I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

New Mr. Holmes Trailer

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes" [SPEC]</h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlzN7p4lEIn049_4dh6rv0ykmAtMaKOOWidZyQNhWMgGKJU65hYJMnWwJWzdjH-rpuOWm-QL-Nvw_o4QkdxnS2yaa5b5ObqAP617hD6eo18pXvIGQvJ0oAf2sxqxZVzIvW2oVuhfG6aSm/s1600/mr-holmes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlzN7p4lEIn049_4dh6rv0ykmAtMaKOOWidZyQNhWMgGKJU65hYJMnWwJWzdjH-rpuOWm-QL-Nvw_o4QkdxnS2yaa5b5ObqAP617hD6eo18pXvIGQvJ0oAf2sxqxZVzIvW2oVuhfG6aSm/s1600/mr-holmes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
As we prepare for Sir Ian McKellen to grace the theaters this summer in <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3168230/" target="_blank">Mr. Holmes</a></i>, we've been afforded the opportunity to see <a href="https://youtu.be/KSsf17Exa4g" target="_blank">the latest trailer</a>.<br />
<br />
The story is set in 1947, following a long-retired Sherlock Holmes living in Sussex with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her son (Milo Parker), who is showing some budding detective skills. Holmes finds himself haunted by an unsolved 50-year old case, but due to a deteriorating memory he remembers only fragments of the case: a confrontation with an angry husband, a secret bond with his beautiful but unstable wife.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The film is directed by Bill Condon, who also directed Gods and Monsters and Dreamgirls, among other films. It debuts in the US at the San Francisco Film Festival on April 25 and at the USA Film Festival on April 26. Wider distribution dates: June 19, 2015 in the UK and July 17, 2015 in the U.S.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KSsf17Exa4g?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0G1lIBgk4PA?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br /></div>
<br />
<br />
As an aside, the casting of Nicholas Rowe as Sherlock Holmes of the movies is sheer genius.<br />
<br />
What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing <i>Mr. Holmes</i>?<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>

New Mr. Holmes Trailer

"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes" [SPEC] As we prepare for Sir Ian McKellen to grace the theaters this summer in Mr. Holmes ...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Sherlock Christmas Special Will Be Set in 1895

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in the year '95." [BLAC] </h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil25bWJGvYS5Q-syd7InviWRoDl4AOGlfbPOkm-4HPvI4LdGMEpCYX3KTbbskpLZuxE4NfGwruc7-JtrYOZP80F_i-_Ux21tmwYGm6V0zEokTCJ2hkkXHhJQZYSGrqKb3Vcg8pjPOLGfU9/s1600/BBC+One+Christmas+Sherlock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in Victorian costume" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil25bWJGvYS5Q-syd7InviWRoDl4AOGlfbPOkm-4HPvI4LdGMEpCYX3KTbbskpLZuxE4NfGwruc7-JtrYOZP80F_i-_Ux21tmwYGm6V0zEokTCJ2hkkXHhJQZYSGrqKb3Vcg8pjPOLGfU9/s1600/BBC+One+Christmas+Sherlock.jpg" title="Cumberbatch and Freeman in period clothing" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
We've known for some time that the upcoming Christmas special of <i>Sherlock </i>will be <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/11/sherlock-221back-special-teaser.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">set in Victorian times</a>. But the question as to exactly <i>when</i> in Victorian times has been something of a mystery.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32380304/benedict-cumberbatchs-sherlock-goes-back-to-1895" target="_blank">According to the BBC</a>, the year in which the episode will be set is the perennially favorite 1895. Mark Gatiss himself disabused any notion that the year was 1885, as some speculations posited, when he said, "I can correct something that has been misreported. The series is set in 1895, not 1885."<br />
<br />
Astute viewers will recall that Watson's blog counter is stuck at 1895, which itself is a nod to the classic poem <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/celebrate-national-poetry-day.html#.VTZTwiFViko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"221B"</a> by Vincent Starrett, BSI ("<i>A Study in Scarlet</i>"), which reads in part:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
Here, though the world explode, these two survive,<br />And it is always eighteen ninety-five.</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3WDoAez_fhXKxlbs4Zso2K7-dFUukV_AcwvsevkCDcDC4vG-RZ-njI2DfATt0MuQasfZLQ5278w3bt1JPzVON-OSbytM3xMDAjkE_l_6sKVrbQHEqOIkmQrx8zBYgolGY4YvLFQMZ_9xK/s1600/221B+-+Starrett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vincent Starrett's classic "221B" poem" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3WDoAez_fhXKxlbs4Zso2K7-dFUukV_AcwvsevkCDcDC4vG-RZ-njI2DfATt0MuQasfZLQ5278w3bt1JPzVON-OSbytM3xMDAjkE_l_6sKVrbQHEqOIkmQrx8zBYgolGY4YvLFQMZ_9xK/s1600/221B+-+Starrett.jpg" title=""221B" by Vincent Starrett" width="582" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />

Sherlock Christmas Special Will Be Set in 1895

"I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in the year '95." [BLAC] We've kn...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Interview with Author GC Rosenquist

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"some deadly story linked to it"[BLUE]</h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7ulztGtiWVuQaxqM7ZqpW3FEClC8z4kS91ytryq2gdFcDsSjgCVXKE_jptaHzU-H7fzqz4Vrcat9Jbzeg6Jq5-iDpbOPQqZGLHKIAG8oDkWmFihWMi6nURhGAXRi6Yo5PNsUwDwHL2WO/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+Pearl+of+Death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7ulztGtiWVuQaxqM7ZqpW3FEClC8z4kS91ytryq2gdFcDsSjgCVXKE_jptaHzU-H7fzqz4Vrcat9Jbzeg6Jq5-iDpbOPQqZGLHKIAG8oDkWmFihWMi6nURhGAXRi6Yo5PNsUwDwHL2WO/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+Pearl+of+Death.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Author GC Rosenquist is mainly known as a talented writer of science-fiction whose works have been compared to that of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov.  So, it was to my surprise when Rosenquist penned <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1Fa24eC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes: The Pearl of Death and Other Early Storie</a>s</i>, his first Sherlock Holmes collection, and one that is decidedly traditional.  In fact, all the stories in this collection take place before the Great Hiatus.  I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Rosenquist and ask why he turned his attention from robots in the distant future to the world's first consulting detective in the Victorian era.<br />
<br />
<h4>
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere:  You are mainly known as a writer of Science Fiction stories.  What made you decide to write traditional early adventures of Sherlock Holmes as opposed to Holmes in a science-fiction universe<img border="0" src="file:///C:/Users/Derrick/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" />?</h4>
GC Rosenquist:  First of all, to see if I could even write a palatable Sherlock Holmes story by staying within the strict dictates of the original canon. I find that when I challenge myself as a writer, the results always turn out better than expected.  I had been a huge Holmes fan going way back to my youth and could never see him solving crimes in outer space or even during the present day. For me, Holmes, pure and brilliant, belongs to that late nineteenth century London where murder is committed in dark alleys between flats or on the fog-drenched moors where hounds with glowing demon eyes prowl for victims. So the first Holmes story I wrote was “The Late Constable Avery,” and to my surprise, it turned out pretty well. And most importantly, the story was respectful to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legacy. When I write a Holmes story it’s always in the back of my mind – “Would Sir A.C. Doyle approve of this effort?” I consider Holmes, Watson and the entire canon sacred ground. That’s very important to me.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <br />
<h4>
IHOSE:  The opening<img border="0" src="file:///C:/Users/Derrick/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" /> story in your collection, "The Pearl of Death," is fast paced and action packed.  It reminded me of the new film series with Robert Downey, Jr.  Was there a particular Holmes actor you were envisioning when drafting these tales?</h4>
GCR:  No. I had purchased a collection of Holmes stories a few years ago titled “The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes,” a book that reprinted 37 Holmes stories as they were originally published in the Strand magazine, illustrated by the great Sidney Paget. Mr Paget’s illustrations are the standard and his interpretation of Holmes is perfect, so when I write a Holmes story it’s always with Mr Paget’s Holmes in my mind.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <br />
<h4>
<b>IHOSE: While most of your collection follows the typical Holmes mystery, two of your tales, "The </b><b>Lure of the Rhinoceros Head," and "The Predictability Problem<img border="0" src="file:///C:/Users/Derrick/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif" />," feel more like gags and are pretty funny.  Was it difficult to write humorous Sherlock Holmes tales?</b></h4>
<br />
GCR:  I think ironic is the better word. Sure, I’ll drop in snippets of humor to lighten the mood of a particularly dark scene, but what I’m truly concentrating on in those two stories is irony. The irony in “The lure of the Rhinoceros head” comes from who the murderer is. In “The Predictability Problem,” I thought it would be supremely fascinating to be a fly on the wall while Holmes and Jules Verne meet in a quiet hotel room and discuss the future of world affairs, with the ironic end-result of their conversation being the whole point of the story.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <br />
<h4>
<b>IHOSE:    The question I ask all Sherlockians. If you were stranded on a desert island with only one </b><b>Sherlock Holmes story, which would it be and why?</b></h4>
<br />
GCR:  Oh, there are so many! But in a pinch, I’d have to go with “The Final Problem.” The story has everything you’d expect in a Holmes story and it’s written with such a high degree of skill, pace, action and intelligence – Doyle at his peak. It’s an epic that spans many different countries, it has the consummate antagonist in Moriarty battling Holmes, also at the peak of his mental powers. The story is satisfying on so many levels and it’s all the more satisfying because it was intended to be Sir A.C. Doyle’s goodbye to Holmes, but it wasn’t. In fact, I consider the next Holmes story, also very enjoyable, “The Adventure of the Empty House" in <i>The Return of Sherlock Holmes,</i> as an extension of “The Final Problem.”<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuWc1yHbaW86Nk-xfJ0eWVdMcDhI-8MvPE6PRVr031MWU0uoEz8aCHsqvySeyvm6wpm-KiWP_Ngc8aj0uCL0KMHvmCyZxRJ74Pih80NjMrI-nAaehA4dhcKNR8st1pdjHVWJnKx9siNzoJ/s1600/GCRosenquist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuWc1yHbaW86Nk-xfJ0eWVdMcDhI-8MvPE6PRVr031MWU0uoEz8aCHsqvySeyvm6wpm-KiWP_Ngc8aj0uCL0KMHvmCyZxRJ74Pih80NjMrI-nAaehA4dhcKNR8st1pdjHVWJnKx9siNzoJ/s1600/GCRosenquist.jpg" /></a></div>
<h4>
<b>IHOSE: What are your current projects?</b></h4>
GCR:  I’ve just completed a Holmes story titled “The Strange Case of the Violin Savant” for an anthology MX Publishing is putting out in the fall and edited by Mr David Marcum and I’m currently working on finishing two novels I started in November of 2014. I’ve always got something brewing. Writers write, right?<br />
<br />
<h4>
<b>IHOSE:  Any last thoughts?</b></h4>
GCR:  Thank you for this opportunity, Derrick, and it’s my hope that anyone who reads <i>Sherlock Holmes: The Pearl of Death and Other Early Stories</i> enjoys the time they’ve spent with Holmes and Watson.<br />
<br />
To learn more about the many worlds of author GC Rosenquist, you can visit his <a href="http://www.gcrosenquist.com/" target="_blank">website</a> or <a href="http://amzn.to/1beMan0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a> page.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=thebakerstree-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00VXVF014&asins=B00VXVF014&linkId=I5EIJOZPVZTQOSIY&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"><br />
</iframe><br />
<br />

Interview with Author GC Rosenquist

"some deadly story linked to it"[BLUE] Author GC Rosenquist is mainly known as a talented writer of science-fiction whose wo...

+ Read more »

by Belanger Books

New App Allows You to Play Sherlock Holmes

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"I know where the letters are without looking" [IDEN] </h4>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIJLlzO4u887szC8IghCM8ku21vCIGefamIWH0y6sZSkmXRC2vyv9riYIzOKXUnNbUyk-z2S-HnBHR-XFGuB6imREf-xKImmc5bWV1vpbvTatXj8EIfXEPwT1esLNFhSn3IIspYXghWWQ/s1600/Holmes+cipher+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIJLlzO4u887szC8IghCM8ku21vCIGefamIWH0y6sZSkmXRC2vyv9riYIzOKXUnNbUyk-z2S-HnBHR-XFGuB6imREf-xKImmc5bWV1vpbvTatXj8EIfXEPwT1esLNFhSn3IIspYXghWWQ/s1600/Holmes+cipher+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
If the message on the screen of your phone starts out CNT KBI KFF SBNMY RTG SI WKMG, you might guess that it's a cipher. You might even guess that KFF represented either TOO or ALL, although ODD and EBB are among the possibilities. Getting that one word right would give you a couple of common letters, and then you could start working out other possibilities, very much the way Sherlock Holmes does in "The Dancing Men".<br />
<br />
You can do such a puzzle on an app. <a href="http://beacegames.itch.io/holmes-cryptic-cipher" target="_blank">Holmes Cryptic Cipher</a> is a code puzzle game and it's available for your Android or iOS device. You tackle the cipher by sliding one letter onto another on a control panel at the bottom of the screen. Try moving F onto L, for example, and K onto A, and gradually words start taking shape. Trial and error is the key, and there's an Undo button. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepQ7tgr-Xn-ZUdpPXvN7XM_pk7ylH64B9-4jmjr8ywpQSdjApbywYxc9NlKN14yLknLCJoScNQXNsDbhAZvH5LUXwz2WL1JMkqxsuP7t1vqTOJ1vnL1gzys0CjqhWoBVI-IDSG13Zs0Ag/s1600/Holmes+cipher+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepQ7tgr-Xn-ZUdpPXvN7XM_pk7ylH64B9-4jmjr8ywpQSdjApbywYxc9NlKN14yLknLCJoScNQXNsDbhAZvH5LUXwz2WL1JMkqxsuP7t1vqTOJ1vnL1gzys0CjqhWoBVI-IDSG13Zs0Ag/s1600/Holmes+cipher+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I can claim to have mastered three of the four levels of difficulty to the point that I can solve a puzzle in five minutes or less. I haven't tried the "Expert" level yet. The first levels are available in a free version of the game, with the higher levels costing a token amount.<br />
<br />
When you finally solve a puzzle you'll find that you have a brief passage from <i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i>. In this case the first four words turn out to be YOU ARE ALL WRONG, the beginning of a passage from "The Engineer's Thumb". Those twelve stories add up to almost 100,000 words, so the number of short passages suitable for the purpose is pretty high.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLRRmztjyHhfuEciqSUi9L10-PDgMlsaUU5S5-sEWqQDhewgNe1fV1iIbFiMsPovc8HFQsQV_QqO5gf3hPv_2hMLgnRsX5ktru12nhbiF8-NUu3z6LvwcOlMaLUf8MfALD3rculsNfwjMG/s1600/Holmes+cipher+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLRRmztjyHhfuEciqSUi9L10-PDgMlsaUU5S5-sEWqQDhewgNe1fV1iIbFiMsPovc8HFQsQV_QqO5gf3hPv_2hMLgnRsX5ktru12nhbiF8-NUu3z6LvwcOlMaLUf8MfALD3rculsNfwjMG/s1600/Holmes+cipher+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
"I came up with the idea and built a prototype about 10 years ago and then promptly forgot about it," says Gilan Israel, one of the two programmers, now based in Jerusalem, who make up <a href="http://beacegames.nfshost.com/" target="_blank">Beace Games</a>. He's originally from Vancouver.<br />
<br />
"After attending a <a href="http://globalgamejam.org/" target="_blank">Global Game Jam</a> together in January 2015," says Israel, "my neighbour Bill Burdick (originally from Chicago) worked evenings and weekends with me for about a month to turn that old idea into a published game. This is the first time either of us has published a game.<br />
<br />
"We are currently working on some improvements including adding scoring, hints and competitive play through social sites like Facebook. We're also working on a similar game using texts from the King James Version of the Bible."<br />
<br />
--</div>
<div>
<br /></div>