Sig News
M uch thanks goes to Tyler Zahnke who suggested the subjects of oulipopo and fanfic. We welcome facebook friends Alison Carter and Visalakshi Kunapuli, who bring our total membership now to 38. (If you are a member of Mensa please confirm your ID number.)
W e have an e-mail from another facebook member, Keith Stump:
Greetings from Florida!
You are undoubtedly aware of this, but just in case....
                                        BORIS KARLOFF as SHERLOCK HOLMES!
   In 1955, at the age of 68, Boris Karloff appeared in an episode of the ABC TV anthology series "The Elgin Hour", portraying the mysterious "Mr. Mycroft", a reclusive beekeeper in rural England.  But what was the true identity of this man calling himself "Mr. Mycroft"?  (The distinctive pipe in the final scene provides the answer.)  And who was the criminal genius living in the same town under the name "Mr. Hargrove"? This little-known 50-minute teleplay will be of interest to all Holmesians, as well as to fans of the great Karloff!  Watch it free on Hulu!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/121619 
The game is afoot!
Oulipopo
I n 1973 François Le Lionnais founded Oulipopo (Ouvroir de Littérature Policière Potentielle), a sub-commission of the College of 'Pataphysics. Previously in 1971 he'd written "Qui est la coupable?" ("Who's Guilty?"), a combinatory analysis of situations and characters. The technique takes into consideration everything, all the persons involved, each one singly and in combination as murderer(s) or victim(s) of murder(s) or suicide(s) or accident(s) or murder(s) disguised as accident(s) or suicide(s) or accident(s) disguised as murder(s) or suicide(s) or suicide(s) disguised as accident(s) or murder(s).
L ater works included cartes noires, a method of plotting via the dealing of cards, the translation of the logic into mathematical notation (x may have murdered y: x?y, x murdered y: x↑y, x murdered y among others: x>y, x did not murder y: x↓y, y committed suicide: x=0).
S herlock Holmes is specifically identified as a positivist who depend on empirical evidence by Émile Lesaffre and as a Hintikkist (from Sherlock Holmes confronts logic by Jaakko and Merrill B. Himntikka) according to M. Dumoncel, and an adept at Von Neuman's and Morgenstein's theory of games by Raymond Queneau.
S ynthetic oulipopo includes, among other techniques, permutation (reading in a different sequence to reach a different solution), haikuisation (filling in the middle while retaining just the original first and last sentence), intersection (telling simultaneously from several points of view), inverted constraint (breaking Van Dine's "Rules"). This includes many things found frequently in the Canon: obscure clues, deceptions by other than the criminal, love interest, accidents and coincidences, more than one detective, servant as culprit or professional criminal, secret societies, long atmospheric or descriptive passages, codes, mistaken identities.
A s Hillary Waugh says in his introduction to How to Write Mysteries by Shannon OCork, following these "rules", taking the Great away from the Great Detective, "the resulting tales, intricate puzzles that they were, bore little relationship to real life. The inevitable reaction was the American hard-boiled novel".
O Cork says Sherlock Holmes "is the first in the pantheon of crime-detectors and always will be." and identifies his characteristics as eccentric, intellectual with encyclopedic and wide-ranging interests, with a humble confidant.
Fanfic
 S ince the fanfiction site has nearly twelve thousand entries under "Sherlock Holmes", some sorting is suggested. Searching through those with standard pseudonyms we still get quite a variety: 

                          HOLMES FAMILY STORIES

"Free to a Good Holmes" by Mary le Bow (an addendum to "The Case of the Pregnant Patient")

HOLMES/WATSON FRIENDSHIP

"The End of Things" by Elizabeth Arian (reminiscing in 1917)

"Lost and Found" by Warall Bagpuss (reminiscing in 1913)

A Letter to the Editor

This letter from Dr. Watson [the introduction to my work-in-progress Sherlock Holmes and the Mad Doctor] should get you started with an abundance of crossovers:

Dear "Friend at Norbury",

I must correct some minor errors in your proposed article on myself and our friend Sherlock Holmes. As many Irregulars before you have deduced from the clues I left scattered in what you Baker Street Irregulars so quaintly call the Canon, we were indeed time travelers. As you point out that the most obvious one was that what has become the most famous address of all time, 221B, did not exist before Upper Baker St. and Baker St. were merged and renumbered in 1930. [Ed: "The Street and the Detective" by A. L. Shern] If I hadn't let "slip" the most well known address of all time, just because it didn't exist yet, how would it have become the most well known?

I also purposely hinted that I took Miss Mary Morstan back to get her parents blessing and we were married while they were both alive, that is, before we had met. It was also a clue that Holmes and I knew nothing of the very secretive Moriarty until we went back to three years before the confrontation at Reichenbach Falls. As for my war wound, I was shot bending over to tend to a wounded soldier, whom I didn't know was Holmes in disguise, when I was wounded in both my shoulder and leg by a single bullet. In the alternative timeline, Holmes told me later, I would have taken it between the eyes! Then too there was what ufologists would call "missing time" in the Jabez Wilson case, to say nothing of the whole "missing year", 1896.

Holmes had made use of H. G. Well's time machine when Herbert challenged him to solve the greatest unsolved mysteries of the Twentieth Century.

[Sherlock Holmes: The Time Machine Game: 1920: Frederick Parmeriter, Alessandro Berardelli and "Dapper Joe" Elwell murders ("The Card Playing Cue Ball"); 1922: William Desmond Taylor and Crabapple murder cases ("The Crabapple Killings") and William Desmond Taylor murder ("The Director's Demise"); 1923: the Dorothy "Dot" King murder case ("The Flapper's Last Bunny Hop"); 1928: Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein murder ("The Bullet for Mr. Big"); 1932: the Lindbergh kidnapping case ("The Ricketty Ladder"); 1934: the mysterious “death” of John Dillinger ("The Lady in Red"); 1943: the Sir Harry Oakes murder case ("The 'Black Mack' Murder"); 1947: Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short murder case; 1955: the Serge Rubenstein murder case ("The Napoleon of Fifth Avenue"); 1963: the Lee Harvey Oswald murder case ("The Camelot Conspiracy"); 1966: Cheri Jo Bates murder case ("The Zodiac Crimes"); 1969: the Darlene Ferrin, Bryan Hartnell, Cecilia Shepherd and Paul Stine murder cases ("The Zodiac Crimes"); 1970: the Kathleen Johns murder case ("The Zodiac Crimes"); 1973: the Watergate break-in case ("The Unknown Informant"); 1975, the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance case ("The Vanished Teamster"); 1977: the mysterious "death" of Elvis Presley ("The King's Last Exit", Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams), popularity of "Three's Company" ("Jack the Tripper")]

When I had first moved into 221B, in 1881, Holmes used "the needle" to summon time-traveling clients. After our final (though not subjectively last) confrontation with Moriarty in 2368 ["The Greatest Detective of All Time" by Ralph Roberts], who had stolen Wells's machine [Time for Sherlock Holmes by David Dvorkin; 1911: killed Pyotr Stolypin; 1940: Lev Davidovich “Leon Trotski" Bronstein; 1948: Mahatma Ghandi; 1951: King Abdallah; 1063: JFK; 1968: MLK; 1981: Anwar Sadat; 2001: Phitsanulok; 2014: Junior Rex; 2031: Sir John Morgenthaler; 2070: Philo Tremussen], Holmes became bored.

After the police destroyed his own time machine built from Moriarty's plans, nicknamed the Needle's Eye [Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye by Len Bailey], he was bored again, but not for long. We soon discovered that the hole left by his prototype was actually a window in space-time, a portal. We concluded that K2L2 [King of Kings and Lord of Lords] was our Client still.

When Holmes first looked into the mystery of why the strange hole appeared on one side of the wall and not on the other side in his bedroom, he found that if he concentrated on a particular time and place he could see and hear past and even future events. He soon discovered however that if he got too close, he also could change those events. Sometimes his apparently disembodied eye became visible on the other side, sometimes his magnifying lens projected a dangerous heat ray.

It was Jack Barrister in 1939 who gave this most fantastic of Holmes's disguises its name. As John said of Jesus, I can assuredly say of the Detective Eye adventures, [The Eye Sees and The Detective Eye by Mark Schneider], "If they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." [John 21:25]

Holmes became rather addicted to peering for hours at a time at the scenes visible through the portal, hidden behind the sideboard's now sliding mirror. We both became interested in Inspectors Clouseau [Jacques Clouseau, 1963: "The Pink Panther" by Maurice Richlin and Blake Edwards, 1964: Gambrelli murder ("A Shot in the Dark" by Blake Edwards and William Peter Blatty, 1975: "The Return of the Pink Panther" and 1976: "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" by Frank Waldman and Blake Edwards, 1978: "The Revenge of the Pink Panther" by Frank Waldman, Ron Clark and Blake Edwards, 1982: "Trail of the Pink Panther" by Frank and Tom Waldman, Blake and Geoffrey Edwards] and Gadget [(1983: Peter Sauder's cyborg dectective Inspector Gadget vs. "Dr. Claw" Zhāo ("Gadget in Winterland"), saves Prof. Frafkin ("Monster Lake") and Prof. Von Slicksfein ("The Amazon"), finds El Dorado ("All That Glitters"), Poot-Ta-Foot's treasure ("Curse of the Pharoah"), vs. Rauruda ("Japanese Connection"), Prince Abar of Yetzanistan ("Arabian Nights"), Amster diamond ("Dutch Treat"), Dr. Focus's Sneezooka ("Gone Went the Wind"), Labella stirs rebellion in Pianostan ("King Wrong"), finds philosopher's stone ("Did You Myth Me?"), "Nervous" Nick Defecto ("Quimby Exchange"), Star of Istanbul ("Birds of a Feather"), 1985: Eleanor Burian-Mohr, etal.'s vs. Great Wambini ("Magic Gadget"), Alpacastan diamond-spitting llama ("Wambini Predicts"), "Capeman" ("Crash Course in Crime", "Gadget's Gadgets"), 1988: ("Inspector Gadget's Last Case"), 1990: "Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever: The Case of the Giant Flying Lizard")], Maxwell Smart ["Agent 99", "Get Smart"] and Henry Jones, Jr. ["Indiana Jones"]. I was more concerned about saving their lives, while Holmes enjoyed being the hidden "Wizard of Odds", advancing their illustrious careers.

From 221-B, we also thwarted evil and saved lives in all six world wars as the legendary British operatives "Altamont" and "Nimrod". [WW I ("His Last Bow"), WW II ((Robert E. "Papa Bear") Hogan's Heroes: "The Missing Klink" by Bill Davenport), 21st Century WW III ("WW 3" by Toplitz), 24th Century WW VI ("Frostfire" by Marc Platt), 49th Century WW V ("Singularity" by James Swallow), WW VI in 5000 ("The Talons of Wang Chiang" by Robert Holmes)]

Following the infamous Paul Clayton Finglemore alias "John Clay" ["The Red Headed League", "The African Millionaire" by Grant Allen, "The Lethal Luthors: Or What Ever Happened to John Clay?" by Dennis Power] lead us to follow his sons, particularly the time-traveling Scott. ["Dr. Evil" and his clone "Mini-Me", "Lawrence" and his clone "Kingpin", "Lex", David "Warbucks"] and Lawrence and Alexander, fond of impersonating each other. That in turn led us to the Arnos, a family of time traveling vigilante impersonators from the future, with pseudo-superpowers, including Clive ["Action Man", “Aquaman”, “Batman”, "Buck Rogers", “Capt. America”, “Flash Gordon”, "Green Hornet", “Lone Ranger”, “Phantom”, “Sgt. Fury”, “Spider-Man”, “Steve Canyon”, “Superman”, "What Ever Happened to the Man of Tommorow" by Tim Crane], Kristin neé Wells [from 29th Century, "Superwoman of Metropolis", "The Last Secret Identity", Superman: Miracle Monday by Elliot S! Maggin, "What Ever Happened to the Man of Tommorow" by Tim Crane], Carl [“Action Boy”, “Aqualad”, “Kid Action”, “Robin the Boy Wonder”, “Superboy”] and Carla [“Action Girl”, "Aqualass", "Robin the Girl Wonder", "Supergirl"]

To further complicate things were those impersonating superheroes and supervillains using or misusing supertechnology. [Robby Reed (“The Boy Who Could Change into a Thousand Superheroes” by Dave Wood), Suzie ("The Terrible Toymaster!"), Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, Henry Bartholomew Allen, Ray Palmer, Dinah Drake, Arthur Curry, Oliver Queen, J'onn J'onzz, Lex Luthor, David Clinton, Selina Kyle, Dr., Albert/Alvin Desmond, Oswald Copplepot, Felix Faust, Sinestro ("If I Kill Me, Will I Die?" by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson and Terry Dodson)] We were however able reunite an e-ternity of such virtual timelines by getting Laurie Lemmon to wear a Supergirl costume rather than a mermaid costume for Halloween, 1986. ["Year of the Comet", "The Origin of Superboy-Prime( and Supergirl-Prime)"] We patched innumerable rips in the fabric of time by preventing Michael Jon Carter's slip of the tongue in 1986. [who became "Booster Gold" of the Linear Men who patched timerips of his son Ripley "Rip" Hunter (Booster Gold #1), rather than faux stuperhero "Goldstar" (Goldstar #1)] Holmes eventually saw beyond all the superheroes and supervillains, Moriarty's successor, the elusive and mysterious "Time Master". [from 24th Century, aka "Time Trapper", Tibro, "The Fun House of Time"and "The Crime Master of Time" by Robert Kanigher, "Trapped in Two Worlds" and "Manhunt in Time" by E. Nelson Bridwell, "Trapped in Time" by Michael Ryan, "Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds" by Geoff Johns, "Titan in a China Shop" by Mary and Tom Bierbaum, etal., "Future Shock!" by Keith Ian Giffen and Mindy Newell]

Holmes is more adept at accessing and amending his virtual file memory implant than I. ["The Greatest Detective of All Time" by Ralph Roberts] Nevertheless I will attempt to share with your readers some of our more interesting adventures. [Note: Please feel free to edit my Britishisms and futurisms for your Twenty-first century American readers.]

Ever your colleague in Holmesian Studies,

"the Good Doctor" John H. Watson, M. D.

More Punishment Pun-chlines

"Hasenpfeffer on Parade" by Robert C. Burr: "[This is] a receding hare line."

"Hearth Warming" by Philip K. Jones: "[There's] no fuel like an old fuel."

"His Barque Is Worse Than His Bight" by David R. McCallister: "You're treeing up the wrong barque."

"Holmes and Watson Review a 'Punny' Book" by Dr. Bunny Reveals (Tracy Jean Revels): "Cinderella ran away from the ball."

"Holmes Bites the Bullet" by Robert C. Burr: "I want to transcend dental medication."

"Holmes Said It First" by David R. McCallister: "Read my lips -- no new taxis."

"How Dry I Am" by Brad D. Wortman: "These are the twines that dry men's soles."

"I Sea What You Mean, Holmes" by Ellis, Warren Ellis and John Cassaday: "It's beneath me."

"If at First You Don't Succeed…" by Richard Kennedy: "[He has] a new lice on leaf."

"In a Carriage in Scotland" by Sandy Kozinn: "Some turns are left unstoned."

"In Retirement" by Robert C. Burr: "The man is obviously a free mason."

"Interlude at Baker Street #1" by Robert C. Burr: "[He has the] curry with the syringe on top."

"Interlude at Baker Street #5" by Robert C. Burr: "[He's] putting Descartes before the whores."

"Interlude at Baker Street #7" by Robert C. Burr: [It's a case of the] reign called on account of the game."