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Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes
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Product Description
The fabled tin dispatch box of Dr. John H. Watson opens to reveal eleven all new tales of mystery and dark fantasy. Sherlock Holmes, master of deductive reasoning, confronts the irrational, the unexpected and the fantastic in the weird worlds of the Gaslight Grimoire.
"A wonderful addition to the bookshelf of any fan of
Sherlock Holmes or of the supernatural. Terrific stories, great variety, genuine
chills: it's all here."
- Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of HOMINIDS
"This book contains eleven of the most ingenious, imaginative and inspired
exploits yet committed to paper. Wonderful stuff!"
- Roger Johnson, BSI, Editor, The Sherlock Holmes Journal
Contributors:
Barbara Hambly
Christopher Sequeira
Barbara Roden
M. J. Elliott
Martin Powell
Chico Kidd & Rick Kennett
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #275253 in Books
- Published on: 2008-10-01
- Released on: 2008-10-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 304 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9781894063173
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In his foreword, David Stuart Davies asserts that the authors of these 11 stories pitting Holmes against the supernatural are very well-versed in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Unfortunately, this authority fails to come through. The eloquence of the one standout, Barbara Roden's The Things That Shall Come Upon Them, only emphasizes what the others lack. Roden effortlessly involves Holmes in a mystery derived from M.R. James's classic tale of terror, Casting the Runes, featuring psychic sleuth Flaxman Low. By contrast, Martin Powell's Sherlock Holmes in the Lost World sees Holmes battling ape-men and dinosaurs without any display of his remarkable intellect, and M.J. Elliott's The Finishing Stroke pays so much homage as to neglect originality. As a whole, this mixed bag fails to differentiate itself from other similar anthologies. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
This one seems like a natural. It’s well known that Sherlock Holmes’ creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, was deeply interested in the paranormal, a subject bursting with possibilities for the kind of mystery that only Holmes could solve—except that Conan Doyle had firmly established Holmes as investigating only real-world cases with real-world, logical solutions. This anthology, featuring such writers as Barbara Hambly, Chris Roberson, and Kim Newman, purports to present the kinds of Holmes stories Conan Doyle might have written if he had allowed Holmes to become involved with the otherworldly. The stories are a mixed lot, with characters ranging from Peter Pan to a 1940s Los Angeles private eye to old friends like Professor Moriarty and Inspector Lestrade, but unfortunately some of them read not like a story Conan Doyle might have written but like fan fiction—long on imagination but short on execution. Others, however, are a lot of fun, well written and entertaining. Holmes devotees may be a bit disappointed, but fans of fantastic fiction should be happy to see the famous detective stepping into their world. --David Pitt
About the Author
Jeff Campbell's fiction has appeared in a wide variety of publications including Spinetingler Magazine, Wax Romantic and Challenging Destiny. From time to time his writing can also be heard on radio's Imagination Theater and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In addition to writing, he has co-edited the Sherlock Holmes anthologies Curious Incidents 1 and 2 with his good friend Charles Prepolec.
Charles Prepolec has contributed articles and reviews to All Hallows, Sherlock Magazine, Scarlet Street, and Canadian Holmes. An active Sherlockian for more than 20 years with Calgary's The Singular Society of the Baker Street Dozen, he was designated a Master Bootmaker in 2006 by the Canada's national Sherlock Holmes Society.
Customer Reviews
Ghosts May Apply!
This is a collection of Sherlockian tales in which, to quote David Stuart Davies' Forward, "Ghosts may apply." Each of the tales involves some `supernatural' element, a Djinn, a Vampire, a painting, quite a variety of individuals and items. In fact, Chico Kidd and Rick Kennett's "The Grantchester Grimoire" is only the second pastiche I know of that pairs Holmes and Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder in a single tale. Further, each tale is written by one who knows Holmes and Watson intimately, which makes them disturbing at the very least.
The stage is set by the opening tale, "The Lost Boy," by Barbara Hambly. When the Darling children disappear, Mr. Darling consults Sherlock Holmes and Mrs. Darling goes to an old friend who, like her, knew Peter Pan from her youth. At the end of this sad and lovely story, one is left wondering who, exactly, was "The Lost Boy" of the title.
Each of the tales has its own context and viewpoint. Nothing carries across from one to the next except the certainty that things will be not quite what they seem. The sheer nastiness of the villain in Christopher Sequeira's "His Last Arrow" is balanced by the delight of an aged Holmes in his (2nd?) meeting with Count Dracula in Bob Madison's "Red Sunset." Martin Powell's "Sherlock Holmes in the Lost World" gives new meaning to `Non-stop Adventure' with a surprise villain thrown in as an extra. Strictly speaking, Chris Roberson's "Merridew of Abominable Memory' has no supernatural element, but it is a true horror story and it fits right in with the rest of the collection.
As is true with most anthologies, some tales appeal to one taste and some to another. This group seems well mixed, with a variety of approaches and themes. I have mostly commented on those stories that appealed to me. There was, however, one perfectly marvelous tale by Kim Newman called "The Red Planet League" that deserves special attention. It is told by "...your humble narrator - Colonel Sebastian `Basher' Moran ..." and it is worth the reading if only for the delicious villainies of `Basher.' Of the eleven tales included, all are worth reading and several will stand up to re-reading. The only bad feature I found was the quality of the binding on my copy, which seems to induce cover curl.
Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, October, 2008.
Holmes fix
I love Barbara Hambly's work as a writer, and this book was worth it just for her story. As a collection it gave me my Holmes fix, and I will definitely read it again. And probably several more times after that. I'd say it was a good, solid B+ or A- level Holmes read - close, but stumbling occasionally into too obvious-ness.
Occult fiction fans will love this book
Even though Arthur Conan Doyle was a well-known occult writer, he had to keep Sherlock Holmes, his most famous creation, grounded in reality. Doyle couldn't weaken his popularity by giving Holmes a number of occult and fantastic cases to solve. This book takes care of that.
Watson was severely injured, and should have died, while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan. but there seems a cost to Watson from that dark time in his life, and this intersects with the role of a strange Afghani man named Farakhan many years later when Holmes and Watson work a case; a case of what looks like suicide by crossbow. The story ends with a weird and mystical twist.
During World War II, Holmes is in a California nursing home. The damage to British morale would be too severe if he should be killed by the Nazis. Holmes helps a local detective discover how a man can be shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the head, and walk away. It has to do with the importation of fifty pine boxes from Romania, filled with vampires willing to work for the Allies.
In other stories, Holmes and Watson meet up with two famous literary occult detectives, Flaxman Low and Thomas Carnacki. Holmes is very much of a realist; no matter how weird and occult things may seem, there is usually a rational explanation. But he does not totally dismiss un-rational explanations.
I really enjoyed these stories. They are well done, and they are nice and weird without being too weird. Holmes fans will love this book, and so will occult fiction fans.
