Hounded

De: Vince Stadon

Narrado por: Richard Auty

“I think my wife might be right. I am going slightly mad.”

Hounded is an escape from the anxiety of reaching a half-century, written during the pandemic of 2020 and into the spring of 2021, during which comedy writer Vince Stadon experienced every film, TV, audio drama, spoken word reading, documentary, stage play, pastiche, graphic novel, animation, kids cartoon, and PC game version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. A quirky, funny and unique memoir about Spectral Hounds, Consulting Detectives, panic attacks and way too many cats, Hounded is a bewildered middle-aged man's silly odyssey through a binge experience of every conceivable version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's celebrated novel.

As the world darkens and he gleefully immerses himself in the fiction of the fog-drenched mystery, Vince Stadon undertakes a marathon of the most famous Sherlock Holmes story of them all; he makes deductions, adopts disguises, sends anonymous ‘Beware the moor’ letters to Canadians, steals footwear, learns Sherlock Holmes’s favoured martial art, and he tracks the Hound across the melancholy moor during those dark hours when the forces of evil are exalted.

Along the way, Vince remembers his childhood, tries to understand his mysterious and troubled father, gets to grip with chronic anxiety, and strives to keep sane and calm during a pandemic.

Written in tweets, poems, songs, extracts from proposed 80’s Hollywood blockbuster action films, prog rock lyrics, very silly stage plays, and far too many irrelevant and irreverent footnotes*, Hounded is the funniest book you’ll ever listen to about a bloody big ghost hound that’s dogged a man all his life.* A ridiculous number of footnotes.

©2021 Vince Stadon (P)2024 MX Publishing

The Title Says It All!

Vince Stadon is obsessed with Arthur Conan Doyle's novel THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. He has made it his mission to read every edition, every pastiche; to see every movie, television series; to listen to every audiobook; and to play every video game. He questions whether he is going mad. He decided early on in his quest that writing out the longish name of the author and the equally longish title of the work could become cumbersome and boring, so he refers to Doyle simply as 'ACD' and the title of whatever work he is consuming simply as 'Hounded.'

Why would anyone spend hundreds of hours consuming the same story over and over and over again? The overarching answer is that HOUNDED! was written during the COVID pandemic. What else could a man do other than read, listen, play, and watch?

Stadon's wife has absolutely no interest in the books, the author, or anything else Sherlockian; however, she is an avid reader — just not Holmes. The descriptions of discussions with Mrs. Stadon will have you laughing out loud as Vince portrays her as his tipsy wife with a penchant for wine. Spoiler alert: there is one actor who portrays the Great Detective that she will watch. I must say, he's one of my favorites as well.

The narrator of the Audible edition, Richard Auty, has a soothing voice that allowed me to drift in and out when I was several hours into his reading. I don't think I missed a single quip about Stadon's wife or the outlandish promises Stadon made to her. I just hope that he made good on at least some of them.

In its own way, HOUNDED! is a humorous and intriguing reference that belongs in every Sherlockian library. How many people participating in a pub quiz could answer the obscure questions regarding just the movies based on THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES? I'm not a pub quiz person myself, but I am married to a movie buff who expects me to know what the actor (any actor) on the screen may have been in. I'm terrible at that game. HOUNDED! would give me a leg up on any film or television series based on the Conan Doyle original.

Realizing how long it would take me to write down titles, years released, actors, and all the minutiae Stradon provides, I ordered a paperback copy as soon as I finished listening to the audiobook. One can never have too many reference books — especially ones that make you laugh.

Hounded! is a hilarious compendium of knowledge dedicated to one novel — THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. It belongs in every Holmesian library — both the audiobook for the joy of listening to Richard Auty and a physical copy for reference.

A Personal Journey

Vince Stadon’s personal quest to partake of all the various versions of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”on film , TV shows, movies , books and anything possible. Many a cat treat had to be used in exchange to partake in this obsession.

Fabulous!

While quarantined during the recent pandemic, Vince Stadon made it his personal mission to read, watch, listen to and rate every version of the Hound of the Baskervilles he could find. He even had a few action items to accomplish in Devonshire. The book was funny, irreverent, informative and sometimes serious and poignant. Overall it is a pleasure to read/ listen and I applaud Mr. Stadon’s accomplishments! The narration by Richard Auty is also wonderful. His performance of the book makes it more enjoyable, if that means is possible! Bravo.