Four FREE eBooks, Margie Deck's Latest Sherlock Holmes Kickstarter, Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries Launching Soon, and our Updated CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

 

Hi everyone,

We hope that you're having a great end of summer! As always, we have a lot of information to share with you.  We're giving away FOUR FREE Kindle editions of some of our Sherlock Holmes titles. We are also have Margie Deck's latest Sherlock Holmes Kickstarter project, The Secrets of Private Families, stories of SHERLOCK HOLMES. Margie is an award winning author and her Holmes stories always stand out. I'm also announcing my latest holiday collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures, Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries. Every story involves Sherlock Holmes and another great detective from the Victorian or Edwardian era. This one launches on September 10th.  Please follow the project now.  We also have our updated CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS with a new Edgar Allan Poe themed anthology. Read on to learn about all these exciting projects!

The Secrets of Private Families, stories of SHERLOCK HOLMES

“A dive into the depths of human deception, as Holmes and Watson expose wicked patriarchs, dysfunctional families, and tragic betrayals in a series of canonical but pleasingly unstuffy exploits. Satisfying and highly readable.” 

–– John Linwood Grant, author of THE ASSASSIN'S COIN

MARGIE DECK returns with a new collection of cryptic cases and clever conundrums!  Pensive poets, reluctant heirs! Dreamers, schemers!  A mysterious ring, a difficult message... and an irresistible woman!  

These are the adventures which the great detective SHERLOCK HOLMES deemed too tantalizing for public consumption... but the good Doctor Watson has generously granted our readership an unprecedented peek into these private papers.  The game is afoot!

Back this incredible collection of new Sherlock Holmes stories by CLICKING HERE!

Also, don't forget to check out the Sherlock Holmes Kickstarter projects from our friends at MX Publishing: 

The Crosses - A Baker Street Irregulars Mystery

Moriarty’s Defence of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes: Mistletoe Mysteries

An advent calendar of all new Sherlock Holmes mysteries which also introduces readers to other great detectives from the Victorian and Edwardian era! The stories are designed to be read over the holiday season (i.e. from December 1st to December 26th). Each story is divided into two sections. The first day provides the case to the reader. The second day provides the ending. You get to think like Sherlock Holmes and see if you can solve the case before reading the thrilling conclusion.

Great detectives featured in the book:

Father Brown

Max Carrados

The Old Man in the Corner

Judith Lee

Lois Cayley

Martin Hewitt

Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen (The Thinking Machine)

Lady Molly of Scotland Yard

Dr. John Silence

Venus Johnson

Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder

Dr. Thorndyke

C. Auguste Dupin

The book also contains the bonus adventure by Derrick Belanger, The Whole Story Concerning the Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant featuring an appearance by Sergeant Cuff from The Moonstone.

BACKER BONUS:  If the campaign makes double the initial pledge goal, a special spotlight on each great detective will be added to each story.

The project launches on September 10th!  Follow along by CLICKING HERE!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 

FOR UPCOMING BELANGER BOOKS ANTHOLOGIES

Steel True, Blade Straight 2026-2027

 

The Belanger Books Journal of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Inspired Stories, Poems, and Scholarship

2026-2027 Annual

Edited by Derrick Belanger, BSI

Cover to the 2024-2025 edition of the journal

Description: This anthology is looking for stories, poems, and scholarship inspired by and about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. While the anthology will contain new Sherlock Holmes stories, the intent would be for at least 25% of the material to be stories and poems inspired by the life and non-Sherlockian writing of Sir Arthur. Another 25% of material would be scholarship on Holmes and Doyle.

All proceeds from the Anthology will be donated to The Beacon Society, a 501c(3) nonprofit scion society of The Baker Street Irregulars (BSI), that serves as a link to other scion societies, providing teachers, librarians, children museums, and children theaters with local resources to bring the magic of Sherlock Holmes to life.

Guidelines:

Stories - 3,000 - 10,000 word submissions that connect to the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These can be Sherlock Holmes stories, or stories connected to Sir Arthur’s additional writings (far too many to list here).

Poems - format and length are open. The poetry submission would have to somehow connect to the life or work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Scholarship - 1,000 - 5,000 word submissions. Essays must connect to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or his writing (Sherlock Holmes or other work).

Multiple submissions in the same or more than one category are welcome.

Payment: All authors will receive a paperback copy of the anthology.

Rights: All authors shall retain the rights to their submitted work outside of the anthology and may reprint their submission one year after the anthology’s publication date.

Submission: Email submissions to derrick@belangerbooks.com with the headline: ATTN: STEEL TRUE BLADE STRAIGHT 2026 SUBMISSION. In the body explain: 1. Type of submission (story, poem, story), and a brief description of how the submission connects to Sir Arthur. Please attach the submission as a word document.

Submission Deadline: October 11, 2026

Publication Date: December 2026

The Pontine Dossier: Millennium Edition 2026 Annual

Edited by Derrick Belanger, PSI

The next volume of Solar Pons Scholarship from Belanger Books! 

Belanger Books is proud to bring back The Pontine Dossier in an annual edition.  The Pontine Dossier: Millennium Edition 2026 will feature Pontine articles and scholarships.  We would love it if you'd consider contributing.

Cover to the 2024 edition of the Pontine Dossier

Guidelines:  An article of Pontine Scholarship about Solar Pons, characters in the Solar Pons canon, or author August Derleth.  Length can vary from as few as 1,000 words to as many as 5,000 words or more. We are leaving this wide open to get as many and as varied submissions as possible.

Please submit your manuscript as a word document to derrick@belangerbooks.com. Title your email:

ATTN: PONTINE DOSSIER SUBMISSION.

Multiple submissions will be accepted.

If your article(s) is accepted, you will receive a free print copy of the Dossier.

Submission Deadline:  Please submit your article by October 31, 2026.  We will release the new edition of the Dossier in December, 2026.

Sherlock Holmes: The Science-Fictional Adventures

Edited by C. Edward Davis and Derrick Belanger, BSI

The team that brought you Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells is back with an all new collection of Sherlock Holmes sci-fi adventures!

Description: In 1960, the Denver based scion society The Council of Four published a collection of science-fiction Sherlock Holmes stories titled, The Science-Fictional Sherlock Holmes. The book featured authors such as Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, Anthony Boucher, and August Derleth. Rather than making it a strict traditional Sherlock Holmes anthology, the authors put Holmes (and characters similar to Sherlock Holmes) in all sorts of different sci-fi settings. 

This anthology will continue the tradition of The Science-Fictional Sherlock Holmes with all new Sherlock Holmes science-fiction adventures. Authors are encouraged to submit traditional Victorian era Sherlock Holmes science-fiction stories or stories set in futuristic settings. You can play around with Holmes and make him a robot, an AI, an alien lifeform, or any other creative way you see fit. He just has to still be traditional (i.e. a force for good).

Submission guidelines:  A Sherlock Holmes story that is in the genre of science-fiction

Submission length: 5,000 – 10,0000 words (it is okay to go over some).

Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 plus a paperback copy of the volume of the anthology containing their story.  

Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication.

Send submissions in a word document that is double spaced, in Times New Roman, and in 12 point font to derrick@belangerbooks.com with the subject line ATTN: SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE SCIENCE-FICTIONAL ADVENTURES

Submission Deadline: November 20, 2026

Publication: Early 2027

Cover to the original The Science-Fictional Sherlock Holmes

HIDEOUS HEARTS: Newly-Fashioned Fiction from the Realms of EDGAR ALLAN POE

Edited by Brian Belanger

You know the nightmares: A filmy, fearsome, unseeing eye.  Victims falling to violence on the Rue Morgue.  A deadly descent into crumbling catacombs to sample a sip of Amontillado.  Black cats, gold bugs, and Conqueror Worms… and above it all, the raven still is sitting, still is sitting, perched upon a bust of Pallas… while outside, the Red Death holds sway over all.

Belanger Books invites you to expand these classic tales of terror.  We are accepting submissions for all-new stories inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe.  Stories can have direct connections to his original work, or they can be written in a similar style to the Master.

Submission guidelines:  A story inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe

Submission length: 5,000 – 10,0000 words (it is okay to go over some).

Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 plus a complimentary paperback copy of the anthology.   

Rights: Authors shall retain rights to their work. We only retain the rights to the story within the publication.

Send submissions in a word document that is double spaced, in Times New Roman, and in 12 point font to brian@belangerbooks.com with the subject line ATTN: HIDEOUS HEARTS. Make sure to include your name (first and last), the title of your story, and story length.

Submission Deadline: December 31st, 2026

Publication: Early 2027

Free eBOOKS

Now what you've all been waiting for, this blog post's FREE eBooks. The books are available on Amazon.com as FREE Kindle editions. They are available from August 18th - 22nd.

Our first book pairs well with our Kickstarter project, The Secrets of Private Families, stories of SHERLOCK HOLMES, as both are books by Margie Deck!

Sherlock Holmes of Baking Street

Sherlock Holmes Book Like No Other Sherlock Holmes of Baking Street contains 37 essays, personal reflections, and short stories that use baking as a springboard, and a springboard only—it is not a cookbook. Subjects range from a progressive dinner mystery to the revelation that one of the original Holmes stories is actually a secret code for a recipe that will probably kill you; a very nice traybake of kitchen fire adventures; death by flour; thoughts about dopamine as it relates to milk, cookies, and Sherlock Holmes; and the power of Japanese bean paste to turn Sherlock into a very real boy by way of the movie Mr. Holmes. 

The anthology is the brainchild of Margie Deck, a long-time Sherlockian and skilled amateur baker devoted to the Great British Baking Show. The pun of Baking Street and Baker Street was too much for her busy brain to resist during lockdown, when everyone with an oven decided to start baking. She invited New York Times best-selling author, avid Sherlockian and baker Nancy Holder onto the project. For the last eight months they have collected and edited contributions to Sherlock Holmes of Baking Street from Sherlockians in Italy, India, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, the US, and the UK. The work also includes an interview with the screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher and two illustrations by the Australian artist J. Scherpenhuizen. The book features superstars in the Sherlockian world and seasoned writing stars from other genres.

Get this delightful collection of unique stories, essays, and even recipes by CLICKING HERE!

The Nefarious Villains of Sherlock Holmes Volume II

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson! The names of the world’s greatest detective and his stalwart friend conjure up images of Victorian London, gaslit streets, hansom cabs, and dense fogs.

But there was more to the story than these heroes. There were the villains who dared to stand against them, carrying out their vile plans and evil schemes.

Who were these sinners, malefactors, and criminals? We only know the barest details, as provided to us from Watson’s pen in the very few sixty stories of the original Sherlockian Canon. Now, with this new volume from Belanger Books, we investigate further – into the lives and deeds and motivations of these Nefarious Villains of Sherlock Holmes.

In these two volumes are twenty four stories examining the best known villains – Professor Moriarty, for instance, and Colonel Moran, and Dr. Grimesby Roylott – and some others who might not be quite as famous, but who were just as vexing to the Detective and Doctor . . . names like Culverton Smith, Baron Maupertuis, and Abe Slaney.

Discover their histories and find out the events behind the stories that you think you know. Settle back for an exceptional Holmes anthology, and a walk along the Dark Side of the Canon . . . .The game is afoot!

Get this collection of stories to learn about the villains of Sherlock Holmes by CLICKING HERE!

The American Adventures of Solar Pons

The world knows of Sherlock Holmes. But there are some who are also fortunate enough to have met Mr. Solar Pons of Praed Street. For those who haven’t yet encountered him, one should know that Pons was a Great Detective in the Holmesian Mold: He modeled himself after Holmes, wearing the expected deerstalker and Inverness. He investigated using ratiocination, observation, and deduction. His adventures, usually set in the 1920’s and 1930’s between the Great Wars, were transcribed by his friend, Dr. Lyndon Parker. Pons lived in London, worked closely with Scotland Yard, and helped to fill the vacuum left when Sherlock Holmes retired to Sussex. But in all of the Pontine Canon, we never actually see him in America . . . until now.

Travel between the United States and Britain was much easier following the First World War, and it follows that Pons and Parker would have made the journey on several occasions – and being Solar Pons and Dr. Parker, they would have certainly had adventures on the American side of the Atlantic. Now, twelve of those tales are collected in this volume.

The Game is Afoot . . . in America!

Get this collection of Solar Pons American Adventures by CLICKING HERE!

Steel True, Blade Straight 2023 Annual: The Belanger Books Journal of SHERLOCK HOLMES and SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE-Inspired Stories, Poems and Scholarship

This all new jumbo sized journal is divided into two sections. The first half includes all new stories, poems, and scholarship focused on the writings and life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The second half of the journal features all new Sherlock Holmes centered stories, poems, and essays. The Sherlock Holmes stories are traditional and written in the Watsonian voice.

Steel True, Blade Straight has been endorsed by the Arthur Conan Doyle Society. Steel True, Blade Straight features entries by: Hassan Akram · Anna Behrens · Derrick Belanger ACDS · Paul Chapman ACDS · David N. Cisler · Carla Coupe BSI, ACDS · Ross E Davies BSI, ACDS · Margie Deck ACDS · Nicole Eutsler · Kay Hanifen · Dr. Martin Hill Ortiz · Thomas Hébert · Stephen Herczeg · Mark Jones · Ngo Binh Anh Khoa · Naching T. Kassa · Sabrina Kim · David Marcum ACDS · Will Murray · Louis Nagot · Lorraine Sharma Nelson · DJ Tyrer · William Allen Veselik · Jeffrey N. Weiss, M. D. The journal is edited by Derrick Belanger, BSI, ACDS

Get the 2023 volume of this Doylean story and essay collection 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.