Birthday wishes and a few quick recs

[magnetic_pole]

So many birthdays in September! A happy day to the fabulous melusinahp, to my favorite extrovert midnitemaraud_r, and to the thoughtful and perceptive sophinisba, all on the 19th; to sam_storyteller, whose daily posts I throughly enjoy, and to my long-time flister archon_mentha, whom I haven't seen in far too long (hello if you're out there!) on the 20th; and to the lovely rian219 on the 21st. And belated birthday wishes to chiralove, who is probably just as mystified that it's mid-September as I am. Hope the day was a good one, despite the busy time of year, sweetie!

A few things that might be of interest to those of you in the various Sherlock Holmes fandoms:

* There was a great discussion of the myth of genius and intellectual bullying started by beatrice_otter on sherlockbbc a few weeks ago, in which some strong and insightful opinions on the political implications of Sherlock's more obnoxious behavior, both as "geeky empowerment fantasy" and as "supercilious and bullying" or "mysogynistic," are expressed. It always astonishes me how slightly different points of entry into a fandom--just something as simple as an attachment to one character, or defensiveness on the part of another--can result in such very different interpretations of the whole show. It's worth reading through the comments here.

* A short and sweet ficlet that reads like meta on the change in attitudes towards queerness in the last hundred years or so and on the impact Sherlock will have ship fic: Nothing Gold by lilapaddy (Holmes/Watson, John/Sherlock, Teen, perhaps 1500 words). Summary: It’s not the first time two bachelors have shared rooms on Baker Street.

As problematic as I found Sherlock, it did free us reader and writers from the stultifying sexual repression of the late nineteenth century. Which can only be a good thing.

* And a thoroughly charming anti-romance romance: Let You Kiss Me by out_there (John/Sherlock, G, 8700 words). My summary: The first time Sherlock kisses John, John checks his wallet is still in his pocket.

I tend to be a pretty conceptual reader--that is, I value a story's ability to say something new about the world far more than its language or plot or characterization--but this fic gives you the best of both worlds: a clever riff on the basic concept "Sherlock Holmes doesn't do romance like the rest of us" as well as some fabulous lines and a sly, funny, well-constructed story.

ETA: I forgot something important! therealsnape is hosting a Hogwarts Christmas Party, hogwartyxmas! It's a low-key holiday fic exchange for Hogwarts staff members (and selected older-generation friends)--much fun for those of us interested in the adult generation(s). To sign up, go to the LJ post or the DW post. Go nab a spot now, because the thirty slots for writers are going quickly. Or you can always just join, so that you're ready to read along during the twelve days of Christmas.

Haha! I have figured out how to make that AO3 username symbol. *is proud of self* ETA: Whoops! Don't have the community symbols down yet, though. Does anyone know how to make LJ community links?

Comments

[florahart]

The little user symbols don't work for comms. I don't know if that's in the queue of things being worked on. I mean, you can do in manually (for instance, <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/sherlockbbc/profile"><img src="http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif" height="16" width="16" border="0" /></a><a href="http://community.livejournal.com/sherlockbbc/">sherlockbbc</a> to get sherlockbbc), but the user/site trick doesn't work.

[magnetic_pole]

Aha! It's not just me being slow, then. Thank you! M.

[sophinisba]

If you do just use the same code you do for linking to an individual journal though, say (user name=sherlockbbc site=livejournal.com), you get sherlockbbc, so it doesn't display correctly here but it does link to the right thing, and it'll display correctly in your crossposts on LJ. :)

Thank you for the recs and the birthday wishes!

[magnetic_pole]

*experiments* And you're right--it's now correct on LJ. By the time I figure this out, DW will have ironed out the issues, I imagine.

Happy birthday! Was the pizza good? Hope this is the beginning of a wonderful year. M.

[semielliptical]

Thanks for reccing lilapaddy's story! I'm not really following Sherlock fandom, but I enjoyed that, quite satisfying story/commentary. Perhaps I'll read a bit more Sherlock while I'm in the mood...

[magnetic_pole]

Wasn't that a great little ficlet? I'm a fifteen-minute fan these days--I only read the flist and the occasional fic, and I only read really short stories, but sometimes you find something wonderful, and that's enough.

The other fic's bit longer, but it's really charming. *encourages* Enjoy! M.

[semielliptical]

I read out_there's story and yes, it's really charming! It made me like the characters more than I did when I started it. :)

[magnetic_pole]

Oh, good! I'm so picky with fic these days for some reason--everything annoys me--but this had just the right light touch, didn't it? Glad you enjoyed! M.

[sophinisba]

Hi again, Maggie, I just saw this discussion on my reading list and thought it might interest you: Why am I not writing the stories I say I want to read? by happydork.

[magnetic_pole]

Oh, fabulous! Thanks. I'll come back to read the comments more carefully tomorrow, but it's nice to have that to look forward to, if I can just work my magic in seminar first... M.