SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY MAGAZINE: Why did no one think of this before? No offense to Ellery Queen, but if you were name a periodical of mystery fiction after anyone (even if it’s more of a paperback book), why wouldn’t you choose the genre’s most famous character?
That doesn’t mean that the mag is filled with Holmes pastiches and parodies — quite the opposite, writes editor Marvin Kaye in his introduction – but the contents certainly honor the spirit of the sleuth as created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That goes for the short stories and the mix of nonfiction pieces, making it a must for Sherlockians.
One beef before we peruse its pages, though: SHMM is published by Wildside Press, yet you wouldn’t know it if you visited their website. Search “Sherlock Holmes” there and this won’t even come up. Click on the “Magazines” link and this won’t be among the offered goods. Indie presses have it harder than the big boys in earning readers’ nickels, so why make it so difficult to even acknowledge its existence? That makes me awfully leery of turning over my hard-earned money for a subscription I otherwise very much want.
Marketing 101 lesson over. The nonfiction material is all concentrated up front, starting with “Baker Street Browsings,” a book review column by author Kim Newman. His inaugural selections are the Michael Kurland-edited anthology SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE HIDDEN YEARS and the behemoth that is Leslie S. Klinger’s THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES. Newman’s opinions are informed, knowledgeable and appreciated, but why does it call Klinger’s third volume as “as-yet-undelivered,” when it’s been out since November 2005? As with any new venture, I can understand if a considerable delay existed between this premiere issue’s deadline and actual printing, but that left plenty of time for an update.
Next is a film column titled “The Screen of the Crime,” by Lenny Picker, who argues why THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is “unfilmable.” Even if you’ve caught just one of the movies, this will be of interest. Personally, I rather enjoyed Hammer Studios’ version starring Peter Cushing.
“Ask Mrs. Hudson” is a faux advice column purportedly by Holmes’ landlady. It’s played for laughs, but aside from a couple of one-liners, it’s not particularly funny. If any feature gets nixed in future issues, it should be this one. And finally, author Carole Buggé interviews fellow author Ron Goulart about his career. What’s he have to do with Holmes, you ask? Well, not a lot, but he’s one of the six writers debuting new short stories here — as is Buggé, to make the Q&A incestuous. (Another strange date lag here: Goulart refers to his novel GROUCHO MARX: KING OF THE JUNGLE as coming out “this July,” whereas it’s now been available for three years.)
Goulart’s contribution is a Henry Challenger mystery titled “The Mystery of the Missing Automaton.” Curiously, it’s not the only tale centered around automatons, as Edward D. Hoch’s “The Automaton Museum” attests. This latter whodunit centers around the murder of an inventor of automatons, and while not Hoch’s best, at least it continues his streak of never writing a bad story that my eyes have seen.
Marc Bilgey’s “The Bet” involves a unique proposition between a captain of industry and a crime novel fan, and a high-stakes murder-for-profit competition between them. Meanwhile, Hal Blythe’s “On the Heir” has a detective consult his anchorwoman daughter on a puzzling planned felony mere minutes before she is to deliver the headlines — and, humorously, while she is doing just that.
Doyle himself gets his due in a reprint of “The Gloria Scott,” presented as a “Sherlock Holmes Classics” to close out the contents. Even though the Holmes tales are available in infinite editions, it’s nice to see one handpicked for inclusion, and not just to justify to magazine’s moniker.
SHMM isn’t much to look at, but it’s a ball to read. NEW YORKER-esque cartoons from Peter Arno and Bilgrey are sprinkled throughout to help spruce up the layout, and adhere to the magazine’s theme. If you consider yourself a fan of Holmes, by all means I recommend picking this up … despite how tough Wildside apparently wants to make that. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MARVIN KAYE:
• DON’T OPEN THIS BOOK! edited by Marvin Kaye
• THE FAIR FOLK edited by Marvin Kaye
• FORBIDDEN PLANETS edited by Marvin Kaye
• THE ULTIMATE HALLOWEEN edited by Marvin Kaye
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Welll…someone did have this idea before…there’s been another SHERLOCK HOLMES magazine for the last several years, which has carried only a bit of fiction amid nonfictional Sherlockiana. I don’t know if that one has folded, or if Wildside bought that title and decided to relaunch it. But thanks for reviewing it, as I’d let this one slip past me otherwise thus far. And I enjoy Kaye’s other fiction magazine, when an issue escapes.
You can find it here: http://www.wildsidebooks.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Mystery-Magazine-1-advance-preview-issue_p_683-2356.html
or on amazon, which is where we prefer customers going. The reason it’s not being pushed is because this is an advance reading copy, and we released it early for people to sample. Beyond that until its general release isn’t until much later.
Todd is referring to a British magazine that folded a bit ago. It has no relation to our magazine.