Old Doylean Events

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2024 January 16, 7:00 p.m.
Bimetallic Question's "All of Doyle"
to request a Zoom link, email
info@bimetallicquestion.org

2024 January 12, 10:30 a.m.
The Literary Agents #4
This Time It's Personal

2024 January 11, 11:15 a.m.
ACD Society's Doylean Honors &
Running of the Wessex Cup
The Mysterious Bookshop
New York, NY

2023 September 30, 10:00 a.m.
221B Open House & BSI Book Fair
The Dobrys, Reading, PA
dendobry@ptd.net

2023 September 19, 7:00 p.m.
Bimetallic Question's "All of Doyle"
to request a Zoom link, email
info@bimetallicquestion.org

2023 July 11, 7:00 p.m.
Bimetallic Question's "All of Doyle"
to request a Zoom link, email
info@bimetallicquestion.org

2023 July 4, 2:00 p.m.
Sidney Paget's Visions of Sherlock
Worldwide Doyle 2023 — Episode #4
Portsmouth Library
Portsmouth, UK

2023 July 3, 2:00 p.m.
ACD’s Supernatural Stories
Worldwide Doyle 2023 — Episode #3
Portsmouth Library
Portsmouth, UK

2023 June 28, 2:00 p.m.
Portsmouth's Conan Doyle Collection
Worldwide Doyle 2023 — Episode #2
Portsmouth Library
Portsmouth, UK

2023 June 26, 2:00 p.m.
Adventure of the Gaiola Malediction
Worldwide Doyle 2023 — Episode #1
Portsmouth Library
Portsmouth, UK

2023 May 9, 7:00 p.m.
Bimetallic Question's "All of Doyle"
to request a Zoom link, email
info@bimetallicquestion.org

2023 March 28, 7:00 p.m.
Bimetallic Question's "All of Doyle"
to request a Zoom link, email
info@bimetallicquestion.org

2023 January 5, 11:15 a.m.
ACD Society's Doylean Honors &
Running of the Wessex Cup
The Mysterious Bookshop
New York, NY

2023 January 6, 10:30 a.m.
The Literary Agents Ride Again
register here for this online event

2022 September 8 - October 22
"Artist vs. Author"
The Society of Illustrators in NYC

2022 September 23-25
ACD Collection 50th (+1) Anniversary
Toronto Reference Library

2022 July 21-30
The Poison Belt (Becca Chadder, dir.)
Jermyn Street Theatre

2022 May 23-26
Worldwide Doyle - Professor Neil McCaw Lecture Series
Portsmouth Central Library

2022 January 16, 10:00 a.m.
The Literary Agents Return:
Second Annual Meeting
register here for this online event

2022 January 13, 11:15 a.m.
ACD Society's Doylean Honors
The Mysterious Bookshop
New York, NY
Details and online registration option

2022 January 9, 8:30 a.m.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Afterlives
MLA Annual Convention
Washington, DC


Doylean News

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Please tell us about your Doylean news and plans so we can share them: acdsocy@gmail.com.

For up-to-date Sherlockian information, always check the Sherlockian Calendar for events and Scuttlebutt and The District Messenger for news.


Old Posts

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toy wind-up horse in front of Wessex Cup sign, on Wessex Cup race track

Doylean Honors and Wessex Cup at
The Mysterious Bookshop, and Online

January 4, 2023 — Join us tomorrow for the second annual Doylean Honors ceremony and the first running of the Wessex Cup at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop. If you cannot be there in person, join us online here for the Doings of Doyle streaming broadcast. Pictured above: Practice pony posing in the winner's circle on our Wessex Cup track. Click on the picture for a bird's-eye view of the whole track, with the pony on the left crossing the finish line.


2023 Wessex Cup bracket

Wessex Cup Bracket Is Set

December 19, 2022 — The field for our inaugural Wessex Cup is complete. So, a bracket for the races can be set. Here it is. You know what to do now. And on January 5, starting at 11:15 a.m., you will be able to follow the action in person — if you attend the Doylean Honors ceremony at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop — or online — if you register here for the Doings of Doyle streaming broadcast of the proceedings.


photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle

"A Common Newsletter" Is in the Mail:
“Who is this British writer and physician?" Asks "The Times"

December 14, 2022 — The third issue of the second year of our newsletter is en route to members worldwide (and has, we've heard, already arrived in some places). It points to some ancient history of ACD's Bignall Wood country estate, and to an amusing quiz question in "The Times" of London. There's another page from Margie Deck and Nancy Holder's "Blue John Gap" Project (with an essay by Tamar Zeffren), a reminder that our annual Doylean Honors ceremony at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop — including our inaugural Wessex Cup — is just around the next bend of the calendar, on January 5, and, of course, more. Soon an electronic edition will be available for free right here.


excerpt from auction catalog about The Terror of Blue John Gap

The Return (Yet Again) of the Terror:
4 New Papers and MS Page 3 from the "Blue John Gap" Project

December 11, 2022 — Margie Deck and Nancy Holder have another batch of fascinating commentary on ACD's "The Terror of Blue John Gap" for us. Page 3 of their project is now online — with a facsimile (and transcription) of that page of ACD's autograph manuscript, accompanied by Margie and Nancy's own commentary ("'Strange how superstitious these countrymen are!': 19th Century Superstition in Derbyshire") and new essays by Tamar Zeffren ("Damning with Faint Praise: Dr. Hardcastle’s Impressions of Armitage") and John P. Knud-Hansen ("The Terror of Tuberculosis"). In addition, there are new papers on Page B by Jennifer L. Behrens ("Timeline of 'Terror': Provenance of the 'Blue John Gap' Autograph Manuscript") and on Page 1 by Robert S. Katz ("Imagination in the Infirmary"). Read and relish!


a wind-up toy horse, and a display of wessex cup stables, including 2 toy horses, a cup, a bag, a box, and a brochure

Wessex Cup Stables for Sale

November 24, 2022 — We have completed construction and population of 16 stables for our first running of The Wessex Cup. The Cup will be run in tandem with our second annual Doylean Honors ceremony on January 5 at Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop, starting at 11:15 a.m. ACD Society members get first dibs on Wessex Cup stable purchases until November 30. Interested? You can see a stable, and possibly buy one, here.


a postcard advertisement for the serial publication of "Sir Nigel"

A Lagniappe Issue of
"A Common Newsletter"

November 7, 2022 — Sometime soon, members will receive a small extra issue of our Society's periodical. It is mostly an appreciation — partly by ACD, partly by the Society — of Sir Nigel, and slightly a reminder that sometime soon would be a good time to renew your membership.


2 wind-up toy horses

A Wessex Cup Full of Firsts
Added to Doylean Honors

October 14, 2022 — When we gather to applaud Doylean Honors winners at Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop on January 5 of the 2023 BSI Weekend, we will also witness the first running of a new kind of Wessex Cup. For details, read the first issue of The Doylean Sporting Times (otherwise known as the "New Pink 'Un").


excerpt from Doylean Honors nomination form in the Performing and Visual Arts category

It's Time to Nominate Excellent
"Performing & Visual Arts"
for Doylean Honors

September 9, 2022 — The nomination form for the "Performing & Visual Arts" category of our annual Doylean Honors is online here. (The forms for our other categories — Fiction & Poetry and Scholarly Writing — are here and here.) Please complete forms in as many categories as you like. Tell us whose work deserves recognition at our awards ceremony on January 5 of the 2023 BSI Weekend, at 11:15 a.m. at Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City.


original artwork for "Sir Nigel"

Sir Nigel and Sherlock at the
Society of Illustrators

September 7, 2022 — The Society of Illustrators in NYC is hosting "Artist vs. Author" from September 8 to October 22. The exhibition includes ancient and modern original works by illustrators of ACD: Joseph Clement Coll (Sir Nigel, 1905-1906) and Sergio Martinez (numerous Sherlock stories, 1986-1998). The relevant pages of the catalog are here. Yes, it includes prices, because the Coll and Martinez and works are also for sale. For more information, click the links in this post, or email (senbach@hotmail.com) or call (646-261-7038) show manager Zaddick Longenbach.


excerpt from Doylean Honors nomination form in the Fiction and Poetry category

The Doylean Honors Are Back!
It's Time to Nominate Your Favorite
Fiction, Poetry, and Scholarship

August 24, 2022 — Nomination forms for the "Fiction & Poetry" and "Scholarly Writing" categories of our annual Doylean Honors are now online here and here (and by clicking on the purple and yellow images). Please complete a form (or more than one) to tell the selection committees whose work from 2021 and 2022 deserves recognition at our awards ceremony, scheduled for Thursday (January 5) of the 2023 BSI Weekend, at 11:15 a.m. at Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City.

excerpt from Doylean Honors nomination form in the Scholarly Writing category


image from the original film of "The Lost World"

Doyle Dinos Rule!
"A Common Newsletter" Is in the Mail

August 11, 2022 — The second issue of the second year of our newsletter is en route to members worldwide (and has, we've heard, already arrived in some places). It points to some new respect for an old film based on ACD's "The Lost World" and an architect's vision of ACD's first mansion. There's another page from Margie Deck and Nancy Holder's "Blue John Gap" Project (with an essay by Peter Blau), a reminder that time is running out to register for Jubilee@221B (the conference The Bootmakers of Toronto and The Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection are hosting on September 23-25), and, of course, more. Soon an electronic edition will be available for free right here.


excerpt from antique tour guidebook describing the Blue John mine

Terrifying Update: 4 New Papers and MS Page 2 from the "Blue John Gap" Project

August 7, 2022 — Margie Deck and Nancy Holder have been busy developing and editing new commentary about ACD's classic horror story, "The Terror of Blue John Gap." They've launched the Page 2 portion of their project, with a facsimile (and transcription) of page 2 of ACD's autograph manuscript, accompanied by their own commentary and new essays by Peter E. Blau ("What is Blue John?"), Elinor Gray Howell ("The Victorian Superfluous Woman"), and Peter Adrian Behravesh ("Doyle & 'The Arabian Nights'"). In addition, there is a new paper on Page C by Roberta Pearson ("'So the old dog returns to his vomit': 'The Terror of Blue John Gap' and Arthur Conan Doyle's Readers"). Read and relish!


image of the April 2022 issue of "A Common Newsletter"

"A Common Newsletter"
Is in the Mail

May 18, 2022 — The first issue of the second year of our newsletter — featuring news about the latest ACD exhibition at the Toronto Public Library (curated by Jessie Amaolo), a page from Margie Deck and Nancy Holder's "Blue John Gap" Project, a tidbit about the Mirankers' "221 Objects" book, and more — is in the mail to members. Soon an electronic edition will be available for free right here.


photographs of Margie Deck and Nancy Holder, with an excerpt of a Blue John Gap illustration between them

"The Terror of Blue John Gap" Project
Launched by Deck & Holder

April 18, 2022 — Late last year we announced that Margie Deck and Nancy Holder (pictured above, left and right, with a terrified Dr. James Hardcastle between them) had agreed to co-edit a new annotated edition of ACD's classic horror story, "The Terror of Blue John Gap." Since then, Margie and Nancy have been developing this project in more directions, and in more interesting ways, than we could have imagined. Now they are ready to go public. You can read their introductory essay — Welcome to "The Terror of Blue John Gap" Project & All Our Questions — and a whole lot more at their new website. You can also get there by clicking on the "Terror of Blue John Gap" image at the top right-hand corner of this page. Go! Now! Look for more news (and imagery) about this project in the next issue of A Common Newsletter later this spring. (Photo of Nancy Holder courtesy of Erin Underwood.)


store sign outside at the front of The Mysterious Bookshop

Doylean Honors at
The Mysterious Bookshop in 2023

March 28, 2022 — The ACD Society will return to Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop for its second annual Doylean Honors awards ceremony. The event will take place on the Thursday (January 5) of the 2023 BSI Weekend, at 11:30 a.m. Many thanks to Otto! It is a great honor and pleasure to recognize excellence in Doylean arts, literature, scholarship, and service in such a respectable, enjoyable, and significant place, and in such fine company.


inside The Mysterious Bookshop during the 2022 Doylean Honors event

Doylean Honors at
The Mysterious Bookshop

February 18, 2022 — On January 13, 2022, the Doylean-Sherlockian glitterati begin to gather at Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop for the ACD Society’s inaugural Doylean Honors awards ceremony. Above, left to right: Otto Penzler, Derrick Belanger, Mike McSwiggin, Les Klinger, Bev Wolov, Tom Horrocks, Brian Belanger, Peter Blau, Ray Betzner, Ross Davies, Don Hobbs, Joe Eckrich, Steve Mason, Jerry Kegley, and Mark Jones. Below: ACD Society committee chairs and awards presenters Derrick Belanger and Monica Schmidt (with cricket jersey in hand) prepare to appear on stage. Photographs courtesy of Christopher Zordan.

Derrick Belanger and Monica Schmidt inside The Mysterious Bookshop during the 2022 Doylean Honors event


fanned array of Doylean Honors certificates

Doylean Honors Are in the Mail

February 10, 2022 — Doylean Honors certificates (accompanied by the associated gift credits to The Mysterious Bookshop) are finally in the mail to the honorees. We hope they find suitable locations for proud display. And this seems like an appropriate moment to share the thoughtful acceptance we received from honoree Douglas Kerr.


Monica Schmidt speaking inside The Mysterious Bookshop at the 2022 Doylean Honors event

Watch the Doylean Honors Ceremony
on Doings of Doyle

January 18, 2022 — The Doings of Doyle YouTube channel features a complete recording of our inaugural Doylean Honors ceremony, including  announcements of the honorees: Gretchen Altabef, Stephen Carver, Stephen Gallagher, Daniel Henocq, Douglas Kerr, Bonnie MacBird, Peggy Perdue, Christopher Roden, Shawna Ross, and Barbara Rusch. The formal proceedings begin about four minutes into the recording. Watch all the way to the end to catch Monica Schmidt's pitch (at about 21:07) for The ACD Society's cricket squad! The recording also offers a few nice glimpses of Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop, which hosted the event.


3 images of Peggy's Arthur Conan Doyle doily, with her cat

Arthur Conan Doily

January 17, 2022 — Peggy Perdue has created yet another artistic interpretation of Arthur Conan Doyle. This one, titled "Arthur Conan Doily," was introduced to the world in a limited-edition pamphlet distributed to Doyleans who attended the inaugural Doylean Honors ceremony at The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City on January 13. The ACD Society promised (in appropriately fine print appropriately situated at the bottom of the back page of the pamphlet): "An e-version will soon be available on the Society's website at www.acdsociety.com." And here it is! The images above illustrate three important stages in the creation of the Arthur Conan Doily: (1) creation of a grid to guide eye and needle, (2) creation of the Doily itself, and (3) inspection of the Doily.


Doylean Honors certificate

The Envelope, Please . . .

January 13, 2022 — It is with pleasure, pride, and great respect that we announce our inaugural Doylean Honorees.

For Lifetime Service:

Christopher Roden

For excellence in the "Fiction and Poetry" category:

Gretchen Altabef for the short story in Sir Arthur and the Time Machine Sherlock Holmes: Further Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells Volume Two (Belanger Books)

Stephen Gallagher for the short story The Governess (The Brooligan Press)

Barbara Rusch for the short story The Consulting Detective and the Literary Agent: The Untold Tale (The Sherlock Holmes Society of India website)

For excellence in the "Performing and Visual Arts" category:

Daniel Henocq for ElementStory #08.1–Le chien des Baskerville (the Hound of the Baskervilles) (Youtube)

Bonnie MacBird for Modern Major Super Sleuth (Youtube)

Peggy Perdue for Arthur Conan Doll (Canadian Holmes)

For excellence in the "Scholarly Writing" category:

Stephen Carver for the post Dinosaurs, Disintegration Machines and Talking to the Dead: The Wild World of Professor Challenger (The Wordsworth Blog)

Douglas Kerr for Memories and Adventures by Arthur Conan Doyle (Edinburgh University Press)

Shawna Ross for the article Sightseeing the Anthropocene: tourism, moorland management, and The Hound of the Baskervilles (Nineteenth-Century Contexts)

Congratulations to all! Look for a special Doings of Doyle podcast about the Doylean Honors. Coming soon.


excerpt from Doylean Honors certificate

Welcome to the Inaugural
Doylean Honors Ceremony

January 12, 2022 — Please join us tomorrow (Thursday, January 13, at 11:15 a.m. ET) either in person at The Mysterious Bookshop (58 Warren Street, NYC) or online at Doings of Doyle (register for free here) to celebrate excellence in Doylean Fiction and Poetry, Performing and Visual Arts, and Scholarly Writing, and to salute the Lifetime Service of one extraordinary Doylean. See you at the Bookshop or online for the inaugural Doylean Honors!


2022 ACD Society membership card

An Early Welcome to 2022

December 29, 2021 — Society membership cards for 2022 are in the mail and en route to folks whose memberships extend into 2022. We hope you are terrified, and perhaps mystified, by the image on the other side. Happy new year!

 


December 2021 issue of "A Common Newsletter"

"A Common Newsletter"
Is at the Printer, and Here Now

December 17, 2021 — The third issue of our newsletter (and the last for 2021) is at the printer now. We will mail it to members as soon as we have it in hand, but, alas, it might not reach them until early 2022. So, to ensure that the last of the 2021 newsletters really is available in December 2021 (even if the ink-on-paper version isn’t until January 2022), we’re posting an electronic edition now. Voila!

 


We Have a Logo, and a Moustache

November 28, 2021 — We are pleased to report that the ACD Society now has a logo. We announced a logo contest back in January, with a deadline of June. Why did it take so long to announce a winner? Partly because we received numerous excellent entries, and partly because we just aren't very efficient.

So, we begin by thanking the creative and generous Doyleans who sent us their logos.

Second, we thank and congratulate Brian Belanger (of Belanger Books fame, pictured below between two of his book covers) for creating the Society's logo. You can admire the logo's mustachioed elegance in the banner at the top of this webpage, where it appears in the middle of an array of ACD's works. Soon you will also find it in "A Common Newsletter," on the Doylean Honors certificates we will be presenting on January 13, in our tweets, and elsewhere.

photo of Brian Belanger between 2 book covers he designed

 


October 2021 issue of "A Common Newsletter"

"A Common Newsletter"
Is in the Mail

October 16, 2021 — The second issue of our newsletter is in the mail to members. Soon an electronic edition will be available for free right here. While you are waiting, would you care to speculate about the title ACD would have given to the "untold tale" of the "two forces of the future" that Mark Jones describes here? If you would, please feel free to share your ideas with us via Twitter, ACD's social medium of choice.

 


storefront of The Mysterious Bookshop

You’re Invited!

October 7, 2021 — The inaugural "Doylean Honors" ceremony will be held on January 13, 2022, at 11:15 a.m., at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren Street, in NYC. We will be presenting Doylean Honors in the categories of "Fiction and Poetry," "Performing and Visual Arts," "Scholarly Writing," and "Lifetime Service." We will post more details here as they become available. We hope to see you there!

There is still time to nominate your favorite recent Doylean works for Doylean Honors, but please hurry — the deadline is November 1.

"Performing and Visual Arts" category: The nomination form is here.

"Scholarly Writing" category: The nomination form is here.

"Fiction and Poetry" category: The nomination form is here (English version), here (Japanese version), and here (German version).

In addition, in another piece of big news, the amazing "Fiction and Poetry" committee has produced yet another version of its nomination form. We are pleased and proud to present the Czech version (it is here), which was created by Ales Kolodrubec. Ales has been an Executive Founder of the Czech Society of Sherlock Holmes since its founding in 2000, and is President of the Society. He worked as a librarian at the Charles University and as a translator from English for a Prague-based publishing house. He has retired and is now living the life of a hermit among his bees and his books in a small farm in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. Here is Ales in his current elevated apian environment:

caricature of Ales Kolodrubec

 


photographs of Philipp Haack and Mitch (Masamichi) Higurashi

"Fiction and Poetry" ... Translated!

July 30, 2021 — We have some impressive news from our Doylean Honors "Fiction and Poetry" committee: Mitch (Masamichi) Higurashi has translated the committee’s nomination form into Japanese (it is available here), and Philipp Haack has translated the form into German (it is available here).

And now a few words about Mitch and Philipp. Mitch’s first job in the Japanese publishing world was as a literary agent! For the past 40 years, he has been working as a translator, which has included publishing many works in the Holmesian canon and also ACD-related books such as "ACD: A Life in Letters." Mitch is a member of the BSI, the SHSL, and the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club. Philipp is a proud member of the Deutsche Sherlock Holmes Gesellschaft (German Sherlock Holmes Society) and the creator of www.sherlockianer.de (a German Sherlock Holmes blog with articles, reviews, and insights from his collection). You can follow Philipp on Twitter (@sherlockianer).

 


excerpt from Doylean Honors nomination form in the Scholarly Writing category

Let the Nominating Continue ... in a Scholarly Direction!

July 29, 2021 — The selection committee for the "Scholarly Writing" category of our Doylean Honors is now up and running too, with yet another formidable group of selectors:

• Melissa Aho

• Christine Corcos

• Jonathan Cranfield

• Ross Davies (chair)

• Carlina de la Cova

• Mark Jones

• Anastasia Klimchynskaya

• Sylvia A. Pamboukian

• Charles Prepolec

• Simon Stern

• Tamar Zeffren

Nominating excellent (and recent) Doylean scholarship (it must have debuted in 2020 or 2021) is easy: just download the nomination form (here), complete it, and email it to Ross.

And here is a reminder of what Doylean Honorees receive:

• An invitation to an event in their honor to be held at The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC during the week of January 10, 2022 (exact date TBD).

• A $250 Bookshop credit and a lovely certificate.

• A justifiable sense of pleasure and pride for impressing Doyleans of good taste and high integrity.

Please do act when you witness Doylean excellence, because the deadline for nominations is November 1, 2021!

 


June 2021 issue of "A Common Newsletter"

"A Common Newsletter"
Is in the Mail

June 20, 2021 — The first issue of our newsletter is in the mail to members. Soon an electronic edition will be available for free right here. While you are waiting, would you care to speculate about the inspiration of the title of our tiny periodical? If you would, please feel free to share your ideas with us via Twitter, ACD's social medium of choice.

 


excerpt from Doylean Honors nomination form in the Fictoin and Poetry category

Let the Nominating Expand Imaginatively . . . and Sometimes Rhyme!

May 12, 2021 — The selection committee for the "Fiction and Poetry" category of our Doylean Honors is now up and running. Committee chair Jayantika (Jay) Ganguly has enlisted a formidable committee of literary experts to share responsibility for choosing honorees:

• Derrick Belanger

• Steve Emecz

• Masamichi Higurashi

• Ales Kolodrubec

• Sumal Surendranath

• Tom Ue

Nominating your favorite recent Doylean story or poem (it must have debuted in 2020 or 2021) is easy: just download the nomination form (here), complete it, and email it to Jay.

And here is a reminder of what Doylean Honorees receive:

• An invitation to an event in their honor to be held at The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC during the week of January 10, 2022 (exact date TBD).

• A $250 Bookshop credit and a lovely certificate.

• A justifiable sense of pleasure and pride for impressing Doyleans of good taste and high integrity.

Please do act when you witness Doylean excellence, because the deadline for nominations is November 1, 2021!

 


excerpt from Doylean Honors nomination form in the Performing and Visual Arts category

Let the Nominating Begin!

May 9, 2021 — The selection committee for the "Performing and Visual Arts" category of our Doylean Honors is now up and running. Committee chair Monica Schmidt has divided her category into three sub-categories and assembled an impressive group of committee members for each:

Professional/Fan Visual Art: Amanda Downs Chaplin, Frank Cho, Steve Doyle.

Theatre/Live performance/YouTube (unpolished): David Harnois, Jeffrey Hatcher, Mike McSwiggin.

Film/Television/YouTube (fully produced): Curtis Armstrong, Ashley Polasek, Monica Schmidt.

Nominating your favorite recent Doylean work (it must have debuted in 2020 or 2021) is easy: just download the nomination form (here), complete it, and email it to Monica.

And here is a reminder of what Doylean Honorees receive:

• An invitation to an event in their honor to be held at The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC during the week of January 10, 2022 (exact date TBD).

• A $250 Bookshop credit and a lovely certificate.

• A justifiable sense of pleasure and pride for impressing Doyleans of good taste and high integrity.

Please do act when you witness Doylean excellence, because the deadline for nominations is November 1, 2021!

 


2021 ACD Society membership card

Pick a Number,
Almost Any Number

February 18, 2021 — We will start mailing membership cards next week. If you are a member and you would prefer a particular member number, please tell us via email, with your name and preferred number in the subject line. Because we believe membership in the ACDS should reflect community and collegiality, we are not limiting the number of members who can have a particular member number.

So, if it turns out that we have a lot of members who are attached to a number associated with Le Guin’s best book or Bozeman’s best film or Swift’s best song or Eno’s best band (or, yes, your favorite staircase or year or street address) or something else special, that’s fine. Everyone can have their number (in other words, more than one person can have the same number). The only constraint is that your number must fit on the little line just to the right of the word “number” on the bottom of the back of the card (pictured above), which does, alas, disqualify sentimental favorites by the likes of Avogadro, Curie, Gopala, and Knuth.

There is no deadline for this, but be warned: If we have not heard from you by the time we mail your card, we will choose one (or maybe some other number) for you, and then you will be stuck with that number, at least for this year. (If you’re wondering what’s on the other side of the card, you’ll just have to wait until someone receives theirs and posts a picture somewhere.)

 


Welcome to a Thrillingly
Boring Beginning

Our website is dull because adding a spark to something like this is part of the fun of being in on the founding of an organization. We want to share that fun with as many Doyleans as we can. (Besides, this site does not need to do much, because a magnificent Doylean website — a veritable online encyclopedia of ACD — already exists: Alexis Barquin's Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia.)

That is why we have put together what we hope is the simple, sturdy skeleton of a website that can be improved by, for example, a contest to develop a logo for the ACD Society. Hmmm . . . yes. That is where we will start with our glamorizing. The logo contest rules are . . . here.

The same outlook applies to the ACD Society itself. We would like to think we have a simple, sturdy skeleton of program and organization — outlined below (and inspired by Cliff Goldfarb's 2019 letter) — that will foster and celebrate much good Doylean work.

The Program

Doylean Honors: Awards for Doylean excellence in four categories: fiction and poetry, performing and visual arts, scholarly writing, and service. They will be presented in January 2022 at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, and annually thereafter. Each honoree will receive a $250 Bookshop credit and a certificate featuring (you guessed it) a doily selected by lace expert Bev Wolov.

Conferences: Triennial events to be held at locations that have Doylean significance, with online accessibility for those who cannot attend in person. The first will be in 2023, with a "One Crowded Hour" theme — in collaboration with Ashley D. Polasek's Conan Doyle Review and Mark Jones and Paul M. Chapman's Doings of Doyle. Watch for a call for papers later this year.

Cricket team: It does not yet have a name or a home field, but it does have a mission — to challenge, and perhaps someday even overcome, Sherlockians and Wodehousians and other amicable athletes. We hope to play our first match during the 2023 Doylean conference.

Newsletter: A trimesterly periodical highlighting Doylean accomplishments and events. An electronic edition will be available for free right here. A print edition will be mailed to members.

Website: This site is boring but (we hope) useful now, and it will (we are sure) gradually become increasingly useful and lovely and lively.

That is enough for starters.

The Organization

Doylean Honors: We will have committees to select honorees in each of the three substantive Doylean Honor categories. The chair of each committee is responsible for organizing their committee, adopting a process for selecting honorees in their category (up to three honorees per year), and then doing the selecting. Jayantika Ganguly is chair of the "Fiction and Poetry" committee, Monica Schmidt is chair of the "Performing and Visual Arts" committee, and Anastasia Klimchynskaya is chair of the "Scholarly Writing" committee. Each chair is organizing their committee now. We expect to have nomination forms for all three categories up here by May 1.

Advisors: Cliff Goldfarb is the chairman of our board of advisors, which he is in the process of organizing. In addition to giving us advice, each year the board will select an individual to receive the Doylean Honor for service.

Conferences: More about them later. If you want to bother someone about them now, even though there is not yet much to say, you might try Carlina de la Cova or Ira Brad Matetsky.

Cricket team: Our temporarily nameless and homeless team will be captained by Andrew Heger, advised by honorary captain Stuart Law. If you are a Doylean who wants to play, please sharpen your cricket skills (or acquire some!), because Andy will eventually be holding tryouts, one way or another.

Newsletter: It has an editor. Greg D. Ruby is thinking about suitable periodical names.

The work of chairs and editors and captains is being coordinated by Ross Davies, who also runs occasional meetings and errands.

Questions? Comments? Ideas?
Please email us at acdsocy@gmail.com.

Oh, you already have questions? You want to know who can join the society, what it costs, and what you get for your money?

OK.

Everyone is welcome to join, so please do.

Membership costs $10 per calendar year. The money will help to cover some but not all of the costs of the society. (Remember, an e-version of the newsletter will be available for free here, so don't pay to join if your only reason for doing so would be to read it. Then again, print versions might turn out to be nifty keepsakes. You never know.)

When you pay, you will provide your name, email address, and mailing address. The name and addresses will help us communicate with you, including sending you the goods: an annual membership card and three printed issues of the newsletter per year. And perhaps other things, if it turns out that we can afford them.

You can do the paying and address-providing via PayPal . . .

Do you want one, two, or three years?

. . . or by downloading this form and following the instructions you find on it.

By the way, if you want to support the ACD Society more generously, please feel free to send a larger Paypal or check to the Green Bag (the organization that is collecting our dues and paying our bills now and will for the foreseeable future be covering the difference between dues coming in and expenses going out). It is a 501(c)(3) and will gladly send a receipt.

Thank you for reading!

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