This is the story of a happy Kickstarter result.

It's not a big book. No, it's not.

It's not a thick book. No, it's not.

It's not even an original story. No, it's definitely not.

But it's such a pretty little booklet . . . perhaps the prettiest little bit of Sherlockiana I've seen for quite a while. I've read it about fifteen times already.

Wonder what I'm talking about? The final result of the Sir Boast-A-Lot: A Fanbook Kickstarter came in the mail today. And it's a beautiful thing.

The funding phase of this Kickstarter project took place back in February and March of this year, with a very simple goal: raise $5,000 to do an art book illustrating the children's story that Moriarty tells Sherlock in the cab in "The Reichenbach Fall" episode of Sherlock. It was a beautiful notion, the sort of idea that was a no-brainer, in the weeks of the funding phase, it raised a final total of $32,096 . . . which would lead me to believe that this little booklets aren't going to be a rare collectable. But getting my hands on a rare collectable wasn't what I kicked my fifteen bucks into the Kickstarter pot for. I just wanted to have a copy of this book they were proposing.

And now I do.

My first Kickstarter venture was Steampunk Holmes, which despite all its flashy Kickstarter front end, wound up being a rather weak re-telling of "The Bruce-Partington Plans." Had there been a mention in the original funding push that it was simply a genre adaptation, I doubt I would have donated to that one. I'm sure everyone had good intentions, but in the end it felt like all the talent was used up in the creation of the Kickstarter project proposal and not really in the creation of the work itself. (To be fair, I am just talking about the print edition, without all the bells and whistles of the final iPad version. But all the bells and whistles in the world can't help "The Bruce-Partington Plans," which even Conan Doyle had a hard time keeping from being a bit slow.)

This Is The Story of Sir Boast-A-Lot is a mere twenty-six pages between its roughly five by eight and a half inch covers. It has less than one hundred and twenty-five words in its tale. But the fifteen artists who had their work included in this collection should be very proud -- nothing shoddy or amateurish here at all. There will be a good time to be had looking them all up online in the days to come.

Kickstarter funding is always a gamble, to be sure. But with a few more hits like Sir Boast-A-Lot, I could see myself becoming a bit of a gambler.