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Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time
Beginning with an establishing prologue set in British pre-history, we jump quickly to Baker Street where the dying seaman, India Jack Neville, has dropped a package of unspeakable horror literally at the feet of Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger and Inspector Wilkins, interrupting their fascinating discourse on Darwinism. With the idol safely in their hands and Watson away, Holmes and Challenger set out to unravel its secrets. What does this ugly idol have to do with the Ki'M'tollo sect of the Maldives? Could it be tied into attacks in the docklands by three giant serpent-like beasts? Holmes and Challenger, the detective and the scientist, are determined to find out! Their quest for knowledge takes them to the British Museum and puts them at odds with a mysterious dark magician named Laslo Bronislav, who is deemed so evil that even Aleister Crowley refers to him as "That Devil!" Aided by the late Professor Moriarty's chief information man McBane, Bronislav is determined to retrieve the idol from Holmes at all costs.
Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Ralph E. Vaughan
40 books74 followersRalph E. Vaughan is the author of several books combining the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and HP Lovecraft, such as "The Adventure of the Ancient Gods" (first story to combine Holmes & Lovecraft), "The Dreaming Detective." and "Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time." A longtime fan of the steampunk movement, he expressed that fondness by writing "Shadows Against the Empire," an epic Victorian interplanetary adventure, followed by its sequel "Amidst Dark Satanic Mills." He is also the author of "HP Lovecraft in the Comics," an exhaustive examination of the works Lovecraft's works as they were adapted into the medium of comic books, and "Reflections on Elder Egypt." a collection of essays about various aspects of Ancient Egypt and how that lost civilization is viewed by modern culture. He is the author of "Paws & Claws: A Three Dog Mystery," first in the Paws & Claws Series, in which three amazing dogs protect their neighborhood, thwart the evil plans of the nefarious Feral Gang, and occasionally save the world. This was followed by additional books, including "K-9 Blues" and "The Death and Life of an American Dog." He is a long-time resident of Chula Vista, California, which is the setting of the Paws & Claws Series. He has been married for more than 40 years, and has two children, a daughter who is a playwright, and a son who is a conductor for the BNSF.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 17, 2013
I confess to having a fondness for Sherlock Holmes cross-universe pastiches when handled with a bit of flair, so when I’d discovered that Gary Lovisi’s Gryphon Books was releasing a third Holmes/H.P. Lovecraft pastiche by Ralph E. Vaughan, I lost no time in ordering it. On arrival it went directly to the top of my ever-increasing pile of pastiches, such is my regard for Vaughan’s previous work Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of the Ancient Gods (first published in Holmesian Federation #4) and to a lesser extent Sherlock Holmes in the Dreaming Detective (sorry, but I’ve never been terribly fond of HPL’s Dreamland based stories). After devouring the book in one sitting, I’m happy to say that my regard is still intact and my fondness for Vaughan’s approach to Holmes and HPL has increased once again.
Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time is far less of a blatant HPL inspired story than the overly dramatic title would lead one to believe. Although the plot is still pure undiluted Weird Tales-style pulp fiction, Vaughan has developed considerably from a stylistic viewpoint, not even once invoking the well worn name of Cthulhu! His use of locations and descriptive phrasing is solid throughout. The dialogue is strong and faithful to the spirit of Conan Doyle and by putting Watson out of the way, Vaughan has managed to side step the usual pastiche pitfall of providing Watsonian-style narration and has opted instead to use a third person omniscient narrative. Holmes well-known disregard of the supernatural is effectively explained away, not damaging his credibility or rationality in the least. My only serious annoyance is in the handling of Professor Challenger, who is strangely relegated to the role of Watson substitute and never quite lives up to the brash and impetuous character of The Lost World.
Beginning with an establishing prologue set in British pre-history, we jump quickly to Baker Street where the dying seaman, India Jack Neville, has dropped a package of unspeakable horror literally at the feet of Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger and Inspector Wilkins, interrupting their fascinating discourse on Darwinism. With the Macguffin safely in their hands and Watson away, Holmes and Challenger set out to unravel its secrets. What does this ugly idol have to do with the Ki’M’tollo sect of the Maldives? Could it be tied into attacks in the docklands by three giant serpent-like beasts? Holmes and Challenger, the detective and the scientist, are determined to find out! Their quest for knowledge takes them to the British Museum and puts them at odds with a mysterious dark magician named Laslo Bronislav, who is deemed so evil that even Aleister Crowley refers to him as “That Devil!” Aided by the late Professor Moriarty’s chief information man McBane, Bronislav is determined to retrieve the idol from Holmes at all costs. How do the dark magician’s plans tie-in to the Elder Gods? Can Holmes and Challenger defeat Bronislav and the voracious elder gods terrorizing London? What do you think? Of course they can, but the fun of the tale is in the telling!
Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time is an oversized paperback with illustrated colour covers (don’t be put off by the poor choice of cover art). The book is $15 USD and available directly from Gryphon Books. While you are at it, be sure to order a copy of Ralph Vaughan’s first Holmes/HPL pastiche Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of the Ancient Gods, if you like the idea of Holmes and Lovecraft combating the threat of Cthulu, you won’t regret it, as it beats P. H. Cannon’s similarly themed Pulptime hands down!
Highly recommended for those who enjoy a fun pulp-fiction style adventure story! Not recommended for the Canonical purist, but if you’ve been considering trying something a little more on the outré side of Holmesian storytelling, this is a good choice!
Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time is far less of a blatant HPL inspired story than the overly dramatic title would lead one to believe. Although the plot is still pure undiluted Weird Tales-style pulp fiction, Vaughan has developed considerably from a stylistic viewpoint, not even once invoking the well worn name of Cthulhu! His use of locations and descriptive phrasing is solid throughout. The dialogue is strong and faithful to the spirit of Conan Doyle and by putting Watson out of the way, Vaughan has managed to side step the usual pastiche pitfall of providing Watsonian-style narration and has opted instead to use a third person omniscient narrative. Holmes well-known disregard of the supernatural is effectively explained away, not damaging his credibility or rationality in the least. My only serious annoyance is in the handling of Professor Challenger, who is strangely relegated to the role of Watson substitute and never quite lives up to the brash and impetuous character of The Lost World.
Beginning with an establishing prologue set in British pre-history, we jump quickly to Baker Street where the dying seaman, India Jack Neville, has dropped a package of unspeakable horror literally at the feet of Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger and Inspector Wilkins, interrupting their fascinating discourse on Darwinism. With the Macguffin safely in their hands and Watson away, Holmes and Challenger set out to unravel its secrets. What does this ugly idol have to do with the Ki’M’tollo sect of the Maldives? Could it be tied into attacks in the docklands by three giant serpent-like beasts? Holmes and Challenger, the detective and the scientist, are determined to find out! Their quest for knowledge takes them to the British Museum and puts them at odds with a mysterious dark magician named Laslo Bronislav, who is deemed so evil that even Aleister Crowley refers to him as “That Devil!” Aided by the late Professor Moriarty’s chief information man McBane, Bronislav is determined to retrieve the idol from Holmes at all costs. How do the dark magician’s plans tie-in to the Elder Gods? Can Holmes and Challenger defeat Bronislav and the voracious elder gods terrorizing London? What do you think? Of course they can, but the fun of the tale is in the telling!
Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time is an oversized paperback with illustrated colour covers (don’t be put off by the poor choice of cover art). The book is $15 USD and available directly from Gryphon Books. While you are at it, be sure to order a copy of Ralph Vaughan’s first Holmes/HPL pastiche Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of the Ancient Gods, if you like the idea of Holmes and Lovecraft combating the threat of Cthulu, you won’t regret it, as it beats P. H. Cannon’s similarly themed Pulptime hands down!
Highly recommended for those who enjoy a fun pulp-fiction style adventure story! Not recommended for the Canonical purist, but if you’ve been considering trying something a little more on the outré side of Holmesian storytelling, this is a good choice!
January 1, 2009
Ralph E vaughan wrote this one as well, not A. Conan Doyle
August 17, 2023
For a story involving two of the smartest characters in literature against a Lovecraftian horror, I expected much, much more.
Let me talk about the very beginning. The prologue is the story of prehistoric peoples being tormented by dark ancient creatures, and their struggle to defeat them after so much suffering and the anguish of their possible extinction. This part firmly portrays the dread and hopelessness of Lovecraftian horror. The proper first chapter that follows does too, with dense language describing a London defined and plagued by a dark atmosphere of evil, as the evil Idol the book revolves around is brought to the city. Both these parts are enjoyably Lovecraftian and they were the best part of the whole book by far.
The problem is that, as soon as the idol is handed over to Sherlock and the gang to ponder about, the atmosphere of dread and horror is all but gone. The Lovecraftian language is replaced by more Sherlockian language and dialogue, and the darkness and evil emanating from the Idol into reality is but a whisper showing up in very few places. And I would say that it turns into a Sherlock story... except that it doesn't.
I find it hard to define who this book is aimed at. I suppose it's most aimed at Sherlock fans, but the issue with that is that there is barely any Sherlockian mystery for him to resolve here. They quickly find the idol, figure out its origins, and then relate it to the attacks by the dark creatures (which in practice, could very well be any other kind of large animal that happened to stumble onto London), and finally link these to the the big bad of the story, Bronislav, who they then face. There's no big epiphany or revelation done by Holmes's deductions, just straightforward and bland police work.
Instead, the story is written more as an action piece, of all things. Sherlock and Challenger (which sacrilegiously is nothing more than a Watson stand-in!) end up having to deal with criminals under the orders of Bronislav, and one by one they get caught and/or die attempting their foils. Worse, the story gets interrupted halfway through by the terrorist attacks of Irish Dynamiters, literally out of nowhere. This derails the second half of the story completely... and all of it is just to establish .
So instead of getting a cerebral struggle of Reason against the sanity-defying horror of Lovecraftian lore, we get a bizarre action story where neither Holmes' deductive reasoning nor Challenger's scientific wisdom come into play. There is some entertaining banter that results from this pairing, but it's VERY scarce like everything else good here. Challenger himself is the most painful casualty here, but Holmes, despite leading the charge in the plot, never truly shines either.
The only remnant of this being a Lovecraftian pastiche past the introduction is Bronislav himself. He is not only the cause of most of the plot, but he also literally wields dark powers from the beyond that he uses in the most fascinating scenes of all. Here we see glimpses of an astounding world beyond reality, one that I would have loved to see be the focus of the story. But nope, like everything else it's just flashes in the pan, teasing a much more wonderful story that's kept hidden in the dark.
It's a shame that every single element brought into play here is wasted, since each one of those combined should have made for a fantastic crossover story of epic proportions. My rating comes largely not from the quality of the story (which in short is decent), but rather from my disappointment on what this story could have been. Alas.
Let me talk about the very beginning. The prologue is the story of prehistoric peoples being tormented by dark ancient creatures, and their struggle to defeat them after so much suffering and the anguish of their possible extinction. This part firmly portrays the dread and hopelessness of Lovecraftian horror. The proper first chapter that follows does too, with dense language describing a London defined and plagued by a dark atmosphere of evil, as the evil Idol the book revolves around is brought to the city. Both these parts are enjoyably Lovecraftian and they were the best part of the whole book by far.
The problem is that, as soon as the idol is handed over to Sherlock and the gang to ponder about, the atmosphere of dread and horror is all but gone. The Lovecraftian language is replaced by more Sherlockian language and dialogue, and the darkness and evil emanating from the Idol into reality is but a whisper showing up in very few places. And I would say that it turns into a Sherlock story... except that it doesn't.
I find it hard to define who this book is aimed at. I suppose it's most aimed at Sherlock fans, but the issue with that is that there is barely any Sherlockian mystery for him to resolve here. They quickly find the idol, figure out its origins, and then relate it to the attacks by the dark creatures (which in practice, could very well be any other kind of large animal that happened to stumble onto London), and finally link these to the the big bad of the story, Bronislav, who they then face. There's no big epiphany or revelation done by Holmes's deductions, just straightforward and bland police work.
Instead, the story is written more as an action piece, of all things. Sherlock and Challenger (which sacrilegiously is nothing more than a Watson stand-in!) end up having to deal with criminals under the orders of Bronislav, and one by one they get caught and/or die attempting their foils. Worse, the story gets interrupted halfway through by the terrorist attacks of Irish Dynamiters, literally out of nowhere. This derails the second half of the story completely... and all of it is just to establish .
So instead of getting a cerebral struggle of Reason against the sanity-defying horror of Lovecraftian lore, we get a bizarre action story where neither Holmes' deductive reasoning nor Challenger's scientific wisdom come into play. There is some entertaining banter that results from this pairing, but it's VERY scarce like everything else good here. Challenger himself is the most painful casualty here, but Holmes, despite leading the charge in the plot, never truly shines either.
The only remnant of this being a Lovecraftian pastiche past the introduction is Bronislav himself. He is not only the cause of most of the plot, but he also literally wields dark powers from the beyond that he uses in the most fascinating scenes of all. Here we see glimpses of an astounding world beyond reality, one that I would have loved to see be the focus of the story. But nope, like everything else it's just flashes in the pan, teasing a much more wonderful story that's kept hidden in the dark.
It's a shame that every single element brought into play here is wasted, since each one of those combined should have made for a fantastic crossover story of epic proportions. My rating comes largely not from the quality of the story (which in short is decent), but rather from my disappointment on what this story could have been. Alas.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
