Sherlock Holmes and Science Fiction

It seems almost natural today for Sherlock Holmes to be linked to science fiction. Holmes is such a real character, yet somehow he is real in any sort of iteration. There are many, many adaptations of books that I have merely to glance at, and my reaction is instantly: “No. Oh…no. That is no so-and-so.” I am hard to please with my adaptations.

Yet, as I said, Holmes seems to be an exception. (Watson? Not so much….) I have seen probably a dozen or more actors or various “incarnations” of the character, from Basil Rathbone to Benedict Cumberbatch, The Great Mouse Detective to Sherlock Gnomes. Of course, some portrayals are better than others. Most interpretations of the character emphasize certain Holmesian characteristics unevenly; for instance, in the movies with Robert Downey, Jr., they highlight Holmes’ pugilistic talents (I remember hearing people complain, “Sherlock Holmes doesn’t fight!”).

The fact remains that Holmes isn’t not most of these interpretations. He’s a combination of all of them.

Oddly, the very multifaceted qualities that make Holmes feel Real are the same qualities that lend him to being integrated into other genres. Hound of the Baskervilles of course offers a nice segue to supernatural horror, The Valley of Fear to thrillers. There is a good-natured humor inherent in many of the short stories that allows us to laugh at comedies like Without a Clue without feeling like we are mocking the source material.

But perhaps most of all, Sherlock Holmes feels at home in science fiction. Even setting aside the use of this combination in modern steampunk stories (which have pretty much exhausted the concept), Holmes has been a favorite Science Fiction crossover character for decades. (Anyone else remember that cartoon, Sherlock Holmes in the 22^nd Century?* Those who do probably have the theme song in their heads now. Sorry.)

Which brings me to a gift my sister gave me. By some incredible means she seems to have managed to go to a book sale without me. Her guilty conscience no doubt conjuring my face before her eyes (à la Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice), filled with hurt and betrayal, caused her to buy me a book. Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space, edited by Isaac Asimov.

While I don’t usually go in for “fan fiction,” retellings, or re-imaginings—particularly of my favorite authors (and particularly of Sherlock Holmes or anything by Jane Austen, because there is not enough time in the world to read all the related writings on either!)—it was a gift. And it was a rather good gift, as it turned out.

I have complained before about the difficulty of finding good steampunk. Without really trying (and maybe because it’s not really trying), this book contains some of the best steampunk I’ve read yet.

Not that it’s all steampunk. This is a collection of short stories by a wide range of authors, imagining Holmes, or Holmesian-related material, in a variety of ways.

As with pretty much every collection of short stories, there are hits and misses. I disliked The Thing Waiting Outside, which I found morbid and nonsensical. Death in the Christmas Hour, on the other hand, is “Sherlock Holmes meets the Nutcracker,” and is awesome.

Many of the stories seek to explain apparent plot holes or inconsistencies within the Conan Cannon itself. Thus there are references to a mysterious worm unknown to science, the disappearance of Mr. Phillimore, and of course the incident concerning the Giant Rat of Sumatra.

Some are more “proper” crossovers: The Problem of the Sore Bridge—Among Others by Philip José Farmer officially combines the Holmes universe with the one occupied by gentleman thief A.J. Raffles (a character created, coincidentally or not, by Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law, E.W. Hornung). Richard Lupoff’s God of the Naked Unicorn goes even further, establishing Holmes as part of an organization including other “pulp” Victorian/Edwardian characters such as John Carter of Mars, Tarzan, Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, and The Shadow, among others. The Adventure of the Global Traveler by Anne Lear departs from Holmes as protagonist, implying that not only did Professor James Moriarty inspire the narrator of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, the Napoleon of Crime ended his days writing half of Shakespeare’s plays.**

Other stories offer more original concepts. Edward Wellen’s Voiceover (which I thought was a bit obnoxious) is about a cockney-speaking dog*** who practically replaces Watson as Holmes’ sidekick. Slaves of Silver by Gene Wolfe takes place in alternate world where automatons are the lowest class of society, in which an automaton doctor takes up rooms with an engineer/detective (there goes that Sherlock Holmes and the 22^nd Century song again…).

Oddly, one of the weaker stories was by the editor himself. Asimov’s The Ultimate Crime is less of a story and more of a Socratic dialog where he has several flat characters carry on a conversation wherein each of them serves to voice Asimov’s own theory on how to reconcile an obscure (to me) plot hole in one of the Conan Cannon stories.

On the other hand, Asimov’s introduction was lively and insightful. I was particularly intrigued by his point about Holmes pioneering the “amateur detective” character. Asimov explains that, in the culture of the time, a gentleman was thought naturally more competent than the average working man. Thus, Holmes as a gentleman was naturally a better detective than anyone at Scotland Yard. But, because he was a gentleman, he would never seek employment at Scotland Yard--it would be beneath his station—he was forced to be an “amateur.”

 

*I saw maybe two or three episodes, and because of this mere handful of memories have always stored it in the same compartment of my brain as my memories of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?...leading me to sometimes misremember and think that they are one cartoon about Sherlock Holmes chasing Carmen Sandiego through time and space….which would make an awesome show. And now I have that theme song in my head. Sorry.

**Which is silly. Everyone knows that Elizabeth I wrote those.

*** “But it’s a talking dog!!!”