Raffles Redux

[fountainofsnow]

I've been working on a website for the last year and a half, and the Ides of March seemed like the appropriate time to share it with you.  I hope you enjoy it.

rafflesredux.comIt contains the complete text of the Raffles books (including the Narrator's Note, which is not in most editions) with extensive annotations (literary references, details

Comments

[constant_muse]

This is fantastic! Thank you, your efforts are much appreciated.

[fountainofsnow]

Thanks! It was a lot of work, but fun as well.

[constant_muse]

I'm very glad you give prominence to the Conan Doyle connection.
With the popularity of Sherlock Holmes spin-offs recently, it's time a TV producer revived Raffles. A modern production could give so much more scope for the homoeroticism too.

[fountainofsnow]

Exactly what I was thinking. I know I can't be the only person who decided to read Raffles because I had enjoyed reading the Sherlock Holmes stories. And in fact, I ended up liking them more.

I hope we do get a new TV show. The one from the '70s was fun, but it's time. Sherlock Holmes has the advantage of having the Conan Doyle estate, which has a financial interest in getting all of these movies and shows and such made. Since Hornung didn't leave any descendents, there isn't really anyone to promote his work these days. On the other hand, it also means there's nobody around claiming to hold the copyright, either.

[derien]

Wow. What a lot of work, thank you. :) I hope I'll have a chance to really give this a good peruse sometime soon. :)

[fountainofsnow]

Thanks! I hope it's as fun to read as it was to write.

[hellmans]

This is AMAZING!! Oh god, the illustrations! There's so many I've never seen before! I collect all Raffles illustrations I can find, so this is basically Christmas for me. (Actually I think I might have a few that I didn't see on your site if you're interested)

[fountainofsnow]

I'm so glad you enjoyed the pictures! I scanned most of them from the original magazines, so even the ones you have seen before may be at a slightly higher quality.

If you have any I missed, I'd love to see them! I tried to include every illustration I could find, even the ones where they gave Bunny a hideous moustache.

[hellmans]

Yes, your scans are much better quality than most of the ones I already had! I'm ridiculously happy about this, because some of the ones I had were really low res or so dark you could hardly see what was going on. So many thanks to you for the awesome scans!!

Yeah, what's with that bloody moustache anyway? Bunny, you're a cute little rabbit, not a walrus!

Here's the ones I didn't see (but possibly I may have overlooked some of them?)

From The Knees of the Gods:

[ilthit]

I just discovered this recently (as I rediscovered Raffles) and it's fantastic, my jaw dropped. What a great resource

[ilthit]

Whoops, read the reviews, apparently Halcyon's formatting is crap, too.

[fountainofsnow]

Oh my goodness, you would do that? You dear, wonderful person! I have been thinking about a Kindle version, but I didn't know if it was possible to include all of the notes and I haven't had the time to figure it out myself. Send me a message and I can send you my email address if you like.

[ilthit]

Yay! Footnotes don't show up as neatly as one would wish on an e-book, so I'd suggest numbered notes at the end of each story with hyperlinks in the text; that's how it was done with Science of Discworld IV, which had the most notes in any e-book I've read. Well, that handled notes well, anyway. I'm also reading a version of the Voyage of the Beagle which doesn't even try to hyperlink notes, and they just show up - with page numbers! - in the middle of the text. See what I mean about those green-covered e-books on Kindle?

I'll send you a PM!