Derrick Belanger's Blog: Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Ramblings of a Sherlockian - Posts Tagged "sherlock-holmes"

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let you know I now have a Facebook page and web site dedicated to my books that I create with my brother, Brian Belanger. The web site is located at Belangerbooks.com.

On Facebook, just do a search for the group, Belanger Books, or go to link to Facebook page

Current projects showcased on the web site include A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural Volume 2as well as the upcoming series, The MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes.

Please check us out. Thank you,

Derrick Belanger

Enter to win a free copy of the first volume of my anthology, A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural, autographed by editor and compiler Derrick Belanger.

To enter, follow this link:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

The contest ends on September 17th.

More from MX: Derrick Belanger has edited two volumes of A STUDY IN TERROR:

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S REVOLUTIONARY STORIES OF FEAR AND THE SUPERNATURAL

(2014; 274+288 pp., $16.95 each); the non-Sherlockian stories, with inter-

esting introductions and commentary (including Chuck Davis on "Aviation and

the Horror of the Heights"; the editor on "Arthur Conan Doyle and the Mary

Celeste Mystery" and "The Making of the Modern Mummy"; and Joel K. Jensen

on "Horror and The Mystery of Cloomber").

I am starting a monthly interview series with other Sherlockian authors. This month, my interview is with new author Kieran Lyne on his novel, The Last Confession of Sherlock Holmes.

Interview with Author Kieran Lyne by Derrick Belanger

1. Tell us a little bit about your story. What made you decide to write a new Sherlock Holmes book?


Kieran: I began writing fiction in the summer of 2012 in the form of short stories and naturally began to think of writing a Holmes story. In particular I was taken by the idea of expanding upon the events which surround the hiatus of Sherlock Holmes as, though fabulously handled in the canon, to me there was more to the Moriarty story.
Essentially, The Last Confession of Sherlock Holmes is the revelation by Dr. Watson of how he and Sherlock Holmes deceived the world.

When developing the plot I was a student of History and so I tried thinking of any events which a plot could be twisted around; but it was not until I watched From Hell that I first began to think of a Holmes story about Jack the Ripper. The brutality and senselessness of the crimes were in such stark contrast to the elegant puzzles found in the canon and I thought this offered something different. I was also interested in the dynamic created by these very public events, and the effect they would have on Sherlock Holmes, as the Ripper was never caught. I did not research any other works on a similar theme until after I completed my plot outline as I wished to approach the story from an entirely fresh perspective.



2. You are the youngest author to be endorsed by the Doyle estate. How did you get the endorsement?

Kieran: I had sent my novel off to a few agents and was not enjoying a lot success, so I started trying to make things happen for myself through self-publishing as an EBook. The copyright situation surrounding the Holmes characters is very complicated and I wished to avoid any hassle. With this in mind I approached the Conan Doyle estate, who endorsed my story, gave me use of their seal and recommended me to MX Publishing.


3. Unfortunately, it seems like the Doyle estate has become a bit of a villain to Sherlockians due to the court battle with Leslie S. Klinger. What are your view on the case and the outcome? Do you feel Sherlock Holmes should now be a public domain character?

Kieran: I have heard several conflicting versions of the events and to be honest I find it all a bit strange. This situation has been quite a headache and I hope that soon enough transparency will become the norm. I’m not sure how but I hope these relationships can be mended, as in theory we should all be in the same boat. What I do want to say is that Jon Lellenberg was a great help in getting me published and for that I am very grateful.

First and foremost I consider myself a fan of Sherlock Holmes; I do not understand all the ins-and-outs of the law, particularly in the U.S, but as a fan I believe the characters should be in the public domain: I am all for creativity and artistic interpretation. However, I am also a young author trying to break into an extremely crowded and competitive industry and I have to be practical: I hope the seal will be a positive for me. Regardless of the controversy, I hope that the endorsement of the Doyle estate is a sign of quality and will not put off any Sherlockians. One of my few objectives when I set out to write the story was authenticity; I wanted Holmes to be Holmes, Watson to be Watson, and that the events should fit almost seamlessly into the canon, so the opinion of Sherlockians is important to me. I hope that my story will be judged for the quality of my writing and nothing else.



4. If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one Sherlock Holmes story to keep with you forever, which would it be? Why?

Kieran: Tricky one! But ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, as I believe it encapsulates everything which makes Holmes such an iconic character and the stories so timeless. We of course get to see Holmes’ trademark powers of observation and deduction, as well as his fondness for disguise and theatricality. But what sets Holmes apart is that he chooses his cases based upon intellectual intrigue and is not rigidly in favour of the law; this allows for more ambiguous crimes and interesting stories. All of this we of course witness through the exploits of the woman. Not only is Irene Adler a fabulous character, but this is her only appearance in the canon. For me this is a masterstroke of subtlety and class by Conan Doyle: it elevates her status and shows greater insight into Holmes as a character.


5. Any last thoughts for the audience?

Kieran: My journey to becoming an author was a strange one, and I am not a trained writer. I have studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, and History at the University of East Anglia: but I have not studied literature for seven years. The only instruction I had was through two books on writing by Elizabeth George and Stephen King. I would therefore encourage anyone who is thinking about writing to give it a go, whether it is Sherlock Holmes, or something entirely original. I have no idea whether my novel will be a success, but it can be done.

Kieran Lyne is the author of The Last Confession of Sherlock Holmes, and he is the youngest author ever to be endorsed by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Author Derrick Belanger is the editor of the bestselling two volume anthology, A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural. He is a middle school Language Arts teacher, and he loves young adult literature as well as anything and everything to do with Sherlock Holmes.

Interview with Chuck Davis on
A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural (Volume 1)

Derrick: First off, give us a little bit of background. What was your interest in Doyle, Horror of the Heights, and this anthology?

Chuck: Actually, I hadn’t been a Sherlock Holmes or Doyle fan until about twenty years ago when I first came across “The Horror of the Heights”. Anything with airplanes, or some aeronautical aspect, always grabs my attention. Doyle’s story was very different, though, because of its science fiction flavor. The concept of huge aerial beasts above our heads thrilled and frightened me. I imagined if they were real, how they would affect the development of high altitude aviation, the dangers they would pose to a modern airliner. Sometimes stories like THOTH capture my imagination just because of the possibilities. Sir Arthur’s short story did just that and also gave me an exciting read. I must have read it ten times by now.
I wasn’t ignorant of Doyle, or Sherlock Holmes (I loved the Robert Downey portrayal better than Basil Rathbone’s) for I had seen the movie version of “The Lost World” many, many times. As to Sherlock Holmes, my only exposure was to the Rathbone and Downey movies and the recent BBC series.
As far as “A Study in Terror” anthology goes, it was when I recently got reacquainted with you, after years of relocating prairie dogs, and discovered we had many intellectual and literary interests in common. First we created the Mystery Aircraft website and blog. Soon, we were discussing Doyle and Sherlock Holmes and you brought up your idea for the anthology. I loved the idea, especially since it would contain my favorite Doyle story. When you asked me to write an article discussing Doyle’s aeronautical expertise, I just couldn’t resist.
I think the whole project turned out perfect and I am proud to have contributed in a small way towards its success.

Derrick: Wow, that’s a walk down memory lane for me. To tell you the truth, I contacted you for the anthology because of your book, Phantoms of the Skies. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in that book and the history (or prehistory) of flight.
Chuck: Well, that’s a long story. When I was a little tike, I fell in love with birds & bats. As I grew older, I fell in love with airplanes and just about anything that flew. Then it was UFOs and for a while I was a true believer. I grew out of that, but not before getting fascinated by the Mystery Airship reports of the 1890s. Now, I have always been especially interested in strange and unusual aircraft and design studies. So, it wasn’t long before I got real interested in ancient flight and pre-Wright brothers pioneers. Fast forward to, about 2009 when I came across a book by J. Allan Danelek titled “The Great Airship of 1897”. Jeff presented an excellent case that the Mystery Airships were, in fact, the work of an individual, or individuals, working in secret on the invention of a commercially viable airship. He tweaked my interest and imagination. Next thing you know, we’re having lunch, so he can autograph my copy of the book, and we get talking about flight experiments in the 18th & 19th centuries and one of us, I think it was yours truly, suggested we co-write a book about the subject, but go back all the way to ancient times. That gave birth to “Phantoms of the Skies: The Lost History of Aviation from Antiquity to the Wright Brothers”. I think we should have spent more time on the title and finding the right publisher, because I now feel that the title is deceptive. Many people think we’re writing about ghost airplanes and pilots, not real history.
But, water under the bridge.
You know, a lot of those very early aircraft were like today’s ultralight aircraft and hang gliders. Since I flew hang gliders for many hours (until I ran out of money and unbruised body parts), aircraft like that have a special place in my heart. So, it was only natural that I was fascinated then and continue to be fascinated by “minimal” aircraft.

Derrick: Your article was called, “A fascinating read on the science and possibilities of aeronautics in the early years of the 20th century,” by Nebula Award winning author Jack McDevitt. How right was Doyle in his portrayal of flight in the story?

Chuck: Sir Arthur actually came pretty close on some aspects of predicting flight in the early 1930s (remember the story was written in 1913 and described events taking place twenty years in HIS future). Other aspects, he was so far off the mark that it bordered on pure fantasy. But I forgive him his mistakes. He did a great job.
By 1913, flight was pretty much established as a viable endeavor, but there was still a lot of experimentation going on, so the technology was, pardon the pun, up in the air. The arrangement of wings, the type of power-plant, the method of control and stabilization were still in a state of flux. This was a very exciting time to get involved with aviation. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of cranks out there and people who had no business, no vision, to be involved with the development of a new form of transportation. And, again unfortunately, a load of that nonsense was published by magazines and newspapers who didn’t do their homework. Sir Arthur absorbed some of that information, too.


Derrick: Last question, why do you think Doyle’s writings in this anthology, like his writings on Sherlock Holmes, have stood the test of time?
Chuck: That is a tough question. I think Sir Arthur’s stories have lasted and continue to be popular because he developed some wonderful characters and concepts. I mean, when you think of a “famous” detective, the first name that comes to mind is Sherlock Holmes. Doyle’s stories are compelling because of his style, his depth of plot and the twists and turns of the action. I am just getting into the Sherlock Holmes stories at age 61, but Doyle’s tales of science fiction and horror are just as compelling. Sure, all his work is outdated in some sense. But you need to suspend disbelief when you read fiction and Doyle permits the reader to do that and still be absorbed by the story. His stories today are like time machines, transporting the reader to a more gentile era.
I could read “The Horror of the Heights” hundreds of more times. I am even entertaining the idea, as an aspiring fiction author myself, to write a sequel to that tale – what would happen to aviation, especially commercial aviation and space travel, if such “aerial savannahs” actually existed. Just imagine what would happen (and I’d love to hear ideas from other fans)!
Doyle had a certain style that transcends time and technology. I rank him up there with my personal favorite author, H. G. Wells. Both authors’ stories can be transposed into modern times with little or no changes to the plot or characters. Just looks at the different versions of Sherlock Holmes or “The Time Machine” or “The War of the Worlds”. I would LOVE to see a film version of “THOTH” or “The Parasite” or “The Mystery of Cloomber”.
I hope that I’ve answered that question to everyone’s satisfaction?
Took me 61 years, but I’m a big fan of Doyle now and starting to like Lovecraft!

The year of 1927 saw the last Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, yet the the good detective still lives and breathes through the writing of modern pastiche writers. I am pleased that Geri Schear is one of these writers. Her novel, A Biased Judgement is released today, and it contains one of my favorite "new" Sherlock Holmes characters, Lady Beatrice. Over the course of the month, I interviewed Ms. Schear on her book, her influences, and of course, her favorite Sherlock Holmes story.

1. I guess I'll jump right in with the big question: What made you want to write a Sherlock Holmes novel? What made you decide to ground the book around real historical events of 1897?

The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first ‘proper’ novel I read as a child. I was seven years old and immediately hooked. Since then I’ve read the canon many times as well as a lot of pastiches. I also watch as much TV and film Holmes as I can find. It was probably inevitable that one day I would try writing a Sherlock Holmes novel of my own.

When I started to write A Biased Judgement I had two goals: I wanted to imagine Holmes as a man who really lived, and I wanted to be as faithful as possible to Conan Doyle. I decided the best way to accomplish these two things was to create a narrative that weaves the canon through real historical events.

It didn't take long for me to realise that I could tie the first big event in my novel to The Devil’s Foot, one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes stories. Once I'd decided that everything else fell into place. For instance, Holmes’ experts tell us the events of that story occurred in 1897 so I knew my novel had to be set in that year. The next step was obvious: to see what else was happening in the world around that time. I love history so I had a lot of fun imagining what world events Holmes might get involved with. It was a busy year so I had a lot of material.


2. Most Sherlock Holmes stories are told from the perspective of Dr. Watson. You had Sherlock Holmes tell this tale. What made you decide to have the great detective write the story?

I wanted to get inside Holmes’s head to examine his process and to know what he really thought about Watson and Mycroft and the other people in the canon. Since the Great Detective has proven to be a less than great writer, (see The Blanched Soldier and The Lion’s Mane) I thought a diary would be the best way to go. He’s writing his private thoughts he can be more open than if he were writing for publication. Watson spoke of Holmes’s great heart: I wanted to see that. I also discovered that letting Holmes tell his own tale allows me to inject a fair bit of humour into the narration. If you didn't know our Sherlock could be a funny guy you haven’t been reading the canon closely enough!

3. While your book is a Sherlock Holmes novel, it incorporates elements of other mystery subgenres such as cozy mysteries and spy thrillers. Besides Doyle, what other authors (mystery and other) influenced your writing in this book?

Great question. I’m a voracious reader and I think I've learned from every novelist I've ever read. For instance, from PG Wodehouse and Jane Austen I've learned humour; from Roddy Doyle I've learned dialogue; from Raymond Carver I've learned understatement... There are far too many to count and I’m indebted to them all.

In terms of genre writers, I’d have to start with Agatha Christie. She remains the greatest plotter and there are distinctly Christie-esque elements to A Biased Judgement. That said, I think my novel examines violent death in a more realistic way than you’d usually find in a typical ‘cosy’ mystery. I think – hope – my novel is funnier than most murder mysteries as well.

From DL Sayers and PD James I learned how to make a mystery novel into something a mainstream reader might enjoy. In their own unique ways they explore things like responsibility and ethics and the importance of morality for a detective. This isn't new to Holmes, of course. Stories like The Blue Carbuncle and The Abbey Grange reveal the detective as a man who follows his own conscience first and the laws of the land second.

In terms of suspense, I owe a lot to Ian Fleming, Michael Connelly and Jim Butcher. They are all masters and have created some of my favourite characters in James Bond, Harry Bosch and Harry Dresden.

Finally, since A Biased Judgement is set at the end of the Victorian era, I would be remiss if I did not mention the writers who made that period come alive for me. Dickens and Collins and Wilde, in particular.

4. The question I always ask, if you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one Sherlock Holmes story, which would it be and why?

That’s such a mean question! There are so many I love and for different reasons. For sheer quirkiness I love The Red-Headed League. The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first Holmes story I ever read so it has a special place in my heart. And then there’s The Blue Carbuncle, The Speckled Band, The Empty House… But I’d probably have to go with the one I've mentioned already: The Devil’s Foot. Even though I generally prefer the London-based stories, there’s something in that story's desolate atmosphere that really impacts me. The mystery is so compelling and the characters – from the victims to the murderer to their avenger – are some of the most dynamic in the whole canon. There’s also a Gothic feel to the story that is just as macabre as anything ever written by Poe. Deliciously chilling!

5. Any last thoughts for the reader? Any new projects that you are working on?

I hope readers of A Biased Judgement enjoy it. I’d be thrilled if they were to finish the novel feeling they had a new perspective on Conan Doyle’s stories and that their enjoyment of those tales was enhanced.

Right now I’m working on a sequel to A Biased Judgement. It’s set in 1898 and begins with Holmes called to investigate what appears to be poltergeist activity in Camden Town. His investigations lead him to London’s diamond district. There’s a subplot involving the French novelist Emile Zola and the Dreyfus affair. The tentative title is Sherlock Holmes and the Other Woman.

I've also got another, non-Holmsian novel in the works. This is an urban fantasy and is about a really ticked-off Lady of Shalott and a knight of King Arthur’s court in modern-day London.

Geri
http://www.amazon.com/Biased-Judgemen...

Sherlockian Author Derrick Belanger's publications include the bestselling two volume anthology, A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of fear and the Supernatural, as well as the Sherlock Holmes children's chapter book, The Amazing Airship Adventure. A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: The second book in the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes series entitled Attack of the Violet Vampire, The pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Cthulhu, the teaching guide How to Teach Like Sherlock Holmes, and the annotated book The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Ultimate Edition, as well as several projects in the Science Fiction genre. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis. Please visit Derrick's Amazon page at http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Belan...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/belangerbooks

There is a mad frenetic energy to a book signing. Add in a costumed book release party and things get a little crazy. Such was the vibe at the triple header book release party for A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural Volume 1 (http://www.amazon.com/Study-Terror-Re...), A Study in Terror Volume 2 (http://www.amazon.com/Study-Terror-Re...), and the Amazing Airship Adventure (http://www.amazon.com/The-Amazing-Air...). The best part of the party, besides getting to sign books decked out in a full Holmes costume, was that I got to sign with my brother the cover artist for the anthology and the illustrator for the children's chapter book. Brian hadn't gotten the thrill of having a line of people waiting to get his autograph on a book he created, so it was a pleasure to see the delight on his face.

Even before the party started, I had lunch with a publisher and agreed to include a short story in a new anthology collection to be released next year. I won't say much about the project just yet, but this one could be big. Be prepared to see my science fiction side next spring. Anyway, things were already auspicious. Then came the party...

Once again, we sold close to 40 books, but this time in a span of more than an hour. This gave both Brian and me time to chat with our customers and discover which Sherlock Holmes stories they liked, which books they were interested in, and what they would like to see from us in the future. An excellent time was had by all, and I look forward to a return flight to Colorado out of the airport Monday morning. It's been fun playing celebrity for a few days, but it is time to get back to my students and the real world.

Sherlockian Author Derrick Belanger's publications include an eclectic mix: book reviews, articles for education journals, short stories, poems, comic books, and the graphic novel, Twenty-Three Skidoo! A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: The second book in the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes series entitled Attack of the Violet Vampire, The pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Cthulhu, the teaching guide How to Teach Like Sherlock Holmes, and the annotated book The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Ultimate Edition, as well as several projects in the Science Fiction genre. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis.
Visit Derrick's Amazon Page at http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange...

Today marks the release of my first children's chapter book, The Amazing Airship Adventure: The Macdougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes Book #1. The book involves the brother and sister twin detective team of Emma and Jimmy MacDougall as they work with Sherlock Holmes in trying to stop a mad bomber from destroying London. I am the author of the book, and my brother, Brian Belanger, is the illustrator. Just for fun, Brian decided to turn the tables on me, and I was the one interviewed for this blog. I hope you enjoy seeing me giving the answers instead of asking the questions.

1) Growing up together, you and I always shared a lot of the same interests, especially H.P. Lovecraft, Alan Moore comics, Ray Harryhausen movies and so on. I don’t remember when you first discovered Arthur Conan Doyle, though --- when did that happen, and which story was the first to grab you?

I had enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories growing up, but the first one to really grab me was, fittingly, A Study in Scarlet, the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, when I was 14 years old. I chose the book out of a list of choices for an 8th grade mystery unit I was completing in my Language Arts class.

When I started reading the book, for the first half, I was immersed in Doyle’s London, a London as equally magical and breathtaking as that of Dickens. I got introduced to most of the major characters in the canon, and enjoyed the gruesome murder mystery, a story of bloody revenge.

Then suddenly, as the story builds to a climax, the audience runs into a brick wall as the narrative suddenly shifts to the American West in 1847. I had never read a book which was split in two halves that appeared to be two completely different stories. Then, in a brilliant move, the author brings the two stories together in a masterful weaving of plot. I thought Doyle had such faith in his readers, to throw us such a jarring twist and expect us to keep reading to the end. Of course I did, and began gobbling up all of his Holmes stories.

Now before I move onto the next question, I should add that I was hooked on Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories after reading A Study in Scarlet; however, I became hooked on Doyle’s writings a few years later. I was reading a random anthology of literature, the type where the stories are seemingly assembled because of who wrote them, not because of any cohesive theme. Smack in the middle of Shirley Jackson’s “Charles,” and Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Horror of the Heights.” When I read this story, I was stunned at the creativity of the writing, the imagination of the aerial world of beasts living above our heads. I didn’t know Doyle beyond his Sherlock Holmes stories. I was blown away and sought out any and all of his horror writings. This, in many ways, led to my two volume anthology, A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural. I wanted others, especially Sherlockians to know Doyle’s other stories and to see that some equalled his Holmes stories in literary merit and scholarly importance.

2) What made you decide to write specifically for children and young adults? I’m guessing that your daughters had something to do with it…

I’ve always wanted to write for readers of all ages. I wrote a novel a few years ago that was specifically aimed at a young adult audience; however, the book still needs extensive revision and may never see the light of day. Recently, I wrote The Amazing Airship Adventure because my oldest daughter, who is eight, asked me, “Daddy, who is Sherlock Holmes?” I told her about the character and as the conversation continued, we both thought it would be great if there was a child detective working with Sherlock Holmes. Eventually, that idea developed into the MacDougall Twins, ten year old detectives who live across the street from Sherlock Holmes and assist him on adventures. The book was specifically written to introduce children to the Sherlock Holmes characters so that as they get older they will want to seek out the original stories in the canon.

3) Most of the children’s literature I’ve read has the main characters randomly meeting some magical person, or discovering some new world by accident. The MacDougall Twins, on the other hand, deliberately use their wits and skills to solve their mysteries. What made you take this approach?

The audience for The MacDougall twins series is children, and I want my readers to feel empowered from the books. I specifically write the stories so that children can see that they are intelligent and often can see things that adults miss. This is why Holmes relied on the Baker Street Irregulars in the original stories, and why Holmes has great respect for Jimmy and Emma MacDougall. They are great detectives in their own right. To have the twins solve mysteries using magic takes away some of the power from my audience. Kids can’t take out a magic wand and save the world; however, they can save the world using their intelligence and bravery.

4) Will Jimmy and Emma be meeting anyone else from the Holmes stories, such as Irene Adler or Lord Baskerville? Will we see crossovers from Doyle’s other works, such as Professor Challenger?

Yes, they will. The second book of the series, Attack of the Violet Vampire, involves Inspector Lestrade and Toby, the dog who helped Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four. One of the joys of writing the MacDougall Twins is that I’m able to use characters from the canon as well as new characters such as Nolan the newsboy and Jimmy the cab driver, from the MacDougall Twins world. Both types of characters will continue to assist the twins as they solve mysteries. I may also use characters from other Doyle stories or their ancestors, say the grandson of Brigadier Gerard, depending on how the MacDougall mysteries develop.

5) And now, the Question Which You Dread Above All Others: if you were stranded on a deserted island, and could only take one Sherlock Holmes story with you, which one would it be?

Well, this has been called my meanest question, but I’ve had the advantage of asking this question to a number of Sherlockians, so I’ve had time to think this one out. There are so many wonderful and rich stories in the canon, but my overall favorite is “The Man With the Twisted Lip.” The story has that great way of starting with one narrative thread and then shifting into a completely different story. It also shows the sinister underbelly of London with Watson’s descent into the opium den searching for Isa Whitney, and it shows how one can work around the British class system, making a handsome salary as a beggar. To top it all off, you also have Mary Watson calling her husband James instead of John, a great puzzle we Sherlockians love to try to solve.

6) What’s your favorite post-Doyle take on Sherlock Holmes? A Study In Emerald? The Jeremy Brett BBC series? The Great Mouse Detective?

Now, this is a cruel question. There are so many post-Doyle takes on Holmes, there were even quite a number of pastiches written in Doyle’s life time, that I’m not sure if this one is answerable. To me, the greatest actor to play Holme was Jeremy Brett. He is Sherlock Holmes. When I read the stories, I hear his voice, so undoubtedly, Brett is the winner here.

But I’m not stopping there. There have been so many great post-Doyle stories. I’m still new to this world, and I’ve just scratched the surface. Kieran Lyne’s The Last Confession of Sherlock Holmes is probably the best of the bunch I’ve read this year. Geri Schear’s A Biased Judgement is an equally excellent novel. The short stories of David Marcum also stand out as wonderful historical texts as well as fun pastiches. But if I had to choose one piece of writing, I’d go with Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald.” It perfectly blends the worlds of my two favorite authors, Lovecraft and Doyle, and it has one of the best twists I’ve ever read.

This answer could easily change as I delve more and more into the world of Sherlockian pastiches. I have about a half dozen pastiches in my “must read pile,” and that pile is ever expanding.

7) What are your future projects?

As I mentioned earlier, I’m working on the second MacDougall Twins book, Attack of the Violet Vampire. I’ve plotted the book, and I’m about halfway through the first draft. I’d like to see the book released in the Spring, but we’ll see how long it takes me to complete the book, plus you’ve got to illustrate it, so we’ll see if we make that goal.

I do have a story coming out in the spring of a non-Sherlockian nature. The book will be included in the anthology, My Peculiar Family, which is a science fiction/ horror collection specifically designed to benefit the podcast show Sci-Fi Saturday Night. My story, entitled "Pieces of Rosalee" falls in the horror category, but I was channeling O. Henry, so mystery readers will have something to enjoy as well.

Beyond those two projects, I have a number of possibilities. I’m speaking at the CCIRA Literacy conference in Denver in February. My session, How to Teach like Sherlock Holmes, is already full. If the talk is well received, I may go in the direction of turning the talk into a teacher’s guide. I’d also like to write a pastiche novel. I’ve got three different ideas wrestling in my mind, and I believe one is starting to beat the others; however, the other two are not down for the count. I’ll continue writing and see where my stories take me. After all, the thrill of writing is discovery.

Sherlockian Author Derrick Belanger's publications include an eclectic mix: book reviews, articles for education journals, short stories, poems, comic books, and the graphic novel, Twenty-Three Skidoo! A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: The second book in the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes series entitled Attack of the Violet Vampire, The pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Cthulhu, the teaching guide How to Teach Like Sherlock Holmes, and the annotated book The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Ultimate Edition, as well as several projects in the Science Fiction genre. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis.
Visit Derrick's Amazon Page at http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange...

Okay, so not only is this the first time I've interviewed an illustrator, it is also the first time I've interviewed my brother. We've actually been collaborating on and off for over twenty years (anyone remember the comic book?), and now we find ourselves in the realm of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Enjoy the interview and we'll let you determine which of us is Sherlock and which is Mycroft. Hopefully, you don't find either of us to be Moriarty.

1. You are part of a long line of artists who have visually brought Sherlock Holmes to life on the page. How did you go about capturing the look of the great detective for The Amazing Airship Adventure?


I thought, “what do I think of, when I think of what Holmes looks like”? Thin. Wiry. Severe. Professional. Analytical. Suit and tie. You know --- Jeremy Brett! I’d just finished watching the entire run of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett, so that version of the character had, and still has, a major influence on my work on The MacDougall Twins. To me, it’s the one series that comes closest to realizing Doyle’s vision of Holmes and his world --- although there are many other fantastic adaptations out there.



I also had fun playing around with the look. I’m not Sydney Paget; my style tends to be very cartoony/caricaturish. So, my Holmes isn’t just thin, he’s impossibly thin. Oversized head --- although that probably comes from The Hound of the Baskervilles, where Dr. Mortimer goes on and on about how he loves the shape of Holmes’ skull. And if his eyes bulge right off of his face, so be it. This series is meant to be fun, and that includes the artwork, too! So there you go – my version looks like Guy Smiley mixed with Jack Skellington. Let the lawsuits begin.


2. You provided the cover illustrations for both volumes of A Study in Terror as well as all of the artwork for The Amazing Airship Adventure. Which piece of artwork was the most difficult for you to create? Which piece is your favorite?


The cover to the first volume of A Study in Terror was probably the most difficult, if only because it was unlike anything I’d ever drawn before. I knew right away that the cover had to reference "The Horror of the Heights." The image of a biplane soaring through the air, as dozens of hungry tendrils pulsed towards it… brrrr! I researched all sorts of images of planes from that time period, and sketched the artwork from the side and overhead views before settling on the finished piece. I also reread my reprints of EC Comics’ Aces High --- a five issue series with amazing artwork by Bernie Krigstein, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, etc; and especially George Evans.



I’m much better at drawing cartoon characters than I am at drawing machinery or buildings, so it’s always a challenge when your scripts call for a particular kind of horse-drawn carriage, or an airship, or a building. I’ll take a curve over a straight line any day! I welcome the challenge, though – it’s the only way to improve!


I recently finished a piece for the first chapter of The Attack of the Violet Vampire, where we see Mr. & Mrs. MacDougall sitting in a carriage. There’s nothing particularly detailed about that shot, but for some reason, it took me twice as long to complete that image as anything else I’ve ever done. Sometimes you’re firing on all cylinders; sometimes you’re just out of gas. Either way, the work still has to be done.


My favorite piece so far is the group shot of the MacDougalls, Holmes, Watson and Mrs. Hudson staring out of the window at an airship flying down Baker Street. I didn’t think that it was important to see the airship; to me, the story was happening in everyone’s reaction to this impossible flying machine. Holmes is the center image; analyzing every detail of the situation while everyone around him is either startled, astonished or outright terrified. I think that image works really well, and I thought it might be good to use as the front cover. Hey, it looks great on the back of the book!


Still… my favorite piece is the one I’ll draw tomorrow. That one’s always my favorite.


3. For A Study in Terror Volume 1, your article was an interview with Christopher Penczak on how there are a growing number of people in the world that have the same or similar spiritual beliefs as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. What most surprised you about your findings?


The thing that surprised me the most was that Chris agreed to be interviewed! He’s VERY busy with his writing, his ministry and his public speaking, so I was grateful that he was able to answer my questions.


What I really found surprising wasn’t so much about how spiritualism is still alive and well today – I mean, it’s all over the place. You can buy a Tarot card deck at Barnes & Noble, or a Ouija board at Toys R Us. There are people who don’t believe in any of that, but will still read their horoscopes online everyday, you know? No, it was learning how much Doyle’s beliefs cost him, both personally and professionally. By the end of his life, Doyle had been skewered in the press. An image I kept seeing was an editorial cartoon of Doyle with his head literally in the clouds. That was how people viewed the creator of Sherlock Holmes. His friendship with Harry Houdini suffered… it was very disheartening to read about this. We all want our heroes to have happy endings, but that’s not always the case.



4. Sydney Paget is the best known Sherlock Holmes artist because of his phenomenal work in The Strand. Is there another artist whose depiction of Sherlock Holmes you feel really admire? What makes their depiction stand out?



I always liked the way that Kevin O’Neill drew the great detective in the first volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel series. Holmes just has a very brief appearance at the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarity, but everything’s there – the physique, the clothing, the body language. O'Neill also does a great job with Moriarity and later on, with Mycroft Holmes. As a fan of comic book art, I like to wonder about how other artists would have portrayed Holmes. I’d think Eddie Campbell would be absolutely perfect for the job. His work on the graphic novel From Hell sets the standard for capturing Victorian England. Can you imagine a Sherlock Holmes as rendered by Berni Wrightson? Kelley Jones? Shawn McManus? Jae Lee? Dave Sim? Mike Mignola? I really could go on all day like this. Alan Davis and Paul Neary did a great job portraying a team up between a VERY old Sherlock Holmes and Batman…


I have to mention the graphic novel Baker Street: Honour Among Punks by Gary Reed and Guy Davis. It’s an alternate world setting, where Holmes and Watson are young female punks. The story’s a real departure from the canon, but the artwork still captures the spirit of the original Doyle work.


5. You may be an illustrator, but you still get the question. If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one Sherlock Holmes story, which would it be and why?


That’s tricky. Part of the appeal of the Sherlock Holmes canon for me are the variety of the stories. When I read these adventures, I don’t just read one story, I’ll read a few in a row. It really gives the sense that you’re reading about someone’s life, and that we’re just getting the highlights as told to us by Watson.


That being said…. Hmmmm….


Okay. Although my favorite story is currently "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" (“You see it, Watson?”), I’d have to go with The Hound of the Baskervilles. First and foremost, if I’m stuck on that island, I’m not going to want a short story; I’m going to want a novel. Hound is a great novel – my favorite of the four that Doyle left us. It’s fun; it’s scary; it’s so atmospheric you can feel the chill of the moors seeping into your bones. It’s also a rare chance for Dr. Watson to show off his skills, as Holmes is absent for a good part of the story. This provides a real balance between these two friends and shows that not only is Watson a capable investigator in his own right, but that Holmes and Watson need not be joined at the hip to work together on a case.


I read a description of The Hound of the Baskervilles somewhere that talked about how this was the only mystery novel that even people who hate mystery novels will keep in their libraries. I think it’s a wonderful introduction to the series. You could do worse than having the Hound with you for company on that desert island.

6. What are your upcoming projects?

Currently, I’m illustrating Attack of the Violet Vampire (The MacDougall Twins Mysteries with Sherlock Holmes #2) and having a blast with that. Vampires, gaslight theatres and the return of Nolan the Newsboy --- you’ve gotta love it! Once that’s done, I’ll start on the next MacDougall Twins book, and the one after that, and the one after that… so long as you keep writing ‘em, I’ll keep drawing ‘em! There’s also a book of “monster poetry” I collaborated on a few years ago that I really want to see published in 2015… that’s my top priority, after Violet Vampire’s done, of course. I’ve also been asked to illustrate a sequel to H. G. Wells’ First Men In The Moon as well --- had great fun sketching out the Selenites the way Wells described them. Did you know, even Ray Harryhausen didn’t stick to the original version? I still love his take on them, though --- along with everything else he ever did.

Finally, when I’m between freelance projects and commissions, I’ll contribute new pieces to my site http://www.redbubble.com/people/zhahadun to make into t-shirts, posters, coffee mugs and all sorts of fun stuff.

Of course, I live in New England, so all of that comes after I shovel the driveway.

7. Any final thoughts?

Yes ---
- it’s been bizarre being interviewed by my own brother.
- I like to have old episodes of In Search Of playing in the background while I draw. The combination of Leonard Nimoy’s voice with that eerie seventies background music somehow puts me into creative overdrive.
- I really should be drawing now. Excuse me…

Derrick Belanger is the author of The Amazing Airship Adventure: The Macdougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes Book #1 and editor of the A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural anthology series. Currently both Brian and Derrick are working on the second McDougall Twins book, Attack of the Violet Vampire. You can see more of Brian's artwork at his website: http://www.redbubble.com/people/zhaha... can order our books from Derrick's Amazon page as well: http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange....

For this blog posting, I wrap up my interview with the profoundly knowledgeable Sherlockian David Marcum. Mr. Marcum gives insights his novel, Sherlock Holmes and a Quantity of Debt, his Sherlock Holmes in Montague series, and his immense, ever expanding timeline of the world's greatest detective.

1. You published a Holmes novel entitled Sherlock Holmes and a Quantity of Debt in 2013. What made you decide to switch gears and go from short stories to a novel format?

Once again, thanks for inviting me back for a second set of the questions, and for telling me that it was okay to ramble some more. When I start thinking about Holmes, one thought obviously leads to another….

As far as switching from short stories to a novel, it was really just to see if I could do something longer. This particular story started as a sliver of an idea from way back, but I didn’t know what to do with it. In 2008, when I was out in the field watching an engineering project get put into the ground, a different kind of place to hide a murdered body occurred to me. As I watched some of these permanent structures being put into place, specifically in this case a sewer pipe, I realized that for the most part, once they went installed they would never be seen again. That idea hung around in my head for years, until finally I was at an all-day seminar, listening to a paint salesman give his dog-and-pony show about how great his product was for coating water tanks. I suddenly got the idea of exactly who the body was that was hidden in the place that I’d thought of years earlier.

At that point, the first volume of The Papers of Sherlock Holmes was just being released by MX, after having been revised from the original edition published a few years before. I was still waiting for Volume II to appear, but I decided to explore writing a novel. I sat down just started to type. As the story opened, it turned out to be a rainy day in Baker Street, and I quickly learned from listening to Watson that this new adventure was beginning the very next day after one of the short stories in Volume I, “The Singular Affair at Sissinghurst Castle.” Watson was in a rather ill temper, as Holmes had promised him at the end of that other story that they would go to the British Museum today, and instead Holmes was involved in something else at the chemistry table. Since I’d set “Sissinghurst Castle” in the spring of 1888, the novel would therefore be set then as well. I realized that this would be a good chance to explore Watson’s feelings about being back in Baker Street, and where he saw his life going.

When I say back in Baker Street in the spring of 1888, I’m referring to a specific part of William S. Baring-Gould’s chronology: in this case, Watson’s first marriage before Mary Morstan, an idea which I personally buy into. Chronologists have long realized that some of Watson’s personal dates are confusing. He meets Mary Morstan in the fall of 1888 during The Sign of the Four, and he doesn’t marry her until sometime after that. However, several stories that are clearly set before those events refer to Watson’s wife. In “A Scandal in Bohemia”, for instance, which occurs before Sign, Watson says he’s seen little of Holmes since his marriage. Therefore, Watson had a wife before Mary Morstan. Who was she?

Some people simply assume there were only two wives, Mary, and the one in “The Blanched Soldier”, set after the turn of the century, when Holmes states that the good doctor has deserted him for a wife. Others have postulated many wives for Watson, six or more, but I agree with many that believe in the Three-Wife Solution. The second was Mary Morstan, the third was the early 1900’s model, and the first was whoever came before Mary. Baring-Gould solved the problem of this wife’s identity by identifying her as Constance Adams, whom Watson met while traveling in San Francisco a few years earlier. How do we know that Watson was in San Francisco? Because of a play found in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s papers, Angels of Darkness, in which Watson is mentioned as a British doctor living in San Francisco. (While Watson is in the play, Holmes is not.) Confusingly, during the play Watson romances Lucy Ferrier, who is later named as the Mormon Love Hostage in A Study in Scarlet. Certainly, then, Lucy Ferrier isn’t the real name of Watson’s first wife. (Apparently when Doyle was writing the middle section of A Study in Scarlet and Angels of Darkness, he mashed up some names and facts.)

Baring-Gould didn’t get everything right, but he nailed a lot of it, and – always playing The Game, of course – I believe that Baring-Gould had inside information about much of Holmes’s life. Let me explain by going further off-trail for a minute: I greatly enjoy the Holmes novels by Laurie R. King, although I believe that her narrator, Mary Russell is insane, due to her delusional belief that she is married to Holmes. In King’s book The Moor, it is revealed that Baring-Gould’s grandfather, Sabine Baring-Gould, was actually Holmes’s godfather. While some people have criticized William Baring-Gould for supposedly lifting too much of his grandfather’s biography and grafting it onto Holmes’s past, I don’t think that this is the case. Rather, I believe that as the grandson of Holmes’s godfather, William Baring-Gould had access to information that other biographers did not, and that led him to the knowledge that Watson’s first wife was Constance. When Baring-Gould indicated that Constance died suddenly in late 1887, which resulted in Watson’s return to Baker Street soon after, he must have known something that other people didn’t. And this is what I meant, so long ago at an earlier place in this question’s answer, when I referred to Watson returning to Baker Street in early 1888, at the beginning of Sherlock Holmes and A Quantity of Debt. One woman wrote me to criticize my ignorance, telling me that Mary was Watson’s first wife, and not Constance. (People have a great sentimental attachment to Mary.) I’m afraid that I had to explain it to her, and I like to think that I made a believer out of her.

2. Your Sherlock Holmes in Montague Street series has been a bit controversial. What led you to revise Arthur Morrison's stories and make them into Sherlock Holmes stories?

Although the initial reaction was controversial, I believe that as the three volumes have appeared, people have gotten more used to the idea. For those who don’t know about this, what I did was to take all the stories featuring the character of Martin Hewitt, as written by Arthur Morrison, and with minimal alterations, change them into Holmes stories. As I state in the introductions to the three books, I personally did not get around to reading the Martin Hewitt stories until I was in my early thirties. I had ignored them for a long time, and what I knew about them was that many people believed that Hewitt was actually a young Mycroft Holmes. Then, after I had completed reading the Hewitt Canon, I was amazed to walk away with the feeling that I hadn’t been reading about Mycroft at all. Instead, the stories seemed to be more about a younger Sherlock Holmes.

It became my theory was that Hewitt’s adventures were actually Holmes’s early investigations while Holmes was living in Montague Street, circa 1876. These adventures were narrated by Brett, Holmes’s journalist neighbor. Later, from 1891-93, when Watson’s stories were taking the world by storm in The Strand, Brett chose to write up his own experiences with the younger Consulting Detective. However, when he tried to publish them, through his own literary agent, Arthur Morrison, he was stopped for some reason, and forced to change Holmes’s name to Hewitt so that publication could proceed.

In September 2013, MX threw a book-signing party for the release of Volume II of The Papers at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street in London. I was there on my incredible Holmes Pilgrimage, and whenever I was back in London during that trip, I stayed at that hotel. Before the signing, I was standing around talking with several MX authors, including Roger Johnson of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. Someone mentioned Hewitt, and it led me to share with Roger and the others my theory that Hewitt was really Holmes. The idea wasn’t ridiculed, and that put the seed in my head to think about editing and publishing all twenty-five of the Hewitt stories as Holmes tales. I had already converted some of them for my own benefit, keeping them in a binder in my collection. When I floated the idea to Roger Johnson, and then Steve Emecz, they were both encouraging, and I finished the conversions.

As I pointed out in the introductions to the books, other people have already been converting old non-Holmes stories into Holmes narratives for quite a while. A man named Alan Lance Andersen edited The Affairs of Sherlock Holmes a few years ago, where different non-series Sax Rohmer stories were reworked as Holmes adventures. Several times over the last year or so, some anonymous editor has begun republishing the Dr. Thorndyke mysteries as e-books on Amazon, retold as Holmes stories. The part that I don’t like about that particular conversion is that the anonymous editor insists on indicating that these new versions are by Arthur Conan Doyle and/or John Hamish Watson, with no mention at all of the fact that R. Austin Freeman actually wrote the original Thorndyke stories. For these Hewitt conversions, I tried to make sure that Morrison got all the credit for these stories.

Some other examples of character-switching include the British ITV series Marple, which has taken non-Miss Marple stories by Agatha Christie and converted them into episodes featuring that character. A year or so ago, someone took non-Holmes stories and turned them into BBC radio scripts for a series called The Rivals, wherein different detectives such as Dupin and the Thinking Machine are each aided by Lestrade. And another fellow, (me, actually) took a non-Nero Wolfe Rex Stout story a year or so ago and re-wrote it for the The Gazette (the Nero Wolfe “Wolfe Pack” official journal) as a Nero Wolfe tale – well, actually an Archie Goodwin tale, since Wolfe doesn’t appear in it at all. Several other people have done the same thing with conversions of some of Stout’s other non-Wolfe works over the years.

By changing Hewitt to Holmes, I don’t mean in any way to diminish or take away from Morrison or Martin Hewitt, but I have always read the Hewitt stories as Holmes stories anyway, so I thought that I would enjoy it this way, and maybe other people would as well. I appreciate all of the positive comments and kind reviews that I’ve received related to this project.

3. You have been working on a complete timeline of Sherlock Holmes which includes all of his appearances, even in pastiches. This, in my opinion, is an amazing database of information. How long has this taken you to create, and will we ever get a chance to see it in print?

You’re referring to the fact that I’ve been working on a Complete Holmes Chronology, including both Canon and pastiches, since the mid-1990’s, and even though in the end it’s an impossible task, it’s really changed the way I read about Our Heroes. It also helps to somewhat explain my passion, why I wanted to get to England for so long on a Holmes Pilgrimage, and why it was almost a religious experience for me to actually go last year and visit all of those Holmes-related sites after the way that I’ve lived in that world for so long.

The way this all began is that I started collecting pastiches around the same time that I started reading Holmes, when I was a ten-year-old in the mid-1970’s. I didn’t much care about the difference between what Doyle was presenting and what other people produced, as long as it seemed authentic. I kept buying the pastiches whenever I found them, as I had learned that if you didn’t grab one when it was in front of you, it might be gone forever. I would go to the bookstore with the plan in mind to purchase some book, but if I found an unexpected Holmes volume instead, I jettisoned Plan A and bought the Holmes book.

In the mid-1990’s, I was in my early 30’s and had gone back to school for a second degree in Civil Engineering (since the Federal Agency where I was an investigator actually shut down,) and it was at that school where I really discovered the internet for the first time. This allowed me to track down tons of Holmes fan-fictions, as well as many other Holmes books that I never would have known about otherwise. (It helps that my wife is a reference librarian, who taught me very good research methods. Living in eastern Tennessee, sometimes it takes extra effort to find Holmes-related items.) That was when I really devoted myself to collecting and reading Holmes pastiches on a much more dedicated level. I had been collecting them for years, but I found that I kept re-reading the Canon and the same few favorite pastiches over and over again, and there were a lot that I’d never touched after I bought them and put on the shelves. I finally decided to dive in and read every Holmes story that I had accumulated up to that point.

At the time, I was working some really awful night jobs while going to school during the day, but at least I could do homework there when the work slowed down. I would finish my school work, and then read about Holmes. Soon, I started noticing patterns in stories, and I began to make notes, keeping them, along with relevant British maps, in a small binder that I carried everywhere with me. I was organizing the stories by year, and how they related to the Baring-Gould chronology. (If I repeatedly refer back to Baring-Gould, it’s because I first read his biography of Holmes soon after I started reading the original stories – in fact, before I had even read all of the Canon – so as I’ve mentioned, it was very influential on me. I don’t believe quite everything that he wrote, but I accept a lot of it, such as Watson’s first wife Constance, the relationship with Irene Adler that produced Nero Wolfe as a son, many of the chronological dates, and Holmes and Watson’s death dates in 1957 and 1929, respectively. It makes for a great jumping-off place.) After I finished randomly reading through every traditional Holmes story that I had at the time, I noticed that I had constructed my own rough chronology. I wasn’t finished visiting in that world yet, so I started re-reading again, this time in the chronological order that I had roughly constructed, based upon my notes.

It was amazing for me to see that there was some kind of overall pattern to all the pastiches. I called it the Great Watsonian Oversoul, where pastiche "editors" from many different years all seemed to be tapping into the whole. For instance, (and this is not a literal example, although I often saw things like this), a pastiche written in the 1930's by one author might be about a crime in Edinburgh in a certain month and year. Another pastiche, written in the 1970's by another author, might be set in the same month and year, and refer to recent events in Edinburgh. I'm certain that the second "editor" of Watson’s notes had probably never heard of the first "editor", but somehow he/she unknowingly referenced that early work in passing and the bigger picture was tied together. I have seen many instances of this.

After reading all these pastiches for so long, I can see a Whole Gestalt Holmes, covering the entire lives of Holmes and Watson. For example, I have several hundred stories (including fan-fics, etc.) set before Holmes even gets to Montague Street in the 1870’s. And the number of stories set post-retirement is staggering. I prefer Classic 1880’s most of all, but I’ll take whatever I can get. I’m on my fifth full complete re-read of everything that I have about Holmes in chronological order – that includes novels, short stories, movies, TV and radio episodes, scripts and comics, fan-fics, and whatever else I can find, so it takes a while to do the complete re-read, (especially when one also goes back and fits in new Holmes stuff as it appears or comes up for sale into the chronological years that one has just previously read about), and one also reads many other things, like Game of Thrones, in order to make one’s son happy, and one also has real-life things going on, but luckily if one is a fast reader, but not a skimmer, one can actually retain it all fairly well – and by reading everything I have regarding Holmes in that way, I get a complete and overwhelming sense of the lives of Our Heroes. By the time one starts getting to 1929, when Watson dies, and 1957, when Holmes dies at 103-years (having lived that long thanks to Royal Jelly!) it is actually somewhat emotional. And then I turn around and start again, with a fan-fiction telling how Siger met Violet, (Holmes’s parents) in the 1840’s.

With all the new items constantly appearing and being worked into my rereading, I can’t imagine how long it might take if I ever finish this pass through and start over yet again. My reading is definitely slowing down as I get older – I’m 49 now, and get sleepy too quickly. And there is so much to read. I currently have over 2,000 volumes, many of them pastiches, in my collection. I also have over 100 fat binders filled with fan-fictions, and other items that aren’t available in book form.

I keep reading and re-reading about Holmes over the years, simply because I always like to be in the world of Holmes somehow. I read other books about other completely different characters concurrently, but there is always a Holmes book with me. (For instance, I always bring some Holmes narrative to work and read it during lunch. Today it’s was an amazing fan-fiction novel called A Case of Insanity by an author who writes under the nom-de-plume of Westron Wynde. Right now I’m also reading an Ellery Queen radio play, and Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers.) Eventually, as I kept rereading the complete Canon each time, (and not just the very limited original sixty-story Canon,) I began to formalize my Chronology more and more and keep it as a Word document. As I said, I'm now on my fifth re-read of the Canon and every pastiche that I have. I’m currently up through mid-1897 this time, fitting in new stories as I buy or find them, and constructing Version 5.0 of the Chronology.

One has to make a few assumptions with the Chronology. The first is that Holmes was much busier than he and Watson let on in the Canon. It seems that nearly everyone’s pastiche starts with Holmes not having had any work for weeks, lying around whinging and cocaine-ing. In fact, if all these pastiches are to be believed – and I try to believe and work in every traditional one that I can – then Holmes and Watson were involved in a lot of concurrent cases. (This is the theme of my latest book of five stories, hopefully to be published next year: Holmes is in one case when another intrudes, or two take place concurrently, etc.) This idea actually works out when you read the stories. In any given adventure, the only recorded events of a certain day might be a 15-minute conversation taking place during a chapter or two over breakfast or late at night, and that conversation is actually all that is presented for that day. What else happened during that day? Probably some of the events of another pastiche, which Watson separated out when writing so as not to confuse the particular narrative that he is relating.

Part of keeping the Chronology is looking for obvious temporal clues sprinkled throughout the stories, such as mentions of specific dates, seasons, months, days of the week, or even phases of the moon. Sometimes, editors of Watson’s papers are a wee bit careless, saying that a certain specific date is a Monday, when a cursory examination of a Perpetual Calendar reveals that it’s really a Thursday. When they do that, they throw the whole dating of that particular adventure wide open and into question. If that statement is incorrect, how trustworthy are other given chronological facts?


I try to include every legitimate pastiche within the Chronology, unless it is too AU, too supernatural, too offensive (such as making Holmes or Mycroft or Watson or Irene Adler into The Ripper), anything slash, or something that’s just plain awful. Sometimes I have to "bend" the stories a little - or a lot - to make them fit, (as I said I do with the Mary Russell books by Laurie R. King – as I’ll explain soon,) by making a note in the Chronology about how this or that is “Incorrect” and doesn't fit with the big picture and the established facts. I excuse these narrative inconsistencies by believing that Watson intentionally obfuscated some things, or was careless, or that maybe even the "editors" of Watson's notes were careless, or possibly had their own agendas that they laid on top of Watson's original rough outlines and notes. For example, author Peter Tremayne, (a pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis,) tries to make every person in the Canon Irish. Sherlock and Mycroft? Irish. He states that Mycroft actually works for the Irish Government and not the British Government. Mrs. Hudson? Irish. Sherlock and Mycroft went to University in Ireland. And so on. Tremayne obviously has his own axe to grind about the Irish issue, and when I read his stories I am forced to note that, while the essential matters related to the events are correct, Tremayne has this Irish part “Incorrect”, having grafted his own agenda onto Watson’s original notes.

As mentioned, the Mary Russell books by Laurie R. King are excellent, but they take some serious rationalization as well. I’ve always liked the King books, but I don’t believe her assertion that Holmes and Mary Russell were married – with him in his sixties, and she a fifteen-year-old when they met. Several years ago, I emailed Laurie King about my theory that Russell was, in fact, insane, and had imagined the whole marriage to Holmes. Ms. King was politely tolerant, and seemed to be glad that someone was playing The Game with her books. She even put my theory on her website, and her fans, sadly, weren’t so tolerant. Then, I “discovered” a story about Mary Russell’s delusions called “Descent Into Madness”, which is free on-line as a fan-fiction since it involves her copyrighted character. This narrative helps to smooth over that pesky marriage problem, and allows me to enjoy reading the Russell books at their chronologically-appropriate location. Several Sherlockians really liked this story. Roger Johnson of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London wrote in “The District Messenger” that it was a neat solution to the marriage problem. A noted Sherlockian emailed me privately and said that he couldn’t read the Russell books now without thinking of my theory. Another Sherlockian who runs a major Holmes website told me that he’d lost patience with Russell a long time ago and that this was a good use of my time. Here is the link to the story, if anyone would care to read it:

http://www.sherlock-holmes.com/Marcum...

As I said earlier, another assumption with the Chronology that I use is to take most – but not all - of Baring-Gould's chronology as a jumping-off point. This helps nail down a framework to build this thing on. So if a pastiche incorrectly has Watson living in Paddington during the time when he should be in Kensington, I note it in my chronology. Maybe someone compliments Watson on a recent story in The Strand, even though the narrative in which the compliment takes place occurs in the 1880’s, years before The Strand is even in existence. (Many “editors” of Watson’s notes don’t seem to realize that Watson didn’t start publishing in The Strand until 1891, and that after 1893, he didn’t publish there again until 1903.) Perhaps a story indicates that Watson is staying in Baker Street during a time when he is definitely married. Is his wife traveling? Does this story take place at the same time as another story where Watson is staying in Baker Street while he’s married? Maybe these two stories fit together somehow. It might tend to offend some "editors" of Watson’s notes that I have disagreed with them and specific statements in the stories, and that I’ve marked things as “Incorrect” when dating their stories or correcting what doesn’t fit, but after all, a chronology like this is a very subjective thing.

In any case, I have thought over the years that I might try someday to have the Chronology published, although it is always a living work in progress. I have many, and probably all, of the “official” chronologies (Baring-Gould, Bell, Brend, Zeisler, Hall, etc.) that have been published specifically about the stories in the Canon, but the only thing I've ever seen like my pastiche chronology was in the back of The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, in which editor Mike Ashley attempted to fit the limited number of pastiches in that particular volume into a larger Canonical chronology.

Another rationalization that occurs when placing various cases in the Chronology involves sorting the different narratives of famous unrecorded cases. For example, there are a lot of pastiches about Huret, the Boulevard Assassin. Why so many? Don’t they contradict one another? I believe that in 1894 Holmes rooted out a whole nest of Hurets. Multiple investigations regarding multiple Hardens, the tobacco millionaires? Holmes helped a lot of tobacco millionaires in that year, and Watson simply changed all their names in his notes to Harden to preserve their anonymity. There were a lot of Giant Sumatran Rats and Red Leeches and Canary Trainers over the years, too.

And Jack the Ripper? I have a few dozen or more Holmes vs. Ripper stories...and I think that almost all of them are true, (as I’ll explain soon….) Holmes-versus-The Ripper may be what prodded me into reading more of the Holmes books in the first place. Not long after I acquired my first Holmes book, but before I read any of it, I saw a piece of A Study in Terror on television, so that was my first experience with Holmes was his encounter with The Ripper. That movie was also what prodded me into going ahead and reading that one Holmes book that I owned, and look where that has taken me.

Not long after that, I read Baring-Gould’s Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, with its identification of the killer as Athelney Jones. I’m not even sure that I had read Sign yet or knew who Jones was, so identifying him as the Ripper wasn’t as much of a shock to me as it might have been. Later, when I saw Murder by Decree in 1979, which was my first complete Holmes film, in a theater with my dad – a great memory – I was confused that yet someone else was being identified as The Ripper. It was one of my first experiences in seeing that there were alternate versions of Holmes’s cases.

Somewhere in that time period – since I wasn’t too discriminating in those days, reading what I could find – I made my way through Dibdin’s The Last Sherlock Holmes Story (1978) and realized that people could write things about Holmes that were horribly, sickeningly wrong too.

Over the years, as I constructed my day-by-day and sometimes hour-by-hour chronology, the most challenging part has been the fall of 1888. When reading all the different and conflicting versions of the Holmes’s encounters with The Ripper, I came to the startling conclusion that any one of these versions isn't more true than the others, but in fact they are all true – well, only Chapters 1-4 of The Last Sherlock Holmes Story are true, as the rest of that one was an abomination and clearly written by Moriarty to besmirch Holmes’s reputation. Each version of Holmes-versus-The Ripper is one of many tiny separated parts of a much bigger overall truth. The fall of 1888 was clearly Holmes's finest hour, with The Hound, Sign, and many other cases all twined around saving England from the massive Ripper conspiracy.

When it was all over, in late November ‘88, Holmes and Mycroft certainly met together at the Diogenes Club and decided that instead of leaving a vacuum of no information – since they couldn’t reveal the real truth – they would control the facts by releasing the whole story in many separate and apparently contradictory pieces, each its own complete and self-contained narrative naming a different Ripper. Some parts of what happened during the massive investigation Watson didn't even know about. For example, in The Mycroft Memoranda, the truth about one of the many Rippers in the conspiracy is even kept from Watson....

After I was fitting everything together about the fall of ‘88, I didn’t want to throw out the Baring-Gould chapter about the Ripper investigation, even though it clearly indicated that Athelney Jones was the Ripper, a solution with which I did not agree. So, in one of the ways that I rationalize these things to include a story in the Chronology, I decided that Athelney Jones didn’t really do it. He knew that in some way the Crown was implicated, so he threw himself on the sword and tried to seem as if he were the Ripper. Later, in a scene not recorded by Baring-Gould, Jones was bawled out for being an idiot and sent back to work, which is why he appears in several post-1888 pastiches. (Apparently, he’s going to be a main character in Anthony Horowitz’s new book Moriarty, being released this fall, and set soon after Reichenbach in 1891. Interestingly, or strangely, he’s described as “Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and deduction.” I don’t know if he’s a devoted student – he certainly wasn’t back in 1888 – but maybe he came around after he was shown some mercy following his Ripper debacle.)

After seeing how complicated the Chronology for the fall of 1888 becomes, with some books broken down literally paragraph by paragraph, it is easy to realize that the Ripper investigation was truly Holmes's finest hour.

So sometimes I think about publishing this “Whole Art of Detection”, but it would be huge, and very subjective, possibly divisive, a formatting nightmare, and as I wrote earlier, “impossible,” because it’s a never-ending project that gets updated daily as I read and add new material. And yet, I wouldn’t trade how much extra enjoyment it’s given me while visiting Holmes’s world.

4. You are one of the most learned and well-read Holmes followers that I know. If you could recommend one must have pastiche that every Holmes fan should read, which would it be? What makes this book stand out?

The possibilities for this question are so overwhelming that I could write another essay, but I’ll actually try and limit my answer. There are so many excellent “editors” of Watson’s notes out there, and I could quickly construct a massive list of not-to-be-missed cases. But after thinking about this for several days, I keep coming back to the same story as an excellent example, an oldie but a goody, “The Adventure of the Deptford Horror” by Adrian Conan Doyle. Even after all these years, I can still feel the mood and atmosphere of this one, and the ending is still terrifying in its quiet way.

I won’t give away too much about it to those who haven’t discovered it yet, but it’s obviously derivative of another famous Canon story. Still, in some ways it is better than that original story.

When I first started collecting Holmes pastiches, I was very fortunate to discover a copy of The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Adrian Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur’s son, and John Dickson Carr. “The Deptford Horror” is one of the stories in the latter half of the book, supposedly written completely by Adrian Conan Doyle after Carr dropped out of the project, either due to ill health, as mentioned in the book’s introduction, or possibly for less pleasant reasons. In any case, the younger Doyle does an incredible job, and I really wish that he’d “edited” more of Watson’s works.

There are so many great pastiche practitioners, both now and in the past, and it’s so hard to pick one out, but for right now this is my answer, and I’ll stick to it. For right now….

5. What are your current projects?

There are several things going on right now. First and foremost, I recently finished “editing” the latest book of Holmes short stories, and plans are that MX will publish it next spring. I just need to give it a final run-through, and then I’ll let my wife have a look at it.

I was very fortunate to be able to contribute two essays to the most recent issue of The Solar Pons Gazette http://www.solarpons.com/Annual_2014_... , and I’ve written a couple of original Pons stories for inclusion in next year’s Gazette as well. Bob Byrne, the editor of the Gazette, is planning a new on-line collection of Pons stories, and I was much honored that he asked me to participate. They are titled “The Adventure of the Doctor’s Box” and “The Adventure of the Distasteful Society”. (As I mentioned in the last interview questions, if you don’t know Solar Pons yet, you should!)

Imagination Theatre just broadcast my second script, “The Singular Affair at Sissinghurst Castle,” based on a story in my first book. They produced my first script, “The Terrible Tragedy of Lytton House” last year. For those of you who don’t know, Imagination Theater provides an hour of syndicated radio entertainment each week across the country and on the web, in the classic style. They have various rotating series characters, such as Harry Nile, Hilary Caine, and even Raffles the Gentleman Thief, as well as non-series shows classified as “Movies For Your Mind.” But best of all, for Sherlockians they provide incredible stories faithful to the true Canonical Holmes.

I understand that both of these scripts are scheduled to be published in forthcoming issues of a respected Sherlockian journal next year, but I won’t count those chickens quite yet. I’ve been working on the next script for Imagination Theatre. Finally, I’ve submitted a new pastiche to hopefully be included in a major Holmes collection that is being released next year. I’m waiting to hear back and see if I made the cut on that one. If the story isn’t used, I can always use it in a new collection of Holmes stories. I’m already getting the itch to write more of them – I mean “edit” more of Watson’s notes – and the last collection of new stuff hasn’t even been proofed by my wife yet.

6. Any last thoughts?

I’d just like to thank you for the chance to answer these questions, and for you allowing me to take all of this space to follow these Holmesian thoughts down their different rabbit holes. Trying to figure out how to explain in a somewhat linear fashion how much I enjoy the stories – all of the stories! – and also how much I admire the characters of Holmes and Watson has been a lot of fun. It’s really an incredible time to be a Sherlockian, and I’m very proud and lucky to be able to add a little bit to it, in the company of so many great people.

David Marcum welcomes readers to contact him with questions or comments via his e-mail address at thepapersofsherlockholmes@gmail.com. For a complete list of Mr. Marcum's Sherlockian publications through MX, please go to (http://tinyurl.com/nvo2fbs).

Sherlockian Author Derrick Belanger's publications include an eclectic mix: book reviews, articles for education journals, short stories, poems, comic books, and the graphic novel, Twenty-Three Skidoo! A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: The second book in the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes series entitled Attack of the Violet Vampire, The pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Cthulhu, the teaching guide How to Teach Like Sherlock Holmes, and the historical analysis The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Ultimate Edition, as well as several projects in the Science Fiction genre. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis. Visit Mr. Belanger's Amazon page at http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange...