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alt.sherlock.holmes #1 (All the Single Ladies)
Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets
The world's most famous detective, as you've never seen him before!
This is Sherlock Holmes as you've never seen him before: as an architect in a sleepy Australian town, as a gentleman in seventeenth-century Worcestershire, as a precocious school girl in a modern British comprehensive. He's dodging his rent in the squalid rooms of the notorious Chelsea Hotel in '68, and preventing a bloody war between the terrible Lords Wizard of a world of fantasy.
Editor David Thomas Moore brings together the finest of celebrated and new talent in SF and Fantasy to create a spectrum of Holmes stories that will confound everything you ever thought you knew about the world's greatest detective.
Featuring fourteen original stories by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Gini Koch, Guy Adams, Ian Edginton, James Lovegrove, Glen Mehn, Jamie Wyman, JE Cohen, Jenni Hill, Joan de la Haye, Kaaron Warren, Kasey Lansdale, and Kelly Hale.
336 pages, ebook
First published October 7, 2014
28 people are currently reading
773 people want to read
About the author
David Thomas Moore
13 books24 followersA lifelong fan of science fiction and fantasy, an avid roleplayer and LRPer, an enthusiastic if unskilled swordfighter and a passable cook, David Thomas Moore is the author of several short stories and one roleplaying supplement, and the editor of a number of anthologies. He is the Fiction Commissioning Editor at Rebellion Publishing.
Born and raised in Australia, he lives in Reading in the UK with his wife and daughter.
Born and raised in Australia, he lives in Reading in the UK with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
May 16, 2016
This collection of Sherlock Holmes stories just didn't work out for me. As a long-time Sherlock Holmes fan did I look forward reading a collection of stories that places the detective in situations one usually doesn't find him in. I love science fiction and the idea of the famous detective tackling more supernatural crimes sounded very interesting.
However, I just didn't find the stories in the collection to be especially memorable or interesting to read. too many of them was just frankly boring to read, with very few of them catching my interest.
So, in the end, this was just not a collection that suited me, there were some stories that were a bit better than the rest, but not really any fantastic stories.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
However, I just didn't find the stories in the collection to be especially memorable or interesting to read. too many of them was just frankly boring to read, with very few of them catching my interest.
So, in the end, this was just not a collection that suited me, there were some stories that were a bit better than the rest, but not really any fantastic stories.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
Read
December 2, 2019Anthology of Holmes/Watson stories shifted in time or place (eg Georgian or 1970s), put into superhero or fantasy settings, etc. IMO the Holmes/Watson pairing very quickly just becomes detective/sidekick out of original context (albeit often very good detective/sidekick), perhaps I don't share the cultural fascination thing.
There are a few inspired riffs in here, particularly Tchaikovsky's fantasy world where Holmes is summoned as a demon (it makes sense, honest) and Adams' version of the pair as cheesy radio show comedians
There are a few inspired riffs in here, particularly Tchaikovsky's fantasy world where Holmes is summoned as a demon (it makes sense, honest) and Adams' version of the pair as cheesy radio show comedians
September 11, 2016
(Actually 324 pages)
An interesting collection of tales, some better than others. A few I would have loved to see in full length novels (Gini Koch's female Sherlock was particulary fun).
A couple of the stories couldn't hold my interest, not bad writing really... just couldn't connect with them.
One was a sci-fi twist with 'more background' on Mrs. Hudson, and a different theory on Sherlock and Moriarty.
Check my statuses if you want a play-by-play, gonna go lay down for awhile.
Would recommend, keep an open mind some of them :)
An interesting collection of tales, some better than others. A few I would have loved to see in full length novels (Gini Koch's female Sherlock was particulary fun).
A couple of the stories couldn't hold my interest, not bad writing really... just couldn't connect with them.
One was a sci-fi twist with 'more background' on Mrs. Hudson, and a different theory on Sherlock and Moriarty.
Check my statuses if you want a play-by-play, gonna go lay down for awhile.
Would recommend, keep an open mind some of them :)
December 10, 2016
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Bravo to Mr. Moore for bringing all of the stories from all of these very talented writers together in this anthology.
Bravo to all of the writers and their stories! I enjoyed every one of them. My status updates list all of the stories and my comment about them or a few words from the text.
Bravo to Mr. Moore for the introduction prior to the story, and the listing and bio of all of the authors at the back of the book.
A female Watson, a female Holmes, M/M, H&W in space, time travel. It is all here. Holmes and Watson stories with a twist, an alternate reality, and a stab at your heartstrings. I can never get enough.
Bravo to Mr. Moore for bringing all of the stories from all of these very talented writers together in this anthology.
Bravo to all of the writers and their stories! I enjoyed every one of them. My status updates list all of the stories and my comment about them or a few words from the text.
Bravo to Mr. Moore for the introduction prior to the story, and the listing and bio of all of the authors at the back of the book.
A female Watson, a female Holmes, M/M, H&W in space, time travel. It is all here. Holmes and Watson stories with a twist, an alternate reality, and a stab at your heartstrings. I can never get enough.
July 29, 2014
a very good selection of short stories featuring Holmes and Watson in a wide range of situation and time periods.
you must push through the stories at the start to get to the gems in the back.
highly recommended to all Sherlock fans, looking for something different.
not one story i read as me rushing out to read any of the authors other works.
this was net gallery arc read.
3.5 stars.
you must push through the stories at the start to get to the gems in the back.
highly recommended to all Sherlock fans, looking for something different.
not one story i read as me rushing out to read any of the authors other works.
this was net gallery arc read.
3.5 stars.
October 18, 2014
Fanfiction is amazing and you should never, never underestimate its ability to impress, despite its oddity and quirks. Think about it. Are you more likely to stay up until four in the morning for a good novel, or a AU about Shelock the barista and John the reluctant med student (I mean, if you could only read one, cause sometimes I'll speed read both.)?
Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. There are thousands upon thousands of stories regarding this legendary pair, among those numbers 3 popular tv shows and a box office hit. Whichever direction the creators take them, they can all agree on one thing: Our brilliant and eccentric detective will always find his brave and loyal doctor, and they will be blessed with a friendship to be envious of. In many ways, we own what we know about this dynamic duo to the revisionists, the writers that tireless try to create something new from something old.
Some features of this anthology include:
Circus AU
Fem!lock
Fourth wall? What fourth wall?
Johnlock
Ghost stories and unsolvable mysteries (yes, even for Sherlock)
Assassination attempts
Elvis
A genius Mrs. Husdon
Time travel
and good ol' deduction from the world's most famous consultant.
Seriously though, if you're a fan of any Holmes works, read this. These are some superbly clever tales professional authors have put together for your enjoyment.
***Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. There are thousands upon thousands of stories regarding this legendary pair, among those numbers 3 popular tv shows and a box office hit. Whichever direction the creators take them, they can all agree on one thing: Our brilliant and eccentric detective will always find his brave and loyal doctor, and they will be blessed with a friendship to be envious of. In many ways, we own what we know about this dynamic duo to the revisionists, the writers that tireless try to create something new from something old.
Some features of this anthology include:
Circus AU
Fem!lock
Fourth wall? What fourth wall?
Johnlock
Ghost stories and unsolvable mysteries (yes, even for Sherlock)
Assassination attempts
Elvis
A genius Mrs. Husdon
Time travel
and good ol' deduction from the world's most famous consultant.
Seriously though, if you're a fan of any Holmes works, read this. These are some superbly clever tales professional authors have put together for your enjoyment.
***Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
December 13, 2015
January is the Great Detective Sherlock Holmes' birthday month. His creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle assigned him the 6th of January 1854 as his birthday and, growing up, I have always celebrated this date in my own special way. This year, he just turned a hundred and sixty-one years old, if you can believe it. That's a century and a half of legacy already!
Because of such a tantalizing breadth of tales, Holmes and his loyal companion, best friend and bibliographer Dr. John Watson have been adapted to film and television throughout the years and these crime-solving partners were most recognizable in the present for the Guy Ritchie films starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, the BBC adaptation Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and, my most favorite of all, Elementary starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as a female version of Watson, Joan.
But my Sherlock Holmes will forever be Jeremy Brett of the Granada series in the late nineties because his performance simply captured the eccentric, bipolar and often callous sleuth whose unquenchable thirst for puzzles and off-putting practices and have alienated him from the rest of the polite Victorian society. Brett's interpretation of the character was eclectic; bursting with energy one moment and brewing in melancholy and lethargy the next. His Holmes might be a logical automaton but his personality was richer and diverse--unpredictable and playful; grim and despairing. It was timeless for me; Doyle's very vision fully realized on television screen and every time I re-read the original books themselves (composed of four novels and fifty-six short stories in total), Jeremy Brett is who I picture.
So to celebrate my Great Detective's birthday for this year, I decided to spend the next four weeks of January reading four Holmesian anthologies written by other authors. My first pick is Two-Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets.
As much as I uphold that Doyle's canon version is the Sherlock Holmes I will forever and dearly hold onto, the editor of this anthology, David Thomas Moore, has a different opinion on the matter. In his introduction, he claimed that the canon itself never appealed to him, most possibly because of the era it was set in and the conventions of the genre that Doyle was writing in. He owed his favorite version of Sherlock Holmes to the "revisionists" of the modern times which is to say he liked his Holmes and Watson in settings and scenarios that hopefully challenge the archetypes they represented for so long, but such stories should still be able to keep their essence and spirit intact in spite of the more liberal interpretations.
In Two-Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets, the fourteen stories Moore has collected for this volume are guaranteed to be quirky, absurd and imaginative with premises and plots that I myself would never even think of which was why my enjoyment was immense while reading each piece because they are mostly speculative fiction in scope (a very underappreciated genre), even if there are a few of them that just didn't work for me.
Looking back, I actually considered ten out of these fourteen to be well-written enough to sustain interest and excitement, if not instantly unforgettable pieces I would like to re-read again. My notable favorites out of these ten are A Woman's Place in which Mrs. Hudson's role as a landlady has more to its appearance and function than what it seems; The Innocent Icarus where Victorian society is majorly composed of people with superpowers while Holmes belongs to the minority of ordinary mortals, and he has to work the old-fashioned way to develop and expand his intellectual acumen; the leisurely creepy The Lantern Men about the metaphorical significance that ghost hauntings become for people who are either hypersensitive or neglectful of their own lives; and, finally, we have Parallels which is a delightfully meta story concerning teenage girl-versions of Holmes and Watson (Charlotte and Jane) where Jane is a fanfiction writer online who weaves slash fics about Sherlock and John (of whom I assume must be the BBC adaptation characters) as a way to cope with her own internal conflict regarding her relationship with Charlotte.
As for the six other stories, I really did find them oddly endearing in some form or another, and these are Half There/All There set in bohemian sixties of New York Cities where Holmes and Watson are lovers, partaking in recreational drugs and small-scale mysteries; The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana in which a celebrity fakes his own death; Sherlock Holmes as a demon summoned by a Chinese scholar to solve petty crimes was featured in The Final Conjuration; the carnival-themed A Scandal in Hobohemia has Holmes living as a psychic in drag named Sanford "Crash" Haus who meets an African American doctor named Jim Walker; A Study in Scarborough where Holmes and Watson are real people who became celebrities because they made a career out of their cases by adapting them into episodes for a radio show; and All the Single Ladies where a female Sherlock Holmes helps John Watson, a doctor working in an all-girls school, from being implicated in a serial rape case.
The other four are The Rich Man's Hand, The Patchwork Killer, The Small World of 221B and Black Alice.
All fourteen stories in general have Sherlock Holmes and John Watson set in alternate universes with plots so convoluted, endlessly confounding and yet surprisingly entertaining that would either intrigue anyone who is open with such self-indulgent fan-fictions or infuriate one who is less inclined to appreciate this thematic anthology as a concept and collection. I fall on the former category. There are just plenty of consecrated awesome moments in a lot of these pieces that I could not get enough of (and even wish there is a sequel for some of them) so I definitely can recommend this.
Regardless, this is still a polarizing volume because, as imaginative as the settings and characterizations are, I could discern that they are mostly written for shock value or for a whimsical effect that may be slightly pandering on a surface level. There aren't enough meat to the stories that you could digest and claim that they're bloody brilliant and substantial.
If you are looking for a collection that features hard-boiled mysteries and conundrums, then this isn't it, so it's up to you if you still want to try it. Otherwise, this was a fun anthology.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
Because of such a tantalizing breadth of tales, Holmes and his loyal companion, best friend and bibliographer Dr. John Watson have been adapted to film and television throughout the years and these crime-solving partners were most recognizable in the present for the Guy Ritchie films starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, the BBC adaptation Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and, my most favorite of all, Elementary starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as a female version of Watson, Joan.
But my Sherlock Holmes will forever be Jeremy Brett of the Granada series in the late nineties because his performance simply captured the eccentric, bipolar and often callous sleuth whose unquenchable thirst for puzzles and off-putting practices and have alienated him from the rest of the polite Victorian society. Brett's interpretation of the character was eclectic; bursting with energy one moment and brewing in melancholy and lethargy the next. His Holmes might be a logical automaton but his personality was richer and diverse--unpredictable and playful; grim and despairing. It was timeless for me; Doyle's very vision fully realized on television screen and every time I re-read the original books themselves (composed of four novels and fifty-six short stories in total), Jeremy Brett is who I picture.
So to celebrate my Great Detective's birthday for this year, I decided to spend the next four weeks of January reading four Holmesian anthologies written by other authors. My first pick is Two-Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets.
As much as I uphold that Doyle's canon version is the Sherlock Holmes I will forever and dearly hold onto, the editor of this anthology, David Thomas Moore, has a different opinion on the matter. In his introduction, he claimed that the canon itself never appealed to him, most possibly because of the era it was set in and the conventions of the genre that Doyle was writing in. He owed his favorite version of Sherlock Holmes to the "revisionists" of the modern times which is to say he liked his Holmes and Watson in settings and scenarios that hopefully challenge the archetypes they represented for so long, but such stories should still be able to keep their essence and spirit intact in spite of the more liberal interpretations.
In Two-Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets, the fourteen stories Moore has collected for this volume are guaranteed to be quirky, absurd and imaginative with premises and plots that I myself would never even think of which was why my enjoyment was immense while reading each piece because they are mostly speculative fiction in scope (a very underappreciated genre), even if there are a few of them that just didn't work for me.
Looking back, I actually considered ten out of these fourteen to be well-written enough to sustain interest and excitement, if not instantly unforgettable pieces I would like to re-read again. My notable favorites out of these ten are A Woman's Place in which Mrs. Hudson's role as a landlady has more to its appearance and function than what it seems; The Innocent Icarus where Victorian society is majorly composed of people with superpowers while Holmes belongs to the minority of ordinary mortals, and he has to work the old-fashioned way to develop and expand his intellectual acumen; the leisurely creepy The Lantern Men about the metaphorical significance that ghost hauntings become for people who are either hypersensitive or neglectful of their own lives; and, finally, we have Parallels which is a delightfully meta story concerning teenage girl-versions of Holmes and Watson (Charlotte and Jane) where Jane is a fanfiction writer online who weaves slash fics about Sherlock and John (of whom I assume must be the BBC adaptation characters) as a way to cope with her own internal conflict regarding her relationship with Charlotte.
As for the six other stories, I really did find them oddly endearing in some form or another, and these are Half There/All There set in bohemian sixties of New York Cities where Holmes and Watson are lovers, partaking in recreational drugs and small-scale mysteries; The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana in which a celebrity fakes his own death; Sherlock Holmes as a demon summoned by a Chinese scholar to solve petty crimes was featured in The Final Conjuration; the carnival-themed A Scandal in Hobohemia has Holmes living as a psychic in drag named Sanford "Crash" Haus who meets an African American doctor named Jim Walker; A Study in Scarborough where Holmes and Watson are real people who became celebrities because they made a career out of their cases by adapting them into episodes for a radio show; and All the Single Ladies where a female Sherlock Holmes helps John Watson, a doctor working in an all-girls school, from being implicated in a serial rape case.
The other four are The Rich Man's Hand, The Patchwork Killer, The Small World of 221B and Black Alice.
All fourteen stories in general have Sherlock Holmes and John Watson set in alternate universes with plots so convoluted, endlessly confounding and yet surprisingly entertaining that would either intrigue anyone who is open with such self-indulgent fan-fictions or infuriate one who is less inclined to appreciate this thematic anthology as a concept and collection. I fall on the former category. There are just plenty of consecrated awesome moments in a lot of these pieces that I could not get enough of (and even wish there is a sequel for some of them) so I definitely can recommend this.
Regardless, this is still a polarizing volume because, as imaginative as the settings and characterizations are, I could discern that they are mostly written for shock value or for a whimsical effect that may be slightly pandering on a surface level. There aren't enough meat to the stories that you could digest and claim that they're bloody brilliant and substantial.
If you are looking for a collection that features hard-boiled mysteries and conundrums, then this isn't it, so it's up to you if you still want to try it. Otherwise, this was a fun anthology.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
August 18, 2018
I am fond of saying that time spent with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson is never wasted. In Two Hundred and Twenty One Baker Streets we see this maxim holds true even in regard to different versions of the same timeless characters. This anthology re-imagines Holmes and Company in different eras, places, genders and sexual orientations. The only story I failed to enjoy was Half There/All There by Glen Mehn-I have never been a big fan of Andy Warhol, and unlike the other stories the essence of the characters seems wholly lacking. This collection was purchased so that I could read the Kasey Lansdale story so let's spend a moment giving that tale a special bit of attention-The Patchwork Killer is fascinating, gruesome, and features a very unique way of transporting Holmes to the modern day. Good stuff.
September 14, 2014
(I received an ARC courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
3.5 stars.
Like most anthologies, this one included interesting stories, and others that didn't impress me much.
It focuses not on the Sherlock Holmes we know, but on other approaches, such as Holmes and Watson in the 70s, or as teenage girls, or in a China-like land of magic. This definitely stretches the canon pretty far, but also allows for something different. I'm quite an avid reader of Doyle's original stories, and I'm always of a mixed opinion regarding that kind of approach: part of me wants to see what else can be done, in alternative universes, while another part always remains wary of what is going to be done to "my" Holmes, because past some point, it's not really Holmes & Watson anymore. I'd deem myself as straddling the fence here.
Mostly I found this collection ranging from average to good, nothing abysmal or excellent. One thing I appreciated here, though, is the way Watson was handled: like a valuable partner to Holmes. I've always disliked when he was shown as a bumbling idiot (which he is really far from being); I didn't get that feeling here. Whether as a drug-dealer in the 60s' New york City or as a magician at the court of a powerful lord, Watson (or Jane, or Wu Tsan...) wasn't some of comic relief, but a character in his/her own right.
On the other hand, for an anthology that wanted itself different, sometimes I thought it could've carried things just a tad bit further, for instance by playing more on the female!Holmes or female!Watson variation, or by exploring other venues than London or the United States, which were often used. Another gripe would be that the mysteries in some of the stories weren't so interesting; a couple of them didn't even have Sherlock solve something.
The ones I liked:
* "The Final Conjuration", in which "Wu Tsan" the magician summons a demon called "The Sherlock" to help him investigate the mysterious death of one of the Seven Wizards of his country. The twist at the end definitely made me grin. Clever, clever Holmes.
* "Parallels", in which "Jane" writes AU Sherlock/Holmes fanfiction she doesn't want her best friend "Charlotte" to see. Nothing really unexpected here, but I have a weak spot for stories that play on tropes, web communities, fanfiction, and/or hint to other books or series. Charlotte also mirrored well enough Holmes's sometimes devious ways of causing clues to pop up.
* "A Woman's Place" also caught my attention for the way it plays on Mrs. Hudson's role as someone who's always here to listen to conversations if she so decides, and why she does it.
* "Half There/All There" if you have at least some knowledge of the 60s' scene and like reading about it, and for its exploration of Watson and Holmes's potential relationshop.
* "The Innocent Icarus" is interesting as well for its worldbuilding: a Victorian setting in which everybody has some kind of special power, and that allows for another type of questioning (i.e. the different reactions of people who're born without powers).
It's not the best anthology I've ever read, and it might deter a reader who's not at ease with stories sometimes veering towards the bizarre and nonsensical, but overall, it was still a pleasant enough read.
3.5 stars.
Like most anthologies, this one included interesting stories, and others that didn't impress me much.
It focuses not on the Sherlock Holmes we know, but on other approaches, such as Holmes and Watson in the 70s, or as teenage girls, or in a China-like land of magic. This definitely stretches the canon pretty far, but also allows for something different. I'm quite an avid reader of Doyle's original stories, and I'm always of a mixed opinion regarding that kind of approach: part of me wants to see what else can be done, in alternative universes, while another part always remains wary of what is going to be done to "my" Holmes, because past some point, it's not really Holmes & Watson anymore. I'd deem myself as straddling the fence here.
Mostly I found this collection ranging from average to good, nothing abysmal or excellent. One thing I appreciated here, though, is the way Watson was handled: like a valuable partner to Holmes. I've always disliked when he was shown as a bumbling idiot (which he is really far from being); I didn't get that feeling here. Whether as a drug-dealer in the 60s' New york City or as a magician at the court of a powerful lord, Watson (or Jane, or Wu Tsan...) wasn't some of comic relief, but a character in his/her own right.
On the other hand, for an anthology that wanted itself different, sometimes I thought it could've carried things just a tad bit further, for instance by playing more on the female!Holmes or female!Watson variation, or by exploring other venues than London or the United States, which were often used. Another gripe would be that the mysteries in some of the stories weren't so interesting; a couple of them didn't even have Sherlock solve something.
The ones I liked:
* "The Final Conjuration", in which "Wu Tsan" the magician summons a demon called "The Sherlock" to help him investigate the mysterious death of one of the Seven Wizards of his country. The twist at the end definitely made me grin. Clever, clever Holmes.
* "Parallels", in which "Jane" writes AU Sherlock/Holmes fanfiction she doesn't want her best friend "Charlotte" to see. Nothing really unexpected here, but I have a weak spot for stories that play on tropes, web communities, fanfiction, and/or hint to other books or series. Charlotte also mirrored well enough Holmes's sometimes devious ways of causing clues to pop up.
* "A Woman's Place" also caught my attention for the way it plays on Mrs. Hudson's role as someone who's always here to listen to conversations if she so decides, and why she does it.
* "Half There/All There" if you have at least some knowledge of the 60s' scene and like reading about it, and for its exploration of Watson and Holmes's potential relationshop.
* "The Innocent Icarus" is interesting as well for its worldbuilding: a Victorian setting in which everybody has some kind of special power, and that allows for another type of questioning (i.e. the different reactions of people who're born without powers).
It's not the best anthology I've ever read, and it might deter a reader who's not at ease with stories sometimes veering towards the bizarre and nonsensical, but overall, it was still a pleasant enough read.
June 5, 2016
It really took me a while to read this anthology and I'm glad that I took a lil time reading it since it's helped with the wait for the next season of Sherlock.
There are 14 short stories, quite very different each one of them, with a very different feel to all of them, and some of them definitely made me watch to check out more of the author's work
All of the short stories in here are well worth the read, each one of the imagining Sherlock in many different ways, but I must confess my favourites were the ones where Sherlock & Holmes were gender swaped or taken into a different era or setting!
We've got Sherlock as part of a carnival where a serial killer was starting his work (one of the creepiest stories), Sherlock as a female investigator and Watson as a doctor that meet through a reality show being filmed, Sherlock & Watson being teenage girls that also write fanfic about Sherlock Holmes. More traditional ones with extra magic added to the setting, Sherlock being conjured as a demon from another plane to help solve the murder case of a magician.
Sherlock with romance, gender swapped or not, LGTBA ones, set in fantasy worlds, in different periods, adding different version of other characters (like Irene Adler), imagining them as actors that played the characters they created... in this anthology there really is something for every single fan of Sherlock Holmes & John Watson!
Very much deserved 4 stars for this anthology!
There are 14 short stories, quite very different each one of them, with a very different feel to all of them, and some of them definitely made me watch to check out more of the author's work
All of the short stories in here are well worth the read, each one of the imagining Sherlock in many different ways, but I must confess my favourites were the ones where Sherlock & Holmes were gender swaped or taken into a different era or setting!
We've got Sherlock as part of a carnival where a serial killer was starting his work (one of the creepiest stories), Sherlock as a female investigator and Watson as a doctor that meet through a reality show being filmed, Sherlock & Watson being teenage girls that also write fanfic about Sherlock Holmes. More traditional ones with extra magic added to the setting, Sherlock being conjured as a demon from another plane to help solve the murder case of a magician.
Sherlock with romance, gender swapped or not, LGTBA ones, set in fantasy worlds, in different periods, adding different version of other characters (like Irene Adler), imagining them as actors that played the characters they created... in this anthology there really is something for every single fan of Sherlock Holmes & John Watson!
Very much deserved 4 stars for this anthology!
December 13, 2021
Most of the stories in this were somewhere between 3 and 4 star-rating for me, some even closer to a 4.5, so I settled on a 4 star rating. It‘s a fun collection of re-imaginations of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson across very different genres and people who like Sherlock Holmes stories will probably enjoy this a lot. I personally, however, realized that collections that focus so singularly on one kind of story/set of characters take me a lot of time to get through. (I generally need longer for short story collections than I need for novels, but this is the one I‘ve needed the longest for yet.)
March 12, 2020
Some people, when asked to write a short story about Sherlock Holmes, reach into their discard pile, change the names and send it off.
August 13, 2020
This is an interesting collection of stories although, inevitably, there are some that I enjoyed more than others. Highlights for me included Kelly Hale’s Black Alice which shifts Sherlock Holmes to the Enlightenment and pits him against the parochial superstitions of seventeenth-century Worcestershire. This felt like a near-perfect setting for the great detective and I would loved to have seen more like this.
Then there was Kaaron Warren’s The Lantern Men which was very dark. If you can imagine Edgar Allen Poe having set a Sherlock Holmes story in Australia, then you have pretty much captured the feel of this story. Emma Newman’s A Woman’s Place imagines a near-future dystopia and explains — rather brilliantly — why he unflappable, ever-present Mrs. Hudson continues to put up with Holmes.
The Small World of 221B by Ian Edginton is an overtly strange story that I found myself enjoying a great deal more than I expected. The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky makes no attempt to re-imagine Holmes, preferring to plonk him unaltered into a high fantasy setting, to brilliant effect.
The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove gives us a Holmes in a world of superheroes and All The Single Ladies by Gini Koch gives a breezily flippant Holmes against a background of reality TV.
And finally, there’s Parallels by Jenni Hill which takes the re-inventing Holmes idea to it’s limit with a pair of teenage girls.
Obviously, other people will respond to different stories differently and will find other highlights. But you have any interest in the idea of a re-imagined Sherlock Holmes, and even if you don’t, this collection is well worth a read.
Then there was Kaaron Warren’s The Lantern Men which was very dark. If you can imagine Edgar Allen Poe having set a Sherlock Holmes story in Australia, then you have pretty much captured the feel of this story. Emma Newman’s A Woman’s Place imagines a near-future dystopia and explains — rather brilliantly — why he unflappable, ever-present Mrs. Hudson continues to put up with Holmes.
The Small World of 221B by Ian Edginton is an overtly strange story that I found myself enjoying a great deal more than I expected. The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky makes no attempt to re-imagine Holmes, preferring to plonk him unaltered into a high fantasy setting, to brilliant effect.
The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove gives us a Holmes in a world of superheroes and All The Single Ladies by Gini Koch gives a breezily flippant Holmes against a background of reality TV.
And finally, there’s Parallels by Jenni Hill which takes the re-inventing Holmes idea to it’s limit with a pair of teenage girls.
Obviously, other people will respond to different stories differently and will find other highlights. But you have any interest in the idea of a re-imagined Sherlock Holmes, and even if you don’t, this collection is well worth a read.
August 29, 2014
Disclosure: I am acquainted with one of the authors featured in this anthology, and received an uncorrected proof for review through NetGalley.
The premise for this collection is certainly simple enough: if Sherlock Holmes as a character can be reimagined in present-day London to such great effect, why shouldn't he (or, in some cases, she) be equally effective in 1960s New York? Or a dystopian future? Or a fantasy world of "illusory Chinamen"? Or (most alien and terrifying of all) the set of a present-day college-girl reality show?
Anthologies tend to fill me with a mixture of anticipation and dread; consistency is a tough thing to achieve when you're showcasing work from multiple authors. But my enthusiasm for recurring archetypes and clever premises overcame my hesitation, and I'm glad it did; the sheer range of creativity demonstrated in these tales is astonishing. J.E. Cohen's "The Speckled Bandana" shines with the trompe l'oeil spirit of the best Holmes stories, wherein the puzzle seems labyrinthine and inscrutable until you're standing in just the right spot. Adrian Tchaikovsky's "The Final Conjuration" boasts both a delightfully creative setting and some wonderful character interplay, with worldbuilding that puts many full-length fantasies to shame. And Guy Adams' "A Study in Scarborough", reimagining our two characters as a BBC double act with a fraught interpersonal past, works as both an homage to classic radio dramas and a genuinely chilling tale of professional dysfunction.
Holmes himself would be the first to point out that the nature of the bell curve means that some of the stories will lag behind the group, and such is certainly the case here; this reader found Joan de la Haye's "The Rich Man's Hand" overwrought and lacking an emotional center. Most frustrating were Glen Mehn's 1960s Warholian New York tale "Half There/All There" and Jamie Wyman's Depression-era circus of "A Scandal in Hobohemia"; both made use of their particular settings to great effect, but felt incomplete. Still, the general quality of the stories featured here is high enough that even the stragglers are interesting.
An unusual and great gift to fans of Holmes and of creative reimaginings; also to lovers of a good mystery story (or several).
The premise for this collection is certainly simple enough: if Sherlock Holmes as a character can be reimagined in present-day London to such great effect, why shouldn't he (or, in some cases, she) be equally effective in 1960s New York? Or a dystopian future? Or a fantasy world of "illusory Chinamen"? Or (most alien and terrifying of all) the set of a present-day college-girl reality show?
Anthologies tend to fill me with a mixture of anticipation and dread; consistency is a tough thing to achieve when you're showcasing work from multiple authors. But my enthusiasm for recurring archetypes and clever premises overcame my hesitation, and I'm glad it did; the sheer range of creativity demonstrated in these tales is astonishing. J.E. Cohen's "The Speckled Bandana" shines with the trompe l'oeil spirit of the best Holmes stories, wherein the puzzle seems labyrinthine and inscrutable until you're standing in just the right spot. Adrian Tchaikovsky's "The Final Conjuration" boasts both a delightfully creative setting and some wonderful character interplay, with worldbuilding that puts many full-length fantasies to shame. And Guy Adams' "A Study in Scarborough", reimagining our two characters as a BBC double act with a fraught interpersonal past, works as both an homage to classic radio dramas and a genuinely chilling tale of professional dysfunction.
Holmes himself would be the first to point out that the nature of the bell curve means that some of the stories will lag behind the group, and such is certainly the case here; this reader found Joan de la Haye's "The Rich Man's Hand" overwrought and lacking an emotional center. Most frustrating were Glen Mehn's 1960s Warholian New York tale "Half There/All There" and Jamie Wyman's Depression-era circus of "A Scandal in Hobohemia"; both made use of their particular settings to great effect, but felt incomplete. Still, the general quality of the stories featured here is high enough that even the stragglers are interesting.
An unusual and great gift to fans of Holmes and of creative reimaginings; also to lovers of a good mystery story (or several).
August 1, 2016
As I made my way through David Thomas Moore's anthology "Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets: An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space" I couldn't help but think 'I wish I had edited this book'. Not because I think it's poorly edited, needed work, or anything like that, but because I'm bloody envious of how good it is while being so far off the beaten track of a typical Sherlock Holmes anthology. Of the 14 stories presented, all of which are more or less 'alternate universe' takes on Holmes and Watson, there is only one clunker, which is mighty impressive given the ease with which most stories could have gone wildly off the rails. Be aware, in some stories you will not find anyone named Sherlock Holmes. This antho isn't about mimicry of ACD's writing style, or structure of stories; it's about characters, iconic characters whose bundle of traits are 'universal' in a literary, not literal, sense, and work in any place or time. I like this book. Its smart. It's challenging. It's an exploration. The concept behind it and the various ideas that drive it, work for me. Easily the best book of Sherlock Holmes related fiction I've read this year.
September 29, 2014
Sherlock Holmes. He's the ubiquitous detective; the first of his kind and a continual inspiration for modern creators. While I’ve read many of the short stories, both for pleasure and for classes, my favourite incarnations are the more recent ones — Robert Downey Junior in the recent Guy Ritchie films and Johnny Lee Miller in the TV show Elementary. They are more gritty, less refined versions of this Victorian detective, unlike the more gentlemanly versions of Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett. A collection of stories centred on reinterpretations of this iconic character and his companions will always be defined by the area of tension between retaining the classic Holmesian characteristics enough to keep it recognisably a Holmes tale and by giving it a unique spin and an author's own flair and flavour. In my opinion, Moore and his contributors have reached a wonderful balance between these elements in the stories contained in Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets, though perhaps a true Sherlock Holmes aficionado, who is more invested in the character, might disagree.
If one looks at the line up Moore has put together, it's interesting to see that of the fourteen tales, nine have been penned by women; this female majority perhaps says something about Moore's editorial choices, but it could also be considered a reflection of the huge fandom that surrounds Sherlock Holmes, a fandom that is seemingly overwhelmingly female if one goes by the fandom encountered on Tumblr. The line up also runs across the genres sheltered underneath the speculative fiction umbrella: fantasy, SF, and horror. And these influences return in all of the stories, mixed with the requisite mystery to solve of course. It makes for an interesting mix and shows that genre mash-ups should be embraced, not feared.
The classic Holmesian tropes and elements suffuse the stories and there are certainly iconic elements and lines that keep popping up, such as the non-canonical, but oft-quoted "Elementary, my dear Watson." The recurring core set of characters has some surprising appearances, with Mrs Hudson showing up far more often than Irene Adler or Moriarity. This surprised me at first, but of course Mrs Hudson is far less defined and detailed than Moriarity and Adler. I also liked how the authors shifted some of the details to the time their story was set in. For example, Watson is always a veteran, but in these stories his service ranges from the Great War to Afghanistan. Of course some stories stuck with me more than others. The stories discussed below were my favourites.
Kaaron Warren - The Lantern Men
Set in Warren’s homeland Australia, The Lantern Men is a haunting ghost story, featuring Holmes and Watson as an architect and a builder, professions that are both unexpected and work unexpectedly well in this tale. I really liked the concept and the horror of the Lantern Men; the fact that their true origins remain nebulous only make them creepier. Warren’s Sherlock, while still peculiar, is far more socially capable than his original predecessor, a fact I enjoyed especially since he is also the narrator for the story.
Emma Newman - A Woman’s Place
I expected to enjoy Newman’s tale as she’s one of my favourite authors, both long and short form, yet A Woman��s Place managed to surprise me and I absolutely loved this story and its close focus on Mrs Hudson and the dynamics between her and Holmes and Watson. Set in a future where we are all constantly connected via a neural implant, Holmes’ eccentric nature has given him an aversion of the technology and he is one of the rare non-connected people around. He is a classic Holmes, though his Watson is a woman, yet she does inhabit Watson’s classic template. Newman creates a complex and devious plot in her story, using all of her words to further this wonderful story.
Guy Adams - A Study in Scarborough
I only recently discovered Guy Adams’ writing through his Clown Service series, which I’m really enjoying so far. So finding a story by him in this anthology, and one of the longer ones at that, was a pleasant surprise. I really liked this rather meta-like tale, where Holmes and Watson the crime fighters where figments of the imagination, the subjects of a radio show written and performed by the actors Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I liked this conceit and the tale Adams has his narrator, Arthur Doyle, uncover was both scurrilous and tragic.
Glen Mehn - Half There/All There
While I’m familiar with some of Andy Warhol’s iconic art, the scene that surrounded him was unknown to me. With his Half There/All There Glen Mehn has shown me a bit of what it was like. His versions of Holmes and Watson are wonderfully imagined and fit the setting and epoch well. Watson’s having turned into a pill-pusher after injuring his shoulder in Vietnam has stopped him practising as a physician was an inventive twist on both Watson’s past as a soldier and the wounds he suffered there and his medical background. There is also an underlying sadness and wistfulness to the connection between Holmes and Watson that I found compelling and very touching.
Gini Koch - All the Single Ladies
Anyone who read that title and didn’t immediately have Beyonce running through their head has been hiding under a rock for the past few years. And it’s exactly that sort of playful referencing of today’s pop culture that made this story such fun. Set in the midst of a reality show on the campus of a women’s college, featuring a female Holmes and a less-than-enthusiastic Watson, Koch's All the Single Ladies is pure entertainment. While Koch’s Sherlock is just as observant and incisive, not to mention sharply witty, she isn’t as cutting or acerbic as many other Holmes’ are — she seems warmer, and frankly more fun to be around. This tale had me smiling from start to finish.
With Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets David Thomas Moore has delivered a great anthology filled with entertaining takes on Holmes and Watson. In his introduction to the book Moore quips that sadly there aren’t really two hundred and twenty-one stories in the book, but I have to confess, I’d gladly have read another fourteen stories if they were as entertaining as the ones contained in this volume. As mentioned above, Holmes purists might have a hard-time with these numerous different takes on the Great Detective and his closest friend, but for anyone with an appreciation for Holmes that isn’t so strict, this is one collection of tales that shows how broad and versatile the field of speculative fiction can be.
This book was provided for review by the publisher.
If one looks at the line up Moore has put together, it's interesting to see that of the fourteen tales, nine have been penned by women; this female majority perhaps says something about Moore's editorial choices, but it could also be considered a reflection of the huge fandom that surrounds Sherlock Holmes, a fandom that is seemingly overwhelmingly female if one goes by the fandom encountered on Tumblr. The line up also runs across the genres sheltered underneath the speculative fiction umbrella: fantasy, SF, and horror. And these influences return in all of the stories, mixed with the requisite mystery to solve of course. It makes for an interesting mix and shows that genre mash-ups should be embraced, not feared.
The classic Holmesian tropes and elements suffuse the stories and there are certainly iconic elements and lines that keep popping up, such as the non-canonical, but oft-quoted "Elementary, my dear Watson." The recurring core set of characters has some surprising appearances, with Mrs Hudson showing up far more often than Irene Adler or Moriarity. This surprised me at first, but of course Mrs Hudson is far less defined and detailed than Moriarity and Adler. I also liked how the authors shifted some of the details to the time their story was set in. For example, Watson is always a veteran, but in these stories his service ranges from the Great War to Afghanistan. Of course some stories stuck with me more than others. The stories discussed below were my favourites.
Kaaron Warren - The Lantern Men
Set in Warren’s homeland Australia, The Lantern Men is a haunting ghost story, featuring Holmes and Watson as an architect and a builder, professions that are both unexpected and work unexpectedly well in this tale. I really liked the concept and the horror of the Lantern Men; the fact that their true origins remain nebulous only make them creepier. Warren’s Sherlock, while still peculiar, is far more socially capable than his original predecessor, a fact I enjoyed especially since he is also the narrator for the story.
Emma Newman - A Woman’s Place
I expected to enjoy Newman’s tale as she’s one of my favourite authors, both long and short form, yet A Woman��s Place managed to surprise me and I absolutely loved this story and its close focus on Mrs Hudson and the dynamics between her and Holmes and Watson. Set in a future where we are all constantly connected via a neural implant, Holmes’ eccentric nature has given him an aversion of the technology and he is one of the rare non-connected people around. He is a classic Holmes, though his Watson is a woman, yet she does inhabit Watson’s classic template. Newman creates a complex and devious plot in her story, using all of her words to further this wonderful story.
Guy Adams - A Study in Scarborough
I only recently discovered Guy Adams’ writing through his Clown Service series, which I’m really enjoying so far. So finding a story by him in this anthology, and one of the longer ones at that, was a pleasant surprise. I really liked this rather meta-like tale, where Holmes and Watson the crime fighters where figments of the imagination, the subjects of a radio show written and performed by the actors Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I liked this conceit and the tale Adams has his narrator, Arthur Doyle, uncover was both scurrilous and tragic.
Glen Mehn - Half There/All There
While I’m familiar with some of Andy Warhol’s iconic art, the scene that surrounded him was unknown to me. With his Half There/All There Glen Mehn has shown me a bit of what it was like. His versions of Holmes and Watson are wonderfully imagined and fit the setting and epoch well. Watson’s having turned into a pill-pusher after injuring his shoulder in Vietnam has stopped him practising as a physician was an inventive twist on both Watson’s past as a soldier and the wounds he suffered there and his medical background. There is also an underlying sadness and wistfulness to the connection between Holmes and Watson that I found compelling and very touching.
Gini Koch - All the Single Ladies
Anyone who read that title and didn’t immediately have Beyonce running through their head has been hiding under a rock for the past few years. And it’s exactly that sort of playful referencing of today’s pop culture that made this story such fun. Set in the midst of a reality show on the campus of a women’s college, featuring a female Holmes and a less-than-enthusiastic Watson, Koch's All the Single Ladies is pure entertainment. While Koch’s Sherlock is just as observant and incisive, not to mention sharply witty, she isn’t as cutting or acerbic as many other Holmes’ are — she seems warmer, and frankly more fun to be around. This tale had me smiling from start to finish.
With Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets David Thomas Moore has delivered a great anthology filled with entertaining takes on Holmes and Watson. In his introduction to the book Moore quips that sadly there aren’t really two hundred and twenty-one stories in the book, but I have to confess, I’d gladly have read another fourteen stories if they were as entertaining as the ones contained in this volume. As mentioned above, Holmes purists might have a hard-time with these numerous different takes on the Great Detective and his closest friend, but for anyone with an appreciation for Holmes that isn’t so strict, this is one collection of tales that shows how broad and versatile the field of speculative fiction can be.
This book was provided for review by the publisher.
February 7, 2019
For over 130 years, Sherlock Holmes has been one of the most popular characters in the English language. As well as the original stories from his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, others have had a go at writing the famous detective and his companion Doctor John Watson. Further, they've taken them out of their original time and place. Perhaps inspired by the successes of Sherlock and Elementary on television, the 2014 anthology Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets see writers moving the duo across time and space. In doing so, they present a glorious celebration of Doyle's creations.
Weirdly, it does so while getting about as far away from the canon as is possible at times. There are stories set in alternative versions of Victorian times, 17th century England, an inter-war traveling carnival, 1970s America, a school in modern day Britain, and into the future. That's to name just a few of the settings to be found among this patchwork of Holmesian yarns from authors both who have written Holmes in his proper timeframe (Guy Adams and James Lovegrove) as well as up and coming authors. It's something that makes it all the better.
Because, if you can put any purist feelings aside (and I sincerely hope you can), you dear reader will find a delightful celebration of Holmes and Watson as well as a number of their famous supporting characters. Or, at the very least, transports their archetypes into those various settings. There are mysteries to be solved involving witchcraft, stolen wax dummies, murders on a college campus, assassinations, ghosts, dystopias, and so much more. There's even an ode to fan fiction, one that tells a neat story while also summing up what makes this volume such an enjoyable read. Even at the most far out, and there's a story here that is in high fantasy for crying out loud, there is something about these characters that make them work no matter the setting.
What's clear at the end of the anthology is that no matter the time or place, their race or gender, Holmes and Watson are always Holmes and Watson. The fourteen stories of this volume are proof if ever it was needed of just why they've endured for so long. Holmes is where the heart is, no matter where in time and space that might be.
Weirdly, it does so while getting about as far away from the canon as is possible at times. There are stories set in alternative versions of Victorian times, 17th century England, an inter-war traveling carnival, 1970s America, a school in modern day Britain, and into the future. That's to name just a few of the settings to be found among this patchwork of Holmesian yarns from authors both who have written Holmes in his proper timeframe (Guy Adams and James Lovegrove) as well as up and coming authors. It's something that makes it all the better.
Because, if you can put any purist feelings aside (and I sincerely hope you can), you dear reader will find a delightful celebration of Holmes and Watson as well as a number of their famous supporting characters. Or, at the very least, transports their archetypes into those various settings. There are mysteries to be solved involving witchcraft, stolen wax dummies, murders on a college campus, assassinations, ghosts, dystopias, and so much more. There's even an ode to fan fiction, one that tells a neat story while also summing up what makes this volume such an enjoyable read. Even at the most far out, and there's a story here that is in high fantasy for crying out loud, there is something about these characters that make them work no matter the setting.
What's clear at the end of the anthology is that no matter the time or place, their race or gender, Holmes and Watson are always Holmes and Watson. The fourteen stories of this volume are proof if ever it was needed of just why they've endured for so long. Holmes is where the heart is, no matter where in time and space that might be.
February 4, 2018
I would really give this a 3.5 if I could. There were some stories I really liked and others that I had to slog through. My favorite stories ( in no particular order) are : all the single ladies, parallels, the innocent Icarus, and the small world of 221B. It was fun to see all of the different Holmes/Watson dynamics and the different settings that each was placed into.
August 7, 2014
Two Hundred and Twenty One Baker Streets is, as the name suggests, an anthology of short stories (only fourteen, sadly, I was hoping it was really two hundred and twenty one) featuring our favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes. The stories flit from genre to genre, location to location, and gender to gender, and the authors include a pleasing balance of men and women - eight of the fourteen authors are female. None of them are really household-name authors. Some of the authors may be familiar to you - and I’ll include a list - but you’re not getting any Neil Gaimans out of this one. And that, my friends, is a good thing. Not that I didn’t love A Study in Emerald, because I did, but here are fourteen new authors. Think about it. A lot of potential reading in there. All told, it’s a remarkably well-collated anthology of creative reinterpretations of Doyle’s work.
The quality of the writing is universally excellent. Fanfic is by no means poor in quality, but there's a lot of it, and when you have a lot of anything, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time sifting through it to find what you really want. That’s one reason you’re reading this book review right now - TeaTalksBooks, reading, rating, and filtering so you don’t have to. And this anthology contains fourteen good, solid, well-written stories, and you know I don’t say that lightly. I don’t think there was a one of them I didn’t enjoy, though as always some were more to my taste than others.
Another thing to recommend this anthology is its variety. We have a circus, Australian ghosts, a semi-faux-Chinese high fantasy world, a genius geneticist/bioengineer Mrs Hudson and a bi or lesbian Watson, a rather sociopathic necromancer dentist Watson, drugged-up 70s NYC Holmes and Watson and the JFK assassination, teenage fanfic-writer Jane and her crush on her schoolmate Charlotte, a campus-themed reality show with a lady Holmes, canon-compliant investigation of witches and glassmaking, novel-hopping characters (Watson meets Elizabeth Bennet!), witchcraft in Nigeria, wax museum intrigue, and an eerie radio show Holmes and Watson with a surprising ending. I’m betting at least one of those sounds terribly intriguing to you, and it should.
And it’s not that you can’t find quality, variety, and new authors online, for free, in various fanfic archives, because you can. You really can. Some of it will be well-edited, as well, and others will give you links to more good works. Some of it may be even more to your taste, and a lot of it fulfills reading cravings that you’re not going to get from this anthology. However, this much variety in tone, plot, setting, character, and genre is going to be hard to find, and I’d say for the opportunity to discover new authors alone this anthology is well worth the money. As for me, I’m definitely checking out Kaaron Warren, whose ghost story scared my socks off in all the best ways, and Joan de la Haye, who is responsible for the story with the witchcraft in Nigeria. Both were very well-written and appeal to my taste for the macabre; people who enjoyed The Eyre Affair, on the other hand, will probably love Ian Edgington’s blurring of literary lines.
Some problems I did have with it: I may be mistaken, but I don't think there was a non-white Holmes or Watson anywhere within its pages, which is a crying shame given its otherwise diverse cast of characters - many of the non-major characters are not white. There were a few typographical errors in the advance copy I received, one of them a seriously misplaced sentence drifting in the middle of an author bio. Similarly, the advance copy did not contain a table of contents, which let me tell you made this review an incredible pain to write! I imagine these problems (except the race one) will vanish in the published edition, however, so don't worry too hard about them.
Advance copy provided by NetGalley.
Expanded review available at http://teatalksbooks.tumblr.com/post/...
The quality of the writing is universally excellent. Fanfic is by no means poor in quality, but there's a lot of it, and when you have a lot of anything, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time sifting through it to find what you really want. That’s one reason you’re reading this book review right now - TeaTalksBooks, reading, rating, and filtering so you don’t have to. And this anthology contains fourteen good, solid, well-written stories, and you know I don’t say that lightly. I don’t think there was a one of them I didn’t enjoy, though as always some were more to my taste than others.
Another thing to recommend this anthology is its variety. We have a circus, Australian ghosts, a semi-faux-Chinese high fantasy world, a genius geneticist/bioengineer Mrs Hudson and a bi or lesbian Watson, a rather sociopathic necromancer dentist Watson, drugged-up 70s NYC Holmes and Watson and the JFK assassination, teenage fanfic-writer Jane and her crush on her schoolmate Charlotte, a campus-themed reality show with a lady Holmes, canon-compliant investigation of witches and glassmaking, novel-hopping characters (Watson meets Elizabeth Bennet!), witchcraft in Nigeria, wax museum intrigue, and an eerie radio show Holmes and Watson with a surprising ending. I’m betting at least one of those sounds terribly intriguing to you, and it should.
And it’s not that you can’t find quality, variety, and new authors online, for free, in various fanfic archives, because you can. You really can. Some of it will be well-edited, as well, and others will give you links to more good works. Some of it may be even more to your taste, and a lot of it fulfills reading cravings that you’re not going to get from this anthology. However, this much variety in tone, plot, setting, character, and genre is going to be hard to find, and I’d say for the opportunity to discover new authors alone this anthology is well worth the money. As for me, I’m definitely checking out Kaaron Warren, whose ghost story scared my socks off in all the best ways, and Joan de la Haye, who is responsible for the story with the witchcraft in Nigeria. Both were very well-written and appeal to my taste for the macabre; people who enjoyed The Eyre Affair, on the other hand, will probably love Ian Edgington’s blurring of literary lines.
Some problems I did have with it: I may be mistaken, but I don't think there was a non-white Holmes or Watson anywhere within its pages, which is a crying shame given its otherwise diverse cast of characters - many of the non-major characters are not white. There were a few typographical errors in the advance copy I received, one of them a seriously misplaced sentence drifting in the middle of an author bio. Similarly, the advance copy did not contain a table of contents, which let me tell you made this review an incredible pain to write! I imagine these problems (except the race one) will vanish in the published edition, however, so don't worry too hard about them.
Advance copy provided by NetGalley.
Expanded review available at http://teatalksbooks.tumblr.com/post/...
December 27, 2015
I received TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE BAKER STREETS as an ARC through netgalley.com.
3.5 STARS
I have a confession to make (unless you already know me, in which case, this is common knowledge): I take Sherlock Holmes pretty seriously. Possibly more seriously than it's strictly healthy to take a fictional character. But he's been part of my life since I was very very small, and has shaped my entertainment choices and my personality fairly considerably. I started reading TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE BAKER STREETS at the introduction, and almost instantly had mixed feelings. David Thomas Moore, he editor of the anthology, has some very different opinions than I do, which I thought might mean I wouldn't care for his selections. But I should have thought of the introduction as a whole, rather than its parts, because the authors in this collection delivered exactly what Moore promised at the end of his intro:
"They've all found incredible ways to shed new light on old characters, to show you sides of the great detective and his indefatigable companion that their fusty reputations made obscure. Fun, clever, haunting, sad, scary, strange and weird, here are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they never were...and really are."
I still don't agree with that 100%. But it does make me go back and agree with his opening statement, which is that Sherlock Holmes owes a lot to the revisionists. And as a fanfic reader/writer, this pleases me.
TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE BAKER STREETS includes fourteen stories of Holmes, not quite as he is in the canon. This includes different place settings, different time settings, different genders, different occupations, et cetera. As with almost any anthology, not every story was a hit, in my book. But enough of them were that I would recommend this to Holmes fans who aren't strict purists. Your mileage may vary, but the stories that stood out the most for me were:
- "The Lantern Men." This one is a ghost story, of sorts. It presents Holmes as an architect and Watson as a builder. They've been friends since childhood, and enjoy doing some sleuthing together on the side. The professions fit them, I think, and gave a little insight into their characters, and the ending sent a chill up my spine and left a sad ache in my chest, and that's one of my favorite feelings.
- "The Small World of 221B." This story led my brain in a couple of different directions before the puzzle pieces snapped together for me, and when they did, I found the resulting picture rather delightful. I'll just say, an anthology of Holmes stories is not the only one this story would add some fun to.
- "The Final Conjuring." In which a magician in a fantasy realm conjures "the Sherlock," who is "a demon of investigation." I think I'm going to start calling Holmes this all the time, even out of the context of this story. It also fits into the canon in a place that I found very clever, and a lot of fun.
- "The Innocent Icarus." Imagine a world where most people are born with some kind of mutation/superpower. Herculeans, like Watson, have great strength and/or are impervious to injury. Cassandras, like Mycroft (and Mrs. Hudson, to a lesser degree) can see the future. Icaruses (Icari?) can fly. And so on and so forth. And in this world, imagine Sherlock Holmes ... has none of these things. Sherlock Holmes is what's known as a Typical. I found this concept of basically turning the original canon on its head and having Sherlock's ordinariness be what makes him stand out absolutely fascinating.
There were stories that I flat-out didn't like--one that seemed to just cut off instead of having an ending, and another where (SPOILER) Watson murdered Sherlock, for example--but they were far outnumbered by the stories that I enjoyed.
3.5 STARS
I have a confession to make (unless you already know me, in which case, this is common knowledge): I take Sherlock Holmes pretty seriously. Possibly more seriously than it's strictly healthy to take a fictional character. But he's been part of my life since I was very very small, and has shaped my entertainment choices and my personality fairly considerably. I started reading TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE BAKER STREETS at the introduction, and almost instantly had mixed feelings. David Thomas Moore, he editor of the anthology, has some very different opinions than I do, which I thought might mean I wouldn't care for his selections. But I should have thought of the introduction as a whole, rather than its parts, because the authors in this collection delivered exactly what Moore promised at the end of his intro:
"They've all found incredible ways to shed new light on old characters, to show you sides of the great detective and his indefatigable companion that their fusty reputations made obscure. Fun, clever, haunting, sad, scary, strange and weird, here are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they never were...and really are."
I still don't agree with that 100%. But it does make me go back and agree with his opening statement, which is that Sherlock Holmes owes a lot to the revisionists. And as a fanfic reader/writer, this pleases me.
TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE BAKER STREETS includes fourteen stories of Holmes, not quite as he is in the canon. This includes different place settings, different time settings, different genders, different occupations, et cetera. As with almost any anthology, not every story was a hit, in my book. But enough of them were that I would recommend this to Holmes fans who aren't strict purists. Your mileage may vary, but the stories that stood out the most for me were:
- "The Lantern Men." This one is a ghost story, of sorts. It presents Holmes as an architect and Watson as a builder. They've been friends since childhood, and enjoy doing some sleuthing together on the side. The professions fit them, I think, and gave a little insight into their characters, and the ending sent a chill up my spine and left a sad ache in my chest, and that's one of my favorite feelings.
- "The Small World of 221B." This story led my brain in a couple of different directions before the puzzle pieces snapped together for me, and when they did, I found the resulting picture rather delightful. I'll just say, an anthology of Holmes stories is not the only one this story would add some fun to.
- "The Final Conjuring." In which a magician in a fantasy realm conjures "the Sherlock," who is "a demon of investigation." I think I'm going to start calling Holmes this all the time, even out of the context of this story. It also fits into the canon in a place that I found very clever, and a lot of fun.
- "The Innocent Icarus." Imagine a world where most people are born with some kind of mutation/superpower. Herculeans, like Watson, have great strength and/or are impervious to injury. Cassandras, like Mycroft (and Mrs. Hudson, to a lesser degree) can see the future. Icaruses (Icari?) can fly. And so on and so forth. And in this world, imagine Sherlock Holmes ... has none of these things. Sherlock Holmes is what's known as a Typical. I found this concept of basically turning the original canon on its head and having Sherlock's ordinariness be what makes him stand out absolutely fascinating.
There were stories that I flat-out didn't like--one that seemed to just cut off instead of having an ending, and another where (SPOILER) Watson murdered Sherlock, for example--but they were far outnumbered by the stories that I enjoyed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2022
A distinctly above average compilation (ie. significaly fewer duffers than you normally expect in an anthology of short stories). Lots of different takes on the Holmes/Watson ideal with science fiction, alternative universes, gender swaps, geographical transplants, etc. Very enjoyable if you like a bit of Sherlock Holmes, but aren't going to be too petty about people messing with the characters.
March 14, 2015
Sherlockian pastiches have been ‘out there’ for several decades now. Many of them are good. Several are pretty bad. Most are mundane, with stories that you tend to read and then forget, until you come across it somewhere else, accompanied by a groan & sag. Fortunately, the particular anthology under review contains several stories that are outstanding, and maintains a rather superior level overall, because of two reasons: -
A. BBC “Sherlock” (and to some extent the US series “Elementary”) has made most of us more receptive towards the notion where Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are not individuals, and who might be more accurately expressed as a state of mind that’s brilliant, incisive, tragic, and absolutely awesome in its terrifying ability to shine light upon the darkest corners of the mind as well as the society.
B. By liberating the dynamic duo from the confines of 19th Century or early 20th Century London, and facilitating their movement ANYWHERE, the editor has taken a great leap forward, and unlike the incarnation doctored by Chairman Mao, this one seems to have worked.
Now about the contents. The obligatory “Introduction” from David Thomas Moore reads more like a rather gushing fan-fiction, and can be safely put away before we plunge in.
1) “A Scandal in Hobohemia” by Jamie Wyman: an extremely interesting beginning of a new dynamic duo (without ever mentioning the names of Holmes or Watson) that reads more like a first chapter of a novel than a story, and also draws too much inspiration from Guy Ritchie’s notions. Annoyingly unsatisfactory.
2) “Black Alice” by Kelly Hale: Good story. Would be interested in reading more from the author.
3) “The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana” by J.E. Cohen: Another fan-fiction that’s more a tribute towards those tireless conspiracy theorists out there, than a good mystery.
4) “The Rich Man’s Hand” by Joan De La Haye: From this point onwards, the book becomes deliciously dark, as well as so twisted that it can make you throw up. As far as this story is concerned, it’s very good indeed.
5) “The Lantern Man” by Kaaron Warren: Gothic, disturbing, creepy, weird.. I am running short of adjectives; but you gotcha read this one!
6) “A Woman’s Place” by Emma Newman: Very good, although there were no twists anywhere, I might add.
7) “A Study in Scarborough” by Guy Adams: Outstanding. This anthology is worth reading for this book alone.
8) “The Small World of 221B” by Ian Edginton: Brilliant, but that’s the standard for the creator of ‘Victorian Undead’ series.
9) “The Final Conjuration” by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Again, brilliant story that you can keep re-reading, to discover fresher delights out of every reading.
10) “The Innocent Icarus” by James Lovegrove: Mediocre, I’m afraid.
11) “Half There/All There” by Glen Mehn: Depressing study of Andy Warhol’s Factory-time, and a seriously downbeat alternative beginning of life in 221B. Better avoid it, since it really doesn't have any redeeming feature at all.
12) “All The Single Ladies” by Gini Koch: Stunning, absolutely stunning! Can we have more please?
13) “The Patchwork Killer” by Kasey Lansdale: Too dark, and too rushed towards the end; otherwise it would have grown into a neat one indeed.
14) “Parallels” by Jenni Hill: The BEST, ABSOLUTE BEST story of this anthology. How can I find more works from this author?
So, the least that I can do is to give this anthology five stars, and exhort you to read it pronto. Highly Recommended.
A. BBC “Sherlock” (and to some extent the US series “Elementary”) has made most of us more receptive towards the notion where Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are not individuals, and who might be more accurately expressed as a state of mind that’s brilliant, incisive, tragic, and absolutely awesome in its terrifying ability to shine light upon the darkest corners of the mind as well as the society.
B. By liberating the dynamic duo from the confines of 19th Century or early 20th Century London, and facilitating their movement ANYWHERE, the editor has taken a great leap forward, and unlike the incarnation doctored by Chairman Mao, this one seems to have worked.
Now about the contents. The obligatory “Introduction” from David Thomas Moore reads more like a rather gushing fan-fiction, and can be safely put away before we plunge in.
1) “A Scandal in Hobohemia” by Jamie Wyman: an extremely interesting beginning of a new dynamic duo (without ever mentioning the names of Holmes or Watson) that reads more like a first chapter of a novel than a story, and also draws too much inspiration from Guy Ritchie’s notions. Annoyingly unsatisfactory.
2) “Black Alice” by Kelly Hale: Good story. Would be interested in reading more from the author.
3) “The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana” by J.E. Cohen: Another fan-fiction that’s more a tribute towards those tireless conspiracy theorists out there, than a good mystery.
4) “The Rich Man’s Hand” by Joan De La Haye: From this point onwards, the book becomes deliciously dark, as well as so twisted that it can make you throw up. As far as this story is concerned, it’s very good indeed.
5) “The Lantern Man” by Kaaron Warren: Gothic, disturbing, creepy, weird.. I am running short of adjectives; but you gotcha read this one!
6) “A Woman’s Place” by Emma Newman: Very good, although there were no twists anywhere, I might add.
7) “A Study in Scarborough” by Guy Adams: Outstanding. This anthology is worth reading for this book alone.
8) “The Small World of 221B” by Ian Edginton: Brilliant, but that’s the standard for the creator of ‘Victorian Undead’ series.
9) “The Final Conjuration” by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Again, brilliant story that you can keep re-reading, to discover fresher delights out of every reading.
10) “The Innocent Icarus” by James Lovegrove: Mediocre, I’m afraid.
11) “Half There/All There” by Glen Mehn: Depressing study of Andy Warhol’s Factory-time, and a seriously downbeat alternative beginning of life in 221B. Better avoid it, since it really doesn't have any redeeming feature at all.
12) “All The Single Ladies” by Gini Koch: Stunning, absolutely stunning! Can we have more please?
13) “The Patchwork Killer” by Kasey Lansdale: Too dark, and too rushed towards the end; otherwise it would have grown into a neat one indeed.
14) “Parallels” by Jenni Hill: The BEST, ABSOLUTE BEST story of this anthology. How can I find more works from this author?
So, the least that I can do is to give this anthology five stars, and exhort you to read it pronto. Highly Recommended.
September 16, 2014
Two Hundred And Twenty-One Baker Streets is an anthology of fourteen Holmesian stories all written in a variety of genres and times.
While some of the stories focus on the mystery like the original books, others focus on the familiar yet outrageously creative characters of Sherlock and Watson or the new worlds constructed by the author. Even Ms. Hudson has a go at being a bioengineer instead of her mildly fascinating landlady persona. And how is a collection complete without a few gender-bending fics in which Sherlock and Watson are teenage schoolgirls? College campuses, 70’s New York, modern day London, a traveling circus, and many other times and places are included in this anthology.
As for the plots, some of the authors created their own mysteries, some reinvented old ones, and others had a combination of both. How can you have an anthology of Holmesian stories without at least one touching on how Sherlock survived The Reichenback Fall? Answer: You can’t, and it was brilliant. One story had a strong philosophical feel to it when Watson and Sherlock were forced to question the world they lived in and their own existence within it.
One thing that disappointed me was in the title it states that it is ‘An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space’, and although it contains plenty of the ‘across time’ part I was really disappointed that it didn’t have a Sherlock space opera. One story did touch on space but it didn’t have enough of that futuristic feel to be completely counted as a ‘space’ story.
Overall, Two Hundred And Twenty-One Baker Streets has a story for everyone. It’s full of brilliantly written tales that any fan of Sherlock can appreciate.
(Advance copy provided by NetGalley.)
While some of the stories focus on the mystery like the original books, others focus on the familiar yet outrageously creative characters of Sherlock and Watson or the new worlds constructed by the author. Even Ms. Hudson has a go at being a bioengineer instead of her mildly fascinating landlady persona. And how is a collection complete without a few gender-bending fics in which Sherlock and Watson are teenage schoolgirls? College campuses, 70’s New York, modern day London, a traveling circus, and many other times and places are included in this anthology.
As for the plots, some of the authors created their own mysteries, some reinvented old ones, and others had a combination of both. How can you have an anthology of Holmesian stories without at least one touching on how Sherlock survived The Reichenback Fall? Answer: You can’t, and it was brilliant. One story had a strong philosophical feel to it when Watson and Sherlock were forced to question the world they lived in and their own existence within it.
One thing that disappointed me was in the title it states that it is ‘An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space’, and although it contains plenty of the ‘across time’ part I was really disappointed that it didn’t have a Sherlock space opera. One story did touch on space but it didn’t have enough of that futuristic feel to be completely counted as a ‘space’ story.
Overall, Two Hundred And Twenty-One Baker Streets has a story for everyone. It’s full of brilliantly written tales that any fan of Sherlock can appreciate.
(Advance copy provided by NetGalley.)
October 19, 2015
Well, now at least I know for sure I prefer classic Sherlock Holmes stories...
Not that all those short stories were bad, far from it! I enjoyed some of them, but thought others quite boring if not difficult to believe.
I like my Holmes and Watson as men and while I have nothing against having one or the two of them being women, it is harder for me to really get into the story because I can't picture them as anything but men.
That said, I think it is still a book worth reading, and even though I didn't like it enough to give it anything more than two stars, everyone should make their own opinion about it.
Not that all those short stories were bad, far from it! I enjoyed some of them, but thought others quite boring if not difficult to believe.
I like my Holmes and Watson as men and while I have nothing against having one or the two of them being women, it is harder for me to really get into the story because I can't picture them as anything but men.
That said, I think it is still a book worth reading, and even though I didn't like it enough to give it anything more than two stars, everyone should make their own opinion about it.
March 3, 2015
Reading short stories was more labourious than I anticipated, perhaps because the few ones I enjoyed from beginning to end were sandwiched in the middle. Turned me off of anthologies until I forget it ever happened.
September 28, 2014
This anthology contains many short stories of the well known duo Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, but most show them as they’ve never or rarely been seen before. We see them in futurist tales with amazing technology, we see the occult left unexplained and our favourite characters shaky, and we see them in simply hard positions to be in – coming to the realisation that though they’re fantastic, sometimes they make decisions or there are results from what makes them brilliant that can be pretty horrible.
Throughout though, we see two best friends who complete each other in all kinds of times, situations and variances – whether they’re suddenly American or Watson is now female – and what strives through all to be the common factor – they belong together and they are what make each other fantastic.
This is an excellent anthology that shows just that.
“A Scandal in Hobohemia” by Jamie Wyman
More about the dynamic of the characters meeting than the case itself, we see a slightly different version of Holmes, Watson, Mrs Hudson (and possibly Irene?) in an American travelling carnival – complete with fortune-telling mystics and dwarves.
This opening piece is pretty dang excellent at throwing you into what kind of anthology this is going to be – our Holmes and Watson as we haven’t seen them before. They’re not on cozy Baker Street in their well-worned time and cobblestones, but they’re still the characters we know and love.
Also, in this piece Watson is also now a person of colour which adds an interesting dynamic thanks to the time it’s set in. I like that it ends before the case is solved – with Holmes ensnaring Watson into his new role – I mean, really, in this context, what else matters?
“Black Alice” by Kelly Hale
A young girl is accused not only of killing her beloved but also of using witchcraft. Holmes and Watson are called in as a favour, as Watson knows people of the village who think kindly of the poor girl, so she gains a bonus investigator thanks to the memory of her mum’s talent at dumplings.
This shows the Holmes we’re more used to – able to take one look at a situation before he’s practically smirking and throwing accusations around seemingly from nowhere, but of course utterly spot on and able to back it all up with a mile of evidence.
“The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana” by J. E. Cohen
Set in America in the 70s, this still somehow works. Probably because Holmes is still as punchable as he’s always been, getting Watson to try deduct a clue and then being such a smart-arse about it.
This is the kind of Holmes and Watson short I enjoy – a rushed trip for a mystery emergency, and the slow unveiling of the facts. I also like that while it’s not strictly said who it’s all about, you’re able to work it out pretty early on, and then there’s fairly gentle confirmation at the very end.
This was written with a deft hand, and it was quite enjoyable.
“The Rich Man’s Hand” by Joan De La Haye
Here the occult comes into play and we also see Lestrade make his first appearance, though he’s shown in his rougher and more dismissive way. We also see Watson snap at him a few times! Regardless they work together to determine that the body that’s turned up is the leftovers of a brutal murder that was seemingly for key pieces of the body parts – for what Holmes suspects is a magic spell or three – to gain great wealth, hence the title.
This of course means they have to deal with the person who has magical ability, so things are going to get a bit dangerous. This is where I was left waiting for the big reveal at the end – like, in the original shorts we often had the occult come into it, but then there was always a sensible reason for what had happened. Hrm.
“The Lantern Men” by Kaaron Warren
Ahh, Kaaron! Aussie and presenting us a story complete with utes – brilliant! I love Kaaron’s writing, she has an excellent, beautiful way with words and is able to easily lead you on a journey where you simply glide by, simply able to appreciate the technique.
In this, Holmes is an architect and Watson a builder, and I love the idea of Watson being on his way to being a doctor but then an unplanned pregnancy meaning he has to change carriers into something that pays immediately – how’s that for present day and realism, what with his whole ‘three-continents-Watson’ branding and all.
This one was quite creepy, as Kaaron is so talented with, and I loved the underlying threats that small country towns seem to carry in rougher areas. Love it!
“A Woman’s Place” by Emma Newman
I love futuristic fiction. Throw in a female Watson and a tale all about Mrs Hudson and I’m hooked! The writing in this one is quite sharp and nifty, keeping you turning the page eagerly for more.
How Newman handles Mrs Hudson though is really quite excellent. I won’t say anymore than I enjoyed it immensely, and the last paragraph certainly had a bit of lip-biting element to it. I would love to see this expanded into a novel!
“A Study in Scarborough” by Guy Adams
In a collection of excellent short stories let it be pointed out that this is one of the better ones – take a moment to reflect how good it must be. This is another different twist on the Holmes and Watson we know and love – modern and actual people, who are actually comedic actors portraying themselves as a Victorian detective and doctor. We see a man called Arthur Doyle come to interview the now 85-year-old Watson about his career and reflect on how he came to meet Holmes, move in with him, start a career, meet Mary Morston and so on.
It takes a nasty twist at the end which is quite effective – there’s something about reading horrible things that keeps you engaged, isn’t there? Adams is an excellent author. This is such an elegantly handled piece that just leaves you thinking ‘wow!’
“The Small World of 221B” by Ian Edginton
Another slightly spooky tale of the occult, where Watson travels to a small town to be best man at Stamford’s wedding. He suffers a hellish headache on arrival and the holly Stamford muses how odd that is – the same thing happened to him when he first arrived also! Everyone’s attire seems incredibly outdated also, and then there’s the issue that certain world events seem impossible to the towns people – entire wars have passed them by, of which they’ve never even heard of.
In this short there’s a character sure to take some by surprise – it certainly did me, though I think there are slight clues as to what’s about to happen. It’s expertly handled and even from there takes another turn into something even stranger and more fantastic. This is another short that left me thinking ‘wow!’
“The Final Conjuration” by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This one, unfortunately, just didn’t grab me. Bit disappointing after two brilliant stories!
“The Innocent Icarus” by James Lovegrove
Set in a world where powers exist for some, and some are left known as ‘Typical’, (as opposed to those known as ‘Cassandras’ (as in a mystic/precog), Icarus (power of flight), Hercules (strength), Archilles (bullets bounce off them and nothing can move them if they plant their feet, and what Watson is in this tale), and so on. Holmes is a Typical in this but doesn’t let that phase him, unlike certain others.
In this tale someone is staging murders to look like that of certain abilities in order to frame certain people who are closest to the victim. It takes Holmes and his mind along with Watson and his Archilles ability to protect Holmes from certain harm to figure it all out. This is another tale I’d love to see extended into a full novel.
“Half There/All There” by Glen Mehn
Another gritty, dark and gloomy tale, another set in America. This is now a world of drugs with seemingly everyone taking and we see Sherlock and John as they just meet and move in together.
This is a story I’d like to see expanded upon, perhaps in a novella, to explain the world and see more of it in general.
“All the Single Ladies” by Gini Koch
Another set in America, this time on school grounds where Watson is the doctor, and meets (a female) Holmes who is assisting the police with a matter that involves students from the same school.
This one is quite good with multiple suspects and a neat way of tying in Mrs Hudson and others, though we have Straude instead of Lestrade (unless Straude is another detective from the books that’s slipped my mind). This has the element of danger in a realistic, modern way. Really quite well done!
“The Patchwork Killer” by Kasey Lansdale
Another that failed to grab me, as it didn’t feature Watson and Holmes directly in their duo form.
“Parallels” by Jenni Hill
Another ‘not really Holmes and Watson’ tale as instead they’re teenage girls called Charlotte and Joan, but one’s still a brilliant sulky detective and one writes (all that’s said about her). This is all about fanfiction with Sherlock and John being famous literary characters brought back to the limelight thanks to recent adaptions.
This one is quite cute, but otherwise quite lacking in Sherlock Holmes and John Watson – more of a celebration of the friendships and fandom that comes from it. I too met my partner through Sherlock fandom so I’m willing to let this one by, but otherwise would have preferred the anthology to only contain the actual characters. This was still quite good, though.
~
I would recommend this anthology to anyone who likes any version of Sherlock Holmes – whether you will only read the originals or watch Jeremy Brett, or even if you’re constantly locked in online battles debating whether BBC Sherlock is better/worse than America’s Elementary. This anthology is for any Sherlock Holmes fan; there’s something here for everyone, and the writing is just that damn good.
Thank you to Rebellion for offering me a copy to review.
To read this review at my site and others like it, please click here
Throughout though, we see two best friends who complete each other in all kinds of times, situations and variances – whether they’re suddenly American or Watson is now female – and what strives through all to be the common factor – they belong together and they are what make each other fantastic.
This is an excellent anthology that shows just that.
“A Scandal in Hobohemia” by Jamie Wyman
More about the dynamic of the characters meeting than the case itself, we see a slightly different version of Holmes, Watson, Mrs Hudson (and possibly Irene?) in an American travelling carnival – complete with fortune-telling mystics and dwarves.
This opening piece is pretty dang excellent at throwing you into what kind of anthology this is going to be – our Holmes and Watson as we haven’t seen them before. They’re not on cozy Baker Street in their well-worned time and cobblestones, but they’re still the characters we know and love.
Also, in this piece Watson is also now a person of colour which adds an interesting dynamic thanks to the time it’s set in. I like that it ends before the case is solved – with Holmes ensnaring Watson into his new role – I mean, really, in this context, what else matters?
“Black Alice” by Kelly Hale
A young girl is accused not only of killing her beloved but also of using witchcraft. Holmes and Watson are called in as a favour, as Watson knows people of the village who think kindly of the poor girl, so she gains a bonus investigator thanks to the memory of her mum’s talent at dumplings.
This shows the Holmes we’re more used to – able to take one look at a situation before he’s practically smirking and throwing accusations around seemingly from nowhere, but of course utterly spot on and able to back it all up with a mile of evidence.
“The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana” by J. E. Cohen
Set in America in the 70s, this still somehow works. Probably because Holmes is still as punchable as he’s always been, getting Watson to try deduct a clue and then being such a smart-arse about it.
This is the kind of Holmes and Watson short I enjoy – a rushed trip for a mystery emergency, and the slow unveiling of the facts. I also like that while it’s not strictly said who it’s all about, you’re able to work it out pretty early on, and then there’s fairly gentle confirmation at the very end.
This was written with a deft hand, and it was quite enjoyable.
“The Rich Man’s Hand” by Joan De La Haye
Here the occult comes into play and we also see Lestrade make his first appearance, though he’s shown in his rougher and more dismissive way. We also see Watson snap at him a few times! Regardless they work together to determine that the body that’s turned up is the leftovers of a brutal murder that was seemingly for key pieces of the body parts – for what Holmes suspects is a magic spell or three – to gain great wealth, hence the title.
This of course means they have to deal with the person who has magical ability, so things are going to get a bit dangerous. This is where I was left waiting for the big reveal at the end – like, in the original shorts we often had the occult come into it, but then there was always a sensible reason for what had happened. Hrm.
“The Lantern Men” by Kaaron Warren
Ahh, Kaaron! Aussie and presenting us a story complete with utes – brilliant! I love Kaaron’s writing, she has an excellent, beautiful way with words and is able to easily lead you on a journey where you simply glide by, simply able to appreciate the technique.
In this, Holmes is an architect and Watson a builder, and I love the idea of Watson being on his way to being a doctor but then an unplanned pregnancy meaning he has to change carriers into something that pays immediately – how’s that for present day and realism, what with his whole ‘three-continents-Watson’ branding and all.
This one was quite creepy, as Kaaron is so talented with, and I loved the underlying threats that small country towns seem to carry in rougher areas. Love it!
“A Woman’s Place” by Emma Newman
I love futuristic fiction. Throw in a female Watson and a tale all about Mrs Hudson and I’m hooked! The writing in this one is quite sharp and nifty, keeping you turning the page eagerly for more.
How Newman handles Mrs Hudson though is really quite excellent. I won’t say anymore than I enjoyed it immensely, and the last paragraph certainly had a bit of lip-biting element to it. I would love to see this expanded into a novel!
“A Study in Scarborough” by Guy Adams
In a collection of excellent short stories let it be pointed out that this is one of the better ones – take a moment to reflect how good it must be. This is another different twist on the Holmes and Watson we know and love – modern and actual people, who are actually comedic actors portraying themselves as a Victorian detective and doctor. We see a man called Arthur Doyle come to interview the now 85-year-old Watson about his career and reflect on how he came to meet Holmes, move in with him, start a career, meet Mary Morston and so on.
It takes a nasty twist at the end which is quite effective – there’s something about reading horrible things that keeps you engaged, isn’t there? Adams is an excellent author. This is such an elegantly handled piece that just leaves you thinking ‘wow!’
“The Small World of 221B” by Ian Edginton
Another slightly spooky tale of the occult, where Watson travels to a small town to be best man at Stamford’s wedding. He suffers a hellish headache on arrival and the holly Stamford muses how odd that is – the same thing happened to him when he first arrived also! Everyone’s attire seems incredibly outdated also, and then there’s the issue that certain world events seem impossible to the towns people – entire wars have passed them by, of which they’ve never even heard of.
In this short there’s a character sure to take some by surprise – it certainly did me, though I think there are slight clues as to what’s about to happen. It’s expertly handled and even from there takes another turn into something even stranger and more fantastic. This is another short that left me thinking ‘wow!’
“The Final Conjuration” by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This one, unfortunately, just didn’t grab me. Bit disappointing after two brilliant stories!
“The Innocent Icarus” by James Lovegrove
Set in a world where powers exist for some, and some are left known as ‘Typical’, (as opposed to those known as ‘Cassandras’ (as in a mystic/precog), Icarus (power of flight), Hercules (strength), Archilles (bullets bounce off them and nothing can move them if they plant their feet, and what Watson is in this tale), and so on. Holmes is a Typical in this but doesn’t let that phase him, unlike certain others.
In this tale someone is staging murders to look like that of certain abilities in order to frame certain people who are closest to the victim. It takes Holmes and his mind along with Watson and his Archilles ability to protect Holmes from certain harm to figure it all out. This is another tale I’d love to see extended into a full novel.
“Half There/All There” by Glen Mehn
Another gritty, dark and gloomy tale, another set in America. This is now a world of drugs with seemingly everyone taking and we see Sherlock and John as they just meet and move in together.
This is a story I’d like to see expanded upon, perhaps in a novella, to explain the world and see more of it in general.
“All the Single Ladies” by Gini Koch
Another set in America, this time on school grounds where Watson is the doctor, and meets (a female) Holmes who is assisting the police with a matter that involves students from the same school.
This one is quite good with multiple suspects and a neat way of tying in Mrs Hudson and others, though we have Straude instead of Lestrade (unless Straude is another detective from the books that’s slipped my mind). This has the element of danger in a realistic, modern way. Really quite well done!
“The Patchwork Killer” by Kasey Lansdale
Another that failed to grab me, as it didn’t feature Watson and Holmes directly in their duo form.
“Parallels” by Jenni Hill
Another ‘not really Holmes and Watson’ tale as instead they’re teenage girls called Charlotte and Joan, but one’s still a brilliant sulky detective and one writes (all that’s said about her). This is all about fanfiction with Sherlock and John being famous literary characters brought back to the limelight thanks to recent adaptions.
This one is quite cute, but otherwise quite lacking in Sherlock Holmes and John Watson – more of a celebration of the friendships and fandom that comes from it. I too met my partner through Sherlock fandom so I’m willing to let this one by, but otherwise would have preferred the anthology to only contain the actual characters. This was still quite good, though.
~
I would recommend this anthology to anyone who likes any version of Sherlock Holmes – whether you will only read the originals or watch Jeremy Brett, or even if you’re constantly locked in online battles debating whether BBC Sherlock is better/worse than America’s Elementary. This anthology is for any Sherlock Holmes fan; there’s something here for everyone, and the writing is just that damn good.
Thank you to Rebellion for offering me a copy to review.
To read this review at my site and others like it, please click here
November 19, 2020
3.9 / 5 Average Rating.
This was given to me as an ARC courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This anthology starts pretty rough with hits and misses taking turns, but the second half of this anthology is SOLID! My top favourite stories were: A Woman's Place by Emma Newman, A study in Scarborough by Guy Adams, The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Parallels by Jenni Hill, and The Rich Man's Hand by Karon Warren.
And I fully intend to read more from and look into: Emma Newman, Karen Warren, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jenni Hill, Ian Edginton, and James Lovegrove.
Individual Thoughts:
A Scandal in Hobohemia by Jamie Wyman 2.5/5 : this story ended JUST as it was getting good which is said. I liked the carnival setting and the diversity of characters and personalities. But, there were one or two words related to race that I wasn't sure were appropriate or not.
Black Alice by Kelly Hale 3/5 : I really liked the writing and how accurately she wrote Sherlock's speech. The story jumped a little too fast, I think just a bit more development in unlocking the truth would've been better. But I enjoyed this one! Oh, but there were so not nice things about fat people in this one.
The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana by J.E.Cohen 4/5 : I really liked how they captured Watson's voice in this one. The mystery reveal wasn't the smoothest, especially if you don't know the pop culture of the time but if you do, then it does leave enough hints for you to figure it out and makes the ending was nice even though the reveal is never specifically announced. The American setting was interesting.
The Rich Man's Hand by Karon Warren 4/5 : this one is my favourite so far! The writing was easy, the pacing was just right, just my style. I liked how the crime was presented. I liked the banter between Watson and Sherlock in this one. The story progressed well and the mystery and details were explained well. I liked the magical element too!
A Woman's Place by Emma Newman 5/5 : This one was the best yet. A plot and B plot were both compelling and the twist at the end was great. I loved every second of this and I really liked the pace and the writing too! Oh and genderbending watson and making her gay? YES!!! I LOVED IT!
A study in Scarborough by Guy Adams 5/5 : I admit, it took me a bit to get into. I didn't like the radio script at first but once we got into the meat, I loved it!! And the three twists at the end and the uncovering of secrets were GREAT. I loved it! I'll be keeping an eye on this author too.
A Small World of 221b by Ian Edginton 4/5 : I enjoyed this. It really does go weird very quickly. I really enjoyed the first crossover but the conclusion and twist was not to my taste. I enjoyed the writing style too.
The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky 4.5/5 : This was a delight! It was so nice to get a completely different story half way through the anthology. I was already hooked by the setting, the characters and the twist on Sherlock. I feel in love with the writing style and the word choice greatly! While the ending was a little confusing and rushed, I thoroughly enjoyed it!! I'll be reading more from them!
The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove 4/5 : I fell into the style and atmosphere of this story straight away. It was true to Victorian Sherlock. The language was so "Sherlock". The Category twist confused me for most of the story but I got it by the end, and I liked the twist and how it fit into the mystery. I really enjoyed this one. It felt so Sherlocky.
Half There / All There by Glen Mehn 3/5 : Finally a gay sherlock! Finally a story with a mix of characters in gender, sexuality and race! However, I feel the later half of the story was totally rushed and I feel like ive missed a chunk of info about what happened with Adler and Valerie.
All the Single Ladies by Gini Koch 4/5 : I liked seeing a sassy female sherlock. I also liked the mystery and set up. You could predict the who dunnit but it wasn't too obvious and it was plausible so I really liked it.
The Patchwork Killer by Kasey Lansdale 3/5 : The opening was kind of confusing and I don't think enough was laid out for the reader to find the culprit. But I loved the tech side and the M.O was very interesting. It was so kind of future Sherlock and Watson offspring setting which was interesting too.
Parallels by Jenni Hill 5/5 : Omg Sherlock fanfic within a Sherlock alt story?! Yes!! Gimme! I love how meta it was. The author explains in enough depth about fanfic so none readers understand what it is, but for people who love fanfic (which I assume is a lot of the anthology's readers) it feels little overkill on the explanation. And it felt a little outdated e.g. "The pointed at the feedback section at the bottom of the webpage" but again, this could just be an explanation for the fanfic newbies. It was so cute!! The ending was the cutest and felt pretty realistic for high school life. While this was very, very loose Sherlock, i love how it was incorporated and I am a sucker for fanfic stuff.
This was given to me as an ARC courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This anthology starts pretty rough with hits and misses taking turns, but the second half of this anthology is SOLID! My top favourite stories were: A Woman's Place by Emma Newman, A study in Scarborough by Guy Adams, The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Parallels by Jenni Hill, and The Rich Man's Hand by Karon Warren.
And I fully intend to read more from and look into: Emma Newman, Karen Warren, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jenni Hill, Ian Edginton, and James Lovegrove.
Individual Thoughts:
A Scandal in Hobohemia by Jamie Wyman 2.5/5 : this story ended JUST as it was getting good which is said. I liked the carnival setting and the diversity of characters and personalities. But, there were one or two words related to race that I wasn't sure were appropriate or not.
Black Alice by Kelly Hale 3/5 : I really liked the writing and how accurately she wrote Sherlock's speech. The story jumped a little too fast, I think just a bit more development in unlocking the truth would've been better. But I enjoyed this one! Oh, but there were so not nice things about fat people in this one.
The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana by J.E.Cohen 4/5 : I really liked how they captured Watson's voice in this one. The mystery reveal wasn't the smoothest, especially if you don't know the pop culture of the time but if you do, then it does leave enough hints for you to figure it out and makes the ending was nice even though the reveal is never specifically announced. The American setting was interesting.
The Rich Man's Hand by Karon Warren 4/5 : this one is my favourite so far! The writing was easy, the pacing was just right, just my style. I liked how the crime was presented. I liked the banter between Watson and Sherlock in this one. The story progressed well and the mystery and details were explained well. I liked the magical element too!
A Woman's Place by Emma Newman 5/5 : This one was the best yet. A plot and B plot were both compelling and the twist at the end was great. I loved every second of this and I really liked the pace and the writing too! Oh and genderbending watson and making her gay? YES!!! I LOVED IT!
A study in Scarborough by Guy Adams 5/5 : I admit, it took me a bit to get into. I didn't like the radio script at first but once we got into the meat, I loved it!! And the three twists at the end and the uncovering of secrets were GREAT. I loved it! I'll be keeping an eye on this author too.
A Small World of 221b by Ian Edginton 4/5 : I enjoyed this. It really does go weird very quickly. I really enjoyed the first crossover but the conclusion and twist was not to my taste. I enjoyed the writing style too.
The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky 4.5/5 : This was a delight! It was so nice to get a completely different story half way through the anthology. I was already hooked by the setting, the characters and the twist on Sherlock. I feel in love with the writing style and the word choice greatly! While the ending was a little confusing and rushed, I thoroughly enjoyed it!! I'll be reading more from them!
The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove 4/5 : I fell into the style and atmosphere of this story straight away. It was true to Victorian Sherlock. The language was so "Sherlock". The Category twist confused me for most of the story but I got it by the end, and I liked the twist and how it fit into the mystery. I really enjoyed this one. It felt so Sherlocky.
Half There / All There by Glen Mehn 3/5 : Finally a gay sherlock! Finally a story with a mix of characters in gender, sexuality and race! However, I feel the later half of the story was totally rushed and I feel like ive missed a chunk of info about what happened with Adler and Valerie.
All the Single Ladies by Gini Koch 4/5 : I liked seeing a sassy female sherlock. I also liked the mystery and set up. You could predict the who dunnit but it wasn't too obvious and it was plausible so I really liked it.
The Patchwork Killer by Kasey Lansdale 3/5 : The opening was kind of confusing and I don't think enough was laid out for the reader to find the culprit. But I loved the tech side and the M.O was very interesting. It was so kind of future Sherlock and Watson offspring setting which was interesting too.
Parallels by Jenni Hill 5/5 : Omg Sherlock fanfic within a Sherlock alt story?! Yes!! Gimme! I love how meta it was. The author explains in enough depth about fanfic so none readers understand what it is, but for people who love fanfic (which I assume is a lot of the anthology's readers) it feels little overkill on the explanation. And it felt a little outdated e.g. "The pointed at the feedback section at the bottom of the webpage" but again, this could just be an explanation for the fanfic newbies. It was so cute!! The ending was the cutest and felt pretty realistic for high school life. While this was very, very loose Sherlock, i love how it was incorporated and I am a sucker for fanfic stuff.
August 19, 2021
8- I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes, since a young age when I read the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. I found them utterly fascinating. I read them not as stiff detective stories only concerned with rational puzzles (maybe because I read the stories before I saw any TV or film-adaptations), but adventurous tales with a non-conformist main character. Holmes' eccentricity was on full display and the stories all had a whiff of the supernatural about them and to me they almost felt like SF - where rational speculation could bring order to a seemingly random universe. They were also pretty diverse in my mind, with Holmes and Watson and their entourage as the connecting tissue. Lately there has been a resurgence in Holmesian fiction, with the Robert Downey Jr movies capturing the non-conformist, adrenaline junky with Watson as a competent man in his own right, and Sherlock and Eementary showing how the characters remain themselves indepent of their surroundings. I like those re-inventions (and I think Doyle himself would have liked them as well because he too tried to re-invent the standard Sherlock Holmes-adventure in almost every story he wrote). I also like stories putting the characters in more SF-nal situations.
This collection has a bit of both: Holmes and Watson transported to different environments (like Sherlock and Elementary: parallel universes, if you will), of which several have a SF-spin to them. Sherlock and Watson are placed in 17th century England, New York in the 60's and in a cyberpunk future. They are re-interpreted as school girls writing fan fiction, radio stars and circus performers in the depression era, sometimes under their own names and sometimes with different names. As in all anthologies not all stories stand out. Sometimes the author did not have a sufficient grip on the characters to make them survive the transfer to a new setting, reducing them to a smart detective and his side kick. Sometimes the prose was basic and did not remind me of the livey descriptions Doyle used. But there were some astounding re-interpretations of Sherlock and Watson here, some that shed light on the originals. I liked the ones that used a more SF-nal spin.
I bought this collection because it had a story by my favorite current SF-author Adrian Tchaikovsky. He manages to introduce Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy setting, where he has to solve the murder of one of the godlike rulers of the realm (and people think he's a demon in the mean time). The clever ending even shed new light on a mystery from the original tales by Conan Doyle.
I found the opening tale 'A Scandal in Hobohemia' well written, with some atmospheric descriptions and an enjoyably non-conformist equivalent of Sherlock Holmes. This story sadly was let down by lacking a conclusion. It felt like the first chapter to a novel, not a short story.
'The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana' is one of those stories where Holmes is turned into a bit of a generic smart detective. But it has a beautiful conclusion to its mystery.
'The Lantern Men' also did not necessarily have to be a Holmes-story, and Holmes as an architect had little to do with the canonical Holmes. But the story had atmosphere and I liked the prose. Also some real chills in the mystery here and a sense of loss in the conclusion.
'A Woman's Place' was fun! This one had a bit of a cyberpunk/dystopian setting, and managed to give Mrs Hudson a central place in the story. Very enjoyable.
'A study in Scarborough' pitches Sherlock Holmes and John Watson as two performers of a radio show (and later a television program) about a detective and his helper. Much later a fan goes to interview John Watson and inquires why he fell out with Holmes ... I could not predict where this story went with its premise, and was pleasantly surprised.
'The Small World of 221B' is a SF-story and has Watson meeting Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice.
'The Innocent Icarus' has Holmes in a Victorian London where almost everybody has super powers. Holmes has no supernatural gift, but then his intellect is nothing to be trifled with ...
'Half There/All There' has Holmes as a junky in New York in the 1960's. I think some readers would balk at Watson as a Vietnamvet selling drugs, but this story was very well written, I thought, with some beautiful prose and well described emotional resonance.
The final story in the collection, 'Parallels', managed to fit in several more alternative versions of Sherlock and Watson (as vampires, as crew of a Star Trek-vessel, and so on ...) as the main characters are school girls. One has lost a notebook with a fanfiction story she's writing and her friend tries to find who stole it ... Fun story to end the collection with.
All in all enjoyable, if not classic. Recommended for fans of Sherlock Holmes, especially the new interpretations of the characters in different settings.
This collection has a bit of both: Holmes and Watson transported to different environments (like Sherlock and Elementary: parallel universes, if you will), of which several have a SF-spin to them. Sherlock and Watson are placed in 17th century England, New York in the 60's and in a cyberpunk future. They are re-interpreted as school girls writing fan fiction, radio stars and circus performers in the depression era, sometimes under their own names and sometimes with different names. As in all anthologies not all stories stand out. Sometimes the author did not have a sufficient grip on the characters to make them survive the transfer to a new setting, reducing them to a smart detective and his side kick. Sometimes the prose was basic and did not remind me of the livey descriptions Doyle used. But there were some astounding re-interpretations of Sherlock and Watson here, some that shed light on the originals. I liked the ones that used a more SF-nal spin.
I bought this collection because it had a story by my favorite current SF-author Adrian Tchaikovsky. He manages to introduce Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy setting, where he has to solve the murder of one of the godlike rulers of the realm (and people think he's a demon in the mean time). The clever ending even shed new light on a mystery from the original tales by Conan Doyle.
I found the opening tale 'A Scandal in Hobohemia' well written, with some atmospheric descriptions and an enjoyably non-conformist equivalent of Sherlock Holmes. This story sadly was let down by lacking a conclusion. It felt like the first chapter to a novel, not a short story.
'The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana' is one of those stories where Holmes is turned into a bit of a generic smart detective. But it has a beautiful conclusion to its mystery.
'The Lantern Men' also did not necessarily have to be a Holmes-story, and Holmes as an architect had little to do with the canonical Holmes. But the story had atmosphere and I liked the prose. Also some real chills in the mystery here and a sense of loss in the conclusion.
'A Woman's Place' was fun! This one had a bit of a cyberpunk/dystopian setting, and managed to give Mrs Hudson a central place in the story. Very enjoyable.
'A study in Scarborough' pitches Sherlock Holmes and John Watson as two performers of a radio show (and later a television program) about a detective and his helper. Much later a fan goes to interview John Watson and inquires why he fell out with Holmes ... I could not predict where this story went with its premise, and was pleasantly surprised.
'The Small World of 221B' is a SF-story and has Watson meeting Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice.
'The Innocent Icarus' has Holmes in a Victorian London where almost everybody has super powers. Holmes has no supernatural gift, but then his intellect is nothing to be trifled with ...
'Half There/All There' has Holmes as a junky in New York in the 1960's. I think some readers would balk at Watson as a Vietnamvet selling drugs, but this story was very well written, I thought, with some beautiful prose and well described emotional resonance.
The final story in the collection, 'Parallels', managed to fit in several more alternative versions of Sherlock and Watson (as vampires, as crew of a Star Trek-vessel, and so on ...) as the main characters are school girls. One has lost a notebook with a fanfiction story she's writing and her friend tries to find who stole it ... Fun story to end the collection with.
All in all enjoyable, if not classic. Recommended for fans of Sherlock Holmes, especially the new interpretations of the characters in different settings.
March 15, 2020
This was such a bop!! Its very much a mixed bag but the probability of finding something you like is very high. I very much appreciate how hard it is to write a short story subverting classic characters while (usually) investigating a murder so big props to all the authors!!
Ill do my best to keep this next part spoiler free with a little description and my thoughts :)
/A Scandal in Hobohemia/: 3.5/5 A fun circus AU and what would make it better is having a full length novel!!
/Black Alice/: 3/5 (this feels so mean to write but hey ho!) Good murder mystery, but when compared to the anthology as a whole, a bit lacklustre.
/The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana/: 3.75/5 This was such an interesting concept and I loved the twist ending!! Also don't wanna describe it for fear of spoiling :p
/The Rich Man's Hand/: 3.75/5 Loved the 'quipiness' of Watson in this, however I personally think the portrayal of Lestrade isn't that great. Sherlock and Watson in South Africa with a touch of the bizarre.
/The Lantern Men/: 5/5 Oh Boy!!!! Loved this one!! Really creepy!! Don't Really understand it but still, an experience. Sherlock as an architect 'investigating' a haunted house from his childhood.
/A Woman's Place/: 4/5 Really enjoyed having a story revolve around Miss Hudson!! An interesting sci-fi reimagining.
/A Study in Scarborough/: 5/5 Wow. Just wow. I love this one so much its insane!!!! Our duo as comedy radio show hosts and an insightful interview with an aged John Watson himself.
/The Small World of 221B/: 3/5 Eh. I didn't really *get* this one and didn't feel captured. Maybe slightly too ambitious for a short story?? Like the nods to other classic characters tho. Funky time travel elements!
/The Final Conjuration/: 5/5 This was great. Absolutely loved the world building and loved how we got a bunch of stories in one without being bombarded. Perfectly balanced and would love to see it as a full length novel!! Sci-fi retelling set in futuristic China with a certain demon solving crime.
/The Innocent Icarus/: 4/5 Ive already read a sherlock book by James Lovegrove (the author of this story) and enjoyed it so I already had some ideas about what this would be like. Well, it was completely different in a great way!! A great fantasy world that again, I would love to see as a full length book. A world where people have powers but Sherlock is a 'typical'? Good food.
/Half There/ All There/: 3.5/5 Appreciated the focus on Andy Warhol and a story set in New York!! I quite like this but not as a Holmes and Watson story per say. Drug dealer John just seems weird and not quite sure if they are 'them' but still a good read for the gay angst!!
/All The Single Ladies/: 4/5 Loved female Sherlock!! A great story with great characterisation for it being like 20 pages long!! Set on a college campus during the filming of a reality show!!
/The Patchwork Killer/: 3/5 Just really bizarre and not exactly in a good way. Again I just don't *get* it.
/Parallels/: 4/5 This one's really cute!! Liked the idea of turning them into teenage girls and the whole fanfic element!! Wlw and mlm delight!
Ill do my best to keep this next part spoiler free with a little description and my thoughts :)
/A Scandal in Hobohemia/: 3.5/5 A fun circus AU and what would make it better is having a full length novel!!
/Black Alice/: 3/5 (this feels so mean to write but hey ho!) Good murder mystery, but when compared to the anthology as a whole, a bit lacklustre.
/The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana/: 3.75/5 This was such an interesting concept and I loved the twist ending!! Also don't wanna describe it for fear of spoiling :p
/The Rich Man's Hand/: 3.75/5 Loved the 'quipiness' of Watson in this, however I personally think the portrayal of Lestrade isn't that great. Sherlock and Watson in South Africa with a touch of the bizarre.
/The Lantern Men/: 5/5 Oh Boy!!!! Loved this one!! Really creepy!! Don't Really understand it but still, an experience. Sherlock as an architect 'investigating' a haunted house from his childhood.
/A Woman's Place/: 4/5 Really enjoyed having a story revolve around Miss Hudson!! An interesting sci-fi reimagining.
/A Study in Scarborough/: 5/5 Wow. Just wow. I love this one so much its insane!!!! Our duo as comedy radio show hosts and an insightful interview with an aged John Watson himself.
/The Small World of 221B/: 3/5 Eh. I didn't really *get* this one and didn't feel captured. Maybe slightly too ambitious for a short story?? Like the nods to other classic characters tho. Funky time travel elements!
/The Final Conjuration/: 5/5 This was great. Absolutely loved the world building and loved how we got a bunch of stories in one without being bombarded. Perfectly balanced and would love to see it as a full length novel!! Sci-fi retelling set in futuristic China with a certain demon solving crime.
/The Innocent Icarus/: 4/5 Ive already read a sherlock book by James Lovegrove (the author of this story) and enjoyed it so I already had some ideas about what this would be like. Well, it was completely different in a great way!! A great fantasy world that again, I would love to see as a full length book. A world where people have powers but Sherlock is a 'typical'? Good food.
/Half There/ All There/: 3.5/5 Appreciated the focus on Andy Warhol and a story set in New York!! I quite like this but not as a Holmes and Watson story per say. Drug dealer John just seems weird and not quite sure if they are 'them' but still a good read for the gay angst!!
/All The Single Ladies/: 4/5 Loved female Sherlock!! A great story with great characterisation for it being like 20 pages long!! Set on a college campus during the filming of a reality show!!
/The Patchwork Killer/: 3/5 Just really bizarre and not exactly in a good way. Again I just don't *get* it.
/Parallels/: 4/5 This one's really cute!! Liked the idea of turning them into teenage girls and the whole fanfic element!! Wlw and mlm delight!
August 5, 2024
A very uneven collection of tales where Holmes and Watson are taken by the authors and put in different countries, different ages and different sexes. Some of the stories are quite good, and some simply aren't. These are the 14 stories:
1. A scandal in Hobohemia by Jamie Wyman. A carny not-Holmes in a travelling carnival.
2. Black Alice by Kelly Hale. A 17th century Holmes and Watson in England. Quite good.
3. The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana by J. E. Cohen Holmes and Watson's case in modern Las Vegas.
4. The Rich Man’s Hand by Joan De La Haye. South African Holmes and Watson found themselves in need of money and take a case from Lestrade. Its weird, really weird, but it's a good one. I love the sarcastic personality of Watson.
5. The Lantern Men by Kaaron Warren. A slow ghost story located in modern Australia, with a Holmes that is not a consultant detective and a Watson that is not a doctor.
6. A Woman’s Place by Emma Newman. A very good answer to the question "but why does Mrs Hudson puts up with the detective pair?".
7. A Study in Scarborough by Guy Adams. A very interesting take on the "Holmes-Watson" pair as a famous but faded comedic duo in modern England. Quite good.
8. The Small World of 221B by Ian Edginton. Dr. Watson has to be the best man of Mr. Michael Stamford, and things start to go really weird. Very good story.
9. The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky. What happens if you can't take the impossible from the equation? This is fantasy and mystery at its best. I love this story.
10. The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove. A victorian London where everyone is born with strange superpowers. Except for Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
11. Half There/All There by Glen Mehn. Sherlock Holmes in Andy Warhol’s ‘Factory,’. I hated this one. Didn't finished it.
12. All the Single Ladies by Gini Koch. Contemporary California: a series of murders in all-female universities, a Dr. Watson with a sarcastic personality, a British Sherlock Holmes helping the local police and a reality show. Very good story.
13. The Patchwork Killer by Kasey Lansdale. A modern Watson, one not-so-modern Holmes and a weird series of killings. I didn't liked this one.
14. Parallels by Jenni Hill. Meta-stories in a story. If you like fanfics, this is your story. I hate fanfics.
1. A scandal in Hobohemia by Jamie Wyman. A carny not-Holmes in a travelling carnival.
2. Black Alice by Kelly Hale. A 17th century Holmes and Watson in England. Quite good.
3. The Adventure of the Speckled Bandana by J. E. Cohen Holmes and Watson's case in modern Las Vegas.
4. The Rich Man’s Hand by Joan De La Haye. South African Holmes and Watson found themselves in need of money and take a case from Lestrade. Its weird, really weird, but it's a good one. I love the sarcastic personality of Watson.
5. The Lantern Men by Kaaron Warren. A slow ghost story located in modern Australia, with a Holmes that is not a consultant detective and a Watson that is not a doctor.
6. A Woman’s Place by Emma Newman. A very good answer to the question "but why does Mrs Hudson puts up with the detective pair?".
7. A Study in Scarborough by Guy Adams. A very interesting take on the "Holmes-Watson" pair as a famous but faded comedic duo in modern England. Quite good.
8. The Small World of 221B by Ian Edginton. Dr. Watson has to be the best man of Mr. Michael Stamford, and things start to go really weird. Very good story.
9. The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky. What happens if you can't take the impossible from the equation? This is fantasy and mystery at its best. I love this story.
10. The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove. A victorian London where everyone is born with strange superpowers. Except for Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
11. Half There/All There by Glen Mehn. Sherlock Holmes in Andy Warhol’s ‘Factory,’. I hated this one. Didn't finished it.
12. All the Single Ladies by Gini Koch. Contemporary California: a series of murders in all-female universities, a Dr. Watson with a sarcastic personality, a British Sherlock Holmes helping the local police and a reality show. Very good story.
13. The Patchwork Killer by Kasey Lansdale. A modern Watson, one not-so-modern Holmes and a weird series of killings. I didn't liked this one.
14. Parallels by Jenni Hill. Meta-stories in a story. If you like fanfics, this is your story. I hate fanfics.
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