I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

[eldritchhobbit]

I'm off on the first of my three trips over this next three-week period. *waves* See you soon! I hope all is well with you, my friends.


FYI, an update about reading Sherlock Holmes pastiches...

More than a year ago, I asked for recommendations of Sherlock Holmes pastiches and received great replies. (Thank you!) I waited until I'd finished going through all of Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical Holmesian writings in order, but now I've embarked on my pastiche reading. I'm still only "baby steps" into the project, but I thought I'd list the novels I've read thus far, ranked in order from my most favorite to my least favorite. My reviews are general, and though they may contain a few spoilers about the premise of a given work, they don't give away any twist endings or key surprises.

There are new entries on my list since the last time I posted an update (and a new title since my general post last week, as well)!



Novels

Most Favorite Novel Thus Far:
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye (2009)
Read my review.

The Mycroft Memoranda by Ray Walsh (1985)
Read my review.

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin (1978)
Read my review.

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz (2011)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Innsmouth Whaler by Christian Klaver (2010)
Read my review.

The Whitechapel Horrors by Edward B. Hanna (1992)
Read my review.

Time for Sherlock Holmes by David Dvorkin (1983)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes and the Seven Deadly Sins Murders by Barry Day (2002)
Read my review.

The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer (1976)
Read my review.

The Seven-Percent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer (1974)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes and the Apocalypse Murders by Barry Day (2001)
Read my review.

The Canary Trainer: From the Memoirs of John H. Watson by Nicholas Meyer (1993)
Read my review.

Lestrade and the Ripper by M.J. Trow (1999)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories by John Taylor (2010)
Read my review.


I had difficulty ranking the "middling books" that I quite liked, from The Adventure of the Innsmouth Whaler down to The Apocalypse Murders; on any given day, I might rearrange those a bit. I'd recommend all of these except Trow's and Taylor's to fans of Holmes in general, but I'd still recommend Taylor's to those specifically who are fans of Benedict Cumberbatch.


Collections

The Thames Horror and Other Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Barbara Roden (2011)
Read my review.

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by John Joseph Adams (2009)
Read my review.

Next up: I'm still working on the collection Sherlock Holmes in Orbit, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (1995).


Related Works

Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle by Daniel Stashower (1999)
Read my review.

The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective's Greatest Cases by E.J. Wagner (2006)
Read my review.


Other

In the novella/novelette category, I've read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Adventure of the Elusive Emeralds" (in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #4), "The Adventure of the Haunted Bagpipes" (in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #5), and "The Book of Tobit" (in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #6), all by Carla Coupe (aka beledibabe). Highly recommended!


In parting, in honor of this brilliant casting news re: Doctor Who...


see more Set Phasers To Lol


"Have you ever seen a ship with ports at the bottom of the hull, Watson?"
- Christian Klaver, Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Innsmouth Whaler