A few months ago I saw some posts on Twitter that featured the covers to a series of Italian young adult novels under the title of “Sherlock, Lupin, & Me,” written ostensibly by Irene Adler (actually, Alesandro Gatti), about adventures she had when she was young with Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin. I thought the … Continue reading The Dark Lady
Category: Reading
In January I rewatched the Sharpe movies made in the mid-90s, based on the Bernard Cornwell novels about the Napoleonic Wars and starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, for the first time in years. The only ones I didn’t watch are the two post-Waterloo movies made about a decade ago that are set in India; … Continue reading The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard
This weekend I read Mark Latham’s recent Sherlock Holmes novel from Titan Books, A Betrayal in Blood. Set shortly after “The Empty House,” Holmes is tasked by Mycroft to investigate the events described in “The Dracula Papers” (ie., what we know as Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula) and determine what, exactly, it was that happened when … Continue reading Sherlock Holmes: A Betrayal in Blood
I would not have been able to hang with Ernest Hemingway when it comes to drinking. A few years ago I picked up a recipe book of Ernest Hemingway-inspired cocktails, To Have and Have Another. Some of the recipes are things that Hemingway is known to have enjoyed, other drinks are based on his work. … Continue reading Drinking with Papa
This afternoon novelist Una McCormack retweeted a link to a McSweeney’s Internet Tendency piece by Rachel Klein titled Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” from “The Girl”‘s Point of View. I don’t read McSweeney’s as often as I feel that I should, so I was glad that I read this. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like … Continue reading Indiana Jones and the Hills of White Elephants
The night the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, I knew, then and there, that there was only one book on the Chicago Cubs and the 2016 season that I wanted to read — David Ross’s. One hadn’t been been announced yet, but it was inevitable, just as it was inevitable that there would be … Continue reading Scott Simon’s My Cubs
I saw this on Facebook a few days ago, meant to answer it, and got sidetracked into other things. That happens. The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. List 15 authors (poets and comic writers included) who have influenced you and who will always stick with you. List the first 15 you … Continue reading Fifteen Influential Authors
A series of bright flashes on the planet Mars catch the attention of Sherlock Holmes, the world’s great consulting detective, and with Dr. Watson at his side, Holmes attempts to alert the authorities that an invasion by the Red Planet is imminent. His warnings go unheeded, and when cylinders fall on Horsell Common and Martian … Continue reading You Have Been on Mars, I Perceive
A review of Jason Zemcik’s Leadoff Hit, a book about the 2015 season of the Holly Springs Salamanders of the Coastal Plain League, a wooden bat summer collegiate baseball league. Continue reading
The trouble with being a writer is that sometimes I can see exactly where a story is going. Listening to a radio drama, and ten minutes in I've already figured out the third act twist :-/ — Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) April 22, 2016 The story in question is “Holy Father,” a drama broadcast on BBC … Continue reading Holy Father
Autumn, 1898. Sherlock Holmes receives a letter from the Burgomeister of Darmstadt, Germany. The town’s gravedigger was brutally murdered and one of his legs was surgically amputated. A little girl was the only witness, and she reported seeing a giant, hulking monster carry away the gravedigger. The Burgomeister’s concern is as much for the reputation … Continue reading Sherlock Holmes Vs. Frankenstein: The Novelization
The first time I read The Man in the High Castle, I was disappointed in it. It was only the second Philip K. Dick novel I had read (the first was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), and I closed the book thinking, “Is that all there is? It just ends there? Really?” I had … Continue reading The World of The Man in the High Castle