Sherlock Holmes pastiche recommendations?
October 4, 2010 5:43 PM Subscribe
I am interested in any recommendations on Sherlock Holmes pastiches. I finished a few Jack the Ripper-related stories (_The Last Sherlock Holmes Story_, and _The Whitechapel Horrors_) and would like your suggestions. I am not a big fan of Laurie King, though. The game is afoot!
A quick search on the Internet Archive will give you a good dive into the audio and video fun stuff.
John Stanley - Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula
Rathbone
Tom Conway
posted by strixus at 5:55 PM on October 4, 2010
John Stanley - Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula
Rathbone
Tom Conway
posted by strixus at 5:55 PM on October 4, 2010
I'd recommend Mark Frost's The List of Seven. Excellent bit of alt-history fiction that posits a meeting between Arthur Conan Doyle and a fellow named Jack Sparks, a real-life inspiration for his eventual Sherlock Holmes. Along the adventure's way, he encounters Bram Stoker, Madame Blavatsky, and several other figures from this re-imagined Victorian Era. If you like it, a sequel awaits.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:57 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by grabbingsand at 5:57 PM on October 4, 2010
Neil Gaiman has a fun Holmes-meets-Lovecraft short story, A Study in Emerald (pdf link).
posted by firefleet at 5:59 PM on October 4, 2010 [5 favorites]
posted by firefleet at 5:59 PM on October 4, 2010 [5 favorites]
Best answer: In Roger Zelazny's book "A Night in the Lonesome October" one of the characters is called "The Great Detective".
The main character in that book is Snuff, the dog familiar of Jack (the Ripper). Other characters include The Count (Dracula), The Good Doctor (Frankenstein), The Experiment Man (Frankenstein's Monster), and Larry Talbot (aka Lawrence Talbot, the Wolfman). There's also the Mad Monk, who seems to be Rasputin.
Anyway, The Great Detective is a middling-important supporting character in the story who shows up after a police officer is murdered. He ends up making an important contribution to the denouement, in perhaps his most surprising disguise of his entire career.
It's one of my favorite Zelazny books. (Partly because it includes illustrations by Gahan Wilson.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:23 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
The main character in that book is Snuff, the dog familiar of Jack (the Ripper). Other characters include The Count (Dracula), The Good Doctor (Frankenstein), The Experiment Man (Frankenstein's Monster), and Larry Talbot (aka Lawrence Talbot, the Wolfman). There's also the Mad Monk, who seems to be Rasputin.
Anyway, The Great Detective is a middling-important supporting character in the story who shows up after a police officer is murdered. He ends up making an important contribution to the denouement, in perhaps his most surprising disguise of his entire career.
It's one of my favorite Zelazny books. (Partly because it includes illustrations by Gahan Wilson.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:23 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
August Derleth's Solar Pons has more stories than Doyle's original, apparently. Can't speak for their quality, though - and Derleth's reputation is both as a fine encourager of talent and a piggybacker on the ideas of others. Needless to say, YMMV.
posted by Sparx at 6:26 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by Sparx at 6:26 PM on October 4, 2010
I came in to mention the List of Seven and the Six Messiahs. I'm just heartbroken that he hasn't continued the series.
posted by librarianamy at 6:31 PM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by librarianamy at 6:31 PM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you don't have a knee-jerk aversion to the idea of Holmes and Watson (or Lestrange, or Moriarty, or whomever) indulging in some same-sex smoldering, there are some truly fantastic fanfic stories out there that often have really entertaining plots. The smut factor can range from G to NC-17, but there are tons of these stories out there online, and they're all free. The writing quality can actually be pretty damn good.
posted by Asparagirl at 7:05 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by Asparagirl at 7:05 PM on October 4, 2010
Best answer: Have you looked at wikipedia's list of Non-canonical Sherlock Holmes works?
posted by fings at 7:05 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by fings at 7:05 PM on October 4, 2010
Seconding The List of Seven. If you like H.P. Lovecraft there's also Shadows Over Baker Street, a collection of short stories intermingling Doyle's characters with the Lovecraft mythos.
posted by usonian at 7:23 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by usonian at 7:23 PM on October 4, 2010
P.H. Cannon wrote some Wodehouse meets Lovecraft. The book is available as Scream for Jeeves and The Lovecraft Papers.
short story titles:
Cats, Rats, and Bertie Wooster
Something Foetid
The Rummy Affair of Young Charlie
They are pretty good.
posted by pseudonick at 7:45 PM on October 4, 2010 [3 favorites]
short story titles:
Cats, Rats, and Bertie Wooster
Something Foetid
The Rummy Affair of Young Charlie
They are pretty good.
posted by pseudonick at 7:45 PM on October 4, 2010 [3 favorites]
Hrm, I got offtrack. Though serendipitously the Lovecraft Papers does include an essay reflecting on the similarities between Wodehouse, Lovecraft, and Doyle.
posted by pseudonick at 7:48 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by pseudonick at 7:48 PM on October 4, 2010
My favorite non-Conan-Doyle Holmes story is Caleb Carr's The Italian Secretary.
posted by mmoncur at 7:57 PM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by mmoncur at 7:57 PM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Last correction of the night. The Lovecraft Papers starts with a story called Pulptime where Holmes meets a fictionalized HP Lovecraft and helps him track down a set of stolen documents. I liked it though I think I missed much of the Sherlock Holmes stuff, I was there for the Wodehouse and Lovecraft.
posted by pseudonick at 8:05 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by pseudonick at 8:05 PM on October 4, 2010
It's another Jack the Ripper theme, but I loved the movie "Murder by Decree". James Mason as Watson is wonderful.
posted by angiep at 9:18 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by angiep at 9:18 PM on October 4, 2010
Stephen Fry wrote a very sweet Holmes pastiche as a Christmas story for a UK magazine years ago. You can find it in his book Paperweight.
posted by greycap at 10:10 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by greycap at 10:10 PM on October 4, 2010
Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind is one of the best Sherlock Holmes pastiches I've ever read.
posted by thomas j wise at 1:49 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by thomas j wise at 1:49 AM on October 5, 2010
Response by poster: I was fortunate enough to catch the Mark Frost List of Seven books as well as the movie Murder by Decree but will have to investigate many other suggestions here...thanks..and feel free to keep posting. I also need to snag the DVD A Study in Terror that is being released this month or so.
posted by snap_dragon at 4:42 AM on October 5, 2010
posted by snap_dragon at 4:42 AM on October 5, 2010
Neil Gaiman's Holmes/Lovecraft mashup A Study in Emerald
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:00 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:00 PM on October 5, 2010
Damn it. Preview fail - Firefleet beat me to it.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:02 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:02 PM on October 5, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dilettante at 5:52 PM on October 4, 2010 [4 favorites]