I am not sure how I feel about this

[impulsereader]

They are issuing copies of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories with covers which are from Sherlock.

ETA - OMG - Martin Freeman wrote an intro for one of them...my consternation grows apace.

Comments

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

I understand your concern with dear MF writing an intro... and yet, anything that will lead people back to canon can only be a good thing, surely? The original stories remain vibrant, fun and eminently readable. The reason Sherlock Holmes can still resonate today is that 100-odd years ago, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about two very human, very sharp and oddly very modern men being amazing, intelligent, rational and yet having adventures! The Tony Stark of their time. (Or maybe I'm pushing it there...)

My hubby met someone recently who had started reading the original stories, inspired by the BBC Sherlock. He'd never read them before and didn't actually know about The Final Problem until the Reichenbach episode, and he knew nothing about The Empty House. Hubby found he was being careful about what he said about the later short stories because he didn't want to give spoilers for books written A CENTURY AGO! :)

We feel excited for our friend, getting to read the stories for the first time! We remember how exciting it was to read them for the first time too!

Anyway, Freeman may turn out to be articulate. It might not be terrible...

Oh god, do you realise that I'm now tempted to buy those editions. Even though I don't need them. Even though I have several illustrated hardcover editions, some paperbacks and most of them as ebooks.

See what you do to me, Martin Freeman??!!

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

It pleases me greatly that the show makes people go to the canon, but I sort of hate this anyway. I think that people who fall into this category aren't going to care what the covers look like, and someone who hasn't seen the show isn't going to pick up this book and be all - sweet! - they're going to be expecting something completely different if they buy it based on this cover.

Anywho, I do sort of want to read the intros. I wonder if they hit up any of the actual writers to do any of them.

We picked up a volume that has some - possibly all, not positive - of the original illustrations, I should pick that up and at least glance through it, read a few stories at random. That's a pleasant hour or two wiled away.

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

Did you notice on the John Watson blog site (the official one associated with the show) that the story of the Alumnium Crutch contains a character named Sidney Paget.

I do see what you mean about the marketing of those books. Perhaps some people will be exposed to canon by stealth? Maybe it's a Moftiss plan to trick everyone into reading the originals. Let me know if you do see the intros, and I'll keep an eye out here for them too.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Canon by stealth! Oh, that's an icon waiting to happen!

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

Sneaky, sneaky canon...

[northernwalker]

I guess if it gets people to read the original it's good? However, I wonder how many people will assume those ar novelizations of the show.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Well, see, that was my first instinct. I mean it has SHERLOCK written across the top of the cover and the boys huge as life. It took me a while to figure out what was really going on.

And my real argument is that if the show makes someone want to read the ACD canon, that's absolutely terrific, but they're going to do it no matter what the covers look like.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

I guess that is one way to make money off of books people can otherwise get for free! :)

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

True. That hadn't even occurred to me. Who even gets that money at this point?

[f-m-r-l.livejournal.com]

Publishers and booksellers, for the most part.

[djarum99.livejournal.com]

Who even gets that money at this point?

The story of Doyle's literary estate is a fascinating tale in and of itself; you can read about it here. I recently read a mystery featuring a hidden Doyle manuscript and his Surrey mansion, Undershaw; not the most well-written novel, but the historical details were very interesting. Can't, of course, remember the title or author at the moment.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

That is certainly convoluted.

Oh man, I want his house! Milne's house just went of for sale recently.

[f-m-r-l.livejournal.com]

I can see the covers leading to a great number of disappointed purchasers. The front cover of the one I looked at shows nothing that would immediately distinguish it as a story over a hundred years old and with markedly different plots and characterization than those seen in the BBC series.

Exploring different places in space, time, and thought can be one of the best parts of being a reader as far as I'm concerned. But some people like to be surrounded only by the familiar, possibly because they just want to focus on characterization and the like and differences distract them, possibly because they read for a comfortably familiar retreat. (And I'm certainly not going to say "Oh, you're not a real reader if you don't read like I do or don't enjoy the same things I do.") Those people are going to feel cheated.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

That's my main point, I think. They look like they're going to be novelizations of Sherlock. Anyone who doesn't glance through, or doesn't register the fact that Amazon lists ACD as the author; or, heck, someone who doesn't know who ACD is - is going to be mightily disappointed. The covers scream - action & adventure! Not - really awesome detective stories that don't actually feature any explosions!

[f-m-r-l.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I thought there were occasional explosions. I'll have to look back. :-)

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

There could be, that was just the first, most obvious and noisy thing I could think of that people now might be looking for...especially if they've seen Sherlock, now that I think about it. There's quite a lot of exploding going on in TGG.