Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (August 10 - August 16, 2013)

"I leave it with you. It will be a great day when you bring us the news. It's just the last stroke that will bring them all to their knees."

- The Valley of Fear

Last weekend I had the tremendous good fortune to attend Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place, a three day conference organized by the venerable Norwegian Explorers of Minnesota, Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections and the University of Minnesota. I'm saving all related #SHMN13 links plus my various reviews for posts later this week, but for now I'll say that the experience was an incredibly inspiring one, and I hope to channel some of that inspiration into Always1895.net.

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Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (July 27 - August 2, 2013)

"It was by concealing such links in the chain that Watson was enabled to produce his meretricious finales."

- 'The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier'

A weekly roundup of links from across the web related to Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Matt Laffey from Always1895.net. We welcome your comments and feedback, and if you have any material to include in the weekly roundup, please send to always1895 @ gmail.com.

Only one week to go until Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place in Minnesota! I hope to see many of you there. For those Sherlockian Twitter users posting from the conference or following from home, it’s been officially decided that the hashtag #SHMN13 will stand for Sherlock Holmes Through Time & Place. See you soon!

221B Con - “Watsons Through Time" (52:10) “Recorded live at 221B Con, this panel was all about all the Watsons through ALL OF TIME! Well, as much as we could fit in just under an hour. Panelists were Kristina Manente (Curly), Ashley Polasek, Eddy Webb, and Roane." The original panel subtitle was “From ladies’ man to comedic buffoon, how have representations of John Watson changed over time" and the panelists do a great job weaving current and vintage Sherlock Holmes adaptations in along with the Canon. An overarching theme is - predictably but alas still necessary - the ‘Watson is not stupid’ theme, and of course plenty of time is spent discussing, analyzing and giggling about the Sherlock and John (BBC Sherlock first names rule applies here) dynamic. The word on the street (OK, on Twitter) is that a few more 221B Con panels are set to be released - I’ll put 6,000 pounds (though “I am a poor man") that “Fandom: What the Hell is Wrong With Us?" wins out. 

[At some point, you’ll develop a soft spot for Nigel Bruce so don’t be too harsh on him now.]

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Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (July 20 - July 26, 2013)

"...and you know how subtle are the links which bind two souls which are so closely allied."

- 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band'

A weekly roundup of links from across the web related to Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Matt Laffey from Always1895.net. We welcome your comments and feedback, and if you have any material to include in the weekly roundup, please send to always1895@gmail.com.

A Requiem For Sherlock Holmes announced dates for a staged reading happening this coming weekend August 8th - 10th, 2013 at WorkShop in NYC by PGM Productions. More about PGM: "One could say the ‘creative trust’ of PGM was informally born over a friendly glass of Scotch. On the evening of January 18, 2012, WorkShop Theater Company members, Paul Singleton, Greg Oliver Bodine and Michael Selkirk met at The Players on Gramercy Park to discuss partnering on a Sherlock Holmes play that Greg would write, with Paul and Michael in the iconic roles of Holmes and Watson....it was agreed that Greg should adapt two Sherlock Holmes stories, "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of The Empty House". Learn more by following PGM on their Facebook page. And for a preview, check out A Requiem For Sherlock video. Lastly, those Sherlockians who attended The William Gillette Memorial Luncheon during BSI Weekend 2013 were treated to a short but brilliant five minute teaser featuring the epic scene when Holmes and Moriarty first meet (ie. "All that I have to say has already crossed your mind..." FINA). To be clear, this weekend's performance is not the final play, but simply a read through - the actual performance is scheduled for sometime in 2014.

[Note that the flier features a depiction of a black arm band reportedly worn by Londoners after "The Final Problem" appeared in The Strand (December 1893); to find out more about black mourning arm bands, the 'death' of Sherlock Holmes and whether or not they are "apocryphal", check out the next link re: Peter Calamai.]

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Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (July 13 - July 19, 2013)

"...we must spare time to run down together on Saturday morning, and make sure that this curious and inconclusive investigation has no untoward ending."

- 'The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist'

A weekly roundup of links from across the web related to Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Matt Laffey from Always1895.net. We welcome your comments and feedback, and if you have any material to include in the weekly roundup, please send to always1895@gmail.com.

[Baker Street Journal
Summer 2013 (Vol. 63, No. 2).]

The Baker Street Journal’s Summer 2013 issue recently appeared in our mailboxes bringing joy to Sherlockians the world over, and for those with a particular fascination for the Altamont phase of Holmes’ career, an extra special treat lay within the familiar yellow wrappers illuminated with a gorgeous portrait of Holmes/Altamont which originally appeared on the cover of Collier’s Weekly Magazine (September, 1917) from the brush of my favorite Canonical illustrator Frederic Dorr Steele. As always you can read an online version of Steve Rothman’s latest "Editor’s Gas-Lamp" to whet your appetite. If you’re not a current subscriber to the BSJ, I strongly suggest procuring the very reasonable $38.50 yearly subscription rate and treating yourself to the greatest (ir)regular Sherlockian publication on the market (since 1946). 

I Hear of Sherlock released Episode 54 of their IHOSE podcast featuring an interview with columnist and psychologist Maria Konnikova, author of Mastermind, on ‘mindfulness’ and other related mental techniques employed by Holmes in the course of his adventures. Ms Konnikova is an excellent spokesperson for psychology, particularly when conveying some of the fundamental concepts of Cognitive Psychology by way of the Canon. Make sure to subscribe to Konnikova’s Scientific American column ‘Literally Psyched’. Next, Mr Wolder and Mr Monty discuss one of my favorite collections of early 20th century, pre-BSI/BSJ era writings - in this case 1895 to 1933 - on Holmes and the Canon, Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle and The Bookman, edited by noted Sherlockian scholar S. E. Dahlinger and annotator extraordinaire Leslie S. Klinger on Gasogene Books. 

Following their chat about The Bookman, they announced that IHOSE’s sister website The Baker Street Blog began syndicating the Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (i.e. what you are reading right this very moment!) and that in future episodes of IHOSE, listeners can expect to hear Matt Laffey (he wrote in the third person…) deliver a range of short audio segments on everything from summaries of recent Sherlockian news items to hard hitting, on the ground reporting from various Sherlockian meetings, soirees, conferences, parties and hootenannies. Episode 54 ends with a traditional reading from the BSJ’s “Editor’s Gas-Lamp" though instead of dusting off a decade’s old issue, Steve Rothman’s piece from this Summer’s issue (Vol. 63, No. 2) is used. Another great episode made even more memorable by Monty and Wolder’s extremely kind and generous praise of Always1895 as well as the announcement that I’ll be contributing regular audio pieces to the podcast - an honor that’s particularly amazing considering IHOSE was one of my primary gateways into contemporary Sherlockian culture. [Editor's note: we are thrilled that Matt has taken us up on our offer to join us as a regular contributor and look forward to bringing you that feature on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.]

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Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (July 6 - July 12, 2013)

""Friday!" he cried."

- The Adventure of the Illustrious Client

A weekly roundup of links across the web related to Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Matt Laffey from Always1895.net. We welcome your comments and feedback, and if you have any material to include in the weekly roundup, please send to always1895@gmail.com.

[Don Hobbs addressing 75
brainiacs on the finer points of
collecting Sherlockiana.]

Inspector Lestrade’s Blotter Page’s Don Hobbs gave a special talk on Collecting Sherlock Holmes at a recent Mensa meeting in Fort Worth, TX to about 75 attendees, many of which weren't Sherlockians but none-the-less: “The attendees could not have been more responsive. They laughed in all of the right places, asked intelligent (pun intended) questions and showed genuine interest. My allotted time of seventy-five minutes flew by so fast that I actually skipped over a few of the paragraphs of my talk. Afterwards, one of the attendees told me that it was the best and most interesting talk he had heard so far at this meeting. Considering that some of the talks included “Has the Onion Outlived its Usefulness?"; “Spiritual Exercise Light"; and “Friendly Delicate Bridge"  I am not sure if this was a compliment or an insult. Another one said that when a room full of Mensa Member all clap, that is a great accomplishment. I was pleased." And though I would like to know if the onion has in fact outlived it’s usefulness, I would very much like to read/hear Mr Hobbs’ entire talk - let’s hope he decides to post the contents of ‘Collecting Sherlock Holmes’ sometime soon. In the meantime, enjoy this interview with Don Hobbs on collecting Sherlock Holmes translations. Q: How did you first get started collecting? Hobbs: “I have always been a collector. I believe one either has the collector gene or not. I am the former."

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Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (July 1 - July 5, 2013)

"...business is mostly done of an evening. Mr. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening."

- The Adventure of the Red-Headed League

A weekly roundup of links across the web related to Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Matt Laffey from Always1895.net. As usual, we welcome your comments and feedback, and if you have any material to include in the weekly roundup, please send to always1895@gmail.com.

[Mattias Boström, BSI “The Swedish Pathological Society".]

Mattias Bostrom was interviewed this week on Baker Street Beat by Dan Andriacco about Mr Boström’s recently published Från Holmes till Sherlock ("From Holmes to Sherlock" in English). Mr Boström’s opus, though currently only available in Swedish, is already causing quite a stir in the Sherlockian world. Like Mr Andriacco, I was fortunate enough to have received an inscribed copy of what is one of the finest looking Sherlockian books published in the last few years - and going by just the end notes and bibliography (which are mostly in English), it’s overwhelmingly clear that the book I’m holding is a meticulously researched scholarly love letter to ACD and his most famous creation. Boström answers questions on how he first discovered ACD and Holmes, how he came to write Från Holmes till Sherlock, what his research practices are, if/when we can expect an English translation and the level of popularity of Sherlock Holmes in the Scandinavian countries. A fascinating interview which will leave Sherlockians wanting more: “In my book I present some previously unknown facts regarding the years when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was alive, but in the later half of the book there are big chunks of unknown facts."

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Friday Sherlock Links Compendium (June 23 - June 30, 2013)

"I hammered away until Friday." 
               - 'The Stock-broker's Clerk'

Today we start a new tradition on the site. As we prepare to combine our work here with that of our audio work, we thought it was time to expand our editorial offerings. We still have a fine lineup of authors who occasionally pitch in with excellent contributions from the corners of the Sherlockian world that grab their attention.

Now we add Matt Laffey to that list. If you don't know Matt, he is a dedicated Sherlockian from Brooklyn with an eye toward the online world and an affability that makes him excellent company at gatherings in the offline one. In short: a classic Sherlockian. His web site Always1895.net is a treasure trove of material, with a weekly feature that he calls "Friday Sherlock Links Compendium."

To us, that means that he's somewhat of a modern-day weekly Peter Blau. And we're proud to welcome Matt and his weekly contributions here on our site, as we thought this comprehensive round-up would make an excellent addition here. In the future, Matt will be posting his work directly under his own byline. We welcome your comments and feedback, and if you have any material to include in the weekly roundup, please send to always1895@gmail.com.

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