Although many Sherlock Holmes pastiches are published, very few often have the sparkle of Conan Doyle's writing. This is not a complaint - after all, attempting to document the great detective's further adventures often mean focusing more on the story and less on the style. However, The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Tony Reynolds and available via MX Publishing, is the best of both worlds, containing some well-written stories that reflect the "house style" at its best.
Thankfully, Reynolds does a very admirable job in writing a series of tales that could easily fit into the Canon, but that have an imagination and creativity all of their own. Even the first story - "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" - takes its cue from the Canon, but spins a decidedly distinctive tale. But page after page contains some wonderful, well-written adventures which (thankfully) contain a brief statement within as to why the tale was "omitted" (usually for reasons of either national security or personal embarrassment).
“What follows is true, it is not fiction. However, I readily acknowledge that none of these deductive successes would have been possible without Sherlock Holmes walking behind me and occasionally whispering in my ear.”
One of the great benefits of being a member of the Baker Street Irregulars is that we get to meet a lot of interesting and famous people. Chief among them are the literati, such as Michael Dirda, BSI ("Langdale Pike"), the Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for the Washington Post, who makes his living by writing about the literati.
Now we have something even better: a lost publication of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. This isn't just any publication; this is his very first novel, written in 1883 when he was 23 years old and living in Portsmouth, trying to establish himself as a doctor and a writer. Unfortunately, his manuscript was lost in the mail on the way to the publisher, never to see the light of day.
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entirely from memory, but his novel was never published in his lifetime. Well, as an ardent believer in spiritualism, Conan Doyle must be among us today, smiling at the prolonged delay of his very first work as a novelist.
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Inspired by a series of writing challenges and edited by Holmesian.net's own David Ruffle, author of Sherlock Holmes And The Lyme Regis Horror
In a collection featuring the work of over a dozen different writers, we now offer to the public fresh, fun and innovative tales in the chronicles of Holmes and his Boswell. Perhaps the Master would say that we have erred in our latest accounts by endowing them with the tinge of romanticism rather than the cold, unemotional and exact "science of deduction" [SIGN].
But, as Watson would no doubt tell him, that does not make for good storytelling. As Ruffle says in the introduction: "We might be indeed guilty of degrading a course of lectures into a series of tales and ruined what might have been an instructive and even a classical series of demonstrations by looking at everything from the point of view of a story, but we make no apologies, we enjoyed every moment of it!" And we hope you do, too!
For a summary of the contributors and a table of contents, please click on this link to the post within Holmesian.net. You may purchase a copy for your Amazon Kindle - one of the most popular e-readers around - by clicking on the title of the work above or on the link below. If you do pick up a copy, be sure to let us know what you think.
UPDATE (10 June 2011): It seems that this project is now on hold. Evidently the site administrator did not give permission for the site to be mentioned, even though every author granted permission. The editor/publisher is now reconsidering his involvement in the project.
Editor's note: Jennifer has had a life-long interest in English and American literature (particularly of the 19th century), and grew up watching both the Rathbone/Bruce & the Granada incarnations of Holmes and his Boswell. Some of her favorite authors are Charles Dickens, George Gordon Lord Byron, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe. One of her two current efforts include research into the Holmes Canon for a collection of short stories centered around Dr. Watson. The other is a historic fiction novel-in-progress dealing with reform methods for London prostitutes in the Victorian Era. She has a decade of experience in the field of 19th century living history, and enjoys sharing little tidbits and musings on her blog.
from then until his death in 1992. Most notably are his Foundation
novels, I, Robot
and some dozen history books including The Roman Republic
and The Roman Empire
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. The author was a notorious limerick collector (most of them were of the ribald variety), but these are family-friendly. He created sixty limericks, each one summarizing the story for which it was titled. See if you can pick which stories are represented below.
Several years ago, Neil Gaiman - whose cross-genre work includes Sandman
Originally presented in the Shadows Over Baker Street
Unlike many other pastiches, Gaiman is able to mimic Conan Doyle's tone almost perfectly, and there are plenty of Sherlockian references within the story to make this appealing to both lifelong and casual fans. "Emerald" deftly integrates the otherworldly dread of Lovecraft with the canon's Victorian atmosphere, creating a tale that is quite an enjoyable read. The PDF download also contains some clever "advertisements" that contain references to other Victorian-era fantastic literature.
(There is also a clever twist within the tale that....well, much like the advertisements, is best enjoyed by reading the tale and not spoiled within a review).
"A Study in Emerald" may not seem like a major work, but it does what the greatest of canon does - for a few moments, it takes us back to a time where it is still 1895 and which - despite Holmes' advice to the contrary - deftly mixes strangeness and mystery.
With the result being an enjoyable read for Sherlockians and fantasy fans alike.
Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related.
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| Image credit: cliff1066 |
"It was my old housekeeper who heard of it first by that strange wireless by which such people collect the news of the countryside."Contrary to popular belief the Titanic was not the first time the SOS signal was used (it came into use in 1908), but Bride mentioned to Phillips, who had been using the more popular British CQD signal, that he should use SOS as it might be the last time he would have the opportunity to do so.
. In the Sherlock Holmes pastiche, we find the great detective and his faithful colleague on board the doomed liner following an agent on his way to the U.S. with secret submarine plans. While we don't normally do the whole pastiche thing, this was a quick and fun read. |
| Pope Leo XIII |
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| Leo XIII endorsed a vintage spiked with cocaine. |
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| Holmes as "the venerable Italian priest" looking a lot like Pope Leo XIII. |
