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A Portsmouth publisher is asking people to support its Kickstarter to fund the release of Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle’s uncollected Southsea stories.

Portsmouth publisher Life Is Amazing’s latest book Southsea Stories and Beyond is due for release before Christmas, and will include 34 stories previously published anonymously, and one which was unreleased.

Arthur Conan Doyle is famous for creating Sherlock Holmes whilst living in Southsea, but publisher Matt said that ‘people don’t realise he was writing for years beforehand, producing stories that inched their way toward his greatest creation.’

He said that he had to obtain special permission from the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate to include one of the stories, meaning this release is the first time all the Uncollected Stories have appeared together in one book.

The book cover of Conan Doyle's Southsea Stories and Beyond, to be published by Life is Amazing publishers in Portsmouth, Matt Wingett, and right, A Study In Scarlet, the first Holmes novel Conan Doyle wrote, which was written in Southsea

Arthur Conan Doyle lived at Number One Bush Villas, Elm Grove, Southsea, in his early 20s, working as a GP between 1882 and 1890. Many of his early stories were published anonymously and forgotten about during these busy days, before Sherlock Holmes gripped the public’s imagination.

Some of these tales are set in Southsea, under the fictional name of Birchespool, offering insight into life in the town.

Matt believes this book really shows how central Portsmouth was to Conan Doyle’s work. He said: ‘Sometimes stories include characters from the city, sometimes Doyle uses local place names and completely repurposes them – so that Rudmore suddenly becomes the name for an imaginary Scottish village; or a fictional sandbank off the Isle of Arran is named the Winner Sands. Time and again, Portsmouth pops up in his writing.’

Matt has added short paragraphs at the end of each story, explaining their connections to Portsmouth and to other parts of Doyle’s life and has written an introduction. There is a preface by biographer Andrew Lycett.

Matt’s Kickstarter campaign means you can preorder now, get your copy early and contribute towards the cost of printing. You can find the Kickstarter page at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lifeisamazing/arthur-conan-doyles-southsea-stories-and-beyond to order a paperback edition at £15, a hardback edition at £25, or a limited edition from £30.

So far more than £1,700 has been raised of the £4,500 target.

Kickstarter appeal is launched to help publish Arthur Conan Doyle's early stories of Southsea