Watsonian Love Recs: Seven recs and a lagniappe

As I desperately try to remember how to format html....

1.
Title: The Rational Mind
Author: Copperbadge
Length: 1500 words
Characters: John Watson/Sherlock Holmes
Rating: Teen and up
Universe: ACD
Summary: Warning for Graphic Depictions of Violence, Tags for PTSD, Nightmares, and Victorian attitudes toward mental illness.
The war has followed Watson home, and Holmes re-examines his principles in light of his friend's suffering.

Note: A story told in ficlets of descending length, and an exceptional exploration of Watson’s early days at Baker Street. Copperbadge is one of my favorite authors in any fandom, and this story is probably the original reason why.

2.
Title: On Afghanistan’s Plains
Author: Pompey
Length: 22,839 words
Characters: John Watson
Rating: K+
Universe: ACD
Summary: A look at what happened to Watson, from the Battle of Maiwand to his return to England. As this is a prequel to STUDY IN SCARLET, Holmes makes no appearance whatsoever.

Note: I will always read Maiwand stories. But very few of them measure up to this epic by Pompey. Don’t miss the sequel,A Young British Soldier, or the alternate sequel, The Covenant and the Oath which was written with KCS.

3.
Title: Minor Interludes for the Solo Violin part 1, part 2, part 3
Author: Katie Forsythe
Length: ~27,000 words
Characters: John Watson/Sherlock Holmes
Rating: Explicit
Universe: ACD
Summary: Wounded and traumatized by the Afghan War, John Watson falls in love with a detective who is also a remarkable violinist. Connected pieces of emotion and movement.

Note: When I started looking for things to recommend, I told myself I should try to limit myself to one fic per author. And there was no question at all which story I should choose for Katie Forsythe. This is a wonderful exploration of early Baker Street, and a Watson who is still recovering from Afghanistan, all entangled with The Red-headed League. It’s also Holmes and Watson falling in love. The three parts here are followed by Hallowed Be Thy Name, which switches point of view to Holmes, and the combination of the four stories begin one of Katie’s best series.

4.
Title: Old Wounds
Author: pandapony
Length: 4828 words
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes (or John Watson/Sherlock Holmes etc.)
Rating: Mature
Universe: Granada and/or ACD
Summary: "There were aspects of my life before Baker Street that I preferred not to mention. Specifically, memories of my time in Afghanistan were so painful that I could not think on them at all. I shut the entire episode from my mind, and even went so far as to devise an alternative history for myself, one in which a stray jezail bullet tore my shoulder to shreds, and left me in a fevered state that kept me delirious and weak in India for months.
This is not what happened to me in Afghanistan."
This story is set during the case of "The Crooked Man," the alternative Granada version where an un-married Watson accompanies Holmes to Aldershot. Warnings for non-consensual sex, graphic violence; tags for War Crimes, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Torture, Friendship, Budding Love, Angst, Dark
Note: The details are more referenced than explained in this, but it is still a harrowing past for Watson. But he has Holmes, and Holmes understands. The future slash is only implied. The sequel "Old Scars", which is

explicit is not yet on AO3, but I found it over here.

5.
Title: ...Could Fill A Book
Author: PlaidAdder (aka Irene Adler)
Length: 16,532 words
Characters: John Watson/Sherlock Holmes, Mary Morstan/John Watson, Helen Stoner
Rating: Teen and Up
Universe: ACD / Granada
Summary: When Holmes discovers that his solution to the "Speckled Band" case was...uh...totally wrong, he drags Watson back to Stoke Moran to try to find out what really happened. The true story of the horrible death of Julia Stoner turns out to be closely connected to Mary Morstan's death. As Watson finds himself reliving some of the most painful memories from his marriage to Mary, he starts to take more and more of a leading role in finding the solution to the mystery. Tags: Case Fic, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Pregnancy, Witches, Murder, Snakes, Smart Watson, Medicine

Note: The milk-drinking snake problem gets its comeuppance in this Post-Return story. This is an excellent case-fic, with a deep entanglement in canon. I was really happy when it came to AO3, because plaidadder is one of the authors whose fics always come up when I’m trying think of favorites. (Even though, as is far too usual for me, I’d forgotten the name of both fic and author and had to hunt it out. Thanks, Google!)

6.
Title: Just One Breath
Author: nlr alicia
Length: ~3100 words
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes (or John Watson/Sherlock Holmes etc.)
Rating: unrated, maybe PG/Teen?
Universe: ACD
Summary: Content Warnings: Coursing undercurrents of slash. Coursing underground rivers. Coursing blood. Mild coursing. :p
Written for saswati, who asked for a Watson h/c featuring a stabbing(!)

Note: Nolessremarkable Alicia was a prolific author who, like her namesake, vanished suddenly. I still hope it was only because her real-life situation wouldn’t allow her to continue to write slash fic, and not for other reasons, but as we reach a decade without word, I’ve come to accept that she’ll never have the chance to finish her last wips. This story is just a sample of her writing, to tempt you into reading more.

7.
Title: Hidden Depths
Author: Susannah_Shepherd
Length: 7,165 words
Characters: John Watson/Sherlock Holmes
Rating: Explicit
Universe: ACD
Summary: Watson inadvertently lets slip that his war injuries are far more extensive and crippling than he has formerly admitted. Holmes encourages him to confront his fears and find new hope. Tags: Hurt/comfort
Author’s Note: This story was written in response to a challenge put forward by Cress on the Holmesslash list to write a hurt/comfort story, based on the premise that Watson's war wound was not where he claimed.
The challenge was:
First, remember that Watson first says his wound is in the shoulder, then in a later story says it's his leg? One Sherlockian theory is that Watson was actually wounded midway between, in his groin, rendering him sterile and/or sexually dysfunctional. Thus he's so embarrassed he'll make up any lie to avoid telling the public the truth, and it explains why Watson never mentions having children with his wife (or wives).
So: The above theory is true; Watson has been wounded sexually. He feels he is not a whole man any more and is privately ashamed. In an unguarded moment, he torturously confesses the truth to Holmes, along with his feeling of being like "half a man". He's also frustrated and jealous of Holmes, who is whole, but chooses not to have any women in his life.
Holmes (in love or not) decides to cheer Watson up and combat his insecurities by showing Watson that he is still desirable and can still have pleasure despite his injuries. Guess how he does it? Yep, straight to bed...


Note: This story intrigued me, because I had actually read about the Sherlockian theory the author mentions, but had not considered the ramifications.

Lagniappe #1
Title: hauntings (series)
Author: rabidsamfan
Length: 10,253 words
Characters: John Watson/Sherlock Holmes
Rating: Mature
Universe: ACD
Summary: The first summer at Baker Street finds Watson driven by memories of Maiwand and his desire to once more be a useful member of society. But a fresh tragedy changes how he sees everything, most especially his fellow lodger.

Note: These two stories remain some of the best writing I’ve ever done. The sort of thing where I reread and think "Did I do that?" The first one, "Haunted", was inspired by a lovely bit of artwork by Spacefall, and the second one "Revenant" insisted on being written. Both were originally posted at Cox and Co., because at that point I was too embarrassed to post them at my own LJ.