Dean P. Turnbloom's Blog, page 6

Sequel to Whitechapel Vampire

I’ve been hard at work on the sequel to “Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Vampire” for quite some time now. I’ve come up with a working title of “Death of the Whitechapel Vampire”, but it may not be exactly what you may think…is that a spoiler? You’ll have to wait to find out…

Anyway, the word count is currently 60K+ but I have a lot of unfleshed out pieces…I think my next post I will talk about my writing process…I wonder if anyone is interested…



Tagged: sequel, Sherlock, Vampire, whitechapel, writing

Twitter – Socialist network, or anti-social?

First, let me say I’m soliciting comments from anyone who might have insight to my character’s problem.

Okay, that may be a bit strong, but one of my characters, Baron Barlucci, has a Twitter account and when he arose from his crypt last found it had been suspended. His crime? Sending “unsolicited” tweets to other twitter accounts. Now you may ask if they were improper, indecent, or just too many of them over and over. I’ve only his word to say no to each of these, but he’s never lied to me before.

It seems recently, in an effort to aid me in my attempt to discover what agents are reading what, he has recently followed several agents, editors and the like. My suspicion is that one of these New York business folk got their ire up at being contacted by a mere character. The baron usually replies with a witty remark on a tweet someone else has posted.

My question is, if the person (and I use that term loosely) who may have found some offense at being ‘tweeted’ on Twitter, why didn’t they simply tweet back a “please don’t tweet me” message. My guess is that they knew how that would look, a word rhyming with ‘itchy’, and thought it would be easier to poison the Baron’s Twitter experience by anonymously. My guess is that they use this spam rule: “If you send large numbers of unsolicited @replies or mentions in an attempt to spam a service or link”. Though he occasionally reference my book and my blog, he does it sparingly so and hey, isn’t the ‘network’ part of social networking?

My belief is that a single user felt they were just too important to be bothered by a fiction character and complained. Now, the baron is contemplating chucking his account.

YOU COMMENTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Tagged: complaint, Holmes, network, novel, online, Sherlock, Sherlock_Holmes, social, suspension, tweet, twitter, Vampire, whitechapel

CBS Elementary mini-review…

While recovering from minor eye surgery (can anything involving cutting the eye really be minor?) I discovered my cable company allows me to watch network primetime television “OnDemand”. A very convenient thing for me. But I digress, the recovery as well as the convenience of modern cable viewing allowed me to view a program that I’d not yet had the chance to see, CBS’s “ELEMENTARY”.

Being more or less a Sherlock purist, I was very doubtful that I would enjoy this program, but much to my surprise I found it to be an excellent program. The fact that the lead character’s name is Sherlock Holmes is, and this is difficult to understand, not at all incident to enjoying the show.

Yes, the main characters roughly parallel the Doyle characters, it’s kind of like they are in a parallel universe where things are just a bit different. For example, Dr. Watson is a former surgeon whose ‘wound’ came in the operating room and is psychological rather than physical. She left the OR and now hires herself out as a ‘sober’ companion for recovering addicts, which the Sherlock Holmes is and becomes her client, or patient. She was hired by his father (a departure in the universe). Even Constable Gregson is present, but he’s NYPD in this series rather than Scotland Yard.

So, all that aside, you have a recovering addict with a sober ‘nanny’ doctor who, by the way, is becoming more and more interested in her patient’s ‘consulting’ activities. From the four episodes I was able to view, I found the entire premise eminently likable and found very little to complain about. Oh yes, Holmes lacks some of his unflappable confidence it seems to me, but since he’s nearly always correct or at least on the right path, it’s simply another ‘parallelism’ in this universe.

I highly recommend it and only the most staunch purist would find it unenjoyable, in my humble opinion.

I look forward to being able to view the BBC’s ‘SHERLOCK’ one day that I might make a comparison and join the fray over which is the better carrying on of the tradition.

Tagged: CBS, Elementary, fun, Holmes, mystery, Sherlock, Sherlock_Holmes, TV

2012 in review…

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Goodreads giveaway complete…

Well, Christmas is over and so is my Goodreads giveaway. Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to the two winners, Naching and Lesley. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, sorry about that, but it’s been a very busy time.

I’m trying to find new ways to promote my book, and to that end, please see the link on the blog page, under “My favorite sites”, to askDavid.com and please leave a comment if you know anything about it. I’m hoping it will be a boon to my book sales.

By the way, I just discovered I have an author’s page on Goodreads

Five out of Six Napoleans: Ross K Reviews

I’m very excited to present a review from one of England’s pre-eminent reviewers of books on Sherlock Holmes, Ross K Foad:

Mr. Foad, thank you so much for reviewing the work. I’m gratified you enjoyed it!

Get an autographed copy…

My second giveaway on GOODREADS is now underway. There are only two copies available for this one, so you’ll want to get in on it quickly. It’s timed that I will have enough time to get the books to the winners for CHRISTMAS. What better than to read a novel that includes Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper and a blood-thirsty vampire as you prepare for the holidays!!
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!

IT WOULD MAKE A FANTASTIC MOVIE, DON’T YOU THINK??

Tagged: book, free, giveaway, Goodreads, horror, mystery, Sherlock, Sherlock_Holmes, thriller, Vampire

True horror…

Every once in a while a politician inadvertantly reveals himself…but in this case, the revelation is for a party, or at least the delegates of a party and the ends to which their “leaders” will go to hide their true, core beliefs (or disbeliefs)…

This snippet is from the Democratic National Convention and is included here as not only a piece of fiction, but an horrific piece of fiction at that…


Tagged: convention, fiction, horror, politics

Philip K Jones reviews Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Vampire by Dean P. Turnbloom

Reblogged from Mxpublishing's Blog:

“This is a first novel by an author new to Sherlockian fiction who has undertaken to unite two of the most popular Sherlockian pastiche subjects into a single volume.  The Database of Sherlockian pastiches, parodies and related fiction lists ninety five efforts to have Sherlock uncover the identity of ‘Saucy Jack.’  Further, the database also lists fifty five efforts to tell of Sherlock’s efforts to cope with Vampires. 

Read more… 260 more words

I would like to thank Mr. Philip K. Jones for his honest appraisal of my recent efforts. I'm ...thanks!

A Lesson in Deduction…

If you can filter out the British accent (pardon me, Steve), this is a delightfully illuminating talk with much that is of practical use…please enjoy and share with your friends…

Tagged: books, Debate, Deduction, Holmes, Joe_Riggs, liars, lies, mxpublishing, novel, Sherlock, Sherlock_Holmes