Amy Thomas's Blog, page 15
August 28, 2012
Mystery Trivia Tuesday
Recently, I was interviewed by Kathleen Kaska, author of the superb The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book and several other outstanding books. Today, her thoughts on The Detective and The Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes and my interview have gone live on her site as part of Mystery Trivia Tuesday. Here’s an excerpt from the interview, and be sure to link through to the rest!
What was the inspiration behind the creation of your Holmes novel, The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes, which by the way is a wonderful title?
Thank you! When I reread the canon in 2010, I was particularly intrigued by “A Scandal in Bohemia,” the story in which Holmes meets Irene Adler. The story is a fascinating one because Holmes begins it with a very negative opinion of Irene and ends it thinking she’s clever and more honorable than his client. She’s an audacious and interesting character, and I found myself wanting to imagine a future in which she and Holmes could form an actual friendship based on understanding and respect. That was the subject that inspired me. I was also inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a program that encourages participants to pen a whole novel in a month, and that’s how I got the story fully on paper.
Read the full interview here.
August 23, 2012
Canon Thursday: Free For All
Canon Thursday is a free for all this week. Say anything you want to about Sherlock Holmes in one sentence.
August 16, 2012
Canon Thursday: Watson’s Finest Hour
Focusing on the incomparable John Watson today. In your opinion, what is his best moment in the whole of the ACD canon?
August 9, 2012
Canon Thursday: What Do You Wish You Knew
It’s a simple question this week. If there’s one thing you could ask Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about the Sherlock Holmes canon, what would it be?
August 2, 2012
Thursday Special: BSB on the Today Show!
Taking time out from our usual scheduled programming to give you this clip of two of my fellow Baker Street Babes on NBC’s Today Show this morning! Take a look
July 26, 2012
Canon Thursday: Holmes in a New Time
You’ve been given enough money and time to create a brand new adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes canon (book, film, tv show, radio play, you name it). There’s only one stipulation. You can’t set it during its original time period.
Which alternate time period would you choose? Why?
My answers:
If faced with this challenge, I’d like to go backwards in time and try to place Holmes and Watson pre-1800. (Jennifer Petkus did a very entertaining and unorthodox sort of take on this in her novel My Particular Friend, which I highly recommend.)
My reason is that in general, adapations have brought Holmes forward in time, and I would love the challenge of trying to express the spirit of the canon in a pre-modern time period.
I would love to hear your picks. Let me know in the comments.
July 23, 2012
Importance of John Watson: My Guest Post
I recently wrote a guest post about the importance of John Watson for Dan Andriacco’s Baker Street Beat. Here’s an excerpt:
When I was about nine years old, I heard an audiobook version of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I remember thinking to myself that this Watson narrator guy was really not very clever. By the time I had reached “The Final Problem,” however, I was heartbroken on behalf of the same man who had previously seemed like an idiot in comparison to his brilliant friend.
In short, I fell for John Watson when Sherlock Holmes fell from a cliff (only he didn’t, which my older sister soon told me to relieve my misery).
Click here to read the rest at Baker Street Beat
July 9, 2012
July 5, 2012
Canon Thursday: Unpopular Opinion
At the risk of annoying my Sherlockian friends, I will admit my unpopular Sherlock Holmes opinion, which is that, while I believe Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was brilliant at plotting and characterization, I wouldn’t classify him as one of my favorite writers when it comes to language use or the sheer beauty of his prose. For me, he falls below several others in those categories.
What’s your unpopular Sherlock Holmes opinion? Let me know in the comments.
June 27, 2012
Win a free, signed copy of The Detective and The Woman!
For the month of July, I’m offering a giveaway of The Detective and The Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes through Goodreads.com
Click here to enter! It’s totally free.
Book description:
Irene Adler, American opera singer and the one woman who outsmarted Sherlock Holmes, finds herself a widow at thirty-two, wealthy but emotionally broken. At the same time, Sherlock Holmes finds himself unable to return to England after faking his death at Reichenbach Falls and is drawn into an investigation of two men with designs on a woman they call Miss A, who is none other than Irene Adler herself. The Detective and The Woman throw their lot in together to uncover a dangerous plot with implications that stretch across the Atlantic. In the process, they meet legendary inventor Thomas Edison and experience life in Florida at the turn of the 20th century.
