I’m a little more into Sherlock Holmes and the BBC’s Sherlock than is probably good for me but in the interests of getting other people hooked and pimping out my favourite things I thought I’d do a little post.
So let’s get straight down to websites and other Sherlock related things that you might like to have a look at:
1. Things related to Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle and his original works:
Sherlock-Holmes.org – the Sherlock Holmes Society. The first port of call for any fan – yes, I am a member – with hordes of trivia, articles, meetings, information and ways to connect with other obsessed like-minded people.
SherlockHolmes online – This is the official website of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate. There is a biography of Conan Doyle on there, along with a full bibliography of his works, details of other works inspired by his own and some dedicated Sherlock pages.
Sherlockian.net – this website looks a little old and clunky but it has some serious gems buried under all the aged layout: articles, reviews, background, the works. It really does bear out the phrase “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” – if you’re going to write anything in cannon era this is indispensable!
http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/ – The website of the museum at 221B Baker Street in London. If you happen to be in London do go, it’s wonderful.
AlistairD 221B – Alistair Duncan’s blog is a mix of reviews, news and tidbits on the world of Sherlock Holmes. His four books on both Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are well written and fascinating. In order of publication they are The Norwood Author, Close toHolmes, Eliminate the Impossible and An Entirely New Country (the links take you to the relevant page on Amazon UK if you want a synopsis – I’m not pushing sales, honestly). I possess them all and I can happily say they are well written, informative and utterly fascinating. Alistair also has twitter if you wish to follow him.
SaveUndershaw.com – Undershaw is the house that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had built to keep his wife comfortable in her last years of life (she had TB) and it was here that he resurrected Sherlock Holmes from the dead. The Save Undershaw Preservation Trust are doing their best to ensure the house is preserved and turned into a museum so that we don’t losethis fascinating insight into ACD’s life. They won the battle to save it from the developers but that is just the start. If you can support them in any way, please do! They are also on twitter and facebook.
2. Things relating to BBC’s Sherlock:
Well the BBC and the Sherlock production team have created a suite of websites that accompany the series. This hereis the link to the main BBC page which you’ll be able to find them all from but, in order of my love for them, here is the full link list:
Sherlockology – created by fans, for fans, this website has been praised by Sue Vertue and the Sherlock team and is a treasure trove of information, pictures and even copies of scripts (only one at the moment but they are hoping to get more I believe). You can also follow them on twitter, Tumblr, Youtube and Facebook.
Screen caps of both series – compiled by the seriously dedicated Aithine, these are a gold mine if you just want to capture a moment from either series. I’ve not used them very much myself (other than to stare at Sherlock’s profile or giggle over some of John’s more “out there” WTF expressions) but I know many people who are talented at making gifs, montages and other types of fan art find it invaluable.
A timeline for the show – put together by the ever so patient and very dedicated lyrical_skythis gives you a chronology of events for both series, based on what is said in the episodes and those BBC blogs I mentioned above. I love it because I’m a details person.
Series 2 transcripts andDVD commentary transcripts – I have no idea how Ariane found the time to do these but they are a brilliant resource and I thank her from the bottom of my heart!
3. Where Sherlock fan works can be found:
The Sherlock TV tag on AO3 – this archive is by fans for fans so anything goes. Unlike FanFiction.net it doesn’t ban NC-17/explicit content so you really need to read the tags before you click on anything and be prepared to use your back button judiciously. That said it’s my favourite of the fan fiction websites because it seems to have attracted a huge range of very good writers with a huge variety of Sherlock stories.
The Sherlock tag onFanFiction.net – this is real mixed bag. There are writers on here who are excellent and some who appear to have, somehow, turned their spell check off and be unfamiliar with the concepts of basic grammar and punctuation. You can usually tell from the summaries though and since this is the biggest fan fiction website around there are an awful lot of good stories on here to be discovered – you just have to be willing to spend the time sorting the wheat from the chaff.
Livejournal – has many Sherlock communities which are many and varied but the ones I follow are: 221BSherlock, bbcsherlock, johnsherlock, sherlockbbc
Tumblr – This links to my friend Bryony’s Sherlock tumblr, called Because Sherlock fills my mind palace. From there you’ll be able to find a vast variety of other Sherlock and Benedict obsessives who share photos, gifs, fan art, fan fiction and all sorts of other random trivia. Enter at your own risk(definitely some NSFW stuff on there) and take a healthy dose of common sense with you.
And that’s it for now. If I find any other gems that I feel the need to share I’ll add them.
Hope you have fun with all the links!
Kizzia Mildmay 