I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Literary Critic Parul Sehgal Invokes Sherlock Holmes to Explain Jealousy

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"Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters." [NOBL]</h4>
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In a TED talk, <a href="http://parulsehgal.com/" target="_blank">Parul Sehgal</a> (on Twitter as <a href="https://twitter.com/parul_sehgal" target="_blank">@parul_sehgal</a>), editor of <i>The New York Times Book Review</i>, makes <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/parul_sehgal_an_ode_to_envy.html" target="_blank">An Ode to Envy</a>, in which she explores the origins of jealousy.<br />
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What is jealousy, actually? What motivates the feeling and why is it so easy to get whipped up into a frenzy of jealousy? It turns out that literature - specifically fiction - has given us a laboratory to explore the emotion. Sehgal gives examples from Proust to Sherlock Holmes, to show how envy and jealousy are not so different from a quest for knowledge.<div>
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It's a fascinating and thought-provoking talk (as all TED talks are), with great self-awareness and some humor. Ms. Sehgal clearly has a grasp of the breadth of fiction and is able to pull intelligent and specific examples out to illustrate her points.</center>
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One last thing that endears Sehgal to us: her website is subtitled <a href="http://parulsehgal.com/" target="_blank">incunabula</a>. The astute Sherlockians among you will realize that Edgar W. Smith, BSI wrote <i>The Incunabular Sherlock Holmes</i> in 1958.</center>
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Literary Critic Parul Sehgal Invokes Sherlock Holmes to Explain Jealousy

"Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters." [NOBL] In a TED talk, Parul Sehgal (on Twitter as @parul_sehgal ...

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by Scott Monty

'Sherlock' Series 3: The Game is On!

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"It was a most melancholy vigil" [HOUN]</h4>
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Our long international nightmare is over.<br />
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Fans of the BBC / PBS Masterpiece <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1ahfhSt" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock</a></i> will be glad to know that the official air date of the US program has been announced. First broken by <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/10/23/sherlock-season-3-premiere-date-revealed/" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly</a> and then later confirmed on the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2013/winter-spring-season-programming/" target="_blank">PBS website in a press release</a>, Series 3 of <i>Sherlock</i> will make its US debut on Sunday, January 19 at 10:00 pm ET. Anglophiles everywhere should rejoice, as the 9:00 pm lead-in show is none other than Season 4 of <i>Downton Abbey</i>.<br />
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The delay in production - due in large part to the very busy schedules of Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch (who've been in<i> The Hobbit</i> films and <i>Star Trek</i>,<i> The Fifth Estate </i>and <i>12 Years a Slave</i>, respectively) - has been exhausting to fans, who've been pondering the impossible and improbable regarding how Sherlock was able to survive the plunge off of the roof of St. Bartholomew's.<br />
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Putting the fans first</h4>
The question that remains at present is: when will the series get its debut in the UK? Clearly, Masterpiece Mystery executive producer Rebecca Eaton had the respective networks schedules and fans' sensibilities in mind in her remarks to EW:<br />
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Obviously we don’t yet know the BBC date. But given that the U.S. fans had to wait three months after the 2010 BBC premiere to see the first season of Sherlock, then had to wait four months for the 2012 second season after its UK debut, no matter when the BBC schedules its season three premiere, the gap is going to be less than before since Jan. 19 is less than three months from now."</blockquote>
The lineup is short but straightforward: "The Empty Hearse" airs first, followed by "The Sign of Three" on January 26, and then the series concludes with "His Last Vow" on February 2. Based on the casting and the names of the episodes, we would imagine that Mary Morstan commands Watson's attention in the second episode and that Charles Augustus Magnussen is our antagonist in the final episode.<br />
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As <i>Downton </i>and <i>Sherlock</i> wrap for the season, <i>Mr. Selfridge</i> will pick up. You may recall that episode 7 of Season 1 included a surprise visit to the department store by none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - another nice Anglophile / Sherlockian tie-in for those keeping track.<br />
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We commend PBS's Masterpiece Mystery and the tireless leadership of Rebecca Eaton, who has been the executive producer of the show for a generation. She clearly understands the audience, even with its changing demographics, and gives them exactly what they're looking for with respect to great programming.<br />
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We're looking forward to our continued support of the programs and of public television in general.<br />
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And if you haven't already done so, we'd highly recommend <a href="http://amzn.to/1ahfhSt" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>pre-ordering <i>Sherlock</i> Series 3</b> </a>for your collection.<br />
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'Sherlock' Series 3: The Game is On!

"It was a most melancholy vigil" [HOUN] Our long international nightmare is over. Fans of the BBC / PBS Masterpiece Sherloc...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Vol. 2 of Klinger's New Annotated Sherlock Holmes on Kindle

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"kindled at the news" [BERY] </h4>
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<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/08/sherlock-holmes-on-kindle.html" target="_blank">As we previously noted</a>, Leslie Klinger's <i>The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Vol. 1)</i> was made available on Kindle in August. In that entry, we also noted a number of other Sherlock Holmes titles available for Kindle users.<br />
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But readers wondered: what about the rest of the considerable Annotated oeuvre? The short stories were divided into two volumes and the novels into yet another one.<br />
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Well, it looks as if the wait for Vol. 2 is over: you can order a copy of the Kindle version of <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1a8RmEQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Vol. 2)</a></i> from Amazon. This volume includes the collection of short stories under <i>The Return of Sherlock Holmes</i>, <i>His Last Bow</i> and <i>The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes</i>.<br />
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While we haven't had a chance to review it, some of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R2DNFQ4I6VO78Q/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00FKQHXM2&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=" target="_blank">early reader reviews on Amazon</a> are quite positive.<br />
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No word yet as to when the final installment will be made available, but we'll be there when it is.<br />
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Vol. 2 of Klinger's New Annotated Sherlock Holmes on Kindle

"kindled at the news" [BERY] As we previously noted , Leslie Klinger's The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Vol. 1) was ...

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by Scott Monty

Weekly Sherlock Links Compendium (October 12 - October 18, 2013)

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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"He was away a fortnight, and returned looking rather travel-worn. He made no allusion to where he had been, although he was usually the frankest of men." [CREE]</span></h4>
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After a few weeks hiatus due to my computer going the way of Moriarty down the Reichenbach, the Weekly Sherlock Links Compendium is back and I'm more excited than ever to discover, compile, comment on and deliver all the Sherlockian-related news that's fit to print!<br />
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This week IHOSE Episode 57 celebrates Halloween Sherlockian-style, Dan Andriacco releases a free Halloween e-book, the late, great Adventuress Marlene Aig leaves a surprise legacy for Sherlockians young and old, the role of the detective in mystery fiction is explored, two recent Sherlockian-centric posts at the Oxford University Press Blog, we play catch-up with Alistair Duncan at Doyleockiana, a new biography reveals which jazz great enjoyed discussing the Master, Howard Ostrom explores the role African Americans played in the early development of Holmes on film, a blogger argues for the importance of BBC's Sherlock Holmes from 1968, some exciting upcoming events happening in Atlanta, London and New York and more in the return of the Weekly Sherlock Links Compendium by <a href="http://always1895.net/">Matt Laffey</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/episode-57-sherlockian-halloween.html">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere</a> just in time for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween">All Hallows’ Eve</a>, IHOSE released Ep 57 “A Sherlockian Halloween” where Mssrs. Monty and Wolder discuss </div>
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Holmes and the occult [and are] joined by editor and author <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Prepolec/e/B002BO801O/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&tag=thebakerstree-20">Charles Prepolec</a>, who together with J.R. Campbell edited <a href="http://amzn.to/1cbEp0k" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1cbEqkW" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, and <a href="http://amzn.to/HfDlKv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, joins [them] to talk about the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the spooky, outre and creepy, setting the tone for the season. Charles (who goes by <a href="http://twitter.com/sherlockeditor">@sherlockeditor</a> on Twitter), had the great fortune to work with the likes of Barbara Hambly, Martin Powell and Kim Newman, among others, and he talks about the selection process for including authors and their works in the anthologies.” </blockquote>
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Mr. Prepolec has a great on-air personality and if you haven’t already, make sure to set aside an hour and give IHOSE Episode 57 a listen. Also, in lieu of reading the traditional Editor’s Gas-Lamp, an introduction to a collection of Conan Doyle stories written by ACD biographer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickson_Carr">John Dickson Carr</a> is read.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">[Just one of three collections of Sherlock Holmes pastiches focusing on the more macabre side of the Great Detective and his world from editor, and Ep 57 I HOSE guest,</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Prepolec/e/B002BO801O/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&tag=thebakerstree-20" style="background-color: white; color: black; outline: 0px; text-align: start;" target="_blank" title="Charles Prepolec on Amazon"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Charles Prepolec</span></a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">.]</span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BooksSherlockHolmes/app_100265896690345">Dan Andriacco</a>, along with MX Publishing put together a special Halloween treat for fans of his McCabe/Cody series: they’re offering up a short Halloween themed story - available for a limited time for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Revengers-Dan-Andriacco-ebook/dp/B00FPJD3G4">free on Amazon Kindle</a>. </div>
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'We’ve been tasered, drugged, kidnapped, and almost blown up. So I’m sorry we’re late for the party.' Jeff Cody is having a bad day. But readers will love this short story about a Halloween party gone terribly wrong. If you haven’t read any of the critically acclaimed Sebastian McCabe - Jeff Cody mystery novels, “The Revengers” is the perfect introduction. If you’re already a McCabe-Cody fan, it will give you an enticing taste of their next book.” </blockquote>
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If you don’t have a Kindle you can still get a free copy by joining the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BooksSherlockHolmes/app_100265896690345">Sherlock Holmes Book newsletter</a> on Facebook. Personally, I'm saving this story until Halloween draws a little bit closer and maximum ambient spookiness can be achieved. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">[A haunting cover for a tale of a Halloween party gone wrong featuring two of my favorite literary characters Jeff Cody and Sebastian McCabe.]</span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Revengers-Dan-Andriacco-ebook/dp/B00FPJD3G4" style="color: black; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="The Revengers on Amazon for Kindle"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://girlmeetssherlock.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/canon-thursday-marlene-the-indomitable/">Girl Meets Sherlock</a> posted a touching and insightful piece on the late Marlene Aig, Sherlockian and one of the first <a href="http://www.ash-nyc.com/">Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes</a> (ASH) as well as an Associated Press reporter, who passed away suddenly in 1996. Having many friends within the ASH world, I've heard many speak of Marlene Aig in a tone reserved only for the most exalted and respected of Sherlockians. So it gives me great pleasure to announce that MX Publishing has released a newly unearthed Holmes pastiche by Ms. Aig entitled <a href="http://mxpublishing.com/product/9781780924618"><i>Sherlock Holmes and the Lufton Lady</i></a>, available as an e-book (<a href="http://amzn.to/16pYY6D" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kindle</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sherlock-holmes-and-the-lufton-lady-christopher-redmond/1116523717?ean=9781780924625">Nook</a>, <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/sherlock-holmes-and-the-lufton-lady">Kobo</a> & <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sherlock-holmes-lufton-lady/id681849195?mt=11&uo=4">the iPad</a>). Edited by friend and notable Sherlockian <a href="http://sherlockian.net/">Chris Redmond</a>, “Lufton Lady is a quick, enjoyable read with a charming Holmesian atmosphere and a special flare that surely belonged to Marlene and Marlene alone. It’s a good story, but it’s also a piece of history and a chance to connect with one of the great female pioneers of the world of Sherlock Holmes.” </div>
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For more information about Marlene Aig, please read <a href="http://www.ash-nyc.com/MarleneAig.htm">this lovely piece on the ASH website</a> (originally published inThe Serpentine Muse Vol 13, no. 1, 1996) by two of her closest friends who remind those of us who knew her of the friend we’ve lost and those who didn’t know her of what they’ve missed entitled “<a href="http://www.ash-nyc.com/MarleneAig.htm">Good Night, Marlene</a>.” <br />
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<a href="http://www.aeonmagazine.com/altered-states/detectives-are-the-new-shamans-and-priests/">Aeon Magazine</a> in “Shamanic powers of insight and the power to bring order out of chaos: Is the detective a priestly figure for our times?” considers the age old question of how best to judge a society and suggests that investigating the relationship detective fiction shares with society is one such fruitful criteria. Defining the detective story as one in which “a felony is committed in mysterious circumstances and then an individual follows clues and makes deductions to discover what happened,” the author Jason Webster, not surprisingly a crime writer, looks at the history of the modern mystery story (modern circa William Godwin’s <i>Caleb Williams</i> (1794) and Edgar Allan Poe’s <i>The Murders in the Rue Morgue</i> (1841)) noting the significance of its co-development with the Industrial Revolution and the rise of police detective himself. Perhaps most importantly, Webster writes, the reason in which the detective story became such a huge best-seller almost overnight was due to the role in which the hero detective fulfilled: “Faced with the worst crime (what could be more existentially troubling than a murder?), the detective gives us answers to the most pressing and urgent questions: not only whodunit, but how and why and what it means…In other words, a detective is a kind of priest.” Read on for an intriguing discussion of our search for meaning in the modern age and how detectives such as Sherlock Holmes and<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton"> GK Chesterton</a>'s Father Brown (a literal priest) took on the role of interpreters of human nature. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">[</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Brown" style="background-color: white; color: black; outline: 0px; text-align: start;" target="_blank" title="Father Brown">Father Brown</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">in one of hundreds of different editions available to the reading public in search of meaning in the modern world.]</span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.aeonmagazine.com/altered-states/detectives-are-the-new-shamans-and-priests/" style="color: black; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="The detective as shaman"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://blog.oup.com/2013/07/ghost-of-sherlock-holmes/" target="_blank">The Oxford University Press Blog</a> posts the occasional Sherlock Holmes-centric piece either by <b>James O'Brien</b>, author of <i><a href="http://amzn.to/HfEaTD" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case With Science and Forensics</a> </i>(Oxford, 2013) or <b>Douglas Kerr</b>, author of <a href="http://amzn.to/1cbFpBR" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Conan Doyle: Writing, Profession and Practice</i></a> (Oxford, 2013). In "<a href="http://blog.oup.com/2013/09/six-methods-forensic-detection-sherlock-holmes/" target="_blank">Six Methods of Detection in Sherlock Holmes</a>" Mr. O’Brien notes that between the appearance in 1841 of Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and Doyle's <i>A Study In Scarlet</i> in 1887 "chance and coincidence played a large part in crime fiction." But with the rise and domination of the methods of Sherlock Holmes via logic, deduction, and science, new approaches to collecting and analyzing data acquired at a crime scene or from a likely culprit were developed, solidifying the Master and his follower’s reputation as men (and women) of science and innovators of forensic methods. As evidence of Holmes’ particular genius for fusing the theoretical with the pragmatic, O'Brien takes a look at the following Holmesian-championed innovations which, though experimental and even suspect in the days of Lestrade or Gregson, eventually became tools de rigueur for police and private consulting detectives alike: <b>Fingerprints, Typewritten Documents, Handwriting, Footprints, Ciphers and Dogs</b>. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[Pompey, Holmes and Watson on the hunt for Godfrey Staunton!]</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You may recall that Holmes and Watson employed the olfactory talents of Pompey the dog (above) in order to track down missing rugby star Godfrey Staunton, chronicled in “</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Missing_Three-Quarter" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="MISS">The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">”. For more information on Holmes and the use of dogs in detective work, I strongly suggest seeking out one of my favorite, though slightly obscure, works by</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: 700;">Michael Harrison</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">entitled</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/12275078" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Cynological Mr Holmes"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><em style="font-weight: 400;">Cynological Mr. Holmes: Conanical Canines Considered: Dog-lore and Dog-love in the Sherlockian Saga</em></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(1985, Magico), which can now be had as an e-book from the </span><a href="http://www.batteredbox.com/MichaelHarrison/index.htm" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Harrison books from BSDB">Battered Silicon Dispatch Box</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<a href="http://alistaird221b.blogspot.com/2013/10/langdale-pike-two-characters-blended.html">Doyleockian</a>'s Alistair Duncan has posted a number of diverse and interesting pieces in the last few weeks commenting on everything from <a href="http://alistaird221b.blogspot.com/2013/09/why-are-you-all-fighting-oh-i-see.html">the resurgence of the Elementary Wars</a> (now that Season 2 is in full swing) to the South Norwood Tourist Board’s attempt to <a href="http://alistaird221b.blogspot.com/2013/10/south-norwood-tourist-board-lake-naming.html">name a lake in honor of ACD</a> - “<a href="http://southnorwoodtouristboard.com/2013/10/06/why-lake-conan-over-other-names/">Lake Conan</a>" is apparently the front runner, but I agree with Mr Duncan that "Lake Conan" is not a very good pick: whether it’s the unappetizing 'Conan the Barbarian' association or the fact that Conan Doyle is never referred to as just "Conan", almost any other variation on Doyle's name works better. The <a href="http://micropoll.com/a/mpview/1143074-3806016">SNTB has an online poll</a> with various naming options but I have to question their sincerity regarding names other than ‘Lake Conan’ considering the Reichenbach option is misspelled as "Reichen<b>back</b>" [sic]. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">[Peter Wyngarde as Langdale Pike</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">.]</span></span></td></tr>
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Speaking of lakes, in another post Pike is discussed…<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_Sherlock_Holmes_characters#Langdale_Pike">Langdale Pike</a> that is (not the fish), who just happens to be one of my all time favorite minor Canonical characters. <a href="http://alistaird221b.blogspot.com/2013/10/langdale-pike-two-characters-blended.html">Duncan wonders</a> whether the man who sits "in the bow window of a St. James's Street club" might best be thought of as a blend of Mycroft Holmes and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_Sherlock_Holmes_characters#Shinwell_Johnson">Shinwell Johnson</a>. The latter, it will be remembered from "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Illustrious_Client">The Adventure of the Illustrious Client</a>", was Holmes's source of information, people and gossip in the underworld. Langdale Pike was clearly an upper-class equivalent.” Apparently, <i>Elementary </i>Season 2 features a character named Langdale Pike, but even though I have yet to see the episode I guarantee it can’t beat <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0943936/">Peter Wyngarde</a>'s Pike in Granada's "<a href="http://amzn.to/HfFcPk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Three Gables</a>." Coincidently, Wyngarde played the nefarious Baron Grüner in the 1965 BBC production of "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0699458/">The Illustrious Client</a>" with Douglas Wilmer as Holmes - wherein Shinwell ‘Porky’ Johnson is played by prolific character actor <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0593629/">Norman Mitchell</a>. </div>
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Finally, perhaps Duncan’s most edifying and useful post - at least for Sherlockian book collectors - is "<a href="http://alistaird221b.blogspot.com/2013/09/book-preservation.html">Book Preservation</a>" which contains tips on book preservation along with a link to a <a href="http://www.bl.uk/blpac/pdf/damaged.pdf">PDF about book conservation</a> from the British Library's <a href="http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/collectioncare/discovermore/index.html">Preservation Advisory Centre</a> (click for range of videos on book care).</div>
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Quick Sherlock Links:</h4>
<a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/10/19/237040499/the-birth-of-bird-young-charlie-parker-found-focus-faith-in-music">NPR Books</a> reviews a new autobiography about Jazz legend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Parker">Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker</a> called <i><a href="http://amzn.to/HfGGcw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker</a></i> (2013) by Stanley Crouch where it is revealed that "They read history books. They went to museums... Redcross told me, once he said, 'Yes, Charles and I, we would sit and we would discuss Sherlock Holmes…'" Something tells me that Holmes, with his affinity for experimenting with his Stradivarius in ways that may have been described as noise by Watson but might today be recognized as experiments in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality">atonality</a> or even free-form cacophony, might have recognized a kindred spirit in Parker and his pioneering bebop sound - not to mention their similarity when it came to seeking recourse in the needle, to which Parker was addicted for most of his short life (he died at 34). If you don’t want to listen to an audio review, Crouch’s biography of Parker <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/books/stanley-crouchs-kansas-city-lightning-on-charlie-parker.html?_r=0">was reviewed in <i>The </i></a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/books/stanley-crouchs-kansas-city-lightning-on-charlie-parker.html?_r=0"><i>New York Times</i></a>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.nplh.co.uk/2/post/2013/10/voices-from-the-darkness-african-america-sherlock-holmes.html">Howard Ostrom</a>, best known for his <a href="http://www.nplh.co.uk/the-howard-ostrom-holmes-and-watson-collection.html">incredible collection</a> of autographed photos of various big and small screen Holmes and Watson team-ups (hosted virtually on blogger <a href="https://twitter.com/NPLH_221B">Ross K Foad</a>'s <a href="http://www.nplh.co.uk/">NPLH website</a>), recently wrote a three part essay/study entitled "Voices From The Darkness" which takes a look at the African-American Sherlock Holmes progression, history and future in theater, cinema, comics and other mediums. His inspiration for said undertaking can be found in <a href="http://www.nplh.co.uk/uploads/7/3/3/6/7336521/part_one_afro-american_holmes_1.pdf">Part 1</a> (PDF) of "Voices From the Darkness" after coming across a little known Sherlock Holmes film from 1914 called <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1237004/"><i>A Tale of a Chicken</i></a> which featured an all black cast but was virtually non-existent in the annuals of film history. This 1914 silent film would be just one of many to feature a black actor playing the Great Detective (often times with a corresponding all black cast) and Mr Ostrom has done Sherlockians everywhere a great service by unearthing this unique and fascinating bit of Sherlockian and film history.</div>
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<a href="http://the-consulting-detective.blogspot.com/2013/10/review-sir-arthur-conan-doyles-sherlock.html">The Consulting Detective</a> makes the compelling argument that "in the grand scheme of things, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163492/">Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes</a>, the 1968 BBC television series, is one of the most important in Sherlock Holmes' history. It was only the second time that a real attempt was made to bring Arthur Conan Doyle's work to the small screen." And yet, as the author <a href="https://plus.google.com/105063818859966612663/posts">Nick Cardillo</a> points out, the work of <a href="http://amzn.to/HfHH4c" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Douglas Wilmer</a> and later <a href="http://amzn.to/HfHFcF" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Peter Cushing</a> as Sherlock Holmes is largely forgotten or at least tragically overlooked. Last weekend I re-watched the entire DVD run of Douglas Wilmer’s BBC Sherlock episodes.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">[My favorite poster for</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Without a Clue</em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">.]</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/celebrating-25-years-of-without-clue.html" target="_blank">marked the 25th anniversary of <em style="color: black; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Without a Clue</span></em> (1988)</a>, perhaps <em style="color: black; outline: 0px;">the</em> finest example of a Holmes spoof ever. </span></div>
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Our hero, Sherlock Holmes, is shown to be nothing more than a profligate drunkard of an actor, hired by Dr. Watson (known to himself as “John Watson, the Crime Doctor!”) to mask his true identity as a successful detective whilst applying for a position in an exclusive hospital.  Much to his chagrin, the character actor becomes popular and the public (and later Watson) can’t seem to do without him. It was a case of art imitating life, as another doctor - one A. Conan Doyle - was resigned to the same fate as the Crime Doctor."</blockquote>
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I've always thought that the true genius of <i>Without a Clue</i> lies in the fact that the laughs come not from denigrating the familiar Sherlockian 'tropes’ but raising them up via experimentation and playfulness to the level of high comedy.</div>
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<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/celebrating-25-years-of-without-clue.html" style="color: black; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="IHOSE - 25 Years of Without A Clue"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://sherlockpeoria.blogspot.com/2013/10/falls-arent-always-about-reichenbach.html">Sherlock Peoria</a> looks at "As much as the sixty stories of Sherlock Holmes are spread across all the seasons of the year, there is something particularly autumnal about them….Fall has traditionally also been a season of anticipation for Sherlockians. Preparations are being made for <a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/bsiweekend.html">January festivities</a>. New Holmes pastiches are available for Christmas lists. Back from summer breaks, many a Sherlockian society is going full-steam…."<br />
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Sherlockian Societies & Events Links:</h4>
<a href="http://221bcon.tumblr.com/post/64112316339/one-month-left-to-register-at-the-current-price">221B Con</a> reminds everyone that you (Yes, you!) have "only one month left to register for only $35. Registration will go up to $45 on November 16. If you filled out a registration form, but have not submitted your payment by November 16, your registration will be deleted. Please email us at reg [at] 221bcon.com if you have any questions or issues." The <b>2014 221B Con</b> is happening in Atlanta, GA on April 4-6th (which is exactly 167 days, 22 hours and 44 minutes from now). For updated info, complete details and information about registration, hotels, programming, etc. stop in at <a href="http://www.221bcon.com/">221bcon.com</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://amateurmendicant.blogspot.com/2013/10/fall-meeting-report.html">The Amateur Mendicant Society of Detroit</a> recently held their annual Fall Meeting (2013) and the AMS Tantalus Robert Musial thoroughly reviewed the evening's toasts, sites and sounds. The highlight of the evening seemed to be Regina Stinson's presentation titled "The Legend of the Deerstalker." Musial reports that: "Her excellently-researched monograph reviewed the two dozen artists who illustrated the Canon in its early days, among them Arthur Conan Doyle's father, Charles Altamont Doyle; and more popularly, Sidney Paget and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Dorr_Steele">Frederic Dorr Steele</a>, who contributed the most iconic depictions of The Master and his surroundings."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">[A few AMS members (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">from left to right): we have Dr. Ed Stein, Dr. David Mohan, Tantalus Rob Musial and of course </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere's very own Mr. </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Scott Monty</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">.]</span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://theimmortals-efbevent.eventbrite.co.uk/">MX Publishing</a> is hosting a free event on Friday, 8 November 2013 (7pm GMT) featuring Matthew J Elliot, author of <a href="http://www.mxpublishing.com/product/9781780924908/The+Immortals%3A+An+Unauthorized+guide+to+Sherlock+and+Elementary">The Immortals: An Unauthorized guide to Sherlock and Elementary</a> (MX) - a study of BBC Sherlock and CBS Elementary  episodes to date, just in time for the second season premiere of <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/elementary/"><i>Elementary</i></a> and for the one-day-to-be-released <i>Sherlock</i> (click <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01dmdcb">here</a> for BBC’s latest news on Season 3). For more information about the event, check out the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/453671388074310/">The Immortals book release event page</a> on Facebook. <br />
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The New York Society Library is hosting an evening with B.J. Rahn - an English Literature professor at Hunter College who also runs the site <a href="http://www.crimecritic.com/">CrimeCritic.com</a> - entitled "<a href="http://www.nysoclib.org/events/bj-rahn-enduring-appeal-sherlock-holmes" target="_blank">The Enduring Appeal of Sherlock Holmes</a>" which will explore "the remarkable international appeal of Holmes (which shows no signs of abating), analyzes the nature of the fascination, and discusses its various manifestations in print, on stage, in films and television, plus museum and library exhibits, conferences, courses, statues, tours, hotels and pubs, and fan societies dedicated to him." Tickets are $10 in advance and will occur on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 5:30pm in the Whitridge Room at the <a href="http://www.nysoclib.org/about/directions">The New York Society Library</a> in Manhattan.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">*</span> To find a Sherlockian event in your area, check out <a href="http://www.sherlockiancalendar.com/" style="color: black; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Sherlockian Calendar">The Sherlockian Calendar</a> - maintained by <span style="font-weight: 700;">Ron Fish</span> with <span style="font-weight: 700;">Sue and Ben Vizoskie</span> of <a href="http://3garridebs.homestead.com/" style="color: black; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Three Garridebs of Westchester">The Three Garridebs of Westchester County, NY</a>. If you are interested in posting an event to the calendar, please email the details to webmaster Ron Fish at RonF404 [at] aol.com.  </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">**</span> If you’d like to see your event/meeting mentioned in our Societies & Events section, please <a href="http://always1895@gmail.com/" style="color: black; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="email me your info">email Matt</a> the name of your group/event, the details, contact info and web address, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and any other info that should accompany the link.</span><br />
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Weekly Sherlock Links Compendium (October 12 - October 18, 2013)

"He was away a fortnight, and returned looking rather travel-worn. He made no allusion to where he had been, although he was usually t...

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by campunity

Poll: Best Crime Novel / Writer / Series

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"through the votes of the ruffians" [VALL]

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<a href="http://www.thecwa.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Crime Writers Association</a> is a United Kingdom-based association for any author who has written a crime novel. Founded in 1953 by John Creasey, it currently has over 600 members and its annual awards are called the Daggers.<br />
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In honour of its 60th anniversary, the CWA has asked its membership to vote on superlatives in the categories of Crime Writer, Crime Novel and Crime Series. While the association's vote will be secret until November 5th, <b><i>you</i></b> have the opportunity to cast your vote now.<br />
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When we went to press, Agatha Christie was leading the best crime writer category, and T<i>he Murder of Roger Ackroyd </i>was the public's favourite for best crime novel; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i> were in second place in each respective category. Sherlock Holmes was in the lead for the best crime series.<br />
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Can't we do something about this, fellow Sherlockians / Holmesians / Doyleans? Please cast your vote below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdh2QSLqiV5gyjMRDQd6HF9JgATuZLschij6p9ZF6-KHUoM5VTIiXAKVBzPGHUAGJWZ5YKePKTY3CRG1odPn2ieHZejvbHLNjZDo8GaC9PNCv_T_AoVlvfnRvO-bT8VJIqQoMdl3sAs5V/s1600/quiz1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdh2QSLqiV5gyjMRDQd6HF9JgATuZLschij6p9ZF6-KHUoM5VTIiXAKVBzPGHUAGJWZ5YKePKTY3CRG1odPn2ieHZejvbHLNjZDo8GaC9PNCv_T_AoVlvfnRvO-bT8VJIqQoMdl3sAs5V/s1600/quiz1.PNG" /></a></div>
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Also, we'd appreciate you sharing this post with your network - Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, email, etc. - please pass it around so the Master and the Literary Agent can have their rightful place of honour.<br />
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And not to worry: if the CWA membership doesn't mesh with the votes of the general public, you'll still be able to hear the discussion about it if you<a href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Detail.aspx?eventId=2023" target="_blank"> attend the WhoWunnit? event</a> at Foyles Gallery on Charing Cross Road.<br />
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<b>UPDATE </b>(November 11, 2013): The Crime Writers Association has weighed in with its official results:<br />
<div style="font-family: 'Gill Sans', 'Gill Sans MT', Calibri, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 6px;">
WINNER Best Ever Novel: <strong><cite>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</cite></strong> – Agatha Christie</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Gill Sans', 'Gill Sans MT', Calibri, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 6px;">
WINNER Best Ever Author – <strong>AGATHA CHRISTIE</strong></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Gill Sans', 'Gill Sans MT', Calibri, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 6px;">
WINNER Best Ever Crime Series – <strong>SHERLOCK HOLMES</strong></div>
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Poll: Best Crime Novel / Writer / Series

"through the votes of the ruffians" [VALL] The Crime Writers Association is a United Kingdom-based association for any...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Celebrating 25 Years of Without a Clue

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"my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had interested me deeply in crime" [EMPT] </h4>
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It seems nearly impossible to believe, but today marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of the 1988 film <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1gZiB7Z" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Without a Clue</a></i>, starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. While the premise - that Sherlock Holmes was fictional - may seem absurd to us today, the comedic elements of the film made it a lighthearted romp through what might have been.</div>
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Our hero, Sherlock Holmes, is shown to be nothing more than a profligate drunkard of an actor, hired by Dr. Watson (known to himself as "John Watson, the Crime Doctor!") to mask his true identity as a successful detective whilst applying for a position in an exclusive hospital.<br />
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Much to his chagrin, the character actor becomes popular and the public (and later Watson) can't seem to do without him. It was a case of art imitating life, as another doctor - one A. Conan Doyle - was resigned to the same fate as the Crime Doctor.<br />
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It's a fun film, and with a PG rating, it's family-friendly as well. If you haven't had the opportunity to see <i>Without a Clue</i> yet, we'd recommend taking the opportunity to do so 25 years on.<br />
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As we recall, there were a number of Sherlockians who organized special outings to see the screening or premiere of the film. Were you part of such an event? What do you remember? Leave us a comment and let us know.<br />
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096454/" target="_blank">Without a Clue</a></h3>
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<span class="csb" style="background-image: url(https://www.google.com/images/nav_logo169_hr.png); background-position: -100px -260px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 167px; display: inline-block; height: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 5px; position: relative; top: 1px; width: 65px;"><span class="csb" style="background-image: url(https://www.google.com/images/nav_logo169_hr.png); background-position: -100px -275px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 167px; display: block; height: 13px; overflow: hidden; width: 46px;"></span></span><span style="padding-right: 5px;">6.8/10</span>-<span style="padding-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096454/" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="IMDb">IMDb</a></span></div>
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<span class="csb" style="background-image: url(https://www.google.com/images/nav_logo169_hr.png); background-position: -100px -260px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 167px; display: inline-block; height: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 5px; position: relative; top: 1px; width: 65px;"><span class="csb" style="background-image: url(https://www.google.com/images/nav_logo169_hr.png); background-position: -100px -275px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 167px; display: block; height: 13px; overflow: hidden; width: 39px;"></span></span><span style="padding-right: 5px;">56%</span>-<span style="padding-left: 5px;"><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/without_a_clue/" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Rotten Tomatoes">Rotten Tomatoes</a></span></div>
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Starring:</div>
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Michael Caine........Sherlock Holmes<br />
Ben Kingsley..........John Watson<br />
Jeffrey Jones..........Inspector Lestrade<br />
Paul Freeman.........Professor Moriarty<br />
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Director: Thom E. Eberhart<br />
Writers: Gary Murphy, Larry Strawther<br />
Music: Henry Mancini</div>
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<a href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=210&es_sm=93&q=without+a+clue+initial+release&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgyYHnxCnfq6-gVm8ZW65llR2spV-WmZOLpiwKkrNSU0sTlVISSxJ9UvcEPRPajqbuuQV5QXT3vpNXjNVDgAdRUbURgAAAA&sa=X&ei=pr1kUvDkJYeCygGyrIGAAg&ved=0CMwBEOgTKAEwFg">Initial release</a>: October 21, 1988<br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=210&es_sm=93&q=without+a+clue+director&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgyoHnxCnfq6-gVm8ZW65llh2spV-WmZOLpiwSsksSk0uyS967xjN1VL3oUnmT_jP1yrXY32jK3YAAAcqmBxCAAAA&sa=X&ei=pr1kUvDkJYeCygGyrIGAAg&ved=0CM8BEOgTKAEwFg">Director</a>: <a href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=210&es_sm=93&q=thom+eberhardt&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgyEHnxCnfq6-gVm8ZW65EheIaZyclZKRoiWWnWyln5aZkwsmrFIyi1KTS_KL-n1l07ZaPPO8-89yppDAwvudubOVARcJeYVOAAAA&sa=X&ei=pr1kUvDkJYeCygGyrIGAAg&ved=0CNABEJsTKAIwFg">Thom Eberhardt</a><br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=210&es_sm=93&q=without+a+clue+running+time&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgyYHnxCnfq6-gVm8ZW65llR2spV-WmZOLpiwKirNy8vMS1coycxNXSf089sG6TnLJyvl1KqtZ7B55uf9HgBmGjdPRgAAAA&sa=X&ei=pr1kUvDkJYeCygGyrIGAAg&ved=0CNMBEOgTKAEwFg">Running time</a>: 107 minutes<br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=210&es_sm=93&q=without+a+clue+initial+dvd+release&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgx0HnxCnfq6-gVm8ZW65ln52spV-WmZOLpiwyszLLMlMzFFIKUtRKEpNz8zPA3KKUnNSE4tTFVISS1KVuVmeLdsf-n6dxwW7Q3E37sfV1GQCADzZoq1bAAAA&sa=X&ei=pr1kUvDkJYeCygGyrIGAAg&ved=0CNYBEOgTKAEwFg">Initial DVD release</a>: March 2, 2004<br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=210&es_sm=93&q=without+a+clue+mpaa+rating&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgwYHnxCnfq6-gVm8ZW65lmR2spV-WmZOLpiwyi1ITFQoSizJzEsv2D19u_3_zhlsiuZy76e6l_vf5mMHAF_kRCRFAAAA&sa=X&ei=pr1kUvDkJYeCygGyrIGAAg&ved=0CNkBEOgTKAEwFg">MPAA rating</a>: PG</div>
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Celebrating 25 Years of Without a Clue

"my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had interested me deeply in crime" [EMPT] It seems nearly impossible to believe, b...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Are You Following our Wacky Caption Contests?

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"a stream of remarks" [SILV] </h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHI1BKv7lN4zr-N-n6Ax5F9QKOUkL6piXX1q1qMm5QTr7Rhq-phCTnMtxZFo9ncNMJtCZnbkyEmXhDyvy9j8bd3mJNkUlFSBwy2cUsLOv9uf4Y0LiEJO-UNnSN0wcBkUlv-SMgkwqTiX8/s1600/IHOSE_caption5+-+GLOR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHI1BKv7lN4zr-N-n6Ax5F9QKOUkL6piXX1q1qMm5QTr7Rhq-phCTnMtxZFo9ncNMJtCZnbkyEmXhDyvy9j8bd3mJNkUlFSBwy2cUsLOv9uf4Y0LiEJO-UNnSN0wcBkUlv-SMgkwqTiX8/s640/IHOSE_caption5+-+GLOR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Each week on <a href="http://facebook.com/ihearofsherlock">our Facebook Page</a>, we hold an informal contest of sorts. We post an original illustration of the Sherlock Holmes stories (all have been by Sidney Paget to date) and we ask our fans to add their own brand of offbeat caption.<br />
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Here's a brief history of the images, with the before and after:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuh19hZRMMRsCgl90XRc2gfUH33DsP2E9-k6j3c05oenjVKFS7dVehf0yjQiP3JhxZ10wKF4aYLlIz6dw9DGFiZlb2fHKZakJBMmnpTyCgDE4jt5vw7YBLYBfpqHI1QEuAJl0LiDGX1Qfi/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+at+his+chemical+table+-+Naval+Treaty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuh19hZRMMRsCgl90XRc2gfUH33DsP2E9-k6j3c05oenjVKFS7dVehf0yjQiP3JhxZ10wKF4aYLlIz6dw9DGFiZlb2fHKZakJBMmnpTyCgDE4jt5vw7YBLYBfpqHI1QEuAJl0LiDGX1Qfi/s640/Sherlock+Holmes+at+his+chemical+table+-+Naval+Treaty.jpg" width="561" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152064166523047&set=a.10152292129633047.1073741826.6723878046&type=3&theater">Click here</a> for original post and suggested captions</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynbiU8K5ZnlcNQuiTgJziXC6vd3XmcXDjbrhIsrNrCYlZK6ZERgS2PoRoaW5s1Tr2Hg6k3xBtHCx8sdpVeWNWw5JsevYn1akjBX38ANmHKZNtM8kxgvyq0o_5cwVKtPCU8L_mF0hxMie2/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+-+his+most+dangerous+chemical+experiment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynbiU8K5ZnlcNQuiTgJziXC6vd3XmcXDjbrhIsrNrCYlZK6ZERgS2PoRoaW5s1Tr2Hg6k3xBtHCx8sdpVeWNWw5JsevYn1akjBX38ANmHKZNtM8kxgvyq0o_5cwVKtPCU8L_mF0hxMie2/s640/Sherlock+Holmes+-+his+most+dangerous+chemical+experiment.jpg" width="573" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The winning caption</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFF9uIK_UDY1luLHCOb5L_d7JqH8M7ltfQXyX7VM-n9-iAuD3K3XEKfpUwIOs-KT1Env9ewRVm-NsnaEJfzEDcwKuCdaeyXJvyOZwf4mPyQJdwDBtxOqh6x0xMwn-U2WJakmVtIeKnms1h/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+-+The+Stockbrokers+Clerk+-+Sidney+Paget.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFF9uIK_UDY1luLHCOb5L_d7JqH8M7ltfQXyX7VM-n9-iAuD3K3XEKfpUwIOs-KT1Env9ewRVm-NsnaEJfzEDcwKuCdaeyXJvyOZwf4mPyQJdwDBtxOqh6x0xMwn-U2WJakmVtIeKnms1h/s640/Sherlock+Holmes+-+The+Stockbrokers+Clerk+-+Sidney+Paget.jpg" width="496" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152131588208047&set=a.10152292129633047.1073741826.6723878046&type=3&theater">Click here</a> for the original post and suggested captions</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some of our favorites that didn't make the cut:<br />
"I deduce your fly is open."<br />
"Yes, your new antiperspirant does keep you a little dryer."<br />
"And...a perfect dismount." "Watson, did you have to put the pommel horse in the sitting room?"<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UGXI3FJ9Kf9-ryhUn_g4bo-5A2fMHz-mBS6LDad-uU1bCadm8q2v2zmImn6daGTu2NwjynA7Nx9sf11hpEKfxq5drI8qO8lISLR4uDNzwM4-pz5t09fkMgN4493THA9uJR2Zdl-wH7By/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+meme+X+all+the+Y.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UGXI3FJ9Kf9-ryhUn_g4bo-5A2fMHz-mBS6LDad-uU1bCadm8q2v2zmImn6daGTu2NwjynA7Nx9sf11hpEKfxq5drI8qO8lISLR4uDNzwM4-pz5t09fkMgN4493THA9uJR2Zdl-wH7By/s640/Sherlock+Holmes+meme+X+all+the+Y.jpg" width="496" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The winner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The full collection of images <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152292129633047.1073741826.6723878046&type=3">is available in an album</a> for your review.<br />
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As you can see if you click through to the original images on Facebook, there are more captions than we can use, and often they are all quite good, making it difficult for our judging committee to select them. We hope that you'll join us on our Facebook page regularly and submit your own captions - or at least enjoy those of your fellow Sherlockians.<br />
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Oh, and the winning caption from the lead image above:<br />
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Are You Following our Wacky Caption Contests?

"a stream of remarks" [SILV] Each week on our Facebook Page , we hold an informal contest of sorts. We post an original ill...

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by Scott Monty

Episode 57: A Sherlockian Halloween

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<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"No ghosts need apply." [SUSS] </h4>
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<br />
Holmes and the occult is our subject for this Halloween episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, and we're joined by editor and author Charles Prepolec, BSI ("The Man With the Twisted Lip"), who together with J.R. Campbell edited the four-book series <a href="https://amzn.to/3mGuQwl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, <a href="https://amzn.to/3jRtnBK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, <a href="https://amzn.to/34Ji9KW" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, and <i><a href="https://amzn.to/34M854a" target="_blank">Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes</a></i>, joins us to talk about the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the spooky, outre and creepy, setting the tone for the season.  Charles (who goes by <a href="https://twitter.com/sherlockeditor" target="_blank">@sherlockeditor</a> on Twitter), had the great fortune to work with the likes of Barbara Hambly, Martin Powell and Kim Newman, among others, and he talks about the selection process for including authors and their works in the anthologies.<div><br /></div><div><br />
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Of course, Conan Doyle was no stranger to writing <a href="https://amzn.to/34HeKMT" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ghost and horror stories</a>, and his Professor Challenger series dealt with such fantastical subjects as dinosaurs. We take Charles on a tangent and begin discussing the ideal Hollywood actor to portray the professor.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cprepolec">Charles</a> has contributed to <i>Sherlock Magazine</i>, <i>Scarlet Street</i> and <i>Canadian Holmes</i> and is a longtime Sherlockian, having been a member of the <a href="http://www.bakerstreetdozen.com/">Singular Society of the Baker Street Dozen</a> in Calgary for 20 years, a Master Bootmaker of the <a href="http://www.torontobootmakers.com/">Bootmakers of Toronto</a> in 2006, and an investitured member of the Baker Street Irregulars since 2017.<br /><br /></div><div>In this episode, our gas-lamp is not a Gas-Lamp at all, but rather an introduction by to a collection of Conan Doyle stories, as written by John Dickson Carr.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock057.mp3" style="color: #006f85; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size 41.5 MB, 1:00:12</h3><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/134354921&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe><br /><br /><br />
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<h2>
Links:</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://edgewebsite.com/">EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing</a></li>
<li>Conan Doyle fanstasy and horror short stories "<a href="https://amzn.to/3mCFZhK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lot No. 249</a>," "<a href="https://amzn.to/2GiTQu8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Horror of the Heights</a>," and "<a href="https://amzn.to/3eewuCz" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Terror of Blue John Gap</a>"</li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/articlesandextras/currentcontents.html">Autumn 2013 issue of the <i>Baker Street Journal</i></a></li>
<li><a href="http://sherlockholmesexhibition.com/">International Sherlock Holmes Exhibition</a></li>
<li>Lyndsay Faye, BSI ("Kitty Winter") is on a book tour to promote <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3oMHsnk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seven for a Secret</a></i>, her latest Timothy Wilde novel.</li>
<li>Big Chief Studios announced <a href="https://www.bigchiefstudios.co.uk/coming-soon-sherlock-16-scale-collector-figures/">the 1:6 scale models</a> of Cumberbatch's Holmes and Freeman's Watson, and <a href="https://www.bigchiefstudios.co.uk/how-we-made-who-part-1-the-head-sculpt/">they talk about the sculpting process</a>.</li>
<li>There will be no romance between Holmes and Watson in <i>Elementary</i>, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/06/no-holmes-watson-romance-in-elementary-shows-creator-says/">according to the show's creator</a>.</li>
<li>James O'Leary has contributed a couple of significant pieces here about Elementary that are worth perusing: "<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/addiction-elementary-and-doyle.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Addiction, Elementary and Doyle</a>," and "<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2012/12/six-cases-which-i-have-added-to-my.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Six Cases to Which I Have Added to My Notes</a>."</li>
<li>Our <a href="http://flip.it/oxPOZ">Flipboard magazine</a> aggregates lots of content for your enjoyment.</li></ul>
Please <a href="http://bit.ly/ihearofsherlock">subscribe to us on iTunes</a> and be kind enough to leave a rating or review for the show.<br />
<br />
Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email, call us at (774) 221-READ (7323) or use the Speakpipe app right here on the site. Connect with us and other interested Sherlockians on <a href="https://plus.google.com/communities/114565123495685504221">The Sherlock Holmes Community</a> on Google+, <a href="http://facebook.com/ihearofsherlock">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/ihearofsherlock">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://ihearofsherlock.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>. And of course, our <a href="http://flip.it/oxPOZ">web- and app-based Flipboard magazine</a> is a nice collection of links, articles and images.<br />
<br />
And above all, please let our sponsors know that you heard us rant and rave about their excellence during the programme: <a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/">Wessex Press</a> and <a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/"><i>The Baker Street Journal</i></a>.<br />
<br />
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Image credit: <a href="http://tonymooreillustration.com/">Tony Moore</a> for the DC/Wildstorm series <i><a href="http://tonymooreillustration.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1583">The Victorian Undead</a></i><br />
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Episode 57: A Sherlockian Halloween

"No ghosts need apply." [SUSS] Holmes and the occult is our subject for this Halloween episode of I Hear of Sherlock Eve...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Addiction, Elementary and Doyle

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic..." [STUD] </h4>
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<br />
Reading
press releases early in 2012 on the premise of CBS’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> was a cringe inducing affair for many Sherlockians, me
included. A drug-addicted Sherlock Holmes sent from London
to New York
for rehab; a Dr. Watson who’s hired by Holmes’ father to be his sober
companion. Like many, I thought CBS had taken one small aspect of the
characters of Holmes and Watson and based a series upon it, all in a bid to differentiate themselves from other recent Holmes franchises.</div>
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Using Sherlockian precepts (<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">"No data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before you
have all the evidence. It <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">bias</span>es
the judgment.") I awaited the show with as open a mind as possible. What I
saw was a smart, witty show, two leads with lots of chemistry and an ability to
channel Holmes and Watson into the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Now, I find no
cinematic Sherlockian adaptation perfect. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>
is as very good as some and better than most. If that seems faint praise, I
assure you it is not.</span></div>
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CBS could have made the drug use a plot devise to get Holmes
to New York
to meet Watson and never bring it up again. Conversely, they could have turned
to show into a polemic on drugs or <a href="http://amzn.to/16JrnVX" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Holmes and Watson Go to White Castle</i></a>. They did none of those things. Instead, they
respected the source material and Arthur Conan Doyle. They tackled a difficult
subject with understanding, compassion and humor. It has not gone unnoticed.</div>
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In April, 2013 the <a href="http://www.prismawards.com/">Prism Awards</a>, given “to writers,
producers, actors and actresses for their accurate depictions of mental health
and substance abuse”, how it affects the person involved and those around them,
awarded the <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://prism.eiconline.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/17th-PRISM-Winner-Release.pdf">EIC President’s Award</a> to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> “for
its continuing, in-depth integration of substance use and recovery into its
storyline and characters</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;">.” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">At
the <a href="http://hollywoodhealthandsociety.org/sites/default/files/sentinel-for-health-awards/2013%20Sentinel_%20winners.pdf">Sentinel for Health Awards</a>,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> given for exemplary achievement in television
storylines that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for
healthier and safer lives</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> this September, <i>Elementary</i> came in Second Place in the
category of Primetime Drama (Major Storyline).</span></div>
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However, what Sherlockians care about is the dignity of the
character in any depiction of this controversial subject. For some, any filmic
drug use has the potential to come across as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fprVONwmYnc"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mystery of the Leaping Fish</i></a>, Douglas Fairbank’s 1916 Holmes
parody where detective Coke Ennyday wears a holster loaded with cocaine-filled
syringes and has a drink served to him by an ancient boy-in-buttons of gin,
laudanum and prussic acid (shades of Robert Downey Jr.). Among Sherlockians there is not universal agreement on the
effect Holmes’ cocaine use had on his person or profession.<br />
<br /></div>
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In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Study in Scarlet </i>(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beeton’s Christmas Annual</i> 1887) Doyle
has Watson dismiss any thought of drug use: “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some
narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden
such a notion.” But the very next adventure, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sign of Four</i> (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lippincott’s
Magazine</i> February 1890), opens with Watson’s famous question to Holmes, "Which
is it today,<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> morphine</span> or
cocaine?"</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
novel is framed by Holmes injecting himself with a seven percent solution of
cocaine. This was keeping in Holmes’ eccentric and bohemian nature and
cutting-edge scientific knowledge. </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Cocaine was one of the late 19<sup>th</sup>
century’s wonder drugs. Its numbing effects made it useful as a local
anesthetic; its stimulating effect made it helpful in fighting fatigue and
melancholia; it was touted to fight nausea. It was available to anyone in England at the
local chemist (druggist) until 1916 when a doctor’s prescription was needed.
Jack Tracy with Jim Berkey in 1978’s <a href="http://amzn.to/1753kdn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Subcutaneously, My Dear Watson: Sherlock Holmes and the Cocaine Habit</i></a>, list many of the
products available in Holmes’ day in which it was an additive: “snuff, in
candies, in coca-leaf cigarettes, as ointments, pills, hypodermic solutions,
gargles, ‘chewing paste’, and even suppositories.” Until 1903, cocaine was an
ingredient in Coca-Cola. It was available in wines, including Vin Mariani,
endorsed by Pope Leo XIII for its beneficial effects, and Hall’s Coca Wine “a
marvelous restorative in cases of Influenza, Convalescents, and those suffering
from Mental and Physical Fatigue, General Depression, Sleeplessness, Throat
Complaints.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The dangers of
cocaine were not generally known to the public or physicians at the time. It is
prescient of Doyle to have Watson rail against Holmes’ “[t]hree times a day for
many months” injections in <i>The Sign of Four</i>: </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Count the cost! Your brain may, as you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid process, which involves increased tissue-change, and may at last leave a permanent weakness. You know, too, what a black reaction comes upon you. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle. Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another, but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some extent answerable."</blockquote>
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The attitude towards cocaine use in the early stories is one
of gentle disapproval: on his first visit to Baker Street after his marriage
Watson finds Holmes “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">alternating
from week to week between <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">cocaine</span>
and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen
nature…He had risen out of his <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">drug</span>-created
dreams, and was hot upon the scent of some new problem” [SCAN]; except “for the
occasional use of <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">cocaine</span> he had
no vices, and he only turned to the drug as a protest against the monotony of
existence when cases were scanty and the papers uninteresting” [YELL]; a “self-poisoner
by <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">cocaine</span> and tobacco” [FIVE].</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> At finding
Holmes in disguise and on stake-out, he assures Watson that he has not “added
opium-smoking to <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">cocaine</span> injections
and all the other little weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your
medical views." [TWIS]</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">After Holmes’
return from his presumed death mention of drug use in the Canon becomes more
tangential: “Holmes's iron constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in
the face of constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated, perhaps, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by occasional indiscretions of his own</i>"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>[DEVI]; “As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old
black pipe, the index books, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">others
perhaps less excusable</i>” [CREE]; in our only glimpse of his bedroom we’re shown the
paraphernalia of Holmes’ obsessions: the pictures of celebrated criminals which
adorned every wall, a “litter of pipes, tobacco-pouches, syringes” [DYIN]. </span>(All emphases mine - JCO'L.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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By this time the negative effects of cocaine were more
widely known. It was more difficult to paint drug use as an eccentricity,
especially in the American home of the Canon in the early 20<sup>th</sup>
century, the anti-drug <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Collier’s Weekly</i>.
Doyle could have just left us these faint hints or dropped any mention all
together. Instead <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Doyle tells us
the full extent drug use had on the great detective:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned to dread such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my companion's brain was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it without material upon which to work. For years I had gradually weaned him from that drug mania which had threatened once to check his remarkable career. Now I knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved for this artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was not dead, but sleeping; and I have known that the sleep was a light one and the waking near when in periods of idleness I have seen the drawn look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.”<span style="color: blue;"> </span>[MISS]</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teller-Tales-Arthur-Conan-Doyle/dp/0805066845/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380818495&sr=1-1&keywords=teller+of+tales">Doyle was no stranger to addiction.</a> His artist father
Charles Altamont Doyle was an alcoholic. As a twenty-two year old assistant
surveyor in Scotland’s
Board of Works, he married seventeen year old Mary Foley. Charles’ alcoholism
kept him from advancing in his job and Arthur and his siblings grew up in
“genteel poverty”. Charles’ addictive illness eventually ended his working
career. Mary Doyle became the de facto head of household. In 1876, he entered a
nursing home for treatment, the first of many such confinements. Later, he
suffered from epileptic seizures. On October 10, 1893 he died at the Crighton
Royal Institution in Scotland.</div>
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Addiction and illness are present throughout Doyle’s work.
In the Canon there is Isa Whitney whose opium binge forces Watson to leave his
warm hearth and travel to the Bar of Gold opium den to fetch him (TWIS); Jim
Browner, a blue ribbon (a drinker who has pledged abstinence) who is driven
back to the bottle, and to a murderous rage, by his scheming and jealous
sister-in-law Sarah Cushing (CARD); <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Sir
Eustace Brackenstall “was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect
fiend when he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom really
went the whole way” (ABBE); even Watson’s brother, Holmes deduced, “was left
with good prospects, but threw away his chances, lived for some time in poverty
with occasional short intervals of prosperity, and, finally, taking to drink”
died (SIGN).</span></div>
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While not factually biographical, the 1891 short story <a href="http://amzn.to/1f4oWzj" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">“A Sordid Affair”</a> is most instructive. Two well to-do women are admiring a dress
in a shop window, one of whom would buy it if it wasn't fifteen guineas. Poor
dressmaker Mrs. Raby, who is standing behind them, speaks up. She can make the
exact dress for ten pounds. Mrs. Clive accepts. Mrs. Raby, who stands to make five
pounds profit, goes home to start. At home is husband John, six months sober
and struggling to transition from clerk to artist and also struggling to accept his wife as breadwinner. Mrs. Raby worked tirelessly to finish the dress by
deadline, but on Monday morning she awakes to find both the dress and her
husband gone. A trip to the pawnbroker’s confirms her husband pawned the dress,
but without the ticket Mrs. Raby cannot reclaim it. Desperate to keep her
commission and business reputation, she uses the entirety of her savings to buy
the dress in the window, which fortunately was Mrs. Clive’s size. Mrs. Clive
and her friend try to weasel out of the commission by claiming the dress isn't
as good as the shops’ but eventually pay the ten pounds. On her way home
“tired, footsore, the loser in time and in money, with all her little hopes
shattered to ruins”, Mrs. Raby sees her drunken husband being set upon by a
jeering crowd of boys. With the help of a policeman, she gets John in a cab.</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As the cab drove on, she drew his head down upon her bosom, pushing back his straggling hair, and crooned over him like a mother over a baby.<br />
“Did they make fun of him, them?” she cried. “Did they call him names? He’ll come home with his little wifey, and he’ll never be a naughty boy again.’<br />
Oh, blind, angelic, foolish love of woman! Why should men demand a miracle while you remain upon earth?</blockquote>
</div>
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Doyle knew full well the effects addiction had on the
addicts and those around them. He knew that the illness was the fiend and the
sufferer the victim. Doyle didn't have to give us a Holmes who suffered “drug
mania”. Yet he did. Perhaps he felt that pretending that a man who injected
thrice daily doses of cocaine or morphine for months on end and not have an
addiction did a disservice to sufferers and their loved ones. By giving us a
brilliant man struggling with inner demons and a caring companion to help in
the fight, however obliquely told, Doyle added depth to their friendship. It is
another in the tantalizing list of “untold tales” that Watson teases us with.</div>
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As I watched <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>,
I realized that this was the story they were telling us. This element of
addiction that was in the background of Doyle’s life and fiction was told by
him with a compassion and understanding that wasn’t always apparent with his
contemporaries. By framing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>
as a “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I had gradually weaned him
from that <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">drug</span> mania which had
threatened once to check his remarkable career” story, it has taken what could
be seen as a weakness and made it a strength. Rob Doherty did three things: he
differentiated his show while giving it a Canonical focus; gave us a 21<sup>st</sup>
century spin on addiction that is very Doylean in its sympathies; and over the
course of a season he has shown us the development of a friendship between
Holmes and Watson, something no other series or even Doyle, for that matter,
has done. By rejiggering the sequence of events in the Holmes/Watson story—the weaning
of addiction then the development of friendship—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> strengthened that narrative of friendship which is at
the heart of the Canon. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><i><b>Editor's note:</b> James is a member of the Speckled Band of Boston, the John H. Watson Society and a huge fan of the I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere podcast. </i></span></div>

Addiction, Elementary and Doyle

"I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic..." [STUD] Reading press releases early in 2012 o...

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by James C. O'Leary

Vincent Starrett's Classic Poem '221B'

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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
"Cut out the poetry, Watson." [RETI]</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzLVUysUU6Gf2k23TEfG_2OLM_BiSh1v1JD80WmELhVlvZi9_4yT05sJ12hn1US-JoRB04JLYF5ramJXOWyHKX3CDeBKFhmo0CjFf4oyBf5WdQvGV6y_2AXp_ZvHIqs00_Avn_sR-GdDO/s1600/221B+-+Starrett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzLVUysUU6Gf2k23TEfG_2OLM_BiSh1v1JD80WmELhVlvZi9_4yT05sJ12hn1US-JoRB04JLYF5ramJXOWyHKX3CDeBKFhmo0CjFf4oyBf5WdQvGV6y_2AXp_ZvHIqs00_Avn_sR-GdDO/s640/221B+-+Starrett.jpg" width="582" /></a></div>
<br />
October 3rd marks <a href="http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/info/npd/">National Poetry Day</a> in the UK. We couldn't think of a better way to honour the occasion than to share the pinnacle of Sherlockian poetry, "221B" by Vincent Starrett, BSI ("<i>A Study in Scarlet</i>").<br />
<br />
This simple sonnet has captured the collective imagination of Sherlockians since the early 1940s and in 14 short lines seems to capture the essence of why we still enjoy the Sherlock Holmes stories.<br />
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<h3>
<i>221B</i></h3>
<h4>
By Vincent Starrett</h4>
Here dwell together still two men of note<br />
Who never lived and so can never die:<br />
How very near they seem, yet how remote<br />
That age before the world went all awry.<br />
But still the game’s afoot for those with ears<br />
Attuned to catch the distant view-halloo:<br />
England is England yet, for all our fears–<br />
Only those things the heart believes are true.<br />
<br />
A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane<br />
As night descends upon this fabled street:<br />
A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,<br />
The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet.<br />
Here, though the world explode, these two survive,<br />
And it is always eighteen ninety-five.<br />
<br />
<br />
Do you have any favorite Sherlockian poems? Let us know with a comment.<br />
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--<br />
<br /></div>

Vincent Starrett's Classic Poem '221B'

"Cut out the poetry, Watson." [RETI] October 3rd marks National Poetry Day in the UK. We couldn't think of a better wa...

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by Scott Monty

New 1:6 Scale Sherlock Action Figures are True Collectibles

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"...a perfect reproduction of Holmes" [EMPT]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4-KosWwjkwnqgdxWrtuM42fo8jM8g5LOexekUVl-_h5F1-ibmm068CljFmN710wCz-RFJ09nNptUWmWRmTyQamMcH5yKVsLn3UB4N4RNQ0b01dIUV8gOZaaUuO8j0d-o-40ngfAW9gE/s1600/1185168_10152588501636002_1300436639_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4-KosWwjkwnqgdxWrtuM42fo8jM8g5LOexekUVl-_h5F1-ibmm068CljFmN710wCz-RFJ09nNptUWmWRmTyQamMcH5yKVsLn3UB4N4RNQ0b01dIUV8gOZaaUuO8j0d-o-40ngfAW9gE/s640/1185168_10152588501636002_1300436639_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
Coming soon via <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigChiefStudiosLimited">Big Chief Studios</a> in the UK....a chance for all of us to create new childhood adventures.<br />
<br />
Noted for creating realistic-looking action figures, the company <a href="https://www.bigchiefstudios.co.uk/coming-soon-sherlock-16-scale-collector-figures/">recently announced 1:6 scale versions of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as BBC/PBS <b>Sherlock </b>collector figures</a>. Both figures are fully articulated (providing for a variety of poses),  have tailored costuming, appropriate accessories (because what would Holmes be without his violin?), and bases allowing for display.<br />
<br />
These are high-end collectible figures, and make an excellent addition to any Sherlockian collection. If you are interested, <a href="http://sherlockology.tumblr.com/post/62714089759/sherlock-figures-preorder-update">please be sure to review Big Chief's pre-order information</a>. The figures are available in both Limited and Signature Editions, and may be purchased separately or as a pair.<br />
<br />
Whether for yourself of another Sherlockian, this would make an excellent holiday gift.<br />
<br />
<br />