Science Fiction and Arthur Conan Doyle, with Anastasia Klimchynskaya

J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement (1884)

Hello and welcome to episode 75. This time, we discuss one of Conan Doyle’s most important and influential early stories, ‘J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement’, which appeared in the Cornhill in January 1884. You can read the story here [https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/J._Habakuk_Jephson%27s_Statement]. The show notes will be available at https://bit.ly/DOD75sn [https://bit.ly/DOD75sn] (for all show notes, just replace ‘75’ with the episode number in question). The episode will shortly be posted to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle [http://www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle]. Please like and subscribe. Synopsis There have been many theories forwarded regarding the fate of the brig Marie Celeste, found drifting derelict in December 1873. But one man, Dr. J. Habakuk Jephson, knows the truth because he is the only known surviving passenger. Following service with the Union forces in the American Civil War during which he was badly wounded, Jephson settled down to regular medical practice in Brooklyn. But years of overwork, weak lungs, and the lingering effects of his war wound leave his own doctor to suggest recuperation via a long sea voyage. Unfortunately, the chosen vessel is Marie Celeste, whose passenger list is expanded by the last minute addition of the apparently wealthy Septimius Goring, a man of mysterious and sinister aspect and antecedents. At first, all goes well, until the captain’s wife and child are tragically lost overboard mid-Atlantic, following which the ship appears to be cursed…    Warning The story contains racist language and depictions, which we discuss. If this is likely to offend, you may want to skip this episode. Next time on Doings of Doyle… We return to Sherlock Holmes with the stage play ‘The Crown Diamond’ and its short-story alter-ego ‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’. Acknowledgements Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com [http://www.belangerbooks.com]), and our supporters on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle] and Paypal [https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=0B3k7TUJ0SRziLOfzwA6_SeuNb6Dc3670PHrr09vAnFU-uHxvYfi03R0JFitBkoTty9o7fK_1dUhhbaA]. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia [https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Main_Page] for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/] YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.

Bonus 2 - ACD and Literary Cricket, with Ollie Randall

In the second of our bonus episodes, Mark talks with historian and author Ollie Randall about his book Writers in Whites: How a group of literary cricketers changed English culture (London: Fairfield Books, 2026) which is released today. Bonus episodes are released early to patrons. If you want to hear these episodes when they are first available, sign up at https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle [https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle] as a free or paid member. Ollie Randall Ollie Randall is a writer, historian and cartoonist. He completed his doctoral thesis, 'Cricket, Literary Culture and Englishness' in January 2026, which has become the basis for his book Writers in Whites (2026). Ollie has written articles for a variety of publications, including The Sherlock Holmes Journal, and most frequently the Times Literary Supplement. He has worked as the historical researcher for a former leader of the House of Lords, and as a tour manager on cultural tours. His second book, Lord’s and Maharajas – about the political intrigue and imperial crisis that shaped the origins of Indian international cricket – is due out in Autumn 2026. Next time on Doings of Doyle… For our 75th regular episode, we cover one of Conan Doyle’s most important early stories, ‘J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement’ (1884). You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/J._Habakuk_Jephson%27s_Statement [https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5010634065628270314/2869770056685756637]  Acknowledgements  Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com [https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5010634065628270314/2869770056685756637]), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com [https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5010634065628270314/2869770056685756637]. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ [https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5010634065628270314/2869770056685756637]  YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.

Bonus 1 - The Fledkirchian Gazette, with Philipp Schöbi

Hello and welcome to this bonus episode of the podcast. This time, Mark talks with author and researcher Philipp Schöbi about The Feldkirchian Gazette, the school newspaper edited by Arthur Conan Doyle while a student at the Stella Matutina in Feldkirch in 1875-76. This interview is a taster of the full article on the Gazette that we published on the website in March 2026. You can read the article here: https://www.doingsofdoyle.com/2026/03/httpswww.doingsofdoyle.com202603the-feldkirchian-gazette.html [https://www.doingsofdoyle.com/2026/03/httpswww.doingsofdoyle.com202603the-feldkirchian-gazette.html] Our thanks to Markus Geisser for translating Philipp's answers. Bonus episodes are released early to patrons. If you want to hear these episodes when they are first available, sign up at https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle [https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle] as a free or paid member. Acknowledgements  Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com [http://www.belangerbooks.com/]), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com [http://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/]. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/]  YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.

Science Fiction and Arthur Conan Doyle, with Anastasia Klimchynskaya

This month, we are delighted to welcome to the podcast Dr Anastasia Klimchynskaya to talk all things Arthur Conan Doyle and Science Fiction. Anastasia Klimchynskaya Anastasia is a scholar of nineteenth-century literature, particularly science fiction, and is Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University in the USA. She has presented widely on Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne, Frankenstein, and science fiction, and contributed to the Rosenbach Museum and Library's Sherlock Monthly webinar series. She is also the author of Science Fiction and the Modern World, a sweeping study of the emergence of science fiction in the nineteenth century, which has just been published by Liverpool University Press. https://www.anaklimchy.com/ [https://www.anaklimchy.com/] Books by Anastasia: Anastasia Klimchynskaya, Science Fiction and the Modern World (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2026) - https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781836244905 [https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781836244905]  Anastasia Klimchynskaya (ed.), From the Earth to the Moon, Annotated for Our Spacefaring Age (Forthcoming) - https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553865/from-the-earth-to-the-moon/ [https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553865/from-the-earth-to-the-moon/]  Next time on Doings of Doyle… For our 75th episode, we cover one of Conan Doyle’s most important early stories, ‘J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement’ (1884). You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/J._Habakuk_Jephson%27s_Statement [https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/J._Habakuk_Jephson%27s_Statement] Acknowledgements Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com [http://www.belangerbooks.com]), and our supporters on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle] and Paypal [https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=0B3k7TUJ0SRziLOfzwA6_SeuNb6Dc3670PHrr09vAnFU-uHxvYfi03R0JFitBkoTty9o7fK_1dUhhbaA]. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia [https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Main_Page] for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/] YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.

A Regimental Scandal (1892)

This episode, we attend an army barracks where a card game raises questions of honour in ‘A Regimental Scandal’, published in 1892. You can read the story here [https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/A_Regimental_Scandal]. Listen to the episode below or on your podcaster of choice. The show notes will be available at https://bit.ly/DOD73sn [https://bit.ly/DOD73sn] (for all show notes, just replace ‘73’ with the episode number in question). The episode will shortly be posted to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle [http://www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle]. Please like and subscribe! Synopsis Major Errington is one of the most respected and popular officers in the Third Carabiniers, a veteran of numerous campaigns as both a soldier and a war correspondent. He is quiet, self-effacing and wise; he is also rich, but far from ostentatious. He is in fact more notable than the regiment’s nominal commander, Colonel Lovell, who is not unpopular but granted a degree of favour for his widely admired daughter, Violet. Lovell, or the Chief as he is known, is at heart an old-fashioned plunger who loves horses and gambling, but has also taken to playing the stock market and has had his fingers badly burned in American railway speculation. To recoup some of these losses, he takes to high-stakes games of écarté with Major Errington with little success. And then a rumour takes hold that the Major may be cheating… Next time on Doings of Doyle… We welcome to the podcast Anastasia Klimchinskaya to talk about ACD and science fiction. Acknowledgements Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com [http://www.belangerbooks.com]), and our supporters on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle] and Paypal [https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=0B3k7TUJ0SRziLOfzwA6_SeuNb6Dc3670PHrr09vAnFU-uHxvYfi03R0JFitBkoTty9o7fK_1dUhhbaA]. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia [https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Main_Page] for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/] YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.