January is revered by Sherlock Holmes geeks each year because the biggest Sherlock Holmes geek ever—the late William S. Baring-Gould—decreed that Sherlock’s presumed birthday is January 6th. The best-known mystery magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, actually pubs a Sherlock Holmes issue each year at this time. And at the top of the year, I too try to do some sort of Sherlockian post at SleuthSayers, the mystery writers blog that I write for.

In this year’s installment, I’m over at SleuthSayers talking about two Sherlockian short stories written by Neil Gaiman. I had a lot of fun writing that piece, because it helped me think more about why short stories are special, and how they can be endlessly re-invented and repurposed for different media. Here’s the gist of my argument:

I’m constantly reminded that the short stories of lesser-known or downright unknown authors can inspire better-known works of pop culture. Every year at Thanksgiving, my wife and I watch a minor Holly Hunter film called Home for the Holidays, based on a short story by Chris Radant. Mary Orr’s story in a 1946 issue of Cosmopolitan was the basis for the Oscar-winning movie All About Eve. The 2016 Amy Adams science-fiction film Arrival, which I love, was derived from a short story by Ted Chiang, a nonfiction writer and SFF short story specialist.

Hoping to inspire myself, I read one or two short stories a day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day 2024. I was often left thinking how many of them were so rich that they could easily serve as the source material for entire movies or stage productions. (I was especially charmed by the shorts and novellas of Connie Willis, contained in her collection, A Lot Like Christmas. )

If you’re interested, you should pop over to SleuthSayers and have a look at the post, which is entitled:

Sherlock Lives, and Lives Forever!

If you want to geek out on my Sherlockian output, you can read the other SleuthSayers posts right here:

A Sherlock Holmes Canon for Kids!

Sherlock Holmes: Brilliant on Paper!

For the Love of Enola!

Sherlock’s Kid Sister Returns!

And if you will indulge the use of a few affiliate links, you can find a graphic novel of one of the Gaiman stories I discuss in my post right here. It’s a mash-up of Sherlock and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythology. The story is called “A Study in Emerald.” The links and image will take you to Amazon to learn more. There’s also “A Study in Emerald” game and “A Study in Emerald” audiobook.

If you don’t want to spend a dime, you can read that particular story at Neil Gaiman’s website for free. He very generously makes available a lovingly designed PDF that is free for the taking. Get it here, or click the image below. Before you click away, overcome by the thought of free things, I warn you that the conclusion to this particular story will make absolutely no sense unless you know the Sherlockian Canon cold.

But what about you, Joe? Well, thanks for asking. Thus far, I’ve only written one story in the Sherlockian universe, which was pubbed in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine way back in July/August 2017. The piece is called “A Respectable Lady,” and you can find it in my Daggyland #2 short story collection. (Click links or image below to find out more.)

As one of my British editors used to say, pip pip, ta-ta for now, and off you go!

Photo credit: The Sherlock Holmes pub in London, copyright 2022 Denise Kiernan.