Remember the Russellscape!

The Russellscape

Russellscape banner

is a series of images contributed by all you Friends of Russell (& Holmes), that literally comes together, creating a moving panorama of the duo’s travels. It’s the modern version of the Victorian card game called the myriorama.

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(See how the path ties it together? and the sides match, with variation? This deck of 24 cards makes for 1,686,553,615,927,922,354,187,720 variations. Or so they claim, I haven’t counted them myself.)

We’re doing a new Fun Stuff section of the web site with art, crossword puzzles, and a new Russellscape—or, as we’ll call it once it’s unveiled, a

Maryorama.

(Clever word play, huh?)

And to encourage you, there are prizes!

GRAND PRIZE: a complete set of Russell & Holmes paperbacks,

including Mary Russell’s War & other stories

FIRST RUNNER-UP: Four full-sized broadsheets for framing

(“A Venomous Death,” “Birth of a Green Man,”

Pirate King movie poster, and “Dreaming Haiku.”)

FIVE RUNNERS-UP: a collection of 8½ x 11” art from

“The Illustrated Russell & Holmes” (including the four above)

Here’s how simple it is (Hey, even I managed to do one!):

Step One & Two: watch the Russellscape video and print out the instructions and frame (VERY IMPORTANT!) here.

Step Three: Be artsy. Think of a scene (the Marriage? Meeting the Emperor of Japan? Coffee in a Bedouin tent? Clarissa and Billy in a hansom?) and do your thing, be it oil, pastels, digital, needlework, collage, etc. For ideas, reminders, and various excerpts, the book page is here.

Step Four: scan and send it to me.

Oh, and Step Five: win a prize! I’ll announce the winners on October 15. My video magicians will wave their electronic wands and transform the Russellscape into the Maryorama, a thing of community beauty.

And pass the word, to any of your friends-and-relations with an interest in Russell and art. The more panels, the better!

2 Comments

  1. suzanne portello on September 14, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    Thinking about what I would love to illustrate for the Russellscape/Maryorama, I remembered one of my favorite scenes in Locked Rooms, where Russell confronts the 30-ish (though already white-haired, I think) Dashiell Hammett, after he climbs back up the Pacific cliffside with the (perhaps spoiler) piece of brake rod. I love the character you fashioned for Hammett and the wry & subtle way he interacts with both Holmes & Russell. Perusing stuff about Hammett inspired me to purchase a copy of his daughter Jo’s book Dashiell Hammett: A Daughter Remembers. What a guy he sounds like – I am definitely looking forward! So, there’s a historical Bouchercon-ish thought for LRK!

    • Laurie King on October 3, 2016 at 10:04 am

      And I look forward to your illustration! Yes, Hammett was a real character–probably one of those who in person would have been unbearable, but great to know he walked the earth.

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