Echoes of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon
ed. Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus, 2016); audiobook read by various narrators (Blackstone, 2016)
A solid selection of stories either set in Conan Doyle’s world or featuring his much-loved characters (or spiritual successors based thereon). Some imaginative takes, with few duds but also few standouts. Jonathan Maberry’s ‘The Adventure of the Empty Grave’ has canonical appeal.
The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
by Tom Holt (Orbit, 2023)
A return to form and a return to office-political satire (supernatural law firms buggering everything up in the finely honed pursuit of self-interest). Holt’s prose rollicks along at a line-by-line, page-by-page level, fizzing by even while his characters wade through treacled cynicism.
Coma [as ‘Koma’]
dir. Nikita Argunov (2020)
![Film poster: “Coma” dir. Nikita Argunov (2020) [as ‘Koma’]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Coma-2020.png)
$4 million Russian SF film whose cinematic return puts Hollywood to shame. Coma employs its CGI judiciously, eschewing nonsensical action in favour of tension, worldbuilding and intrigue. The plot is cerebral and engrossing, well carried by a cast unfamiliar to Western audiences.
Peanuts: The Loves of Snoopy
by Charles M. Schulz (Hodder & Stoughton, 1978)
A slim (46-page) hardcover collection of Sunday strips affording plenty of space to each panel but paying only lip service to the title. The inking is often quite shoddy, at its most bizarre assigning variable hair colours to several of the characters!
Raumpatrouille: Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion
(ARD, 1966)
This seminal German SF series (complete at only seven episodes) features groovy mod-club music, memorable sets (even in black-and-white), edgy interpersonal conflict and a winning marriage of ideas-based science fiction and action/adventure, undercut by an over-the-top, rather petulant Kirk-like lead character (McLane).
The Owl Service (1967)
by Alan Garner (William Collins, 1967); audiobook read by Wayne Forester (Naxos, 2008)
Eerie, immersive but ultimately unsatisfying, as if Garner dreamed a novel idea while wintering in Wales, and when he woke up there was nothing to it, but he went ahead anyway. An unfocussed tangle of character, class, mystery and myth, laughably unresolved.
Beware of the Trains
by Edmund Crispin (Gollancz, 1953)
audiobook read by Paul Panting (Collins Crime Club, 2023)
Gervase Fen proves more palatable in the shorter form, though still exhibits little personality beyond brusque impatience and a Sherlock-like propensity for the conjurer’s reveal. Crispin’s mysteries—generally of the impossible type—are intellectual studies as much as sops to reader enjoyment.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
dir. Patrick Hughes (2021)
For all its senseless action/violence (which viewers can ride out, if in synch with the affiliated comedy), it is the cosiness, the cheesy character arcs, that let this sequel down, rendering it over-the-top in too many directions. Salma Hayek out-bucks the bronco.
Warhorses of Letters, Series 2
by Marie Phillips & Robert Hudson (BBC 4, 2012)
A slighter affair than Series 1, though not objectively all that different (so perhaps just shorn of some novelty value). The historical allusions do seem fewer, the scripts favouring Marengo and Copenhagen’s relationship troubles. Humorous horse names continue to prove a highlight!
Teen Titans Academy Vol. 1: X Marks the Spot
by Tim Sheridan & Robbie Thompson; ill. Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Steve Lieber, et al. (DC Comics, 2022)
Cluttered art, storytelling by narrative collage. Individual characters do eventually emerge from the chaos, but for the most part Teen Titans Academy just throws vignettes at the wall to see what sticks. The mystery element isn’t so much obfuscated as perpetually sidelined.