I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Ready to be #Sherlocked: The Official Sherlock Convention

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"evidently a great event" [HOUN]</h4>
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Just announced today from <a href="http://www.sherlockology.com/news/2014/2/7/sherlocked-convention-announcement-070214" target="_blank">our friends at Sherlockolog</a>y is Sherlocked: The Official <i>Sherlock </i>Convention.<br />
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Details are still unfolding, but later in 2014 over the course of three days, there will be a major event, run  by Massive Events in association with Hartswood Films and Showmasters Ltd. Of course, Hartswood are the producers/distributors of <i>Sherlock </i>and Showmasters and Massive Events are experienced with fan conventions and major trade shows that attract the likes of the rabid fanbase that we know Sherlock has.<br />
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The event, which will take place both in Europe and the United States over the course of three days, was teased by Sherlockology over the course of the past week or so following the conclusion of Series 3 on PBS. They cleverly used a code to lure fans in:<br />
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For those paying attention at home, the code spelled: CONVENTION.<br />
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At this point, all that we know is that the event will take place over 3 days in 2014 and will feature  an array of Sherlock themed activities, appearances from the cast and crew of the show, talks, photoshoots, autograph opportunities and more.<br />
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To get more information on the event, visit the official <a href="http://massiveevents.co.uk/sherlocked/" target="_blank">Sherlocked: The Sherlock Convention</a> site and enter your information. You can also follow them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sherlocked-The-Event/254831428026630" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and as <a href="https://twitter.com/SherlockedEvent" target="_blank">@SherlockedEvent</a> on Twitter.<br />
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Do you think you'll attend? Let us know. We may need some correspondents.<br />
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Ready to be #Sherlocked: The Official Sherlock Convention

"evidently a great event" [HOUN] Just announced today from our friends at Sherlockolog y is Sherlocked: The Official Sherlock...

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by Scott Monty

Holmes and Watson at Pebble Beach

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"...the pretense of playing golf." [BLAC]</h4>
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We understand that there will be a sighting of Holmes and Watson at the annual Pebble Beach Pro-Am Golf Tournament today.<br />
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No, not Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson but rather <a href="http://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/players/player.27141.j-b-holmes.html" target="_blank">J.B. Holmes</a> and John Watson, who will be making an appearance on the Spyglass Hill course. Holmes will be paired up with David Gill, and Watson, an amateur, will be paired with pro Retief Goosen.<br />
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As you may know, Arthur Conan Doyle was a lifelong golfer. In his first North American tour, he stayed with Rudyard Kipling in Vermont, where the two enjoyed some golf together. As Conan Doyle recounted:<br />
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“I had brought up my golf-clubs and gave him lessons in a field while the New England rustics watched us from afar, wondering what on earth we were at, for golf was unknown in America at that time.”</blockquote>
And it was <a href="http://www.diogenes-club.com/golf.htm" target="_blank">golf that was indirectly responsible for the resurrection of Sherlock Holmes</a>. One weekend in Cromer, along the Norfolk coast, Doyle engaged in a round of golf while staying at the Royal Links Hotel. That round was shot with Fletcher Robinson, who inspired him to write <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>.<br />
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At any rate, it will be refreshing to see the names of Holmes and Watson televised throughout the Pebble Beach Pro-Am today. And here's hoping that the players take their golfing advice from Sir Arthur:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steel true, blade straight.</td></tr>
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<i>Images courtesy of <a href="http://www.chamoismoon.com/" target="_blank">Robert Campbell</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doyle_Arthur_Conan_grave.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a></i><br />
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Holmes and Watson at Pebble Beach

"...the pretense of playing golf." [BLAC] We understand that there will be a sighting of Holmes and Watson at the annual Pebb...

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by Scott Monty

A Brief Introduction to Sherlockian Societies

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<span style="text-align: start;">"Every form of society..." [SCAN] </span></h4>
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There's a piece of lore handed down in the Sherlockian community that states that all one needs for a Sherlock Holmes society is two Sherlockians, a copy of the Canon, and a bottle. In a pinch, one can do without one of the Sherlockians.<br />
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I must, respectfully, disagree. In my view, it is the bottle, rather than the other Sherlockian, that could be dispensed with. The simple reason is this: the love of a story, a character, a world, demands to be shared. Every Sherlockian has his or her own unique journey in discovering the Canon, and those personal experiences are difficult to share. But the ensuing love of a world and its people is a love that demands to be shared. <br />
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The world of Sherlock Holmes is no different - it is a world that begs to be lived in and shared, and it is, the world over, in the form of Sherlockian societies.The most famous and prestigious of these is the Baker Street Irregulars - dating from 1934, it is ancient, revered, and by-invitation-only. But, if you have no such invitation, there are a number of "scion" societies the world over which have no such barriers to membership, and thus many ways to join the Sherlockian community of scholarship and celebration. <br />
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We have a short listing of societies with websites on <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/resources.html" target="_blank">our Resources page</a>; but the most comprehensive<a href="http://www.sherlocktron.com/three.pdf"> list of societies</a> can be found at <a href="http://sherlocktron.net/">Sherlocktron</a>. And the <a href="http://www.sherlockiancalendar.com/">Sherlockian Calendar</a> keeps a running tally of events.<br />
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If you seek to share your love of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, then joining is as simple a matter as finding the society closest to you (they are organized by place in alphabetical order) and contacting the appropriate person listed. Of note: a very few societies are still male-only, but the vast majority are more inclusive. Lest you stumble upon one for which you do not meet the criteria, it is my experience that you will be directed to a society you can join. Joining is usually as simple as expressing interest and being added to a mailing list of events and society news (though several societies do have dues). I must also add that, in my experience, at the meetings of such societies, both Sherlockians and bottles occur in copious quantities, and copies of the Canon are also rarely dispensed with. Furthermore, unlike our idol, who loathes every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, Sherlockians are sociable creatures, always happy in the company of other like-minded aficionados. <br />
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I have had the good fortune to belong to a number of Sherlockian societies - the <a href="http://www.criterionbar.org/" target="_blank">Criterion Bar Association</a> in Chicago, while I completed my studies in that beautiful city, and the <a href="http://www.sshf.com/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Society of France</a>, for the year that I lived in Paris. Both of these societies offered companionship, dialogue, and a myriad ways to bring Sherlock Holmes to life. I hope my details below of the various events I've engaged with give a taste of what exactly it is that Sherlockian societies do, and that these descriptions encourage those readers who have not joined a Sherlockian society yet to seek one out if time and location permits. <br />
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My experience with the Criterion Bar Association was mostly that of meeting regularly with other members (somewhere around every two or three months) at a respectable restaurant; this was a time to mingle, feast, and discuss the Canon. However, each meeting would not be complete without a more intellectual component, for to be a Sherlockian means to be infinitely curious and constantly willing to fill that brain-attic with new facts both useful and useless. As such, each meeting, in addition to the quizzes, prizes, and conversation, involved a lecture (and discussion afterwards) of a  a particular topic relating to Sherlock Holmes or the Victorian period. (The ones that come to mind personally are a lecture on Aristotle's philosophy of friendship as it applies to Holmes and Watson, a lecture on indexing, and one on Victorian gardens). It is difficult to share that feeling of connectedness that comes from being gathered together to delve so deeply and intellectually into the same world, and even more difficult to describe that profound emotion each Sherlockian doubtless feels when we all rise, at the end of each meeting, to read the famous Vincent Starrett poem "221B" and toast the Detective. <br />
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However, many Sherlockian society events range beyond an intellectual gathering. In my time with the Sherlock Holmes Society of France,  I have also had a chance to experience the stories in a way that one might call "first-hand." Joined by a number of other Holmesians, I dined at the Hotel du Louvre, where Holmes caught a spy in "The Bruce-Partington Plans" and toasted Conan Doyle in the hotel where he spent his second wedding night. The highlight of my year, of course, was the yearly Holmesian Christmas Dinner at the Gare de Lyon, the Parisian train station through which Holmes must have passed in order to reach Switzerland from London. Each experience was a little bit of living the Canon, made more meaningful by the company I shared it with. <br />
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I hope that these (rather personal, I admit) reminiscences give at least a taste of the variety, creativity, and joy of the Sherlockian community the world over. If you are not yet a member of a Sherlockian society, I urge you to join. You will not regret the friends you will make, or the way that the activities and companionship will bring the Canon to life. And, should you be interested in a more detailed history of Sherlockian societies, <a href="http://www.sherlockian.net/celebrating">Sherlockian.net</a> offers an engaging summary. <br />
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A Brief Introduction to Sherlockian Societies

"Every form of society..." [SCAN] There's a piece of lore handed down in the Sherlockian community that states that all ...

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by Anastasia Klimchynskaya

The Italian Secretary: My First Pastiche

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<b>"He was a kind of Italian piecework" [SIXN]</b></h4>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312352042/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312352042&linkCode=as2&tag=theconblo04-20" target="_blank"><i>The Italian Secretary</i></a> was the first taste of the Sherlock Holmes pastiche addiction I happily suffer from today. I was familiar with Caleb Carr's two books <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812976142/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0812976142&linkCode=as2&tag=theconblo04-20" target="_blank">The Alienist</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345427637/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0345427637&linkCode=as2&tag=theconblo04-20" target="_blank">The Angel of Darkness</a></i>, and his very Holmes like character, Dr. Laszlo Kreizler. The difference being Kreizler is a psychiatrist (or alienist as they were called) not a consulting detective.<br />
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So it's no wonder that the Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. approached Carr to write a Sherlock Holmes story and had apparently asked that Carr's Kreizler, could somehow be in the book and work with Sherlock Holmes. Carr did not oblige and as much as I like the Alienist books, I'm glad he didn't.<br />
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As it is, Carr suffers from the dilemma that many well published authors suffer from when writing a Holmes pastiche; do you write a book for your current fans or do you write a book for Sherlock Holmes fans? Most try and do both and sadly, many fail. Carr also tries to do both but I think because his topics are similar to Doyle and Holmes, he's able to pull off a valiant effort that succeeds better than most, but make no mistake, this isn't a Doyle story, it's not much of a mystery and the suspense is waiting to see how it all comes to a head rather than who the culprit is.<br />
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This story takes Sherlock to one of my favorite cities in the World, (which could be partly why I liked this story as much as I do) Edinburgh Scotland. While writing this review it dawned on me that Doyle never sent Sherlock to Scotland, where Doyle is from. I find that a little odd, but Sherlock loved London and Sherlock stays firmly rooted there for the most part. However, in Sherlock's pastiche afterlife he does much more traveling. But I digress.<br />
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Edinburgh is infamous for it's ghost sightings and Carr takes advantage of that fact. But like all stories where Holmes is faced with ghosts, he isn't having any of it and sets about getting to the heart of the matter.<br />
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Multiple deaths occur while renovating the west tower of the Royal Palace of Holyrood complicating the already tense political climate in Scotland. The west tower is the wing where Mary, Queen of Scots, lived, and where David Rizzio (the Italian Secretary) was brutally murdered. Mycroft fears that this might be part of an attempt on Queen Elizabeth's life and sends his brother to investigate.<br />
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I have to give Carr some credit with his version of Sherlock and Watson. I usually find that British writers do a better job with the voice of Doyle's characters. Generally British authors have a particular flair with the English language that all but the most anglophile American authors just don't have. Especially American mystery writers. With the exception of some of the heavily accented Scottish characters, Carr does an admiral job here.<br />
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Carr, besides being a best selling fiction writer, is also a military historian and definitely did his research. When you read this book you get a feel for the political climate in Scotland and he does an especially good job building out the setting. Even if you've never had the privilege of visiting Edinburgh Carr makes it easy to visualize.<br />
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Pulling from his military knowledge Carr creates a very extravagant ending which ends with a siege on Holyrood with trebuchets and flaming projectiles. Very fun stuff.<br />
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It's easy to see why I got hooked on pastiches after reading <i>The Italian Secretary</i> and for that I owe a debt to Carr. But the last thing I found interesting was that the reception of <i>The Italian Secretary</i> is very mixed. If <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312352042/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312352042&linkCode=as2&tag=theconblo04-20">you look at the reviews of the book</a> they're almost equally spread across all 5 stars. Trust me, that almost never happens. So I'm curious, if you read the book, what was your take?<br />
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