Free Sherlock Holmes and Solar Pons eBooks for the week; Two new stretch goals for Sherlock Holmes and the Great detectives on Kickstarter; Author interview with Sherlockian Thaddeus Tuffentsamer; and The Strand reviews Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere!

Belanger Books continues to offer free weekly eBooks during the month of April to provide reading material for those of you currently under lock down due to the Coronavirus pandemic. For this week, we have both a free Sherlock Holmes eBook and a free Solar Pons eBook. For a brief 48 hour period, we also have the illustrated steampunk novella The Voyage of the Lunar Schooner for a free download. 

This Week's Free eBooks

The Papers of Solar Pons

Solar Pons was created by August Derleth in the 1920s as a continuation of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Derleth, who famously created Arkham House Publishing to preserve the writings of his friend, author HP Lovecraft, had corresponded with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, asking whether Doyle would be providing any new Holmes adventures. When Doyle said no, Derleth determined to write some himself. However, instead of writing more Holmes tales, Derleth came up with Solar Pons, a detective very similar to Holmes, and Dr. Lyndon Parker, his Dr. Watson. Eventually, between the 1920’s and his death in 1971, Derleth wrote over seventy Pons tales, set in that period between the end of World War I and 1939.

Bestselling Sherlock Holmes author David Marcum continues The Pontine Canon with twelve new Pons adventures!

Get your FREE eBook of this delightful collection of ALL NEW Solar Pons adventures by CLICKING HERE!

Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon Volume I

Sherlock Holmes himself would have us believe that, once a case was finished, it – or the people involved – never crossed his mind again. “A client is to me a mere unit,” he once told Watson, “a factor in a problem.” And yet, in a career spanning multiple decades and thousands of cases, he must have occasionally re-crossed paths with previous clients – and the occasional villain as well!

This anthology, with twenty-nine brand new stories, spread over three volumes, reveals some of those sequel investigations. There are stories ranging from Holmes’s early days in Montague Street, through the legendary Baker Street years, and well into his retirement. We meet former clients with new problems, and former adversaries too. Sometimes we find that the published Canonical version of a story was only the beginning, while other tales in this collection reveal what was really going on during the original narratives.

Join us as we return to Baker Street and discover more authentic adventures of Sherlock Holmes, described by the estimable Dr. Watson as “ . . . the best and wisest . . . whom I have ever known.”

The game is afoot!

Get your FREE Volume 1 eBook covering cases occurring from 1887 -1890 by CLICKING HERE! 

Sherlock Holmes and the Great Detectives- Stretch Goals!

The Kickstarter campaign for Sherlock Holmes and the Great Detectives is off to a great start. We've already met more than 400% of our initial goal! And we've already unlocked our first stretch goal!  To keep the momentum going, we've added two new stretch goals to the campaign:

Stretch Goal #1 - If we reach $1,000 in backing, a Bonus story of Sherlock Holmes teaming up with Carnacki, the Ghost Finder is automatically added to the anthology!!! - (GOAL MET!!!)

Stretch Goal #2 - If we reach $3,500 in backing, a Bonus story of Sherlock Holmes teaming up with Poe's C. Auguste Dupin is automatically added to the anthology!!!

Stretch Goal #3 - If we reach $5,000 in backing, a special thank you section listing all of the backer's names is automatically added to the anthology!!!

Help us reach our stretch goals and back the campaign for this incredible Sherlock Holmes anthology by CLICKING HERE!

Author Interview with Thaddeus Tuffentsamer on The Retrospections of Sherlock Holmes

One of the delights of being a Sherlockian is meeting other Sherlockians and discussing all things Holmes. One of the delights of being a Sherlockian author is meeting other Sherlockian authors and getting to hear their approaches to writing pastiches. After reading Thaddeus Tuffentsamer's highly entertaining volume of Holmes stories entitled, The Retrospections of Sherlock Holmes, I wanted to interview him to ask about his approach to his writing. Below is part one of the interview conducted via email. It has been edited for length.

The Retrospections of Sherlock Holmes is your first collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. What made you decide to delve into the foggy streets of London and visit 221b Baker Street?

Thaddeus Tuffentsamer (TT): My daughter who was then 16 years old had developed a strong appreciation for Victorian writing. She began eating up books and stories written at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. While making one of our regular visits to our community bookstore, she picked up volume one of Sherlock Holmes, which covered everything written through 1894. She and I share many similar interests, and I realized that I had not read every Holmes story myself at that time. I picked up the leather bound, complete story collection and began tearing through it myself. It rekindled my passion for Holmes in a strong way. I’m sure that you, as a fellow writer can attest to, when our passions are sparked like that, we have a compelling drive to add our voice to it and contribute to it. Conan Doyle had created such a compelling world through his stories and as you read them, you realize that he was the true genius! He basically paved the way for forensic science through his exceptional stories. I needed to add my voice to Holmes. I was driven by a new found passion for mystery writing and I simply had to see if I would have what it takes to be a part of it all.

What do you find is challenging about writing a Sherlock Holmes story?

TT: It’s important to me that I am accurate in my stories. If I am going to be a part of this world, then I need to write in the same style and manner that the originals were told in. So, I do a LOT of research in my stories before, during and after I write. For example. In “The adventure of Hippocrates shame,” a story of a serial killer preying on women in London whom the killer deemed to be “less than beautiful,” there was a key element that Holmes picked up on. The body of the victim was in the far end of the room, yet Holmes determined that she actually died by the door and her body was moved afterwards. He deduced this by a trace amount of blood on the door and a tear to her ear by her pierced earing that happened as she was sliding down the door. The story takes place in the late 1800’s and I had to research to find out if Victorian women did have pierced ears at that time, which they did. Also when my stories require Holmes and Watson to travel the streets of London, I need to make sure that they are traveling the correct streets, that they intersect each other properly. I was able to get a Victorian London street map that I use to trace their steps before I write them to make sure that they are walking down actual paths and that the distance is not too far to be made on foot. Also I need to make sure that when Holmes travels from London to another city, I don’t have him traveling by train for one hour to a city that is actually hundreds of miles away! So I make sure that I do my research. Holmes readers are very particular in historical accuracy and I want to make sure that I do not distract my readers by giving obvious false information. Also, I try to compliment the language used in Victorian London. As we know, the English language is fluid and changes constantly. Not only do new words develop, but also the meanings of existing words change over the years. I make sure that the words that Holmes and company speak are specific to the Victorian London setting. Nothing takes you out of a story quicker than a Victorian character using a modern idiom. Also, being socially conscious I refrain from using any stereotypes that, while they were acceptable and commonplace during that time, are no longer appropriate to be used today. I am also very fortunate that I have developed a friendship with a fellow Holmes writer, S.F. Bennett. She has helped me tremendously in reading my stories and helping me to weed out all of the Americanisms and assisting me with keeping Holmes properly British.

The remainder of the interview will be in next week's blog post. Make sure to checkout The Retrospections of Sherlock Holmes and the other comedy work of Thaddeus Tuffentsamer by CLICKING HERE. 

The Strand reviews Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere!

I wanted to end this week's blog post with a wonderful interview of Sherlock Holmes is everywhere! in The Strand magazine. In his review, Chris Chan writes: 

"I hope that sequels to this anthology are produced in the future...Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere! will be of considerable interest to fans of Holmes who want to find out more about what attracts other fans to the great detective." 

You can read the full review by CLICKING HERE.

Belanger Books is a small press owned by artist Brian Belanger and author Derrick Belanger specializing in new Sherlock Holmes books, Solar Pons, Children's books, Classic Sci-fi, Steampunk, and genre specific anthologies.  Some of our books have been #1 bestsellers in their categories on Amazon.