Eddy Webb's Blog, page 11

Tour de Elementary (Season Two)

My book, Watson Is Not An Idiot, will drop on October 30th in a wide variety of places (although you can get it on Kindle now!). I’ve been trying to think of a way to get people excited about the book. Then, watching the first episode of Elementary this season, I got the idea of commenting on each episode of the season through the lens of the original canon.

So I’ve decided to do a new tour, a “Tour de Elementary.” It won’t be as rigorous as my tour through the canon — not every episode is likely to have something interesting to talk about, I might combine episodes here and there, and since I’m watching through purchased iTunes episodes, I might lag a little behind people watching it on broadcast television. Plus, I can’t guarantee any consistent schedule, given that I have a lot of other writing engagements right now and a surgery coming up soon. But I think, if you like the kind of commentary I’m making on the show, you’ll like what I have in the book.

My next blog will be about the episode “Step Nine,” which is just packed with interesting canon references. Welcome aboard the new tour!

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Care and Feeding of Eddy at LA by Night

I am leaving for LA by Night tomorrow, and I thought I would quickly toss out a few things.

1) I am hearing impaired. Right now, for a variety of reasons, I’m more hearing impaired than usual. Please don’t be offended if I ignore you, talk over you, or seem to miss your vital question about Potence. I’m not being a dick; I just can’t hear you.

2) I’m also shit at names and faces, but I don’t have a medical reason behind it. If we’ve met before, tell me where we’ve met before if I don’t seem to recognize you.

3) I make no commitments on recording panels. Over the past five years I’ve recorded what panels I could at conventions, and unfortunately that has led to people being disappointed and angry because of technical failures, errors on my part, or sometimes a simple lack of desire to record something. So, to be clear, I’m happy to keep trying, but anything I manage to record should be seen as a bonus — don’t expect/demand it.

4) Here are events I will be at! There are other things I am scheduled for that are private, business-related, etc., but these are the places where I will be visible.

Thursday, 8pm: VIP Party (although I might be a little late, depending).

Friday, 10am: Open MES Board Meeting (as CCP liaison).

Friday, 12pm: Playing to Lose presentation.

Friday, 7pm: Blood and Betrayal (playing an NPC).

Saturday, 10am: Your Game Sucks presentation.

Saturday, 12pm: What’s Up With White Wolf/Onyx Path.

Saturday, 2pm: The Future of the World of Darkness (as IP Manager).

Saturday, 6pm: MES Cam/Anarch (as my PC).

Saturday, 10pm: Succubus Club.

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Peer Review: “Shadowfall” by Tracy Revels

This is a bit of a departure for my Peer Reviews. Since being signed to MX Publishing for Watson is Not an Idiot, I get a steady stream of iBook codes so I can read and review some of the other Sherlock Holmes books that MX puts out. I’m not going to turn down free Sherlock Holmes books! So in this case, I’m using “peer” in a slightly different sense — I’ve never met Tracy Revels, but she is part of the MX stable of authors, so we are peers in that sense.

Before I get into the novel proper, though, follow me down a rabbit hole of sub-genres. Shadowfall is a Holmes pastiche about the supernatural, which is a common subject — one that Doyle even touched on at times. In my experience, there are two forms of this: the supernatural elements are explained as science (which is true to canon), or the supernatural elements are real (which Shadowfall falls into). Inside the “supernatural is real” sub-genre there are two sub-sub-genres: Holmes does not believe in the supernatural, or Holmes does believe in the supernatural. Shadowfall very firmly falls into “Sherlock Holmes/supernatural is real/Holmes believes in the supernatural.”

I bring this up because you need to buy into that concept before you can appreciate this book. I personally prefer either “the supernatural is really explained by science” or “Holmes does not believe in the supernatural,” but as long as I know the basis of the story I’m reading, I can put that behind me if I need to. Luckily, Tracy sets the stage in the first chapter, so the book doesn’t pull a bait-and-switch or string you along. I personally appreciated this up-front approach, and it helped me enjoy the book more.

The novel revolves around Titania, Queen of the Faeries, attempting to hire Holmes to recover something that was stolen from her. The novel progresses, picking up a variety of 19th century occult traditions as it progresses. In structure and tone, it actually reminded me a bit of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, as it possesses a decently cohesive explanation for the metaphysics of the story, although at times some of the deductions ended up being an excuse to explain those metaphysics instead of showcasing the cleverness of the detective… another connection to The Dresden Files. It is not particularly dark or gruesome (which the cover might otherwise imply), nudging it more into urban fantasy rather than horror.

Ultimately, I enjoyed it. It was a fast read, a lot of fun, and an entertaining adventure (if not much of a mystery). More purist fans of Holmes may not be able to put aside the conceit to give the book a chance, but more open-minded fans will find an entertaining adventure waiting for them.

Shadowfall is available from all good bookstores including in the USA Amazon, Barnes and Noble, in the UK Amazon, Waterstones, and for everywhere else Book Depository who offer free worldwide delivery. In ebook format there is Kindle, iPad, Nook and Kobo.

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Peer Review: Dinocalypse Now & Beyond Dinocalypse by Chuck Wendig

Time for another peer review. Disclosure: I’ve been friends with Chuck for six years, and I backed the original Kickstarter for the Dinocalypse trilogy (a series of novels based on the Spirit of the Century roleplaying game). Further, Dinocalypse Now and Beyond Dinocalypse are only the first two novels — the third one isn’t written yet. The second book picks up right after the first, and the structure reminded me a bit of Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World trilogy. You could theoretically read the second one without the first, but I think you would miss a lot, so I suggest you read them in order.

These are two pulp novels set in the 1920s (at least to start), featuring the adventures of the Century Club. These Centurions are all people born on January 1, 1900, and as a result are the epitome of humanity and do heroic stuff. They are asked to prevent the assassination of FDR. In the process, Manhattan is taken over by psychic dinosaur people. A lot of action and gripping character development ensues.

Honestly, this is a thing you either get into or you don’t. Personally, I love it. Having read a lot of original pulp novels like Doc Savage, The Shadow, and The Spider, I’ve developed a love for this mix of the bizarre and the gritty, and these two books channel that vibe wonderfully. If you can’t get past the idea of an evil mathemagician who fights an occult detective or a talking ape that teaches at Oxford and it is played straight, these books will be a hard sell. However, I found them both to be utterly charming and wonderfully fast-paced fun, and the clash of bizarre images worked for me.

Like many pastiches of historical genres, there are increased roles for women and people of color beyond what were originally presented in the 20s and 30s. In some books it can come across as excessively political and awkward, but here it is very natural and fluid. These characters feel real, not a find/replace of gender and ethnicity. Granted, when you’re writing about a disembodied brain that wants to take over the world, a little thing like fidelity to traditional gender roles seems minor, but I appreciate being able to root for a character that’s an African-American woman.

If you’ve read any of Chuck’s other work, know going in that you won’t find any of his casually foul-mouthed humor here, as it wouldn’t work with the genre. However, there are certain moments of levity and snark that all almost Whedon-esque that I appreciated just as much, if not more. It may be a little different from Chuck’s usual voice, but it’s very much Chuck’s style. I highly suggest the books if you’re already a fan of Chuck, if you like comic book-style action/adventure, or if you’re a fan of Spirit of the Century.

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Tell Me What I Should Write About Sherlock Holmes

In case you missed it, the Kindle version of Watson is Not an Idiot is now available via Amazon ahead of schedule! The print version of the book is still scheduled for October 30th, and I’m hoping the revised interior will be available for both. If you’ve already had a chance to read it, please leave me a review on Amazon!

Related to that, I’m starting to think about my next book of essays, tentatively titled Never Mind The Sherlocks. There are some topics about the original canon that I’m sure I missed, but I also want to talk about the various media adaptations of Holmes, as well as how they relate (or don’t) to the original canon.

While I’m pulling together my material (which, to be fair, will probably take several months — it’s something I’m working on between video game work and freelancing), tell me what kinds of topics you’d like to see. What parts of Sherlock Holmes have always confused or fascinated you? What would you like me to rant about?

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Back from Gen Con, “Watson” in Kindle, and Firefly RPG news

I am back from Gen Con. As usual it was a crazy, busy, entertaining time, and I am both glad I went and glad I’m home. I was able to firm up a few details of some of the projects I’m working on, which leads to exciting news on two fronts.

First, the Amazon Kindle store has Watson is Not an Idiot available right now in both the US and UK! This is the 1.0 version of the text — I’ll be submitting a revision this week, and I believe the text will be updated to 1.1 soon after automatically. (The print version should reflect the 1.1 version of the text.) Most of the changes are small editing corrections and very minor clarifications, so if you want to dive right in, you won’t be missing too much.

Secondly, the veils of secrecy have been lifted, and I can now mention that I am working on Echoes of War, a collection of episodes for the Firefly RPG! I’m very excited to be working on this beloved property, and getting a chance to run a game of it at Gen Con has just whet my appetite for working on the ‘Verse all the more.

More to come! But now I have to do some more rewriting.

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Milverton: An Excerpt from “Watson Is Not An Idiot”

Recently, it was announced that the villain for Sherlock Series 3 will be “Charles Augustus Magnussen.” I find this very exciting, as the basis for the character, Charles Augustus Milverton, is one of my favorite villains in the canon. To celebrate, here’s an excerpt from Watson is Not an Idiot about the story he’s from. Note: contains spoilers for “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.”

Right up front, Watson is clear about the fact that he’s concealing the date and the facts to help place this “absolutely unique experience.” Despite the constant disappointments I have in trying to reconcile the dates of the cases, this intentional obfuscation just encourages me to dig more than usual to try to place it.

First off, we’re in the iconic situation of Watson living as a bachelor with Holmes, so we know it’s not during Watson’s marriage or the Great Hiatus. Holmes at one point claims that he’s had to deal with “fifty murderers” in his career at this point, which could indicate it’s right before Watson’s marriage, but that’s no real help. There’s a reference to electric light switches which I thought could be a clue, but they were invented in 1884, so that doesn’t help either.

Turning to history, though, we get more information. There was a real-life blackmailer named Charles Augustus Howell who died in 1890. If we assume that “Milverton” was simply a very clumsy cover for “Howell,” then we have a year – 1890, right before the Great Hiatus. Many Sherlockians (including Baring-Gould) place the case in 1899, for reasons I wasn’t able to uncover. So I flipped a table and moved on.

Aside from whether this case is before or after Holmes matches wits with Professor Moriarty, however, there’s a lot of similar tensions between Holmes and Milverton. Holmes considers Milverton to be “the worst man in London,” a description he usually reserves for Moriarty. But it does seem that Holmes has a particular hatred of blackmailers – he is quite passionate on the subject. It opens up some interesting speculations about Holmes’ past. Was Holmes or someone in his past blackmailed? Regardless, there’s a great battle of wits between Holmes and Milverton, and Milverton turns out to be quite clever and well-prepared. He’s a great villain, perhaps on par with Moriarty himself. In fact, Holmes’ outrage with blackmailers in general and Milverton in specific leads him to take drastic actions. He fakes an engagement to a housemaid to get information, and his comment about a “hated rival” in her affections feels like a flimsy justification for his blatant manipulation. He hates blackmailers, but he’s happy to toy with a woman’s affections in pursuit of his case.

Even worse, he’s willing to break and enter into Milverton’s home, which he also attempts to justify:

“I suppose that you will admit that the action is morally justifiable, though technically criminal. To burgle his house is no more than to forcibly take his pocket-book — an action in which you were prepared to aid me.”

Further, he tries to claim that he’s willing to do it because “a lady is in the most desperate need of his help.” However, he certainly had no problems toying with another woman’s emotions! Because one is a servant and another is a lady, though, some have pointed to this as an example of Holmes’ class bias. I don’t buy it, though. I think the reality is much simpler: it’s all about Holmes’ pride:

“Between ourselves, Watson, it’s a sporting duel between this fellow Milverton and me. He had, as you saw, the best of the first exchanges; but my self-respect and my reputation are concerned to fight it to a finish.”

Watson seems strangely reluctant to have Holmes break the law here, even though he wasn’t at all resistant to breaking into a house in “The Bruce-Partington Plans.” But despite this inconsistency, it leads to a great exchange between Holmes and Watson, possibly one of my favorites:

“Well, I don’t like it; but I suppose it must be,” said I. “When do we start?”

“You are not coming.”

“Then you are not going,” said I. “I give you my word of honor – and I never broke it in my life – that I will take a cab straight to the police-station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure with you.”

“You can’t help me.”

“How do you know that? You can’t tell what may happen. Anyway, my resolution is taken. Other people beside you have self-respect and even reputations.”

Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on the shoulder.

“Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared the same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell.”

There are other interesting bits to learn in this story. Holmes has a particular hobby of opening safes, and thus has a state-of-the-art burgling kit on hand. He can see in the dark, and has “quicker senses” than Watson. Watson is strangely thrilled by the law-breaking, even when he tries to justify it by going on about the “high object of our mission.” Watson seems to understand a lot of Holmes’ ideas from a handshake and a grasp of his wrist; they are very much in sync. Watson also owns tennis shoes, and runs for two miles – looks like his days of his leg injury are long behind him. And it’s implied that Lestrade is learning a lot from Holmes, not taking Holmes’ pat explanation of Watson’s break-in at face value.

There are some problems with the story. There isn’t really a mystery here – Holmes and Watson are really just observers and vigilantes, and we never really learn who the “noble statesmen” whose wife murdered Milverton was. But it is a great story, both in general and as another example of Doyle’s dry wit mixed with grisly situations.

Watson Is Not An Idiot will be available on 30 October from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide via Book Depository. In ebook format it will be in Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

Excerpt from “The Strix Chronicle Anthology”

We are like you. We live in your cities, we laugh at your jokes, we share your good times and your bad ones. We meet you in clubs and back alleys, at glamorous parties and dive bars. We need you, to sate our endless hunger. We are your Kindred.

They are the smoke and the darkness, things that could have been you or us, creatures of hunger that humanity stole the night from. They are the Strix.

The Strix Chronicle Anthology is the second World of Darkness anthology I’ve contributed to, and it contains my longest short story to date: “Second Chance.” It’s a noir story about a vampire criminal given a second chance to track down a murderer.

It’s available now through DriveThruFiction.com. If you’re still on the fence, here’s a very small except from my story.

I was dreaming of shafts, of vanes, of the calamus and the rachis when I felt them pull the stake out of my chest. The rough wood snatched and dragged at my skin, and a large splinter stuck to the wound. My back ached from laying on a hard, cold surface. My stomach knotted and my mouth felt as dry as the desert. I could sense a thin trickle of blood diffused through my body. I was hungry. Not so hungry that I would have to murder someone, but hungry enough that it seemed like a really good idea. I opened my eyes, and the situation didn’t get much better.

The meaty hands still holding the dripping wooden shaft were scarred and knobby, as was the bald face leering over them. Poor fucker clearly wasn’t Embraced for his looks. Mirrored sunglasses covered his eyes, although it was hard to tell if this was a half-assed protection measure against Domination or a half-assed attempt to look intimidating. The worn, black trench coat hung loose as he leaned forward, revealing a knife in a scabbard at one hip and a pistol in a holster in the other. I pegged him as a Hound, and one who probably learned more from bad fiction than actual fighting.

The ceiling was gray concrete, and a single bulb swung right over my eyes. Glasses tossed the stake aside, and the bounce echoed hollowly in the room.

“Sit him up,” a man said off to my right, and Glasses moved towards me again. I put my hand up to protest, but he grabbed me anyway and pulled me into a sitting position on the metal table. I noticed I was naked, and my pale skin was covered in small cuts and tiny wounds. I didn’t go calmly before I was staked. Glasses grabbed my hair and pulled my head up to look.

The speaker sat in an ornate chair completely at odds with the sterile concrete room. Long, dark hair fell in waves to his shoulders, and his clean-shaven face was flawlessly beautiful. He brushed imaginary dust from the knee of suit trousers that looked simple, but probably cost more money than us mere plebes would ever see in one place. To be fair, the Invictus pin on his lapel may have biased me on that point. All hail our lord and master, the Prince.

Next to him stood a woman. She had blonde hair cut into short spikes, with long pink tips falling over one eye. She wore a black dress in a 50s style, sleeveless with a high scoop neck. One bare arm was covered in colorful tattoos, swirling images of cards, dice, and chance that danced as the light in the room swung back and forth. She leaned lightly on the Prince’s chair, but with a regal grace that made her look like a punk rock queen, not a piece of arm candy. Her lipstick was as dark as her eyes, which stared at me with… what? Anger? Need? Probably just reading my aura, or maybe my mind. I dropped my eyes, closed my mind off reflexively, and started thinking about pointless trivia. There are more than 325 species of hummingbird in the world.

“My dear Master Davis,” the Prince purred in soft European syllables as he steepled his fingers. “So good of you to join us.”

“Watsons Through Time” Roundtable from 221b Con

The incomparable Baker Street Babes podcast has posted their recording of “Watsons Through Time,” a panel I had the pleasure of sitting on at 221bCon. With me were Kristina Manente, Ashley Polasek, and Roane. I’m glad this panel is up, because it gives a lot of the tone that I infused into Watson is Not an Idiot, and it certainly covers some of the material from the book as well. It’s about an hour long and a little hard to hear in spots, but it was a great time, and I hope that comes through in the podcast.

http://bakerstreetbabes.com/podcast/221b-con-watsons-through-time/

Hillfolk Fate is Not an Idiot

Today has been a day of riches. Or at least sales and comps. 1

First off, I got to look at the digital files for Hillfolk, which I contributed to several months ago. From Robin’s Kickstarter:

Hillfolk, the new game of Iron Age conflict from acclaimed designer Robin D. Laws, introduces to the roleplaying world his DramaSystem rules engine.

You know those magical game sessions where the dice and rules fall away, and the entire group spontaneously enters a collective zone of pure story and character? DramaSystem’s basic structure reproduces that dynamic on demand.

As part of that, Robin included a number of “series pitches” of different backgrounds you can use with the core Hillfolk system. I contributed an old novel idea of mine: “Deadweight,” a noir/professional wrestling mashup about an independent wrestling federation that makes some horrible mistakes behind the curtain and gets involved in crime.

The nice thing about the Hillfolk agreement is that Robin asked for the bare minimum of rights for his project — I still have full rights to everything but RPGs, and even then I can do a lot as long as I reference Hillfolk. As such, I could still theoretically do a Deadweight novel. It’s a classy arrangement, and I would gladly do it again. I understand copies will be available at GenCon, and I highly encourage people to check it out.

Secondly, my collection of microfiction, essays, and miscellany, Slices of Fate, is now 25% from DriveThruFiction until July 28th. Here’s the blurb:

Slices of Fate is a unique collection featuring the works of Eddy Webb. Stories within range from the author’s nod to literary tales as in his piece “A Sheepish Trip to Yorkshire” to his more speculative work such as “The Battlefield.”

Essays include a series on two of Webb’s oldest loves: wrestling and Sherlock Holmes. Combined with several pieces of microfiction, this debut collection is an in-depth representation of Eddy’s work over the course of several years.

“Enthusiastic, creative, honest, intelligent.” – Jason L Blair, from the introduction.

Finally, I got my stack of comp copies of Watson Is Not An Idiot, and they look great. I was a little surprised since they came from Lightning Source, and my brain is so used to getting my White Wolf/Onyx Path books from Lightning Source. I’m really pleased with how they turned out — they’re a bit meatier than I expected (about three times the size of Slices of Fate), and the cover popped a bit more than I expected. Of course, I’m immediately seeing things that I wished I did differently with the book, but I’m just trying to make a note of it and maybe those ideas will spin off into a second book. But it’s still very exciting!

For those that don’t know, “comps” is publishing jargon for “complimentary copies,” or the free copies that writers and freelancers get of the books they’ve worked on. ↩