Story: A Study in Emerald

Prompted by recommendations from my good friend, Lt. Whistleblower, I've been looking into the Sherlock Holmes stories in their various incarnations. Starting with last year's BBC series in three parts (Sherlock), which I loved and still try to rewatch whenever I have the flat to myself, I moved on to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. I've also seen the 2009 movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. I'd been curious about it since it first came out, but that only goes to show that I should be more careful about letting my curiosity lead. I was so confused each time any of the main characters was referred to as "Holmes" or "Watson", because I couldn't see any connection with the characters I'm used to associating with those names, that it jolted me out of the plot. As the plot wasn't very engaging anyway, and I always lose track during action scenes, I never really got caught up in it, and I was left wondering about the sizeable fandom around this movie. I suppose that the inflow comes from a certain subset of Law's and Downey Jr.'s respective fan bases (a subset that likes slash and isn't familiar with Conan Doyle's stories).

The original Sherlock Holmes stories turned out not to be my kind of thing, either, but I'm glad that I gave them a chance. As with every book, film, TV series, or song whose presence towers over the rest of pop culture, going to the source and finding out what it's really about feels enlightening. You start getting the jokes rather than smiling politely at the explanation of them, and it's good to see that the familiar stereotypes haven't always been stereotypes, but were once fresh and new and unheard of. Conan Doyle's stories also made me think about thinking and reasoning, about the dichotomy between engineering and medicine, among other things, and about cultural influence on science. I'm trying to put those ideas into writing, but as yet it's just another incoherent list of thoughts in my folder of uncompleted blog posts.

Most of all, however, I'm glad I read A Study in Scarlet because it allows me to appreciate A Study in Emerald, by Neil Gaiman, even more than I would otherwise. This is a short and brilliant Sherlock Holmes - H. P. Lovecraft crossover, and I don't think any previous knowledge of Lovecraft is needed in order to appreciate it. Possibly it's just more unsettling to a reader who isn't familiar with Lovecraft's Old Ones. It has the economic wording of Conan Doyle's stories, the bottomless darkness of Lovecraft's, and the twists and the sharp sense of humour of Gaiman's works. Read it! Or, at least, follow the link and chuckle at the alternate-Victorian ads in the paper.