I was at the movies about a week ago when a promo for the “Peoria Reads” program came on screen. Every year the program attempts to get as many Peorians as possible to read a given book, and this year the book was Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

“Imagine a world where books are outlawed,” a giant head on the screen told me.

“Do I still have movies?” I immediately thought. And then I realized that I wasn’t just being a smart alec. Maybe the promo shouldn’t have asked me that question in a movie theater, while my popcorn was in hand and I was all set for previews. Because at that moment, in that theater, I could really have given a flying fig for books. Outlaw ‘em, see if I care!

As I considered the entire basic premise of Farenheit 451, I was amazed at out antiquated that once-futuristic novel seemed. Burning books to control the flow of information . . . hmm, as I type on my computer for internet publication while listening to the TV in the next room, considering something I saw at the movie theater . . . well, it just doesn’t seem as frightening as it once did. Information flows everywhere around us, from ever-changing video billboards to satellite navigation systems to wireless networks . . . the list just keeps on going.

Don’t get me wrong on this: I love books. A good book has stayed in my hand during almost any activity that doesn’t require both hands and total focus. I’ve walked down the street reading. But as dedicated as we want to be to books, that place where Sherlock Holmes was born, it is a very different age, as my Farenheit 451 moment demonstrated.

Conan Doyle’s original sixty tales of Sherlock Holmes is our center, our true North, our Force. But that Canon is not the end-all and be-all of Sherlock Holmes. If you burned every copy of Conan Doyle’s original writings in existence, Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t suddenly be gone. In fact, we’d still have some pretty good Sherlock Holmes collections still existing. Take away all the books, I’ve still got shelves of journals. Take away all print media, I’ve still got a shelf of DVDs all featuring Holmes. Take away those, there’s still art, music, games . . . all carrying on the legend of Sherlock Holmes.

We Sherlockians may like to puff ourselves up with the word “literary” on occasion, but we’re so much more than just literary. So many great modern Sherlockians have been students of film and video as much as the printed word, and I don’t consider them to be any less masters of our hobby than the book collectors. They’ve worked just as hard to track down and document Holmes’s past as anyone who sticks to print, and they’ve been with us for decades and decades.

Now, as we move into whole new worlds with social networking, multi-user virtual environments, and media concepts that our predecessors couldn’t have dreamed of, Sherlock Holmes will keep expanding his reach. And Sherlockians will be there as well.  And we’re not afraid of Farenheit 451 anymore. Bring on the damned book-burning firemen.

Sherlock Holmes can take ‘em.

Your humble correspondent,

Brad Keefauver