Summer 2021 Guessing Post

[holmesticemods]

Thank you so much for another wonderful round of Holmestice! The mods want to say THANK YOU to all the creators who joined us this round. Being in this community with you is a joy and an honour.

Reveals and the Master List go up on June 21st. Until then, please enjoy and comment on all the lovely fanworks. (If you haven't thanked your creator for your own gift yet, please do!) Creators, please do NOT respond to Dreamwidth comments or post your works elsewhere on the Internet until reveals go up in the community. You may of course reply to comments on AO3, which preserves your anonymity.

In the meanwhile, stay tuned: treats are coming up! For anyone thinking of making a treat, we will accept treats until reveals, so if there's a prompt that inspires you, please have at it! Just use the regular submission guidelines and send your headers to holmesticemods@gmail.com.

If you'd like to guess who created what in this round, here's a list of all the contributors for the main gifts. (You'll have to put in some extra work to guess the treat-makers!) Go ahead and take a guess! It's all in good fun.


17pansies
alisha1221
arwamachine
BookGirlFan
c.art / comicArtistA
commoncollective
deelaundry / dee_laundry
discordantwords
eliza_underscore / marveling_under_an_open_sky
firecat
fleetsparrow
fridaythegowerstreetcat / gowerstreet
ghostbees / vernets
graycardinal / gray_cardinal
happyeverafter72
helloliriels
iwantthatcoat
language_escapes
marta-bee
merinda / Janto321
milverton / algy / AlgySwinburne
monkiainen
natrix_natrix / two_nipples_maybe_more / Biscia
Noob / 0archangel0
nottoolateforthegame
ohlooktheresabee
oldshrewsburyian
oraorahime
papysanzo
pipmer1 / pipmer
queenoferebor
rachelindeed / educatedinyellow
Rocío / disheveledcurls
saki101
sanguinity
sanspatronymic / sans_patronymic
senmut / Merfilly
simplyclockwork
strampunch / Dapperpunch
tepidspongebath
thedoubtfulguest / violet_strange
trobadora
urbanhymnal
vulgarweed
write_out / thetimemoves
yuliares


Go forth and leave love for your fellow Holmestice artists, authors, podficcers, and vidders! See you again on the 21st, when we reveal who made what!

Comments

Guesses

[happyeverafter72]

I believe I know who some of the artists are. No idea on the fics, unfortunately!
Not Going Anywhere - oraorahime
Watson Gets the Bloody Tattoo - natrix_natrix
Caress - commoncollective
Labours of Love - strampunch
Breakfast Table - ghostbees

A Tech Tip

[graycardinal]

Here's a bit of minor technomancy which both the guessers and the mods may find useful: the Dreamwidth posting engine can in fact generate linked AO3 (or Tumblr) usernames by way of the same interface it uses to generate DW user links. The exact format for this depends on which text mode you're using to post or comment (for comments, you select this in a dropdown just above the text entry box):

For Markdown, (omit the slash marks)
/@/graycardinal gives you graycardinal
/@/gray_cardinal.ao3 gives you gray_cardinal

For HTML, (use <, not [)
[user name=graycardinal] gives you graycardinal
[user name=gray_cardinal site=ao3] gives you gray_cardinal

Replacing ".ao3" with ".tumblr" will link to a Tumblr account.

This link is a helpful guide to Markdown formatting in general; this one is DW's Help page for user-ID links, which lists a bunch of other social-media sites with which the above feature will work.

And now, a preliminary "Salaam"

[graycardinal]

Let me just say before diving in that this has been an AWESOME round; I have seen multiple truly amazing fics, a bunch of outstanding artwork, and ohhh, the podfics....(seriously, I am in awe over here). And then of course there's our phantom versifier, back again handing out apt epigrams.

As for actual guessing, I have about two-thirds of half of a Spreadsheet of Doom™, and a Crystal of Inductomancy™ that probably needs its batteries replaced. This round is going to be just bonkers, I think - I'm pretty sure I remember what I wrote, but it wouldn't surprise me if what I actually wrote turns out to be something entirely different.

Re: A Tech Tip

[deelaundry]

Ooh that so helpful! Thanks!

For Those Who Like Following Clues

[deelaundry]

Hi, everyone! First time participating in Holmestice and it's been a blast.

Just realized that as of this moment you can determine conclusively what I created, without knowing a thing about me, just by looking at two (2) pages of the Holmestice DW comm. One fact on each page, put them together, and the answer is indisputable.

:D

Re: For Those Who Like Following Clues

[rachelindeed]

Ooooh, intriguing! *waggles eyebrows*

[rachelindeed]

Thank you for another wonderful round, mods! There are so many new faces here for this exchange, it's so exciting (& will make the guessing extra challenging!) Add to that, one of our leading guessers, starfishstar, will have to recuse herself this time because she's (delightfully!) taking a bigger role behind the scenes! So...this guessing post is likely to be very tricky! CAN ANYONE CATCH SANGUINITY? ANYONE? Will scfrankles allow the moon to rise behind her on the Tor and arrive on the scene to dispel the mystery, or must we grope our way through the dark as best we can?

I have many, many more works to catch up on, but here are a couple preliminary guesses :)

My wonderful gift of Whitehead!Holmes/Pickering!Watson in all their sardonically enraptured glory must be from the inimitable ghostbees! *scatters roses* <333333

♢ ♧ ♤ ♡ = this delightful, sumptuous, otherwordly fic (set in the Sherlock Pilot!verse, no less!) must be saki101's :) No one describes clothing and architecture as lovingly as she does!

Treasures Which Defy Fortune = no one writes banter and miscellaneous antiques and good old-fashioned retirement-lovin' like sanspatronymic <3 I actually held off on commenting on this story because I thought "maybe someone might guess that I wrote it in the guessing post," but you know what, no. This is just so sanspatronymic, there's no point in pretending otherwise!

Re: For Those Who Like Following Clues

[write_out]

Oooh, I was going to guess you for my fantastic vid but now I need to hunt some clues!

[write_out]

What an amazing round! I'm still catching up but have loved everything I've read so far.

To my fellow BBC writers, I like to comment/kudos after reveals are up just to make guessing trickier. :) I can't wait to shower love on your works!

[pipmer1]

LOL I did the same thing!

[graycardinal]

This tactic is hardly limited to BBC/Sherlock writers nowadays. Which is good for making the guessing more entertaining, but nervous-making for creators who may be wondering where all their usual fans are....

[pipmer1]

Right?? I'm anxious and insecure anyway and that adds fuel, lol

[iwantthatcoat]

I also hold off on kudos until after reveals (Unless I am deliberately using them to mislead.) Apologies wonderful writers having to wait a bit longer for the love...

[iwantthatcoat]

And so it it begins....
♢ ♧ ♤ ♡ was written for me, so I have been thinking quite a bit about who it might be, and I have not been very successful. There are many potential authors for this one, some whom I do not know well (yet). It has a love of Mrs H as a fully sexually realized human which I tend to associate w Vulgarweed, but it doesn’t seem quite Vulgarweedish. The notes at the ending was quite intriguing and reminded me of OldShrewsburyian. Or someone trying to do something OldShrewsburyian does (I’m looking at you, Sanguinity, because you are exactly that devious). There is also only one chapter, though the story is longish, so that had to fit as well. Saki101 does this as well and writes quite a bit of magically themed works, but the thing that clinches it is Saki101 has left a comment/kudo on nearly every work posted earlyish (I stopped looking after a bit) and this one didn’t get that same treatment. Nor did Three Bowls but that’s a rarer fandom someone may have skipped for now and will come back to. But the gap in commenting on this one, plus the magical realism bent, plus the occasionally longer fic w one chapter makes me quite confident it’s Saki101. And looking at some of Saki101’s stories, which I now must devour, they also do the list of inspirational sources at the end. I call that conclusive.

Re: Guesses

[iwantthatcoat]

I agree with this wholeheartedly, and as I am fortunate to have a ghostbees on my wall, I absolutely recognize the warmth and the style.
Artists..,you are all amazing!

Re: For Those Who Like Following Clues

[pipmer1]

Well, there was only one vid created this round, and dee's Signup shows them *only* offering to create vid, so... What can we deduce from that ;)

[vulgarweed]

Willing to confirm, I loved ♢ ♧ ♤ ♡ and I didn't write it.

[oldshrewsburyian]

It's true; I, for one, have been suppressing commentary in hopes of being less transparent than usual.

[starfishstar]

It's true! I had the privilege of seeing all the works as they came in (though I haven't had time yet to read/watch/listen/comment on ANYTHING and it's killing me – I want to tell you all how wonderful you are!) so I won't be part of the guessing this round. But I'm assured by Sanguinity that watching the guessing from the other side is great fun, too, and I'm looking forward to that. :-) (As always, Sang promises to snicker A LOT.)

I love, though, that your guesses are so connected to style and feeling and personal details like loving descriptions of architecture! I know I turned my own guessing increasingly technical, until it was a perfect mathematical puzzle, so I'm quite looking forward to watching some much more personal, style-based guessing unfold. It begins!

Re: For Those Who Like Following Clues

[rachelindeed]

Yes, I think that must have been the clue they meant :) Only 1 vid-only sign up + only 1 vid this round (and a BBC one at that, which neither Sang nor I -- the other 2 vidders who commonly hang out at this exchange -- offered) does lead to a pretty incontrovertible conclusion :)

For the same reason, I'm sure the BRILLIANT Buckingham Palace treat is from Dee_Laundry, too. It was originally intended for only Write_Out, their assigned recipient, but they expanded it to Saki101, too, in thanks for the lovely & generous comments of them both. A lovely idea!

[pipmer1]

I'm fairly certain that "to sleep, perchance" was written by Marta. First of all, I'm somewhat familiar with her academic background, and the notes for this story reflect that.

Also, this story was written by a pinch hitter, since the treat written for the same recipient was created by the author that was originally matched with them but had to drop out. There was no gift offered for Marta, which tells me she only signed up to be a pinch hitter. So I'm fairly confident I'm calling this one correctly.

[vulgarweed]

In trying to guess who wrote my AMAZING fic "The Adventure of the Three Gay Bowls" I have an advantage. It's a rare canon, "The Sexual Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (Townsend) By my count, only two people offered it and one of them was me. Since I know I didn't write it for myself, all signs point to fleetsparrow.

Looking over their other works, the willingness - nay, eagerness - to commit to the porn is also certainly a point that reinforces this. I do have to wonder if it's too easy, but sometimes, it is.

Of course it's possible that it was written by someone who matched with me on something else, saw that request and decided to write it although they hadn't offered. Absent any other compelling evidence, though I think the answer might be just what it appears to be. No reason at all to think it isn't fleetsparrow.

And wow, I love this story so much. Not only does it make up for TSAoSH's lack of women (completely understandable given author and audience), it redeems one of the weaker canon stories and gives Isadora Klein the antiheroine adventure she deserved. (I picture her looking a bit like that giant vampire lady from Resident Evil that Twitter is gaga over). And the author, whoever they may be, has committed so completely to Townsend's lurid, raunchy style that it slots in seamlessly. Absolutely delicious.

[oldshrewsburyian]

In looking at my own gift, "A Cure for Grief," and the list of sign-ups, I'm going to take a slightly risky guess and say that, based on the author's other work, senmut might be responsible for this Watsonian musing.

[language_escapes]

I read the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was twelve-years-old, and as twelve-year-olds are sometimes wont to do, I immediately decided that I was going to grow up to become Sherlock Holmes and a great detective. I made my own fingerprinting kit, I practiced what I assumed was singlestick (I was not at all correct, lol), I taught myself how to pick locks... I did everything I could to become a Great Detective. There was one flaw in my plan, however: I am as observant as a BRICK. I am facially blind and so don't really recognize people. I have been known to look at a building that I walk past every day and be confused as to when that appeared. I walk into walls frequently, not out of klutziness, but out of lack of awareness for their existence. I was never going to be a Great Detective, it turned out, because I don't even see, let alone observe.

Hence why I basically never participate in the guessing post. I always sit and marvel at the detective work that the rest of you do, while I've already forgotten what I've done for the exchange. But I'm changing that today! I am going to actually participate, and not just with one or two guesses! Oh no. I'm going to make SEVERAL, so you can all enjoy how HILARIOUSLY WRONG THEY ARE. I am currently betting that I will get a 0% on this test. But I had grandiose dreams of being a Great Detective, once, so we'll see!

First, the gift for me, "The Madness of Colonel Warburton: An Elementals Story". It has to be by someone who has at least familiarity with both the Elementals 'verse and the Coules plays. I am immediately stumped. Perusing the sign-ups, I tried to make some matches, but as soon as I looked away from an entry, I forgot what they offered. I started writing it down. I lost my post-its. I'm just going to guess GrayCardinal for this. We have a lot of overlap, the two of us, and maybe they know the Coules radio plays? And they expressed interest in Holmes seeing Watson and Mary's world, so? Maybe?

For "best things dwell out of Sight" I'm going with rachelindeed. Is there rhyme or reason for this? No.

"Her Own Circle" I'm guessing tepidspongebath because I think I remember their sign-up indicated an interest in minor characters. But I could be confusing them with someone else? Is it possible to also be facially blind with posts?

"BOX ONE" could be... oh, that could be GrayCardinal, too. They strike me as the sort who could write that. Or maybe Sanguinity. Should I be able to pick out Sang's writing, as I've known them for close to ten years? Yes, I should be able to. Am I able to? No. No, I am not. This could also be tepidspongebath, I think. They indicated the Irene Adler novels by Douglas in their sign-ups, and while this is not that, I could see it paralleling nicely.

"Rulers Make Bad Lovers" I'm going to go with iwantthatcoat because I only recall one person offering Watson & Holmes comics. I'm giving myself a few very basic guesses based solely off sign-ups, because I got exhausted by all the attempts at observation and deduction.

"The Adventure of the Three Gay Bowls" I'm going with fleetsparrow. Again, simply because I seem to recall them offering this? Is that even true?

"To Sleep, Perchance" - I saw someone else in the thread suggest marta_bee, and their reasoning seemed good. A Great Detective knows when to be cool with the deductions of other people. I guess this could also be Oldshrewsburyian, and I say that strictly because the Latin reminded me vaguely of Wimsey stuff, and I think they like Wimsey?

Of course, I could also see "all the way" being Oldshrewsburyian. So.

Returning to the fact that I cannot pick Sanguinity out of a crowd, "A Scientific Match" I think could be either trobadora or Sang, because both people like Moriarty. And Sang likes punching, and there is at least mentions of punching in that.

I also, to my amusement, have "The Finest Eloquence" marked as possible Sanguinity. Seriously, I should have this more narrowed down.

I have "The Lion's Roar" marked as possibly vulgarweed, and I could not tell you why. You know, I used to be really good at those logic puzzles, the ones with a bunch of squares in a grid. I'm clearly no longer good at those puzzles. I didn't even leave myself a hint as to why it could be vulgarweed. I am a terrible Great Detective.

I have "some unholy war" as eliza_underscore. I could try to verify this by hunting down podfics from everyone who offered podfics to do voice matching (you know what I can do? identify voices), but that seems like a lot of effort, and since I already know these guesses are terrible, I decided to just lean into it and not do any additional footwork. I am a Great Armchair Detective.

I think "Breakfast Table" may be ghostbees, and if there is one guess that I get correct, I'm thinking that might be the one.

And "Watson Gets the Bloody Tattoo" is two_nipples_maybe_more because I know they like The Irregulars, and the other Irregulars art piece was FOR them, so surely they didn't make it for themselves. UNLESS IT'S ALL A CLEVER MISDIRECT!!! HA HA!

These are my guesses. I haven't even read about half of the exchange pieces yet, either, leading to the further worthlessness of my guesses, but I really wanted to make sure I participated this time!

I am the Reginald Kincaid of Sherlock Holmeses, and I hope you enjoyed how utterly terrible these all are.

[rachelindeed]

New favorite guessing post <33333333

Your attitude to guessing is very similar to mine, i.e., I could actually research this but that's too much work so I will go with gut instinct and what I remember of sign-ups and see what happens. Some of us are natural Watsons, and personally I embrace my nature :)

I only have one clue to contribute to the Great Sanguinity Hunt, and it is this: she is usually very careful not to let anything slip about Holmestice, but she did mention a few weeks ago that her summer reading included a book she wanted to catch up on before Holmestice so that she could more fully enjoy one of the entries that had come in (she's a mod, so sees the entries early). Now, there are not too many book-based Holmes fandoms in this round that Sang would not have already been familiar with. My guess is that she was talking about reading 'Elemental Masters' because she wanted to be able to appreciate the Warburton's madness story (I know she adores Coules radio plays in general and that episode in particular, and so would be motivated to do the extra reading!) So, while I don't know what she DID write, I think she DIDN'T write your gift this time.

Also, I will just add that the telegram format in "Box One" did remind me of some of GrayCardinal's earlier epistolary stories. Conclusive? No. Suggestive? Yes. :)