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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of those authors whose literary creation is much more famous than the man himself. Those who do know the name Arthur Conan Doyle tend to know him only as the inventor of the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes. A smaller segment of this group goes further and remembers Doyle as the inventor of the great detective who squandered his fame with crackpot beliefs in faeries and the supernatural. Sadly, there is so much more to the man who revolutionized the writing not just of detective fiction but also of the genre of horror, the supernatural, and even influenced history itself.This two volume anthology's point is to put Doyle back on the pedestal he so rightly deserves. Its aim is twofold. First, to introduce readers to Doyle's lesser known (yet no less important) works. These works speak for themselves in showing a master writer at his craft. The stories are timeless, enjoyable, and hopefully will lead to new fans embracing a great author's somewhat forgotten tales. The second aim is to show the relevance of Doyle's works. Through a collection of articles written by current scholars and experts, readers can see just how revolutionary Doyle's writings remain even today.

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Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	02 octobre 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781780926667
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Title Page
A STUDY IN TERROR
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural
Volume 1
by
Derrick Belanger
&
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Publisher Information
First edition published in 2014 by MX Publishing
335 Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive, London, N11 3GX
www.mxpublishing.co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed in 2014 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
© Copyright 2014 Derrick Belanger, Joel Jensen
The right of Derrick Belanger and Joel Jensen to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not of MX Publishing.
Cover Illustration by Brian Belanger
Cover Compilation by www.staunch.com

Volume Two Introduction
Holmes, Horror, and H.P. Lovecraft
By Derrick Belanger
“...Poe’s non-detective writings are very highly regarded; Conan Doyle’s are not.”
-James O’Brien
As I was compiling the second volume of this anthology, I came across the above quote as well as another in a similar vein from Michael Dirda. In his short masterpiece, On Conan Doyle , Dirda notes:
“Today much of Conan Doyle’s substantial oeuvre-his bibliography runs to over 700 pages- suffers readerly neglect because of the widespread misconception that he only rose above the conventions of his time when he wrote about the dynamic duo of Baker Street. His other works are consequently dismissed as period pieces, of interest mainly to professional Doyleans.” [1]
It is this dismissal that is most concerning. One must wonder why it is that one of the most popular authors of the Victorian-Edwardian period only has a small portion of his writings read today. Why is it that the stories such as Lot No. 249 and The Ring of Thoth are largely unknown when they were the inspiration for the Universal film, The Mummy ? Why is it that the story J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement is largely unknown as the origin to the Mary Celeste mystery? Why are Doyle’s pieces of weird fiction left out of most genre studies and collections when he was known as an influence on H.P. Lovecraft? Mostly I wondered, why do those who love Sherlock Holmes so much ignore Doyle’s other works?
I posed these and other questions to a mix of Holmesian and Sherlockian experts and scholars to see if they might have an answer. When asked why the Sherlock Holmes stories are so much more read than Doyle’s other works, many scratched their heads that I would even ask the question. “The mystique of the Canon? It’s such a great game, and Conan Doyle’s other work doesn’t lend itself to anything like it,” [2] responded crime novelist Wick Downing when I posed my question in a Facebook forum.
Most responded with the fact that the friendship of Holmes and Watson, the wonderful characterizations in the stories, and the viewpoint of Watson telling the stories all weaved together to make stories of literary giants. “I think people connected with the character of Holmes. He’s an enigma...people are drawn to because they want to figure him out, or want to be the one to melt his heart (for us females,) and I think that outshined his other works,” responded Sherlockian author Kate Workman.
While there are no continuous main characters throughout the horror and supernatural fiction of Doyle, there is a strong sense of style that did carry over into Doyle’s writings on Holmes. All of the writers who read an advanced copy of the first volume of this anthology commented on how the stories are well written and entertaining; some even consented that Doyle’s best horror and supernatural stories were at least as good as the weaker Holmes stories. In fact, it was noted that some of Holmes best cases interweaved the genres of horror and mystery together. It helps to be a master writer in multiple genres, such was Doyle. When asked which Holmes stories stand out for blending horror and mystery most respondents had a favorite that came directly to mind. “Horror and mystery . . . surely “The Devil’s Foot,” responded Chris Redmond of Sherlockian.net. “Its strong point is the motif (which ACD uses in a number of places, both Sherlockian and otherwise) of the experimenter putting himself at mortal risk.”
Several respondents expressed how well The Hound of the Baskervilles stands as a mystery-horror blend. Author Jennifer Petkus notes, “ The Hound is the best story because it epitomizes the triumph of reason over horror while still managing to raise goose bumps. Without actually stating his famous dictum, the great detective nevertheless eliminates the impossible - that a spectral hound is responsible for the death of Sir Charles Baskerville - and proceeds from there to the realm of the possible.” And Merrily Taylor, retired university librarian, states, “I am torn between The Hound of the Baskervilles and “The Creeping Man.” They both have a nice blend of something scary enough to make us think that indeed, either the supernatural or the horrific might be involved, yet at the end we find out that “real world” evil is involved. I suppose I would say that Professor Presbury has the edge, as he actually uses the tools of science to transform himself into something Other and terrifying. Shades of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!”
It is this blend of horror and mystery that makes the above mentioned stories stand out in the canon. My hope with this two volume anthology is that more Sherlockians and Holmesians will read Doyle’s works of horror and supernatural fiction and see some shadows from Baker Street creeping into the mix. The short novella The Mystery of Cloomber included in this volume of the anthology can even be seen as a precursor to Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels.
The Lovecraft Connection
Besides Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft is arguably the most mimicked writer for pastiches composed in his style. Lovecraft is the number one most influential horror writer of the twentieth century, and his cosmic tales still send chills down the spines of modern day readers. When reading Doyle’s stories The Horror of the Heights and The Terror of Blue John Gap, I noted a similarity in his style and that of Lovecraft and wondered if there was an influence. I asked author and noted Doyle-Lovecraft expert Stephen Seitz, “I’d say ACD was a very strong influence on Lovecraft. As a kid, HPL was an avid fan, and the similarity in prose styles is sometimes uncanny.”
When I looked further, I found some very interesting statements. Lovecraft wrote in a letter, “I used to write detective stories very often, the works of A. Conan Doyle being my model so far as plot was concerned.” In the book More Annotated Lovecraft authors S.T. Joshi and Peter Cannon state of Lovecraft’s story, The Hound that the writing has an “echo of Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles.” [3] They add that Lovecraft wrote, “As to ‘Sherlock Holmes’ - I used to be infatuated with him! I read every Sherlock Holmes story published...” [4]
While Lovecraft’s major influences were authors such as Poe, Machen, Bierce, Chambers, and Blackwood, Doyle should be added to the mix. Fans of Lovecraft will find comparable chills in the stories contained within these anthology volumes even if they do not rise to the cosmic level of Lovecraft.
I hope Lovecraft fans, Sherlock Holmes fans, and lovers of great literature enjoy the works contained within these volumes. Enjoy!
Works Cited
Brien, James F.. The scientific Sherlock Holmes: cracking the Case with Science and Forensics . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.
Dirda, Michael. On Conan Doyle, or, The whole Art of Storytelling . Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012. Print.
Lovecraft, H. P., and Lin Carter. The Doom that Came to Sarnath . New York: Ballantine Books, 1971. Print.
Lovecraft, H. P., P. H. Cannon, and S. T. Joshi. More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft . New York: A Dell Trade Paperback, 1999. Print.

1 The James O’Brien quote is from The Scientific Sherlock Holmes pg.11; the Michael Dirda quote is from On Conan Doyle pg. 51

2 Most of the quotes from authors were obtained through informal interview sources such as Facebook postings and e-mails. Because of this format, many typos and punctuation errors were corrected in composing this introduction; however, all quotes are direct.

3 This letter is quoted in the Lovecraft collection, The Doom That Came to Sarnath and Other Stories pg.21.

4 This information can be found in the footnote of More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft pg. 71.

Section 1
Doyle’s Undead
Introduction
Perhaps Doyle’s greatest literary creation beyond Sherlock Holmes was that of the monster mummy. Before Doyle’s writing, Mummies were seen as romantic, a throwback to an enlightened Egyptian era. While stories of Egyptian curses were known, most stories of mummies were on the positive, even humorous side. Then enters Doyle, and once again the author changes everything.
The story The Ring of Thoth bears an uncanny resemblance to the story contained in the 1932 Universal horror film, The Mummy. Both stories contain immortal men pining for the lovers they lost to the sands of time, and both try to