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Sherlock Holmes Society of London reviews Sherlock Holmes and The Affair in Transylvania

” idiosyncratic and entertaining”

It’s not every day that you sign a major film director as a new author and to be brutally honest I found the experience exciting, humbling and a little intimidating all rolled into one. Gerry O’Hara is best described as a legend of the big screen having several dozen films under his belt but no stranger to TV either with episodes of iconic series like The Avengers under his belt too. A prolific screenwriter Gerry also wrote several books during his career, but never had the time to do anything with them – now that he is semi-retired (many would kill for the guy’s energy) he has unearthed several to be published this year and we as you may know grabbed his Holmes novel – Sherlock Holmes and The Affair in Transylvania. You don’t need detection skills on a par with the great detective to work out that this is Holmes and Dracula territory.

The Sherlock Holmes Society of London were among the first to get a review copy:

“Sherlock Holmes and the Affair in Transylvania by Gerry O’Hara (due 2 November; £9.99/$16.95/€12.99) is similarly idiosyncratic and entertaining. As you might guess, Mr O’Hara pits Holmes and Watson against Count Dracula, but in a different way from his predecessors, Loren D Estleman and David Stuart Davies. Although great chunks of Bram Stoker’s text remain, his story has been rewritten to exclude Professor Van Helsing, and various other characters are reimagined.

Mina is now Watson’s niece, married to a Romanian named Janos. Lucy is the daughter of Dr Westenra, who supervises an asylum in Transylvania, where all the events occur. Surprisingly, this is Gerry O’Hara’s first book, after a long career as writer and director in film and television (he wrote the story for Sherlock Holmes and the Incident at Victoria Falls, so he’s not new to Holmes).”

What the review doesn’t mention is the rather stunning illustrations which were created as paintings and then scaled down for use in the book. The originals are all in colour and one is used for the cover. In the paperback they appear in greyscale, but in the ebooks they are in glorious colour, so if you have the Kindle version make sure you take a peek at them on a colour device like your computer as they are pretty special.

Gerry’s memoirs are out in a few months which, if the contract signing lunch stories he told are anything to go by are going to be funny and pretty revealing.

Sherlock Holmes and The Affair in Transylvania is due out on 2nd November though there are some limited pre-publication copies appearing on bookstores like Amazon.

 

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Sherlock Holmes Society of London Review of No Police Like Holmes Dan Andriacco

An exciting and witty romp”

Dan Andriacco’s first book in June this year has been a big hit with Holmes fans around the world and the blog of the same name Baker Street Beat has thousands of visitors. His debut novel, No Police Like Holmes is a mystery featuring Holmes fans rather than the great detective himself. The first main review of the book comes from The Sherlock Holmes Society of London in the current edition of The District Messenger.

“An exciting and witty romp – not about Holmes but about his fans. The world’s third-largest private collection of Sherlockiana has been donated to St Benignus, a small college in a small town in Ohio, and to celebrate, the college is hosting the Investigating Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes Colloquium.

Jeff Cody, the college’s PR director (and part-time crime writer), is an amused observer until the event is blighted by a real theft and a real murder, and he realises that there’s rather a lot of suspects in deerstalkers. As if things weren’t bad enough, Cody and his ex-girlfriend also become suspects… I like it!”

The book comes out on November 9th and but some bookstores have limited advance copies, Amazon UK, Sherlock-Holmes.com , Amazon USA, and others.

Dan will be appearing in person alongside many Holmes legends at Gillette to Brett III Nov. 11-13 in Indiana and will have some copies there to sign. Holmes fans that manage to get one of those signed first editions make sure you keep them safe, we have a feeling this one is going to be a bestseller.

 

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A light at the end of the tunnel for 13 year old bedwetting sufferer and her family

Stop Bedwetting in 7 DaysThere are times as a publisher when you feel particularly proud, especially with books that can be described as ‘life changing’. Our No.1 bestselling book worldwide is giving us such moments on a regular basis. Coming up to it’s 2nd birthday, ‘Stop Bedwetting in 7 Days’ goes from strength to strength. Now being recommended by healthcare professionals due to its more than 80% success rate the book is currently the #5 ranked NLP book in the UK [and popular too in the USA]. Bedwetting is best caught as young as possible, but Alicia Eaton’s method (a unique combination of NLP and hypnotherapy) works all the way up to teenage sufferers. We wanted to share a recent review in full as it will give hope to a lot of families:

“My daughter is 13 and has been suffering from eneurisis (bedwetting) all her life which has been a considerable trial for her, but also the rest of the family. It has been difficult to cope with the smelly laundry and keeping the house fresh (although we never mentioned anything to her her friends have!) but for my daughter herself the emotional burden has been huge. She has been frightened to have sleepovers in case anyone sees or smells anything. She has had to shower thoroughly every morning and has felt the need to use lots of body spray as back-up. She has lacked in confidence to the extent that I got in touch with Kidscape which helped a lot but later also consulted with a GP who identified an excellent MIND course for teenagers because, whilst she was frequently aggressive and even violent at home – probably as a side-effect, she was being bullied at school (or took it that way due to her lack of confidence). 

She has always been a deep sleeper such that you could basically explode a bomb and she would sleep right through. 

We have tried lifting at night and had several concerted stints with a bed alarm where she would wake for the first night a couple of times and maybe once the second night and then start to unplug the alarm whilst remaining in a deep sleep as she became more and more tired. Our GP, and later an eneurisis specialist, recommended that we use desmopressin but I considered this to be an extreme solution which in any case had no effect – indeed I believe it may have increased the production of urine. A second medication was also offered to be used in conjunction. I do not want my child full of medication but we gave them both a try from time to time in desperation. 

When ordering a new sensor for the alarm I chanced upon this book and reading the write up I thought that whilst it sounded too good to be true it was worth a try as I could see hints that it might be suitable for the way my daughter thinks. 

I got the book and what a revelation. Very short and to the point I could see that it had HUGE potential. I read it from cover to cover so that I could fully understand the principles behind the programme and decided that for my daughter, provided I could stay 100% positive and certain it would work, she would soon start to reap the benefits. I could however see that the title was perhaps a bit misleading. The 7 days referred to is the length of the preparation before the programme actually starts. How long it takes to achieve dryness is not certain but the programme definitely starts to create the right brain training for a child to help them get themselves dry. 

My daughter seemed to think it would take 7 days from a standing start so she kept putting off starting the programme because she expected a magic bullet. I was not happy about this so I downloaded the sound file and got her to put it on her phone and MP3 (with a different name of course!) so she could start listening to it. After 4 days she was determined to start the programme and on day 5 of the preparation she had her first ever completely dry night even with a full 11 hours asleep. This alone was enough to take her by surprise and motivate her – she had been sure it would not work! 

At the time of writing we are almost two weeks in since starting the programme, and two and a half weeks since she began listening to the download. She has had several completely dry nights where she has managed to wake up and get herself to the toilet in time (sometimes 3 times in one night) without any problem – her brain has done the right thing. She has had a few nights where she has woken just as she was beginning to wet and has managed to recover the situation and get to the toilet before any sheets are wet. She has even had two completely sleep all the way through dry nights. For my daughter with her prolonged history of being wet and her bad experiences with being lifted and/or using an alarm this is a major breakthrough. She is already much happier, the washing machine is seeing much less laundry and she was confident enough after only ten days to spend four nights sleeping with two of her friends on a camp. 

We bought several identical new sheets, three pairs of identical pyjama sets in the sale and some disposable mats which we put under the sheets (which I stacked mat, sheet, mat, sheet). She managed two nights completely dry, one with a wet sheet and one where her shorts were slightly damp. 

I have to say this is HUGE for both her and me. If you have a determined child I suggest using this programme before they get to 13 and have loads of failures behind them. This programme puts them in charge and helps them programme their own brain in a positive way. The potential for how this programme works goes way beyond dealing with bedwetting. 

For the price of a pack of pull-ups and a laundry load this book is worth every penny. If it does not work on its own it may be necessary to unpick wider emotional issues – we did this the other way round, finding this fantastic book late in the day, but as they say ‘better late than never’.”

The book is available from all good book stores, Amazon USA, Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and increasingly popular on iTunes (6 countries) for the iPad and iPhone. An ideal book for parents but also for NLP practitioners as close to one in 5 children suffers with bedwetting at some point.

 

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The Most Important Book On Sherlock Holmes And Arthur Conan Doyle of 2011?

An Entirely New CountryAlistair Duncan has a very hard act to follow with his new book, An Entirely New Country. His last book, The Norwood Author won the 2011 Howlett Literary Award (Sherlock Holmes book of the year) and was widely recognised as one of the most important Conan Doyle books in recent times due to the new information Duncan uncovered during his meticulous research.

The challenge is that Conan Doyle is one the most written about authors in history, with literally hundreds of biographies about the great man. To find genuinely new information means delving into local archives which was the secret to the success of the book on the Norwood period. Duncan admits that he couldn’t create these ground-breaking books without the significant help from local library staff.

What adds to the importance of this book is the timing. The book covers the ‘Undershaw’ period, the time Conan Doyle spent in the home that he himself designed. The house faces destruction by developers and The Undershaw Trust is working hard to save it. Judging by the tens of thousands that visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum every year, and the millions of new fans that the BBC’s Sherlock and the new movies have generated, there is plenty of scope for restoring this important building and creating a larger exhibition for Sherlock Holmes.

The Sherlock Holmes Society of London’s Roger Johnson makes strong reference to this in his notes about the new book:

“It was evident from his first book Eliminate the Impossible that Alistair Duncan writes well, that he writes with knowledge and enthusiasm, and that he thinks about what he writes. His subsequent books, Close to Holmes and The Norwood Author, did more than just confirm that impression: they established him as an important commentator on Arthur Conan Doyle and his famous creation. After exploring the years when Conan Doyle lived in Norwood – surprisingly neglected by previous biographers, even though it was then that he became truly famous – Mr Duncan has turned his attention to the author’s next decade, perhaps the most turbulent of his life. Undershaw, the house that Conan Doyle had built at Hindhead, was his home from 1897 to 1907. He wrote The Hound of the BaskervillesSir NigelThe Return of Sherlock Holmes and much else at Undershaw. The house saw the end of his first marriage and the beginning of his second. He was resident here when he became Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Yet, despite its cultural and architectural importance, Undershaw currently stands empty, vandalised and neglected. Read An Entirely New Country and you’ll understand just why the Undershaw years were so important.”

The most important book on Conan Doyle in 2011? – undoubtedly.

The biggest Holmes seller this Christmas will probably be The House Of Silk – the new Holmes ‘official’ novel from Anthony Horowitz and we understand too well the importance of pastiches as the most popular form of new Holmes books for publishers. However, we hope that at least one person that reads An Entirely New Country has a spare £million or two to invest in preserving an important part of Conan Doyle’s history before it is lost forever.

 

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The Bookbag Reviews Shadowfall a novel of Sherlock Holmes

Shadowfall

Shadowfall

It’s a rare Sherlock Holmes novel that gets 4.5/5 stars from The Bookbag, but we already knew Shadowfall is a rare gem. The reviewer says that the sequel is going to be on his ‘most wanted list’ and he’s not the first to say that;

“You remember Sherlock Holmes, yes? Deerstalker, pipe, leetle grey cells… (Oh, sorry, that was Poirot, but same kind of deductive ability), naked winged-woman on, or at least floating above, the sofa in Baker Street… wait a minute? Seriously?

Well, ‘seriously’ is probably not the word to be used to describe this delightful pastiche, but I can happily tell you that mixing Sherlock and Watson with Titania, Spring-Heeled Jack, Charon, and other lesser known tales works surprisingly well. Chiefly this is because Tracy Revels manages to capture the tone of Arthur Conan Doyle’s originals fairly faithfully, just with the twist that Sherlock is only half-human. And looking at his detective skills, it’s a wonder we hadn’t figured that out before.

The characters come at us fast and furious here, and part of the pleasure is there’s no need to spend any time establishing them. We know what to expect from Holmes and Watson, Revels shows us enough to realise that this is still the recognisable duo, despite Watson’s shock at finding out about his friend’s true origins, and that allows the majority of the book to be spent throwing ever-more bizarre obstacles at the pairing and watching them stretch themselves to their limits trying to overcome them. Full marks, as well, for a Watson who is significantly more of a man of action, as in the original stories, than the bumbling fool found in some of the pastiches……”

To read the full review you can visit The Bookbag site.

Shadowfall is available in paperback from all good bookstores including Amazon, in Amazon Kindle, Kobo and iBook (ipad/phone) format. You can follow Tracy Revels Blog for her latest news.

 

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The Bookbag Reviews The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes

Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock HolmesTo get a four star review from The Bookbag is impressive, and all the more so if it is your debut book. Gerry Kelly gets a very solid thumbs up for his collection of new Sherlock Holmes stories;

“I’ll spare people the details of Holmes and Watson as crime-solvers – I’m assuming anyone likely to pick this one up is probably familiar with the Victorian duo. This is generally very faithful to the Arthur Conan Doyle originals and the best stories in this set of thirteen sound authentic enough to take their place alongside some of the canon.

The strong points of the collection are numerous, chiefly being an excellent attempt at capturing Conan Doyle’s style of writing which makes Kelly’s Watson convincingly close to the original for the most part. There’s also some ingenious plotting in some of the stories – my personal favourites being The Mayfair Strangler, The Mysterious Death of the Kensington Verger, The Mystery of the Locked Study, and The Adventure of the Black Arrow. Holmes is also given plenty of opportunities to dazzle both his companion and the reader with observations about people he’s only just met, which were always some of my favourite moments in the original stories and raise just as much of a smile here…”

You can read the whole review at The Bookbag website.

The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes is available through all leading bookstores worldwide including Amazon, via Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, and iBooks (iPad and iPhone) and various other formats. If you’d like to stage one of the stories as a play you can get in touch with Gerry through us here.

 

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The Bookbag Reviews Book of Advanced Driving Skills For Young Drivers Using NLP

You have probably heard it said that there are several skills that are important especially for young drivers that they don’t learn as part of passing the physical and theory driving tests. The Bookbag reviews a new NLP based book that addresses these key mental skills that scores an excellent 4/5 stars from them:

“It’s always struck me that the most difficult time for young drivers is that period just after they pass their driving test. Someone has told you that you’re an OK driver, right? But you’re out there, all on your own, without anyone to explain those odd things which you still haven’t come across or to be the extra pair of eyes. You’ve got a sense of freedom, but somehow it’s a little bit daunting. Judy Bartkowiak offers something a little bit different. It’s not another book about road signs, driving etiquette and stopping distances – it’s some ideas for getting into the right mindset to absorb the new experiences and learning some skills which might help you in other areas of your life too.

The book is based in the principles of NLP ( Neuro Linguistic Programming) – but don’t let the words put you off, not least because this isn’t a programme which is going to be pushed at you but rather the thinking which is beneath the words in the book. I found the principles of NLP most useful where they helped me to understand how I learn and even for someone many multiples of the target age group this is a skill which I can apply in other areas of my life. So – think of this book as something which will prompt you as to the ways in which you can become a better driver, but might also have applications in other areas such as exams or sport…..”

To read the full article visit The Bookbag website. The book is available from all good bookstores and formats including Amazon UK, and Amazon Kindle,.

 

 

 

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The Bookbag Reviews Rendezvous At The Populaire A Novel of Sherlock Holmes

Rendezvous at the PopulaireAs a publisher, when you get the email from The Bookbag saying that the latest review of one of your books is ready, there is a mix of excitement and trepidation.

Excitement as are one of the biggest and most respected review sites in the UK, trepidation as they are tough and it’s always a defining moment clicking that link.

The good news for Rendezvous At The Populaire is that the book gets an overall thumbs up which is great news for a pastiche as they are difficult to deliver in a way that appeals to everyone.

“All in all, though, this is an interesting take on this pair of iconic characters which will appeal to the vast majority of fans of either of them. Above average Sherlock Holmes novel which has enough to be a definite recommendation to fans of the great detective or the Phantom of the Opera.”

To read the full review – visit The Bookbag site.

 

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Sherlock Holmes Society of London reviews Baker Street Beat

From the District Messenger, the newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, comes a review of Dan Andriaccos unusual and fascinating new collecition of “scribblings” about Sherlock Holmes.

“Baker Street Beat by Dan Andriacco is subtitled An Eclectic Collection of Sherlockian Scribblings, which sums up the book rather well. There’s nothing particularly profound or abstruse in its 140 pages. Rather, it gives you the same sort of feeling as when you’re chatting over a drink with a knowledgeable fellow-Holmesian.

After explaining how he came to be an enthusiast – his principal allegiance is to the Tankerville Club of Cincinnati – Mr Andriacco tells of his pilgrimage to Reichenbach. He considers the influence of Sherlock Holmes on the methods of John Thorndyke, and lays out sensible rules for the composition of a Holmes story.

The reader can then judge how well he follows his rules in ‘The Peculiar Persecution of John Vincent Harden’. Another neat story and two radio scripts complete this very pleasant book.”

Baker Street Beat is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, and in many formats including Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books and iTunes for the iPad.

 

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Sherlock Holmes Society of London reviews The Case of The Grave Accusation

When it comes to reviews, every Holmes author and historian waits anxiously for the edition of The District Messenger where their book is reviewed by the world’s leading Holmes society. It’s good news for the recent pastiche, and true story, The Case of the Grave Accusation with a resounding thumbs up for the new book.

“Just out from MX Publishing at £7.99 is The Case of the Grave Accusation, a novel by Dicky Neely edited by Paul R Spiring, in which Holmes and Watson investigate certain bizarre allegations made against Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – that he stole the narrative of his most famous book from his friend Fletcher Robinson, that he had an affair with Robinson’s wife, and that he murdered Robinson in order to conceal the scandal.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because those charges have been made! Richard Belzer said,

‘If you tell a lie that’s big enough, and you tell it often enough, people will believe you are telling the truth, even when what you are saying is total crap.’

I hope Mr Neely’s book nails the nonsense for good.”

Strong praise from the Society and rightly so. This book is a an important final milestone in the long saga that started with terrible accusations against our beloved Arthur Conan Doyle. Allegations that were damaging and hurtful to both his, and Bertram Fletcher Robinson’s memories.

Without spoiling the plotline, this book has two halves – the first part is a fun pastiche take on the murder scandal, and the second a collection of supporting real life information that puts the final nails in the coffin of the real-life accusations. A very fascinating collaboration between a surfing cartoonist (Dicky Neely, the pastiche) and learned lecturer (Paul R Spiring, the history part).

The Case of The Grave Accusation is available from all good bookstores like Amazon, via Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, iBooks (iPad/iPhone) and several other formats.

 

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