The heir of Mycroft

Here’s a very funny bit of sarcasm from the U.K.’s Guardian online, about a serial letter-to-the-editor writer …
The armchair reasoner, the person who watches and solves the world’s great and small problems while never budging from an armchair, is rare. One of the most famous, Mycroft Holmes, brother of the detective Sherlock Holmes, is fictional [...]

‘The Awakened’ – new Holmes PC game on the way

Ascaron Games has announced “Sherlock Holmes – The Awakened,” a new computer mystery game featuring our favorite detective. It’s scheduled for January publication.
In the meantime, screenshots are available at the official web site.

Asimov’s Sherlock quiz – with an error!

Ah, even the mightiest of minds (or the editors associated with their towering names) sometimes slip up. Click here to take the “Isaac Asimov Super Quiz” on Sherlock Holmes … and note that they have the incorrect answer for #4 …

The allure of old-time radio

Here’s a nice piece from Aspen (Colorado) Times, about the remarkable timelessness of “OTR,” or old-time radio. Truly, it’s a shame there aren’t more hours in the day to spend exploring the evidently bottomless vaults.
A few weeks ago I came across CDs of Sherlock Holmes Radio Theater, a series of half-hour radio shows that were [...]

Penguin to revive the serial novel

Penguin is returning to one of literature’s most enjoyable forms – the serial novel. Stephen King had success with it several years ago with “The Green Mile,” a book that would only have been marginally enjoyable if not for its distribution as six slender, monthly volumes.
The heyday of the serial novel in the Victorian era [...]

Doyle, Piltdown man and the finger of blame

Here’s a nice overview of the old theory that says Sir Doyle was involved with the Piltdown Man hoax.
Winslow and Meyer set out a comprehensive breakdown of why the finger of blame pointed to Conan Doyle. They began by recalling an earlier hoax by Charles Waterton in 1825 which was very similar. Waterton claimed to [...]

Lord Voledmort No. 1, Professor Moriarty No. 14

… all-time favorite villain, that is.
Harry Potter’s arch enemy Lord Voldemort has been voted kids’ favourite literary villain of all time.
The boy wizard’s evil nemesis in the Hogwarts books by JK Rowling came top in the BigBadRead poll organised by publishers Bloomsbury which drew more than 16,000 votes from British schoolchildren.
And wizards and witches dominated [...]

‘House’ draws inspiration from Holmes

I’ll confess that I’ve only seen the medical drama “House” once, and as much as anything else I was struck by how difficult it would be to keep coming up with mysterious, misdiagnosed oddball diseases every week. But what I didn’t realize is that, evidently, the Holmes/Watson dynamic is a big part of the inspiration [...]