Not long ago my brother texted me to say, “Took a break from
reading yesterday to watch several episodes of The Twilight Zone before I
realized we’re living in one.”
I know what he means. Even though I’m retired and no social
butterfly, I’m finding life under a state “stay at home” order just plain weird.
So, now is the perfect time to read stories with a weird take on Sherlock Holmes.
I have some suggestions.
I’ve long enjoyed Shadows Over Baker Street, edited
by Michael Reaves and John Pelan. This collection of stories by various authors
Holmes into “the nightmare world of H.P. Lovecraft.” Neil Gaiman’s Hugo-awarding
winning “A Study in Emerald” made its debut here. You can’t get any better than
that. Just thinking about Gaiman’s Queen Victoria makes me shiver.
But J.R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec have staked out a
special claim in this field with their four Gaslight anthologies: Gaslight
Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes, Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of
Sherlock, Gaslight Arcanium: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes, and Gaslight
Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes.
The most recent addition of these to my library is the first
in the series, Gaslight Grimoire. It’s a fine anthology with a great
variety of alternative realities. I especially liked Barbara Hambly’s
hauntingly written Peter Pan story, “The Lost Boy,” and Bob Madison’s highly original
take on the Holmes-Dracula trope, “Red Sunset.” Fans of Kim Newman’s Colonel
Moran will enjoy his “The Red-Planet League.”
In the surreal world of April 2020, none of this seems not
quite as unbelievable as it did a few months back. What are you reading to keep
you sane?
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