I’ve got about 0 gumption for writing lately, and I’m trying not to mind too much.
In the meantime, I’ve finally fallen into the Raffles and Bunny stories. ;_; Some of you already know about these. They make me so happy, you guys. Raffles and Bunny are so funny and awesome and clever and stupid. They make more trouble than they get out of. And Bunny is so cute I can barely function. (Yes, his name is Bunny. There are many jokes.)
They are crazy buggers who are proud of being thieves even though they know it’s terrible. And Bunny gets so mad at Raffles all the time, he lives up to his name like a bristly, unintimidating little rabbit. (The story where he gets jealous because Raffles is spending all his time with a girl, OMG. I actually shouted at the page, “WHAT AM I READING THIS IS NOT BY OSCAR WILDE.”)
You know you’re out of your mind for rooting for them, but they’re just SO DAMN CHARMING in their insanity that you can’t help it.
In some ways they are much like BBC Sherlock and John, except there is not the “WHY ARE YOU ALL BEHAVING LIKE THIS” and “I don’t understand what show I’m watching anymore ;_;”. It’s like a balm to the S3-abused soul.
The best thing is that they were written by ACD’s brother-in-law as a loving send-up of Holmes and Watson. And they are, I think, better in some ways than the Holmes stories. They make more sense, for one thing. You can totally see the same patterns happening, but for instance Raffles’ version of Reichenbach makes about 1000x more sense. And they’re also more sprightly. It’s the most fun I’ve had reading in a while.
The books are all available for free on Project Gutenberg. The author’s name is Hornung. The three volumes of short stories are The Amateur Cracksman, Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman, and A Thief in the Night. There is also a novel titled Mr. Justice Raffles, which is the best of all.
But you should know that if you are not into tragic things happening to characters who are too adorable to exist, don’t read the last story in Further Adventures where they go off to war, because Raffles and Bunny do not have a happy ending to their tale. (But if you like chewing on the blackest of tarry angst and terrible things happening to adorable people, go for it.)
Also did I mention Bunny is adorable? DEAR GOD HE’S SO ADORABLE. I want one.