Fanfiction Favourites

Fanfiction Favourites - Sherlock Edition

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I've been reading far too many fanfics of late and so to ease my guilty conscience ("stop fucking procrastinating" it whispers for the hundredth time) I thought I'd share with you my personal favourites.I thought I might make this a regular thing (because personally I love fic recs) and so for now I'm going to focus on my favourite fandom in terms of shipping; Sherlock!

DISCLAIMERS

a) I'm (of course) very fandom and pairing biased, and I know different people draw the line in different places when it comes to what they want to read about. So you won't see any non-consensual sex featured in the works below because personally I don't think that's something we should romanticise.
b) a lot of these works feature, er, mature sexy times, and I should probably give some kind of warning that if you read about anal sex and you're under eighteen your brain will explode. I don't think it will, but now you can't say I haven't warned you.

So in no particular order let's proceed;

A Cure for Boredom by EmmaGrant01
Possibly my favourite fic, sex is blended perfectly with scenes showing real character and love, as well as a truly engrossing plot.

The Blog of Eugenia Watson by Mad_Lori
Sherlock has never been more endearing than here, the story opening up a wonderful window into both the mundane and mysterious parts of the Watson-Holmes' family life

A Mile in His Shoes by Determamfidd
I do love a good body swap and this is my favourite from those I've read for the Sherlock fandom. The scene with Mycroft near the end is especially hilarious

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The Adventure of the Consulting Woman by DancingGrimm
This one is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I do always find the image of Sherlock crossdressig very intriguing...

The Art of Seduction series by flawedamythyst
If you want a bit of smuttyness, but are equally interested in some crack and a brilliant plot then this is the one for you

Catch as Catch Can by perevision
 Sherlock is forced to confront pop culture; fun to see how the consulting detective feels about some of the things I love so much

A Silver Sixpence by _doodle
So lovely, this seems to me like the way Sherlock and John could get together in the show, if they ver actually do!

Is There A Place for Romantic Fiction in the Age of Cynicism? Guest Post by Vickie Hall

Is There A Place for Romantic Fiction in the Age of Cynicism?

This is a guest post by Vickie Hall, author of Secrets of the Red box, as part of the book tour for the previously mentioned novel. I'd like to thank her for contributing her writing to my humble blog!

You can read my review of Secrets of the Red Box here

 As with many topics, there are often polar opposite aspects that attempt to sway us to one side or the other. This is certainly true of writing Romance. We live in a world of opposites, and often those opposites do not represent the vast middle ground that more closely mirrors the majority.

While on one hand, we are faced with a growing number of erotic romances flooding the marketplace, and leaving little to the imagination, I would also suggest they are one of those polar opposites. These books are filled with, I conjecture, an unrealistic view of the norm, explicit and crude and debasing. Sadly, there will always be an audience for this type of salacious material, but does it serve as a true comparrison of our own lives? Or are we left feeling our lives are lacking in excitement and pleasure after reading one of these stories?

On the other hand, we have a market of idealized romance, that in my opinion, is just as harmful but in a different way. These books depict love and marriage in such glowing terms, and with such unrealistic loftiness that no love or marriage could ever stand against it and survive. I've heard stories of women comparing their own realities against these romanticized versions and coming up short, and disappointed, and seeking something better.

The simple truth is, life is complicated, love is complicated, and neither of the polar opposites represent a truthful, honest portrayal of real life. Is there a place for this type of romance novel, the type that more closely reflects the vast middle ground of normalcy? Absolutely! When a reader can truly identify with a protagonist who struggles, suffers, and hurts because of her love, but can also find fulfillment, joy, and happiness in it, we are rewarded. I know I respond more deeply to stories that represent a relatable plot with flawed characters, flawed just as we are, than to stories with such idealized opposites

Secrets of the Red Box by Vickie Hall

Secrets of the Red Box by Vickie Hall

Bonnie has secrets to keep - secrets with the potential to destroy lives, including her own. Running from her destructive and pain filled past, she recreates herself, believing she has escaped the damning evidence hidden in the red box. When her former life is revealed by a cruel twist of fate, Bonnie faces losing everything, including Glen, the only man she’s ever loved. But is Bonnie the woman he thinks she is? Set against the backdrop of the 1940s, Secrets of the Red Box is filled with intrigue and suspense - sure to keep you guessing to the very end!

This is part of the Secrets of the Red Box book tour; for the schedule and more info go here. To buy the book go here

Rating: *** (out of five stars)

Romance! Not my normal area of reading but I have to say I did enjoy Secrets of the Red Box, the balance between the various relationships and the mystery/suspense elements being maintained well throughout the story. For me it was the titular secrets which kept me reading; the glimpses into them which were scattered across the chapters forming a wonderfully irresistible undertone for the contrasting normality and happiness in the main narrative. I really was surprised when all was revealed, despite references which perhaps I should have picked up on earlier on (I have a feeling my mind was in a slightly morbid place at the time and that perhaps that's why the eventual conclusion was so unexpected).

The main character is Bonnie,  a young woman who has recently left San Diego for Omaha to escape horrors of which the audience does not know. Although by the end of the novel I had some sympathy for her, at the beginning I personally found it quite difficult to like someone so harsh and seemingly unfeeling. Her treatment of Christine especially seems to not seem possible from anyone with a heart of any kind. Bonnie's constant internal monologue of paranoia also became repetitive, though I do see it's purpose of reminding the reader of her previous life, and that she hasn't grown up in the way most readers (hopefully) have. With the introduction of Glen she mellows out, and from there my affection for her began to grow. Generally I think my lack of feelings for the female characters may have stemmed from their overwhelming desire for the "perfect" family life, complete with marriage and stereotypical gender roles. This isn't the fault of Vickie Hall but me; I need to learn to put my feminist hat away sometimes and just enjoy a story set in an era with different values from my own.

For me the setting descriptions were certainly one of Secrets of the Red Box's strong points. Whilst reading I had such a clear image of these places (in particular Omaha) that I really could picture Bonnie existing there in her small life, with the rest of the big city turning even faster around her. Various flash back sequences were brilliantly illustrated too, but to avoid spoiler I won't go into any more detail about these.

To conclude I felt this was a good story, with intriguing plot developments and a satisfying though perhaps not realistic ending. With vivid descriptions too it's definitely worth a read!

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

Published 27 September 2012 by Little Brown

Rating: **** (out of five stars)

It's been a week or so since I actually finished this because I wanted to wait a while and compose my thoughts before I inflicted my views on the rest of the world. I considered not writing a review at all because still I'm not sure I can really get across in coherent sentences how I feel about The Casual Vacancy. But then I realised that at the speed JKR writes I should probably take advantage of having more material from my favourite author.

There seems to have been a lot of bad press for this book, though obviously as JKR's first work since Potter that was bound to happen, so I want to make it clear that this is not a negative review at all. I enjoyed the book, it entertained me, it made me think, and surely that in itself means it served it's purpose. The writing was of course excellent; the character descriptions in particular were so vivid I could almost feel the characters standing over me whilst I read. Many (in fact probably the majority) were not likeable, but in my limited experience I'd have to say they were pretty accurate portraits of a type of person which unfortunately does exist in real life.The issues explored were important ones, and the type where so often only one side of the story is heard and it really did give a voice to those who need it so desperately in these times of austerity. Even the plot quickened and became reasonably addictive, despite it's seemingly dull nature.

I do understand the problems people had with the book though. If any of you listen to Mugglecast (which if you're a Potter fan you really should do) you'd have heard them talking about how bad the book's publicity was and I totally agree. It was targeted at existing fans of Rowling and while I do believe that we can enjoy it, I also think that there are a lot of people who would have missed out on reading it because they didn't really realise that it wasn't another fantasy or more light-hearted novel. This isn't really what I normally read; the politics involved in my usual fare are normally entirely fictional, and I think a lot of people who went into this simply because of the name on the cover will have been disappointed. As much as I knew this wouldn't be anything like Harry Potter, it's another thing to actually have it in front of you and know that. Sure, some of the themes and morals are similar but that is really it. Again, not a bad thing, just something that for me it was weird to accept.

I do have some negatives though, but I really don't want to linger on them much as I did ENJOY the book! After the initial chapter it took the narrative quite a while to get going whilst the massive cast of characters was introduced. I have no problem with sex or expletives in literature or anything else if they're necessary and add to the story, but I did feel like she was making up for lost time and mentioning erections and masturbation at every conceivable moment, even if it had no relevance at all. The ending was realistic, but perhaps not satisfying.

Overall though this is a brilliant book, which will inevitably be judged in a light far harsher than that of its peers. It does make you wonder if perhaps a pseudonym wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all.

(I'm really interested in what other people thought on this one, especially if you haven't read Harry Potter much previously, so please feel free to comment below)

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James

Published by Arrow (12 April 2012)

Rating: * (out of five stars)

So I did it, I read THE book, the one that no one's shut up about all summer. I figured that if I was going to continue to argue so fervently against the damned thing I should probably have read more than a few random extracts that I'd seen online. Of course I was curious to see what all the fuss was about too, but in my head I liked to think I was doing it for "research purposes" (or at least that's how I referred to it before I realised it sounded like my research was something other than literary criticism).

I went into Fifty Shades of Grey with expectations so low they'd probably melted to nothing in the lava rivers of hell, and for the first few chapters even these lowly standards weren't met. I felt E.L James' portrayal of women was appalling; she very much went with the Victorian-esque extremes which I thought had perhaps been left behind. On the one hand we have Anastasia Steele, a girl so boneless she literally falls down at Christian Grey's feet when they first meet and apparently can't be trusted to deem whether her car us safe to drive. Then there's Kate Kavanagh, the workaholic who needs a "nice guy" to finally make her appropriately feminine again. Plus in these first few chapters Grey simply seems like a dick, and a creepy one at that.

The picture does improve and happens to coincide with the sex starting up. Once these characters become more complex they do develop into vaguely interesting characters, especially in the case of Christian. In no way did I like him; the quote "fifty shades of fucked up" fitted him quite perfectly. But his background did give him depth and even if I was no personal fan he was at least less one dimensional than Ana.

I suppose now it's time to talk about the sex. It was a bit of a let down for me, no where near as explicit as I expected and didn't seem to me to be anything particularly revolutionary. And that's coming from a teenager. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the beautiful fan fiction I've read, but it did practically nothing for me. It wasn't even amusing. As for the fabled tampon scene I don't quite get the hype.

Overall this was I suppose just marginally better than I expected. By no means a good book, but if you just want to know what all the fuss is about you'll probably make it through unscathed.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman

Published 2010 by Canongate Books (as part of the Canongate Myths series)

Rating - *** (out of five stars)

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is an intriguing book for many reasons. The book is Philip Pullman’s retelling of Jesus’ story, the main change being that Jesus now has a brother called Christ. The title of course hints at the personalities of these two and the roles they play, though by no means touches on the intricacies involved in their relationship with each other. In a lot of ways though the most important part of this book isn’t the plot or characters, but the message and ideas which the author has presented inside these pages.

I described this book as “intriguing” initially, and interesting and thought provoking are also words which in my opinion apply here; involving and gripping definitely less so. This is a quick read and so the slow start doesn’t really matter, but I have to say that all I got from the first few chapters was an intense dislike for Christ. It isn’t really until the very end that the story starts surprising you as a reader. It’s not exactly that this is a problem, more that you don’t normally find yourself in a situation where you’ve already heard or read three-quarters of the story before in some form or another. It definitely makes this into a very different reading experience, at least for me anyway.

That’s not to say I didn’t like this book though. I have read quotes of Pullman’s previously concerning religion and found his views quite similar to mine, so I obviously had different feelings about what I was reading than someone who disagrees with the religious opinions expressed (and I’m guessing that there were probably a lot of people who were extremely angry when they finished this book). The afterword adds another element, with the inspiration behind this retelling set out, as well as some of the aspects which were less clear explained. Not that every detail is made perfectly transparent; quite rightly some quite important points are still left for the reader to interpret, but overall I did find the afterword the most appealing part of the novel.

This review may perhaps seem slightly negative, but I assure this is a book I enjoyed and which I’m very glad I read. I do think that perhaps more could have been done with the concept, but overall it’s a controversial take on a topic which luckily isn’t all hype.

Book Haul!

This is a bit of an experiment, but I thought I’d try posting a book haul post on here. I’ve seen a lot of Booktubers do this and I’ve always found them really interesting so I figured I’d give a text version of it a go...

In the last few months I’ve had a bit of a book buying spree. I usually only purchase books I especially want and know I will read again, because they aren’t the cheapest things and if I’m never going to reread something than the library works just as well. Recently however I’ve been acting a bit of out of character and have quite a large stack of books waiting for me in the to-read pile which I actually own.  This is mainly down to discount bookstores and the fact I’ve had to get stuff for my English Lit course next year (I haven’t included them ones in this list) but I thought I’d take the opportunity to do a book haul whilst I could.

I’m going to include where I bought each one, but as a lot of them were reduced or on special offers in no way could I guarantee whether they’ll actually have them in the store near you. Also I live in the UK, so if you don’t a) I don’t even know if half of these stores exist for you and b) it’s probably even less likely that they’ll have the same things I bought.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Keep Me in Mind by Nancy Holder

Bought for £1 in Poundland

This is the only one of these books which I’ve actually read yet and I have to say I got what I was expecting. This is a choose your own adventure style book and I basically bought it as a bit of fun and light hearted reading, which would probably make me laugh with its cheesiness but that as a fan of Buffy would satisfy me no matter how bad it was because you can always do with a bit me more slayer in your life. 

The Baker Street Boys: The Case of the Disappearing Detective by Anthony Read

Bought in a random book store which was closing down for 50p

 I was browsing through the 50p stand in the shop and the words “Baker Street” caught my eye. At such a cheap price and with my obsession with the world’s only Consulting Detective I of course had to have this. The basic premise seems to be that Sherlock has gone missing, so I don’t actually know how much he’ll feature, but regardless I’m sure this will be alright for some light reading.

These next three were all bought on a 3 for £5 offer in The Works. If you have a branch near you, it’s seriously worth  checking out because there’s a huge variety of books in the offer, including a lot of well known authors and bestsellers (I saw a few things by Lionel Shriver, and if you’re into YA stuff there was Wither and various books by Scott Westerfeld)

The End Specialist by Drew Magary

I picked this up initially because of its cover as I recently read the Book Thief (so good!) and their artwork is very similar. Then I read the blurb and it gripped me. This is set in the future when a cure has been developed which means nobody will ever die of old age, though bullets and diseases can still be fatal. Sci-Fi, death and eternal youth; what isn’t there to love?

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

So far I’ve read Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion all of which I’ve loved and so I’ve wanted to read Sense and Sensibility for a while. So I bought it and hopefully it will live up to my expectations!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 3 by Nancy Holder, Kirsten Beyer and Christopher Golden

Like I said, I love Buffy. This seems to be the third volume of a collection of original Buffy stories. They had one or two different volumes of the series, but I decided on this one mainly because there’s a story which sounds pretty Willow-centric.

Have you read any of these? If so tell me what you though in the comments. And if not, what books have you bought recently?