Next week, the whole of London was immersed in a kind of restless mood,
waiting for Sherlock Holmes.
Moreover, with the hype from various newspapers and magazines, the atmosphere became increasingly heated, completely overshadowing the popularity of "The Adventure of the Empty House."
But Lu didn't pay attention to these, because he needed to focus on completing "Guns, Germs, and Steel."
Before transmigrating, he was a professional translator,
and while he could discuss literature, subjects like history, geography, ecology, and politics were a bit of a stretch,
Fortunately, he had translated and read a lot of books, and with a little organization of various viewpoints and evidence, combined with modern analysis, he could stumble through writing along the lines of "Guns, Germs, and Steel."
So after enduring a week of hard work, he finally managed to squeeze out a hundred thousand words, almost wearing out his typewriter.
Lu divided the chapters, took the manuscript, and went to Fleet Street with Natsume Soseki.
As they arrived at the doorstep of the Manchester Guardian's office, they happened to bump into Cooper, who was also hurrying there.
Seeing Lu, Cooper exclaimed, "Oh, Mr. Lu, how could you... um... you should shave your beard."
Lu felt embarrassed,
indeed, he was a bit unkempt at the moment, with his beard clinging to his jaw, paired with bloodshot eyes, he looked like a caveman.
He said, "Mr. Cooper, why were you in such a hurry just now?"
Cooper looked distressed, "Mr. Lu, have you forgotten that today is Wednesday?"
According to the schedule, "The Adventure of the Empty House" had already been published in its fifth and sixth chapters today, setting the suspense to a climax. It was the perfect opportunity for the "Scottish Review" to boost its sales, and Cooper should have been happy.
Lu thought for a moment and then slapped his forehead, only then remembering that today was also the publication day of "The Strand Magazine."
He asked, "Is 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' really that strong?"
Far from just strong,
it was incredibly strong!
Cooper's bitter smile became even more wretched,
"We underestimated Holmes. 'The Strand Magazine' is selling like hotcakes, and I'm worried about 'The Scottish Review's' sales. Alas, despite the numerous book reviews in 'The Manchester Guardian,' they didn't help at all."
It's like "One man's effort to prevent ten men from understanding."
In the face of absolute popularity, the flow of book reviews was nothing.
Lu asked, "Mr. Cooper, have you counted the sales?"
Cooper hesitated and shook his head,
"No, it's just a feeling, after all, you can't hear any discussion about 'The Adventure of the Empty House' on the streets."
Natsume Soseki murmured, "I read 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' and it's really quite average. Not to mention compared to 'The Adventure of the Empty House,' even the previous works of the Sherlock Holmes series are far inferior. And..."
He lowered his voice,
"I feel that there's a significant change in the storytelling style."
The meaning of this sentence was very straightforward, and everyone present could understand it.
Lu, as a transmigrator, received a lot of information and naturally knew about those literary rumors,
but rumors were just rumors, not entirely trustworthy but not entirely unfounded either,
after all, Doyle himself admitted that "The Hound of the Baskervilles" was influenced and inspired by a certain novel.
Cooper said, "In terms of subject matter, they do have an advantage, there's no denying it."
"The Adventure of the Empty House" was a collective novel, which couldn't compete with the popularity of a single protagonist like Holmes,
there were even some extremely fanatic Holmes readers who sent a large number of threatening letters to Doyle and "The Strand Magazine" after "His Last Bow" was published, causing a stir throughout the second half of 1893.
As an editor, Cooper was very sensitive to popularity,
he said, "I heard that someone bought 221B Baker Street at twice the market price, saying they wanted to build Holmes's residence."
Lu was stunned,
didn't expect another butterfly effect.
221B Baker Street was originally built in 1815 and was rented out until 1860-1934,
and in the novel, Sherlock Holmes lived there from 1881 to 1902,
later, some fervent fans bought the house, decorated and promoted it according to the novel, and officially established a unique museum in 1990.
As a result, it happened 90 years earlier!
Lu thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it was the appearance of 'The Adventure of the Empty House' that intensified the competition, making both Doyle himself and the readers of Sherlock Holmes feel pressured, which led to this."
Cooper sneered,
"Pressure? We've certainly given them enough. Some people even held up signs at 221B Baker Street, loudly proclaiming 'Defend the honor of detectives! Boycott 'The Adventure of the Empty House'!' Tsk tsk, is Holmes an emperor, and themselves royalists?"
Mindless fanaticism,
falsifying data,
spreading brainwashing propaganda,
...
Isn't this a classic fan circle?
Lu murmured, "The British are so 'advanced,' starting this in 1900, I wonder what they'll do in the 21st century!?"
Natsume Soseki shook his head and sighed,
"These readers are so irrational. 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is clearly quite average, the facts are there, why can't they accept it? They're just deceiving themselves, but the public isn't blind, doing this will only make ordinary people's perception of Sherlock Holmes worse."
Natsume Soseki's point could be summarized in one sentence:
Mindless fanboying will ruin public perception,
the so-called "one fan tops ten haters."
Lu was dumbfounded, feeling like he was witnessing the godfather of the fan circle.
Feeling a bit embarrassed by being praised like that, Natsume Soseki scratched the back of his head.
Cooper pondered for a moment and said, "Earlier, Scott told me that Mr. Natsume Soseki has talent in literary criticism, and now it seems to be true. I suggest you submit an article to 'The Manchester Guardian' and analyze in depth the pathological behavior of the readers of the Sherlock Holmes series."
Perhaps because he had met Lu, Cooper had formed a mindset and thought that students from East Asia were all amazing and could be used at any time.
Lu quickly stopped him, "No, don't! Let Natsume Soseki do literary criticism if you want, but don't piggyback on Sherlock Holmes."
There was an unspoken sentence behind:
Otherwise, it would end very badly.
Cooper was puzzled,
"Why?"
Of course, it was because Lu had seen the combat power of fan circles.
Those people were least afraid of external pressure, the more pressure they faced, the more united they became, and the more trouble they caused.
Of course, this reason couldn't be stated explicitly,
Lu found an excuse, "Playing these off-the-books tricks is ultimately not the way to go. Writers should fight with dignity and let their works speak for themselves. Don't worry, I will create a great detective who will defeat Sherlock Holmes."
Upon hearing this, Cooper's heart skipped a beat several times,
he eagerly asked, "Mr. Lu, from what you said, are you planning a new work?"