The problem with HotB being your first Holmes story is that it's not very representative of the relationship between Holmes and Watson. It's a little like starting Buffy in the middle of the second season.

Also, will The Hound of the Baskervilles be anyone's first Sherlock Holmes story? If there are a fair number of people who've never read Sherlock Holmes, I'm thinking we should also throw in a couple of the short stories, particularly "A Scandal in Bohemia."

It's my first as well. Ginger, you may want to contact Deena about putting up versions of any add'l reading you're going to be assigning.

and Deena appears.

Let me know what you want to include, Ginger, and I'll put them up.

I propose "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "The Red-Headed League" and "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." They all are listed in various top-10 Sherlock Holmes stories lists. Even though we first meet Holmes in the short novels A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four, "A Scandal in Bohemia" was the first Holmes short story in The Strand magazine and is the real beginning of his popularity. "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was Conan Doyle's favorite Holmes story. "The Red-Headed League" has a lot in common with shows like CSI. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" has Christmas, a dead goose and a stolen diamond. What more could you want?

They're all in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which you can find on Gutenberg and here [link]

Does anyone want to recommend any other stories?

Heh. Hound is the first Holmes story I read. And I started watching Buffy mid-season 2. I'm not discouraging anyone from reading the short stories, too... I guess I'm just wondering what it is you're concerned about. The continuity in Holmes is mostly notable by its absence.

It's not the continuity I'm thinking of. Fanwanking probably began with Sherlock Holmes. (Where was Watson injured in Afghanistan, anyway? And how many times was he married?) It's getting a sense of the characters. Holmes is off screen during more than half of Hound.

Yeah, but... that doesn't make the story any less enjoyable. If you've never heard of Sherlock Holmes, I suppose it would be an issue, but that seems unlikely to me.

Sorry; it's really not important and I don't intend to second-guess you, especially since I don't know what kind of discussion you're planning. I'm just in the mood to ask idle questions.

I feel like I *know* Holmes through simple cultural osmosis, and because I've read those Carol Nelson Douglas novels, as well as Laurie King's series. I picked Hound simply because it's always seemed to me like one of the more famous stories/novellas, and I was a little ashamed that I'd enjoyed the take-offs without ever reading the original.

But reading some of the other stories is a great idea. Especially "A Scandal in Bohemia".

I feel like I *know* Holmes through simple cultural osmosis,

You know a lot about Sherlock Holmes. You know he says things like, "You see but you do not observe." But, to grasp wildly at an analogy, it's like reading the fanfic without ever seeing the show. I'm afraid I have trouble reading the take-offs, because they never quite ring true for me.

What I'd like to discuss is how so many of the conventions of the modern detective novel and television show are created by Conan Doyle. I'd also like to talk about the continuing tension between science and superstition in the stories. And I don't think you can talk about Holmes without talking about the relationship between Holmes and Watson and the narrative function of an "everyman" narrator like Watson. (Yes, there is Holmes/Watson slash. It's not the the earliest, certainly. The earliest slash is probably Gilgamesh and Enkidu. It is, however, a continuing theme in Holmes literature.)

I think reading some of the short stories are a great idea. When are the discussions supposed to start?