I’ve been traveling for the last three days – trip to LA for a conference. The frustrating aspect of traveling – no opportunity to write and post. The gratifying part – plenty of time to read. I mentioned in my last post on “After The End Of The World” by Jonathan L. Howard that these two books would be my next reads. I took full advantage of the time on airplanes and in hotel rooms after work and managed to finish both – and man – am I glad I did.
I don’t try to use any kind of relative rankings for the books I write about – I think it forces you to make false choices. The truth is – there are few books I read for which I fail to find something I like. The challenge here would have been to find something about these books that I didn’t like.
Anyone who’s read a few of these posts knows I’ve loved H.P. Lovecraft’s work for a very long time – since first finding them in Middle School. I’ve also always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes. Not sure if this is true for everyone but I have a list of literary characters that I wish were either alive today or had lived – the ones that I’d give anything to meet and sit with for awhile – share a scotch or three – and talk with until the fire burns down for the night. Holmes is one of them Had I been born into his world – I would have wanted to be Watson. He just fascinates me.
These books take the best of both of these amazing worlds and brings everything together in a way that gives the reader plenty of things to love. He manages the merge in such a way as to preserve all of the things that made both of them so compellingly interesting as stand alones – no small feat.
He also manages to weave the supernatural / Cthulhu mythos elements into the timeline and progression of Holmes’ and Watson’s careers – as it developed across Watson’s stories – in a very unique and innovative way. It shouldn’t spoil anything to say that Lovegrove managed to slot these tales into Watson’s earlier works by positioning the two – soon to be three – books as the three, long lost and recently recovered volumes penned by Watson at the end of his life – at a time when he felt compelled to tell the story behind the stories in all his earlier work. Watson gives as a justification for his earlier literary subterfuge the need to spare his readership and society at large a knowledge of the horrifying, supernatural threats that he and Holmes repeatedly faced. Lovegrove pulled it off in a pretty seamless way – very respectful of all the original work – paying tribute to many of the individual stories by shedding light on the supernatural elements which had been exorcised from Watson’s original stories.
He also represented both Holmes and Watson in a way that was very loyal to the way they’re characterized and grow over time in Doyle’s work. In these books, Holmes is still the guy I’d want to spend an evening with in front of the fire – talking about anything and everything. While this may represent a bit of a spoiler – Moriarty is also very well presented in the book – almost as fascinating as Holmes in a very cringe-worthy way. Again, its not really a spoiler to say that these three books are a step-wise retelling of the true history of the conflict between Holmes and Moriarty – and the supernatural / Lovecraftian elements at the heart of that conflict.
Finally, the Lovecraftian elements were not disappointing. The atmosphere of madness that is almost always present in Lovecraft’s stories is not so prevalent but that’s largely due to the strength and solidity of Holmes and Watson as protagonists. Short to long – they’re just made of sterner stuff than those poor fools dragged down to insanity in Lovecraft’s stories due to their contact with or exposure to the Old Gods and their minions.
These are great, wonderful, fun books for anyone who enjoys Lovecraft or Holmes or both – maybe for those who haven’t experienced either. I just loved them – they left me sitting on the floor of my library at 12:30 AM last night – pulling volumes of Lovecraft and Doyle and Howard off the shelves to check little things – googling little bits of Cthulhu lore – obviously not ready to acknowledge that I’d actually finished the books. I can’t wait for the third and final volume in the trilogy to come out – despite the unavoidable, bittersweet understanding that finishing the third will represent the end to a journey that I truly enjoyed.
Now comes the hard part – what the heck am I going to read next? Lovegrove’s books left me wanting to go back and read through my Lovecraft and Doyle collections. I also have a five volume set of the complete works of Clark Ashton Smith – recently acquired but not yet read – that I’m tempted to start into. After going back and doing a little research on Lovecraft and getting a better feel for the relationship he had with Robert E. Howard, I’m also a little tempted to go back and read through my Conan collection – with an eye out for the Lovecraftian elements in the book that just passed me by when I was reading them during my High School years. I felt a strong enough pull in that direction that I wound up ordering hard cover editions of Howard’s Bran Bak Morn stories and his Solomon Kane series. I would have purchased a volume of his King Kull tales but couldn’t find a hardcover edition. I haven’t read any of these stories but I will as soon as the books arrive. All of this sits on top of the need to finish “Midnight Tides” and / or get started on the dozen books I still have On The Nightstand. I’ll make a decision before end of day and write something up as soon as I finish what I decide to start.
Cheers