A Holmes Duo

In 2017, I sent a Sherlock Holmes pastiche to Mystery Weekly Magazine for their annual tribute to the Great Detective. This was a little shilling shocker called "London After Midnight." If the title sounds a bit familiar, it's because it was a 1927 silent film starring Lon Chaney Sr, helmed by Todd Browning. Unfortunately, it is a lost film, the last surviving copy being destroyed in a fire in the 60s. I did see a recreation of the film, using the original script and stills from the production. Even in that version, it was memorable. In 1935, Todd Browning remade his film as a talkie, with Bela Lugosi in Chaney's role. It is a good film, but not as memorable. I've always liked the title, with its evocation of gas-lit London and thick fogs, so when a chance to legitimately use it (the story does start after midnight) I  took advantage.

When others write Holmes pastiches, they seem intent on recreating a Conan Doyle story, right down to the tone, types of crimes and the use of Watson as a filter. I have usually taken a different route. Ever since I created the Holmes/Lovecraft mashup (see "When Sherlock Holmes First Met HP Lovecraft"), my first choice is to embroil Holmes in situations such as Conan Doyle never thought of and which would have sent Watson scampering home to one of his many wives. When I told the editor my submission might be "a little weird," I was told, "We like weird." So, Holmes was going to again enter Lovecraft territory.

In stories, I try to give Holmes third-person narrators or unique first-person narrators. In this case, I chose the latter and drew upon my inner P.G. Wodehouse for a Bertie Wooster-like character. Shades of young men in spats! An advantage of using a unique voice is that different aspects of Holmes come to the fore and we at times get a more honest, sometimes more critical view of Holmes. In this case, the narrator is a little cheeky, a bit esoteric and probably drinks a few too many gin & tonics.

A couple of years later, I was again asked to submit a story for the 2019 Holmes issue. This time, I decided to use a third-person narrator and set the tale during a time in Holmes' life that is rarely explored. It's called the Great Hiatus and is the three-year period (May 1891 - April 1894) following his apparent death at the hands of Professor Moriarty, as related in "The Final Problem." Holmes returned to the public eye in "The Adventure of the Empty House" (see my previous post for what really happened the night of his return), but he was always reticent about his activities during his absence from London. Relatively few stories are set during that time in his life, possibly because of that reticence, but possibly, also, because his true identity could not be shared with any of the people he met or helped. Not only was it a chance to explore Holmes' life when to the world at large he was dead, but it provided the opportunity to get Holmes out of London, out of England, which I did by setting the story in a small Italian village with a dark past, and darker secret.

A week or so ago I came across the contracts for the stories and realized that the exclusivity period requested by the publisher (12 months from date of publication) had lapsed. Though not enough for a full collection, I thought a Sherlock Holmes duo would make a nice quick read for someone needing a brief diversion from worldly anxieties. Sherlock Holmes & the Mythos: Two Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos is now available as an e-book on Amazon. Because of its brevity, it will be digital only. As an extra bonus, I added a gallery of original Lovecraftian art at the end of the publication.

Black Cat Weekly

If you've not come across Black Cat Weekly from Wildside Press, you are missing a great source of entertainment for literary omnivores. Each issue (as I write this, issue #35 has just come out) contains a number of stories in various genres, both old and new. To be honest, this has been a recent discovery for me, so I find myself in the situation of both keeping up and catching up.

Although I greatly enjoy the novels and stories from such writers as Lester del Rey, Henry Kuttner and Malcom Jameson, I find myself drawn to the interviews conducted by Darrell Schweitzer. There is an art to interviewing, one that not even journalists often appreciate. It's not a matter of asking questions, but of asking the right questions. Back when I was an Army photojournalist (when journalists were actually journalists) I found interviews to be the most difficult, yet most rewarding of assignments. I appreciate the deft touch Schweitzer brings to the task, as well as the profound comments elicited from such subjects as Fred Saberhagen, CJ Cherryh and Thomas M Disch. The interviews are "vintage," so they are a bit like literary archaeology, but that does not take away from my enjoyment of them in any way.

Previously, each issue of the e-mag was $3.99, but the publisher recently reduced the price to $2.99, perhaps to make it more attractive to new readers. At either price, however, it is a heck of a deal. Honestly, I derive more pleasure from it than I do modern monthly print magazines. Give it a try. I think you'll really like it. You can get it directly from the publisher's website (link above) or from Amazon.