Thoughts on A Study in Scarlet, plus love letter from Holmes to Watson

[kattahj]

I have now finished reading A Study in Scarlet - so much for getting off the high before I submerged myself in canon. It was a very fun read, and I'll be right off to the library after lunch for more.

Comments

[likeadeuce]

I'm not super well-versed in Holmes, but I recall that the stories rarely follow the whodunit rules (which probably weren't invented at the time). In the ones I remember reading, Holmes would sometimes gather clues independently and present them to Watson along with his conclusion. It's not really possible for the reader to follow along with him, by which I conclude that isn't the intent.

Glad you're getting so much joy from the new fandom! I haven't seen the film yet, because I'm waiting for a friend to visit and watch it with me, and I've never been fannish about the books, but it always delights me to see people take old and new canon together instead of being snobbish about one or the other. (Obviously, separating or preferring one or the other is a different thing; I've just seen a few too many OMG THEY ARE RUINING SHERLOCK HOLMES! statements floating around).

[kattahj]

Good to know! I'll think of them as adventures, then, rather than mysteries. Which should be easy, since I tend to think of mysteries as adventures too. :-)

I haven't seen very many OMG THEY ARE RUINING SHERLOCK HOLMES statements, truth be told. Or, well, I have, but only from film reviews. What I have seen is a bunch of Sherlock Holmes fans going OMG ANOTHER REVIEWER WHO HAS OBVIOUSLY NEVER READ SHERLOCK HOLMES YET IS COMPLAINING THAT RITCHIE IS RUINING HIM. :-)

Anyway, there are film-specific comms, so I lurk at the old comms and comment only in the new ones.

[therru]

Oh, I remember that Bureau of Communication thing! I seem to remember things being about the Doctor and the Master at the time, though, so it must have been in 2007. :)

And their age is another of those retconned things in most TV adaptations. They keep being portrayed as being in their 40s or 50s, with Watson especially as an older gentleman, when in fact I think he was even a year younger than Holmes, if I'm not mistaken.

[kattahj]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one whose first thoughts go to fanfic! morthel was using it for RL purposes, but then, she's more well-adapted than I am.

Yeah, at first I saw the publishing dates and figured Holmes could be any age at all, but then I read in wikipedia that the books only cover a period of 20 years or so, so anyone over 50 is pushing it, really.

According to the afterword, Watson is supposed to be slightly older than Holmes, but I only have the translator's word for that so far.

[morthel]

I am flattered, but I'm really not certain it's a sign of well-adaptedness that I use that form IRL (especially not considering what I actually wrote in that thing). Well, fun is fun!

[kattahj]

I think "your butt is like the moon" is a sign that you're VERY well adapted. Ish.

[roniabirk]

Declaration of Romantic Intent FTW! I quite enjoyed that. I think you should write the fic that leads up to Watson stomping off in a huff "for real this time." :)

[kattahj]

Thanks! :-) That website is fabulous.

I'm trying very hard not to write any SH fics at all - especially not one with prostitutes, and children in need of protection, and... STOP MY BRAIN.

[roniabirk]

I plan to pick up some Sherlock from the library, hopefully today, but in the mean time FIC WOULD BE GREAT. You could make one with prostitutes and the other with children. They don't have to be together. :-p

[kattahj]

Sadly, they do.

And dude, I have 19,000 words of the SPN/JoA crossover that isn't even halfway finished, not to mention all the other fics I haven't finished. I don't have time for a new brain-eating fandom.

[therru]

Completely OT: I've just found out that there is an American author who has written a series of books about Irene Adler. I've never heard of the writer, though, so I have no idea of whether they are worth reading.

(I do enjoy other spin-offs, though -- one of my favourite series is Laurie R King's The Beekeper's Apprentice and sequels.)

[kattahj]

Yes, I know that there are quite a lot of spinoffs; I remember reading some children's detective story as a kid and the protagonist being adamant that they do everything the way Sherlock Holmes does. :-) Apparently there's even proslash out there.

I'll work my way through canon first, though.

[therru]

Edited for bad wording...

A spin-off to me is a work of fiction using one or more of the original characters from the original work. So a story where Holmes is merely referenced wouldn't count as a spin-off in my book -- especially as there are innumerable references to him throughout fiction, especially detective fiction.

[kattahj]

Yeah, you're probably right. It was just so VERY Holmes-based. Can't remember the name of it now.

The Baker Street Boys have their own series, though. That should count. (Haven't read it, but we have a book in the library.)

A Study in Scarlet

[logicalargument]

Thank you for reminding me which was the first Sherlock Holmes story - it has been so long since I read any of them that I had forgotten.

I downloaded a free copy of "A Study in Scarlet" from Amazon.com for Kindle for PC and started reading it tonight. The Kindle-for-PC stuff works even if you don't have a Kindle. I will probably download and read a few more of the free ones before I get to see the movie.

Re: A Study in Scarlet

[kattahj]

If you want more, pretty much everything is up on Project Gutenberg, but I've opted for books so far - I spend enough time in front of the computer as it is. But then, the Gutenberg copies are in English.