holmestice | Summer 2024 Guessing Post

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 20th. 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 with your name attached 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.

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.

4thelneyj0nes

a_candle_for_sherlock

aceredshirt13

beamkatanachronicles
Blistering_Typhoons
catlock_holmes

deelaundry

dryadinthegrove

gardnerhill

graycardinal

happyeverafter72

inkonice

lucygturpin

mundungus42

ratinavan

rudbeckiasunshine

seaweed_writes
Spaghettifriend/Oscar

tepidspongebath

vulgarweed

Go forth and leave love for your fellow Holmestice artists, authors, podficcers, and vidders! See you again on the 20th, when we reveal who made what!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

graycardinal

A number of our newer players may not know or remember this, but when I first signed up for Holmestice these many moons ago, I leapt headlong into the guessing posts by building a Spreadsheet of Doom™ in order to better work out who'd done what. Eventually, though, especially as the rounds got bigger and real life got busier, compiling the spreadsheets grew impractical - there was too much data and not enough time to type.

This time out, though - we're a somewhat smaller pool, there are fewer variables in play, and I happen to have a bit more spare time at the right moments this week. There is, therefore, a genuine spreadsheet here at the virtual Batcave, and I think I have some hope of matching up works and creators more accurately than has usually been the case. This will not, mind you, necessarily prevent me from playing the Comic Relief Guesser as has often been the case in the intervening rounds....

Before I start, I'll note a handful of interesting anomalies in the data. There's at least one work in the collection for a recipient not on the list of contributors, and there's one contributor listed for whom I can find neither a signup nor a gift. (Logically, that's the description of a pinch-hitter, but in the past we haven't usually seen pinch-hitters named openly in the guessing-post contributors' lists.)

Part the First: Art

So - let's begin with art. We have four art submissions this round in three fandoms plus one (The Hobbit being outside the Holmesian spectrum), and I counted five offers of art among the pool of contributors. A couple of these individuals offered both art and fic, and on that basis I dropped one of the five from the art-grid (I'm morally certain that person wrote fic for the current round).

That leaves four artists and four excellent works in a range of fandoms that seems to me to sort itself out neatly. My guesses are as follows:

# inkonice • "Yet Another Brain-Wave" (for ACD)
# ratinavan • "May the Fourth" (for Sherlock & Co.)
# 4thelneyj0nes • "Beloved Embrace" (for My Dearly Beloved Detective)
# lucygturpin • "A Present for Smaug" (for ACD and The Hobbit)

More to come....

From:

holmesticemods

(Logically, that's the description of a pinch-hitter, but in the past we haven't usually seen pinch-hitters named openly in the guessing-post contributors' lists.)

Not quite true - the contributors' list has always been everyone who made a gift posted before the end, whether they were an original signup or not. It's always included pinch-hitters. We don't identify them as pinch-hitters pe se, and we haven't done that this time.

The list of original signups and finished creators has never matched perfectly.

Edited Date: 2024-06-18 07:02 am (UTC)

From: (Anonymous)

I would have to disagree on your predictions I believe that lucygturpin drew the "May the Fourth" piece, but I don't think that ratinavan drew the "Present for Smaug" either... I definitely agree with your placement of 4thelneyj0nes but you have placed inkonice as the artist for "Yet Another Brainwave" however, this is made for them? I think you may have to rejig some of these

From:

graycardinal

you have placed inkonice as the artist for "Yet Another Brainwave" however, this is made for them?

And this is why I retain the title of Comic Relief Guesser. :-/

You're obviously correct that inkonice did not create their own gift; if you are also correct on both your other points, that would mean that ratinavan did "Brain-Wave", and inkonice created "Smaug".

That's not a bad matrix...but I'm inclined to stick with my original guess for "Smaug", and that creates a really tricky chain of dominoes. If I'm right about "Smaug", and you're right about "May the Fourth", then one of us almost has to be wrong about "Beloved Embrace" (and I note that 4thelneyj0nes did offer for Sherlock & CO., whereas inkonice did not).

Revised guesses for art:

# inkonice • "Beloved Embrace" (for My Dearly Beloved Detective)
# ratinavan • "Yet Another Brain-Wave" (for ACD)
# lucygturpin • "A Present for Smaug" (for ACD and The Hobbit)
# 4thelneyj0nes • "May the Fourth" (for Sherlock & Co.)

From: (Anonymous)

As someone who is familiar with art from 4thelneyj0nes, I still believe that they did the Beloved Embrace, and if you look at lucygturpin's profile picture, you can see that the art style lines up with that of the May the Fourth art style. So, politely, I am going to stick with those two

From:

lucygturpin

And I did learn my lesson: no more drawn profile pictures lol.

From:

a_candle_for_sherlock

But it’s so cute ;_;

From:

lucygturpin

[Insert heart emoticon]

From:

ratinavan

To be fair, mine is also drawn but no one guessed me correctly! I’m just very familiar with your art :)

From:

lucygturpin

Oh? Should I be scared?/j
Love your profile pic.

From: (Anonymous)

This also implies that you are correct in your choice of four artists, which leaves no room for pinch hitters, the remaining person who offered art, or the improbable but not impossible chance that two of these were made by the same artist (e.g., one that they were assigned and one pinch hit)

From:

graycardinal

All of this is quite true; as yet I doubt any of us can say, for instance, what the enigmatic Spaghettifriend may have added to the collection.

That's the nature of the game, though, and I am content to wield my spreadsheet for good or ill whatever the outcome. Others of us live and die by the telltale ellipses. All will be known soon enough (though I hope the mods will give us part of the weekend to play sleuth before the final moment comes).

From:

ratinavan

I tried to warn you I didn't make art, but alas, good try anyways B)

From:

graycardinal

You did, and I did, and I cheerfully retain the title of Comic Relief Guesser. 🥸

I also made a couple of critically incorrect assumptions in the process of creating the spreadsheet, which enabled one particular creator to fake me out in dramatic fashion. But that's entirely all right; I have now learned a key lesson for future rounds.

From:

lucygturpin

I genuinely loved reading this. I did laugh like a maniac but it was super interesting to see everyone's deductions. Hopefully the second time I participate in Holmestice I'll make some myself.

Edited Date: 2024-06-21 07:11 pm (UTC)

From:

deelaundry

Yay a spreadsheet!

From:

a_candle_for_sherlock

I love a spreadsheet!!!

From:

graycardinal

Very quickly, as work beckons...

I can't let the round pass without filing a guess as to the creator of my gift work, this one via instinct rather than spreadsheet.

Is it acorn_squash, who's written this 'verse before? No, they left a comment. Likewise disqualified is iwantthatcoat, resident chameleon.

Is it mundungus42? Doubtful, as I have an idea that their tale was turned in earlier.

No; this is pure guesswork, but I think this tale may be the work of gardnerhill.

Back tonight!

From: (Anonymous)

Extremely honored that you believed my silly little fic to be gardnerhill's work!! But glad I managed to fool you, hehe... I was worried my Afghan Hound joke would be a dead giveaway, because I made literally the exact same joke in my Sherlock Hound fic last year!

From:

aceredshirt13

Oh crap, I left it on anonymous! Oops. Well it's me!

From:

graycardinal

I do still plan to revisit the Spreadsheet of Doom[TM] before the night is done...but in one more desperate bid to liven up the proceedings, herewith two truths and a lie:

I did not write a BBC/Sherlock story for this round.

There are multiple Holmeses and Watsons in my story for this round.

This round's story is the first Holmestice gift I've written for this recipient.

[exit, evil laughter echoing all the way, stage left]

From:

iwantthatcoat

Continuing the two truths and a lie tradition:
1) I created a new username this round to mess with people
2) I beta’d three submissions
3) I did not contribute any creative works for this round

From:

graycardinal

[glyph of awe]

And here I thought I'd been devious....

This looks like a fairly easy "The lie has to be either 1 or 3" formulation...until one goes back, looks at the signups and the contributors' list, and discovers that (a) there is no signup for iwantthatcoat, and (b) iwantthatcoat does not, in fact, appear on the contributors' list.

At which point at least two different cases allow for both #1 and #3 to be true. 'coat might simply have created the new username and then decided to hold it in reserve (or, indeed, created the username purely to allow for invoking its existence right here). Or they might have signed up under the alias and then, having intended to use it should they have needed to pick up a pinch hit, and then simply not found time to both co-mod the round and produce a story.

[FWIW, my actual guess is that #3 is the lie. But it's a pure guess, and I will not be surprised at all if #2 turns out to be the lie, however unlikely that looks at first glance.)

From:

mundungus42

Oooo, I've never played two truths and a lie, and I suspect I'm going to be terrible at it, but I'll try anyway.

1. I branched into a new-to-me fandom this round inspired by my recipient's sign-up post.
2. I beat my 2013 brevity record of 5.7K words.
3. I did not pinch hit this round.

Edited (clarity) Date: 2024-06-20 08:59 pm (UTC)

From:

graycardinal

Oh, no, you did that well enough that the implications of one of those statements zipped right past me in my own guessing and spreadsheet-building process. If sanguinity were watching us this round, she would be justified in observing that based on past precedent, a batch of cookies might well be in order....

From:

mundungus42

In my 20+ years of producing fanworks, this is only the second time I've made art for a gift exchange, and the first was in Harry Potter, so I was reasonably confident that nobody would guess me this round. :D As soon as I was assigned a recipient who only wanted only art and wanted something super in-canon for ACD, I knew I was going to be Wondermark-ing a comic with Sidney Padget illustrations and went from there.

From:

vulgarweed

I'll play too!

1. I did not pinch-hit.
2. I wrote for a fandom I did not offer in my signup.
3. I wrote for my recipient for the first time.

From:

a_candle_for_sherlock

Two truths and a lie: I was published late in the round, I wrote Holmes/Watson, and I wrote casefic!

From:

beamkatanachronicles

1. I wrote H/W this round
2. I wrote a rarepair this round
3. I wrote a crossover (again) this round

From: (Anonymous)

THE HOLMESWATSON RAREPAIR STRIKES AGAIN

Still can't believe Holmeswatson is a rarepair in MTP fandom. Actually a crime.

Anyway, as you know, I was knocked into orbit by the knowledge that you wrote my gift. Would never have guessed you because of your DEVIOUS DISCORD LIES

(Thank you very very much for your delightful gift, I will leave you a deserving review posthaste.)

From:

aceredshirt13

AUGH I LEFT IT ON ANONYMOUS

But I'm sure you know who it is. It's me from the group chat lmao.

From:

beamkatanachronicles

"Johnlock" and "rarepair" being synonymous in any fandom is still WILD to me so im glad to have filled that niche. And bamboozled you lmao. 🫡 I hope you liked the fic!!

From:

deelaundry

I was going to guess Iwantthatcoat for my genius triptych gift, then they didn't appear in the contributor list. So based on Graycardinal's 2/1 I was going to guess them, then Coat hit me with the "new username" idea and now I am confused.

Whoever wrote it, it's awesome and everyone should read and enjoy.

My contribution seems super obvious to me but not sure I'm well enough known to be obvious to anyone else.

Edited Date: 2024-06-20 02:50 pm (UTC)

From:

vulgarweed

I am SO GLAD you enjoyed it so much! I sneaked by under the radar because while I enjoy Sherlock & Co very much and was open to receiving it, I didn't feel comfortable enough about my ability to get the character voices right yet, so I didn't offer it.

But I loved your platonic D/s idea so much I wanted to write it in the fandoms we did match on (BBC and W&H) and that motivated me to try Sherlock & co also.

From:

graycardinal

Spreadsheet of Doom™ time! (This is incomplete due to time constraints; I've focused on the more diverse/divergent canons.) And indeed, I am now flat out of time....

&Co. # "The Norbury Triptych" - gardnerhill (yes, this clashes with my prior guess for my gift)

Abdul-Jabbar
# "Mission: Improbable" - vulgarweed

Coules
# "Nie mehr fürchten" - Blistering_Typhoons

Granada
# "The Black Cat Conundrum - a_candle_for_sherlock

Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
# "Five Happy Years" - aceredshirt13

Rathbone
# "Graveyard Shift" - happyeverafter72

W&H
# "John and Watson, Watson and John" - deelaundry
# "Watson Ejaculated" - rudbeckiasunshine

From:

beamkatanachronicles

Also strongly suspecting vulgarweed for my lovely KAJ/Waterhouse gift. 👀

From:

a_candle_for_sherlock

Delighted to have been suspected of the magical realism fic! It was lovely (and while I’ve not yet attempted a fantasy fusion with the Holmesian universe I really would like to some time).