Interesting Interview: PJ Sullivan

So many of these Interesting Interviews are with people I've gotten to know over the years.  This one is a little different, as I know PJ Sullivan but not nearly as well as many of my other interview subjects.  But once you meet her, PJ sticks in your memory because she is so enthusiastic about this hobby of ours as well as being exceedingly outgoing and nice.

PJ has been to a few Sherlockian events over the past few years and is a regular part Zoom meetings.  She's the type of person who people naturally gravitate to; she just radiates positivity and friendliness.  I'm glad I reached out to her to be a part of the Interesting Interview series because she has so much to say!  And I'm blown away by the pictures of her 221B room!  So if you have or have not met PJ Sullivan yet, get ready to spend some time with someone who I predict will be around and have a positive impact on Sherlockian for years to come in this week's Interesting Interview!

How do you define the word “Sherlockian”?  

Sherlockian as a noun: anyone with an affection for The Canon and all that it has given rise to through the years, the studies and scholarship, the pastiche and homage; radio, film, television, and the ever-growing online realm; art and poetry; an affinity for the world so perfectly captured by Vincent Starrett where “it is always eighteen ninety-five.” As an adjective, though, Sherlockian, for me, is an intangible – a feeling, rather than a thing; a vibe (to mis-use current slang).  I look for that feeling when adding items to my own Baker Street: does it feel Sherlockian? An extra-canonical mystery novel, your hounds-tooth coat, a late-Victorian period film, any of these might strike me as having a Sherlockian feel, as evoking a memory – a note of familiarity harkening back to the Canonical Origin.

How did you become a Sherlockian?  

Unlike most Sherlockians I’ve met, I cannot – for the life of me – recall when I first started reading Sherlock Holmes. It’s just someone I’ve always known, like Mary Poppins or Robin Hood or George Washington, who could be visited again at any time.  Sometime in the early 2000’s, though, I re-read the entire Canon and it hit differently.  The sense of familiarity, of home-coming, enveloped me: that was the moment I began to immerse myself.  It began with a more focused acquisition of books, and then bits of décor, a deerstalker, and such.  In 2018, I decided to convert a room in my house to a small 221B Baker Street, and in researching that project online, I discovered – by way of Denny Dobry, Chuck Kovacic, and the museum at Meiringen – a vast community of like-minded folk that I had never imagined.  I found a notice for the Empire Conference at Bear Mountain (open to non-members!) and decided to give it a try.  That’s how it all began. And now I am a Cornish Horror, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy telling people that.

What is your profession and does that affect how you enjoy being a Sherlockian?

“Commissionaire, sir. Uniform away for repairs.” Well, no: I work as an executive assistant, and have done for about 30 years, spending time in healthcare technology and a few other industries before making my home ten years ago in communications infrastructure with a company called American Tower.  We own and operate cell towers and data centers enabling connectivity and communication around the world.  I am assistant to the president of our U.S. operations.  I don’t meet many Sherlockians through work, but I’m surrounded by intelligent and curious people, many of whom are happy to listen to my Sherlockian stories and are entirely supportive of my forays into my new community.  It’s a treat to have my boss asking how I enjoyed my latest conference or scion meeting.

What is your favorite canonical story?  

Oooof.  "Black Peter," "The Devil’s Foot," and the first two chapters of A Study in Scarlet.  I’ll re-read those first two chapters time and again, just to absorb that first meeting and the earliest stage of acquaintanceship.  I love everything about those chapters, they always seem fresh to me, and I have yet to tire of them. They are my most frequent bedtime story, and something to occupy me during lunch on a Sunday afternoon. I have a cross-stitch sampler hanging in my Baker Street that reads, “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.” I may have the first few paragraphs engraved on my tombstone.

Who is a specific Sherlockian that you think others would find interesting? 

What has impressed me about the Sherlockians I’ve met, even more than their collective knowledge, is their willingness to share their stories. Hearing the tales they have to tell, the memories they are keeping alive, has been an incredible joy to me.  To chose one?  Impossible. May I give you three?  

Walter Colby, BSI: On every occasion I have encountered Walter, he has had an interesting story or amusing anecdote, and he is always willing to share.  

Burt Wolder, BSI, who knows something (and likely a lot of something) about everything (really, everything), is a treat to talk with. 

2-for-1 special: Linda Hein and Beth Barnard: the conversation we had in January about Baker Street West was one of the best of my time at the 2024 Birthday Weekend.

What subset of Sherlockiana really interests you?

I do have a particular interest in the relationship between Holmes and Watson.  I enjoy watching their friendship evolve through the years. Sometimes, I’ll go through the Canon reading only the openings and closings of each story, the parts where we find our heroes at home, just being in each other’s company. Absent the actual adventures, this gives a simple streamlined view of their progress through life together that I find endlessly interesting and entertaining.  

But I think for my own microcosm of Sherlockiana, the primary feature of interest is the 221B room that I have made in my house. I refer to it as my Baker Street, and though small, it’s a project I enjoy tremendously.  I’ll sit in the basket chair for hours leafing through books or have a glass of wine in Sherlock’s chair by the fireplace.  I’m always looking for new things to add. I recently acquired a copy of the secret naval treaty (originally scribed by Paul Churchill, BSI), which thrills me to no end. I have a lovely harpoon resting in one corner.  It’s a project – or hobby, rather – that will carry me for years to come, with no timeline, deadline, or endpoint; I can wander in and out as I like. There will always be something new to add and something to rearrange, and it will always have that Sherlockian atmosphere just waiting to blanket me.

What is Sherlockian life like in the upper part of New England?  

It’s quiet.  I join society virtual meetings when I can – which is not nearly as often as I’d like, and I travel to New York each January (I’ve done two Birthday weekends now).  I visit Rhode Island annually for the Cornish Horrors, and Connecticut for The Men on the Tor when I can. The Speckled Band very kindly invited me to their dinner this year (the presentations were excellent!). I am looking forward to expanding my adventures to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other cities as time goes on. 

Last year, I made the pilgrimage to Pennsylvania to spend a blissful day in Denny Dobry’s incredible recreation of the large airy sitting-room.  Denny was the most patient and accommodating of hosts, and I remain in equal parts awe-struck by the space and grateful for the chance to experience it.

How did you become the Editor of Scionical and Societal Reports for The Baker Street Almanac and what have you learned since you've taken on that role?

I’m actually a little vague on the details of how this came about.  I had been emailing Ross Davies to acquire a few extra copies of the BSA, and he asked if I might be interested in “pitching in” (I was).  A few months later, we were on a video call, and he asked if I’d like to assume the role that Monica Schmidt had decided to resign, shepherding reports for Canada and the United States.  I leapt at the opportunity, and it’s been terrific.  

I’ve become much better acquainted with a broader group of Sherlockians.  I’ve enjoyed seeing how various societies are similar, and how they differ, and I love seeing the places they overlap and interconnect; it’s like a vast web spinning out from the Canonical center.  If anyone is not currently reading the annual scionical and societal reports in the BSA, I urge you to do so: the world is in there.  

The most important thing I’ve discovered through working on the Almanac is how incredibly rewarding it feels to have a way to contribute to the Sherlockian world, to be “doing my part.” Working on the Almanac gives me a small way to give back to the community that has been so welcoming and generous to me, and I am indescribably grateful for that.

What book would you recommend to other Sherlockians? 

Oh, golly; where to begin? Do you want to know more about Sherlock? William S. Baring-Gould’s The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, and Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street.  Looking for pastiche? The Seven Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer, naturally, but also Lyndsay Faye’s The Whole Art of Detection. A short story you might have missed? “The Doctor’s Case” by Stephen King.  

Looking to expand beyond Watson and Holmes?  Pick up any one of the Golden Age anthologies edited by Otto Penzler. Want to try the Canon as an audio book?  Stephen Fry’s recording is by far my favorite version, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a long drive, or an afternoon of chores, or long winter nights.

Where do you see Sherlockiana in 5 or 10 years from now?

Remember that vast web of societies I mentioned?  I imagine that network ever-expanding, spinning out to join new Sherlockians into societies, new societies into the larger community.  And if you’ll forgive my mixing of metaphors: imagine a kaleidoscope with every colored bit of Sherlockiana tumbling always into the others, creating endless new pretty pictures of scholarship, imagination, and comradery.