Let's talk about Sherlock Holmes books for a bit

In my search for non-Doyle Sherlock Holmes books, I came across this list of SH novels: link. A bit outdated but still useful, IMHO. There's also a list of summaries & reviews listed on this site. Very useful! Especially since it lists characters that actually appear in the story.

You see, I can't read any SH book without Dr. Watson. Or when he's portrayed as a bumbling idiot - seriously, that man was a soldier and a doctor, for Christ's sake. I can't imagine many fools being doctors and managing to work to their best knowledge and abilities under the stress of a war.

Which is why my mind boggles that some of the authors who are actually allowed to play with these characters, with Holmes and Watson, avoid actually exploring them, that they simply use them to introduce their own characters without any regard for of Holmes and Watson's integrity.

A case in point: Laurie R. King. Her books are quite popular but I'll never ever, ever read them, especially not after reading her short story in the collection The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes where she turned Holmes into a misogynist who hated women so much that he disregarded a female witness' account, which is so, so not true for the canon Holmes. But back to her books. In them, she introduces a young Mary Sue who replaces Watson in the position of Holmes' helper and Holmes is so smitten with her that he falls madly in love with her despite being old enough to be her grandfather. First: EWW! Second: King then apologized to her disgruntled readers for how she treated Watson in her books, making him nothing but a useless fool. Dear author, if you have to apologize for how you treated someone else's character, get out of their sandbox, you are doing it wrong!

But now to books that I actually loved. So far, Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald and Anthony Horowitz's The House of Silk come to my mind.

Dear authors who want to tinker with Holmes and Watson, read Gaiman's short story. That's how you do it! ( Spoilers! )

And Anthony Horowitz... His book's the first story officially commissioned and recognized by the Sherlock Holmes estate. And no wonder. It's amazing! ( Spoilers! )

Now, I got my hands on David Stuart Davies' The Veiled Detective, a little AU of how Holmes and Watson could've also met if circumstances were a bit different, and Val Andrews' The Torment of Sherlock Holmes. I also got Gaslight Grimoire for Xmas!

I wonder, are there any non-Doyle SH book fans on my flist? I know of a few who rec'd me The House of Silk, for which I'm eternally grateful. Any other tips? What other books are worth checking out?

Podfic rec: Sherlock Holmes (book canon)

"Cauldron: A Love Letter" by Katie Forsythe, read by aethel | Holmes/Watson, Watson/Mary | The Final Problem and The Empty House retold. | 2hr. 39min.

There were no lights. I found my way in the dark. Watson had taken the larger four-poster, the smaller cot unoccupied. I stood over him for a time, my head finally succumbing to waves of otherness--it was not peace, not happiness, it never had been, but neither was it pain and it was that otherness I had needed so very badly. When he noticed I was there, he looked up at me. Then he pulled me down into his arms.

Katie Forsythe is THE Sherlock Holmes book canon fanfic author. She always manages to squeeze the slash into her stories in such a way that it doesn't alter the canon and it feels so natural.

The Big Bang Theory 207-212

Kripke is a hoot! And based on Erik Kripke! Ha! I love it when writers of various shows make fun of each other - like the writers of White Collar and Burn Notice! And the way he talks, "Kwipke". LOL!

I loved Stephanie, she was gorgeous. And she just proved that women don't have to be thin as a stick to be attractive or sensual. Man, she was lovely.

I also really liked Penny when she tried to help Leonard with his relationship. She was really funny and understanding and helpful. And also really gorgeous with that wavy hair. They should let her have this hairdo more often.

My favorite episode? The one where Penny and Sheldon fought and Sheldon hung up her undies on a telephone pole outside! LOL. Or the Saturnalia/Xmas one. I laughed so hard when Sheldon said:

Do you realize what this means? All I need is a healthy ovum and I could grow my own Leonard Nimoy!

Oh, Sheldon! He was so excited about Penny's gift. She couldn't have given him anything better. I really love it when they are all friends - a lovely bunch of weirdos, sure, but friends nonetheless :)