2016: If it's spring, it must be Holmestice

[graycardinal]

Name: graycardinal (AO3: Gray_Cardinal)

Contact email: graycardinal007@gmail.com

I will create: fic

In one or more of the following parts of fandom:
ACD/canon; Mary Russell series (King); The Infernal Device series (Kurland); The Holmes-Dracula File series (Saberhagen); The Light Fantastic (Jeffrey Lang, ST:TNG); A Study in Charlotte (Cavallaro); Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century; Without a Clue; Murder By Decree

The foregoing should be considered a sampling.  I am very widely read in prose pastiche, and if someone has a hankering for follow-ups to Richard Boyer, Larry Millett, etc., I will certainly consider the prospect.  Note that I continue to be non-conversant in BBC Sherlock or Elementary; as someone else put it, I'm lending balance to the Force.  (OTOH, I might possibly be talked into Young Sherlock Holmes....)

For one or more of the following relationships:
gen/friendship (all); Holmes/Russell (Russellverse); Holmes/Lestrade (22Cen)

With some exceptions, where matters Holmesian are concerned I am not a good candidate for writing romance, and where I do dip my toe in those waters, I have a strong preference for onstage canon-compliant pairings (22Cen notably excepted).  Although if someone can find me a viable source for the Pennington/Colin Return of Sherlock Holmes or for 1994 Baker Street, we can definitely talk.  :-)

I like working with one or more of the following categories:
AU (canon divergence), casefic, characterization, crossover, crack, fluff, friendship, gen, humor, etc.

As will be seen from my prior Holmestice works (and the works gifted to me), I am very fond of crossovers, including those with SFnal or fantastic elements, though I do try to bring a degree of credibility to even the most peculiar alternate possibilities.

With any of the following ratings:
general audiences; non-explicit sexual content; mild to moderate violence; depictions of non-sexual mature themes

The short form: It's not that explicit material and I don't get along, it's just that explicit material and Holmesiana don't intersect in my writing-brain (and only very rarely in my reading-brain).

I am willing to create for the following squicks and/or kinks:
None (see above)

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I want to receive: fic, podfic

In one or more of the following parts of fandom:
ACD/canon; Mary Russell series (King); The Infernal Device series (Kurland); The Holmes-Dracula File series (Saberhagen); The Light Fantastic (Jeffrey Lang, ST:TNG); A Study in Charlotte (Cavallaro); Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century; Without a Clue; Murder By Decree; etc.

See above and below for other examples of pastiches and adaptations I've enjoyed, and would greatly enjoy seeing fic for.  With respect to podfic, I'd be absolutely delighted to hear audio versions either of my own Holmesian work or of the Holmestice stories gifted to me (authorial permissions permitting).

For one or more of the following relationships:
gen/friendship (all); Holmes/Russell (Russellverse); Holmes/Lestrade (22Cen)

As above, so below; just as I mostly don't write in these fandoms for the romance, neither do I read in them for it.  I do like casefic, I very much like the Holmes/Watson friendship dynamic, and Laurie King sold me early on regarding the Holmes/Russell partnership.  There are a few screen Holmeses for whom I bend that rule, most mentioned upstream (and it is not a coincidence that most of them are modern- or future-dress)

I like stuff in the following categories:
AU (canon divergence), casefic, characterization, crossover, crack, fluff, friendship, gen, humor, SF/fantasy, etc.

Again see above and below for examples.

With any of the following ratings:
general audiences; non-explicit sexual content; mild to moderate violence; non-sexual mature themes

I wouldn’t mind any of the following squicks and/or kinks:
None, please.  As discussed above, my brain just isn't wired for Holmesiana and graphic sex in the same story-space.  Holmes and Jack the Ripper I can deal with, though preferably with a minimum of gore-splatter in the prose.  Holmes and explicit sex?  Just not my thing.

Please include further details about what you’d like to receive:
I'm not the audience for high levels of angst in my Holmesiana -- mostly because I've never seen the canonical Holmes as dysfunctional/damaged/autistic/sociopathic, as is common in many newer adaptations.  I see where that reading of the character comes from, and I respect much of the work that's arisen from it, but that Holmes has never been mine.  Mine is more of a nonconformist-by-choice, cheerfully and consciously resisting social norms much as Peter Pan resists growing up.

Like gardnerhill, I am wholly amenable to being surprised by something entirely out of left field: a Solar Pons adventure, a Hockensmith Holmes on the Range episode -- I was unexpectedly charmed by World's Greatest Sleuth! -- a callback to something from the old Holmesian Federation printzine, a follower to Esther Friesner's Druid's Blood.  (See, I told you I was widely read!)  OTOH, best to avoid Gaiman's "Study in Emerald" (I am...allergic to that one) and Kim Newman's Moriarty/D'Urberville cycle; also, I have yet to encounter a teen-aged Holmes in prose that I find convincing.

Special requests:
While I've focused mostly on core characters in my Holmestice work to date, I'd be happy to take on stories featuring secondary players in canon-appropriate roles.  I like most of the Irenes I've read, I can work with both villainous and wronged Moriartys as needed (though let's just steer clear of a certain Dibdin book), and I generally like both Mycroft and Mary, although especially in Mycroft's case a great deal depends on the particular canon involved (do not get me started on the "Quinn Fawcett" series).

Comments

[sanguinity]

When you say "find you viable source" for 1994 Baker Street, would YouTube do? I watched it there after your sign-up last round.

I'm obviously going to have to get around to reading more pastiche one of these days, if only so I can read your sign-ups knowledgeably. Speaking of teen-aged Holmes in prose, have you read Study in Charlotte yet? I'm only a few pages in, myself.

[graycardinal]

[bookmarks vid link]

That will want saving for later, but yes indeed, and thank you!

As for Study in Charlotte, I hadn't seen that till just now, but I will definitely have to have a look at it soonest.

[graycardinal]

Interesting.

Just finished mainlining A Study in Charlotte -- although considering some of Charlotte's proclivities, that may be an unfortunate turn of phrase. On one hand, I really am not fond of the modern brassy tone of so much current YA, which the prose in this definitely inhabits. OTOH, as a Holmesian updating...it really works surprisingly well. As descendants rather than reincarnations or transplants, Charlotte and Jamie acquit themselves well, and the story does a good job of extrapolating old rivalries and relationships forward into the present-day generation. (Also, treating the Holmes and Watson families as real, but explicitly characterizing the original Watson's stories as fictional retellings? Very well played.)

I suspect some readers may have issues with the treatment of one particular offstage event experienced by Charlotte, the fallout of which is skimmed over fairly lightly in the text. I think I'm okay with it for the moment, but others' mileage may vary.

I will definitely be reading the next two (the jacket copy says it's a trilogy), and I should think there's definitely fic potential in this universe.

[k-e-p.livejournal.com]

Aaaaah, someone else has now read Study in Charlotte! I too didn't particularly enjoy the general YA-ness of it (despite actually having a fondness for YA), but MAN. THE BACKSTORY. DESCENDANTS. WITH FAMILY HISTORY. THE ONGOING QUESTION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A HOLMES AND A WATSON. I could eat that stuff up with a spoon all day.

And now I feel comfortable asking for it! And offering it! BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE IN THE WORLD HAS READ IT!

(Apologies for shouting. I'm just really excited. Um. Really, really excited.)

[graycardinal]

Shouting? Was there shouting? I was just editing my signup a little, so I might have missed it. :-)

[sanguinity]

Excellent! I'm glad you like it! I really enjoyed the little bit I've read, enough so that I keep having to put it down again: I'm supposed to be finishing this other fic, not thinking about Charlotte. I'm looking forward to finally getting to the place where I can read it without reservation about everything else I'm supposed to be doing.

And yeah, k_e_p has already given me a heads-up about One Particular Offstage Event. As a matter of general preference, I can wish the author hadn't gone there, but we'll see what I make of it when I'm there.

[graycardinal]

[pokes through back messages]

[misquotes wildly]

H. I refer you to the curious incident of the sanguinity in the springtime.

W. The sanguinity had not signed up for the new round of Holmestice! (Yet, anyway.)

H. That was the curious incident.

[sanguinity]

Less curious when one is familiar with my terrible case of lastminuteitis, perhaps. But yes, just as soon as I get this other thing off to beta...

ETA: ...and I am signed up!