Letters of Mary
| Mailing List | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Letters of Mary (LoM) |
| Date(s): | 2006-2019 |
| Moderated: | yes |
| Moderators/List Maintainers: | Merrily T |
| Type: | fanwork, canon discussion, author appearances |
| Fandom: | Mary Russell |
| URL: | LoM Yahoo page, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Letters of Mary (abbreviated as LoM) is a YahooGroups list for fans of the Mary Russell novels written by Laurie R. King, describing Russell's adventures and relationship with Sherlock Holmes.
History
The list was founded in 2006 as an alternative to the then-existing RUSS-L list, also hosted by Yahoo!Groups. In effect, it might also be described as a successor list to RUSS-L, as message traffic on the RUSS-L list dropped off dramatically immediately following the inception of "Letters of Mary".
Message traffic on the list has remained generally steady, with members generating several thousand messages annually through 2017. Beginning in fall 2017, message traffic dropped off markedly, with little or no activity at intervals in 2019.
However, on receiving word in October 2019 of Yahoo's intent to delete all user-created content from its servers as of December 14, members immediately began discussing possible means of preserving and/or transferring the group's accumulated messages and content elsewhere.
Activities
List members have engaged in a variety of activities throughout the list's existence, including:
- discussion of individual works in the source canon (or Kanon, so called by members to distinguish the Russell stories from the Sherlockian Canon as published by Arthur Conan Doyle)
- creation of fanworks, including fiction and art, based on the Russell stories
- coordination of real-life fan activities, including attendance at mystery conventions and author events featuring appearances by Laurie R. King
As a result of these activities, a sizeable archive of fanworks and resources for fan creators has accumulated and been maintained as a file archive in connection with the Yahoo group.
Membership
As of October 2019, Yahoo reports LoM membership at 645.