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Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes

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Jeff Campbell & Charles Prepolec, eds.

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Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-894063-31-9 5.5" X 8.5" $16.95 US 336 pages AMAZON.COM AMAZON.CA Jeff Campbell editor Charles Prepolec editor

Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes Editors: Jeff Campbell It was the first thing every book store employee said when they sat down to interview for the job. Sometimes it was uttered at the interview's beginning, sometimes at the end, but it was always said with such earnestness. A sincerity unique to each person who said it. Some years have passed since I managed a book store but I can think of no better words to begin a short biographical essay than those I used when I was a teenager applying for a job at the local book store. My name is Jeff R. Campbell and I love books. Hardly a revelation, I know, but still worth saying. There's no other explanation for the way the book trade has dogged the steps of my adult life, first through the various book stores I worked for, as publisher's regional sales representative and then into writing and publishing ventures of my own. My fiction has appeared in publications as diverse as Spinetingler Magazine, Wax Romantic, and Challenging Destiny. My work can also be heard on the Jim French Radio Production's Imagination Theater and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In addition to my writing I've also been privileged enough to edit two previous anthologies of Sherlock Holmes stories with my good friend, and distinguished Sherlockian, Charles Prepolec: Curious Incidents and Curious Incidents 2. A strange but oddly fascinating pastime, one that scratches the old book trade itch while allowing for the consumption of a pint or two of Guinness at the local pub. Of course it's not all writing, editing and visiting pubs. I'm married to a lovely, compassionate and wise (but for loving me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit) woman named Kim who, at the time of our marriage, had no idea she would end up sharing a name with one of the more infamous of Canada's Prime Ministers. Together we've had three wonderful children (Stephanie, Thomas and Allison) whose virtues deserve more words than I'll spend on them here. All of us currently make our home in Calgary. One of the benefits of living in your hometown is the impressive collection of family and friends we've acquired over the years. There is also, I'm sad to say, a cat but why focus on the negative? I suffer an unusual tolerance for accountancy and book-keeping, a defect which has kept me employed. My interests seem wide and varied but I suspect everyone feels the same about their interests. As a young man I thought Rock and Roll was something people grew out of but, so far at least, that doesn't seem to be the case. I also enjoy folk songs from Scotland and Newfoundland (God's revenge for the way I used to tease the kid next door about his accordion lessons). I cheer for the Calgary Flames with an enthusiasm I know to be annoying to fans of other hockey teams but which I enjoy anyway. Other interests include Shakespeare, Star Trek and Sherlock Holmes. Charles Prepolec Charles V. Prepolec was born in 1966 and is a native of Calgary, AB, Canada. He is a freelance writer, editor and reviewer. His articles, interviews, artwork and reviews have appeared in Scarlet Street, Sherlock, All-Hallows, and Canadian Holmes as well as fanzines Peladon Press and Into the Vortex. He has been acknowledged for various contributions in Starring Sherlock Holmes (Rev. Ed. Titan Books 2007), Sherlock Holmes On Screen (Reynolds and Hearn 2002), Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History (Reynolds and Hearn 2001), In All Sincerity……Peter Cushing (Xlibris 2004) and Heroes & Monsters: The Unofficial Companion To The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Monkeybrain Books 2003). Along with his friend and frequent collaborator Jeff Campbell, he has edited two previous Sherlock Holmes anthologies - Curious Incidents Vols. 1&2. He maintains his own Sherlock Holmes website bakerstreetdozen.com. An avid reader from childhood, early obsessions included comic books, Doc Savage reprints, Burroughs’’ John Carter, Fleming’’s James Bond and John Norman’s Gor series. He has always had an appreciation for the works of Jules Verne, Victor Hugo, H.G. Wells, E. A. Poe, Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft, and far too many others to mention. More recent interests include classic weird fiction and contemporary horror anthologies from small press publishers, although his favourite authors come from a variety of genres and include George MacDonald Fraser, Reginald Hill, Terry Pratchett, Kim Newman, Simon Clark, Steve Hockensmith, and Tim Lebbon. In the mid-1980s a chance encounter with the Renegade Press Cases of Sherlock Holmes comic books and a television broadcast of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series sparked an eduring fascination with Arthur Conan Doyle's Great Detective, with a particular interest in film, television and pastiche interpretations of the character. An active member of Calgary’’s local Sherlock Holmes society The Singular Society of the Baker Street Dozen since 1987, Charles is also a member of Canada’’s national Sherlock Holmes group The Bootmakers of Toronto, who in 2006 awarded him Canada’’s highest Sherlockian honour with the designation of Master Bootmaker. He has attended Sherlockian conferences in New York, London, Indianapolis and Toronto, and also spoken about Sherlock Holmes on local and national radio. His collection of Sherlockiana has appeared on display in Theatre Calgary’’s gallery during their 2005 staging of William Gillette’’s play Sherlock Holmes. Leaving behind University studies in History and Education in 1989 he opened Calgary’’s only, now defunct, mystery specialty bookstore Mad For A Mystery, then went on to work for Smithbooks (where he met his wonderfully understanding wife Kristen), Books on Cassette, and Positive Concepts before settling in as operations manager for The Movie Poster Shop in 2001. A major film and television buff, favourites include classic adventure, screwball comedy, mystery and horror films (Universal and Hammer), Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Star Trek. On Sunday afternoons you can frequently find Charles down the pub, Guinness in hand and cigarettes within reach, blissfully chattering with Jeff Campbell about any or all of the above. Contributors: Leslie S. Klinger is considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. He is the editor of the three-volume set The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, published by W.W. Norton in 2004 and 2005. The first two volumes, The Complete Short Stories, won the Edgar™, the highest award of the Mystery Writers of America, for “Best Critical/Biographical” work in 2005 and were short-listed for every other major mystery award. The third volume, The Novels was nominated for an Edgar™ and a Quill™ award as well as every other major mystery award. In 2008, The New Annotated Dracula was published by W. W. Norton to critical acclaim. Klinger is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, and served as the Series Editor for the Manuscript Series of The Baker Street Irregulars; he is currently the Series Editor for the BSI’s History Series. He is currently serving his third term as Chapter President of the SoCal Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. He lectures and writes frequently on Holmes, Dracula, and their worlds. Les and his wife Sharon have five adult children and live in Malibu with their dog, and three cats. Klinger’s day job is a practice in Westwood specializing in tax, estate planning, and business law. Stephen Volk (who wrote to Peter Cushing as an avid fan of his TV Sherlock, and received a signed photograph in return!) is the creator and lead writer of the award-winning British paranormal drama series Afterlife and the notorious (almost legendary, he’s told!) BBC television “Halloween hoax” Ghostwatch which spooked the nation, caused questions to be raised in Parliament, and was quoted in the British Journal of Medicine as causing post traumatic stress disorder in children. His credits as a screenwriter include a trippy take on the creation of “Frankenstein” in the shape of Ken Russell’s Gothic; Superstition; Channel 4’s Shockers; and Octane starring Madeleine Stowe. He won a BAFTA for The Deadness of Dad starring Rhys Ifans and his first short story collection, Dark Corners, included ‘31/10’ (a putative “sequel” to Ghostwatch) which was nominated for both a British Fantasy and a Bram Stoker Award. His latest novella, Vardøger, is to be published, also by Gray Friar Press, in 2009. Amongst his several feature films and TV ideas in development are Proof, Telepathy and Burn, and he also (unbelievably) finds time to write a regular ‘think piece’ for the horror magazine “Black Static”. Lawrence C. Connolly’s novel Veins was a Black Quill and Hoffer Award finalist for 2008. He follows it this year with Veins: The Soundtrack (an audio CD featuring music inspired by the novel) and Visions, a collection of his science fiction and fantasy stories from Amazing Stories, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Twilight Zone, and others. Over the years his stories have been reprinted in a variety of best-of and retrospective anthologies, such as Karl Edward Wagner’s Year’s Best Horror, Thomas and Elizabeth Monteleone’s Best of Borderlands, and Audible.com’s Best of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Other stories have frequently been included in recommended-reading lists, including those in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (St. Martin’s Press) and Best American Mystery Stories (Houghton Mifflin). Translations of his work have appeared in over a dozen languages. His latest stories are currently available in Cemetery Dance 59, F&SF Aug/Sept 09, Darkness on the Edge: Tales Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen (from PS Publishing), Terrible Beauty, Fearful Symmetry (from Dark Hart Press), and The Stories in Between (from Fantasist Enterprises). A collection of his horror stories is forthcoming from Ash-Tree Press. His forthcoming novel Vipers will be released in 2010. William Meikle is a Scottish writer with nine novels published in the genre press and short story credits in thirteen countries and eight languages. His “Midnight Eye” series detailing the supernatural adventures of Scottish detective Derek Adams owes more to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe than Holmes, but Sherlock would immediately recognize the Victorian streets of Glasgow that Derek inhabits. Willie’s next novel, The Valley (Ghostwriter Publications 2010), also has a Conan Doyle influence, being a Lost World tale of cowboys in 1863 Montana. James A. Moore is the author of 18 novels, including the Serenity Falls trilogy. When asked why his first love is horror, his answer is matter-of-fact. “You write what you like, and I guess I’ve always had a fondness for the darker things in life.” He’s been both the Secretary and the Vice-President of the Horror Writers Association, and worked in the comics field and on numerous role playing games. He’s been twice nominated for the Bram Stoker award. Vendetta, his most recent novel, is now available as is his latest short story colelction Slices. For more information about Jim’s work visit his website. William Patrick Maynard was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His passion for writing began in childhood and was fueled by an early love of detective and thriller fiction. His longtime hobby finally paid off when The Literary Estate of Sax Rohmer selected him as the second writer in forty years to pen an authorized Fu Manchu thriller. Pulp-specialty publisher, Black Coat Press published Maynard’s first book, The Terror of Fu Manchu in April 2009 to widespread praise. “The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy” is his second foray in the mystery genre. Hayden Trenholm’s short fiction has appeared in On Spec, TransVersions, Tesseracts6, Neo-Opsis, Challenging Destiny, Talebones and on CBC radio. His plays have been produced Alberta and Saskatchewan and on CBC radio. In 1993, his play, Man of No Name, was a finalist in the Theatre BC play competition and in 1994, he won the 28th Alberta Playwrting Competion with The Book of Rose. His short stories, ‘The Luck of Willie Lumen’, ‘Like Monsters of the Deep’ and ‘Lumen Essence’ were nominated for an Aurora Award (Canada’s SF Awards) in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively. In 2008, after a record fourth consecutive short fiction nomination, he won the Aurora for his novella, ‘Like Water in the Desert’. His first novel, A Circle of Birds, was published by Anvil Press. His novel, Defining Diana, was released by Bundoron Press in 2008 and was nominated for an Aurora Award in the long fiction category. A sequel, Steel Whispers, was published in August 2009. He lives with his wife and fellow writer, Elizabeth, in Ottawa where he does research for the Senator for the Northwest Territories. Neil Jackson runs the small press publisher ‘Ghostwriter Publications’ on the Jurassic Coast in Southern England, with his partner, Sarah. A self confessed addict of creature features and crytozoology, as well as an obsession with the folklore surrounding the yeti and sasquatch, he has recently edited his first anthology, with the the apt title, Creature Feature. When the workaholic is not at his desk or working at various book fairs, he can be found in any number of local bookstores searching for tomes on his heroes, Robert Falcon Scott or Lord Horatio Nelson. Celeste is Neil’s first submission and combines his love of sea mysteries and creature features. His first novel, Boar, is released in November 2009. Robert Lauderdale is pleased to be providing a story for one of his favorite detectives: Inspector Lestrade. While genius always has a place, there is something to be said for those who plod along ‘tenacious as a bulldog once he understands what he has to do’. A former treasurer of the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association, Rob lives with a cat, two turtles, his keyboard and various books which have washed up on his shelves over the years. Leigh Blackmore (b. 1959) writer, editor, manuscript assessor, & occultist, lives in Wollongong, Australia with his two partners, three cats, and a 5000+ volume library. Leigh is completing his Honours year for the B.A. Creative Arts (Creative Writing) at the University of Wollongong. His most recent book is the weird verse collection, Spores from Sharnoth and Other Madnesses (P’rea Press, 2008) which US journal Dead Reckonings declared “places Blackmore amongst the leading weird poets of our era.” He published & edited (with B.J. Stevens & Chris G.C. Sequeira) Terror Australis: The Australian Horror & Fantasy Magazine (1987-92) and edited Terror Australis: The Best of Australian Horror. (Coronet, 1993). Leigh’s weird fiction has appeared in the Agog! anthologies (“Uncharted” was a Ditmar nominee, Best Novella, 2003), Daikaiju 3, Eldritch Tales: Dark Horrors, and online at www.ligotti.ne www.writingshow.com. Leigh co-edits (with chief editor Phillip A. Ellis) the bi-annual journal Studies in Australian Weird Fiction. He is Official Editor of SWWFT, the Sword & Sorcery & Weird Fiction Terminus amateur press association. He has contributed to many scholarly works on weird fiction including Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopedia (ed. S.T. Joshi & Stefan J. Dziemianowicz, Greenwood Press, 2006). Critical work has appeared in Studies in the Fantastic and Lovecraft Annual. Leigh regularly lectures on magick & occultism in the Illawarra, and co-facilitates MoonsKin ritual working group with his partner Margi Curtis. Their regular columns on occultism have appeared in Spellcraft and Black: Australia’s Dark Culture magazine. For further information see this Wikipedia entry. Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, Toady. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Fiddleback, The Deluge and four books in the popular Doctor Who range. His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and magazines, and he is editor of the highly-acclaimed Cinema Macabre, a book of fifty horror movie essays by genre luminaries, for which he won the 2007 British Fantasy Award. His most recently published or forthcoming work includes a novella entitled It Sustains for Earthling Publications, a Torchwood novel entitled Bay of the Dead, several Doctor Who audios for Big Finish Productions, a follow-up volume to Cinema Macabre entitled Cinema Futura and a new short story collection, Long Shadows, Nightmare Light. Simon Kurt Unsworth is nearer to 40 than 35 and lives in Lancaster in the UK with his wife and child, which is a good place to live if you like that sort of thing (it’s just below the Lake District, if you’re interested, and has a nice river, several bridges and a large number of roads of varying quality). He writes when he’s not working, spending time with his family, cooking, walking the dogs, watching suspect movies or lazing about. His stories have previously appeared in the Ash Tree Press anthologies At Ease with the Dead and Shades of Darkness and he has stories due in the anthologies Exotic Gothic 3 and Lovecraft Unbound. His story Church on the Island was selected for inclusion in the Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #19 and has also been chosen for the Very Best of Best New Horror. It was nominated for a 2008 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, and although it didn’t win it was fun being selected. His first collection, Black Dogs and Lost Places, is out from Ghostwriter Publications in September 2009. The Hand Delivered Letter came about because I didn’t want to write a Sherlock Holmes in the ‘traditional’ voice, mostly because I wasn’t sure I could do it properly and didn’t want to get criticised too much. Instead, I remembered something Charles had said about this anthology (“I want a story about zombies on the streets of Victorian London!”), and thought, Moriarty! I didn’t quite manage the zombie hordes on the streets, but I like the result anyway, and I like the voice that I found for Moriarty. Barbara Roden is one-half of the World Fantasy Award-winning Ash-Tree Press, and is a World Fantasy Award-nominated writer, whose collection Northwest Passages was published by Prime Books in 2009. She is a long-standing member of Canada’s largest Sherlock Holmes society, the Bootmakers of Toronto, and in 2005 was investitured in the Baker Street Irregulars (fittingly, in light of her contribution to Gaslight Grotesque) as “Beryl Stapleton”. J. R. Campbell’s fiction has ­appeared in a wide variety of anthologies including Best of Spinetingler Magazine, Challenging Destiny, Fantastical ­Visions IV and the forthcoming A Study in Lavender From time to time his writing can also be heard on radio’s Imagination Theater and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In addition to writing, he has co-edited the Sherlock Holmes anthologies Curious Incidents and Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes with his good friend Charles Prepolec.

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