilarious ends in a way that I really enjoy seeing in fic. This is also a good introduction to some common tropes/fanon occurrences in this fandom in a way that’s absolutely not trite.

3. Anthea and the Faceless World by catslyn (gen)
This is a really great little gen fic about Anthea (Mycroft’s Blackberry-wielding assistant) and an interesting interpretation of her possible background. Anthea is one of my favorite characters, and people have done a number of really interesting things with her in different stories.

4. Give Me the Quiet Things by lady_t_220 (John/Sherlock)
This fic is a great example of one of my favorite tropes - amnesia. There are a lot of really well-written stories in this fandom where one of the characters is injured in some way and the others have to work around it. Also, this story is fantastic about the examination of their relationship.

5. Horse and Carriage by flawedamythyst (John/Sherlock)
Another really common thing in this fandom is the idea that Sherlock is asexual. There’s fairly strong evidence in both this canon and ACD canon (from what I understand - I’ve only read about a third of it) to support this interpretation. These stories are frequently very well done and an interesting take on interpersonal relations in the show in this context.

6. Hold on Hope by notkerouac (John/Lestrade)
This is a pairing I was not expecting to love as much as I do. I went looking for it for a friend who watched the show and said he wanted Lestrade/John fic, and there are actually some really fantastic stories with this pairing. I find their interactions and the different ways authors have them work around Sherlock and his habits to be really enjoyable. Even if you’re the kind of reader who only ships one thing, ever, and reads nothing else, I really encourage you to read this.

7. Almost Always by ivyblossom (John/Sherlock)
This is a really great example of hurt/comfort fic. I love stories with unwitting confessions and stories where characters are absolutely certain they’re going to die and how they act in response to that, and this fandom has a number of them.

8. Interrogation by cat_77 (gen)
This is a fantastic, kind of dark gen fic about Sally and her perceptions of Sherlock. We know from the episodes that she obviously doesn’t like him much, even though he’s presented to the audience as the sympathetic character. This is a really good examination of her attitude toward him, and she is absolutely brilliant in this. I love stories about supporting characters, and in this fandom I particularly love stories about Sally, Anthea, and Lestrade, as you may have noticed.

9. Monster by moony (John/Sherlock)
This is a much darker fic than most of the things I’ve listed before now. There are a number of really dark stories in this fandom, and this, in my opinion, is one of the best of them. You said you liked stories more like this, so this is definitely one you should read. This story had me literally on the edge of my seat. It’s got a great build-up and the dark elements are done very, very well.

10. Parallel by anonymous (John/Sherlock)
This fandom has a really active fic meme, and sometimes it can produce really fantastic things. This is tied with another fic for my current favorite WIP on the meme. Sometimes there are some really fantastic fills and I end up following them obsessively, despite my usual conviction to never read WIPs.


Here are five AUs you should read if you like AUs:

1. It Feels Like Home When I'm With You by etothepii (John/Sherlock)
I can’t even describe how amazing I find this story, but it’s really a perfect AU. It’s pretty sad, which is unsurprising given the premise, but this author does it fantastically. I’m not going to lie, this is kind of the standard by which I judge all other AUs in this fandom.

2. Aptronyms by elapsedspiral (gen)
Since you like all Holmes adaptations, this is probably a great story for you. This is an AU where the characters from the show are themselves, but also happen to have been very unfortunately named after these characters from a bunch of short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a century ago. It’s great.

3. Reader by liberateourtime (gen)
This is an excellent superpowers-type AU. I love those in most fandoms, and this one is no exception. This is a really great take on it and my only complaint about it is that there’s not more!

4. Categories by parachute_silks (John/Sherlock)
Do you like genderswap? I'm not sure. This is my favorite genderswap fic -- they’re both ladies in this, and I love the ways it both changes and doesn’t change them. Also they get together, which, you know, LESBIANS YEAH.

5. When the War Fires Fade by snowdarkred (John/Sherlock)
Another great standard AU of any fandom is the magic AU. I think this is one of the best-done of those for Sherlock fandom, and it has that great sort of epic triumph moment that I also love in these kind of fics.


Here are five crossovers/fusions you should read if you're familiar with the fandoms:

1. Paper Chase by sam_storyteller (gen)
This is a crossover with White Collar, that show on USA about an expert forger/conman who is on work-release working with the FBI. I love the main characters on that show and Neal is also the sort of irreverent genius type, and I loved seeing Sherlock and Neal interact and try to out-do one another while showing off.

2. The Almost Empty House by rachelindeed (gen)
This is a fusion with Harry Potter. John and Sherlock are Hogwarts students. Every fandom has like a million HP crossovers, of course, but I think this is one of the better Sherlock ones.

3. I Used to Live Alone Before I Knew You by etothepii (John/Sherlock)
This is a fusion with Good Omens. Sherlock is a demon, Mycroft is an angel, and John is just John. I have a huge thing for Good Omens crossovers and fusions, since it’s one of my favorite books, and this one is amazing.

4. The Republic of Heaven by blind_author (John/Sherlock)
This is a fusion with His Dark Materials (aka The Golden Compass, etc.) by Phillip Pullman. There are actually a surprising number of fusions with this series in Sherlock fandom. This one is a WIP but it is fucking brilliant. Everything about it is so utterly perfect and I hesitate to ever rec WIPs, I hesitate to ask you to read something if you don’t know the crossover premise, but even if you are not familiar with this series, I still think you should totally skim the Wikipedia article and then go read this.

5. Are you still there? by mesmiranda
This is a crossover with Portal. Yeah. Portal. This is also another meme fill that I adore. This crossover totally should not work in any way, but it totally does and I totally love it. This is a link to a repost of it on her journal in with a bunch of her other fills, which I haven't read any of. It's the middle one on the page, if the cutid tag doesn't work for you.


So yeah. There’s a starter list for you to go from. I might actually recommend going with the gen from the first list, the crossovers, and then the AUs first since you’re not as into pairing fic for this fandom. But this is all stuff I’m pretty sure you’ll like, and if you give me feedback on what you like as you go through it, it’ll help me figure out what else to link you. :D?