Alistair Duncan's Blog, page 91

New book and Amazon UK

Amazon UK are quoting a rather long wait for delivery of my latest book. If you wish to get hold of it quicker I suggest you use Book Depository.

Launch Day

Today is the official worldwide launch date for An Entirely New Country. However Amazon (both UK and US) don't seem to have got their act together yet. Don't let their websites put you off. Place those orders now. You can also go to Book Depository.

Options for purchase are here.

No such thing as a free lunch (dinner)

My wife and I went for a lovely dinner at the Criterion Restaurant with Steve and Sharon Emecz last night.



However I seem to have come away with a pile of books to work my way through.

Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes - Image

Thanks to the Baker Street Babes for drawing my attention to this one:

http://bakerstreetbabes.tumblr.com/post/13620317451/oh-first-image-of-stephen-fry-as-mycroft

What if?

A thought just occurred to me. How would it affect Doylean scholarship if Conan Doyle's original script for the Sherlock Holmes play were to resurface?

It is generally believed to have burned, along with William Gillette's rewrite, in the Baldwin Hotel in San Fransisco. This event forced Gillette to rewrite the play from memory.

A question that has been asked more than once is how much of Conan Doyle's script was retained for the play that was ultimately performed to much acclaim worldwide. Gillette never said anything on this matter which has left historians to make up their own minds. Despite the fact that the play was credited to both men with Conan Doyle's name at the top it has been widely assumed that little of Conan Doyle's material remained.

How interesting would it be if it surfaced after all this time?

A good "what if?"

2011 Recommendations for the season.

Here is a list of my 2011 highlights (in no particular order):


Some basic (but not too important) errors. Otherwise an excellent account of the relationship between the arch-sceptic and the arch-believer. Sandford deserves credit for not painting Conan Doyle as quite the gullible fool that some writers have been inclined to do (although it seems pretty clear that he is on Houdini's side).


Conan Doyle's previously unpublished first work that he wished to remain unpublished.


Charlotte Walters' different take on the Sherlockian pastiche. People seem to be polarised in their opinions but I thought that, apart from some issues over characterisation, it was a brave and novel angle to pursue.

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One of the better collections of short-story pastiche to come out for a few years.


Henry Zecher's definitive(?) biography on America's Sherlock Holmes.

Taking liberties

Well we have a little over two weeks before the latest Warner Bros Sherlock Holmes film hits screens in the US and Europe. I think it is pretty safe to say that whether you loved or hated the first offering you are expecting more of the same from the sequel. I certainly am and if the trailers to date are anything to go by I am not wrong.

There was an awful lot wrong with the first film but, to be fair, there was a fair amount that was right also. However this has been the case for Holmes screen dramatisations since the first. If we look back to the dawn of cinema it is easy to see that the Sherlock Holmes stories have suffered as much as other works at the hands of screenwriters.

The most famous of the early screen outings starred Eille Norwood and his (silent) films were set in the era in which they were filmed (i.e. the 1920s). The same was the case when Arthur Wontner starred in some of the earliest talkie Holmes films in the early 1930s. In both cases this was dictated largely by budget.


Fox's early efforts with Basil Rathbone relocated back to the Victorian era but, when they took over, Universal swiftly reverted to a contemporary setting.

In the 1950s and 60s efforts were made to keep Holmes in his Victorian setting. We saw the likes of John Neville, Douglas Wilmer, Ronald Howard and Peter Cushing all as loyal servants of Victoria. This continued as we entered the 80s with Ian Richardson and Jeremy Brett continuing in the same vein.

Yet all of these took liberties with the source material to some degree or other. So when we object to such liberties do we do so more on the basis of what they are (i.e. do they cross any of our personal red lines) or who it is that is taking them?

Not a bad opening

I said on Twitter this morning that I wouldn't blog today but what the hell. This will be the only one today.

My book An Entirely New Country is down to one available copy on Amazon UK. My other books have benefited from this as well with The Norwood Author also down to its last copy and sales increasing of Close to Holmes.

This is rather pleasing although I'll have to wait for the official sales figures before I know whether I am celebrating too early.

If you're in the UK and Amazon are sold out be sure to check Book Depository or Waterstones. With the former you don't need to have an account with them. You can make an unregistered purchase with Pay Pal.

Amazon UK - Nearly Sold Out

Good news. Amazon UK are down to their last two copies of An Entirely New Country.

Interesting - Book on sale now

Hi all. It would appear that Amazon UK are shipping my new book now.