The Baker Street Babes

Fandom Summer is upon us! To kick it off, Babes Ardy, Lyndsay, Taylor and Amy chat it up with Betsy Rosenblatt, who works with the Legal committee of the Organization for Transformative Works. The OTW runs a lot of fandom-based projects, including the Archive of our Own, a scholarly journal about fan cultures, and a fandom wiki—and they also provide legal advice and advocacy for and on behalf of fannish creators, which is where Betsy (and people like her on the committee) comes in. We talk to her about the legal issues surrounding fanworks, how much trouble they can potentially get you into, and we discuss listener questions such as the reasons why people create them in the first place, and what it is that makes fandoms like Sherlock Holmes so enduring. Also, we really want to know: what drove her to invest much of her time in this project and how successful is it? The answer to all these questions lies but a click and a listen away. Enjoy, and let us know your own thoughts on these issues, if you feel so inclined—we love getting listener mail :)

In Episode 29, Babes Jenn and Lyndsay sit down with Susan Rice and Mickey Fromkin to talk about The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes and how ASH came to be. Who are The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes you may ask? Founded by a group of women students at Albertus Magnus College in the late 1960s and led by Principal Unprincipled Adventuress Evelyn Herzog, ASH achieved early notoriety when its members picketed the Annual Dinner of the Baker Street Irregulars in protest of the BSI policy of excluding women. For the next 25 years ASH thrived with its own (coeducational) dinner on the same January night as the BSI event. When women were finally invited into the BSI in 1991, selected Adventuresses were among the first to be invested. Both Susan and Mickey not only share the story of ASH, but also their own personal stories of how they became members and found other like-minded women who share their love for our favorite consulting detective. For more information on The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes you can visit their website or you can email Susan Rice at [email protected]. You can also subscribe to the ASH publication, The Serpentine Muse. The Muse is a quarterly journal of ASH activities and (mostly) light-hearted Sherlockian and Victorian topics. Contents include event reports, short articles, toasts, contests, poetry, drawings, and photos of, and by, ASH members and others. It is not necessary to be a member of ASH to subscribe or contribute material for publication in the Muse. For more information, click here.

A Study In Bart's: Holmes, Watson, and England's Great Hospital. Recorded lecture by Alistair Duncan at St. Bartholomew's Pathology Musuem on 27/06/2012 The famous meeting place of Holmes and Watson, St. Batholomews Hospital is surprisingly rarely featured in adaptations of the stories. Why is this? What series finally gave St. Bart's its due credit? A fantastic lecture by Alistair in which he likens Sherlock Holmes to Britain's super hero. A PDF of his slides can be found [HERE] Follow Alistair on twitter at @alistaird221b ¦ His blog is at http://alistaird221b.blogspot.com/

[TRANSCRIPT] Louise Brealey, who plays Molly Hooper on BBC's Sherlock, was at Collectormania Milton Keynes on a VERY cold Sunday in early June. Without too much of a plan, Babes Curly, Maria, Ardy, and Joanne drove up and nabbed an interview with the incredibly funny and charming actress. Dancing around the stadium in attempts to keep warm, they wandered the stalls, met fans, and danced with Storm Troopers. After a quick interview with a Scottish Darth Vader, they were able to sit down with Louise and chat Sherlock and matching tape recorders. It's delightful.

[Full transcript of this episode]On New Year's Day 2012, a facebook post stopped The Baker Street Babes in their tracks. Amanda Abbington was asking how to become a Baker Street Babe. After we recovered (it took some time), we began a delightful conversation with Amanda about Sherlock and beyond. After a few months of schedule dancing, work, school, and New Zealand, The Babes (Curly, Ardy, Turk, & Kafers) and Amanda were finally able to meet up and what you're about to listen to and read is what came of it. We can honestly say this was such a delight and a treat. Not only was it just fun, but it was insightful. Amanda has been dubbed The Queen of Fandom by BBC Sherlock enthusiasts, and rightfully so. she's reached out to fans unlike anyone else, breaking The Fourth Wall and embracing fan culture. Incredibly charming, witty, and caring, she has become quite special to many of us. Please note this episode was recorded at the end of April and in a restaurant. While perfectly listenable, it may be worthwhile to follow along in the transcript. For those who don't know, Amanda Abbington is an English actress and comedienne who has appeared on television and stage. She is best known for her roles in the 2005 comedy sketch show Man Stroke Woman and the 2007–2008 comedy After You’ve Gone with Nicholas Lyndhurst. She has also appeared in recurring series such as Coupling, Casualty, and Dream Team. She is the longtime partner of British actor Martin Freeman, who plays John Watson in Sherlock. She has a facebook group devoted to her, suitably entitled: Amanda Abbington is made of trolls, wit, and perfection. (A partner to her husband's Martin Freeman is made of jam, kittens, and rage.) You can follow her on twitter at @amandaabbington and her and Martin's delightful (and hysterical) dogs @JodieArchie1

In Sherlock she was the dominatrix that brought a nation to its knees. A far cry from the Adler of canon, but with the same essence of adventure and mischief. Lara Pulver's Irene turned heads and caused controversy, and we feel that's just what Adler of the canon would have wanted. Lara Pulver chats with Curly, Lyndsay, Maria, and Jenn about her turn as The Woman. We geek out about McQueen and sexual identity, and reveal the secret to beating Benedict Cumberbatch at word games. Lyndsay & Curly do a brief introduction which has Star Trek casting spoilers for Benedict, so if you want to avoid that, skip to 10 minutes in. A full transcript of this episode is [HERE] Make sure you watch Sherlock on PBS Masterpiece: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/ And follow along with our live tweets during the show! Next up is The Hounds of Baskerville! You can follow Lara on twitter at @larapulver

Babes Jenn, Lyndsay, and Amy have a chat with three of the people behind the Steampunk Holmes project. Producer Richard Monson-Haefel, author P.C. Martin, and artist Daniel Cortes talk about how the idea of mashing Sherlock Holmes and steampunk together came to life. Holmes rides a steampunk motorcycle with sidecar! Watson has a bionic arm! Mycroft is a female! How cool is that?!? The Steampunk Holmes project is authorized by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate and is a labor of love for these three. Currently, they are in need of your help. Steampunk Holmes has launched a Kickstarter Campaign to help raise funds to complete their interative iPad application of Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus. Everyone who donates gets some amazing gifts for helping. You can donate here. As a special thank you to our listeners, the Steampunk Holmes creators are offering a FREE download of the e-pub version of Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus. To claim the free download, go to Smashwords, choose your perferred format of the e-book, and enter the code UN78D when you check out. It's as simple as that! Trust us. You won't be disappointed.

Our very own Amy Thomas talks to Ardy, Jenn and Sarah about her pastiche The Detective and The Woman, originally written for NaNoWriMo 2011. A short summary: Irene Adler finds herself a widow at thirty-two, wealthy but emotionally broken. At the same time, Sherlock Holmes finds himself unable to return to England after faking his death at Reichenbach Falls and is drawn into an investigation of two men with designs on Irene Adler. The Detective and The Woman throw their lot in together to uncover a dangerous plot. In the process, they meet legendary inventor Thomas Edison and experience life in Florida at the turn of the 20th century. We want to know all! How did she come up with the idea? What was it like writing a pastiche in the cracks of the Canon? How did she go about getting it published? And did she sleep at all during November last year? There's lots of laughter, lots of love for Holmes and Watson, and Amy finally gives her answers to the BSB questions. This novel is now available from MX Publishing—we’d appreciate it if you got it from our bookshop because that way, you get a great book and we get some pennies towards bandwidth! In other news, we are hosting a meetup and flashmob in Trafalgar Square on April 21 in support of the Undershaw Preservation Trust—more information and link to RSVP [HERE]. This is in conjunction with AnotherBohemianSoul’s costumed walk on the same day, more about that [HERE]. We hope to see lots of you there! Wear Sherlock are inviting contributions for a photo montage to raise awareness of the cause as well—if you want to participate, [HERE]’s how!

Babes Ardy, Amy, Jenn, Maria, Sarah and Taylor chat to Mattias Boström, a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, about “New” and “Old” Sherlockians. Mattias is working on a book about the Sherlock Holmes success story at the moment, so we have plenty to talk about! What does it mean to be a Sherlockian or Holmesian these days? Do people still play The Game? What’s the difference between Sherlockian societies’ meetings and Sherlock meetups? What will happen to the Sherlock Holmes societies when the “Old” and the “New” Sherlockians meet? While we discuss these questions and more, one thing is certain: we are all united in our love for Sherlock Holmes. As we found out, Mattias is always happy to chat to people about Holmes, so go follow him on Twitter @mattiasb221b! Special thanks go to Roger Johnson and Carrie Chandler from the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, who could not be there in person but provided us with questions for the discussion. You can follow Carrie on Twitter at @carriechandler or @SHSLBakerStweet for official SHSL news. The book that Mattias mentioned in the episode is Steven Doyle and David Crowder’s Sherlock Holmes for Dummies, which you can buy from the bookseller of your choice.

Michael Price is one half of the brilliant composing team behind BBC's Sherlock. That enough should recommend this episode as a must for any Sherlock fan, let alone music fan. He's composed, edited, and helped with dozens of amazing scores including Lord of the Rings, Band of Brothers, and Casino Royale. He joins Babes Curly, Ardy, Marie, Maria, Amy, and Sarah for a delightful chat about everything Sherlock and beyond. How did he and David get started with the score? What are their favourite tracks? Just how much does he love the fan orchestra, and does he have a cat? Afterwards Babes Curly, Maria, Ardy, Amy, and Turk chat about their favourite tracks, the pilot, Series 3 hopes, and even a bit about CBS' Elementary. It's full of laughs, quirks, and tons of Sherlock Holmes loving. Note: You can learn more about and submit things to The Art of Deduction Fanbook by visiting their information page [HERE] It's in support of The Undershaw Preservation Trust (www.saveundershaw.com)