A Holmesian Solstice

Works are due May 24th (all time zones inclusive)

We have many wonderful gifts in the coffers already and can't wait to start sharing them starting June 1st.

Submission Guidelines

Beta Volunteer Post (comments not screened; volunteer or contact one of the folks already volunteered)

Pinch-Hitter Volunteer Post (comments screened for anonymity)

If you have questions or need to request an extension, as always send us an email at holmesticemods@gmail.com

Happy Reichenbach Day, if happy is the word. We understand another fandom has a holiday today as well, so May the Fourth be with you if you celebrate.

Every so often a participant is unable to complete their assignment and we have to scramble for someone to make a gift for the recipient. If you would enjoy being one of the people the mods turn to in our times of need, please leave us a comment! Include your email, and tell us what fanwork types, universes, pairings, and ratings you might be willing to create for. All comments are screened.

Volunteering on this post is not a commitment: you'll simply be among the people we turn to first when we need a pinch-hitter. If we need a pinch-hitter, we'll email you a request and a proposed due date; you're free to accept or reject. (We only ask that you respond promptly, as our deadlines are often tight!)

Thank you so much for volunteering!

Match emails have gone out from holmesticemods@gmail.com. Please check your inboxes, spam folders, junk mail, etc.

You MUST reply to your match email to confirm you received it, otherwise we will assume you've ghosted us and we will take appropriate measures (i.e., re-assign your match to one of our pinch-hitters). Please respond as soon as possible.

Your match email contains information about submission, but we will also post as we get close to the deadline. In the next few days we'll also put up posts asking for beta and pinch-hit volunteers -- please keep an eye out.

If you have any questions, for us or your recipient, please email us. Happy baking!

Midnight on Baker Island is about 1 PM the following day in London, for reference.

The sign-ups are now open!

Treats Policy: As of February 2022, AO3 has introduced a setting to let users opt out of receiving additional gifts outside of formal exchanges (in Holmestice terms, "treats"). Please indicate whether you are or are not open to receiving additional fan works based on your sign-up. Also be sure to check your AO3 account preferences, under "Collections, Challenges and Gifts". AO3 accounts made before February 2022 default to ALLOW gifts, whereas new accounts default not to. Because signups are not handled through AO3, you MUST turn on treat ability if you want your gift posted to AO3. More information regarding this setting is available on AO3.

If you have a Dreamwidth account, join the Dreamwidth community and create a new post using the template below with your offer and request. The template is designed to be used with the HTML editor (not the Rich Text editor).

If you do not want a Dreamwidth account, you can leave your sign-up as a comment on this post using the "Anonymous" option. If you choose to use the Anonymous option, please make sure you correctly fill in all the identifying info in the template, so we know who signed up and how to contact you.



The sign-up template below includes ratings for what you're willing to create and would like to receive. Sexual content is deliberately separated from violence and other mature themes, so if you are someone who enjoys PWP but not violence, you have an easy way of indicating that (or vice versa) for the mods and other Holmestice participants.

The template also includes a list of suggested Holmesian fandoms and iterations. This is not an exhaustive list -- if you have another fandom in mind, please include it in your sign up! Alternatively, if you're open to offering or receiving any Holmesian fandom, please feel free to say so. (Although do make clear what you mean by "any" -- very few people truly can offer every pastiche, film, television, radio, and graphic novel adaptation ever made!)

Please note when putting down relationships:

• "/" (e.g., "Holmes/Watson") indicates a romantic or sexual relationship
• "&" (e.g., "Holmes & Watson") indicates a friendship or other platonic/fraternal/non-sexual/non-romantic relationship

Do please make sure you're using / and & correctly in your sign-ups, as we use it to determine matches, and your match will use it to determine what sort of relationships to write for you.

Matches will be made on fandom, characters/pairings, categories, and ratings. All other details you include (besides any "do not wants") are optional; i.e., your gift-maker may take inspiration from any specific prompt you include, but they are not required to use them.

New this round: By popular request original music has been added to gift type! You can offer or request this along with fic, art, podfic, graphics, vids, etc.



( Sign-up Template )




You can edit your post until sign-ups close on April 14. Anything you add or delete after that will not be taken into account.

All stories must be a minimum of 1,000 words in length; icon posts must contain at least 10 icons; vids must be at least one minute in length. Any type of fanwork is required to go through some kind of beta process. All finished fanworks must be posted to AO3 and/or sent to the mods at holmesticemods(at)gmail(dot)com on or before May 24. Directions on how to post/submit your work will be posted to the community later in the round. If you don't submit your work by the due date and have not contacted us for an extension, we will automatically look for a pinch hitter.

If you need your recipient to clarify their prompt or if you want to ask whether they're all right with that one particular thing you'd like to include, please contact us at holmesticemods(at)gmail(dot)com, and we'll forward the question for you to preserve your anonymity.

Please remember that if you sign up to receive a gift, it'll only be fair if you create one as well. That said, if you have to drop out of the exchange for any reason, please contact one of the moderators as soon as possible by e-mailing us at holmesticemods(at)gmail(dot)com so we can find a pinch hitter to create a gift for your intended recipient.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out!

Note for this round: You may notice the signup period is considerably longer than usual. This is because two members of the mod team, iwantthatcoat and vulgarweed, will be at 221B Con in Atlanta during the weekend of April 11-14, spreading the word about the exchange and hopefully bringing in new folks. Come find us and talk Holmestice with us!

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 December 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 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! We have a bumper crop this round! 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.

( Contributors )

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!

Sign-ups are now closed! Now it's time for the mods to sequester ourselves with all of your thrilling sign-ups and devise a match for everyone. (Please note that any changes made to your sign-ups after this post goes up cannot be taken into consideration for matching purposes.) We expect matches to go out sometime next week; we'll post here when they have.

In the meantime, everyone please keep an eye on your email -- we might need to get in touch to clarify something about your sign-up or (in very rare cases, if we can't find a match for you) ask you to expand your sign-up.

As we near the submission deadline, we'll post reminders and instructions on how to submit your creations. Email us at holmesticemods@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post if you have any questions or concerns. We're always happy to answer, so please don't hesitate to contact us!

Thank you for signing up, everyone! Welcome to newcomers and old hands alike -- we're looking forward to this round of Holmestice with you!

Signups for Holmestice Winter 2024 close on October 6 (all-time-zone-inclusive)

Don't miss out! It's going to be a great one!

Sorted by category and fandom, all the amazing fanworks created by this round's participants, for your perusal and entertainment and with names attached! Now comments can be answered and works reposted all over the web, and pimping shall commence far and wide! If you haven't added your fanwork to the AO3 collection, and you want to, you can add it here: Holmestice Exchange - Summer2024. If your work has been on AO3 all along and is in a fast-moving tag ("Sherlock (TV)" or "Sherlock Holmes/John Watson", for example), you might choose to update its publication date to today, so that your work has its turn at the top of the tag.

Please come back and join us for our autumn/winter round! Sign-ups will open in September. You can follow us at holmestice (twitter), holmestice (tumblr), or holmestice (dreamwidth) for updates!

And now, without further ado, the Grand Reveal!

( Art )
( Fiction )
( Podfic, Fanmixes, and Vids )

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.

( Contributors )

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!