Curious Cases of Sherlock Holmes - Volume One

Stephen Herczeg

Description

An eclectic mix of eight stories drawn from the annals of the MX Series of New Sherlock Holmes stories and the many Holmes anthologies of Belanger Books, all from the pen of emerging pastiche author Stephen Herczeg.Holmes is presented with a dishevelled and confused man that appears to be from another century. Time travel, or something more mysterious?Several years after the mystery of the Engineer's thumb, Victor Hatherley is again at odds. Will Holmes discover his whereabouts and save him? And what is the connection to Holmes's greatest foe of all?Death from the venomous bite of a rare Gila Monster. An accident or is the innocent looking herpetologist not what he seems?A bomb appears beneath the floor of Parliament, along with a threat from Sudanese terrorists. Will Holmes make sense of the warning and identify the culprit?Holmes must solve the mystery of a dead body found in an alleyway in a retrofuture of steam power.Bodies appear to leave the morgue of their own accord. A mysterious fire draws Holmes to one conclusion. Zombies.On the night of her arranged engagement to a German industrialist, a young woman disappears.A derailed train, and a dead professor sees Holmes befriend an adventurous young woman to solve the mystery and foil the robbery of a priceless relic.

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 31 août 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781787057593
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Curious Cases of Sherlock Holmes
Volume One
Stephen Herczeg




Published in 2021 by
MX Publishing
www.mxpublishing.com
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © Stephen Herczeg
The right of Stephen Herczeg to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover design by Brian Belanger




To Carol
for always being my muse



Foreword by David Marcum
Sometimes over the last few years – and especially during the tumultuous events of 2020 (and now 2021) – I’ve thought about connections that we all have now that simply didn’t previously exist. For many of us, not that long ago, our world was very small – family and co-workers and the people we saw in our towns. But with the connections of social media – for good or bad – we now have links to people all over the world that we would have never known otherwise. If the COVID pandemic had hit just a few years ago, I personally wouldn’t have had any specific concerns about people outside of my own local sphere – it would have been horrible, but nameless and faceless. Now, by way of connections through mutual admiration of Sherlock Holmes, I “know” many people from around the world – even if we’ve never met in person (yet) – and my concern over their well-being and safety, and my joy at their triumphs and good news, exists in a way that wouldn’t have been possible before.
One such person that I’m very glad to now “know” in this modern sense is Stephen Herczeg, Author.
I first became acquainted with Steve while editing a book of sequels to the original Sherlock Holmes stories. He had previously written a Holmes tale that was included in the Belanger Books collection Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells (2017), and now he wanted to write a sequel to “The Engineer’s Thumb”. As a diligent editor, I’m always happy to receive new stories, and I’m always hoping that the author will be good – which means to me that the stories are written in the mold of the original Canon in the voice of Dr. John H. Watson – and also that the author will become a reliable repeat contributor. Steve is both of these.
His enthusiasm is notable and always welcome. He always wants to join the party. When he doesn’t know something about The Canon, he’s always very happy to learn, and he’s great to work with. Whenever I’ve been involved in editing a new Sherlock Holmes anthology – for either Belanger Books or MX Publishing – Steve always steps up, with stories that are Watsonian and uniquely interesting. When I also began editing new Solar Pons anthologies, he wanted to be part of those as well.
Like many of us Sherlock Holmes pasticheurs, Steve isn’t in it to get rich. (In the case of the MX anthologies, he – along with the rest of us – donates his royalties to the Stepping Stones School for special needs children at Undershaw, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former homes. So far, the nearly two-hundred contributors from around the world have raised over $75,000 for the school, and no end in sight!) We write because we enjoy it – as painful as the process is sometimes – and also to add to the Great Holmes Tapestry. Another benefit of writing for these various Holmes anthologies is that they give us opportunities to produce more stories that we otherwise might not attempt, and after a while, we step back and see that we’ve written a good many of them.
And that’s what has happened for Steve: After being in so many Holmes anthologies, he now has a plethora of adventures with his name on them, ready to be collected into his own book. I’m personally thrilled that this volume now exists, and that people who possibly didn’t have a chance to read these stories when they originally appeared in various anthologies can now enjoy them collected in one place. I very much hope that this book will be followed by Volumes II and III and so on . . . .
I’m very glad, in this time of worldwide worry, to know Steve, and to have enjoyed his stories. Sit back and dive in – and let the present fade away for a while as Watson tells us another excellent adventure of his friend, Sherlock Holmes…
David Marcum
February 2021



Foreword by Derrick Belanger
It was on July 12, 2017 when I was first introduced to the talented Sherlockian author Stephen Herczeg via email. Mr. Herczeg wrote to me, starting off as he always does with a friendly “Gidday!” and asked if I’d consider including his story “The Curious Case of the Sleeper” in my anthology Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells. I read his story, and replied with a strong YES! “The Curious Case of the Sleeper” does a remarkable job of blending the writing of H.G. Wells with that of Dr. Watson’s adventures. Add in a touch of Dickens with the ending, and you have a wonderfully imaginative mystery.
That was the first of many stories by Mr. Herczeg which I’m proud to have published. What amazes me with Herczeg’s work is how he is able to create an excellent Sherlock Holmes pastiche no matter if he is working in the boundaries of Doyle’s traditional Victorian England or if he is pushing those boundaries and incorporating elements of science fiction, horror, or steampunk. Take for example his excellent, “The Body at the Ritz”. In this story, Holmes is called in to solve the mystery of a body found in an alley outside the Ritz hotel. The plot follows a traditional Holmesian narrative where Holmes and Watson are their 19th century selves; however, it also has them living in a steam powered world of horseless carriage lined streets and dirigibles covering the skies.
While this anthology focuses specifically on Herczeg’s works around Sherlock Holmes, I would be remiss if I didn’t also give a shout out to his wonderful writings of the other Sherlock Holmes, the one that resides in Praed Street, Mr. Solar Pons. Herczeg’s Pontine works featured in The New Adventures of Solar Pons have Sherlock Holmes’s successor with his partner, Dr. Parker, solving crimes in the early twentieth century, just as August Derleth intended. As Herczeg does with his Sherlock Holmes writing, sometimes he bends the rules a bit with his Pons stories. In “The Rondure of Cthulhu,” his piece in The Necronomicon of Solar Pons, the Praed street sleuth is pitted against the monsters from the world of H.P. Lovecraft. The story is an excellent piece of detective and weird fiction. I highly recommend seeking out Herczeg’s Pontine work which is just as good as his Holmes writings.
One last point I’d like to make about Mr. Herczeg is how willing he is to push himself to keep writing new pastiches. Whenever I send out a call for new Sherlock Holmes fiction, Mr. Herczeg is always the first to respond, eagerly taking on the challenge of adding more stories to his personal Holmes canon. I’m sure this anthology will be the first of many.
Keep visiting 221 B Baker Street, Mr. Herczeg. We look forward to more thrilling adventures!
Derrick Belanger
February, 2021



The Curious Cases of Sherlock Holmes
Volume 1



The Curious Case of the Sleeper
I am fairly certain that if I had not been along at that precise moment then neither myself nor Sherlock Holmes would have ever heard of Thomas Graham or as he became known to the two of us, the Sleeper.
It was a bright day in July. A mid-summer heatwave was pummelling London with an unbearable ferocity. Even in my light frock coat, I could feel the pools of perspiration under my arms and the intermittent stream as rivulets ran down my side. I would have much preferred to have been home with my beloved, but Sherlock had called upon me to come with great haste.
As I walked briskly down Baker Street, I noticed a group milling around the entrance to 221b, my destination.
Mrs. Hudson was on the doorstep, attempting to convince the group to move away. I increased my pace to help out my dear colleague’s housekeeper.
“I say, what seems to be the problem, Mrs. Hudson,” I said.
She looked at me; hope crossing her face, then indicated the rabble before her.
“It’s this lot Doctor Watson,” she said.
I finally took in the members of the group. There were four young street urchins and an older man of about forty years. He was marginally taller than the children and likewise dressed in dirty rags and bare feet. I addressed him directly.
“What is the meaning of this Sir?”
He did not seem to hear. One of the urchins turned to face me. I recognised him. Tommy Bones he was called. He was one of the Baker Street Irregulars, Sherlock Holmes’ personal network of spies and aides.
“Sir, this man, sir. ‘e was down at the river bank. ‘e don’t make no sense. We thought that Mr. ‘olmes might be interested in ‘im”.
I looked down my nose at Tommy.
“Is that all?”
Tommy’s eyes roved around before sheepishly returning to gaze into mine.
“We thought there might be a couple o’ coppers in it for us”.
“That’s more likely,” I said.
I looked the man up and down. His eyes were slightly glazed and he stared off into the dista