Reprinting Manly W. Wellman and Wade Wellman’s 1975 novel, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is a triple pastiche, bringing together the worlds of two Arthur Conan Doyle characters with the invasion of another, as imagined by H.G. Wells. The fun in this one is seeing Sherlock Holmes work alongside Professor Challenger, from Doyle’s THE LOST WORLD and other works. Well, at least it’s fun at first.
By gazing into a mysterious crystal egg, Holmes and Challenger are able to view alien beings at work on the planet Mars, and determine excitedly that they are headed to Earth. What our two heroes don’t realize until after the aliens arrive is that their visit is not a good idea.
In applying his skills of deduction and logic, Holmes reveals the three-legged creatures — just like “a milking stool,” someone notes — aren’t from Mars at all. Holmes is actually absent for a good chunk of the novel, leaving Challenger in charge of the narrative, and he’s just not nearly as interesting, at least not in the Wellmans’ hands. Not a whole hell of a lot happens.
The work also suffers from a bit of schizophrenia, having been expanded from two previously published short stories, yet not jelled. The first two-thirds are attributed to Edward Dunn Malone, the somewhat dull LOST WORLD reporter, while the final act is from the POV of the notoriously fussy Dr. Watson. Guess which one is better?
If you answered Watson’s, pat yourself on the back. His section closes with his letter to Wells, dressing him down for all the inaccuracies in WAR OF THE WORLDS, as disproved by Holmes. It’s kind of funny, and a fine way to end an otherwise unremarkable book. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN by Daniel Stashower
Related posts:
- The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Ectoplasmic Man
- Klinger offers ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES bookplates
- The Mysterious World of Sherlock Holmes
- Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #1
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You know I just got done reading this. I thought it was a fun book, but I’ll probably turn it over to the used bookstore since I’ll probably never read it again. Unlike Wellman’s Silver John stories that I will treasure.
I had one major annoyance (Spoilers)….
It portrays Mrs. Hudson as younger and Holmes’s lover. I think Holmes works best when he is an asexual genius. If the Wellman’s thought they needed a love interest they should have used Irene Adler. (Who wasn’t a love interest in the books, but still was Holmes equal)
I’d share that annoyance, although it was minor to me.
It didn’t ruin the book, but still it was annoying. There is a theory that Mrs. Hudson was Irene Adler in disguise.