Feb 10 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press The papers presented at "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A Sesqicentennial Sympos- ium" at the Houghton Library at Harvard last May have been published as PA- PERS AT AN EXHIBITION, and it is a delightful volume, with 14 papers about Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and Sherlockians, and a full-color dust jack- et showing a portrait of Holmes by Frederic Dorr Steele. $38.95 postpaid to the U.S. (or $49.50 elsewhere) from The Baker Street Irregulars (3040 Sloat Road, Pebble Beach, CA 93953) . Jeremy Paul's play "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes" (originally commissioned by Jeremy Brett in 1988) will be performed at the People's Light & Theatre, from July 7 through Aug. 8; 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355 (610-544- 3500) . Spotted by Joan Betzner: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Vincent Goodwin, from the ABDO Publishing Co.; six titles, $28.50 each, tgfkm, $19.95 each at the company's web-site ; you can al- so request a catalog (8000 West 78th Street #310, Edina, MN 55439 (800-800- 1312). THE CARLTON HOBBS SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION (BBC Audiobooks, 2010; L30.00) is a set of three CDs with twelve programs from the old 30-minute Carlton Hobbs/Norman Shelley series and new introductions by Nicholas Utechin, that were broadcast by BBC Digital Radio 7 in 2004; Hobbs and Shelley did (and Utechin does) well indeed. There's a trailer for The Asylum's DVD "Sherlock Holmes" (Jan 10 #6); Lloyd Rose spotted it at . Catherine Wynne discusses the connections, both literary and personal, be- tween Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker in her interesting introduction to a new reprint of Conan Doyle's THE PARASITE and Stoker's THE WATTER'S MOU' (Kansas City: Valancourt Books, 2009, 163 pp., $16.95); the book also reprints Conan Doyle's "John Barrington Cowles", Stoker's "The Coming of Abel Behenna", and an interview written by Stoker after a visit with Conan Doyle at Hindhead in 1907, and offers a fine look at authors who are much better known for Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. Valancourt has reprinted two other books by Conan Doyle, and has many other authors in print; their web- site's at . Frogwares' latest Sherlockian adventure game for computers "Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper" was released last year (Apr 09 #7); Dreamcatcher plans to release the game for Xbox 360 in March. There are screen shots and much more at . The December issue of the quarterly newsletter of The Friends of the Sher- lock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota has Dana Richards' "50 Years Ago" discussion of Martin Gardner, accompanied by Gardner's "Re- membering John Bennett Shaw", Russell Merritt's reminiscences about Chris Steinbrunner, and other news from and about the Collections; copies of the newsletter are available from Richard J. Sveum (111 Elmer L. Andersen Li- brary, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455) . Feb 10 #2 Jeff Katz has reported an 87th language for translations of the Canon: HANETA is A STUDY IN SCARLET translated into Tigrigna (a language in Eritrea). It's available from Ibex (a Swedish on-line company that specializes in African books) for 125kr (about $17.50); you can order at . The new discovery will be listed in the next edition of THE GALACTIC SHERLOCK HOLMES, Don Hobbs' electronic biblio- graphy of translations; a one-year subscription (with two to three up-dated CDs) costs $15.00 (to the U.S.) or $20.00 (elsewhere), from Don at 2100 Elm Creek Lane, Flower Mound, TX 75028. The Westport Community Theatre has scheduled F. Andrew Leslie's dramatiza- tion of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" for Apr. 9-21; Town Hall, Westport, CT 06880 (203-226-1983) . The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for Edgars (to be awarded at their gala banquet on Apr. 29 in New York). The nominees in- clude (best juvenile) Nancy's Springer's THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE, (the latest in her series featuring Sherlock Holmes' younger sister Enola). The MWA web-site lists the nominees in all the categories. YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES: DEATH CLOUD is the title of the first book in Andrew Lane's new series for children (Apr 09 #7); it's due from Macmillan in the UK on June 4, and there's a one-minute trailer at . "Walk in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes," advises MC Black, who offers to guide visitors to appropriate Canonical locales, with the price discounted to L5.00 for those who say the magic word [scuttlebutt]. He has a web-site at , and he's at Hardknott, Chadwell, Ware, Hert- fordshire SG12 9JY, England . Sorry about that: the correct dates for the conference ("Spirits of Sher- lock Holmes") planned by the Norwegian Explorers in Minneapolis (Jan 10 #6) at Aug. 6-8. Francine Kitts reports that there's a third Sherlockian mystery jigsaw (Jan 10 #4): it's "The Case of the Fallen Actress" and she discovered all three of them priced at $2.99 each at her local Christmas Tree Shop (which is a discount-store chain that seems to be open throughout the year). Boa Sr. died this month. She was 85 years old, a member of the Great Anda- mese tribe, and the last person to be able to speak Bo, one of the ancient tribal dialects in the Andaman Islands; it is not known whether Tonga was a speaker of Bo, but (thanks to the BBC) you can listen to a recording of Boa Sr. speaking Bo . THE FRENCH ARTILLERY OFFICER, by Lawrence Fischman (Dallas: Gram's Group, 2009; 491 pp., $26.95 cloth/$18.95 paper) is billed as "a Sherlock Holmes/ John Watson adventure" and offers plenty for both of them to do, working to help save Alfred Dreyfus from a second conviction, and involved with Win- ston Churchill, La belle Otero, Auguste Escoffier, Cesar Ritz, Mycroft, and a variety of villains of various nationalities and allegiances; you can or- der on-line at . Feb 10 #3 It's nice news indeed that "The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Set 2" will be issued by Acorn Media in March with the second set of 13 programs that were broadcast in the U.S. in 1972 and in the U.K. in 1973 ($59.99). As with the first set (Jan 10 #3), there are excellent per- formances by actors who include Douglas Wilmer (Prof. Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen), Charles Gray (Eugene Valmont), Barrie Ingham (Dr. John Thorndyke), and John Thaw (Lieutenant Holst). SHERLOCK HOLMES CASEBOOK: FAMOUS CRIME SCENES, a series of attractive art- work by Larry Gosser, now runs to nine scenes ($9.95 each). and you can see them all in full color at his web-site ; just click on "gallery" to see his Sherlockian and other art. "Is It Inevitable, My Dear Watson?" was the headline on Lenny Picker's in- formative article in Publishers Weekly (Jan. 18), reflecting on the likeli- hood of another "boom" resulting from all the attention that has been given to Guy Ritchie's new film; you can read all about it at their web-site at . Rod Mollise's web-site is an in- teresting "Homage to the Master"; he offers newly annotated versions of the first eight short stories, and his paper on "The Erotic Hound: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES as a Text of Pleasure". THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES: A SHERLOCK HOLMES GRAPHIC NOVEL is the first in a new series adapted by Ian Edginton and illustrated by I. N. J. Culbard (London: SelfMadeHero, 2009; 132 pp., L14.99); it's nicely done, with fine artwork; A STUDY IN SCARLET is next, to be followed by THE SIGN OF FOUR and THE VALLEY OF FEAR. And there's an American edition from Sterling $14.95). The Falls Players will perform Steven Dietz's "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure" at the Lunda Theater Stage on Apr. 16-18; Box 371, Black River Falls, WI 54615 (715-896-4123) . The latest issue of Carolyn and Joel Senter's The Sherlockian E-Times will be found at , with offers of in- teresting Sherlockiana, old and new, including a CD with Joel Senter's ra- dio drama "The Golf Stroker's Quirk" from its premiere performance during the Canonical Convocation and Caper in Door County, Wis., in 1996. "Lively and cogent speculations on the life and times of Sherlock Holmes, including a new theory on the site of 221B," was Edgar W. Smith's descrip- tion of Gavin Brend's MY DEAR HOLMES (London: Allen & Unwin, 1951). Fran- cine and Richard Kitts have found mint copies of the second impression of this classic, in dust jacket, and are offering them for $30.00 postpaid to the U.S. ($35.00 elsewhere); you can contact Francine at 35 Van Cortlandt Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301 . The script for K. C. Brown's play "Sherlock's Veiled Secret" has been pub- lished by the Dramatists Play Service (440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016) ; $5.25 plus postage. The play is set in 1920, when young Violet Sheridan discovers she has a family connection to Sher- lock Holmes and collaborates with him on a case involving blackmail. Feb 10 #4 THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPANION: AN ELEMENTARY GUIDE, by Daniel Smith (London: Aurum Press, 2009; 192 pp., L20.00/$27.95), is an interesting, attractive, and useful book; he offers summaries for each of the stories (without spoilers), essays on Conan Doyle and Holmes and the Canon, interviews with actors and authors, and a wealth of artwork and il- lustrations. It's an excellent demonstration of how much fun the world of Sherlock Holmes can be. The detailed schedule and registration form for "Sherlock Holmes: The Man and His Worlds" (to be held at Bennington College in Bennington, Vt., June 24-27, 2010) is now available from Sally Sugarman (Box 407, Shaftsbury, VT 05262) and at . The March issue of Playboy has a Sherlockian cartoon by Clive Colins, and news of GAHAN WILSON: 50 YEARS OF PLAYBOY CARTOONS (Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2010; 942 pp., $125.00); three volumes in a slipcase, with introduc- tions by Neil Gaiman and Hugh Hefner. Gahan's first Sherlockian contribu- ution to Playboy was in the Dec. 1959 issue, and he has had many S'ian car- toons in later issues. Ken Lanza found a new Sherlockian first day cover for the new "Seabiscuit" stamped envelope created by Tris Fall at Baker Street Cachets, which began last year with the Edgar Allan Poe stamp and now has four different covers available . Malice Domestic has reported that Nancy Springer's THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE, the fifth in her series featuring Enola Holmes, 14 years old and the younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock, has been nominated for an Aga- tha (best children's/young adult novel); the winners will be announced at the convention banquet on May 1. The comic book mini-series VICTORIAN UNDEAD: SHERLOCK HOLMES VS ZOMBIES has reached it's third issue (March, $2.99 from Wildstorm), with an interest- ing story by Ian Edginton and fine artwork by Davide Fabbri; there are pre- views at the web-site . Pj Doyle reports: "Fringe's annual 'Five Fifths of...' is tackling a Sher- lock Holmes story this year." That's the Minnesota Fringe, and the event will be at the Ritz Theatre in Minneapolis on May 3; the Fringe has invited five different performing arts companies to "tear apart and piece back one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories" More information will be available at . Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine has added podcasts to its web-site, and one of them is Steve Hockensmith and Michael Wiltrout reading Steve's "Dear Dr. Watson" (from the Feb. 2007 issue). Go to and scroll down to the podcast link. Michael Proctor has discovered Retrovision Internet TV, a web-site that has a wide variety of films and television programs that you can watch on-line at ; the Sherlockian offerings range from Arthur Wont- ner's "The Sleeping Cardinal" (1931) to Christopher Lee's "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" (1992). Feb 10 #5 DREAMS OF FUTURE PAST: THE SCIENCE FICTION WORLDS OF ARTHUR CO- NAN DOYLE AND H. G. WELLS, by Dana Martin Batory (Indianapolis: Wessex Press, 2010; 141 pp., $13.95), is a collection of essays published in the 1980s and 1990s in hard-to-find magazines such as Riverside Quarter- ly and The Age of the Unicorn, and Batory offers interesting insights into the work of Conan Doyle and Wells. The publisher's address is: Box 68308, Indianapolis, IN 46256 . The Baker Street Irregulars were born and nurtured in the pages of the Sat- urday Review of Literature, but the SRL was not the first American literary magazine to aid and abet Sherlockians: The Bookman came first, and did so during its entire history from 1895 to 1933. The editors (Harry Thurston Peck and Arthur Bartlett Maurice) debated "The Hound of the Baskervilles" as each episode was published in the American edition of The Strand Maga- zine, and in Feb. 1903 an editor described a contributor to The Bookman's Letter-Box as a "true Sherlockian," the first known usage of the word. And over the years The Bookman published commentary, articles (by authors that included Arthur Conan Doyle and Vincent Starrett), and pastiches and paro- dies (by Charlton Andrews, Corey Ford, and others). SHERLOCK HOLMES, CONAN DOYLE & THE BOOKMAN, edited and annotated by S. E. Dahlinger and Leslie S. Klinger (Indianapolis: Gasogene Books, 2010; 271 pp., $29.95), is a fasci- nating demonstration of just how much Sherlockians and Doyleans owe to The Bookman. Gasogene Books is an imprint of the Wessex Press; see above for the publisher's address. Forecast for March (from Doubleday): THE DEVIL AND SHERLOCK HOLMES: TALES OF MURDER, MADNESS, AND OBSESSION, by David Grann (352 pp., $26.95) (and from Simon & Schuster in the U.K., L12.99); Grann is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and the collection includes his 2004 article "Mysterious Cir- cumstances" about the death of Richard Lancelyn Green. There's a new 30-second animated Sherlockian commercial, for Red Bull, and you can watch it at YouTube . There's also a Sherlockian puppet in two 1-minute commercials (Episodes 2 and 3) at ; check the "Crew" to see more of The Detective. "Arthur & George" (the new play by David Edgar based on the novel by Julian Barnes about Conan Doyle and Edalji) will premiere at the Birmingham Reper- tory Theatre from Mar. 19 to Apr. 10 (Nov 09 #4), and will then move to the Nottingham Playhouse from Apr. 22 to May 8 (Wellington Circus, Nottingham, NG1 5AF, England (0115-941-0410) Spotted by Evy Herzog: COLOR YOUR OWN GRAPHIC NOVEL: SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, adapted and illustrated by John Green (Mineola: Dover Publications, 2009; 46 pp., $4.99); an imaginative approach, and it's nicely executed. Dover also has issued SHERLOCK HOLMES PAPER DOLLS, by Tom Tierney (32 pp., $9.99); Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, Lestrade, and Irene Ad- ler, with different costumes, and interchangeable heads for many actors who have played Holmes and Watson over the years. And a SHERLOCK HOLMES ACTIV- ITY BOOK, by David Schimmell (48 pp., $4.99); 32 puzzles for young detec- tives. Also the SHERLOCK HOLMES STICKER ACTIVITY BOOK, by Arkady Roytman (4 pp., $1.50); you create your own crime scenes with 20 reusable stickers. The publisher's web-site is at . Feb 10 #6 Forecast for April (from Bantam Books, 368 pp., $25.00): Laurie R. King's THE GOD OF THE HIVE, her tenth Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel. There are excerpts from the novel at , weekly episodes of a new short story ("A Case of Correspondence"), contests (she's now well into "Twenty Weeks of Buzz!"), links to blogs (both ladies have their own blogs) and to Russell's tweets at . SHERLOCK HOLMES - THE DEATH AND LIFE, a two-CD set from Big Finish (PO Box 3787, Maidenhead, Berks. SL6 3TF, England) , is a two- act play written by David Stuart Davies and performed by Roger Llewellyn in 2008 in Guildford, and then on tour. It's an imaginative script and a fine performance, and the CD set costs $24.40 (or $12.99 as a download); the set includes interviews with Llewellyn, Davies, and director Nicholas Briggs. SHERLOCK HOLMES - THE LAST ACT, written by Davies for Llewellyn and first performed in 1999 and then on tour, was recorded and issued last year on a similar two-CD set, available from Big Finish (same address, same price). It's nice when radio station keep their program available in archives: Doug Wrigglesworth and Karen Campbell were on the CBC series "Fresh Air" on Feb. 7 discussing the new film, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlockians, and The Bootmak- ers of Toronto, and you can listen to the 13-minute segment at the CBC web- site at . Martin Gardner is an entertaining and knowledgeable writer; there are Can- onical allusions in his THE ANNOTATED CASEY AT THE BAT (1984) and THE ANNO- TATED NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1991), and many other books, and his WHEN YOU WERE A TADPOLE AND I WAS A FISH: AND OTHER SPECULATIONS ABOUT THIS AND THAT (New York: Hill and Wang, 2009; 246 pp. $26.00) is an interesting collec- tion of essays about science, bogus science, mathematics, and other topics; Conan Doyle appears in two essays, both about bogus science. Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" won two Oscar nominations: Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer (best art direction) and Hans Zimmer (best achievement in music written for motion pictures, original score); the winners will be an- nounced on Mar. 7. And Robert Downey Jr. won an Irish Film and Television Award (best international actor) on Feb. 20 in Dublin. According to the Box Office Mojo web-site, the film has grossed more than $462 million worldwide, and is now in the top 100 all-time films ("Avatar" is #1, with $2.463 billion). Entertainment web-sites have reported that Warner Home Video plans to issue the film on Blu-ray disc and on DVD on Mar. 30; the Blu-ray disc ($35.99) will have many additional features that aren't listed for the DVD ($28.98), but the company likely will also issue a special DVD with that includes the features. The success of the film has won some attention from film-makers who are said to be considering up-dated "action" version of "The Three Mus- keteers" and "Treasure Island". And Al Gregory spotted a report in Retail Jeweller (Jan. 21) that jewellers have noted an increase in demand for fob or pocket watches coinciding with the release of the movie. The Spermaceti Press: Peter E. Blau, 7103 Endicott Court, Bethesda, MD 20817-4401 (301-229-5669)