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Our Featured Article this week is Sussex Retirement!

A popular trope in Sherlock Holmes fandom, Sussex Retirement imagines what happens after the great detective leaves Baker Street behind. Inspired by canon references to Holmes retiring to the Sussex countryside, fans have spent decades reimagining his post-detective life, often with Dr. John Watson by his side. Whether Watson retires with Holmes, joins him later, or reunites with him for one last case, Sussex Retirement stories blend domesticity, nostalgia, romance, and mystery.

The trope appears across countless adaptations, from the original stories to Sherlock Holmes (2009), BBC Sherlock, and more. For many fans, Sussex Retirement represents the ultimate happy ending: a chance for Holmes and Watson to find peace together after years of adventures. The setting has inspired everything from emotional reunions to late-life love stories, making it one of the most enduring concepts in Holmes fandom history.

Want to learn more? Check out its Fanlore page!

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actually. reading further down the article. Zooper Dooper is also a brand name.

It is time to spread the love with our June 2026 Comment Bingo. Try and fill four in a row, column, or diagonal, or let all the creators out there know how much you appreciate them 🤍🩶🖤 and go for a full black-out!

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Brag about your progress and inspire others to follow in your footsteps! Use the #fandomwithbenefits and #FwB2026 Comment Bingo tags to make your post findable.

As a reminder of our general rules, there is no deadline to contribute, if you wonder 'Is X allowed?' the answer is probably yes, and we highly appreciate all kind of works—not just fanfic or fanart!

If you have any questions or feedback, drop us an Ask or a DM! ❤️ Need even more inspiration? Check out our previous events.👀

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈HAPPY PRIDE🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Pod-together is a fandom fest where writers and podficcers create together—the writer creating text specifically intended for audio, and the podficcer creating the audio. If that sounds fun to you, sign-ups are open until June 13th! You can find instructions to sign up, rules, and FAQ at the dreamwidth site linked in our bio.

Sign-ups come in two flavors. If you would like the mods to match you with someone with similar fandom interests, sign up for Matchmaker Sign-Ups. If you would like to sign up with a partner, we also have Group Sign-Ups.

Writing is due July 26th, and podfic is due August 23rd. The minimum length for pod-together projects is 1000 words or 10 minutes of audio.

This is our 16th year running this challenge, and participants usually have a ton of fun and create amazing stuff, with everything from the typical style of fannish stories to submissions with filk, poetry, found footage/audio drama, sound effects, massive multi-voice collaborations, full-cast musicals, immersive soundscapes, playable games, and multiple languages.

If you’re on the fence and have questions, or want to try to scout a group before signing up, we have a section of our Discord open just for that. You can find a link to the Discord in the sign-up post on our dreamwidth!