As mentioned in my last post, MX Publishing is holding a Kickstarter fundraiser to spread the word of the publication of a special hardcover edition of A Man Named Baskerville as well as a forthcoming audiobook.
Well, the Kickstarter has started, and I’m asking for your help. There are some great donor rewards for your generous contribution:
A Man Named Baskerville PDFs
Signed paperback copies
Signed copies of the hardcover first edition
Exclusive Hound Megapacks, which include A Man Named Baskerville and several other of MX Publishing’s Baskerville-adjacent offerings, including The Widow of Dartmoor, a graphic novel of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and Hounded: My Lifetime Obsession with Sherlock Holmes and the Hound
You may donate at any level.Even if you don’t wish to donate, please consider sharing this Kickstarter with your friends and followers on social media.
(Please note this money does not go into my pocket—it’s used to defray the cost of production, distribution, and marketing.)
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve signed with MX Publishing in London to release two new editions of A Man Named Baskerville, my reinterpretation of the classic Sherlock Holmes mystery.
Some time in early 2025, you should expect to see a new hardcover and audiobook of Baskerville. I’m especially excited about the audiobook, as this will be the first one produced for my novels.
In order to offset publication costs, MX Publishing will be running a Kickstarter. The donor gift tiers are still being decided, but you should expect to see signed copies of paperback and hardcover editions of Baskerville as thank-you gifts, plus perhaps a couple more surprises.
You can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter launches—just follow this link and add yourself to the “Saved” list.
And watch this space too, as I’ll be announcing more details as they finalize. You can click on the blue “Subscribe” button to receive notifications.
Thank you for following me this year! I hope to have lots more exciting news and new developments in 2025.
This is the much needed backstory of the character of Stapleton from Conan Doyle’s “Hound of the Baskervilles”. It is exceedingly well done and in keeping with Conan Doyle’s original story. … Heartily recommended for lovers of Holmes and those looking to add to their own Sherlock Holmes collections.
Thanks, Melisende! Full review here, more information on the book here, and Amazon page here.
Baskerville is my take on the Arthur Conan Doyle classic. Told as a journal penned by the original’s villain, it relates his life story from a pauper’s childhood in the Empire of Brazil to life on the run in Panama and Costa Rica. He lands in England determined to confront his family and claim his place at Baskerville Hall. All the while, he lays out his plan to settle a score with Holmes and Watson, whom have taken him for dead after their confrontation on the bogs of Dartmoor.
A review copy of the novel is available to NetGalley members upon request. Please note, I’m currently seeking NetGalley members who actively review and crosspost to other sites (Goodreads, Amazon, book blogs, etc.)
At my local branch of the San Francisco Public Library I happened to notice this little surprise on the New Arrivals shelf: A fresh copy of A Man Named Baskerville, all prepped and ready for checking out. (Here’s the online record, if you’re interested.)
If you’d like to read my books and haven’t yet, keep in mind your local library may have an online suggestions program for acquiring lesser-publicized titles like Baskerville or Bridge Daughter. Check your library’s web site, recommend some books, and you may soon be able to read and share.
Indeed, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and the bulk of the Holmes canon have been in the public domain for decades now (in the United States, at least). My conclusion was that the Doyle literary estate has been using fear tactics to con creators—from movie studios down to independent authors—to pay them bogus licensing fees.
Something strange happened after posting that entry, though. I check in with Google Search Console now and then to see how my web site is being indexed and discovered by users. My post on the history of Sherlock Holmes’ copyright status has been indexed by Google but is not available via search. In other words, Google’s servers have seen the post, they’ve analyzed the content, but they refuse to add it to their search engine for users to discover. (Google has indexed pages on my web site that link to the page, but not the page itself.)
It’s been over three months. Posts I made after the Sherlock Holmes entry were indexed and made available on Google immediately, usually within a week. Almost all my other blog posts are available on Google (so far as I can tell). Not the entry on Sherlock Holmes’ copyright situation, though. I’ve made repeated attempts to get the page indexed. I ran a Google Search Console tool to find any problems on the page. I’ve gone through Google’s help system to find any valid reason the page may be excluded. The result: Zilch, and my page remains unavailable on Google search.
This isn’t a problem on alternative search engines Duck Duck Go or Bing. It’s only Google.
Google is free to present or exclude any pages it wants to. I’m not even arguing they owe me an explanation, although I’d appreciate one.
But just as Google is in control of their web site, I’m in control of mine. I’ve tried my best to navigate their systems and understand why they’ve excluded my page, to no avail. So I’ll use my final option—my voice, however small—to let others know.
Update: Several weeks after posting this, Google Search began returning the page as a result.
