SCUTTLEBITS AND BYTES - from Peter Blau

Here is the latest from Peter Blau!

Jan 13 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press

Sherlockians (and Holmesians) gathered in New York to celebrate the Great
Detective's 159th birthday during the long weekend from Jan. 9 to Jan. 13.
The festivities began with the traditional ASH Wednesday dinner sponsored
by The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes at O'Casey's and continued with the
Christopher Morley Walk led by Jim Cox and Dore Nash on Thursday morning,
followed by the usual lunch at McSorley's.

The Baker Street Irregulars' Distinguished Speaker at the Midtown Executive
Club on Thursday evening was Kim Newman, author of ANNO DRACULA, THE HOUND
OF THE D'URBERVILLES and other fine fantasies, who discussed the many in-
carnations of the evil Prof. Moriarty; and as with previous distinguished
speakers, you will be able to read his paper in The Baker Street Journal.

The next event that evening was a new one: a "Daintiest Thing Under a Bon-
net Charity Ball" hosted by the Baker Street Babes at the Salmagundi Club,
where a capacity crowd enjoyed a buffet dinner, music, a pop quiz, serious
costumery, and an auction, all benefiting the Wounded Warriors Project; go
to <www.tinyurl.com/awzf46m> to see lots of photographs, including Lyndsay
Faye as Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes.

The William Gillette Luncheon at Moran's was well attended, as always, and
featured a performance of two scenes from "A Requiem for Sherlock Holmes"
(a new play written by Gregg Oliver Bodine), and an appearance by Mr. and
Mrs. Gillette (who were impersonated by Tyke and Teddie Niver). The lunch-
eon also was the occasion for Al Gregory's presentation of the annual Jan
Whimsey award (named in memory of his wife Jan Stauber) for the most whim-
sical piece in The Serpentine Muse last year; the winner was Melinda Caric
(author of "An Open Apology to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle"), and the award was
a certificate and a check for the Canonical sum of $221.17. And Otto Penz-
ler's traditional open house at the Mysterious Bookshop offered the usual
opportunities to browse and buy.

The Irregulars and their guests gathered for the BSI's annual dinner at the
Yale Club, with Sue Vizoskie offering the preprandial first toast to Elaine
Coppola as The Woman. The dinner's theme was tributes to past leaders of
the BSI, and it featured the usual toasts and traditions, as well as papers
and tributes and musical entertainment.

Mike Whelan (the BSI's "Wiggins") presented editor's medals to John Berg-
quist, Andy Solberg, Bob Katz, and Sonia Fetherston, and the Two-Shilling
Award to Michael Kean, and Birthday Honours (Irregular Shillings and Inves-
titures) were awarded to Rosane McNamara ("Lady Mary Brackenstall"), Mark
Levy ("Don Juan Murillo"), Tom Horrocks ("Colonel Sebastian Moran"), Ste-
fano Guerra ("Count Negretto Sylvius"), Philip Cunningham ("Abe Slaney"),
Daniel Moss ("Culverton Smith"), Jan Burke ("The Most Winning Woman"), and
Frank Saksena ("Jonathan Small").

"Adventure" was the theme of the Gaslight Gala at the Manhattan Club, where
the entertainment included toasts (musical and otherwise), theatrics (from
a script written by Dean Clark), scholarship (edifying and amusing), music,
and an auction.

Jan 13 #2 Some of the more fervent (or possibly hard core) Sherlockians
have been known to gather after the dinners at O'Lunney's Irish
Pub to honor long-standing traditions such as staying until at least 2:21;
another tradition calls for newly-Investitured Irregulars to buy a round of
tequila shots, and it has been reported that this year was no exception.

On Saturday morning Covent Garden West (the dealers room at the Roosevelt
Hotel) welcomed sellers and buyers, and authors and editors delighted to
inscribe or sign their books. And The Beacon Society presented its annual
Beacon Award (recognizing someone who introduces young people to the Sher-
lock Holmes stories) to Shannon Carlisle, an accelerated learning teacher
in Franklin, Tenn.; the society's web-site is at <www.beaconsociety.com>.
The Beacon Society also awards Jan Stauber Grants, funded by contributions
and a $1,000 matching fund pledged by Al Gregory.

The BSI's Saturday-afternoon reception at Delmonico's Kitchen offered en-
tertainment, conversation, wining, and dining; the entertainment included
Al and Betsy Rosenblatt's traditional irreverent recap of the year's events
(Sherlockian and otherwise), and Peter Calamai was announced as the winner
of the Morley-Montgomery Award (an attractive certificate accompanied by a
check) for the best contribution to The Baker Street Journal last year (his
article on "Why He Isn't Sir Sherlock Today"). The Watson Fund benefited
from energetic sales of raffle tickets for Maggie Schpak's handsome replica
of Mrs. Hudson's chatelaine (the tickets were sold by Elaine Coppola, Peggy
Perdue, and Linda Hunt), and an auction of alcoholic and artistic donations
to the Fund.

The principal Saturday-evening event was the "Lost in New York with a Bunch
of Sherlockians" dinner arranged by The Curious Collectors of Baker Street
at Kennedy's Irish Pub, and then on Sunday morning a goodly crowd gathered
at the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes' brunch at the Oldcastle Pub & Res-
taurant.

A final note for those who want to plan ahead: The Baker Street Irregulars'
next annual dinner will be held on Jan. 17, 2014. The Sherlock Holmes So-
ciety of London's annual dinner likely will be on Jan. 11, 2014.

I've not reported on everything, I hasten to add; there will be much more
detailed reports in the spring issue of The Baker Street Journal. The BSJ
appears quarterly, and subscriptions (four issues plus the Christmas Annu-
al) cost $38.50 (to the U.S.) or $49.00 (elsewhere); checks can be sent to
the BSJ (Box 583, Zionsville, IN 46077), and credit-card payments are wel-
come from foreign subscribers.

You can also subscribe at the BSJ web-site at <www.bakerstreetjournal.com>,
which also has interesting features such as some of the papers written by
winners of the Morley-Montgomery Awards, articles from recent issues of the
BSJ, and information on the BSI's other publications and activities.

Al Gregory <gaslightandfog@earthlink.net> offers (by e-mail only) his 2012
edition of "The ABC of the BSI" (an alphabetical listing of Investitures,
with recipients, from "Abbey Grange" to "Young Stamford") and "The Florin
Society" (couples in which both spouses have received Irregular Shillings).

Jan 13 #3 "Doctor Who: The Snowmen" (Nov 12 #4) did indeed have Sherlock-
ian echoes, undoubtedly thanks to Steven Moffat, who wrote the
script. You learn how Conan Doyle got the idea for his stories, and Matt
Smith, as the Doctor, is seen in Sherlockian costume. And there's more to
be found in the annotated look at the show (with lots of spoilers) by Alan
Kistler at SpinOff Online <www.tinyurl.com/d2zq6yy>. And you've seen Rich-
ard E. Grant (Dr. Simeon) before: he played Holmes in "Encounters: The Oth-
er Side" on BBC 2 in 1992.

The new eBSJ v2 is now available: a DVD with all issues of The Baker Street
Journal through 2011 in PDF format, and it's nicely done indeed. The price
is $149.95, but there's a trade-in offer open (through May 1) to those who
already have the old BSJ CD-ROM set (send in your old disk #4 and the price
of the DVD is only $49.95); more information and some helpful hints can be
found at <www.bakerstreetjournal.com/ebooks/ebsj.html>. Don't neglect the
link to Randall Stock's helpful "Tips for using the eBSJ".

The latest volume in the Baker Street Irregulars Manuscript Series is THE
WRONG PASSAGE, edited by Robert Katz and Andrew Solberg, with a facsimile
of the original manuscript of "The Golden Pince-Nez", a careful transcript,
annotations, history, commentary, and artwork. Manuscripts bring you close
to the moment of creation when an author writes a story, and the accompany-
ing history and scholarship are fascinating, informative, and occasionally
surprising. 248 pp., $35.00; details, including the table of contents and
a brief excerpt, are at <www.bakerstreetjournal.com/wrongpassage.html>.

Robert Veld's THE STRAND MAGAZINE & SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE TWO FIXED POINTS
IN A CHANGING AGE (Indianapolis: Gasogene Books, 2012; 100 pp., $24.95) is
a detailed and carefully-researched exploration of the many Sherlockian as-
pects of The Strand Magazine, including its publisher, editors, and illus-
trators; it's a grand story, and told well indeed. Box 68308, Indianapo-
lis, IN 46256 <www.wessexpress.com>.

Gasogene also has published Nicholas Utechin's "OCCASIONALLY TO EMBELLISH"
(319 pp., $18.95), which is modestly subtitled "some writings on Sherlock
Holmes"; it's a collection of reprints of some of Nick's literate and often
humorous scholarship, from 1969 through 2009. There are new postscripts to
many of the pieces, and the book offers a fine look at how much fun can be
found in Canonical criticism.

Paul Herbert has reported something that surely sets a record for the most
extreme application of esoteric non-Canonical knowledge to something Sher-
lockian: Ben Lindbergh's "Overthinking It: The Craziest Half-Inning in His-
tory" is his analysis of the televised baseball game that Holmes and Watson
watched in the opening episode of "Elementary" on CBS-TV. Posted on-line
at Baseball Prospectus <www.tinyurl.com/9wad2vz> on Jan. 18, the piece is
well worth a visit.

There will be a full-length reading of Greg Oliver Bodine's new play "A Re-
quiem for Sherlock Holmes" (previewed at the William Gillette Luncheon) by
the WorkShop Theater Company in the Jewel Box Theater on Mar. 10 at 6:00 pm
(no charge, and reservations not needed); 312 West 36th Street (4th floor),
New York, NY 10018) <www.workshoptheater.org/node/2263>.

Jan 13 #4 Maria Konnikova's MASTERMIND: HOW TO THINK LIKE SHERLOCK HOLMES
(New York: Viking, 2013; 273 pp., $26.95) uses the Canon well
to explain to lay readers how Sherlock Holmes thinks, and how readers can
follow his methods to improve their own thinking. She is working on a doc-
torate in psychology at Columbia University and has written for periodicals
that include Scientific American and the N.Y. Times; her book is instruc-
tive, insightful, and entertaining. And recommended. She also has an in-
teresting web-site at <www.mariakonnikova.com>.

James E. Smith II ("Winner of the Jackson Prize") died on Dec. 24. After
serving in the U.S. Army during World War Two, he had a long career as a
psychiatrist for the Baltimore County Circuit Court. Jim was an enthusi-
astic member of The Six Napoleons, and received his Investiture from The
Baker Street Irregulars in 1998.

The 2012 issue of Beaten's Christmas Annual has been published by The Sound
of the Baskervilles of Seattle, with 70 pages of scholarship, quizzes, and
pastiches, including the late Michael Doyle's script for "Henry Baker--Your
Goose Is Cooked", James Romnes' discussion of "Sherlock's Armoire: Wearable
Victoriana", and Steve Duke's "ACD in Melbourne". The annual costs $13.00
postpaid ($18.00 outside the U.S.), checks (in U.S. dollars, please) pay-
able to The Sound of the Baskervilles should be sent to Terri Haugen, 6710
51st Street Court West, University Place, WA 98467.

Kindle users can pretend they're reading a real book if they conceal their
Kindle in a vintage book cover that's offered by Signals (Box 2599, Hudson,
OH 44236) (800-699-9696) <www.signals.com> for $49.95; one of them (HN3982)
being the cover of SHERLOCK HOLMES SELECTED STORIES published by the Oxford
University Press in 1951. They're made in Britain by the Manor Bindery and
their web-site's at <www.klevercase.co.uk>.

Admirers of Bert Coules' dramatizations of the entire Canon with same act-
ors as Holmes and Watson (and if you're not, you should be) can visit his
excellent new web-site at <www.merrisonholmes.com>; it's full of informa-
tion about the background, the shows, the stars, and much more.

Further to the mention of John Bennett Shaw's classic paper "To Shelve or
to Censor" (Dec 12 #2), it's nice indeed that the paper is available on-
line at <www.shadesofsherlock.org/SOS18.pdf>. The Three Students Plus and
Shades of Sherlock editor Bruce Kennedy had great fun in the long-ago days
of the junior scions.

221b Con ("a con for all things Sherlockian") has been announced for Apr.
13-14, 2013, at the Holiday Inn Select in Atlanta, arranged by Taylor Blum-
enberg (one of the Baker Street Babes), and an energetic committee; there's
more information at their web-site <www.221bcon.com>.

The next "Sherlock Holmes Weekend" in Cape May, N.J., will be on Nov. 2-4,
with participants at work solving the mystery "Sherlock Holmes and the Tri-
al of Moriarty's Challenge"; there also will be a performance of "Sherlock
Holmes and the Adventure of the Norwood Builder" by the East Lynne Theater
Company. Visit <www.capemaymac.org/tours/winter/special/sherlock.html> for
more information on the weekend, or write to Box 340, Cape May, N.J. 08204.

Jan 13 #5 The Serpentine Muse continues to offer news from, about, and by
The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes; the winter issue offers
Gayle Lange Puhl's report on the history of the Criterion Restaurant, which
was frequented not only by Dr. Watson but also by Adam Worth, and Patricia
Guy's account of the Sherlockian conference in Venice last year. Published
quarterly, the Muse costs $15.00 a year from Evelyn A. Herzog (301 Warren
Avenue #203, Baltimore, MD 21230).

A handsome four-volume boxed set of THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES is avail-
able from Thomas & Mercer/Amazon in their "Heirloom Collection" for $78.96
($2.99 Kindle), with attractive full-color illustrations by Jacqui Oakley.
Thomas & Mercer is named for the streets that flank Amazon's headquarters
in Seattle.

Peter Tremayne's AN ENSUING EVIL AND OTHERS (New York: St. Martin's Mino-
taur, 2006; 331 pp., $15.99) is a collection of 14 historical mysteries by
the author of the "Sister Fidelma of Cashel" mysteries; five of the stor-
ies are reprints of Sherlockian pastiches set in Ireland (Tremayne believes
that Holmes' background was Anglo-Irish).

Don Izban confirms that there will be a 25th-anniversary Canonical Convoca-
tion and Caper in Door County, Wis., in September or October; more informa-
tion will be available this summer, and if you'd like to be on his mailing
list, he's at 1012 Rene Court, Park Ridge, IL 60068.

The "Apollo Lunar Surface Journal" (an on-line record of the surface opera-
tions on the Moon from 1969 to 1972, edited by Eric M. Jones and Ken Glov-
er) will be found at <www.nasa.gov>; search for [sherlock crater] to find
Jones' account of "The Valley of Taurus-Littrow" with details on the Apollo
17 landing site and on the crater names. Other links include the Mission
Transcripts: the last (and longest) contains discussion by Jack Schmitt (in
the landing module on the Moon) and Joe Allen (at CapComm in Houston) that
still holds the record for the longest-distance conversation about Sherlock
Holmes. Thanks to Janice Portante, who reported about the NASA web-site in
The Northumberland Dispatch (published by The Northumberland Fusiliers).

An exhibition on "Murder in the Library: An A-Z of Crime Fiction" opened at
the British Library this month, and will run through May, offering a "jour-
ney through the development of crime and detective fiction," with Sherlock
Holmes of course included (the manuscript of "The Retired Colourman" will
be on display). There's more information about the exhibition and exhibi-
tion events at <www.tinyurl.com/cga7vjk>, and Randall Stock has much about
the manuscript at <www.tinyurl.com/bbr7zmj>.

One of my nicer Christmas presents was an imaginative one-of-a-kind "Sher-
lock Holmes" figurine sculpted by Deana Demko, who creates "little repli-
cants" hand-made to order <www.littlereplicants.com>.

Ginger Aldrich continues to expand her Ocular Helmsman ("A Vade Mecum Upon
the Personal Effects & Environs of Mssrs. Sherlock Holmes & John H. Watson
of 221B Baker Street for the Victorian Layman"), and now includes scans of
all of the public-domain Canon published in The Strand Magazine, in the Ar-
chives at <www.jadedcompass.com/ocular_helmsman>.

Jan 13 #6 Robert C. Burr ("The Rascally Lascar") died on Jan. 9. He was
a chemist, and worked for the Dept. of Agriculture; Bob claimed
"curmudgeon" as both his vocation and avocation, and happily (almost) never
left Peoria. He was an energetic member of The Hansoms of John Clayton and
an editor of their journal Wheelwrightings, and for many years Bob presided
over his own Plugs & Dottles. He received his Investiture from The Baker
Street Irregulars in 1987, and in 1990 "Robbie Burr" (attending the annual
dinner as a life-size photograph) received the Irregular Ha'penny and the
Investiture "The Trap Door" from The Baker Street Irrasculars.

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for this year's
Edgar awards. Among them: Lyndsay Faye's non-Sherlockian THE GODS OF GOTH-
AM (best novel), James O'Brien's THE SCIENTIFIC SHERLOCK HOLMES (best crit-
ical/biographical), and Peter Blake's "Elementary: Child Predator" and Ste-
ven Moffat's "Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia" (best TV episode teleplay).
Winners will be announced at the MWA Gala Banquet in New York on Apr. 26.

The latest issue of Carolyn and Joel Senter's The Sherlockian E-Times will
be found at <www.sherlock-holmes.com/e_times13-1.html>, offering Sherlock-
iana, old and new, and commentary and challenges.

There are many Sherlockian blogs, including Leah Cummins Guinn's "The Well-
Read Sherlockian <www.wellreadsherlockian.com>; her "12th Night Giveaway"
contest featured (on Jan. 1) an amusing publicity photograph of Basil Rath-
bone and Nigel Bruce "rehearsing with the truly vicious Baskerville stunt
doubles." Mary Loving won the photograph, and reported on it to The Hounds
of the Baskerville.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS, by Steve Hayes and David White-
head (London: Robert Hale, 2012; 223 pp., L18.99), is a pastiche from two
authors of westerns (Hayes also co-wrote the script for the 1979 film "Time
After Time"); essentially a western set in Sherlockian London, with Holmes
and Watson in pursuit of outlaws.

This year's "Sherlock Holmes Weekends" in Cape May, N.J., will be on Mar.
15-17 and Nov. 1-3; there will be a mystery ("Sherlock Holmes and the Case
of the Anima Orbis") to solve, and performances by the East Lynne Theater
Company, and more information is available from the Mid-Atlantic Center for
the Arts & Humanities (Box 340, Cape May, NJ 08204) (800-275-4278 ext 185)
<www.capemaymac.org>.

Judith Freeman's useful index to The Serpentine Muse (published by The Ad-
venturesses of Sherlock Holmes since 1975); the index is available from her
by e-mail as an Excel spreadsheet <judith-freeman@hotmail.com>, and the ASH
web-site <www.ash-nyc.com> has information on subscribing to the Muse (back
issues are unfortunately not available).

The Norwegian Explorers' "Christmas Annual 2012" has the theme "Deception",
and the essays range from Ray Riethmeier's "A Double Deception" (about the
"Mycroft" novel A TASTE FOR HONEY) to Phil Bergem's "Thoughts of Refuges in
London" (about Holmes' hideaways). The 54-page booklet is available from
John Bergquist (3665 Ashbury Road, Eagan, MN 55122); $8.00 postpaid (checks
payable to The Norwegian Explorers, please).

Jan 13 #7 The December issue of the quarterly newsletter of The Friends
of the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minne-
sota has Julie McKuras' seasonal commentary on Sherlockian Christmas cards,
Dana Richards' discussion of Conan Doyle's involvement with divorce reform,
and other news from and about the collections; copies of the newsletter are
available on request from Dick Sveum (111 Elmer L. Andersen Library, Univ.
of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 <sveum001@tc.umn.edu>.

Theodore G. Schulz ("The Amateur Mendicant Society") died on Jan. 24. Ted
served with merit in the U.S. Army and then worked in education; he was in
the Army in the Far East when he began corresponding with Edgar W. Smith in
1957, and was a member of The Illustrious Clients and then of many of the
societies in the San Francisco Bay area. He also presided over The Praed
Street Irregulars, succeeding Luther Norris as Lord Warden of the Pontine
Marshes, founded The Old Soldiers of Praed Street; he proudly named his son
William Sherlock Schulz, and was an energetic and generous collector with a
legion of friends world-wide. He received his Investiture from the Baker
Street Irregulars in 1961, and the BSI's Two-Shilling Award in 1986. There
is much more about Ted at his fine web-site at <www.tedschulz.com>.

Dr. William R. Hanson designed a nice
cachet for last year's stamp honoring
John Huston, showing him as Moriarty
(in "Sherlock Holmes in New York" and
Humphrey Bogart (who was directed by
Huston in "The Maltese Falcon"). The
first day cover costs $10.00 postpaid
(in the U.S.) with payment in curren-
cy or by U.S. postal money order sent
to him at: 78 West Notre Dame Street,
Glens Falls, 12801.

The Saturday Review of Literature has returned, and it's very nice to see
it again: it was in its pages that The Baker Street Irregulars first came
to the attention of literate readers, since Christopher Morley was one of
the editors, and the Jan. 2013 issue (edited by George Fletcher, Jon Lell-
enberg, Don Pollock, and Phil Shreffler) offers some interesting history
and reviews. $5.00 postpaid from Donald Pollock (521 College Avenue, Niag-
ara Falls, NY 14305.

Facebook is a social networking service that was launched in 2004 and now
boasts more than 1 billion users, and Scott Monty maintains a growing list
of "Sherlockian Entities on Facebook" at <www.tinyurl.com/azuk87m>, and of
course allows you to add your group or page to the data-base.

"To India with Sherlock Holmes" is the theme of the next pilgrimage by The
Sherlock Holmes Society of London, from Feb. 17 to Mar. 2, 2014; the tenta-
tive agenda includes a Victorian bathing party, a Holmes cricket match, a
screening of an Indian-made Sherlock Holmes film, and a day at the races in
Calcutta or Mumbai. Louise Nicholson <indianicholson@nyc.rr.com> will be
glad to provide more information; a preliminary announcement of the event
us at <www.sherlock-holmes.org/india.php>, and you can see details of some
of her non-Sherlockian tour at her web-site <www.louiseindia.com>.

Jan 13 #8 Doug Wrigglesworth reports that Peggy Perdue has selected some
spectacular material from the Toronto Reference Library's Ar-
thur Conan Doyle Collection for the new exhibition "Adventures with Sher-
lock Holmes: Life and Times of the Master Sleuth" in the library's new ex-
hibition gallery through Mar. 10 <www.tinyurl.com/acvekyj>.

The Veterans History Project (part of the American Folklife Center at the
Library of Congress) has added 14 scans of cartoons by Norman Schatell to
its web-site at <www.tinyurl.com/ad8jndt>; the full-color cartoons are not
Sherlockian, but instead date from his service in the U.S. Navy from 1943
to 1946. Norm served as a gunner's mate in the Pacific, and it is delight-
ful to see another aspect of his artistic humor.

Thanks to the Societe Sherlock Holmes de France you can watch one minute of
Fox Film Corp. silent newsreel footage of Conan Doyle and his family (Lady
Doyle and their children Adrian, Jean, and Denis) on June 24, 1922, as they
prepared to return to Europe on board the Adriatic after the tour that he
wrote about in OUR AMERICAN ADVENTURE (1923). You can watch the video at
YouTube <www.tinyurl.com/a3adfvp>, and read what the French wrote about it
in their Ironmongers Daily News <www.tinyurl.com/aytxnko>. They were also
filmed by Pathe in New York in April, but that footage has been lost.

Welcome to our new postage rates, now 46c/ounce (domestic) and $1.10 (in-
ternational); the old rates were 45c (domestic), 85c (Canada and Mexico),
and $1.05 (overseas). Printing costs also have increased slightly, and the
new subscription rates for the ink-on-paper version of this newsletter are
$12.25 (domestic) and $20.00 (international).

Electronically enabled readers can read the newsletter on-line free: text
of all issues from Mar. 1985 can be found at Willis Frick's "Sherlocktron"
<www.tinyurl.com/b6nka8l> and scans of issues from 2012 at "Sherlocktron"
and the Red Circle of Washington's web-site <www.tinyurl.com/d8uoo8o>. The
increase in postage rates came as a surprise to anyone who didn't see the
brief Associated Press report on an announcement from the Postal Service in
October 2012.

The next meeting of The Red Circle of Washington will be on Friday, March
8; our guest speaker will be drama critic and author Lloyd Rose, who will
discuss "Sherlock Holmes on Television in the 21st Century". Details about
the meeting will be found at the society's web-site <www.redcircledc.org>,
which also has a link to the Smithsonian magazine excerpt from Dan Stash-
ower's new book THE HOUR OF PERIL: THE SECRET PLOT TO MURDER LINCOLN BEFORE
THE CIVIL WAR.

The Practical, But Limited, Geologists (aka The Friends of Sherlock Holmes)
will honor the world's first forensic geologist with dinner at the Spaghet-
ti Warehouse in Pittsburgh on May 22, when local Sherlockians will have a
chance to meet geologists who are in town for the annual meeting of the Am-
erican Association of Petroleum Geologists; if you would like to attend the
festivities, just let me know.

The Spermaceti Press: Peter E. Blau, 7103 Endicott Court, Bethesda, MD
20817-4401 (301-229-5669) <blau7103@comcast.net>