Wed 10 Feb 2016
Reviewed by Walter Albert: MICHAEL REAVES & JOHN PELAN, Editors – Shadows Over Baker Street.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[9] Comments
MICHAEL REAVES & JOHN PELAN, Editors – Shadows Over Baker Street. Del Rey / Ballantine, trade paperback, 2003.
This collection of stories in which the Sherlock Holmes canon is expanded by apocryphal tales confronting the dean of intellectual detectives with H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos is probably one of those projects that sounded more promising in the proposal than it is has turned out to be in the execution.
Holmes’ antipathy to the supernatural as a factor in his cases is well-documented and I rather think he would be embarrassed by the outlandish capers he is obliged to be engaged in to seek what is often a tentative solution to the Lovecraftian horrors intruding on his rational terrain.
I’m certainly not opposed — as some fans of the genre are — to the use of supernatural elements in detective fiction (a use I feel can be documented throughout its distinguished history), but I’m not persuaded that this collection makes a strong case for Lovecraft’s particular, and very personal, chamber of horrors as a viable device for the crossover.
This does not mean that I derived no pleasure from the collection. In small doses, over a period of time, the stories by a variety of authors such as 8rian Stapleford, Richard Lupoff, and Barbara Hambly afford a modicum of chills and thrills, albeit at times not far from the comically absurd. None of the stories has lingered with any particular resonance in my tattered memory, so I’ll just add that if you aren’t opposed to the supernatural in your short fiction and don’t find Lovecraft’s name a turnoff, you should have some fun with the stories.
The wraparound jacket illustration by John Jude Palencar doesn’t make a good case for the monsters lurking between the book’s covers. (I was amused rather than horrified by the two creatures posing in the lower right hand comer of the front cover) but has one nice idea in the depiction of Sherlock Holmes as the Invisible Man. Come to think of it, that’s not such an inappropriate portrait since the traditional Holmes is largely absent from these stories.
February 10th, 2016 at 11:23 pm
I love when the supernatural is introduced into the story effectively, but taking Holmes, who is about order out of chaos and Lovecraft, who is about chaos without order and mixing them sounds better as a proposal than a story. I’ve read everyone from fans to pros try this, and save for Manly Wade wellman’s WAR OF THE WORLDS book with Holmes, Estleman, and Cay Van Ash 10 YEARS BEYOND BAKER STREET where he encounters Fu Manchu they all fail for me.
Conan Doyle himself wisely kept Holmes away from his belief in fairies and séances and it would be as well if most of us did the same unless we were capable of doing a Janus Solution where like Carr’s THE BURNING COURT you have it both ways.
If you must do this use Solar Pons or create your own occult detective, don’t try to destroy Holmes.
February 11th, 2016 at 12:17 am
I have given up on almost all of the Holmes stories written today, whether they bring in the supernatural or not. One or two get it right — Denis O. Smith is one who comes to mind — or as close as any author of the present day can, but most of them set my teeth grinding before they get through one page of second-rate imitation, and then only on the surface.
I haven’t read the Wellman book, but I wish I had. He is one author I think might have gotten Holmes right.
February 11th, 2016 at 12:17 am
I bought this anthology when it first came out (was it really over *twelve* years ago?) and enjoyed many of the stories. There are several outright duds, however. Those I liked were a lot of fun and I never took them seriously for a minute. Obviously it will upset, if not enrage, the Holmes purists for all the reasons outlined by both Walter and David. But since I side with the occult heroes and villains who make cameos in the stories I liked it a lot more. There was one with Carnacki that was my favorite. Another with Dr. Nikola sadly was not as good though John Pelan, the writer, made a good effort.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:47 am
I haven’t read this book but I believe Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald” was in it. Even though I am not a big Holmes fan and definitely not a Lovecraft fan, I think that is a very good story.
February 12th, 2016 at 12:53 pm
I enjoy a lot of pastiche Holmes, but I’d stay far away from this one. Also, David mentions the Cay Van Ash 10 YEARS BEYOND BAKER STREET. I’ve been meaning to read that one for well over a decade (even two)!
February 12th, 2016 at 1:29 pm
SteveHL, #4
You are quite correct about the Gaiman story. Says Wikipedia:
“The title is a reference to the Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet. “A Study in Emerald” first appeared in the anthology Shadows Over Baker Street, a collection of stories combining the worlds of Arthur Conan Doyle and H. P. Lovecraft; it has subsequently been available as part of Gaiman’s short story collection Fragile Things, in the collection New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird, and is available online. The online version takes the form of a Victorian periodical or newspaper, which includes various advertisements that reference characters such as Vlad Tepes, Victor Frankenstein, Spring Heeled Jack, and Dr. Jekyll.”
I found that last piece of information very interesting.
February 12th, 2016 at 1:33 pm
Richard, #5
I bought the Cay Van Ash book back when it first came out. I’m not sure why, since I at the time was not reading any pastiches by author’s using other authors characters. I’ve done so since, but like you, I never got around to reading the Van Ash book either.
The book came out in 1984, over 30 years ago!
February 12th, 2016 at 4:37 pm
The best story in this anthology is Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald†which is very clever. I’m with David on most of the Holmes pastiches: dismal.
February 13th, 2016 at 4:49 pm
This review had me interested, Steve, and then I read the comments. I’m still interested, but…it’s fading.