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Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes

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Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes - Campbell, J R (Editor), and Prepolec, Charles (Editor)
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Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes From the comforting glow of Baker Street gas-lamps to the gloom of the ocean's depths, Sherlock Holmes lays bare the secrets of men, monsters and evil in twelve new tales of the bizarre, the uncanny and the arcane.

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Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes 2011, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, Inc.

ISBN-13: 9781894063609

Trade paperback

Books by J R Campbell

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pkenj@wowway.com

Nov 5, 2011

A 3rd eerie Sherlockian collection by Campbell and

This collection is the fifth by this pair of editors and it is, perhaps, their best yet. The first two collections consisted mostly of more conventional writings that told some of the Untold Tales. The three later collections lean strongly toward the eerie and outré. A few of the tales in this book can be explained by modern science and rational circumstances, but even that is not always comforting. All are interesting, some are exceptional and a few are unpleasant.

?The Comfort of the Seine? is a novella by Stephen Volk. In it we watch a painfully young Sherlock Holmes take a vacation from his studies at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (where I have always believed he studied) to visit Paris with friends. There Sherlock falls in love, acquires a mentor and selects a profession, all with a large dose of adolescent angst. Strict Sherlockians may disagree with the author?s premise, as do I, but it is still an interesting and insightful tale. ?The Adventure of Lucifer?s Footprints? is a short story by Christopher Fowler that tells of an evil done during the Crimean war and its ghastly punishment in Devon. ?The Deadly Sin of Sherlock Holmes? is a imaginative novella by Tom English that provides an alternative cause for ?The Great Hiatus? and a name source for the ?Napoleon of Crime.?

?The Color That Came to Chiswick? is a short story by William Meikle that tells about sabotage in a brewery, or of something in a brewery. What is really going on or growing up in Chiswick is open to question. ?From the Tree of Time? is a short story by Fred Saberhagen that tells an incident in his ?life of Dracula? series. The Count is asked by Holmes to lend his expertise to an investigation and his comments lead to a quick solution. ?The Executioner? is a short story by Lawrence C. Connolly that takes place following events in ?The Final Problem.? There seems to be an unnamed book by the original Dr. Frankenstein, known to Sherlock but not to the reviewer, that explains much about the central character in this tale. In the end, Sherlock sets out on ?The Great Hiatus? for far different reasons than those given in ?The Adventure of the Empty House.?

?A Country Death? is a short Novella by Simon Curt Unsworth that describes the death of Holmes and its investigation by some unfortunate policemen. Sadly, a countryman or a biologist would find serious problems with the evidence and events as presented. ?Sherlock Holmes and the Great Game? is a short story by Kevin Cockle that tells of a mission by Holmes and Watson to the Canadian Arctic at the behest of the Crown, or of some higher Authority. ?Sherlock Holmes and the Diving Bell? is a short story by Simon Clark that is a bit confusing and disjoint.

?The Greatest Mystery? is a short story by Paul Kane that pits Holmes and Watson against their greatest opponent. While final victory is unsure, a small battle is won. ?The House of Blood? is a short story by Tony Richards. It presents Holmes in 21st Century Las Vegas and is a more interesting story than one would expect from the premise. ?The Adventure of the Six Maledictions? is a novella by Kim Newman that is worth the price of the entire book. It is an even more hilarious narrative by the Colonel Moran of ?A Volume in Vermillion? that tells the problems he and Professor Moriarty encounter dealing with the minions of ?a one-eyed yellow idol.?

This compilation is certainly worth the price. If all of the stories are not to your taste, some certainly will be. The variety of tales is wide, with something (or things) for everyone?s tastes.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, November 2011

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