In
this mysterious episode, Alan is joined by THREE guests to discuss mystery and detective properties from around the world. We go to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the UK, all around Europe, the Caribbean, and even the USA. We talk TV, novels, comic books, and even a few games.
Listen to this episode ... and find out!
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Promo: Comics for Fun & Profit
Link: The RaD Adventures Network
Link: Em's bookstore The Book Loft
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This was a joy to listen to, and in fact, I will be sharing this episode with my wife, who I know will appreciate hearing your suggestions, as well. It's really quite impressive how many of these tv and book series we already have in common, and I need to go back and listen when I'm not in the car so that I can write down some of the suggestions that we haven't already been reading or watching. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI do confess to one area of potential disagreement in which I'd welcome discussion, in that while I have read the first two books the Mary Russell series, and found them quite engaging... my own interpretation of Holmes can't reconcile the idea of his getting married to someone so much younger than him, and so I've decided not to go further (Michelle has no such hang-up, and has already purchased several more of the books in hopes of getting to them sooner rather than later!).
Having said that, I do want to mention some of the things that King clearly does right, that a lot of Holmes pastiches do not. First, she sets things up in the introduction to the first book in such a way that, while this IS intended to be essentially the same person as the Holmes that Doctor Watson had written about, Russell knew Holmes from a different perspective, and thus see Holmes differently. She also suggests that Watson took some creative license with the character (for example, clearly not unaware of the issues with the age difference between Russell and Holmes, it is suggested that Holmes was actually somewhat younger than Watson depicted him, in an effort to make his exploits more "believable" to Watson's audience... it can't erase the fact that Russell was still 15 when they first met, and that the age difference is still decades-wide, but to Holmes' credit, he does wait until Russell is in her 20s before acting on the attraction). Thus, any apparent differences between the Russell stories and "canon" can be handwaved as Watsonian license.
But, for me at least (I hope I'm not alone in this, but I trust you'll understand I accept that not everyone has to be like me), I understand Holmes to be a largely asexual, and decidedly a-romantic (an important distinction!) person. While (age difference aside) I could potentially accept that Holmes fell in love and married later in life (after the canon), it especially bothers me in pastiches when it is suggested that Holmes had a relationship with Irene Adler. It's not that I don't think Holmes would have acted on his (decidedly apparent) attraction to Adler (given different circumstances), but the ending of "A Scandal in Bohemia" closes off that possibility (again, in my understanding) by having Adler happily married to someone else (who she'd become involved with before even meeting Holmes) and living far from England. It seems to me that it would do violence to the canon to contrive a way to erase that.
That out of the way, thank you again for the episode. I hope that Michelle and I will have an opportunity to see all four of you again soon (perhaps at Gallifrey One? You're aware that 2028 will be the last, I'm sure, so this would definitely require "sooner rather than later").
Thanks for listening, and for the feedback. I largely agree with most of these points.
DeleteI mentioned the age difference on the episode as a warning, because it is certainly a potential "no-go" for many. I was unsure at first myself, but fortunately the novels have moved on far enough at this point for that difference to be less ... concerning. But I certainly understand your take. I do like the "Watson exaggerated a bit" as an opportunity to fudge the ages a bit, as well.
I agree that I prefer an asexual Holmes, and the notion of him having a child is not my favorite addition to the lore. I can't remember if it was on the show or if it was another piece of feedback, but there is a property featuring a child that Holmes did not know about, and ... I just don't like that. He's too smart, too responsible, and frankly too gentlemanly for that to occur. At least that describes my preferred version of Holmes.
Excellent points.
And re: Gallifrey One, we are targeting 2027.