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Planck`s_Constant Captain
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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:26 pm
So I will expound at length upon the absolutely amazing crossover I'm reading at the moment: The Holmes-Dracula File, by Fred Saberhagen. I'm only on page 52, but it is thus far completely and totally awesome, and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone here. (If this changes due to a rubbish ending, I'll inform you.)
Thus far, Dracula has been beaten over the head with a club and has lost his memory, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of a missing fiance and large quantities of medical equipment, and a GIANT RAT OMG has been hinted at.
I don't think that little bit was too terribly spoiler-y, and I won't spoil any more.
But it's good. Very good. The bits about Dracula are written in third-person, in a rather modern style (the copyright date is 197 cool , but the bits with Holmes and Watson are from Watson's perspective, in a style almost indistinguishable from Doyle's. A student of linguistics and the evolution of the English language would be able to pick out a few unlikely turns of phrase, but I'm not going to be picky...
If you can dig up a copy, DO SO.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:46 pm
OMFG I FINISHED IT. eek Super epic crack crossover! Unexpected plot twists! Unexpected epic ending! Revelations about Holmes' childhood!
Very, very highly recommended. READ IT. So I have someone to squee with. Because the entire thing was amazingly squee-worthy. WOW.
I squee'd so hard I spilt coffee al over myself, all over my bed, and over much of the ceiling. Yes. The ceiling. I kid you not. Of course, I happen to be horrendously caffeinated at the moment, which probably contributes to the my enthusiasm (or at least exuberance), but READ IT.
Find a copy and read it. Fred Saberhagen is a GENIUS. Epic awesome. Wicked. I cannot praise this book too highly.
WOWOWOWOWOW. ~will be on a literary high for the rest of the day, and probably for much of tomorrow... possibly for the next week~
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Planck`s_Constant Captain
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:22 pm
Oh yeah, I read that when it first came out. biggrin Yes, I liked it a lot.
Fred Saberhagen doesn't stop there with Holmes stuff in his writing--I got a SF magazine back in the early '80's he contributed a short story to. It was related to his Berserker series, but it had an agent who had gone to Victorian England to stop a Berserker from murdering someone I think--and ended up being...well, maybe I'll leave it for you to dig up somewhere.... mrgreen
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 5:01 pm
DO NOT SPOIL. Plz.
Now that I'm hooked, I'll undoubtedly be looking up the rest of his stuff. Though apparently, he has written at least one novellisation for Earth: Final Conflict, that I shall not be reading, since I loathed that series as the one work of Roddenberry that was an absolute failure... >>;
I'm glad I started with Holmes-Dracula, though, since it is EPIC CROSSOVER of two of my most deeply rooted fandoms.
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Planck`s_Constant Captain
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Holmes of Baker Street Crew
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:18 pm
I've read it, and though I hesitate to use such modern parlance, it was indeed epic. I particularly liked how Saberhagen emphasised the physical similarities between Holmes and Dracula. That had struck me before, when reading the original works, and I liked the way he brought it together right at the end.
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 5:52 pm
... Was I the only one who had never heard of this?
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Planck`s_Constant Captain
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 2:15 pm
Well, there was a huge explosion of pastiches in the '70's while Holmes was temporarily in the public domain, you know. Paperbacks, hardbacks, short stories in magazines, etc. And some of them were absolute garbage. I own one that I'm trying very hard to utterly wipe from my mind, it was so worthless. :XP:
But some strange and cool ones came out of that time, too. One of my favorites is extremely disturbing & involves a Jack the Ripper investigation. And another I used to re-read over & over is totally out of left field--but I really don't like the later books by that author continuing to use Wiggins as private detective.
A lot of authors write Holmes stories trying to introduce their own characters who slowly take over the series, & I can't say I've ever liked any of them. It irritates me.
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Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:35 pm
In Borders today I noticed that John Gardner's Moriarty trilogy seems to be getting another print run. I saw the first book, Moriarty, in hardcover. The others are The Return of Moriarty and The Revenge of Moriarty.
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Planck`s_Constant Captain
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Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 8:37 pm
Ooh, I'm going to have to look for that one. Moriarty is one of my absolute favourite villains ever.
And, of course, I would not remember the '70's. ninja
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Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:41 pm
Sounds excellent. THough I should probably read Dracula first... =P
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Planck`s_Constant Captain
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Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 6:46 pm
Do read Dracula, first. It does make a lot of references.
~and I've picked up some more of Saberhagen's Dracula series; haven't started reading them yet, though~
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:55 pm
Oh, I so have that on my 'To-Read' list on Goodreads.
2 excellent books, so common sense says it has to be good.
And such incredibly good reviews from you, Planck.
8D
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:46 am
Planck`s_Constant ... Was I the only one who had never heard of this? I haven't heard of it, but i'm gonna check it out for sure smile .
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:12 pm
Used to be, somebody would have a new pastiche out around Christmastime. I didn't see one this year. sad
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Planck`s_Constant Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:21 pm
I've been trolling Barnes and Noble and Halfprice for pastiche, but the shelves are void, it seems. ~is depressed about that~
But I'm reading the Mrs Hudson books again, just because.
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