Sherlock Holmes, Dr.
Watson, and Thomas Carnacki against Aleister Crowley, Julian Karswell, and Dr.
John Silence. Carnacki is the archetypal occult detective, created by William
Hope Hodgson. Karswell is from M.R. James’ story “Casting the Runes,” though his
first name of Julian comes from Jacques Tourneur’s film version of the story, Night
of the Demon. Dr. Silence is another occult investigator appearing in six
stories by Algernon Blackwood. There are also references to Dr. Hesselius (from
“Green Tea” and other stories by J. Sheridan Le Fanu), Lawrence Van Helsing
(from Hammer Studios’ Dracula films), Charles Kent (from the Hammer film Dracula:
Prince of Darkness), and Mocata Grange (from Adams’ Big Finish audio play Iris
Rides Out, featuring Carnacki and Iris Wildthyme, a character created by
Paul Magrs for his Phoenix Court novels, who was revealed to be a Time
Lady in his tie-in fiction for Doctor Who; the name Mocata Grange is an
allusion to the occultist Mocata from Dennis Wheatley’s novel The Devil
Rides Out.) This novel takes place December 27, 1899-New Year’s Day, 1900.
However, Dr. Silence’s portrayal as a villain (albeit misguided rather than
truly malevolent) and his death do not fit with Blackwood’s tales.
Additionally, Kim Newman’s serial novella “Seven Stars” establishes that in the
CU, Dr. Silence was still alive and active in 1942. Therefore, I have placed
this novel in an AU.
I had an idea. What if this takes place in the Dr. Who universe? I mean I know Holmes is sometimes portrayed as fictional in Dr. Who or not, but if there's a connection to a Dr. Who novel, why not?
ReplyDelete