A Series-ous History of the Dangling Prussian Amateur Press Association

Issues of the Dangling Prussian Amateur Press Association were dated for the earlier part of their run, and at some later point adopted a numbering system which took up after the Montague Street Incorrigibles Prussian, starting with:

13. DPAPA 9-20-91. The Dangling Prussian Amateur Press Association takes off, and the downstairs barroom takes precedence over the upstairs clubrooms. The former club secretary of the Montague Street Incorrigibles takes a part-time job as a bartender. A new bouncer, Signora Ricoletti, is hired on by the owner, as well, a good thing, as this was also Sherlockian mooch Iamrite Altyme’s first appearance on our doorstep. Peter Blau, Tina Rhea, Linda Reed, Pj Doyle, Bob Burr, John Stephenson, Wally Conger, William Ballew, and Brad Keefauver all brave the unknown to appear in our first issue/gathering.

14. DPAPA 11-22-91. The sheep issue. It has a picture of a sheep in it.

15. DPAPA 1-31-92. A certain misguided employee of the Prussian kidnaps Dr. Watson and threatens to kill him if no one shows up. Watson spends the evening tied to a chair in the storeroom. Professor Queen drops in from Abelard College.

16. DPAPA 3-Something-92. The free egg night cover. Mycroft Holmes staggers in and gets in a brawl with some pirates.

17. DPAPA 5-22-92. Dr. Watson is locked in the storeroom again. The sheep picture appears again. A bull pup pioneers what will later become known as "the Bobbit technique."

18. DPAPA 7-24-92. The Moriarty Zombie cover. Archie the piano player and Do the waitress perform Lassus’s polyphonic motet "Cantiones duarum vocum." Also, Free Test and Sticker Night, thanks to John Bennett Shaw and Pj Doyle.

19. DPAPA 9-??-92. Blue covers! Comics! A plastic binder alternately loved and despised by the membership!

20. DPAPA 11-20-93. The Guy Fawkes Night bonfire. The infamous Violet Hunter nude scene. Wally Conger hangs himself because no one will talk to him. Burr and Keefauver cut him down and hang him up again in the billiard room at the Prussian, where he sways in the breeze to this day.

21. DPAPA 1-31-93. Madame Tussaud’s cover. Peter Blau explains the postal bar code system.

22. DPAPA 3-??-93. "The Strange Magazine" cover. Everybody gets in a big fight with Alexander Holder.

23. DPAPA 5-21-93. Alice Morphy sings. Jim Vogelsang pulls out the charts ala Ross Perot.

24. DPAPA 7-23-93. Victorian Summer Fun cover. A double shot of Blau, dancing men, Police-Constable Cook, Abelard College, comics, the Titanic, bees, the opening of Sherassic Spark, and more, more, more. The compiler decides to buy a new stapler after this one.

25. The Dangling Prussian, September 24, 1993. Someone screws up and thinks for a moment that we’re monthly, rather than bi-monthly, just long enough to put "Our Twenty-Fifth Issue" on the cover. Later, Peter Blau notices the error, forcing him to concoct a twenty-five issue chronology that includes one issue of Wheelwrightings just to save face.

26. The Dangling Prussian, November 19, 1995. Young Cartwright and Young Kristen Hambrick test the bar's policies on underage drinking. The Literary Shortcomings do anonymous fiction readings. And a tribute to Robert Rodriguez.

27. The Dangling Prussian, January 28, 1996. The idea of a cyberspace Dangling Prussian comes up. The Trout does a Tom Clancy rendition of a Holmes story. John Whitsun, brother of the Holy Order of Poor Bakers, chronicles a case of Brother Alms with the aid of literary agent Martin Ornstein. Oh, yes . . . and Mary Morstan is evil.

28. The Dangling Prussian, March 24, 1996. The Scandalous Darlington visually comments upon Holmes's eyesight and closes the issue with a bare bum (not his own). James Mortimer recounts an adventure of Sheerluck Helmsalee as agented by Bill Ballew. Tina Rhea relates a sequel to Sherlockian romance classic "Pas de Deux."

29. The Dangling Prussian, May 26, 1996. Clark Russell returns from the great beyond to tell a tale of the Prussian. Edward C. Connor continues his marathon of Sherlock Holmes reference discoveries in modern fiction.

30. The Dangling Prussian, July 28, 1996. What is a true Sherlockian? Ballew knows. A Pj Doyle puzzle page.

31.The Dangling Prussian, September 29, 1996. Reichy the Sherlockian lemming versus Petey the Sherlockian narwhale in mascot-fighting night at the Prussian. (Odds 3 to 1 on Reichy.)

32. The Dangling Prussian, November 23, 1996. Watson looks too much like Sebastan Cabot to get in.

33. The Dangling Prussian, January 25, 1997. The lowest attendance point in Prussian history. The first omen of The Holmes & Watson Report is on the horizon.

34. The Dangling Prussian Files, March 22, 1997. The first issue stapled in a colorful file folder. The Part-time Bartender pulls a Bolivian Butch and Sundance, another bad omen for the Prussian.

35. The Dangling Prussian Files, May 25th, 1997.

36. The Dangling Prussian Files, July 26, 1997.

37. The Dangling Prussian Files, September 27, 1997.

38. Amazing Bar Stories, December 31, 1997. More of the same, different title on the cover.

39. The Dangling Prussian, February 28, 1998. Basil does a "Play it again, Sam" at Rick's on the cover.

40. The Dangling Prussian, Victoria Day, 1998. A hansom awaits. The DPAPA winds to a close.

The contributors mentioned, as well as the slight descriptive references, are just a small part of what made the Prussian great. Things like Ed Connor's compendium of Holmes references and Peter Blau's Lobscouse and Salmagundy essays provided a regular seasoning to the fictional work of folks like Rosemary Michaud, Mel Hughes, and Tina Rhea. Jim Vogelsang, Linda Schacher, Pj Doyle, and William Ballew mixed things up, fiction, essays, poetry, puzzles . . . as did many another Sherlockian who wandered through the doors of the Prussian over the years, some of whom moved on to regular bits on The Holmes & Watson Report staff.