From Mortality to Reichenbach

As you FF.N readers will know, the last chapter of Mortality has been uploaded. Even with the climax past, there was enough room for some treats in the final chapter, particularly one face-off that I just have not seen in fanfiction. (Yes, you will have to go read the chapter to find out who the players are.)

And I’ve actually had the epilogue sitting on my hard drive for a few days now (muchas gracias to Riandra for her encouragement to go ahead with the rather different style!). The title is simply “War,” regarding The War That Never Was between Scotland Yard and Moriarty’s empire (or family, as it would have been called at the time). The whole thing is written looking towards what is inevitable—or, in the terminology of the piece, “Reichenbach.” I’ll be uploading it soon, and I am so excited.

As a side note, the epilogue rounds the current total word count off to 80,000 words. Officially, the longest work of fiction I’ve ever written. And with all the bonus material coming, I think I can look forward to a final total of 90,000, at least.

Now for a shout-out. I started out last week with definite depression, for a variety of reasons and no reason at all. (I am an artist; this, sadly, is my definition of “normal”.) Someone on FF.N helped not only to pull me out of depression but also to pull me back in to Sherlockiana, in general. Azolean. Azolean started off my week by reviewing a couple of my Sherlockian fics and going so far as to buy AMM off of Amazon.

Wow.

Now, if it had ended right there, it would have been really cool. But this person went further than that, going on to pick up Mortality and review the entire thing chapter-by-chapter.

Yes. Seriously.

In one week.

It was fantastic. It was one of the best things that had happened to me in a long time (alongside finding out that a certain idol of mine was actually reading the book, as well). Let’s rate it up there right below being introduced to Doctor Who (as far as great things this summer go). Yes, really!

I was practically living from review to review, and I truly missed the reviews when Azolean had gotten to the last chapter. But what an uplifting experience! Everyone loves getting praise on their stories, and even something simple, along the lines of “I loved this!” can be encouraging. But Azolean, despite reading the entire thing in a week, took the time to praise details (and sometimes criticize, and even that was very respectful and very welcome).

It was absolutely magnificent.

So borne up on a wave of glorious feedback, I actually went on to type out the prologue for The Road to Reichenbach. In fact, I’ve even started the first chapter! As I told Ria in answer to a question on the prologue, 90% of the dialogue is Canon, most of the body language is Granada or Granada-based, and then all the introspection is me.

Mortality is the book that I’ve been wanting to do since halfway through AMM… and Road is the book that I’ve been wanting to do since halfway through Mortality.

Road has also been, by far, the most difficult book of the three to plan. AMM was so easy—short, character-centric pieces. Quite often, I was churning out two or three in a day. From beginning to end, half a year… and only four months were actually spent in intensive writing and editing. Mortality, on the other hand, has always had a pretty loose outline, with plenty of room for improvisation. I knew the general direction I wanted the story to go, and I kind of gave the characters free rein.

In fact, the one time that I didn’t was the time that the entire thing had ground to a halt smack-dab in the middle. I then backed up and rewrote a few chapters, and moved on. The epiphany, the element that kept the book going from that point on, was Watson. Watson wanted to be the hero, and, seriously, who was I to deny him? The rest you readers know: Watson’s search-and-rescue operations make up Act II of the story.

Anyway, Mortality is a fairly-straightforward story. It needed more plotting than I’ve tried to give a story in a long time, but, even so, it’s not very complex. Its real strength lies less in plot (surprise, surprise) and more in characterization, not merely of Holmes and Watson, but of Lestrade, Mycroft, Wiggins, Moriarty, Moran…

And while I’ve been excited about The Road to Reichenbach, I’ve also been frustrated and worried. Think about it: Holmes has an ostensible plethora of cases that keep him in France from early January to late April. Plus, in FINA, he describes the past few months thus:

“[I]f a detailed account of that silent contest could be written, it would take its place as the most brilliant bit of thrust-and-parry work in the history of detection.”

You do see my problem, right? I still can’t write a mystery to save my life, and Mortality was hard enough for me to figure out, at times. How in the name of all that’s wonderful was I supposed to try to match that kind of genius vs. genius?

Bottom line: I couldn’t. I don’t have the mindset required for that kind of story. Which was what I knew all along, and I was trying to force myself to do something I knew I couldn’t manage. Well, that’s pretty self-destructive, isn’t it? So I stopped. I stopped and remembered my strength.

Characterization.

January to April 1891 needs someone who can really do that “silent contest” justice. That person is not me. However. However, I can do the characters justice. Yes, we’ll still see Holmes in France. We’ll get to see some of what he’s doing. And we will indeed be seeing the build-up to the infamous Monday mass-arrest.

Honestly, I think the Yarders are going to be much stronger characters in Road. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Bradstreet, Hopkins, and MacDonald—and, of course, more of Gregson. Morton, I can’t speak for just yet. But I expect we’ll see him, however large or small his role is.

Thus far, my chapter outline has seven chapters to detail events that Doyle depicted in one short story. It will probably grow as I reach that point. Honestly, the entire thing is really even more open for improvisation than Mortality, and it’s both scary and exciting. I’m not entirely sure where this road will take me, but I can’t wait to find out.

And now that I’ve gotten you all excited for The Road to Reichenbach, let me just remind you… Mortality still isn’t finished. There’s a lot of editing to be done. And that’s my first priority, up until I submit it for publication.

Next up, a review of Daniel Smith’s Sherlock Holmes Companion. Stay tuned!

The Infernal Device: The Professor, the Detective, and the American

First off, just let me apologize for the massive delay in updates. It's shameful, I know. I can attribute some of the causes to stress and preparation for college, but the sad fact is that a good chunk of the delay is sheer procrastination. And I am so sorry. Here's hoping that I can keep up blogging when I start college in September, eh?

Ahem. About two months ago (more delays, yes), my grandma took me, my cousin, and my cousin's friend out to see a stage adaptation of Michael Kurland's The Infernal Device. I can't tell you how excited I was. My first Sherlock Holmes play, and Michael Kurland to boot! I still have not yet read his Moriarty novels, but I'd known about them, and now more than ever I'm eager to get my hands on the series.

Unfortunately, the time given on the website was not when the play actually opened. Fortunately, we were only ten to fifteen minutes late. Unfortunately, the play was only an hour long. Fortunately, we were still able to pick up the story quickly.

And unfortunately - did I mention my tongue is in my cheek right now? - I didn't have the chance to look at the program before we got to our seats. Which was why I didn't realize that there were only five actors, and, no, that goon with the bad guy wasn't actually Holmes in disguise - it was only Holmes's actor. It got pretty obvious, though, that there were only five actors when the same redheaded actress kept popping up: she played several different women in the play.

I really enjoyed the artistic side of the production. The lighting, steam, and sound effects were quite, well, effective, and I could go on a rant about how they handled props and background. Specifically, the background was pure black. No painted scenery. I loved it. Because then the actors brought in the props - a desk, a streetlamp, a bed, the helm of a boat - whatever was necessary for the scene, and removed them at the end of each scene. Except for an attic-style pile of items which remained onstage the pretty much entire time, if I recall correctly, and they typically completed the image. Your imagination was allowed to fill in the blanks, and I love that.

As for the story itself, well... here be spoilers.

Holmes is getting obsessive with Moriarty. Let's get that out of the way right now. And this is not actually a story about Holmes, nor is it entirely a story about Moriarty. Let's get that out of the way right now, too.

In fact, an American journalist and a Russian anarchist really steal the show, the former with his competency and wittiness and the latter with his deliciously over-the-top psychopathy. Benjamin Barnett, the aforementioned American, is not the type of man you'd expect to hook up with Moriarty, but neither is Moriarty exactly the cold, frightening villain of "The Final Problem," either of the Canon or of Granada. (Yes, I'm sorry, I had to say that.)

Moriarty is still the Napoleon of Crime, but he does have a sense of honor and patriotism. And he's really quite long-suffering of Holmes's not-always-justified persecution in this story. So much so that they end up working together to foil an assassination attempt on Victoria. Oops, major spoilers. Oh, well, I didn't tell you how it ended, did I?

I think I'm developing a snarky blogging style here. Fun. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, off on a tangent.

Did I mention that the villain of the story was deliciously over-the-top? Well, it bears repeating. He was delightfully insane. My grandma and I were later, for lack of a better word, gushing over how funny he was and how brilliantly the actor pulled it off.

And I really enjoyed Barnett. He was solid, dependable, honorable, and more than willing to help Moriarty out in working against their Russian antagonist. Wonderful character.

I'm afraid that two months have really blurred my memories and impressions, and I apologize for not blogging about this sooner. Really. But at least I can finally get my thoughts out now. It was fantastic fun, and I really hope The Acting Ensemble will perform this play again. It was a different and wonderful look at the Great Detective and the Napoleon of Crime.

Next time, some updates on Mortality and its sequel, The Road to Reichenbach. Stay tuned!

Bringing Sherlock Holmes to Life in 2012

There’s no denying it: in the past few years, Sherlock Holmes has gathered up so much momentum that he’s blasted out into orbit. Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and Steve Moffat & Mark Gatiss’s Sherlock became cultural phenomena overnight. The Arthur Conan Doyle Estate authorized Anthony Horowitz to write a new addition to the Canon. And now, with the advent of e-book publishing, there are more Sherlockian pastiches than ever.

Plus, his adventures just won’t stop being fantastic. He fights alleged witchcraft, faces off the Queen of Fairies, remains in combat with Dracula, fires off texts on his mobile… When you get right down to it, Sherlock Holmes is a very big action hero.

But.

There’s also a pervasive idea that one must reimagine the stories to get a Sherlock Holmes fit for the modern audience. After all, we’re a culture that’s been inundated with a Hollywood mindset. Two generations have grown up with Star Wars… and Star Wars’ fast pacing. Modern novels reflect that fast-paced mindset. Allow a film or a novel to ramble… and you run a definite risk of losing your audience.

What does that mean for the Great Detective? Guy Ritchie & Co. believed it means that you have to amp up the action, lose the “stuffiness” of the insidious iconic image—in their own words, “Reinvent Sherlock Holmes.” Steve Moffat and Mark Gatiss dreamt up a Sherlock Holmes set in modern London that would be as heavily influenced by the present day as the Canon was by its own era.

I’m not saying that either idea is actually wrong. I’m not here to say that.

But.

The fact remains that neither adaptation of Sherlock Holmes sticks very closely to the source material. In fact, very few adaptations have. Furthermore, out of the many dozens of actors that have portrayed the Great Detective since the 1890s, only Peter Cushing, Jeremy Brett, and Clive Merrison have actually portrayed Sherlock Holmes in the original stories (barring the numerous versions of The Hound of the Baskervilles).

So why don’t we ever get a fresh retelling of the Canon on screen? Did Granada raise the bar too high, or do people just want to do their own thing with Holmes? And why don’t we ever get a fresh retelling of the Canon in print?

A harder question to ask, I know. But with so many details that Sir ACD, ironically, messed up—including entire plot points and devices—one would think that some brave soul would try to tackle the Canon without going so far as to alienate the stories from the original material.

Now, to be entirely fair, I do know of two people who have done so. Michael Hardwick’s The Revenge of the Hound takes place in 1902, uses the story “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax,” and serves to settle such points as Watson’s Edwardian marriage, Holmes’s refusal of knighthood, and his retirement. Marcia Wilson, known better to those of us on FF.N as aragonite, has her own cycle of books (only the “prequel,” You Buy Bones, published thus far) centered on Lestrade, his fellow Yarders, and Watson that fills in quite a lot of blanks in the Moriarty/Great Hiatus story arc in the Canon. Best of all, these two authors are magnificently faithful to the original stories.

And that’s where yours truly is working hard to be. You’ve seen me bandy around the terms “epic” and “saga” in conjunction with my series-in-progress, Deliver Us from Evil. I’ve also billed it as historical suspense/thriller, because these books are in no way actual mysteries. It’s the influence of Hollywood rearing its head, but it’s Hollywood with a distinct twist—I’m not veering away from the source material. In fact, I’m in bed with it.

Deliver Us from Evil, Book I: Mortality starts out with the beginning of the Culverton Smith Case. We meet Victor Savage, we watch him die, we watch Holmes himself fall prey to Smith’s cunning. We get that awful conversation between Holmes and Smith from Holmes’s point-of-view. And then we find out that Smith was being backed by Moriarty.

Behold—Mortality’s tie-in to the events of “The Final Problem.” At the outset of the novel, Holmes and Watson are less than seven months away from Reichenbach. Book II will cover Reichenbach and hopefully clear up some problems with the original story. Books III and IV will go into the trials and tribulations of Holmes, Watson, and Scotland Yard during the Great Hiatus. Book V will deliver a modified “Empty House” as well as a clearing-up of the mysterious figure known as Colonel Moriarty.

In regards to what I’m doing with Deliver Us from Evil, I like to think of Sherlock Holmes himself as an antique watch. The watch needs some dusting, some polish, has some parts that don’t work and need replacing… Sherlock Holmes is like that. He just needs a little TLC to shine brighter than ever—in his original glory. No steampunk tales or 21^st century retellings need apply to make Sherlock Holmes an action hero… or antihero, as the case may be.

There’s a reason why Sherlock Holmes has endured, why millions have loved him for one hundred and twenty years. There’s nothing wrong with falling in love with Rathbone’s WWII-era Holmes, RDJ’s steampunk Holmes, Cumberbatch’s modern Holmes… but understand that you’re not falling in love with the original. Because the original awaits adventure in a sitting room that’s gaslit and protected from Victorian smog…

Because the original lives in a world that is, for the most part, always 1895. And that, dear reader, is where Sherlock Holmes’s greatest adventures will always be.

Future Sherlockian Novel LIST

Yep, here it is. Prepare to be shocked at the insane amount of project ideas you’re about to see.

The Deliver Us from Evil Saga

Description: Almost definitely a five-book series now, Deliver Us from Evil (a.k.a. DUE) covers the events in the lives of Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade from October 1890 to Autumn 1894—the Culverton Smith case, Holmes’s employment by the French government, Reichenbach, the Great Hiatus, the publishing of the Adventures and the Memoirs in The Strand Magazine, the Moriarty trial, Mary Watson’s death, “The Empty House,” and the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland.

Target Dates: An ongoing project for the next few years. Possibly one book per year, with a small chance of Mortality making it to press before Christmas.

Book I: Mortality

            Scotland Yard and Dr. John Watson struggle to prevent the goal of London’s greatest crime lord: the destruction of Sherlock Holmes.

Book II: The Road to Reichenbach

            Caught in a terrible war, Sherlock Holmes finds that the choices he makes will have far-reaching consequences.

Book III: To Take Up the Pen

            With Holmes gone and his reputation maligned, Dr. Watson sets out to honor his memory in The Strand Magazine.

Book IV: Those Dark Hours

            As Holmes and Watson approach a final confrontation, they must wonder when the cost will become too high.

Book V: Dawn’s First Light

            When Holmes and Watson reunite, they set out to defeat their one great enemy left: Colonel John Moriarty.

The Sons of Sherlock Holmes Series

Description: A nine-book series focusing on Davy Wiggins and the boys known as the Baker Street Irregulars, from their inception in 1880 to their continuation in World War I.

Target Dates: N/A

Book I: The Twelve Apostles

            When a young detective rescues a street boy, they join forces to create one of the most famous detective forces ever.

Book II: The Silent Army

            No storyline available. The book covers the progression of the Irregulars from meeting Dr. Watson in 1881 to meeting his fiancé in 1888.

Book III: His Father’s Son

            No storyline available. The book focuses on Davy Wiggins’s coming of age and his relationship with his mentor/father-figure, Sherlock Holmes, especially as Reichenbach looms. Might also cover the events of the Ripper Case.

Book IV: Children’s Crusade

            No storyline available. Ought to be basically the same as the once-projected novel, An Irregular Point of View, covering the Irregulars during the Great Hiatus. The name comes from the fact that, for the first time, the Irregulars are heavily targeted by the Moriarty syndicate, even the children—which leads to Watson’s disbanding the group.

Book V: The Prodigal Father

            When Sherlock Holmes returns to London, he finds that he must heal more than his relationship with Watson.

Book VI: The Irregular’s Wife

            No storyline available. When attempts are made on the life of Wiggins’s wife, he enlists the help of his employer. The catch? The young Mrs. Wiggins is a common street girl, and not even she has a clue why someone should look to murder her.

Book VII: Our Twilight

            No storyline available. As Holmes thrives, so do the Irregulars… But. The world is entering into the 20^th century and is growing more dangerous as it does.

Book VIII: The Breaking of the Brotherhood

            No storyline available. In Autumn 1903, Holmes retires and moves away to Sussex. The Irregulars are left devastated. Can Wiggins, long since a consulting detective in his own right, hold his old band together?

Book IX: Once and Future

            No storyline available. With the onset of World War I and Holmes’s employment in British Intelligence, he sets out to reunite the Irregulars. But many, including Wiggins, enlist in Kitchener’s Army. The new generation of Irregulars that forms will be spearheaded by none other than Helen and Sherlock Watson, the eldest of Dr. Watson’s children.

The Boyhood of Sherlock Holmes Series

Description: From Sherlock’s birth to the famous meeting in St. Bart’s, 1881, follow the first twenty-three years of Sherlock Holmes’s life—his loves, hopes, joys, and losses.

Target Dates: N/A

Book I: The Little Violinist

            No storyline available. Sherlock’s first few years of life, seen from not only his POV but also his mother’s and brother’s.

Book II: A Threefold Cord

No storyline available. Young Sherlock forms friendships village girl Anne Middleton and Irish Tinker Breandán Delaney, creating memories that will remain with him for the rest of his life. (Eccl. 4:12)

Book III: Lord of the Manor

            No storyline available. With Father in London and Mycroft in Cambridge, Sherlock has been man of the house since he was ten. But now, as he enters his teens, he learns about leadership, the use and abuse of authority, and the responsibilities that come with being in-charge.

Book IV: Detective in the Making

            No storyline available. Separated from kith and kin for the first time, Sherlock struggles to find his feet at Cambridge. He finds a friend in Victor Trevor and eventually becomes enamored with the idea of becoming a detective.

Book V: Hours Yet ‘Til Dawn

            No storyline available. Just after quitting Cambridge to set up in London as an independent detective, Sherlock’s parents die in a fire, and he knows it was deliberate. The nineteen-year-old sets out to find his parents’ murderer and comes to know Inspector Geoffrey Lestrade in the process.

Book VI: The Passing of an Era

            No storyline available. As young Mr. Holmes struggles in his fledgling career, he makes a lasting friend in the Welsh-Jewish Annie Rhys but loses Anne Middleton and Breandán Delaney. The next three years of his life are lonely… until he meets first Davy Wiggins and then, several months later, John H. Watson, MD.

The Sherlock Holmes and the Great War Saga

Description: Yes, originally, this was meant simply to be a novel. But WWI? With Holmes in British Intelligence, the Watson children heading the Irregulars, Watson and Wiggins on the frontlines, and Lestrade & Co. still in the harness, you have all the makings of an epic series.

Target Dates: N/A

Book I: An East Wind

            No storyline available. As Europe gears up for the most devastating war yet in history, Sherlock Holmes returns to London to enlist Dr. Watson’s aid against German spymaster Von Bork. The next month will be the hardest either have known in years, for Watson and Wiggins are leaving with Kitchener’s Army. Holmes resumes residence in 221B for a final time as he goes fulltime with British Intelligence, and Helen and Sherlock Watson round up a new generation of Baker Street Irregulars, including Inspector Lestrade’s youngest child, Michael.

Book II: Valleys of Fear

            No storyline available. The war drags on. Watson, Wiggins, and the sons of Scotland Yarders stay in touch with their families. Holmes does good work in Room 40; Helen, Sherlock, and Michael do their part not only in aiding Holmes but also in solving their own mysteries. And then one of the Zeppelin raids on London destroys the Watson home…

Book III: The Quest

            No storyline available. When Lt.-Colonel Watson goes missing in 1918, Holmes and Helen set off together to find him. Along the way, Helen rescues a severely injured Wiggins, and Holmes witnesses the death of another of his original twelve Irregulars.

The Greater Love Duology

Description: A possible duology, anyway, this story is very much an Alternate Universe. Many Sherlockians have read or know of tales in which the Great Detective is no longer the Great Detective but a criminal genius. But, as I told my Apprentice mentor, I wanted to write one that portrays the beauty of the friendship between Holmes and Watson even under nearly impossible circumstances… And one that sees a damaged young man come to redemption through brotherly love. This will actually be a fleshing-out of “88. Wicked” from AMM.

Target Dates: The initial novel will likely be started as soon as the Mortality manuscript is complete. You can thank my longtime beta-reader and BFF teenelizabeth for that.

Greater Love: A Tale of Redemption

Discharged from the army, lonely Dr. John Watson seeks to befriend a young criminal genius. (John 15:14)

Possible sequel: Greater Love: A Tale of Miracles

            After years of success as a private detective, Sherlock Holmes is endangered when details of his criminal past threaten to emerge.

Standalones

Beware—here be AUs!

Have Yourself a Chaotic Little Christmas

Description: I mentioned this one about a month ago—not a novel, but a collection of short stories. Allow me to reiterate: “Those of you keeping track of the Sherlockian part of FF.N probably saw the advent calendar challenge in December. That was hilarious fun, and I plan to edit my own Christmas collection in hopes of publishing it in time for next Christmas. This anthology includes vampires (not what you think, trust me), Jack the Ripper, Moriarty, Mary getting the better of Holmes, picnics in graveyards, WWI, the Irregulars, Lestrade, Irene Norton, Kitty Winter, and whole lot of delicious crack!”

Target Date: I’ll get it edited and filled-out, and then see if MX Publishing will take it for this November. (Not December, as part of the fun of the original challenge was reading a new story each day of December!)

Nonexistent

            Sherlock Holmes finds himself trapped in the spirit realm when his archenemy ensures that the detective was never born.
Description: Yes, this is that nameless AU idea I had last fall, in which the Great Detective finds himself in limbo thanks to a certain mathematical genius in the FINA era. It’s up to Sherlock, Mycroft, Watson, and Lestrade to restore the time-space continuum and return Sherlock to his physical form.

Target Date: N/A

Merged

            A modern detective finds herself trapped in London 1890, and her way home may be through Sherlock Holmes.

Description: Yeah, that one. Y’know, I got caught up with Mortality and forgot all about poor little Merged. Well, that, and my ideas and drive for the story were floundering. I’d still like to do it sometime, though—I certainly still like the idea of Holmes/Kathleen. They were just plain cute together.

Target Date: N/A

Breaking through the Darkness

            A blinded Sherlock Holmes must learn to be a detective without his eyesight.

Description: You might recall this one, too—a projected fleshing-out of AMM AU “14. Blind”. Once again, thank you, Mam'zelleCombeferre, for pointing out what should have been obvious to me—“This could be an interesting whole story.”

Target Date: N/A

Not a Marrying Man

            As Sherlock Holmes embarks upon the adventure of matrimony, he must learn to make his fledgling family a priority.

Description: Mm-hmm, that one, too. What can I say? I still like Holmes/Agatha. I once said that the germ for this idea was “my incorrigible romanticism and insatiable desire to see Sherlock Holmes married. Originally, yes, this was going to carry a mystery or an adventure that had echoes the Moriarty gang. However, I realized that the story would be stronger if it focused on Holmes’s struggles to balance his life between his work and his marriage. One of the antagonists might actually end up being cocaine (AMM readers might recall a few stories on the subject).

Target Date: N/A

Brother and Sister: The Detective and the Doctor’s Wife

            Sherlock Holmes finds an unlikely comrade in his biographer’s wife, Mary Watson.

Description: If you’ve read AMM or Mortality, you know that I regard the relationship between Holmes and Mary to have a brother/sister chemistry to it. The idea for this novel was born out of a desire to fill in the blanks between SIGN and Mortality. I want to explore the development of a familial relationship between Holmes and the woman who, in his eyes, took his best friend away from him. This would include the Ripper Case, the Watson wedding, Mary’s miscarriages, and a few instances in which she proves herself to be quite useful, indeed.

Target Date: N/A

Sherlock Holmes and the Rulers of Darkness

When Sherlock Holmes investigates a haunted site, he realizes that his fight will be with “spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Description: What, you didn’t think I’d leave it out, did you? Allow me to reiterate that the novella idea is inspired by Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland and Ephesians 6:12. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Again, think Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. It’ll be like that.

Target Date: N/A

Helen of London

            Being Dr. Watson’s firstborn can be difficult; being Sherlock Holmes’s goddaughter can be even more so.

Description: An anthology of short stories about Helen Watson and her father/daughter relationship with Sherlock Holmes. Will range from Helen’s infancy to post-WWII and include the Sussex Downs, WWI, Holmes and Watson giving up smoking in the ’20s, their deaths in 1937, and Helen’s reactions to the Basil Rathbone films.

Target Date: N/A

Sherlock Holmes and the Great War: The Leave-Taking

            When Kitchener’s Army leaves London, Sherlock Holmes and several Yarders are there to see them off.

Description: This novella will cover the departure of Kitchener’s Army as seen through the eyes of Geoffrey Lestrade, Tobias Gregson, Stanley Hopkins, Roger Bradstreet, Peter Athelney Jones, Alec MacDonald, and Sherlock Holmes. Each of these men are seeing a loved one leave for the war, and each of these men are scared. The Great Detective surprises them all by being the one to break down as the train pulls out.

Target Date: N/A

…That’s all of them. Wooow. Were you keeping count? Thirty-four. Thirty-four. Can you believe it?! That’s more than enough to keep me busy for ten years at least! At this rate, I’ll be writing nothing but Sherlock Holmes for the rest of my life!

Not, mind you, that I’d really mind.

Return from the Hiatus

No, not the Hiatus—my hiatus. But I had a very good reason for that hiatus (as did Holmes, IMHO). Namely, online college (for myself, that is—not Holmes).

But I bear good tidings of great joy for myself and for all my readers!

I AM FINISHED WITH MY ONLINE COURSE!

Finito. Kaput. End of the road.

And just beginning with my Sherlockian road! In fact, my mentor asked point-blank if I had any fiction ideas that did not involve Sherlock Holmes! You can guess what my answer was.

Nope. Mr. Holmes, I'm here to stay.

So! What am I going to be doing now? Read on!

I. UPCOMING FANFICS 

(Warning: Here Be Crossovers!)

1. The Innocence of a Child (Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century)
Beth Lestrade finds herself the guardian of two boys when Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty are regressed in age to learn certain lessons about life in order to tackle the future.

2. Stepping Through the Wardrobe (canon/The Chronicles of Narnia)
When nine-year-old Sherlock enters a snowy wood via a wardrobe, he learns about the importance of family, love, forgiveness, and sacrifice.

3. Enemies Within (SH22/Buzz Lightyear of Star Command crossover)
Professor Moriarty teams up with the Evil Emperor Zurg in the 31st century, and Star Command will have to call upon Sherlock Holmes to defeat the Napoleon of Crime.

4. Case Apocalypse: Left Behind (BBC Sherlock/Left Behind)
Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes come to terms with the vanishing of millions worldwide, including their mother, as they deal with the world’s rising star, Nicolae Carpathia.

II. FICTION TO BE PUBLISHED

1. At the Mercy of the Mind: A Journey into the Depths of Sherlock Holmes
I am going to polish AMM up and edit some bits that do not fit with more recent material, and then see if MX Publishing will accept the thing.

2. Deliver Us from Evil, Book I: Mortality
The fourteenth chapter of Mortality was uploaded to FF.N on New Year's Day. It's coming along a bit slowly, but it's coming. I hope to have the manuscript ready to submit by summer. Unfortunately, I can't promise any sooner.

3. Have Yourself a Chaotic Little Christmas
Those of you keeping track of the Sherlockian part of FF.N probably saw the advent calendar challenge in December. That was hilarious fun, and I plan to edit my own Christmas collection in hopes of publishing it in time for next Christmas. This anthology includes vampires (not what you think, trust me), Jack the Ripper, Moriarty, Mary getting the better of Holmes, picnics in graveyards, WWI, the Irregulars, Lestrade, Irene Norton, Kitty Winter, and whole lot of delicious crack!

4. Deliver Us from Evil, Book II: The Road to Reichenbach
Yes, yes, oh, yes. Once I’m in the editing stage for Mortality, I’m hitting the Road (lame pun absolutely intended). I even have a fairly substantial chapter outline for Road, and it’s looking very exciting, indeed!

5. Greater Love: A Tale of Redemption
Those who have read the AMM ebook might recall an AU short in which a certain young gentleman was a criminal genius rather than a genius detective. Well, for one of my lessons, I had to do a synopsis for a future novel, so I did one for that concept. The results were utterly intoxicating. Upon reading said synopsis, my beloved beta-reader replied, “You have to write this novel now so I can read it.” So I’ll be writing it whilst working on Road.
That’s all I’ll say for now. This will be one novel I won’t spoil for you!

III. THIS BLOG

As always, I’ll be providing you with info on my stories, as well as essays/rants/“scholarly” posts such as “Writing Child!Sherlock” and “Else our universe is ruled by chance.” PLUS, I’ve got a pile-up-a-mile of Sherlockian movies and novels to review, including Without a Clue and The Return of the Hound, respectively.
AND what I’d really like to do is interview various Sherlockian authors. The problem at this point? My wallet, as always. (Big problem when you’re a flailing newcomer to that career that every professional says, “Don’t make your day job.”) By golly, I’ll overcome that obstacle somehow!

So, there you have it! My new year’s resolutions (a bit late, I know) in a nutshell. Now, off I go to watch some more Star Trek… Oh, didn’t I tell you? I became a Trekkie during my hiatus. Blame KCS’s However Improbable and The Next Generation’s “Elementary, Dear Data” (which, btw, is going to get a review in the future). Throw in a dash of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and I’m hopelessly hooked.

No, this will not take my focus away from 221B Baker Street! Eesh , don’t panic!

Laterz!

Deliver Us from Evil... Underway!

Yes, the first book of Deliver Us from Evil has actually appeared on FanFiction.Net!  Well, to be precise, the first book has been online since the 1^st of August.  Somehow, I never got around to making an announcement ‘til now—my blushes, Watson.

So!  This first installment is titled Mortality.  Rating is T.  Genres are Crime/Friendship (there are several genres into which the story could fit, I think, but these two seemed to be the best).  The main characters are listed as Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Lestrade.

Hold the ball!  Lestrade?  Why is Lestrade one of the two stars?  It’s not a pre-Watson story!

Well, dear reader, we’ll get to that in a minute.

The summary is as follows:

Late 1890: a young gentleman hires Sherlock Holmes to investigate his step-uncle, Culverton Smith. As Holmes digs deeper, he finds links to a powerful old enemy—and must come face to face with his own mortality. The first part in a series.

However, I’m thinking of changing that summary in order to draw more interest—the first nine installments have garnered only 22 reviews.  That, m’dears, is the worst review ration I’ve received in a long time—compounded by the fact that I’m getting about 100 hits per chapter.  A big shout-out to MadameGiry25 for her faithful and constructive reviews—and to VHunter07 and RachelG, as well, for their enthusiastic encouragement in their reviews!

Now, every story should be able to be condensed into one sentence—this is called a storyline, and it’s vital to getting a novel from the laptop screen to the bookstore shelves.  Here’s the current storyline (though I’m also going to rework this):

Late 1890: A murder investigation tangles Sherlock Holmes and those around him in a conflict that has been years in the making with a powerful enemy.

So how about this for the FF.N summary:

In November 1890, a murder investigation sparks off a chain of events that will end at a Swiss waterfall. Scotland Yard and Watson struggle to stop Moriarty’s most devastating plan: the destruction of Sherlock Holmes. First in a series.

Sound good?  Now, how about this for the storyline:

Scotland Yard and Dr. John Watson struggle to prevent the goal of London’s greatest crime lord: the destruction of Sherlock Holmes.

So, let’s return to the little (forgive the irresistible pun) matter of Lestrade as one of the stars, and why he’s listed as one of the two main characters on FF.N.  Frankly, it’s all due to his “bulldog tenacity,” as Holmes so aptly puts it.  Lestrade committed himself early on in the story and has refused to stay off the stage since—he still doesn’t mind being the follower, but he’s pretty keen about seeing this mess through to the end.

The same can be said of Davy Wiggins, Holmes’s grown-up leader of the Baker Street Irregulars, but this young man is more than just tenacious—he’s positively fierce in his loyalty.

So where does Watson fit into all this?  I was asking myself that question for months, because he most definitely was not getting enough screen-time.  That wasn’t fair—after all, we wouldn’t have the Canon if not for Watson!  Of course, he’s had four scenes thus far in the FF.N version, but four scenes in eight chapters… yeah, a bit not good.  But with the way the story was shaping up, he didn’t seem to be absolutely necessary oftentimes, which was appalling.

Then inspiration struck.  Don’t ask me how exactly—even though it was only this past weekend, I’m no longer sure of how that lightbulb turned on in my brain.  It was the solution to both my dilemmas: that of less show than tell and less Watson.  Originally, about three weeks were glossed over.  No longer!  The train has left Paddington Station, and this author has just barely gotten aboard in time!

But I’m excited, and this turn of events should certainly excite you, dear reader!  One word: undercover.  Let’s just say that… we know Watson will go to the ends of the earth to find Holmes if he’s missing, right?

Last but not least, I had originally planned to get Mortality finished by Christmas and out on Kindle sometime this coming winter.  I say originally because my plans have changed since then, and my audience might have to wait a few months (or even a year!) longer than originally planned.  That’s because I may well try to get Deliver Us from Evil to a publisher.  AMM hasn’t made any sales this month, and sales in August were few and far between—i.e. self-publishing is not yet a viable means of making a living for myself.  (Kindle is currently my sole source of income.)  So I’m going to get Mortality finished and spit-polished and go through the torture of writing a query letter & proposal, etc. and see if I can sell an agent and/or acquisitions editor on the book.  If you know or know of any agents or publishers who would be interested in a Sherlockian pastiche, please let me know!

Weeell, that’s all for now, folks!  Please keep track of Mortality, and please let me know what you think of it!  A little encouragement would not be amiss.

MORT status: 13 out of 20+ complete.

Eyes and Brains, My Dear Sherlockians

He’s brilliant.  He’s fast.  He’s strong.  He’s… blond?

A little hard to believe, but Sherlock Holmes is blond in the 22^nd century.  Blond and blue-eyed—very Anglo-Saxon, and finally living up to his name: fair-haired.

He hasn’t lost any of his sardonic wit, but, on the other hand, he’s also mellowed some.  Not that this is a bad thing: this is simply Sherlock Holmes having lived a full life (some 70 years at least), died, and then returned to life.  Though he has the body of a 25-year-old, he has more of the maturity of an older man.

His supervising officer is the direct descendant of his “favorite” Yarder—folks, meet Inspector Beth Lestrade.  His comrade-in-investigation is New Scotland Yard compudroid Watson, a robot who has scanned the real Watson’s journals and taken on an imitation of the Good Doctor’s personality.  His home is once again 221B Baker Street, restored to living quarters after museum attendance fizzled out.  His eyes and ears in the Underworld are teenager Wiggins and tweens Deidre and paraplegic Tennyson.

And once again, his enemy is none other than James Moriarty.

However, unlike the cellular rejuvenation of Holmes, Moriarty is not the real McCoy returned to life, but a clone with all the original’s memories.  To borrow Holmes’s own words, “isn’t technology wonderful.”  This clone is younger, stronger, theatrical, and rather emotionally volatile, prone to anger.  Nevertheless, Moriarty is once again working his way up to the top of the criminal world, and he’s not content with just that, either.  Nope, this Moriarty is setting his sights on global domination, a goal he could well have achieved several times over by now did not Sherlock Holmes, compudroid!Watson, and Beth Lestrade stand in his way.

Moriarty’s one main assistant is Martin Fenwick, a rogue French geneticist.  The world has Fenwick to thank for retrieving the original James Moriarty’s DNA and RNA from the ice cave below Reichenbach where Holmes buried the Professor.  From there, Fenwick grew himself a criminal mastermind with the intention of using the clone as his servant.  But, as Lestrade deduced, “slave turned on master,” and Moriarty took control.

Fenwick is perhaps of average height but grossly deformed, looking more alien than human with his grey skin, distorted face, and demented eyes.  Lestrade makes regular cracks at the man, calling him “beautiful” and Moriarty’s “lab rat”—Fenwick could almost pass as a caricature of Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars.

Beth Lestrade herself is in her mid-twenties at the oldest, quite possibly New Scotland Yard’s youngest Inspector.  She’s notorious for risk-taking and reckless driving, and she’s more than willing to stand up for herself, be it to her boss, Chief Inspector Greyson, Holmes, or Moriarty himself.  Lestrade (lehstrahd) is either American or Canadian, judging by her accent, and she stands nearly as tall as Holmes.  She’s brunette and pretty, but don’t let her looks fool you: the woman is one zedding good fighter.  She can take on three criminals with lightsabers all at once and have them on the ground in handcuffs in under two minutes—impressive, yes?  She gets easily irritated—more than ever, with Holmes and the Irregulars around—but she has a heart of gold underneath.

It was Lestrade, a Sherlockian, who recognized Moriarty and made the decision to have Sherlock Holmes’s honey-entombed body rejuvenated.  And since she took the responsibility to resurrect the Great Detective, she got stuck with the responsibility to keep tabs on him.  Fortunately, she seems to hold her own pretty well with the not-so-very-misogynistic Holmes.

Lestrade’s compudroid was meant to keep an eye on the volatile Yardie; he made sure she stuck to the rules, took her every word very literally, and reported to Greyson regarding Beth.  Despite her frustration with these traits, she named the robot “Watson,” and, upon introducing him to Holmes, ordered the droid to scan the original Watson’s journals.  After doing so, the compudroid took it upon himself to act as if he were the real Watson—he appears even to consider himself as such, though there are times when he very clearly identifies himself as a machine.

Holmes initially shunned the compudroid’s new persona but very nearly lost it when he thought Watson destroyed by the Thames.  The detective then embraced the droid with the kind of fervor only Sherlock Holmes can have when he attaches himself to something, and went so far as to insist that Watson lived with him in 221B.  Watson took on an elasto-mask that was meant to be a replica of John H. Watson’s head, bowler hat and monocle (???) included.  Watson now accompanies Holmes on all his cases and has proven himself an invaluable assistant.  Though quite tough in a fight, the droid is gentle and very good-natured, not really an exact replica of the canonical Watson but a fair imitation.

Sherlock Holmes in the 22^nd Century may be a cartoon, but don’t let that put you off.  Though the outdoor animation is a jarring 3D (think late ‘90s computer game graphics) compared to the indoor 2D and the dialogue is sometimes not quite… there… the show is quite faithful to the spirit of the Canon.

Holmes may have to fend enemies off physically more often, but the Great Detective has lost none of his stellar ability to observe and deduce.  As he says so often in the show, “eyes and brains.”  A robot may ironically be the heart of the group, but Holmes lets others see a fair bit of his own “great heart.”  Holmes and a new Inspector Lestrade argue as much as ever but have a strong friendship beneath.  Moriarty may be somewhat less stable, but he’s as evil and as cunning as ever.  And one thing hasn’t changed: the world still needs Sherlock Holmes.

Most of the episodes take stories from the Canon and update them to the 22^nd century, sometimes retaining only the bare bones of the original story in order to give the audience something fresh (e.g. “The Sussex Vampire Lot”).  But not all episodes are Canon cop-offs: some are completely original stories, such as the premiere and its sequel.

And if you’re worried about any romantic interaction between Sherlock Holmes and Beth Lestrade, you needn’t be.  Nope, they don’t kiss… though there are quite a few fans of the show that wish they would.  The creators seem to have left the relationship open-ended: friendship or potential future romance.  Some fans prefer the former, some the latter.  If you’re willing to be convinced as to the potential, however, you need look no further than this page http://suburbanbanshee.net/holmes/bethsher.html

, which lays out a compelling case using Holmes’s own methods of observation and deduction.

All in all, a terrifically fun show for kids and adult Sherlockians alike!  Holmes’s stellar characterization alone makes it worth seeing, and watching him react to 22^nd century changes and interact with both friend and foe (Moriarty, especially) is fantastic.

I’ve only just recently started to watch the show, and I’ve yet to make it all the way through.  But, of course, the muse has already been fired up—you can find two SH22 fics on my profile thus far!  In fact, if you’re an AMM fan, I’ll go so far as to recommend my SH22 stories to you—they use AMM material, including material that you can’t find anywhere else except for in the book itself.

But whether or not you check out said fics, do check out the show itself!  It might take some time to get used to it, but give it a chance—it just might grow on you.

Favorite 10 Sherlockian Characters

HELLO, INTERNET!

So, I have a chance to be online right now, and I am so taking it!  I’ve just recovered from a terrible case of writer’s block which overtook me before I took an enforced break from writing—but a week’s absence from the creative world has left a terrible mark on my thought processes.  I’ve still been having severe difficulty in writing anything.

However, reading an old issue of Writer’s Digest inspired me to do a top 10 list, Sherlockian-themed, of course.  It was my first piece of writing in a week, and it felt bloody marvelous.  So, here we go!

FAVORITE 10 SHERLOCKIAN CHARACTERS

1. Sherlock Holmes!

No duh, right?  ;D

1.5 John Watson, M.D.

‘Cause you just can’t have the one without the other…

2. Inspector G. Lestrade

Small, feisty, sensible, smug, hardworking, willing to admit that he’s wrong… and Colin Jeavons, FTW!

3. Mycroft Holmes

The original, lazy, lovable Big Brother.  (Plus, Mark Gatiss.  Yesss, my preciousss.)

4. Mary Watson

A fairytale-esque heroine who gets neither her castle nor her happy ending.  But she is strong, smart, compassionate, loving… and she does not object to her husband’s gallivanting off with a certain private consulting detective, who appears to admire her in turn.

5. Professor James Moriarty

The very first super-villain, his coldness, cunning, and overall intelligence still outshines the vast majority of villainy.

6. Inspector Tobias Gregson

From “That’s Lestrade’s fault, not mine” to “Ha-ha, that idiot Lestrade!”—he’s just plain adorable when we first meet him in STUD.  Later, however, he’s as serious and dedicated a detective as Sherlock Holmes could wish to work with.

7. Wiggins

The original BSI director whom fans seem determined to keep forever young.  (He was old enough to lead the gang in 1881—he had to have been an adult in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s!)

8. Alec MacDonald

One of the very first Holmesians!  Listen to him at the beginning of VALL—he’s a fanboy!

9. Maud Bellamy

This oft-overlooked character from Casebook is that delightfully attractive combination of beauty and bravery—and just look at the reaction she invokes in Holmes!  (Sherlock/Maud, anyone?  *ducks tomatoes*  Well, it’s not impossible…)

10. Irene Norton

Like her successor Maud, Irene is beautiful, brave, sensible, and smart.  Far from being a criminal or a lady of the night, Irene is much closer to the quintessential American heroine of the time (think of the women of the American West—there’s a definite resemblance).  She’s been knocked down by a royal she once loved, but her never-say-die attitude allows her to find love again and her smarts show her her misstep in revealing the photo’s hiding-place.  And… Sherlock Holmes calls her The Woman.  No lady ever was before and ever has been since so privileged.

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November!

Okay, why am I, an American, referencing Guy Fawkes Night now, at the end of June?  And what does the Halloween-esque English holiday have to do with Sherlock Holmes?

Oh, my goodness, you will not believe this…  It’s tied into the chronology of the Canon.  Seriously, it is.

1887, December: The first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, is published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual.

1888, September: The events of The Sign of the Four take place.

1889, early: John Watson and Mary Morstan are wedded.  I have no concrete evidence for this assumption, but the stories that take place in the months following the wedding (e.g. “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Naval Treaty,” etc.) seem to place the happy event in early 1889 rather than late 1888.  ’89, then, is the first year of Watson’s marriage.

1890, October: “The Red-headed League.”

1890, November: “The Dying Detective.”  Watson places the event “in the second year of my married life,” which would be 1890 if it is true that he and Mary were wedded in ’89 and that the marriage referred to is his first rather than his second.  (No bringing up the 3+ wives, please—I’m sure Doyle meant for Watson to have had only two.)  Also, Mrs. Hudson informs Dr. Watson that Holmes cooped himself up in his room on Wednesday, three days before she came for Watson.

Now, here’s where it gets really cool.

My reason for DYIN being during Watson's marriage to Mary is twofold: one, the story potential of Culverton Smith working with Professor Moriarty is staggering; two (and far more importantly), Holmes would not have pulled such a stunt on Watson after all the consequences of Holmes’s faking his death.  He would not have fooled Watson so a second time.

That being said, can there be a specific date for DYIN?  Well, not actually, because we're never told whether it was early, middle, or late in the month.  Still, there’s no reason why DYIN could not have taken place early in November, no matter the year, and that got me thinking.  There’s a particular British special day that occurs early in November…

I checked out a calendar for the year 1890.  It was a normal year (non-leap year) starting on a Wednesday.  November 1^st that year was a Saturday.  Are you doing the math?

Guy Fawkes Night fell on a Wednesday in 1890.

When I saw that, I could have screamed my excitement.

Culverton Smith tried to infect Sherlock Holmes on November 5^th.

This is, of course, assuming the year is right and the events took place early in the month.  But what better day could Smith choose to defeat the Great Detective than a special day on the English calendar?  Especially one associated with the words:

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November.

Culverton Smith would have ever after heard that and smiled at his victory over Sherlock Holmes, had the detective not beaten him at his own game.  (And we already know it was in his character to gloat.)  It was perfect timing!

In the end, it really is mostly conjecture with only a little bit of deduction, which naturally goes against Holmes’s grain.  But if it were so, ah! if it were but so…

It’s certainly something neat to think about.

Merged …Another Sherlockian novel?

Imagine this: a private detective at the top of her game in New York City.  A mastermind criminal and a long-running vendetta.  A machine that can create rips through time to send a person into the past.  Whoever controls this machine effectively controls the fate of our world.

And it’s been stolen.

Thirty-two-year-old Kathleen Stewart, independent investigative consultant, is on the case.  Her mission: to get the time machine out of Richard Stirling’s hands, or destroy it.

Instead, she finds herself propelled back in time—to London, 1890.

A lone female in a strange city, Kathleen proceeds to Baker Street, where—as an avid Sherlockian who knows that Sherlock Holmes was a real person—she finds the detective and explains her incredible story.  The proof of her sanity is the technology she bears, completely impossible for the time period.

Meanwhile, Rick Stirling is not idle.  He sends himself back to the same year and finds James Moriarty, intent on enlisting the former professor’s help in defeating both Sherlock Holmes and Kathleen Stewart once and for all.

As two very different times merge, the game is on, and the stakes have never been so high.  Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are in for the adventure of their lives.

…Don’t start panicking; Deliver Us From Evil will come first—at least Book One, anyway.  Once the first book is out, I might return to this idea to get it out there before continuing the series, just because this idea has me fascinated, hook, line, and sinker.  (And I’m not the only one—my dad was getting excited about it, too, lol.)

Those of you who have read A Time to Heal probably recognized the two original characters right away: Kathleen and Stirling.  Yes, this is an alternate reality of ATtH, reversing the roles (and making the characters younger)—this time, it’s the people of our time going back to the Victorian Era, rather than vice versa. 

Why is Kathleen going by her maiden name, you ask?  Well, it’s for the very simple reason that she isn’t married.  (I know, Kathleen Duran sounds so iconic, and I hate to lose it, but…)  Thus, the Kathleen that you’ll see in this story will be not only younger, but also a bit edgier.  Not too edgy, though, mind you, because her romanticism, her fangirlism, and her child-at-heart-ness are a big part of what makes her, her.  Without those traits, you really don’t have Kathleen Aubrey Stewart.

I’m really looking forward to doing this, eventually.  I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.