Of This and Other Worlds

If you're a fan of a) Peter Cushing b) Sherlock Holmes or c) Nicholas Rowe, you will probably enjoy this little interview (which dates all the way back to 1986) as much as I did. It's really quite charming.



I would also point you to my favorite Vermeer painting and comment on the uncanny resemblance, but then my brother Pete would mock me... oh, never mind. Too late.

Some of my favorite grouchy people were born in early January, it seems. First we have Mary Russell on January 2nd, on no lesser word than that of her author editor Laurie R. King; then Sherlock Holmes on January 6th, a date not explicitly given in canon but nonetheless widely accepted among Holmesians as correct due to Holmes's penchant for quoting Twelfth Night.

We know also that Dr. Gregory House was born in early-to-mid January, and seeing that he shares a house number with Holmes, it doesn't seem much of a stretch to propose January 6th as his birthday as well. And then, of course, J.K. Rowling has informed us that Severus Snape was born on January 9th.

Is it an astrological thing to have brilliant, misanthropic, sarcastic, obsessively driven characters born in January, or is there some other logic behind it?

I found this old essay today -- had almost forgotten I'd ever written it. For the fellow Sherlockians among you, here it is:

In Defense of Mr. Godfrey Norton, Esq.

Also, has anybody out there read Carole Nelson Douglas's Irene books up to and including Chapel Noir? If so, what did you think of the latter? Because I have a pretty strong opinion on it and I'd be interested to find out if I'm not alone...