Hound of the Baskervilles.

This is probably one of my favorite novels in existence.  Mainly because this is the piece that opened the door for me to the large, wonderful world of Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

When I was about fourteen, I went through a phase that -admittedly-I have yet to fade out off.  In this phase I wore nothing but black, became completely obsessed with the supernatural, and wanted with all my heart and soul to be a CSI style criminologist.  My idol was Abby Sciuto, that’s how bad I had it.

So, when one lunch time, browsing through shelves in the library, I found a something enticing.

I had heard of the 'Hound of the Baskervilles' before.  Tiny reverences to it pop up a lot in popular culture, if you really look for them.  But until then, I had never actually read it before. That day, I thought:  "A Supernatural horror and Mystery novel? Cha Ching! Yes please!"

So I took it home. And I read it.  And re-read it. And re-read it. And... you get the idea. I was hooked! 

I discovered the thrill that the world of Sherlock Holmes could bring to the mind of the reader.  The old style grandeur of Victorian England.  Images of mystifying ladies in fine dresses and gentlemen in bowler hats now whispered the story to me, telling the tale in old fashioned, snappy dialogue.  My imagination gripped me by my school tie, and I followed Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they journeyed to mysterious Dartmoor.

Their mission; to protect Sir Henry Baskerville- last heir to the Baskerville family name. (or is he???) From a spectral Black Hound that haunts the family's ancestral home.  A beast said to be so terrifying that it chased Sir Henry’s Uncle to his death.

I gasped and waited, tense in my arm chair when they chased the great hound along the Moor, hoping against hope that they were in time to stop it claiming another victim.

I was genuinely surprised when the biggest twist in the story; the identity and motive of the killer, (no, not the hound, another one.) was revealed in the center of the book, not the end as is usually the norm in detective stories.  And yet there was still intrigue enough to pull me through to the end of the story, and leave me wanting more.

A lot has changed since I was fourteen.  I don't wear as much black as I did. The supernatural is still an interest of mine, but the allure is not what it was then.  And I don't want to be a criminologist anymore.
Now, thanks to "The Hound of the Baskervilles." I want to be a writer. And my idol?

His name is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

And so it begins...

Yes. Yes. Yes.
I know the title is probably a Cliché.  Don't be to afraid. I believe in avoiding cliché's. Usually.  They are old hat. (Pun fully intended.)

I believe it best to start this blog off by stating that this is an experiment.

What kind of experiment? You may ask. Or not.  More likely then not you will be wondering about more practical, consiquential things, like "What will I make for dinner? How will I pay the bills? Why hasn't he called me back? Why am I looking at blogs when I should be working on assignments?"...ect .ect.

Well,  If you havn't clicked onto another, probably more interesting blog, I can tell you.  This blog is created to assist me in a university assignment, which deals in the big wide world of web blogs.  From this web page, I will stategicly launch discussions and partisipate in chat rooms, and cram as much interesting pearls of info as I can into a 2000 page report. 

Hopefully I will get a good mark for it to.

So be warned: Anything you say can and will be taken down and used in reference to assist me graduating from University. 

...
Ok. Now the formalities are out of the way... A note to any potential readers.  My blogs will probably mostly deal in life as a University student.  Mostley.  If it's a really eventful week, I might also blog:
Book reviews
Movie Reviews
My Poetry
Any short stories I think are good enough to share.
Adventures in baby sitting.
The many joyous events of commuting via bus.
From the Hair dressers chair: The fun and frivolity of working in a hair dressing salon.
and any more segments that spring infrequently to my mind.

Thank you, and enjoy!
Me. :-)