News

Moriarty’s minions have conspired to keep several of our members away on Sunday, April 27, 2025 when the John H. Watson Society will meet again on Zoom. As you learned if you attended our March meeting, a great game has begun. If you missed that in March, you’ll learn about it at this next meeting and get to find out if Colonel Moran has already eliminated one of the Londoners who are trying to finish taking down Moriarty’s organization since he and Sherlock Holmes perished at Reichenbach Falls.

There will be other fun to be had, as well as the usual random chat, for those who can make it at our regular time of noon CST on April 27. Here’s the link to register:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/7JZ_Br25S9Onioz1Q1Qk1g

Have you ever played a game sometimes called “Mafia,” sometimes called “Werewolf,” or watched some version of the reality TV show “Traitors?” If you have, you know the basic concept, that a community has been secretly infiltrated by murderous characters, and must come together to remove the threat all the while their citizens are being slowly picked off, either by the baddies or their own misguided attempts at justice.

As a part of our 2025 meetings, March through October, the John H. Watson Society will be playing its own version of this game, where we’ll interrogate our members for Moriarty employ during meetings, while in between said meetings, Moriarty’s agents will be working to take over the society for their own evil purposes. Our usual diverse meeting activities will also be going on, some tying to this campaign, and some just random fun. But a few minutes of each meeting will be dedicated to dealing with the Agents of Moriarty among us. Who are those agents? How murderous are they?

Come to our March meeting to find out — and if you have to miss March, don’t worry. We’ll be bringing more folks in as the meetings progress. Here’s the link for said March meeting and our launch of the game:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jNTydH9mRIuYij9g-I8Leg

We’re moving our March meeting back a week, due to the Dayton conference, but that also means we’re going to have more to talk about. Main program still to be announced, but we wanted to get the link out to you early. Sunday, March 30th at 12:00 PM CST will be the time and Zoom will be the place. Hope to see you there!

Here’s the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jNTydH9mRIuYij9g-I8Leg

As you may have heard and seen demonstrated at our last meeting, the February Zoom gathering of bull pups and friends will be a series of presentations by Watsonians who don’t know what they’re talking about! (Well, not yet anyway.) In the manner of presentation called “Powerpoint karaoke” or “battledecks,” our presenters will be giving talks about John H. Watson based on a series of slides they have never seen before, on a topic that they only find out about when the talk starts. Are you up for the challenge? Would you rather just watch someone else attempt to leap that abyss? Come to the meeting!

Sunday, February 23rd, at noon Central type, over the usual communication channel, with the registration link provided below. Speaker names will be drawn out of a deerstalker from those who volunteer at the start, and the best of the talks will make it on to the Watsonian Weekly podcast for that week. And, of course, there will be the normal John H. Watson Society stuff and nonsense. Hope to see you there!

That all-important link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/p_wslrzaTAaRlmtAhXkpqA

On January 26, 2025, the John H. Watson Society will have a rare double event! First, of course, will be our regular January meeting, which will be a free-flowing discussion of all the January Holmes birthday events at noon central time. Here’s the registration link for that:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9-KxvzVHRIKKLsRVr4Fn4Q

And then, once darkness falls upon the land and the glow of televisions light the night, a second meeting to watchalong the premiere episode of CBS’s Watson will occur. We’ll wait for the AFC Championship game to be over, mute the mikes for a typed-chat-only convo while the show is on, and then open up the microphones again to record some immediate reviewing for that night’s Watsonian Weekly podcast! (You’ll have to watch on your own TV, of course. The meeting will just be here for our chat.) Here’s the link for that meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/YTleULCXTpWHOm4UMp11hA

And while we’re talking about the Watsonian Weekly, the offical podcast of the John H. Watson Society, here’s a link to the latest episode:

https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/january-13-2025-mark-merrilow-and-watsons-literary-agents-moriarty-novel

Dear Watsonians,

New year, new us! Well, kind of.

Here’s the deal: last year, we started the year by declaring membership free to new and existing members for the year of 2024. Now, we are making that change permanent.

Every bullpup’s account should now be set up without an expiration date. (There are a handful that may need fixing, so please reach out to Bullpup Selena at selena@johnhwatsonsociety.com if you have any trouble logging in to your account.)

If you are new here and want to join as a member, please go to johnhwatsonsociety.com/membership-5/ and fill out the form. I (Bullpup Maddie) will get back to you with a welcome email and a bullpup moniker (which we can always change if you don’t like the one you start with).

The Watsonian will remain available for purchase on Amazon. And remember, the submission deadline for The Watsonian is coming right up on February 1st! Please email Bullpup Evidently Harmless with your submissions at publisher@johnhwatsonsociety.com.

Also coming up is our regular meeting this month on the 26th. Stay tuned for the registration link!

Please let me know if you have any questions; my email is boswell@johnhwatsonsociety.com.

Otherwise, stay safe and healthy, and we hope to see you soon!
Bullpup Maddie Buttons (aka Madeline Quiñones) 

This might be your week to listen to the Watsonian Weekly, the official podcast of the John H. Watson Society, if you’ve been passing it by due to all the “Sherlock & Co.” content, as a full contingent of bull pups are drafted into some poorly produced, unrehearsed reader’s theater for “The Adventure of the Second Die Hard,” which somehow combines the movie “Die Hard” and the story “The Adventure of the Second Stain” into one Watson mash-up that our members somehow thought they wanted for their Christmas pageant.

So here’s a link, if you’re not a regular listener . . .
https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/december-23-2024-the-adventure-of-the-second-die-hard

Because YOU asked for it! (Well, somebody did . . .)

The December meeting of the John H. Watson Society will be our Christmas pageant, a thrown-together reader’s theater production of “The Adventure of the Second Die Hard,” a Canonical Christmas tale that’s NOT “Blue Carbuncle.” We’ll be gathering up our volunteer readers from the registration list, so be sure to sign up for our Sunday, December 22nd meeting in advance if you want to take part. It’s going to be a busy weekend, so we know many of you will have to miss, but we’ll be sure to record it for the podcast.

So, Sunday, December 22nd at noon Central Standard Time. Here’s the link!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApfu2trzgoEtSNfArBuEmoUYxiW6mweztF

The eleventh month is rolling by quickly and it’s already almost time for Watsonians to gather again on Sunday, November 24th at noon Central Standard Time. What will we be up to this month?

For starters, we’ll have a little Watsonian “get to know you” with three questions for the cool Watson fan. What are the three questions that we’ll be asking anyone who is on-camera and willing to share? Funny you should ask . . .

Question One: Members of the John H. Watson Society have bull pup names. The BSI has investitures. We don’t get to pick either of those and they aren’t always cool. If you were going to pick a cool nickname for yourself out of all the words and phrases in John Watson’s writings, what would YOU pick?

Question Two: You’re going to add one piece of clothing or accessory to your daily appearance to show people you’re a cool Watson-like kinda person. What is that item going to be?

Question Three: People who can pull off cosplay are really cool. If you had the skills (or the money to hire someone with the skills) to cosplay as any Doctor Watson in the history of Doctor Watsons, which Doctor Watson would it be?

And once we’ve gone around with those questions and seen just how cool you Watsonians are, we’re going to start the open casting for next month’s John H. Watson Society Christmas Pageant, a Zoom theatrical production unlike anything you’ve ever seen, because IT’S NOT GOING TO BE BLUE CARBUNCLE. (Somebody in the Canon besides Henry Baker and Peterson should get to celebrate Christmas, right?)

So if all that hasn’t frightened you off, here’s the registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcpc-Ghrj4pG9Dugvf2bPMeTBCzPeKhIajp

And a note from the Boy in Buttons.

Friends, the 2024 Fall Issue of The Watsonian is here! Pick up your copy from Amazon at a reasonable $5.50 USD at this link.

And remember, you don’t have to be a member of the JHWS to purchase a copy! Please enjoy The Watsonian whether you’re a bullpup or not! But also recall: membership is now free.

Speaking of membership, if you’ve recently gone through the registration process, you may not have received a welcome email yet. That’s on me, the Boy in Buttons/Boswell, and I am truly sorry to have kept our new bullpups waiting! I will be honest: there has been a lot going on in my everyday life that has kept me from having much time and energy for anything other than survival. Sometimes, life kicks you when you’re down and keeps on kicking.

I just wanted everyone to know — you’re not being neglected, I promise. And I’m hoping to get to all the newbies over the next few days.

Of course, the lovely thing about the Watsonian/Sherlockian community is that it is supportive and it helps you keep going through the rough times. So my thanks to everyone who is helping me keep going through this difficult time.

Lots of love to you all!