I've been DEVOURING Sherlock fanfiction for the past month or so, and decided that it's time to share the gems! (Also, my fanfiction bookmark folder is getting pretty long and unmanageable, so having the ones I really like down in one post will help me clean things up a bit)
Most of these are AUs and crossovers (Sherlock fandom does those best), nearly all of them are slash. A few of them might be friendship or unrequited love. A lot of them can be found on other, more awesome rec lists. I just cobbled this together from my fanfic bookmark folder.
- Chameleon by velvet_mace: [R/NC17; Sentinel crossover/AU; WIP; Sherlock/John, questionable platonic borderline incestuous Harry/John, and one other pairing that's a spoiler] In a world filled with Sentinels with heightened senses, strength and endurance, and Guides, with seductive empathy, who knew that seeming "ordinary" could be John's greatest strength. PLEASE read the warnings before reading; several possible triggers.
Where to start? It's Sherlock! It's The Sentinel! It's a complete AU of both of them! Anything you need to know about elements from The Sentinel are nicely explained. That or you can read up on it over at Wiki.
- Ash, Quartz, Gold by ifonlynotnever: [Teen; magical realism AU; Sherlock/John] Being heartless is not an advantage, the smouldering embers in his chest tell him. Swallow your pride. (For a kinkmeme prompt: "Magical realism AU. Moriarty burns the heart out of Sherlock. John builds him a new one.")
- The Death Dealer by thefarofixer: [No Rating Yet; post-Reichenbach; WIP; Sherlock/John, Molly]
MOLLY BEING AWESOME FIC! I love this to bits and pieces for the Molly perspective!
- I Used to Live Alone Before I Knew You by etothepii: [T; Good Omens crossover; Sherlock/John]: Where Mycroft is an angel, Sherlock is a demon, and John is still John.
- A City on a Head of Pin by mad_maudlin: [PG-13; gen; wing fic] Post-TGG. For once, John sees something that Sherlock doesn't.
- Sins of Our Fathers (series) by Vera: [M; WIP; teen AU; Sherlock/John] John and Sherlock meet 25 years early. Series includes: Adventures in Adolescence and A Paper House.
- In Love, In Faith Unbroken Dwell by coloredink: [G; post-Reichenbach; gen] There are so many things about Sherlock that he didn't know. So many things that he might never have known, if they hadn't started meeting like this. John deals with Sherlock's death with a little help from the friends he never knew he and Sherlock had.
- The Republic of Heaven by blind_author: [PG-13 - NC-17; His Dark Materials crossover; WIP; eventual Sherlock/John] Born to a witch and a human, people know Sherlock will be unusual from the start. John Watson, on the other hand, seems perfectly ordinary, except for his dæmon...
- Welcome to Silent Hill by Cleo2010: [MATURE; Silent Hill crossover; psychological horror; WIP; Sherlock/John of the unrequited variety] John is missing. When Sherlock receives a text summoning him to Silent Hill he's intent on reclaiming his friend but the town has other ideas. Our detective must battle through a world shaped by his own troubled psyche as he uncovers the town's secrets, attempts to find John and hunt down Jim Moriarty. NOTE: It's a Silent Hill crossover, so of course it's going to be dark and psycho-sexual. It's still a wonderful read. (Updates every other day)
- The Companion by lotherington: [PG-13; Doctor Who crossover; John/"The Detective"] The Detective was nine hundred and seven years and eleven months old when he went back for John Watson. He’d never planned to crash-land in John’s back garden in the middle of the night, but then, who ever planned for such a silly thing to happen in the first place? John and The Detective go off to see the universe. It changes them both for the better. Sequel to a fic I haven't read yet, but it stands well on its own!
- The Theory of Narrative Causality by falling_voices: [NC-17 (porn); BNF AU; Sherlock/John] Sherlock and John are BNFs in Sherlock Holmes fandom. Together, they fight crime. (Always.) And write porn, incidentally. The scope of this fic is ambitious and beautiful ;A;
- Two Doctors, a Nurse, a Detective, and a Scot by writingispurdy: [PG-13 to R; comedy; Doctor Who crossover; Sherlock/John, Amy/Rory, Doctor/River] Two Doctors, a nurse, a detective and a Scot walk into a TARDIS. Stop me if you've heard this one... Followed by The Joke is Better the Second Time, Third Time's the Charm, and I've Forgotten the Punchline (which is SAD).
- A Study in Blue by writingispurdy: [PG-13; 1920's post-war England jazz AU; casefic; eventual Sherlock/John] On 1st January, 1920, John Watson meets Sherlock Holmes.
- Performance in a Lead Role by mad_lori: [NC-17; actor AU; eventual Sherlock/John] Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world? Yeah yeah...this one has been rec'd by everyone and their mother, but for a reason: it's really damn awesome.
- A Brief Account of Life with Zombies by Silver Pard: [PG-13; World War Z crossover; comedy; OOC; gen] Sherlock thinks it's all a bit of a nuisance, John is having the time of his life, and Mycroft is Not Impressed. With anything, but mostly his minions' inability to provide a good cup of tea.
- Collared by velvet_mace: [R to NC-17; slave AU; dystopia; WIP; Sherlock/John; noncon] In a world where the British Empire is still strong and slavery is her economic backbone, John has become a terrorist for the abolitionist movement. He is caught by Mycroft, enslaved, and given to Sherlock for training. The goal: To test a new kind of slave collar with the power to break even the strongest willed fighter. One that will make even John learn to love being a slave. The slavery in this fic is class-based, not race-based; slaves generally come from the lower classes: those in heavy debt, criminals, vagrants, etc., which makes it sound like a corruption of indentured servitude system that the British used to manufacture a servant class to the America colonies. It's still morally wrong (which John argues and fights for throughout the fic).
I hesitantly rec this one. I enjoy it for the deliciously gray morality and the characters and the AU British Empire part. It's very much John-Watson-versus-the-System fic (I adore John being BAMF).
Most of these are AUs and crossovers (Sherlock fandom does those best), nearly all of them are slash. A few of them might be friendship or unrequited love. A lot of them can be found on other, more awesome rec lists. I just cobbled this together from my fanfic bookmark folder.
- Chameleon by velvet_mace: [R/NC17; Sentinel crossover/AU; WIP; Sherlock/John, questionable platonic borderline incestuous Harry/John, and one other pairing that's a spoiler] In a world filled with Sentinels with heightened senses, strength and endurance, and Guides, with seductive empathy, who knew that seeming "ordinary" could be John's greatest strength. PLEASE read the warnings before reading; several possible triggers.
Where to start? It's Sherlock! It's The Sentinel! It's a complete AU of both of them! Anything you need to know about elements from The Sentinel are nicely explained. That or you can read up on it over at Wiki.
- Ash, Quartz, Gold by ifonlynotnever: [Teen; magical realism AU; Sherlock/John] Being heartless is not an advantage, the smouldering embers in his chest tell him. Swallow your pride. (For a kinkmeme prompt: "Magical realism AU. Moriarty burns the heart out of Sherlock. John builds him a new one.")
- The Death Dealer by thefarofixer: [No Rating Yet; post-Reichenbach; WIP; Sherlock/John, Molly]
- “There are nine plans you’re going to need to memorize. Don’t write anything down, we can’t have any of this on paper, not even any coded notes," Sherlock had said. "Plans One through Four would be ideal, the simplest solutions always being the best, however it would be foolish not to expand our expectations to include all possible outcomes. Plans Five through Eight are dangerous, but potentially workable if we execute them exactly.”
“What about Plan Nine?” she’d asked.
“Plan Nine involves my actual death, so let’s avoid that if at all possible, shall we? Are you ready? Do you think you can handle this?”
MOLLY BEING AWESOME FIC! I love this to bits and pieces for the Molly perspective!
- I Used to Live Alone Before I Knew You by etothepii: [T; Good Omens crossover; Sherlock/John]: Where Mycroft is an angel, Sherlock is a demon, and John is still John.
- A City on a Head of Pin by mad_maudlin: [PG-13; gen; wing fic] Post-TGG. For once, John sees something that Sherlock doesn't.
- Sins of Our Fathers (series) by Vera: [M; WIP; teen AU; Sherlock/John] John and Sherlock meet 25 years early. Series includes: Adventures in Adolescence and A Paper House.
- In Love, In Faith Unbroken Dwell by coloredink: [G; post-Reichenbach; gen] There are so many things about Sherlock that he didn't know. So many things that he might never have known, if they hadn't started meeting like this. John deals with Sherlock's death with a little help from the friends he never knew he and Sherlock had.
- The Republic of Heaven by blind_author: [PG-13 - NC-17; His Dark Materials crossover; WIP; eventual Sherlock/John] Born to a witch and a human, people know Sherlock will be unusual from the start. John Watson, on the other hand, seems perfectly ordinary, except for his dæmon...
- Welcome to Silent Hill by Cleo2010: [MATURE; Silent Hill crossover; psychological horror; WIP; Sherlock/John of the unrequited variety] John is missing. When Sherlock receives a text summoning him to Silent Hill he's intent on reclaiming his friend but the town has other ideas. Our detective must battle through a world shaped by his own troubled psyche as he uncovers the town's secrets, attempts to find John and hunt down Jim Moriarty. NOTE: It's a Silent Hill crossover, so of course it's going to be dark and psycho-sexual. It's still a wonderful read. (Updates every other day)
- The Companion by lotherington: [PG-13; Doctor Who crossover; John/"The Detective"] The Detective was nine hundred and seven years and eleven months old when he went back for John Watson. He’d never planned to crash-land in John’s back garden in the middle of the night, but then, who ever planned for such a silly thing to happen in the first place? John and The Detective go off to see the universe. It changes them both for the better. Sequel to a fic I haven't read yet, but it stands well on its own!
- The Theory of Narrative Causality by falling_voices: [NC-17 (porn); BNF AU; Sherlock/John] Sherlock and John are BNFs in Sherlock Holmes fandom. Together, they fight crime. (Always.) And write porn, incidentally. The scope of this fic is ambitious and beautiful ;A;
- Two Doctors, a Nurse, a Detective, and a Scot by writingispurdy: [PG-13 to R; comedy; Doctor Who crossover; Sherlock/John, Amy/Rory, Doctor/River] Two Doctors, a nurse, a detective and a Scot walk into a TARDIS. Stop me if you've heard this one... Followed by The Joke is Better the Second Time, Third Time's the Charm, and I've Forgotten the Punchline (which is SAD).
- A Study in Blue by writingispurdy: [PG-13; 1920's post-war England jazz AU; casefic; eventual Sherlock/John] On 1st January, 1920, John Watson meets Sherlock Holmes.
- Performance in a Lead Role by mad_lori: [NC-17; actor AU; eventual Sherlock/John] Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world? Yeah yeah...this one has been rec'd by everyone and their mother, but for a reason: it's really damn awesome.
- A Brief Account of Life with Zombies by Silver Pard: [PG-13; World War Z crossover; comedy; OOC; gen] Sherlock thinks it's all a bit of a nuisance, John is having the time of his life, and Mycroft is Not Impressed. With anything, but mostly his minions' inability to provide a good cup of tea.
- Collared by velvet_mace: [R to NC-17; slave AU; dystopia; WIP; Sherlock/John; noncon] In a world where the British Empire is still strong and slavery is her economic backbone, John has become a terrorist for the abolitionist movement. He is caught by Mycroft, enslaved, and given to Sherlock for training. The goal: To test a new kind of slave collar with the power to break even the strongest willed fighter. One that will make even John learn to love being a slave. The slavery in this fic is class-based, not race-based; slaves generally come from the lower classes: those in heavy debt, criminals, vagrants, etc., which makes it sound like a corruption of indentured servitude system that the British used to manufacture a servant class to the America colonies. It's still morally wrong (which John argues and fights for throughout the fic).
I hesitantly rec this one. I enjoy it for the deliciously gray morality and the characters and the AU British Empire part. It's very much John-Watson-versus-the-System fic (I adore John being BAMF).