"I Can Tell a Moriarty When I See One" [VALL]

You may recall the death of author John Gardner, BSI ("Moriarty") in August of 2007. He was well known for where he picked up with the James Bond novels, as commissioned by the Ian Fleming estate.

Of course, one of the reasons he was inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars was his Sherlockian work in the 1970s, in which he looked at life as a Victorian criminal through the eyes of Professor James Moriarty. His first entry in this series was The Return Of Moriarty; the second was The Revenge Of Moriarty, which picked up where the Return left off. There were rumors of a manuscript for a third installment in the series, but the book never made it to bookstore shelves before Gardner's demise.

Well, the wait is over - the final installment in the trilogy is titled Moriarty and will be available in November 2008. You can pre-order it from Amazon.com by clicking here. You can also pre-order it from Amazon.co.uk by clicking here. The description of the book, courtesy of Amazon:

It is the turn of the century and, having survived the struggle with Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls, Professor James Moriarty is alive and well and about to realize his plans to establish crime syndicates in the major cities of the United States. But suddenly he is called back to London, where his vast criminal society has been overrun by a rival concern led by the shadowy Sir Jordan Jack Idell—or Idle Jack—a supposed gentleman hoodlum acting on behalf of criminal elements in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany.

As Moriarty fights back—against both the unruly crime families and the forces of law and order—readers are thrown in among the lurkers, punishers, dippers, cracksmen, and the professor�s elite guard.

Moriarty lives again and revolts against those who attempt to oust him from his rightful place as king of “Napoleon of Crime.”

While you won't be able to get a signed copy, you might want to act early on this, as it's likely to capture a lot of attention and fly off the shelves early. This is yet another piece in what I like to think is a Sherlockian Renaissance that's about to begin.

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"The Colossal Schemes of Baron" [REIG]

While it's encouraging to know that Sherlock Holmes is being considered for cinematic outings from time to time - the last big screen flourishes having occurred with Young Sherlock Holmes and Without a Clue - the latest round of Hollywood rumors leaves a little to be desired.

Sherlock Holmes Reinvented
The first announcement occurred a couple of weeks ago when it was announced that none other than Warner Bros. were interested in backing a film by Madonna's soon-to-be-ex Guy Ritchie. In this gritty, action-based dramatization, we'll see a "reinvention" of the character as Ritchie rewrites an upcoming comic book by Lionel Wigram. According to the article, the focus will be on adventure, with Holmes's skills as a boxer and swordsman being highlighted. Rumor has it that Robert Downey, Jr. will take the lead.

If you ask me, the stories already have a good deal of adventure to them, and Holmes is already imbued with superhero-like powers that he doesn't need to be rewritten or sexed-up for the big screen. When will screenwriters and directors realize that they've got the makings of the perfect hero the way the character was written?

"Frankly Hilarious"?
The latest ugly rumor is that none other than Sacha Baron Cohen - yes, that's right, Borat - will team up with Will Ferrell to play Holmes and Watson in a comedy. How they'll manage to work the potty humor for which they're known into a treatment about the detective and his colleague is a mystery to me. One of the producers is Judd Apatow, who's been responsible for recent comedies such as Walk Hard, Knocked Up, Talledega Nights, and the 40 Year-Old Virgin (all titles meant to inspire confidence in his comedic judgment, I suppose).

But according to the co-president of Columbia Pictures, "Sacha and Will are two of the funniest and most talented guys on the planet, and having them take on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious."

At least they're sticking to the right genre.

Has It Come to This?
I'm not trying to be a spoilsport here - publicity for the great detective is important as we try to keep his name in the spotlight - but think of the children! In these days when books are getting less attention and kids get more information through video games, the Web, multimedia and text messaging, we need to be circumspect with the material we're presenting to them.

What will coming generations think if they're introduced to Holmes and Watson via recent questionable productions like Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stockingand Sherlock Holmes and Baker Street Irregulars, or the above-mentioned projects? We can only hope that creative devotees will find a way to integrate more Canonically faithful movies.

Think of what the world would have been like if the Granada Television series with Jeremy Brett hadn't come along in the early 1980s. We would have been relegated to memories of John Cleese in The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It and Dudley Moore & Peter Cook in The Hound Of The Baskervilles. I shudder at the thought.

What do you think? Chime in with a comment below.

P.S. In case you're wondering, this is no joke, unlike my successful hoodwinking of many outlets with my April Fool's Day prank.

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"A Remarkably Rich Tenor Voice" [VALL]

It came as a great surprise and shock to me to receive notice of the passing of Bruce Montgomery, BSI ("The Red Circle") on Saturday, June 21. He was, for many years, the voice and spirit of the Baker Street Irregulars annual dinner in New York, where he would invariably sing the BSI's unofficial anthem, "Aunt Clara."

Monty, as he was known by all (a name we both shared) picked up where his father, James Montgomery, BSI ("The Red Circle") left off. The elder Montgomery was also a gifted tenor and provided musical entertainment during the BSI's early years. He passed away very suddenly and very prematurely in 1955, as his Christmas Annual was being printed. As a side note, I actually own a copy of that annual, with a note from Jim's wife:

"My husband died very suddenly on November 9th. It was his expressed wish, however, that I should get out this little booklet in the envelopes which he had already addressed."

Constance P. Montgomery
Christmas, 1955

Like his father before him, Monty was a victim of heart failure - which is ironic, because he had a big heart that was dedicated to bringing joy to all around him. A more upbeat and friendly man I have yet to meet. He brought his special variety of joy in a variety of settings, from the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club (which he brought to a BSI dinner one year), to the Gilbert & Sullivan Players of Philadelphia, to the artwork he took up upon his retirement.

An example of his artwork, which can be ordered as notecards, reminds me of one of the illustrations from "The Lion's Mane":

Thankfully, Monty's contributions will not be forgotten. His artwork lives on, and his voice will live on in the BSI's archives - which will now include digital media. Click on the arrow below to hear Bruce give his last BSI performance, recorded at the BSI dinner in New York City on January 11, 2008.

I was honored to stand in his presence on a number of occasions and share the microphone with him. While my singing voice is fairly good, it paled in comparison to the consummate professional who stood beside me. Good night, Monty. You'll be terribly missed.

You can read his obituary from the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

Do you have your own memories of Bruce Montgomery? Please share them as a comment below.

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"In a Flash We Caught a Glimpse" [RETI]

I recently shared a short video with you that described social media. As you may know, the essence behind social media is sharing information - text, audio, video, photos, etc.

I just found an interesting application that allows me to share a stream of mentions of anything on Twitter with a background of Flickr photos. I've set it to stream mentions of "Sherlock" while backed with images tagged with Sherlockian. See what people are saying and what images show up:

This is also a good time to remind you: if you take photos at any Sherlockian events, please consider uploading them to Flickr and tagging them with "Sherlockian," to share them with other like-minded individuals. You might find that you'll connect with some interesting people that way.

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"Nearly Passed Over a Little Ford" [LAST]

One of the reasons you've been hearing less from me in these parts is that my professional life has been keeping me very busy. For the last year or so, I've been working for a small start-up that specializes in social media - all of the fancy schmancy stuff you see here, like social networks, podcasts, blogs, etc. Think of it as new technology that makes communicating easier.

After some very long and difficult days this year, I was feeling burned out. As fate would have it, I was approached by one of the most storied brands in America - and quite possibly the world. Ford Motor Company asked me to become the head of social media in their Global Communications department.

As you may know, there are some Sherlockian connections to Ford. There's the reference in the headline above, from "His Last Bow," where Von Bork's secretary is leaving the seaside cottage:

"The secretary lay back in the cushions of the luxurious limousine, with his thoughts so full of the impending European tragedy that he hardly observed that as his car swung round the village street it nearly passed over a little Ford coming in the opposite direction."

And if you've been to a society meeting or two, you may have heard "We Never Mention Aunt Clara." If so, you'll recall that Aunt Clara's sister drove in a second-hand Ford. Let's just say that the Ford I'll be driving will be anything but second-hand.

Moving to Michigan is going to be an adventure, but I won't be leaving my Sherlockian pursuits behind. I know I'll be in good hands with the likes of the Amateur Mendicant Society and the blog and podcast will continue.

And if you'd like a quick run-through of what social media is all about, take a look at this:



Photo courtesy of Andrew Dunn

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