Minneapolis and Sherlock Holmes @ 50: Saturday Part The Last

 Okay, so I took a nap. I'm not as young as Peter Blau.

Apologies to Will Walsh and the lawyers among us for not reviewing "Treason: British Law, Holmes, and Doyle." But I made it back for Mark and JoAnn Alberstat's "Written in the Stars: Moriarty's Canadian Connection."

Simon Newcomb, a prodigy from Nova Scotia who became an expert in celestial mechanics, is thought to have surely been the inspiration for Professor Moriarty. (Google it! There's a lot.) All kinds of fascinating stuff there, as when Newcomb reached out to friend Alexander Graham Bell with an idea to help save president Garfield after the assassination attempt that eventually killed him.

Once JoAnn got to listing the Newcomb/Moriarty parallels on the academic side of things, including that paper on dynamics of an asteroid that Newcomb wrote at age nineteen, the case gets pretty solid. Eclipses, which Moriarty explained to Inspector MacDonald, were also a subject that excited Newcomb. But can we talk of Moriarty without mention of Moran? A fellow named Alfred Drayson comes into play, also an astronomer with theories on the topic, but also a card player with a big ol' moustache like Moran who was a friend of Conan Doyle who likely talked to Doyle about Newcomb. A bit more of a stretch than the Newcomb/Moriarty parallel for Drayson/Moran, but not without notes of interest.

Newcomb's writings come into play, mentioned in the Strand Magazine, and the many ways Conan Doyle might have been aware of him. Like a few elder Sherlockians of old I encountered, Newcomb had moments where he thought everything possible had been discovered in his field, but eventually realized he was wrong. Did Moriarty realize how wrong he was, eventually, when Holmes was about to bring him down? Mark brings the talk home with the seven specific points of comparison between Newcomb and Moriarty, and blaming Novia Scotia and Canada, ala South Park, for the evil that was Moriarty.

And now, a photo break before dinner.

Rich Krisciunas finds 221, and it's leasing!

The banquet that followed featured a lot of toasts between our salads (there when we arrived) and the main course. I did the usual "When did toasts turn into mini-presentations?" complaint. (Really, people, stop it. Toasts are meant to be quick, clever, and get you drinking.) One particular toast, however, was a thing of wonder that might surprise a few of my younger friends. The Norwegian Explorers' own Erica Fair was tasked with the toast to the second Mrs. Watson, as many have over the decades. Erica went down the list of qualities needed in a second Mrs. Watson to identify the one person who was surely that later spouse of the good doctor, then concluded with the words, "To the second Mrs. Watson . . . Sherlock Holmes!" She was rewarded with joyous laughter and the heartiest applause of the evening, in a room largely populated with traditional Sherlockians. While every single person in the room might not have been on board, it sure seemed like Johnlock shipping is finding its way to acceptance in the hobby as a whole. Of course an Irene Adler toast came after, so there's room for everyone in this big ol' tent. ("Even Maud Bellamy," he hastened to add.)

After dinner, Les Klinger said he had been asked to stand in for Laurie King and talked about his path into Sherlockiana and some thoughts about its path onward. His talk was followed by Peter Blau serving as auctioneer to raise funds for the Collections selling a few items. Auctions at fan venues have always gotten a little crazy, since my first experience with one at a Star Trek convention in the 1980s, and this was no different. The one notable difference was that in addition to the normal folks stretching their limits to get something, we do have a Sherlockian or two with pockets known to be deep enough to take the suspense out of their desire to walk away with something. (And one weird request we still haven't figured out.)

But that was the end of the official program, and here are some pictures of what came after.

Founders of the Hansom Cab Clock Club with a known photobomber

Next to the Norwegian Explorers, I think the Parallel Case was best represented.

The Eckrich-Nunn editorial team.

After dinner drinks at the brewery patio next door, which got overtaken by about fifty Sherlockians.

Can a BSI scarf be tied like a bow tie?

What a BSI bow tie is supposed to look like.

The last stragglers seen from the sixth floor.