Sherlock Holmes 01: The Breath of God (25 page)

2. F
ICTIONAL
T
HEFT

So we come to the fictional characters that I have appropriated. Or, as some would say “nicked”. The game of using old literary characters is not a new one and I hope that I have played by the rules by bringing something new and interesting to them (otherwise it’s rather like a bland cover version, a waste of everyone’s time).

Carnacki was the first to offer his services. I have long been a fan of William Hope Hodgson’s original collection of nine stories. They offer innovative takes on haunting, though, as here, Carnacki sometimes finds that he has been presented with a hoax rather than a genuine example of the supernatural. If one thing is lacking in Hodgson’s stories it’s in the character of Carnacki himself. He is rather two-dimensional. It is fiction of ideas rather than personality. Hopefully I’ve altered that. I’ve also built up on a couple of Hodgson devices, the Electric Pentacle is more extensively described and used here than it ever was in the original. Other trimmings, the tattoos, cufflinks and affectation towards cookery are all my own.

Dr John Silence was created by Algernon Blackwood, whose weird writings were much enjoyed by the more famous HP Lovecraft. He is probably most well known for his story
The Willows
. In the sort of perfect twist authors love, Blackwood himself was a member of the Golden Dawn, albeit after Crowley’s time. Like Carnacki, the character of Silence was secondary to a fiction of weird concepts and dream imagery. His animal companions, Smoke and Flame, do appear in the very first Silence story,
A Psychical Invasion
, though they are the real-live contemporaries of the elemental spirits seen to fight here.

Julian Karswell is the villain in the MR James story,
Casting the Runes
. He is a man singularly incapable of taking criticism (something I play with here) marking his literary enemies for death using scraps of paper with runes on them. James is the absolute master of the supernatural tale and I couldn’t resist bringing a little of him here. The story Karswell tells of the maze in his home owes a debt to another James story, that of
Mr Humphreys and his Inheritance
. In this book, Karswell is played by actor Niall MacGinnis, who took on the role for the only big screen adaptation of a James story, 1957’s
Night of the Demon
(
Curse of the Demon
in the US). The appearance of the demon in smoke during the Battle of Boleskine is also a nod to the movie, alongside a particularly cheeky joke I play with the dialogue. Fans of Kate Bush will spot the hidden reference.

I hope that any readers not familiar with these other stories will hunt them out. Hours of writing far superior to mine lie ahead of those that do. I also heartily recommend the audiobook recording of
Casting the Runes
by Andrew Sachs available from
www.textbookstuff.com

3. T
HE
C
ANON

Finally let’s look at Holmes and Watson. There is a habit amongst writers of new Holmes fiction to concentrate on emulating Conan Doyle’s style. From the word go I decided not to be too slavish about this. Guess what: Conan Doyle didn’t write this, I did. That’s not to say I didn’t want to get the characters right and add a novel to the countless masses that I felt worthy of consideration, but I’m a storyteller not an impressionist. I wanted to write the sort of fullblooded romp that Conan Doyle would approve of (action and effect over logic and style if I’m unbearably honest). I also wanted to relish these two glorious leading men and enjoy them for all they were worth. They have brought me pleasure since I was a child and there’s something quite breathtaking about getting to control them for a while.

Langdale Pike is also a creation of Conan Doyle’s, though we never meet him. Here I have taken the liberty of imagining him to be personified by the wonderful Peter Wyngarde as was the case in Granada’s TV adaptation of
The Three Gables
in 1994.

I have taken care to adhere to the character’s chronology while allowing myself the odd self-indulgent joke at Conan Doyle’s inconsistencies (the notion of Holmes, a man who loathed the countryside later retiring to keep bees, for example, the contradiction of which confused my noble editor no end). The fluctuating state of Watson’s marriage is here given a more pleasing solidity, I wanted the man I cared for to be allowed the luxury to grieve. Nobody who has ever loved could fail to cheat him of that.

Sincere thanks to Titan Books in general and Cath Trechman in particular for letting me write this book. If it gives a reader half the pleasure it gave the writer... then I will have been ever so self-indulgent.

As always, it couldn’t have been written without the help and support of my splendid family. Princess Loobrins read it and said she loved it while pointing me straight where needed. Old Ma Hudson thought it was the best thing I’ve ever written (which says more about her than me). Plucky pugilists and tearaways, Sharp Right Seph and Dunkin’ Danny of the Arches asked how it was going when they really didn’t have to. The Calle Gralla Irregulars: Smithers, Mango, Brins, Clive Owens, Ramsey, Martha, Bill, Skylark, Sheamus, Benjamin Franklin, Silent Singer, Lebowski, Udders and Nixie were no help at all.

Lastly, thanks to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for being a giant with shoulders broad enough for me to stand on.

Guy Adams trained and worked as an actor for twelve years before becoming a full-time writer. He is the co-author of
The Case Notes of Sherlock Holmes
, and has written several tie-ins to the TV series
Life on Mars
. His most recently published novel is
Restoration
, the followup to the much-praised horror novel,
The World House
. To find out more visit his website:
www.guy-adams.com
.

THE HOUND OF THE D’URBERVILLES

K
IM
N
EWMAN

Imagine the twisted evil twins of Holmes and Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Professor James Moriarty—wily, snake-like, fiercely intelligent, terrifyingly unpredictable—and Colonel Sebastian ‘Basher’ Moran—violent, politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike. When a certain Irene Adler turns up on their doorstep with a proposition, neither man is able to resist.

Praise for Kim Newman:

“Newman’s prose is a delight.” —
Time Out

“A
tour de force
which succeeds brilliantly.” —
The Times

“Powerful... compelling entertainment...” —
San Francisco Chronicle

“One of the most creative novels of the year.” —
Seattle Times

WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless creation returns in a series of handsomely designed detective stories. The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes encapsulates the most varied and thrilling cases of the world’s greatest detective.

THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN

by Daniel Stashower

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

by Manley Wade Wellman & Wade Wellman

THE SCROLL OF THE DEAD

by David Stuart Davies

THE STALWART COMPANIONS

by H. Paul Jeffers

THE VEILED DETECTIVE

by David Stuart Davies

THE MAN FROM HELL

by Barrie Roberts

SÐANCE FOR A VAMPIRE

by Fred Saberhagen

THE SEVENTH BULLET

by Daniel D. Victor

THE WHITECHAPEL HORRORS

by Edward B. Hanna

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HOLMES

by Loren D. Estleman

THE ANGEL OF THE OPERA

By Sam Siciliano

THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA

by Richard L. Boyer

THE PEERLESS PEER

by Philip José Farmer

THE STAR OF INDIA

by Carole Buggé

COMING SOON:

THE WEB WEAVER

By Sam Siciliano

THE TITANIC TRAGEDY

By William Seil

WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM

KIM NEWMAN

It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. His polluted bloodline spreads through London as its citizens increasingly choose to become vampires.

In the grim backstreets of Whitechapel, a killer known as ‘Silver Knife’ is cutting down vampire girls. The eternally young vampire Geneviève Dieudonné and Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club are drawn together as they both hunt the sadistic killer, bringing them ever closer to Britain’s most bloodthirty ruler yet.

“Compulsory reading... Glorious.” — Neil Gaiman

“
Anno Dracula
is the definitive account of that post-modern species,

the self-obsessed undead.” —
The New York Times

“
Anno Dracula
will leave you breathless... one of the most creative novels

of the year.” —
Seattle Times

“Powerful... compelling entertainment... a fiendishly clever banquet

of dark treats.” —
San Francisco Chronicle

WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM