The John H Watson Society

Make 2020 your Year of the Watson! Here are a few upcoming opportunities to take advantage of.

Watsonian Opportunity One:

The spring 2020 issue of The Watsonian is coming up, with a submission deadline that ends pretty much when January does. We’re looking for all of those things that look good in print, whether it’s fiction, scholarship, art, poetry, especially featuring John H. Watson and that friend of his. And for spring 2020, we’re also looking to feature any of those non-Sherlock friends of Watson, from the well-known to the obscure. Send your Watsonian work to publisher@johnhwatsonsociety.com .

Watsonian Opportunity Two:

The second season of the world’s only John H. Watson centered podcast, The Watsonian Weekly has begun, and with the first annual Watsonian Weekly Watson Awards just finished, 2020 could head some new and fun directions with Mondays to come. What directions might those be? Like Dr. Watson himself, you’ll just have to come along and find out.

New features will be popping up all the time, and you could be a part! The Watsonian Weekly welcomes new voices of all vocal ranges and accents, especially if you don’t think you have a voice for podcasting. (Have you ever heard the McElroy brothers? Those were not voices anyone would have picked for broadcast, and they’re very beloved podcasters.) Give it a try.

Words on Watson, your favorite Watson, how you’re like Watson, a good reading of a Watson quote – if you have a phone or other device you can send an e-mail-able voice memo or other sound file from, give it a try and send the result to podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com . The more the merrier when it comes to the good doctor, audio toasting, brief interviews, or whatever else might fit on a Watsonian podcast magazine. Your voice does not sound nearly so bad as you think it does!

Watsonian Opportunity Three:

Yes, August and the Eighth Annual John H. Watson Canonical Treasure Hunt is a long ways off, but it’s never too early to recruit some choice team-mates. This year’s Treasure Hunt Masters will be Paul Thomas Miller and Brad Keefauver, so you can bet this is going to be one of the most off-the-wall challenges ever. (And there might even be a couple of pop-up trivia events along the way, when and were you least expect them.)

2020 is a larger number for a year than any Watsonian has ever experienced, and while it’s not the 22nd Century just yet, the future of John H. Watson is here! Whip out that well-hidden Watsonian wonder within, and let’s wander Watson’s world!

The relationship between John H. Watson and Sherlock Holmes tends to eclipse all others in their lives, but it’s the rare bird who can live an entire life with just one other person in it. And we know John Watson had at least a couple of other friends.

His billiards friend Thurston. His old friend Colonel Hayter. His at least lunch-long friendship with Stamford. His Blackheath rugby team.  His schoolmates who joined him in whacking Percy Phelps with those wickets. The fellow doctors who’d look in on his patients. Even Lestrade.

John Watson actually had quite a few friends, friends that he didn’t write sixty stories about. Should the John H. Watson Society and our friends perhaps try to remedy that situation?

As the November issue of The Watsonian winds it’s way to the printers, it’s time to start thinking of 2020 and our next issue. The deadline is February 15th, but why wait? Especially if we’re looking at paying tribute to those unsung friends of Watson.

Think one of Watson’s other friends could be worth a poem, short story, or article to let us know what Watson saw in them, what might have been going on with them in his non-Sherlock time? Got a friend of Watson’s we haven’t even met yet? The Watsonian’s Spring 2020 issue is hoping to feature as many of those Watson buddies as we can squeeze into an issue, so here’s your chance to shine a lot on a favorite in a place where we’ll giving them the stage they deserve.

So why not join in the fun and get that contributor’s copy, along with the pride of demonstrating what a friend to Watson you yourself are? Submissions should be up-to-date Word documents, if at all possible, and sent via email attachment to: publisher@johnhwatsonsociety.com. Questions can also be sent to that address.

Let’s make Spring 2020 a time to show John H. Watson, and the world, just how many friends he had!

“Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the Turkish bath. It was over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying-room that I have found him less reticent and more human than anywhere else. On the upper floor of the Northumberland Avenue establishment there is an isolated corner where . two couches lie side by side, and it was on these that we lay upon September 3, 1902, the day when my narrative begins.”

The Watsonian Weekly is declaring a Tuesday holiday this week, a fresh starting point, based on the good doctor’s opinions of what he called “an alterative.” And what better time than a holiday to take a few moments to indulge in a bit of a podcast listen. On iTunes or on Libsyn, you can find the Watsonian Weekly from the following links:

https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-watsonian-weekly/id1465553726?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

And we’re always looking for new voices, too, as variety is the spice of podcast life, whether in an audio message or e-mail, which you can send along to podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com if the Watsonian muse strikes — but if your muse is more of a listener, that’s the foundation of any podcast effort.

So Happy Watson’s Turkish Bath Day! Make it a good one!

This month, some changes in Society leadership took effect. I am pleased to introduce our first official Carter (the Treasurer), Tonya Spratt-Williams (JHWS “Mallory”) and Boswell (Membership Secretary), Courtney Powers (JHWS “Destiny”).

In addition, Elinor Gray (JHWS “Misty”) is handing the reins of Watsonian Editor-in-Chief to Brad Keefauver (JHWS “Calder”). We look forward to the Fall 2019 issue, which will be the first under his charge.

Mrs Hudson (or perhaps Mrs Turner) has completed her housekeeping in the Shop, and print copies of most publications are now available.

Membership for 2019 with print copies of both the Spring and Fall issues of The Watsonian are available until we exhaust our limited supply of the Spring 2019 issue or until December 31, 2019, whichever comes first. (The Spring issue will be mailed upon purchase of Membership, and the Fall issue will be mailed upon publication.) Paperless Memberships will remain available.

While we do some behind-the-scenes work in the Shop, print publications and the Print+ membership will be temporarily unavailable. Digital editions of publications and the Worldwide Paperless membership will remain available.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience!

Andie Stabler writes:

Calling all of my Sherlockian and non-Sherlockian friends out there! Listen up!

As many of you know, the lovely Susan Diamond passed away recently. I adored Susan. She was always good to me and she and her hubby Allen were always willing to help guide this newbie Sherlock Holmes nerd through the ups and downs of Sherlockian society. So I would like to do something to honor this wonderful lady.

For this, I will need some help.

I’m going to be running the Wonder Woman Half-Marathon in the Chicago area on June 9th. What I would like to do as well is raise money for The Beacon Society in Susan Diamond’s name. I think the Wonder Woman Half-Marathon is perfect for this, as we all know that Susan was a superhero in her own right. ?

When I cross the finish line of this race, (which will take a while, I’m sure), I would like to be able to say that through the running of this race, there is at least $500 to be donated to The Beacon Society.

You can help Andie in this effort by donating at her Just Giving page. As of this writing, she has reached the original $500 goal, but wouldn’t it be lovely to make that donation even bigger?

The Watsonian Weekly hit the podcast airwaves last week, as the John H. Watson Society added one more medium to its societal output. Its first week was a bit of a “soft” opening, just to make sure it was working, but this week, with episode two, the secret’s out!

So just what is the Watsonian Weekly? Well, as the name says, it’s Watsonian and it’s weekly. Beyond that? We’re starting with an audio magazine format of news and features, put together every Sunday night for your Monday morning listening pleasure. The format gives us a great flexibility of content so we can make sure and get something out every single week, and try to fill a half hour of content to start your week.

As time passes, however, you can expect special episodes when a number of Watsonians gather at some weekend function like the Left Coast Sherlockian Symposium, interviews that the other podcasts may not have gotten to, or . . . who knows? It’s a very flexible medium, and Watsonians have a wide range of ideas.

In fact, we’re already welcoming Watsonians to try their hand at becoming featured voices on the podcast. Have some basic device like an iPhone with a voice memo feature that will e-mail a minute or two of talk? Have an idea that might fill as little as a minute? Or just want to send in a written note or question to add to our weekly content? The e-mail address “podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com” should reach us.

Good podcasts grow and evolve with the community they serve, and the John H. Watson Society has done quite a bit already in its six years of existence. Now we have one more outlet to celebrate John H. Watson, and share our love of him just a little more. Join us, won’t you?

You can find the Watsonian Weekly at http://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/ and coming soon to iTunes.

Brad Keefauver
Podcast anchor and editor, as well as JHWS “Calder”

… upon the afternoon of the 4th we set off together with the intention of crossing the hills and spending the night at the hamlet of Rosenlaui. We had strict injunctions, however, on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach, which are about half-way up the hill, without making a small detour to see them.

It is, indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting snow, plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the river hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening, coal-black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green water roaring for ever down, and the thick flickering curtain of spray hissing for ever upwards, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl and clamour. [FINA]

The fourth of May is a date well known to Sherlockians and Watsonians the world over. On this day, 128 years ago, Holmes and Moriarty fought a final, apparently fatal struggle at the edge of the Reichenbach Falls. What really happened there has been the subject of a number of essays and pastiches over the years.

Today, there are a number of memorial sites one can visit in and around Meiringen. A life-size statue of Holmes, sculpted by John Doubleday, was unveiled by the Sherlock Holmes Society of London in 1988. Nearby, a Sherlock Holmes Museum opened in 1991.

Also in 1991, in honour of the centennial, the Bimetallic Question of Montreal and the Reichenbach Irregulars of Switzerland erected a commemorative plaque near the Falls. There are a few other plaques to be found in the area, including one noting the location of the “Englischer Hof” (otherwise known as the Hotel Rössli, Meiringen).

Have you visited the Falls, either with a group or on your own? The closest I’ve ever been is the airport in Geneva, but I’d love to get there one day!

”Chips” writes that he will be spending the day assembling a puzzle of this iconic illustration: