I’m pleased to announce that my short story, “The Adventure of the Cursed Ruin,” will appear this December in Belanger Books‘ In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson, now available for pre-order on IndieGoGo. In the Footsteps is “a collection of seventeen all new Sherlock Holmes stories written specifically for young adults. TheContinue reading “The Cursed Ruin”
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The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes: Making an eBook
Throughout January I worked, off and on, on something of a private project, to make an ebook of Ellery Queen’s long-out-of-print anthology, The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes. An anthology of Sherlock Holmes parodies, sprinkled with a few genuine pastiches and two play scripts, essentially a survey of non-Doyle Sherlock Holmes literature to mid-century, The MisadventuresContinue reading “The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes: Making an eBook”
Does Charlie Brown Have a Secret Cousin?
Sunday night I watched Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back!!) and its follow-up animated special, What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown. Given the subject matter and the time (Veterans Day weekend), it seemed appropriate. In the movie and the special, Charlie Brown and three of his friends (Linus, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie) travelContinue reading “Does Charlie Brown Have a Secret Cousin?”
Scenes from the Nationals World Series Parade
Washington DC shut down yesterday for the Washington Nationals’ World Series parade down Constitution Avenue. One month ago I was in the hospital, in the Intensive care ward. I thought there was a real chance I was going to be mostly blind for the rest of my life. Yesterday, I was at the a WorldContinue reading “Scenes from the Nationals World Series Parade”
Saving Minor League Baseball: A Manifesto and a Crusade
Last week Baseball America broke the news that MLB is proposing a radical reconfiguration of the minor leagues, eliminating the lower levels of the minors (Short Season and down), replacing them with a quasi-independent league for undrafted players or encouraging contracted teams to reform as college summer wooden bat teams, and realigning the leagues, classifications (ie,Continue reading “Saving Minor League Baseball: A Manifesto and a Crusade”
Russia, the Primakov Doctrine, and Implications for the 2020 Election
I’ve been doing a great deal of thinking about Russia and the 2020 election, thoughts that are leading me to some chilling places. You may skip over this — “Oh, Allyn’s moaning about Russia again, and it’s all ‘Fake News’ anyway” — but that’s because you’ve never asked yourself the question: “What does Russia want?”Continue reading “Russia, the Primakov Doctrine, and Implications for the 2020 Election”
Negro League Night in York
We will start with a ending, and end with a beginning, as Gandalf says in Rankin-Bass’ underrated yet weird animated adaptation of Return of the King. I went to a York Revolution baseball game last night and came home with a Ross Detwiler game-used jersey. The Revolution were having a Negro League Night. From theContinue reading “Negro League Night in York”
Exploring Mt. Carmel Cemetery
Late last year I had a dream that I found the grave of Captain Thomas Feenhagen, my great-great-great-grandfather. Feenhagen, the father of my my great-great-grandmother Susan and grandfather of my great-grandfather Allyn Gardner, was a sea captain. He commanded a merchant ship, the bark Seneca, in the 1850s and 1860s. From what little I’ve beenContinue reading “Exploring Mt. Carmel Cemetery”
My Armistice 100 Adventure
In mid-September it dawned on me that November 11, 2018 would mark the 100th-anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. Intellectually, as an historian, I knew this. I knew it in the same way that I know that water freezes at 32 degrees and objects fall to the earth at 32 feet perContinue reading “My Armistice 100 Adventure”
Scenes of Terrible Beauty
Ducks splashed in the water. Two larger ducks, adults obviously, sat on outcroppings just beyond the shoreline, while four ducklings paddled in the water. Sometimes, the adults would move from one outcropping to another. Sometimes they would see me, twenty yards distant or more, and take flight, either jump-flying to the opposite shore or, moreContinue reading “Scenes of Terrible Beauty”