This is my new outline of the chapters in DIM, my perpetually unfinished Sherlock Holmes novel. Please disregard the numbering on the previous outline, which is now obsolete.
I've had to renumber everything because the Speckled Band chapter has expanded to 11 chapters by itself. Old posts will have the old numbering, especially if they were URLs. Sorry.
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Meanwhile, I've been writing more Sherlock Holmes fic lately and it seems that "Chapter 6" of my novel DIM is turning out to be at least 10 chapters long! This chapter is the one with the Speckled Band case, retold in much greater detail. Years ago, when "The Reminiscences of Helen Stoner" was in 1st person point of view, I managed to make it only 3 parts long, but since changing it to 3rd person to include Holmes/Watson, the story has greatly expanded, and I'm still not done. So clearly I will have to revise the old outline, renumber it, and add more quotations. That's going to screw up all my prior posts using the previous numbering, though.
This also means the overall novel DIM will be 30-ish chapters at minimum. Like, wow. That's the most ambitious I've ever been in Sherlock Holmes, and I've written 50+ chapter epics in other fandoms. (AO3 does make it easy to just keep adding onto a work in progress and never end a story.) But DIM has a clear storyline planned and a definite ending. I just need to find the time to actually finish...
To give a taste of why it's worth the expansion of Chapter 6, here is one of the new scenes. Holmes and Watson stay at the Crown Inn, and they decide to take a nap together. They've been up since 7AM and need to be out all night on a vigil, so it makes sense to nap, even though Watson never told us they did so in his account.
By the way, Sherlockian Chris Redmond's 1984 book acknowledged that gay characters do exist in the canon, but he seemed to think that gay content only shows up in stories without any female characters. I don't know why he'd think that. Slash is in every Holmes story; it pervades the canon, including stories with strong women like Irene Adler and, as I write her, Helen Stoner. In the Speckled Band, it's in everything from the "knocking you up" joke, to Holmes bending the poker straight to impress Watson, to Holmes whispering in Watson's ear at night (when he could have just given Watson the warning ahead of time at the Crown Inn). As I've said before, Helen Stoner is a conduit to slash. See for yourself.
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I finally made enough money from my holiday pay to buy a newer iPhone. It's used and certainly not the latest model. Granted, I'm not happy with Apple since Tim Cook tried to placate Trump to avoid tariffs, but I've been needing an upgrade since last year, as many apps and websites that I use were starting to reject my obsolete phone. I shall not upgrade again for years, staying perpetually behind and delaying any use of stupid AI tech as long as I can. The upgrade was fairly easy and seamless, backing up the old iPhone to my Mac and then copying that backup to the newer phone. Then I could just take out the SIM card and erase the old iPhone. Had I switched to some android phone, the process would have been more trouble, and it's not like any other technology companies are morally better. Wired has a whole issue about the billionaire tech CEOs all caving to fascists. They value greed more than our democracy. Me staying with Apple's ecosystem for now lets me continue to have free software updates for years still.
Boycotts come with sacrifices and hard choices. It was easier for me to quit Target, though it still rankles when I can't find what I need locally and have to shop online. Many people canceled Paramount Plus (me included) when CBS canceled Colbert, but I assume people are still watching his show for now until it ends. So exceptions are made. I'm still angry at Netflix for their anti-trans content, while other people are happy with Netflix for saving Sesame Street. Everybody has to find their moral line and weigh what they value vs what they can give up. I know many people are still on Amazon because they have no other options; I don't begrudge them that.
I was heartened to see the public rage against Disney when ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel. They have finally backed down and restored his show, but Sinclair TV stations are going to still pre-empt because they still have a merger planned and want to suck up to the corrupt FCC. So some people may continue their boycotts to keep pressure on Disney and ABC. We'll see if we can win any other victories for free speech and democracy.
In Sherlock Holmes news, there's an animated Sherlock Holmes in development now, but it won't be a kids' cartoon like Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century. It's based on a book series about Holmes's "Unexpurgated Adventures." That is, uncensored adventures with adult themes. I've never read it and have no idea what it will be like. I don't even know where the show will air once it's made.
Meanwhile, the anniversary of Jeremy Brett's death reminded me of the Granada TV series where he starred as Sherlock Holmes. Although in the later years, the quality went downhill and Brett's health declined, I still appreciated the early episodes. They never completed the full canon, and I actually wish they would have stopped sooner to let Brett rest and recover. Poor man.
While doing my chronology, I've continued listening to the BBC Radio shows starring Clive Merrison and Michael Williams. I just reached the "Empty House" episode, and I was fascinated by the changes to the story. Writer Bert Coules replays Holmes's letter to Watson from "The Final Problem," but then Watson wakes up from his nightmare to yet more grief. His wife Mary is dying, and we have a whole goodbye scene that's heartbreaking and more than we ever got from Conan Doyle. Some time later, Watson meets up with Stamford, who encourages Watson to write again, or failing that, to investigate cases with the police. Meanwhile, Ronald Adair has a card game, then gets murdered in his locked room. Watson goes to the scene to gawk with the crowds but there's a twist. The police coroner is late, so Lestrade invites Watson in to examine the body. Watson apparently also testifies at the inquest, and when he's leaving that, he runs into the old bookseller.
What a terrible week. The violent assassination and manhunt in America crowded out other news, such as Israel's strike in Qatar in defiance of the peace talks with Hamas. There was also the overthrow of government in Nepal, led by young people's protests. If only Netanyahu could be toppled too; there'lll be no ceasefire with him in charge.
Oh and ICE raided a Hyundai plant in Georgia, forcing South Korea to negotiate a release and flight home for the 300 detained people. Way to destroy international relations with an ally, you racist fuckers! All of this is insane and depressing.
Anyway, knowing that vaccines might not be available soon, I got my COVID and flu shots done last week. Even if federal guidelines are changing because of that stupid RFK, try to get your vaccine anyway. Pharmacists might give it to you without trying to restrict by age or anything else. Stay safe.
I saw Fat Ham at Stage West this weekend, and it was excellent! I only vaguely knew that this play was a black and queer retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and that it had won a Tony. I was quite surprised at how funny, poignant, and delightful it was. Juicy, the main character, does quote Shakespeare a few times, but most of the dialogue is contemporary, and it's set in modern times in the South. Juicy and his cousin Tio (Horatio) prepare for a backyard barbecue to celebrate his mother's wedding; she just got married at the courthouse to Juicy's uncle Rev, only a week after Pap died. Pap was in prison for killing someone at his BBQ restaurant. Then Pap's ghost appears, telling Juicy that he didn't just get killed randomly; Uncle Rev hired someone to shiv him in the neck (much more believable than poison in the ear) so Rev could take the restaurant and his wife. Pap wants Juicy to kill Rev in revenge; Juicy wonders if he can get metaphorical revenge instead, but no, Pap graphically imagines Juicy butchering Rev like a pig, then cooking and eating him at a BBQ. Wow, that went dark, and of course Juicy struggles with his emotions and whether he really wants to do this for Pap, who wasn't a good father.
However, as we meet the rest of Juicy's family and friends, there's joy and fun in the casual party. There's karaoke as well as charades. Sometimes characters go in the house, while others have private conversations in the yard; sometimes characters also break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. Juicy's mom Tedra asks "what are you telling them?" and insists that he tell us the truth that Pap was abusive to both of them, and that Tedra remarrying so fast is because she doesn't know how to be alone, not from heartlessness. Juicy's young friends Opal and Larry (Ophelia and Laertes) also arrive and reveal that Juicy is not the only queer youth in the neighborhood; he's just the only one not closeted. Everyone talks about how soft Juicy is, but it's not always meant in a derogatory way. There are painful revelations and some violent scenes, which made me worry about the tragic ending, but in the end, we do resolve the revenge plot and confront the issues of generational trauma. This was amazing, and I loved it! See it if you can.
