You know things are a little diferent at this year’s 221B Con when the very first panel is named “The Future of 221B Con.” After the announcement at the end of last year’s con that this would likely be the last 221B Con, there's a lot of curiosity about the future of things here. After a little discussion of some room changes, an announcement gets made immediately: 221B Con will be back next year.
The largest room at the con, full to capacity, breaks into the kind of response usually reserved for pop stars. Like so much about 221B Con, it's something I've seen nowhere else in decades of Sherlockiana.
There’s going to be some restructuring and Johanna Draper-Carlson and Heather Hinson are taking over from Crystal Noll, original Heather Holloway, and Taylor Blumberg. The con is going to continue on a year-by year basis, but a lot of continuity will happen along the way. After about ten minutes of announcement, more exuberant cheering, and one standing ovation, the rest of the first hour becomes a question and and answer session about the con itself. One thing about this event that has always been one of its greatest characteristics is the level of transparency and the open communication.
After the panel about the future of the con ends early, everyone descends upon the dealer’s room in numbers never before seen. The special commemorative con pin that we got to see in the panel is a big draw, but all of the dealer’s benefited from everyone suddenly having free time. Since the room will be there all weekend, a handful of us head into the restaurant/bar to get drinks and appetizers and await the arrival of Rob Nunn before the Dynamics of a Podcast panel. The wait staff was extremely busy, and by the time Rob got there the appetizers were only beginning to arrive. Talk of the con news and some discussion of a future “Homes in the Heartland” conference help fill the wait for more food and drink, and as normal, our need for food causes us to miss panels on Sherlockian societies, artistic interpretations of Holmes, a screening of The Adventures of Jame Watson with FAQ, and a panel on the Sherlock Holmes anthology When the Rose Speaks Its Name, which I kinda wanted to get to.
The food truck that we get on Saturday and Sunday is much less costly in terms of time away from con programming.
But I finally got to the Dynamics of.a Podcast, that Moriarty-centric podcast, and Madeline Quinones, Dixie Parkinson (via Zoom from South Africa), and special guest Ashley Polasek discussing the villains of the Canon. (And even here the public villains of current events creep into the conversation.) Some great points are made, including how villains are given dark pasts as origins to make us feel safer that we couldn’t be like that. The Master from Doctor Who sneaks his way into the conversation, of course, as listeners to Dynamics of a Podcast might expect.
The fun thing about these panels is, while you have the featured trio up front, we have a room full of very knowledgable and clever Sherlockians contributing to the discussion on the topic. As much as we worry about a lack of younger Sherlockians sometimes, I look around this room and am seeing a minority of gray-haired folk. And two dozen people that I know, nine of them official Baker Street Irregulars... this is some solid Sherlockian thought, more enjoyable that a good many lectures we hear at more formal venues.
Much villainous ground is covered, at a pace it is hard to even take notes on, but it’s very inspiring and will definitely spawn some future writings from folks, I am sure.
After the panel, about ten of us huddle up in the bar whilst some of our younger friends head off for the karaoke session, and conversation goes into the night with a few last cocktails. More to come.
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