Michael A. Ventrella

What if Sherlock Holmes was born in a different body in a different time and place? In this new series, New York Times Bestselling Author Jonathan Maberry and I invite others to speculate as to what that might be! It’s officially releasing from Diversion Books on March 21 in paperback, ebook, and an audio book as well. You can pre-order it now on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles or anywhere, really.

Here’s the great Table of Contents:

“’Locked” by Mike Strauss: Sherlock is the host of a reality show

“Identity” by Keith R. A. DeCandido: Sherlock is a young girl in modern New York City

“The Scent of Truth” by Jody Lynn Nye: Sherlock is a doglike alien

“The Adventure of the Reluctant Detective” by Ryk Spoor: Sherlock is not what he thinks he is

“A Scandal in the Bloodline” by Hildy Silverman: Sherlock is a vampire

“The Fabulous Marble” by David Gerrold: Sherlock is a bio-synthed, augmented, 7 percent human, upgraded, unmortal, consulting extrapoloid

“The Scarlet Study” by Jim Avelli: Sherlock is a worker in a dystopian world

“Delta Phi” by Heidi McLaughlin: Sherlock is an eighteen-year-old female college student

“Beethoven’s Baton” by Austin Farmer: Sherlock is a musician in Beethoven’s orchestra

“The Adventure of the Melted Saint” by Gail Z. Martin: Sherlock is a transgender detective in Charleston

“Automatic Sherlock” by Martin Rose: Sherlock is an automaton in a near-future Russia

“The Hammer of God” by Jonathan Maberry: Sherlock is a nun who works as a field investigator for the Office of Miracles

“Code Cracker” by Beth W. Patterson: Sherlock is a parrot

Here’s what Kirkus Reviews says:

When has Sherlock Holmes changed so much that he’s no longer Sherlock Holmes? In this aptly titled collection, 13 new adventures of Holmes and Watson, more or less, push the envelope far beyond Baker Street.

Not surprisingly, fantasy mavens Ventrella and Maberry (who alone published Kill Switch, 2016, etc.) have one and a half eyes out for outlandish, often futuristic incarnations of Holmes, and so do their contributors. Jody Lynn Nye’s Holmes is a doglike alien “a bit addicted to shag”—carpet, that is. Jim Avelli posits a dystopian world in which Holmes is arrested for shooting his ex-wife, Irene Adler. Martin Rose presents a robotic Holmes, a failure as a medical surgeon, who gets a new lease on nonlife as a nosy detective. Editor Maberry’s reimagining of Holmes as Mother Frey, who investigates miracles for the church, drives perhaps the deepest into fantasy territory. Meanwhile, back in the past, Austin Farmer puts Holmes and Watson to work as violinists in Beethoven’s orchestra. In the present, Gail Z. Martin reinvents Sherlock as Shelley Holmes, a transgender Charleston sleuth who works for store credit at an antiques shop; Hildy Silverman reveals that Holmes and Watson (and Irene and Godfrey Norton) are vampires; Heidi McLaughlin makes Holmes an insecure college coed whose first case leads to her first kiss; Mike Strauss imagines Holmes as a particularly annoying reality show host; and Ryk Spoor dramatizes Holmes and Watson’s painful awakening to their status as fictional characters. In the three most successful stories, Beth W. Patterson makes Holmes an unusually reflective parrot, David Gerrold festoons his cyber-Holmes and -Watson with some hilarious acronyms, and Keith R.A. DeCandido scores with a surprisingly faithful update of one of Conan Doyle’s most treasured tales.

Less notable as independent creations than as provocations to think about Holmes and the Sacred Canon in innovative ways bound to lead to next year’s anthologies.

We had the official book release party at the Heliosphere convention and it was quite successful — we almost sold out of the many advance copies the publisher provided.

If you get a copy, please remember to post your review on Amazon and Goodreads and elsewhere!

The game is afoot!

Keith DeCandido signs books at the release party. Off to the right, you can see Hildy Silverman and to the left, there’s Jim Avelli. Also in attendance but not in this picture were David Gerrold, Austin Farmer, Ryk Spoor, and me!

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