I Shall Be All Anxiety

Like many Shelockian Twitter conversations, Chris Redmond started it.

Many of us shared our own short versions of our first nights in Sherlockiana in response to Chris's tweet Friday night.  I won't go too far into mine, as I've already shared it on I Hear of Sherlock a few years ago.  My favorite part of the conversation was one Sherlockian telling us that he ripped the seat of his pants TWICE on his first night.  That makes for a memorable evening!

This conversation got me thinking.  Is social anxiety a common feature of Sherlockians?  We are a literary bunch, so introversion wouldn't be out of character.  On the other hand, we are very sociable with one another at our gatherings.

So, why are there so many stories about us being nervous our first time?

And for some of us, it's not just the first time we meet.  I've written about how much I love my local scion, but there are some days where I'm all nerves on the way to a meeting.  Social anxiety sucks.

But it makes me wonder if this is a larger phenomenon among the younger generation of Sherlockians and people as a whole.  In the 50's, or the 80's, or anytime before the internet, really, if people weren't comfortable in social situations, they mostly stayed home.  Now we have a culture where we can be connected, but still isolated.  But when our connections are based in a common interest, it's a natural step to want to meet with others who share your interests.  And that is where people are stepping out of their comfort zones. 

Events like 221BCon in Atlanta never would have existed before the internet.  People from all over the country descend on Georgia each year, many times only knowing others as their online personas.  My bet would be there are more than a few attendees there that would admit to having social anxiety.

Before the internet connected us all, Sherlockians were connected through newsletters.  And the granddaddy of them all is the Baker Street Journal.  I assume that the Baker Street Journal had plenty of subscribers that never attended a scion meeting, much less the big gathering in New York every January. 

But this is a new day and age.  Now, we can get our BSJ in the mail, participate in Ashley Polasek's #221Movie tweetalong with her college students, spend hours reading on the new Sherlockian.net, upload your own fan fiction to AO3, and all other kinds of Sherlockian activities from our home.  But it's those real life, human connections that are so great.

So, even if you're a member of the old guard or a millennial and you suffer from social anxiety, get out there and spend time with other Sherlockians in real life.  Because, for every story of someone ripping their pants in the Twitter conversation, there were a dozen stories of people being welcomed with open arms to a community of people who all share the same interest, even if it is a little out of our comfort zones sometimes. 

Character, Canines and Cocaine

My original idea for this week's post was to only talk about dogs and cocaine, but then I heard the new episode of Sherlock Holmes is Real.  As I mentioned last week, I was interviewed for the second episode to discuss The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street.  I didn't know much, if anything, about the show, but publicity is publicity, right?  Somehow, my interview trying to get the word out about my new book got me pulled into some conspiracy perpetrated by the Baker Street Irregulars and descendants of Moriarty.  It's pretty nutty, but if you're into out there ideas, this week's episode of Sherlock Holmes is Real is.... something.  Besides calling my character into question, they question if my name really is Rob Nunn, or if it's a nom de plume meant to lead people to think Sherlock Holmes never existed.

I'm just trying to sell some books, people.

The past week has found the topic of dogs on my mind quite a bit.  Because we adopted a puppy Friday night.

Ever since talk of getting a dog began, I've been trying to convince my wife and daughter to let me name it Toby.  Like most things that I argue with my wife and daughter about, I lost.  Even though our new pup was a girl and was already named Molly, I still tried valiantly to name our new pet Toby because Toby is the best animal in the best story in the canon.

I don't know why I love Toby so much, but I do.  It may be because he is the first animal that Holmes has respect for.  Much better than the poor dog in A Study in Scarlet.  It might be because of the scene when Watson goes to Old Sherman's house on Pinchin Lane to get Toby.  Or it might just be because that was the dog's name in The Great Mouse Detective.

Either way, Toby is a piece in a bigger puzzle that is The Sign of Four.  I really enjoyed Chris Redmond's About Sixty, but am so stubborn that I found myself disagreeing with the 59 other submissions that didn't say The Sign of Four was the best story.  But that's another post.

(One more picture of my dog before I move on)

A thought occurred to me today as I was thinking about this story.  One of the highlights of SIGN is the scene with the Watson's watch.  Watson is trying to keep Holmes occupied so he won't use cocaine.  His lecturing didn't work, so he pulls out an old pocket watch to have Holmes show off his deductions.  Once this little tour de force is finished, Mary Morstan shows up and the plot takes off.

But what if Watson hadn't delayed Holmes for whatever reason?  We have a very different client meeting.  Holmes has just injected himself with a seven percent solution of cocaine and a well-gloved young lady comes to talk to her about her dead father.  Things probably would've gotten weird.  Doyle never showed us what Holmes was like on cocaine, but I can't imagine he would be one to sit with his fingers tented and eyes half closed as he listened to a client lay out their problem.

If it weren't for Watson's watch, would SIGN have ever happened?  Does Holmes dismiss Mary Morstan's card or is she so turned off by the drug fiend she meets with that the case never happens?  Bartholomew Sholto's murder goes unsolved.  Tonga lives.  Watson and Mary never marry.  Watson probably never opens up his own practice.  The Adventure of the Naval Treaty is never brought to Watson and Holmes.  Britain is drawn into war.  Watson and Holmes are drafted into service.  No one is there to stop Moriarty.  Chaos ensues.

Thank God Holmes never took that cocaine.

Listen to This, Mr. Holmes!

There is a subset of the Sherlockian that I feel doesn't get enough attention: podcasts.

Now, before you say, "Nah, not for me."  Give me a second.  We are spoiled in our hobby as having some very good and very different podcasts out there.  I love the podcast forum, listen to a lot of them and I really feel like there is a show out there for each of us from the fans of traditional scion meetings to people who swoon over Cumberbatch's cheekbones and everyone in between.

Let's take a little stroll through Itunes, shall we?

The granddaddy of them all, and the one that should be mentioned first, is I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.  Put out by Scott Monty and Burt Wolder, IHOSE has 130 episodes under the belt dating back for years.  IHOSE is now on a bi-weekly schedule, and is THE podcast for the traditional Sherlockian world.  In fact, their playlist page gives you an idea of just how broad the show's focus us.  From books to  BSI societies to holidays to a primer for the uninitiated, I Hear of Sherlock has probably covered a subset of Sherlockiana that you're interested in.  No matter what I may be listening to on the 15th and 30th of the month when a new episode drops, that gets pushed to the side for my dose of IHOSE.  I recommend that every Sherlockian out there subscribe to this show just to be aware of the wider world of Sherlockiana out there.

In fact, IHOSE had so many topics to cover, they started a second podcast, Trifles.  Trifles, as the title would imply, focuses on the trifles of the Sherlockian stories.  These are much shorter episodes, about 15 minutes each, and focus on a very narrow subject.  Episodes of Trifles will be more or less interesting depending on the topic.  Watson's marriages may be highly interesting to you, but maybe not the role of mothers or fathers in the stories.  No worries, because the next week will be a whole new topic!  If you are someone who loves to go down a rabbit hole on a specific topic, Trifles is right up your alley.

The history of Sherlockian podcasting can't be told without talking about The Baker Street Babes.  Started by Kristina Manente, the Babes have grown since the early days in 2011.  The cast is made up entirely of young women, but if you brush them off as silly fangirls, they will quickly prove you wrong.  BSB includes best-selling authors, world travelers, college professors, and plenty of others who know more about Sherlock Holmes than most of us.  The show has a heavy BBC Sherlock focus, but that's not their only focus.  Episodes have included interviews with Sherlockian authors, playwrights and radio personalities.  They just announced their second book, Femme Friday.  Although the output of shows has slowed down in recent months, anyone who enjoys BBC Sherlock and is interested in branching out to know more about the source material would do well to check out this high energy podcast.

I Grok Sherlock is a fairly new podcast put out by Mike Ranieri and Geordie Telfer of the Bootmakers of Toronto.  Each month, Mike and Geordie take listeners through one of Doyle's Holmes stories in order of publication.  But this podcast is far from your typical book report.  The hosts' irreverent sense of humor and pop culture knowledge permeates the shows from start to finish.  Although each episode is dedicated to a specific Doyle story, Mike and Geordie spend a large part of each episode (and sometimes a whole episode on its own) going over the month's story's representations in popular media.  Their background in theater bring a new insight to discussions of Peter Cushing, Benedict Cumberbatch, Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, and the many, many, many other actors who have portrayed the Great Detective over the years.  If you are interested in Holmes and his media incarnations, this is the show for you.

For fans of BBC's Sherlock and all of its fandom, there is The Three Patch Podcast.  This is a big one.  I mean big in scope of time.  Episodes can run up to three hours in length!  But it's not just hours of the same people talking.  Oh no.  It has recurring segments, reviews, interviews and much more, all with different hosts.  Three Patch is put together by a team of people who all have a serious love of the BBC show and its fandom.  And this fandom has worlds most of us traditional Sherlockians know little about.  If you love this fandom, you probably already know about Three Patch, but if you are curious about the online world of Johnlocking and fan fiction, this is your gateway.

And then comes the newest of the Sherlockian podcasts, Sherlock Holmes is Real.  This is actually what got me thinking about podcasts this week.  I was interviewed for Sherlock Holmes is Real last weekend and wasn't totally clear on what it was.  Toni Sutherland said she was interested in talking to me about The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street, and there's no such thing as bad publicity!  It was a pleasant interview, but she latched onto an offhand comment I made about conspiracies which struck me odd at the time.  When I heard the episode, I completely understood.  Apparently, there are some Sherlockians out there who think Sherlock Holmes was a real person, but not in The Great Game kind of way.  They think he truly existed, but there is a conspiracy afoot to turn him into a fictional character.  Alan King is at the forefront of this conspiracy theory, and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I think about this idea.  But I can tell you, I'm interested to see where it goes. 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention, This Tangled Skein, a short lived, but fantastic podcast put out by Beth Gallego.  It's billed as a podcast about yarn, tea, and Sherlock Holmes (not necessarily in that order).  I'm not a knitter, but Beth's take on the Sherlockian topics of each episode were always a delight to listen to.  She seemed to take the traditionalist and new wave view on many topics, which isn't always easy to do.  Although it's been a year since the last episode, I still have hopes...

See? Told you!  They are all Sherlock Holmes based, but these podcasts are all their own entities.  For those of us who love podcasts and Sherlock Holmes, there's plenty to keep us busy.  Even if you're not a podcast listener, I would urge you to find one and give it a try.  We can but try.

I Reviewed the Whole Extraordinary Sequence of Events

Friday night, my wife and I attended a performance of Baskerville put on by Insight Theatre Company in St. Louis.  As I mentioned last week, I wasn't sure what to expect; I'm not a big theater person and have never been to a Sherlockian play before.  That being said, my review is ready:

I loved it.

A little background before I get into this specific performance.  Baskerville was written by Ken Ludwig in 2015 and tells "The Hound of the Baskervilles" in a way that is true to the canon while adding in plenty of humorous bits.  Now, imagine HOUN and how many characters are in it.  Baskerville is put on by just five actors.  And, to me, this is what really impresses.

Insight Theatre's production is no different.  John O'Hagan plays Holmes alongside Kent Coffel as Watson.  Elliot Auch and Ed Reggi are billed as Actors 1 and 2 respectively, while Gwen Wotawa is listed as Actress 1.

As I watched the performance Friday night, I was struck at how similar I found O'Hagan's performance to Basil in "The Great Mouse Detective."  In a madcap story, he was the solid deductive genius, but you could sense his own energy right under the surface.  In a Q & A session with the audience after Sunday's performance, O'Hagan told the crowd that he modeled his Holmes after Basil Rathbone, and since Basil of Baker Street was modeled after the same actor, I'd say his version of The Great Detective hit home.

 

Although Kent Coffel has second billing as Dr. Watson, anyone that's familiar with HOUN knows that Watson plays just as large, if not larger, of a role than Holmes in this story.  Holmes is absent for much of the tale while Watson is off on the moor.  Coffel's Watson is the epitome of a stalwart companion in this performance and you can see why Holmes trusts him so and the audience feels that Henry Baskerville is much safer whenever Watson is around.

Director Maggie Ryan explained to the audience in Sunday's talk back session that Holmes and Watson were written to be the two steady roles in this comedy while the other three actors got to get all of the laughs.  An astute audience member (who may or may not have been Brad Keefauver) noted that it was a wise choice to keep the characters true to their original form, otherwise anyone familiar with the original stories would have a hard time with Holmes and Watson as comedic characters.

Elliot Auch gets two pretty substantial roles in this performance: Dr. Mortimer and Stapleton.  And even though his slot in the performance calls for 14 different characters (seriously!  14!), his version of Mr. Barrymore was my favorite.  Dr. Moritmer is a pretty straight forward character, but what he gets to do with Stapleton and Barrymore are entertaining takes on what could easily be cardboard cutout characters.  Stapleton does a lot of flouncing while Barrymore does a lot of limping.

Although it's listed as the Actor 2 role, Ed Reggi's performance should have been labeled "Henry Baskerville and some others."  Reggi spends the majority of his time as the Texas heir of Baskerville manor, and gives the role just enough Texas twang to make it funny without it being a parody of a loud American.  Reggi also gets to play a foul-mouthed Lestrade, and how he is able to pull off Sir Henry and Lestrade in the same climactic scene is one of the many highlights of the show.

I purposely saved Gwen Wotawa's performance for last.  Because it's the best.  My wife and I saw the show Friday night and talked about her role the entire way home.  I got to see Baskerville a second time on Sunday and was just as impressed.  Since Baskerville is such a popular play, I'm assuming the Actress 1 role is just as demanding in all other performances, and if so, the lady that takes it on has to be extremely talented.  Wotawa takes on at least 20 roles by my guess.  All of them have different dresses, wigs, accents, and sometimes genders.  The fact that one woman can differentiate so easily between Mrs. Hudson, Beryl Stapleton, Laura Lyons, Cartwright of the Baker Street Irregulars, and a score of others is no small feat!  But if you get to see this play, Wotawa's performance as Mrs. Stapleton is a true delight just for her reaction to Holmes asking if Charles Baskerville had a girlfriend.

I could go on and on about how much I loved this performance, but not today.  I was lucky enough to get to see it a second time Sunday afternoon because I am selling copies of The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street in the lobby before and after the Sunday matinees.  Somehow, I also agreed to be part of the Sunday talk back sessions with the actors.  I had a few minutes to give a synopsis of my book to the crowd and answer one or two questions before the actors came back out on stage, and after that, I spent more time asking them questions than I did talking about my own book (Sometimes curiosity outweighs capitalism and stage fright).

I'm lucky enough to get to spend the next two Sundays with Insight Theatre and their take on the most popular Sherlock Holmes story.  Even though I already have two viewings under my belt, I'm looking forward to more.  Who knows, I may just end up a theater fan after all.

The Whole Thing Had Been Fixed Up for Theatrical Effect

The play's the thing!

Okay, that's not a Sherlockian quote, but it sums up my current Sherlockian thoughts.  Because this Friday, I'm going to see my first Sherlockian play!  Being so deep into this hobby as I am, it's surprising that it's taken me over a decade to see the great detective on stage, but that dry spell ends in a few days.

Starting this week, the Insight Theatre Company in St. Louis is performing "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" all throughout October.  I've heard snippets of reviews of Ken Ludwig's play here and there and expect a humorous retelling of The Hound of the Baskerville, but I purposely haven't looked for much more information on the play.  I want to be surprised by what this troupe puts out there.

Some of their previous performances have included "On Golden Pond," "The Wizard of Oz," "Death of a Salesman," and a bunch of titles that would probably be familiar to anyone with even the slightest theater knowledge, of which I'm lacking.  Although I would've LOVED to have seen their performance of "Charlotte's Web."  Love that book.

Sherlock Holmes has a rich tradition in the theater.  From Mary Morstan, Cadogen West and Josiah Amberly in Doyle's stories to William Gillette and Charlie Chaplin to Charlton Heston and Jeremy Brett to the modern day incarnations all across the globe, Holmes and the theater seem to go hand in hand.  If anyone follows Howard Ostrom on Twitter, you see just how many local productions of the Holmes stories are constantly being put on.

Why does Holmes endure in the theater tradition?  I'm about the last person to try and answer that.  My exposure to theater is extremely limited, but maybe I'll be an expert after this weekend.  Doubtful, but it gives me something to mull over this week anyway....

I’m Too Ill to Think

I've been sidelined by a pretty wicked stomach virus for the past few days, so this week's post will be a collection of short topics that may or may not be as coherent as a typical week's post.  Here we go...

First and foremost, Brad Keefauver teased that he has a podcast project in the works!  While he's not revealing much more than that, I expect it to have that trademarked Keefauver quality of thoughtfulness, quirkiness, knowledge and passion.

As I mentioned last week, I had my first book signing at Afterwords Books in Edwardsville, IL.  Thinking about it still brings a smile to my face.  One of the many highlights of that evening was being interviewed by a local newspaper (and making it to the front page!).  If you're interested, you can read my interview here.

I am currently reading Bill Mason's "Pursuing Sherlock Holmes" and enjoying it immensely.  Mr. Mason's book is a collection of different writings ranging from a musical toast to a fictional meeting between Mrs. St. Clair and Holmes after the events of The Man With the Twisted Lip.  Two chapters that I really enjoyed were his analysis of Holmes' dressing gown and the parallels between Baron Gruner and Count Dracula.  That second topic may sound far-fetched, but Bill makes an argument that isn't nearly as outlandish as you would think.  I also had the privilege of meeting Bill this summer at the Nerve and Knowledge symposium in Indiana, and as well as being a great Sherlockian writer, he is a genuinely nice guy!

This month, the Insight Theatre Company in St. Louis is performing Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.  I have been looking forward to this for months since I first heard about it.  If you are in the St. Louis area in October, check it out!

I also recently finished "Sherlock Holmes on the Roof of the World" by Thomas Kent Miller.  I'm not a big pastiche reader because I find it hard to read other people's take on the Watsonian voice (which is a big reason I narrated The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street in the third person).  But Mr. Miller's book takes place during the great hiatus, so his narrator is one from an H. Rider Haggard tale.  If you enjoy quick, adventurous reads, I would recommend checking this one out.

That's it for me.  Back to the couch.

The Daring Speculations of the Writer

Brad Keefauver and I have been going back and forth this past week, debating if Hatty Doran of the Noble Bachelor was truly a villain or not (spoiler: she was).  But something even bigger happened this week also, so it's time to change topics, and I will leave with his Thor quotes and republican straw men for now.

Friday night was my first book signing for The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street.

You guys, I can't even describe how awesome it was!

Deep breath.  Okay, begin at the beginning.

When I first announced my contract with MX Publishing on Facebook, my local independent bookstore immediately said they wanted to schedule an author signing.  This store is great.  Afterwords Books in Edwardsville has been my go to store for the past 6 years or so when I first discovered it.  Since then they've moved three times (once or twice I got conscripted into helping move those boxes of books), and every year Afterwords has become more and more important to me.  My daughter's three year old pictures were even taken in the store!

Fast forward from that photo shoot to last Friday night.  My wife, daughter and I arrived at Afterwords at 6:00 for the 6:30 event.  After a few minutes of set up talk with LuAnn, the owner, a reporter from the local paper showed up to interview me about my book.  (Side note, this is BY FAR the coolest part of the whole thing for my daughter.  IT'S THE NEWSPAPER!)  I wasn't sure what to expect from the interview, but when she started asking me about Mary Morstan and Lestrade's roles in my book, it was clear this reporter knew her stuff.  It was a real pleasure to talk with her and I will be sure to link to the story once it's up.

And there was cake!

By 6:30, I was seated at my table with a stack of books and a reliable pen, and before I knew it, there was A LINE!  Seriously, enough people came out to buy my book that they had to wait in line to talk to me.  Insane.  Some of my current and former fifth graders came by, which was especially awesome because they HAVE to spend all day with me.  The fact that they drug their parents out to see me again was really meaningful.  And, I got those kids into a bookstore.  Double points.

A lot of the people in attendance were friends and acquaintances, and I think a little part of them is pretty happy to not see me post the event in their Facebook feeds anymore.  Every time I looked up to see another familiar face, it was another jolt of happiness.  It really felt like a homecoming picnic, except everyone was there for books, and a book that I wrote, to boot!

Afterwords did a great job promoting the event, and there were other people there who I'm not Facebook friends with or related to in attendance as well.  It was really nice to meet some other local Sherlock Holmes fans.  I made a few pitches for The Parallel Case of St. Louis, but we will have to see if we get any new recruits.  One memorable exchange I had was with a guy who brought his seventh grade son, and the son started asking me about getting a book published.  About halfway through our conversation, I realized that I was semi-qualified to be giving this guy advice on following a dream he had to write a book.  Whoa.

Of course I was happy to see people buying my book.  But seeing people carry stacks of books and other merchandise up to the register was just as great.  I'm a big believer that it's important to support local businesses that are meaningful to us.  MX Publishing has a great program where independent bookstores get access to titles 2-3 months before Amazon and Barnes & Noble do.  I would really encourage you to get your local independent bookstore to look into stocking some MX titles.  Because you know you're not the only Sherlockian in your town, and buying Sherlockian books from a local independent is a win-win for everyone.

As the night wound down, we realized that we had sold out of The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street!  Afterwords had their stock, and I brought a box of books to the event, just in case we needed one or two extra.  We needed a few more than one or two.  I have five more book signings scheduled over the next month and half, but I can't imagine anything topping this one.  My local bookstore and my Sherlockian hobby coming together for a night was evidently no ordinary party.