"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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"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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"Took Out His Manuscript" [MUSG]

Every once in a while, there's an item that puts Sherlockian collectors into a fervor. Whether or not the item is within everyone's reach, it creates an aura of excitement and anticipation, wondering what the market will bear. And it almost certainly ends in a battle at the auction house (maybe not as physically violent as the image on the left, but definitely an emotional one).

The most recent item to undergo such scrutiny was an original 1887 Beeton's Christmas Annual - famous for A Study in Scarlet, the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print. A copy was found in a pile of books at an Oxfam shop in the U.K. and subsequently was put up for auction, eventually bringing in £18,600 (approx. US$36,500). You can read about the entire backstory as well as the auction results here.

Now it seems that there's an original manuscript of one of the Holmes stories up for sale. The 28-page manuscript for "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" is expected to bring nearly £250,000 when it goes under the hammer, according to an article in the Times.

I'm not so certain. The comparable sale they reference is the manuscript for The Sign of Four, which sold for $470,000 (£243,000) at Sotheby's in New York in 1996. I would think that the novels - remember there are only four, and the MSS of The Hound of the Baskervilles was divided up for publicity purposes when the book went on sale - would command a higher premium than any of the 56 short stories. Then again, when collectors have a shot at a true rarity, sanity often times is checked at the door.

For more information about original Doyle manuscripts - Sherlock Holmes-related and otherwise - the definitive resource is Randall Stock's web site. There's a wealth of information available there.

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"Like a Little Empty Attic" [STUD]

In A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes opined that he had no room for useless knowledge (in that particular case, it was the fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun). He remarked to Watson:

"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."

"To forget it!"

"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it...It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

We're all familiar with information overload (especially these days), but I wonder if this was the hubris of a younger Holmes speaking. Recent research shows that the older brain can actually process information much better than previously thought, and is better at filtering out distractions than a younger brain.

From a recent New York Times article:

Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world, where it is not always clear what information is important, or will become important. A seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes...
"A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more about a situation and the indirect message of what’s going on than their younger peers," Dr. Hasher said. "We believe that this characteristic may play a significant role in why we think of older people as wiser."

What do you think? Does this match with your experience? Does Holmes's claim seem like juvenile boasting to his easily-astonished new friend? Would the older Holmes agree?

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"To Humour Your Guilty Elder" [PRIO]

I realize that my updates have been sporadic at best lately (thanks to a demanding job) and that the posts I've been able to write have been morbidly focused. Well, today I regret that I have to continue in that vein, but at least it's not announcing the death of another Irregular.

Fans of the little audio program that Burt Wolder & I host, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere (and yes, that's another thing that's fallen by the wayside in my hectic life) will know that there are a number of artists who have done their fair share of Sherlockian illustrations. This was made the most clear in our interview with Jerry Margolin ("Hilton Cubitt"), who has made a serious hobby out of collecting original Sherlockian art.

As you listen to the interview, you'll hear that one of Jerry's heroes was Will Elder, one of the original MAD Magazine artists and the creator of Little Annie Fanny for Playboy. I say "was" because Will Elder passed away late last week. You can read a full profile of him on Wikipedia. In the meantime, I leave you with the one Elder Sherlockian image on my computer. It's a memorable one.

Caption: "By Jove, Holmes. What a remarkable disguise."

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"In the New Almanac" [VALL]

Peter Blau very kindly pointed out that Garrison Keillor mentioned The Baker Street Irregulars and Sherlockian societies in a recent episode of The Writer's Almanac on American Public Media. For those of you who don't have access to public radio or whose local markets don't pick it up, not to worry. Such shows typically have the audio available on the Interwebs.

In this case, we've got an audio link to the 5-minute program from May 7, 2008 that you can access by clicking here. You'll need RealAudio to listen. It's a free download and the software is free as well.

The show notes are a little more extensive than Keillor's commentary (after all, he's only got 5 minutes). Here's what he had to say about the BSI and other societies:

Novelist Christopher Morley founded, in 1934, the Baker Street Irregulars to celebrate the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and today there are many groups of Sherlockians, including the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, who developed in protest to the men-only Baker Street Irregulars. Both of those groups now admit members of both sexes. The London Sherlock Holmes Society, which began in its current incarnation in 1951, has an annual dinner and regular meetings, and produces a Sherlock Holmes Journal twice a year. There are also occasional mock trials, trivia challenges, pub nights, London walks, and cricket matches against the P.G. Wodehouse Society.

I think Christopher Morley would be proud - not necessarily that his creation still lives on - but that he's noted as a novelist.

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"When the Stake is Best Worth Winning" [CHAS]

The Mystery Writers of America held their annual dinner in New York City last night to honor the 2008 Edgar Winners. The field of Sherlockiana, while well represented in 2007, only had a single entrant on this year's list of nominees.

And evidently, that's all that was needed, for the winner of the Best Critical/Biographical category was none other than Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Charles Foley, Jon Lellenberg and Daniel Stashower. Congratulations, gentlemen!

Check out this link to see what I originally wrote about the book last November, which includes a link to the interview that Burt Wolder & I conducted with Dan & Jon - one of our most popular episodes on our audio program I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.

If you haven't picked up a copy of the book yet, I strongly recommend that you get over to Amazon and grab yourself a copy. It's a worthy asset to any Sherlockian or Doylean library.

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"You Say He Was Painting" [RETI]

Peter Cushing, who portrayed Sherlock Holmes on the big and small screens, was best known for his acting abilities. Indeed, a certain generation probably grew up knowing him best as Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars movie. But to those who knew the man more intimately or who followed his off-stage persona, he was also a talented watercolor artist.
Earlier this week, 25 lots of his paintings were auctioned off in Kent. You may know that Pilgrims Hospice in Kent, where Cushing died, had been selling calendars featuring his watercolors. Thirteen of those paintings were included in the auction, which raised £25,000.

I don't know if the calendars are still available. You might try getting in touch with Pilgrims at:
Fundraising Office
Hythe Road, Willesborough, Ashford TN24 0NE
For general fundraising enquiries please telephone +44 01233 504102 or 504111
Fax number +44 01233 504136
or email Susan Booth at Pilgrims Hospice in Ashford

In the meantime, here are some scans of the artwork, courtesy of Hammer & Beyond.

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"All the Footprints of the World" [HOUN]

"There is no branch of detective science that is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps," Holmes remarked in A Study in Scarlet

In this case, the the art is being taken to a science and the world's police - forces in 128 countries, to be exact - are teaming up to develop a comprehensive database of footprints.

Foster + Freeman, a forensic science company has developed a proprietary software called SICAR that essentially is a version of Sherlock Holmes's brain on steroids. The software studies the patterns, treads and shapes on shoe soles and adds them to the database of over 15,000 prints. When an image is searched, the process of scanning the database for a match takes only 1-2 minutes.

It's still amazing to think that Holmes to retain so much of this in his own brain without the aid of a computer - 140 varieties of cigar ash, 42 different impressions of bicycle tires, etc. While 15,000 prints would be impossible for any human to remember, it's encouraging to know that Holmes was the original crime computer and the inspiration for much more today.

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"To Whom Also You Will Give a Shilling" [HOUN]

As you may have seen in the Twitter stream (the section on the right titled "Holmes Was a Very Busy Man"), the coveted Baker Street Irregulars investitures were awarded tonight at the BSI Dinner. Mike Whelan states that it's his favorite part of the dinner - and I can certainly believe him. Much joy was given, much joy was received.

While the dinner is about much more than the investitures, it's clearly the thing on everyone's mind at the dinner. Having been someone who attended a number of dinners before I was called up to the podium, I can honestly say that the old Oscars cliche "it's an honor just to be nominated" does in fact ring true. I hope that this year's attendees feel the same.

In the order they were announced, here are the latest Baker Street Irregulars:

• Betsy Rosenblatt, "Lucy Ferrier"
  
• Dana Richards, "The Priory School"
  
• David Morrill, "Count von Kramm"
  
• Barbara Roisman Cooper, "Mary Maberley"
  
• Randall Stock, "South African Securities"
• John Genova, "Harry Pinner"
  
• Guy Marriott, "The Hotel du Louvre"
  

And this year, Mike gave the coveted Two-Shilling Award to a Baker Street Irregular who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in service to the BSI. The Two-Shilling Award went to:

• Sherry Rose Bond
  

I'm particularly pleased because the new class skewed significantly younger. I can point to John, Randall and Betsy as 30-somethings who are now part of this august organization - a sign that we're beginning to set the stage for the next generation, but we've still got a ways to go. Congratulations to one and all!

Fair warning to the new BSIs: I'll be hunting you down to ensure you subscribe to The Baker Street Journal. And to my dear readers: you subscribe to the BSJ, don't you?

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"The Print of a Recent Horror" [SILV]

The Baker Street Irregulars' Distinguished Speaker Lecture took place as planned at the Williams Club on Thursday evening, January 10. The speaker was Sir Christopher Frayling, author of Nightmare: The Birth of Horror.

We were treated to a very interesting talk lasting about 45 minutes, the subject of which was The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Christopher noted that of the 220+ (221?) films that have been made about Sherlock Holmes, The Hound is the single most popular story, having been made and remade 18 times. And I think everyone assembled agreed that it has not yet been filmed satisfactorily.

But the point of Sir Christopher's talk was to investigate the timing around Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's authorship of the book. The generally accepted timing has given way to the ridiculous supposition that Doyle murdered Fletcher Robinson, who gave Doyle some background information that helped with the creation of the story.

In his lecture, Sir Christopher built an airtight case against this while doing some detective work of his own. The key element that helped Frayling in his efforts is an item that he picked up at the Christies' auction of Doyle memorabilia: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's self-registering diary for 1901. He said that since it was so small, it went unnoticed by other collectors, who were there for more significant items. He managed to get it for a relative bargain. I won't give away the full story here, as it's best told in context - and it's likely to appear in a future issue of The Baker Street Journal (now would be a good time to subscribe, if you don't yet).

We were very lucky to have been treated to a talk by this consummate researcher and scholar. He certainly has a great depth of knowledge about Victorian horror and gothic elements - but he's also a font of knowledge on spaghetti westerns, if you can believe it.

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"I Dare Call Nothing Trivial When I Reflect" [STUD]

It's natural that at this time of the year, we begin to reflect upon what has happened in our lives during the previous year and take note of improvements or changes we'd like to see in the next. In fact, the month January was named after the Roman god Janus, which was always depicted has having two faces - one looking forward and one looking back.

A recent comment by Mickey was quite humbling, and I wanted to express my gratitude to you, dear reader, for spending time on this blog. I know there are a number of other websites, discussion groups, books, periodicals, and - let's face it - actual face-to-face opportunities to engage in Sherlockian discourse. The fact that you drop by here and let me know how it affects your life is profoundly encouraging and uplifting to me (and yes, that's a not-so-subtle request to keep the comments coming).

But on the cusp of the New Year, I thought I'd share with you why I think this site is unique, what I plan to do with it (in part) in 2008, and what you can do to keep it up and running.

What makes this blog so special
Part of what I try to impart here is my own personality - sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. But at the end of the day, I try to write in a conversational style that actually makes you feel at home, or as if you've just dropped in for a drink and we're throwing ideas around.

And while I try to bring you as much of the mainstream Sherlockian news as possible, I also make it my mission to seek out the odd and the well-hidden gems that make life so much more interesting. One of the hallmarks of Sherlockians is that we're always able to find a parallel between something that happened in the Canon and either a personal interest or an item in the current news. I hope I'm succeeding there.

But more than just cutting & pasting headlines or parroting information you may be getting from other circles, I put some commentary and perspective around each news item, in order to make it relevant or stand out in some way. I hope that doing so provides you with some added value. You may not always agree with my opinion - which is completely acceptable - the comment link is just a click away. I welcome debate as well as praise; that's part of what makes a blog so interesting, in my opinion.

In addition, I'm discovering new and energetic Sherlockians whom I've never met and sharing their works with you. Some examples from 2007 are the Russian animation that I found on YouTube, the recent stick figure retelling of 'The Blue Carbuncle,' and the music video series I ran throughout the summer. These were all examples of individuals whom I stumbled upon. Throughout 2008, I'm going to try to discover some additional sources of great content (and dipping back into the well for more from the same).

What else you can do
As you may know, I produce and co-host a podcast (don't be frightened - that's just a fancy way of saying radio on the Internet) called I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, please visit the site. It's basically a Sherlockian talk show. I guarantee you it's worth your while. If you don't agree, I'll refund your money. But I will say that it wouldn't be possible without the able participation of my co-host, Burt Wolder. It's definitely a two-man show.

And if you like what you hear there or what you read here, please consider doing two things:

1. Subscribe for free - that was the blog; you can also subscribe to the podcast for free
   
2. Recommend them to your friends, family, and Sherlockian colleagues - or even to the uninitiated, if you want to help them understand what this crazy pastime is all about. If you can tell at least 3 people in your life about my blog & podcast, that will help them grow. And if you'd like to do it here online, just use that neat little button you see at the bottom of each post.
   

You can join the Sherlock Holmes Social Network - this is a group that I established to help people stay in touch with each other, share interests, bring up discussion topics, upload and share photos, videos or music, and special interest groups. Think of it as an offline version of what you experience when you're at a social event. Again, this is free and you can choose to disclose whatever level of information about yourself that you're comfortable sharing.

Finally, if there's anything that you'd like to see or anything you think I shouldn't be doing, please let me know. While I can't promise you that I'll do exactly what you recommend, I will read what you write and provide you with a response. The only way I know what you think is for you to tell me.

Thank you
I write this blog as a labor of love (isn't that why we all pursue this crazy hobby of Sherlock Holmes?) and I sincerely hope that you find it even the slightest bit valuable. I encourage you to use the links in the sidebar when you make any online purchases - whether it's the search box on the side or the aStore that both link to Amazon, or the clothing and technology deals at the bottom of the sidebar - your patronage helps to support this blog. And if you find it within your heart to donate something, there's a ChipIn link (filed under the heading "Your Own Gift" in the sidebar) as well. Any amount would be appreciated.

Thank you again, for welcoming me into your life on a daily, weekly, or ad hoc basis. I'm honored that you think enough of my writing to want to spend time with me. I hope that if we have the chance to meet in person, you'll feel the same way. And if our paths don't cross in person at an event this year, please feel free to drop me a line.

Until then, "the game's afoot!"

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"A Certain Annual" [SPEC]

For anyone reading this blog, there has never been a time when the world as you know it has been without Sherlock Holmes. As a matter of fact, it's been exactly 120 years since Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in the Beeton's Christmas Annual. For a short summary of Holmes's humble beginnings, you can listen to a segment on All Things Considered that NPR ran on December 23.

And in our own humble way, we honor his memory over at the Baker Street Journal. Each year for the last 10 years, we've been offering an additional companion piece to our quarterly journal - something we call the Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual.

The Christmas Annual for 2007 is about to hit the streets, and we've already got a record number of subscribers signed up to receive it. If you are renewing your BSJ subscription or if you're taking a subscription out for the first time, you can automatically include the Annual as part of your package, and receive a discount in the process. So, sign up now for the 2008 Journal & Annual.

In the meantime, let's focus on what we've got in 2007. The title of this year's entry is:

Rathbone Returns: A Misadventure Called Sherlock Holmes by S.E. Dahlinger, ASH and Glen Miranker, BSI ("The Origin of Tree Worship")

Basil Rathbone is still a perennial favorite of many Holmes enthusiasts. As a matter of fact, I recently met a 9 year-old who came to a dinner of the Friends of Irene Adler in Cambridge, MA dressed as the great detective - and he himself told me that Basil Rathbone was the best Sherlock Holmes ever. We could argue that here or in a variety of forums forever, but let's say that by the end of his 14 film stretch and radio play, Rathbone was inexorably typecast.

Indeed, he was just as eager to push Sherlock Holmes over the precipice at Reichenbach Falls as Arthur Conan Doyle had been. As he wrote in his autobiography, In and Out of Character:

I was . . . deeply concerned with the problem of being "