Episode 314: 52 Weeks | 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels - I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You guys have been doing this a long time we have.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is our nineteenth season, and we've resisted getting better.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
I'm impressed. Oh, learning from experience that's not for me.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
No, no, no, yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, Episode three hundred and fourteen
fifty two weeks fifty two Sherlock Holmes novels.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
I heard of Sherlock e very well since Julie gave
as drumming man.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
In a world where it's always eighteen ninety five, it's
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, A podcast for devotees of
mister Sherlock Holmes, the world's first unofficial consulting detective. I've
heard of you before, Oh Holmes, the Medland Holmes, The

(00:53):
Busybody Homes, the stockland Yard, Jacket Office.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Aimes Afoot.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
As we interview authors, editors, creators, and other prominent Sherlockians
on various aspects of the great detective in popular culture.
As we go to press, sensational developments have been reported.
So join your hosts, Scott Monty and Bert Wolder as

(01:21):
they talk about what's new in the world of Sherlock Holmes.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Time.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm Mill Curtis. This is I hear of Sherlock Everywhere.
Now here are your hosts, Scott Marty and Bert Walder. Oh,
thank you very much, mister Bill Curtis. Welcome everyone too.
I hear of Sherlock Everywhere. The first podcast for Sherlock
holmest Ots where it's always eighteen ninety five. I'm Scott Monty.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
I'm Bert Wilder.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
Bert.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
What are you doing for the next fifty two weeks
of your life?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, I'm reading this wonderful book and that just takes
me up until July twenty twenty six. I guess I
missed the BSI dinner.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh well, well, I'll speak to you then.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Oh thanks, But until then. Actually, today I'm sitting in
a thunderstorm, so I'm going to try to mute myself
when we ow some of this realm.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Okay, well, look it will be. It'll provide some nice
ambiance if we have the crack of thunder in the background.
Very ominous and took the theme here. Well, we have
a lovely show for you today. Of course, we do
have that interview with Paul Bishop, editor of fifty two
weeks fifty two Sherlock Holmes novels. We also have our

(02:41):
regular look at what's going on in the world of
Sherlock Holmes societies in North America. We can expand beyond
North America if folks contribute to the Sherlockian Calendar, so
we'll tell you all about that. We have another contribution
from Madeline Kinnonez in our Chance of Listening series where
she looks at other Sherlockian podcasts that might interest you.

(03:05):
And of course we have canonical Couplet our quiz program
where we give you a prize if you are lucky
enough to be chosen at random from all of the contributors,
So stay tuned for that because we do have a
copy of Paul Bishop's book to give away to this
episode's winner. Meanwhile, just like to remind you that you

(03:27):
can support the show at Patreon or on substack, whatever
works for you. We appreciate having your support, and we
are working up some ihose merch. We're going to be
rolling that out shortly, so you should stay tuned for that.
But wanted to make sure that you had an opportunity

(03:48):
to buy merch in addition to supporting us on Patreon
or substack. Of course, if you do support us on Patreon,
you do get some thank you gifts at certain levels.
For as little as a dollar month, you can basically
become a producer of the show. It means you're contributing
to keeping the lights on here and the microphone's working.
And oh, maybe I've said too much. Maybe this is

(04:14):
giving people a way to turn us off. But your
contributions help us to do what we do here, to
do the research and host the files and all the rest.
So thank you for that. And you can do the
same ad substack as well. That's five dollars a month.
You can choose to support us on an annual basis

(04:35):
or on a monthly basis, whatever works for you and
whatever platform you choose, We do appreciate your generosity either way.
The stately tones around here can mean only one thing.

(04:57):
It's time to look into what some of the Sherlakian
Society activities are under the title of the learned Societies.
So let's see what we can learn is going on
in the second half of August.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Well, yes, August sixteen, folks. Where you need to be
is about eight miles west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, because in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania,
the White Rose Irregulars will be having their meeting and
Denny Dobrie is the contact.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Excellent. Well you if you happen to be in Southeast
Michigan or it can travel there. In Royal Oak, the
Ribston Pippins are doing their annual film festival on August sixteenth.
You can check that out on their website and Regina Stintsons.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Work contact yes. And also on August what a date.
August sixteenth, Nashville, Tennessee, the Nashville Scholars of the Three
Pipe Problem are having a luncheon meet. Jeff Stewart will
tell you more about.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
That and if you can't get your fill on the sixteenth,
there are a few on the seventeenth as well. In Seattle, Washington,
the Sound of the Baskervilles is having its meeting on
the seventeenth. David Hogan is your contact there and you
can check out Sound Athebaskervilles dot com.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
And on the seventeenth in Adelaide, South Australia, the Sherlock
Holmes Society of South Australia is having afternoon tea. Boy,
I wish I could be there for that. The contact
is Mark Chellow.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Excellent, Well, I guess we do go farther than North America.
It's lovely to see. In Madison, Wisconsin, Glenn Link would
be delighted to tell you all about what's going on
with the notorious Canary Trainers who are hosting their meeting
on Sunday the seventeenth.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
And on the eighteenth there's a dinner meeting in Columbia,
Maryland of Watson's Tin Box of Ellicott City, and Matt
Hall is the contact there, and.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
You don't have to travel at all for this next meeting.
On August nineteenth, there's a virtual meeting of the Sherlock
Holmes Society of the Cape Fear and Tom Campbell is
your contact there and looks like they have been lucky
enough to secure the url Sherlock Holmessociety dot com.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Oh, look at that. That's good. And then on August
twenty first, Columbia, South Carolina. You better get on the
curb or you're going to be run over by the
handsome Wheels who are having a dinner meeting. And Phil
Demiteus can tell you more.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Another virtual meeting the Honorable Ronald Adair Las Vegas Card Room.
It's going to be meeting on the twenty first as
well Carolyn Coleman, who we met at the conclave. Carolyn
Coleman is your contact there.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
And Saint Charles Missouri. The Harpooners of the c Unicorn
will have an in person meeting on the twenty second
of August. Your contact is Jonathan Basford.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
And on August twenty third, if you happen to be
in Florida, the Orange County Pips are having an in
person meeting. They have a meetup page and it is
hosted by our pal, Eric Deckers Yay and Keen.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
New Hampshire. Our pal Anna Barons is your contact for
the monad Knock Sherlockians. On the twenty fourth of.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
August, and on August twenty seventh in Steger, Illinois, the
South Downers are having a dinner meeting. Phil Angelo is
your contact there.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
And then closing out this active month in the world
of sure Lockean Contacts, August twenty eighth, the Afghanistan Perceivers
are having a virtual meeting. Find out more from Brian Wilson.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well that will do it for this take on Sherlockian
Society meetings. If you have any to contribute, Ron Fish
of the Sherlockian Calendar would love to hear from you.
Just go to Sherlockian Calendar dot com and send your
contribution into ron and take a look at all of

(09:27):
the events that are linked there. Now, our friends at
MX Publishing are always coming out with new books, and
of course we have talked your ear off all about
the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories and its

(09:49):
final volumes. But what we'd like to talk to you
about now are four new books in twenty twenty five.
They're Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Black Pharaoh
by Ja m Reinbold, Sherlock Holmes Takes the Case Eight
Tales of Mystery and Intrigue by David McGregor, to twenty
one b on Her Majesty's Secret Service by Mark d Ellis,

(10:14):
and The Hidden Enquiries of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Hall.
All four of these books are exciting adventures in the
pastiche style, taking you through various locations and various time
settings in the Sherlockian universe. Pick any one of them,

(10:36):
pick all four, it doesn't matter. You're going to have
a good time as you read some of these new
books that are available from MX Publishing and just as
a reminder, MX offers audible books as well as paperback
and hardbount and ebooks, So pick your format and get
these books in whichever you choose.

Speaker 5 (10:58):
All available at MS dot com.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Novelist, screenwriter, and television personality Paul Bishop is a nationally
recognized interrogator and behaviorist. During his thirty five year career
with the Los Angeles Police Department, his high profile Special
Assaults units regularly produced the highest number of detective initiated
arrests and highest crime rate clearance rates in the city.

(11:40):
Twice selected as LAPD's Detective of the Year. He also
starred as the lead interrogator and driving force behind the
ABC TV reality show Take the Money and Run from
producer Jerry Bruckheimer. He's written numerous scripts for episodic television
and is the author of fifteen novels, including the award

(12:02):
winning Lie Catchers and five books in his LAPD homicide
Detective Fay Croker series. He's also written three nonfiction Western
reference works, fifty two Weeks fifty two Western novels, fifty
two Weeks fifty two Western movies, and fifty two weeks
fifty two Western TV shows. He's an Avid Sherlockian with

(12:24):
an extensive collection of Holmesian literature and ephemera. He's also
a member of the Curious Collectors of Baker Street and
his latest book is fifty two Weeks fifty two Sherlock
Holmes Novels. Paul Bishop, Welcome to I hear of Sherlock everywhere.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Thanks very much for having me. I'm very happy to
be here.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Well, this is a question I'm going to we ask
all our participants, but I'm going to ask you too,
even though I've already got a spoiler in my hands
from your introduction in the book, Where and how did
you first meet Sherlock Holmes.

Speaker 6 (13:05):
Interestingly enough, I immigrated to America with my parents when I
was eight years old, and back in nineteen sixty two,
and one of the things that my grandmother gave me
when we got on the boat to come across was
a copy of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. And I
was eight years old, and that was absolutely my first
exposure to Sherlock Holmes. But she must have known what

(13:28):
she was doing, because as an eight year old little
English kid with prissy little manners whose mother dressed him funny,
I had to have something that I could hang on to.
That was mine once I got into school here, and
that was Sherlock Holmes, because Sherlock Holmes was my identity
while everybody else was into Superman and Spider Man and

(13:49):
all those other American things. So for me, it was
a refuge.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Oh that's great. So were you where did you wind up?
Was thew West Coast your first stop or were you
someplace else.

Speaker 6 (14:03):
Where you Yeah, we can straight to California and the
San Fernando Valley, And at that time, in nineteen sixty two,
the whole culture out here was surfers and hot rotters,
and it was a little hard for me to, you know,
make my way into that and probably has explained why
I am the way I am all my life as

(14:23):
far as going my own way.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, I notice in your in your introduction, you mentioned
what your wife calls your enthusiasms. And yes, and since
you don't smoke, you don't drink, you don't gamble, don't
chase lose women, your wife figures it's a small price
to pay for keeping you busy.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
That's correct, And I can't tell you how many.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Of us can identify with that.

Speaker 6 (14:53):
I'm sure I mean, those of us that are big
readers and collectors and those types of things.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
We do go through these PHAs.

Speaker 6 (15:01):
And the reason I came back to Sherlock Holmes. I'd
always had a connection to Holmes, but you know, as
time goes by, it got a little further in the background.
And for the prior three years I've been totally immersed
in the western genre doing the six Gun Justice podcast,
so every week there was an interview and then a

(15:23):
show to do, and I just had to keep this
massive material going. And once we finally put a cap
on that and I was casting around for something new
to look at, Sherlock Holmes fell back into my lap
with a book called A Study in Crimson by Richard J. Harris,
which is one of the updated modern.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Pastiches. Yeah, we had Richard on the show. Excuse me,
Bob Harris on the show talk about the Devil's Blaze,
which is part of that series back on episode two
fifty two. For anyone following at home, you can go

(16:09):
listen to that.

Speaker 6 (16:10):
Yes, you're right, I met Robert Harris, not Richard. But
there's our first blooper for the day.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
So that's behind us.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Let's move on.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
We can have a whole outtakes reel here. If you
want there you go.

Speaker 6 (16:22):
But you know, the thing that impressed me about that
book was the update to nineteen forty two, which I
didn't really realize at the time, was what the Basil
rath Bone films had done once they got away from
the first two said in Victorian England, the ones that
became most successful were updated to that time period in
nineteen forty two, and it really really worked, which for me,

(16:45):
which I thought was an interesting way of understanding that
Holmes can fit anywhere.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, that's a good point. Now before we get into
the reason we're here, which I know everyone is on
the edge of their seats about there's a parallel set
of books that you had written that kind of are
more in the line of your previous interest in terms
of your Western reference works. Fifty two weeks fifty two

(17:17):
Western novels, fifty two weeks fifty two Western movies, and
fifty two weeks fifty two Western TV shows. That is
a lot of Westerns.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
That's a lot of Westerns.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, where did that interest come from? And talk a
little bit about the impetus for that project.

Speaker 6 (17:37):
Well, I think the interest originally started with a book
called The Professionals by Franco Rourke, which was made into
a movie with Lee Marvin and I happened to pick
that up and read it and really enjoyed it, and
that less led one thing to another down the rabbit
hole of the Western genre. And during that time period,
I had a buddy by the name of Scott Harris

(17:58):
who was writing some Western and he and I came
up with this idea for the fifty two Weeks series.
We were just going to do fifty two weeks fifty
two Western novels. And the idea was, we know a
lot of writers and a lot of readers, and between
the two of us, we wanted to get them to
write essays, not reviews, but I want to take them

(18:20):
to take a Western novel that was important to them,
no matter how obscure, and tell me why it was
important to them, because I think that way, that personalized touch.
When people read those essays, they go, oh, this sounds
really good. It's not just a review. But now I
have a personal connection to this book and I'm going
to go find it. And that led to movies and

(18:43):
TV shows.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, and look, you've got all three of those in
Sherlock Holmes, a character that has easily gone from the
printed page to the stage to every kind of screen imaginable.
I have to say personally, I was surprised by the

(19:05):
concept of this book. I hadn't followed the Western stuff before,
so I didn't know the template for it. But when
you approached us and let us know that this was
something that you were working on, I thought, oh, fifty
two pastiches. Well, we've seen this before. You know, we've
just celebrated with MX publishing over one thousand Sherlock Holmes

(19:25):
pastiches in their MX book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
And I thought, okay, I have every one of them
on my shelf. They're amazing.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
It's a remarkable achievement. And when you consider there are
tens of thousands of pastiches out there, I thought, well,
what's this all about. And this approach, this idea of Okay,
this is fifty two different contributors who are passionate about
this in some way or another and have picked one

(19:56):
of their favorites and have written an essay about it
that comes straight from the heart. To me, that's a
very different approach.

Speaker 6 (20:05):
So thank you, and I think that's what it makes
it special and different from everything else that's out there.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
It really does. It really does. So talk a little
bit maybe about some of the contributors and some of
the books and stories that they chose and how different
they are.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
You know.

Speaker 6 (20:28):
The Western side of things was a little easier because
I knew a lot of guys involved in the Western genre,
and so reaching out to them. A lot of them
are the usual suspects, guys that I've known for years,
and I knew I could ask them to join the
project and they would do a great job and catch
the whole fever of the idea. So when it came

(20:50):
to Holmes, I didn't really know that many people that
were Sherilockians. So I reached out to a few of
my usual and they all went, oh, I love Sherlock
Holmes and I read this and yeah, I want to
write about that. And I went, oh, okay, so this
is kind of somewhat universal. And then I looked at

(21:12):
some of the people that were writing Sherlocke in pastiches,
and I reached out to some of them, and some
of them very readily agreed to contribute. Some of them
were too busy others of them ignored me completely because
they didn't know who the heck I was. But in
general I began to get this real core group of

(21:33):
people who understood the concept. And then from there it
was a matter of, you know, I want this mix
of Yeah, there's going to be some known books, somebody's
going to write about the seven Percent Solution, But who's
going to write about Sherlock Holmes in New York That
I wasn't even aware of that. It's a very mediocre
novelization of a very mediocre TV movie with Roger Morris

(21:57):
Sherlock Holmes. But the writer that Peter Ackerman, who chose
to write about that, he totally articulated why this particular
book changed his life, and I went, it doesn't matter
that it's a bad pastiche What matters is this book
affected somebody and brought them to Sherlock Holmes and made

(22:19):
them a lifelong fans.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
That's fascinating. But the other aspect I think of what
makes this book special is how you curated it. You know,
on the one hand, there are people who write pastiches
and say, gee, well, as long as Watson's the narrator,
and they're kind of in Baker Street. It's all going
to be okay, But you had you had sort of
a different feeling, didn't you about feeling Holmes's presence that

(22:45):
helped you sort of assemble this collection.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, I.

Speaker 6 (22:52):
Guess I'm more on the liberal side of accepting differences
in the holmes En template or past. So I'm okay
with modern updates. I'm okay with science fiction takes on
Sherlock Holmes, and I kind of wanted to bring that.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Diversity to the book.

Speaker 6 (23:12):
So as the editor, the idea was, these are going
to be pastiche novels. I mean, there's a whole slew
of short story collections out there, and I decided to
limit this to srilockeyan pastiche novels. And then one of
my writer's friends said to me, look, I really want
to write about the Star Trek episode where Data plays

(23:34):
Sherlock Holmes. I went, really, he goes, yeah, and this
is why, And I went, I'm going to make an
editorial decision that's in because it was different. And again,
the important thing wasn't that it was a novel. It
wasn't a novel. The important thing was the personal side
of this. Why he wanted to write about this particular

(23:54):
episode of Star Trek the Next Generation and why it
affected him and his.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Love of Sherlock Home.

Speaker 6 (24:00):
So I made some decisions like that as the editor,
and I think that meant that I wasn't playing hard
and fast with the rules, which is probably the way
I am in life.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
Well as a cop, I would hope, so right, well yeah, so.

Speaker 6 (24:22):
Well no, you know what as a cop you bring
that up, you know, I at the end of my career,
because I'd done so many different things. I was a
nationally recognized interrogator, and being an interrogator or successful interrogator
is all about finding the different way into a suspect

(24:43):
to get them to open up. So it was always
a very creative process for me an interrogation, and and
so I was able to use unique lawful things but
that other people hadn't been doing, and.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
That really really.

Speaker 6 (25:02):
Lend itself to the other areas of my life be there,
you know, fiction writing or editing or whatever it may be.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
M M. That's that's interesting, you know, it's you know,
you put me in, You put me in so much
mind of Gene Roddenberry, because Gene Roddenberry, of course is
probably all of our listeners know was also at the
LAPD and and made this sort of jump from following
in his father's footsteps in Roddenberry's case, to writing and

(25:32):
obviously a very successful screen and television career. What was
you sound like somebody who was always a reader the
time you were eight years old. But what was the
jump for you? I mean, other than retirement, what was
the jump for you into making your own fiction and
taking on writing and publishing and editing sort of full time.

Speaker 6 (25:53):
I mean, some of it comes from being an only child.
I mean I have to you know, in a strange land,
just my mom and my dad, and I didn't have
any other relatives or any cousins or anything like that.
So reading became my whole world, and reading made me
want to write. So as a young person, there were

(26:16):
two things that I wanted to do in life that
I was very firm about, and that was put villains
in jail and put words on paper and be published.
And I pursued those two careers. And at times, you know,
somebody says to me, Okay, you wrote fifteen novels while
you were on the job.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
How did you do that? And I have to tell them. Well,
I gave up sleep for thirty five years.

Speaker 6 (26:41):
Because I really don't know how that all got done.
Because I was also working on a television show called
Diagnosis Murder.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I did scripts for them.

Speaker 6 (26:50):
I was working for Discovery TV with some of their
nonfiction shows like New Detectives and Navy Skills Unclassified, and I,
you know, was doing some screenwriting as well, and they
all kind of played off.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Of each other.

Speaker 6 (27:06):
It was just a very creative mindset for me. They
fed each other, and sometimes you would bump into your
two careers at the same time. My partner and I
went out to arrest somebody on a warrant, and you know,
we knock on his door. He comes to the door.
He's wearing nothing but a robe and his birthday suit.

(27:27):
So we decide, okay, he's cooperative with us, we will
let him get dressed before he goes and gets in
a cell with Bubba. And so when you do that,
he has to stand at the bedroom door with my
partner and says to me, well, I want that pair
of jeans that's over the air, and that T shirt
and those shoes. And when I get on the other
side of the bedroom next to his bedroom, table, there's

(27:50):
my latest book splayed open face down, and I'm going, Okay,
this guy is not going to get to finish this
for about fifteen years. I actually.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
I didn't.

Speaker 6 (28:05):
I didn't let him know that, but I did put
on an extra charge for breaking the spine when he
splayed it first down.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
That's a violation.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (28:15):
So I just another quick story, another quick story. Where
that happens is I'm in court and uh, you know,
the jurors have to uh say whether they know anybody
that's connected with the case, and and one little lady
in the back room with the jury, you know, the
judge just does anybody here know detect the bishop? And

(28:35):
she goes, well, I don't know him, but I'm reading
his latest book. And she pulls it out of the
bag at the bottom of her feet, and everybody kind
of dots his you know, intake of breath, and of
course the defense attorney goes, we'd like to thank an
excuse D or number five. Then, but when we come
back for lunch, all the other jurors had gone out
and bought books, and so had the judge. So it
was kind of interesting.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
What a great built in audience. Yes, exactly, so in
some ways it seems odd that it took so long
for your extracurricular and professional lives to meld with this
detection work. And in terms of bridging that with Sherlock Holmes.

Speaker 6 (29:17):
Yes, there was so many other things going on. I
mean I was very, very heavily into the mystery world,
harbor Bold mysteries and that type of thing for many
many years, and Sherlock Holmes would kind of calm and
go at various times, but it never really latched onto
me again like it did when I was eight, and

(29:37):
like it did at this point a year ago when
I started writing or editing the fifty two weeks fifty
two Sherlock Holmes novels.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Well, I'm glad it came about in this way. I mean,
we are all the beneficiaries now. So one of the
things I wanted to point out in the book that
may not be apparent, in addition to the essays about
each of these pastiches, Oh you know what, Before I

(30:08):
get to that, I wanted to ask you one question
about the pastiches. Are there any that you had wanted
to make sure would get in there? In other words,
are there pastiches that maybe you think are the most
significant in the Sherilokian world that you wanted to make
sure somebody wrote an essay about.

Speaker 6 (30:31):
There. There were some I kind of had a list
that I felt were different but needed to be in
this collection, and if somebody spoke up and said I
want to do this one, then I would take it
off that list. And so I was left with about
a half a dozen that I felt needed to find

(30:52):
somebody to write about them, whether it be me or
somebody else. And for instance, Steve Hawkinsmith's Home on the
Range Home on the Range series, I really feel that
that's so different that that needed to be part of
this collection.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
It's a perfect.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Location of both of your interests coming together exactly.

Speaker 6 (31:13):
And in fact, I'm Steve's editor over at wolf Back
Publishing House, so it was a natural pull in. So
and then there was also some things like the Miss
Sherlock anime books. Now you know, this is an area
that I wanted to bring into these essays on these

(31:37):
novels because I feel that there's so much interest in
onomy and that's a world that Sherlock Holmes is making
an appearance in, and most homes in fans either don't
know about it or kind of turn their back on
it because they don't understand the whole concept behind anime
and magnon on those types of things. So I wanted

(31:57):
to widen the world of Sherlock Holmes as much as
I could.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, and I think that becomes clear when we look
at these wonderful intermissions between each section. You've got us
divided into, oh, I think five different sections, and there
is an intermission following each one another essay, but it

(32:24):
involves a different aspect of Sherlock Holmes. So talk to
us about the inspiration there and what some of those
intermissions are.

Speaker 6 (32:34):
Well as as the editor or the collection. You know,
I've got these fifty two essays and I'm looking at
them and going, I don't know that I can do
just do a running list of these essays. And I thought,
you know, do I group them or do I just
you know, put them in the order that they came in.
But it still didn't feel dynamic enough. It just felt

(32:58):
like a laundry list to a certain extent. And so
I wanted to put a palate cleanser in between each
group of pastiche essays, and so I reached out to
people like Ron Fortier, who is the editor over Airship
twenty seven, and they've done twenty one collections of Sherlock

(33:19):
Holms short story Sherlock Holm's consulting detective, and I wanted
him to write about, Okay, you must love Sherlock Holmes
to have put this month effort into these books.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Why do you love him?

Speaker 6 (33:29):
And what's it like to publish Sherlock Holmes books? And
then Rob Davis, who is his illustrator, had done all
of the illustrations for these Sherlock Holmes collections that Airship
twenty seven put out, and I said, you know, Rob,
I want you to talk to me about, you know, doing.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
This for Sherlock Holmes.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Was it special to you?

Speaker 6 (33:49):
Did you look back on the original Sidney Paget illustrations
And so he gave me an essay about that, a
personal essay about that. And then I came across an
essay by Amy Thomas which was was so personal and
was on her blog, and I got in contact with

(34:11):
Amy and I said, I just, you know, really feel
that this needs wider exposure. And so she, you know,
graciously granted me the permission to reprint her essay on uh,
you know, Sherlock Holmes, my disease and me, and it's

(34:33):
how she has lived with disease ever since a child,
and how Sherlock Holmes made such a difference in her
life because she identified with him in a specific way.
And I thought, Wow, that's a great piece of personalized
connection to Sherlock Holmes, which is what this collection is
all about. And then you know there's a gentleman who

(34:58):
has been collecting Sherlock Holmes books and e femera for many,
many years, and I contacted him and said, Hey, would
you like to give me a piece about collecting Sherlock
Holmes and how you and your young son bonded over
Sherlock Holmes and you did Christmas cards with your son

(35:19):
and you dressed up as Holmes characters. And again it
was a very personalized take on how important Sherlock Holmes
was to somebody in their life. And so these essays,
I think just were the cherry on top of all
of the other essays.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
That's marvelous. That's marvelous, And I know that's Richard Ray
Green Junior. I was a recipient absolute many of those
Christmas cards for many years, watching his son grow up
in that role and the fun that they had and
recreating things with their collection was just a blast.

Speaker 6 (35:57):
So you can see why that's important to the Sherlockean
world to know about that from a personal perspective from Richard.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah. Yeah, there's no one that tells it better than Richard.
So folks can go right now and get this book
in paperback and in kindle format on Amazon. However, if
they wait a week, and that'll place them squarely into
late July of twenty twenty five. If you're listening to

(36:29):
this after July, let's say July twenty second or so,
Folks that it doesn't matter. It's all there. Go pick
the version that you want. But Paul, there are special
features that come only with the hard bound edition. What
are those and why did you choose to put them
in that edition.

Speaker 6 (36:51):
I had originally thought that I would include a new
look at the four original novels, and as the idea
for a limited edition hardcover came around and I had
some of those essays in and they were really different,
you know, pulp meister extraordinary Will Murray had done a

(37:15):
piece on the Hound of the Baskervilles. Another friend of
mine had done a piece on espionage in the Sign
of the Foe, and how that tied together because he's
a big espionage guy, and on and on, and I
felt that those were special enough that they would be
a lead in as to the bonus material in the

(37:36):
hardcover edition. And then there were a series of other
essays that could have been the intermissions earlier in the paperback,
but I saved them back for the hardcover. And there's
some really interesting takes on Schulock Holmes and his world
in those extra essays. So I then had another the

(38:00):
cover artist, Tony.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
Massa, who I've worked with over at Wolfpack.

Speaker 6 (38:03):
He came along and did a new cover just for
the hardcover edition, and we decided to you know, go
all in and make it full color inside as well.
Now the the the hardcover, we've also made a decision
that you know, the paperback and the kindle edition are
available directly from Amazon.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
I mean, that's our.

Speaker 6 (38:24):
Big sales outlet, but because the hardcover is going to
be a limited edition, we're going to do that strictly
on the Genius Books website. Genius Books came along at
the right time. I happened to be on a writer's
panel with Steven Booth, who's the publisher over it, Genius Books,

(38:45):
and we got talking and he said, I want to
do this book.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
I get it.

Speaker 6 (38:49):
I see what you're doing because at that point I
was going to self publish it because it was just a.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Passion project of mine.

Speaker 6 (38:57):
And he and his wife Leah, they caught the and
they kind of gave me free rain to do what
I wanted to do, and they did what they did best,
and that's how the packages come out as well as it.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Has well, that's lovely. That is lovely. So we will
have a link to both the Amazon site for the
kindle and paperback versions and to Genius Books for the
special hardcover edition.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Thank you. That's very kind.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Be sure. I have to imagine that if you were
to enter any Criminals Abode and the hardcover edition of
this book, we're on the bedside table, what would your
reaction be.

Speaker 6 (39:41):
I think at that point I would go, wow, you
really must like the way this was put together to
go and alert on the our cover. Well, thank you
very much, and I'll ask the judge to reduce your
sentence appropriately.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Oh and assigned copy of weights. There you go.

Speaker 6 (40:00):
Yeah, I mean it's interesting. I've just finished another couple
of essays on that I'm preparing for another project, and
one of them is what real world detectives can learn
from Sherlock Holmes, And another one is how Wouldlock Sherlock
Holmes have the investigated the Joeben A.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
Ramsey case.

Speaker 6 (40:23):
So just some kind of speculative things that again expand
the Sherlockean universe.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Wow, that's something to think about. So this might be
an interesting question for you to grapple with since you
have kind of surveyed the realm, because we've got pastiches
here that go all the way back to the nineteen
forties up to the current era. Where do you think
the future lies for Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts.

Speaker 6 (40:53):
I think that there's going to be, you know, a
futuristic shift, and Sherlock Holmes is always going to be
with us in some form or another.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
And I think.

Speaker 6 (41:07):
There's some areas of artificial intelligence that Holmes will get
involved with as a detective that will change the types
of cases that he investigates in a modern day setting.
So I think that there's a way for Sherlock Holmes
to continue to grow and evolve. I think we'll see

(41:29):
more of Sherlock Holmes in foreign countries. I mean, we've
seen homes in Germany, We've seen him in other areas
in India, and I think more and more culturally diverse
areas will take Sherlock Holmes as their own and develop

(41:49):
their way of showing their appreciation for the character.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
I think she's got something there, Paul, Is there anything
you've noticed among all these authors? I mean, you have
now focused a lot of your time and attention your
own background, your own experience, your own writing background. You've
looked at these as an editor. Have you found any
themes that run through not about the stories, but about

(42:18):
the people. Have you found anything about or or sense
any themes or linkages between the personalities and.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Or not?

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Or is it just all you know too various?

Speaker 6 (42:34):
I think that this is a very diverse group of people.
They're on all ends of the political spectrum and all
ends of you know, culturally, They're very very different as individuals.
They've all had very very different career paths in their lives,
and yet they're united by being part of the tribe

(42:56):
of Sherlock Holmes. I've always maintained that as individuals, we
all have certain tribes that we belong to where we're
the only connective tissue between the two. So I have
my police tribe, I have my soccer tribe, I have
my church tribe, and I have my Sherlock Holmes tribe.
And each one of those things they're all separate, but

(43:20):
I have a connected tissue between them, and this connection
to the tribe of Sherlock Holmes connects me to all
of these amazing people, and they're just flat out love
for Sherlock Holmes. And I think in a world that's
unstable or difficult at times, that hanging on to Sherlock

(43:40):
Holmes gives us all a wonderful anchor and a way
to talk.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
To each other.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Well stated, Well, if folks would like to talk to
each other about these fine essays, get a copy of
Paul Bishop's fifty two weeks fifty two Sherlock Holmes novel.
You will not be disappointed. It is a refreshing and
surprising book and one that I think all I hear

(44:08):
of Sherlock everywhere listeners can get behind. Paul, Thank you
so much for joining us here on I hear of
Sherlock everywhere.

Speaker 6 (44:17):
I really appreciate it. I you know, I'm very thankful
for the opportunity to spread the word about this collection,
and I do believe hopefully, like you yourself, they will
enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Excellent.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
What a nice summary by Paul of the world of
Sherlock Holmes and the great people you get to meet.
You know, the more you read about departed a regulars
and what they felt about their time in these this
kind of community, the more you see, repeated again and

(45:05):
again and again, look at the wonderful people that I've
been able to meet because of this. It really is
a great bridge.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
It is. And you know, to know that there are well,
there are no two pastiches that are alike out there,
or if there are, then that's a plagiarism problem. But
in as much as there are no two similar pastiches,
there are no two similar favorites. You know, we all
have the things that we are drawn to. And the

(45:34):
fact that we start out with William S. Baring Gould's
Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, you know, as one of
those first I remember reading that book as part of
a research paper in high school, and I took it
as a reference book. I took it as fact and
yet what it did was it kind of paved the
way for so many others and created a timeline and

(45:58):
a templative characters and their origins. And sure some authors
have taken other perspectives and other tactics, but it really
set the stage for so much of what was to
come in the years after that. It's a chance of
listening with your correspondent, Madeline KENYONEZ.

Speaker 7 (46:22):
Hello everyone, I'm Madeline Kennoniz and today I'm here to
talk about Yeah, another canon story discussion podcast? Yes, another
This one is called The Sherlocked Podcast and it ran
for almost a year, starting in April twenty twenty one.
The hosts are Anthony Abbott and Steve Steele, and yes

(46:46):
those are their real names, the only co hosts I
know of with that much alliteration. Anthony and Steve consumd
of this show is being very much two normal guys
takes on the canon. Antony had read more of it
than Steve, so he has much more nostalgia for the stories,
and Steve is a very logical person who identifies quite

(47:08):
a bit with how Holmes's mind works. The show starts
at as being pretty irreverent, which I think is part
of the fun of the first few episodes. The hosts
actually end up arguing a few times, rather hotly, but
apparently some listeners complained and they toned down their language
and tempers. Well. To be fair, only one of them

(47:30):
actually lost his temper. It might not have been very professional,
but I was entertained. Besides, I'm pretty sure just about
anybody who's been to a Sherilokan Society meeting has witnessed
or been part of, shall we say, a spirited discussion.

(47:51):
Fewer f bombs slung around, maybe, but certainly spirited. So yeah,
the tone shifts a little, I will say. One of
the new things is that Antony and Steve were so
willing to interact with their audience. Twenty twenty one was
still the heyday of Sherlock in Twitter, which I think
is how some of us found out about the show
in the first place. One of my comments even got

(48:13):
to mention in the Studying Scarlet episode, so that was cool.
They didn't identify me specifically, but I recognize my opinion,
and hey, I'll take it. Unfortunately, the host stopped making
new episodes early in twenty twenty two, but from the
beginning we find out that there's a ticking time bomb

(48:34):
in the form of Anthony and his wife having twins.
I can't imagine having twin babies and even trying to
put together a podcast, so I can't blame them for
dropping it. The final episode of the show is focused
on the Noble Bachelor. I doubt that the Sherlock podcast
is ever going to come back, but I would certainly

(48:57):
well commit if it did. As far as recommendation go,
I think you might as well start at the beginning.
There's the introduction episode, and then there's a study in scarlet.
But if you want to listen to a story discussion
that's shorter than an hour, try one of the short
story episodes. Those usually clock in right around half an hour,

(49:19):
so there are easy listens and that's it. Stay cool,
don't get into fights with your co hosts, and I'll
catch you later.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
What are you saying, bert you up for a fight?

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Yeah? Sure, I'm up for a fight. Can we guess
still get tickets to the Ali Fraser fight?

Speaker 2 (49:40):
So's your old man?

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Oh mudd in your eye?

Speaker 2 (49:46):
I don't think we have it in us to have
a fight.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
No, certainly be interested in isn't that interesting? I mean,
you and I have never had unless I've completely forgotten that,
which is possible, you and I have never had a crossword.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Well, you are such the agreeable type that I would
find it difficult to argue with you about anything. I mean, look,
we have we have different opinions about things, but I
don't think we've ever gotten to a point of blowing
up at each other.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Well, you know, you're when you call me very agreeable,
you know you're absolutely right.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
No, I'm not. I'm completely wrong, I'm off my rocker.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
That's very well said. I'm very you know, I'm very agreeable.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
This is what happens when agreeable meets self effacing. We
can't we can't come up with anything.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
It's a lot like It's a lot like pasta and antipasta,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Yeah, yeah, isn't it interesting that they serve antipasto before
you have your pasta?

Speaker 3 (50:53):
Yeah, well, I guess it must be like a safety.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Thing, and if you have your pasta with pesto then
it's really difficult. Well, anyway, thank you for that, Madeline,
And we should note to our listeners that, well, Madeline
has been a regular contributor for Oh goodness the past
twenty four or so episodes, producing and editing and contributing

(51:21):
with this segment of hers. She may be spotty in
terms of her future contributions. She has some commitments that
may cause her to not have the time to put
these episodes together, these little segments together. So it'll be
a delightful surprise when we greet Madeline and bring her

(51:43):
to your ears in future episodes. So stay tuned. She
will be with us, but it'll be more intermittent rather
than regularly. At this point, I guess you could say
she'll be with us irregular Oh that's a great sound effect.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Kaboom.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Well, those delcet strings mean that it is only one thing.
It is time for everyone's favorite Sherlockian quiz program. That's right,
it's canonical couplet where we give you two lines of
poetry and ask you, yes you, to participate as a
listener and to identify which Sherlock Holme story we are

(52:29):
talking about. We have prizes for the winners. The winners,
of course, are chosen at random from all of our
correct entries, and the last time around we had a
prize that was a signed copy we will be giving
away this prize to the listener who gets this clue right.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
So sign copy of.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
What well, that's what I'm I'm keeping you on the
edge of your seat, corpor a signed copy of Lori R.
King's Nave of Diamonds. Fantastic. So the clue the last
time around here was on this occasion Holmes put in

(53:13):
his ore at a young man's insistent poor lespor and Bert,
I'm trepidacious here, but I'm asking you to tell us
which story this was.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
Oh oh, it's such a giveaway because you mentioned or
that's the story about the wonderful day that Holmes and
his college friend Victor Trevor spent sailing around England with
Sir Thomas Lipton. It's the story Watson called the glorious yacht.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
No thank you, no thank you. Well, as is usual,
our pal erics has come to the rescue. And since
the clue was partially in French, he said, zutolo, I've
solved it. The Bruce Partington submarine is back and it's

(54:12):
been completely built. Only this time it's not the plans
that have been stolen, but most of the submarine itself
except the Holmes to track the sub down return glory
to England. It's the story Watson called the three quarters
of our submarine is missing. That doesn't make much sense,

(54:35):
and I probably shouldn't have watched that Thomas Dolby retrospective
before tackling this. The answer, the actual answer is the
Adventure of the Missing three quarter. That is right. Eric
is right. And because Eric was so clever and he
out clevered all of the other contributors, he actually wins

(55:02):
our prize this time. All right took it away, So
we will get that signed copy of Lori R. King's
Nave of Diamonds off to you. Now. In this case,

(55:22):
I think we will get a copy of fifty two
weeks fifty two Sherlock Home Stories to a lucky winner,
and the clue this time goes like this. A wild
goose chase is sometimes all you need to accommodate the
object of a felon's greed. If you know the answer

(55:48):
to this canonical couplet, put it in an email addressed
to comment that I hear of Sherlock dot com with
canonical couplet in the subject line. If your name is
chosen at random from all of the correct response is
you'll win. Good luck well here we are, have the

(56:09):
storms abated where you are? Well?

Speaker 3 (56:12):
Then it paused. Yeah, that's a rumbling thunder.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
I'm glad you could pause them like that. That's really
something I knew you were controlling the weather welder.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
Yeah, somebody must be yes.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
You you and your your Doppler radar over there.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
Yeah, I have two of them. A funny thing, Doppler
raiders only come in pairs. Can't figure that out.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Well, It's like I typically pair up my humidifire and
my dehumidifire in a room and I let them fight
it out. Always interesting to see that. Well, we will
be here at the end of the month on July
thirtieth with yet another episode of I hear of Sherlock everywhere.
It's one that Well will be constructing in the meantime.

(56:59):
That's a subtle hint. But in the meantime, this is
the foreman like Scott Monty and I'm just.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
The shop steward.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
I'm Bert Walder, and together we say the games.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
Of foot, the games on a foot.

Speaker 5 (57:32):
I'm afraid that in the pleasure of this conversation I'm
neglecting business of importance which awaits me.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Thank you for listening. Please be sure to join us
again for the next episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere,
the first podcast dedicated to Sherlock Holmes.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Goodbye, I'm good Luck and believe me to be my
dear father.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Very sincerely, yours, Sherlock Homes

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Episode 314: 52 Weeks | 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 314: 52 Weeks | 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels