Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions sees the Great Detective battling an outlandish foe; here Lois H. Gresh explain the series’ genesis…

Having written Sherlock Holmes stories as well as Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos stories, I thought the time was right to merge the two. Both present strange, dark events, bizarre circumstances, suspense and murder.

Of course, we all know that Sherlock Holmes is a master of logic and scientific deduction. The core of the Cthulhu mythos actually has a scientific underpinning. Lovecraft explored concepts such as multidimensions, existentialism, genetics, and the futility of anthropomorphic thinking, among others.

What fun, I thought, to pit Sherlock Holmes against other-dimensional realities, weird science that could have existed in his time but did not exist, and murders with the strangest clues ever encountered. How would my Holmes cope with these crimes? How would he solve them?

After writing the first hundred pages of The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions, I mentioned it to Steve Saffel at Titan Books, and he loved the idea. Off we went on our wild adventure with Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu!

I’ve now completed the first two novels in this new trilogy of Sherlock Holmes thrillers and am working on the third.

In the first, Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions, a series of grisly murders rocks London. At each location, only a jumble of bones remains, along with a bizarre bone sphere covered in arcane symbols. The son of the latest victim seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, who discover a common thread that ties together the murders – and the persons responsible.

Bizarre geometries – based on ancient schematics – point to members of a secluded cult. These men and women build strange constructs that will enable other-worldly creatures to enter our dimension. As their power grows, even Moriarty fears that his empire is at risk – to the point that he seeks an unholy alliance with his eternal foe.

All three novels in the series include weird science and technology that I created specifically for Holmes’s time in 1890 London. Also, I include a lot of insider references from and extend the scope of both the Holmes and Lovecraftian worlds. There are plenty of Holmes deductions, lots of action, mystery, suspense, and of course, murder.

Throughout the Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu series, Holmes remains a master of logic and scientific deduction. It is against his nature to contemplate that supernatural or paranormal phenomena might exist and be responsible for murders.

Dr. Watson remains a loyal ally to Holmes and an invaluable partner in solving the murders. I’ve developed Watson a bit, and injected his wife, Mary, into my series. In addition, they have an infant, Samuel. Mary plays a significant role in the third novel and in the resolution of the overall problem presented in the series.

In addition to coping with what he refuses to think of as supernatural murders, Holmes must solve additional murders in each novel. But it is the problem of the so-called paranormal or supernatural that perplexes Holmes the most. He tries valiantly to find explanations for crimes whose foundations do not seem rooted in the rational, scientific world. Despite all of the strange things confronting him, Holmes uses logic to find ways of eliminating the paranormal threats.

 

Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions is available now

 

Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Neural Psychoses is scheduled for an April 2018 release