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A review by qalminator
Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes by Charles Prepolec, J.R. Campbell
3.0
Note: I started reading this because I am preparing to set up to run one-shots using the Trail of Cthulhu system and was looking for plot ideas. The first story is promising that way, and I'll update once I'm through.
Update after finishing: Most of the stories have elements that could be used in a ToC scenario, but are not sufficient in themselves without a lot of extras added in. As for the quality of the stories, they're mostly middle of the road with a few standouts (The Ignoble Sportsmen, The Lizard Lady, The Song of a Want), and a few duds.
Introduction by Charles Prepolec - I confess that I mostly skipped this, except for skimming a few paragraphs here and there. I opened the book to read stories, not people talking about stories.
The Cuckoo’s Hour by Mark A. Latham [3 stars, 4 ToCA] - Kind of meh story with some cool mechanisms, but I can definitely work with the basic idea as a one-shot plot. Given Holmes' tendency to ignore information not immediately relevant to understanding human behavior, his immediate recognition of the myth is suspect. UPDATE: After adapting this to an RPG scenario, I have more problems with it: (1) Bronze statues are not made in such a way that a person falling into a vat would result in a statue (text says "brass", but every time I looked for brass statue making, I instead found bronze); (2) The staircase arrangement makes no sense. If that's the only way down, it's ridiculously inconvenient to get raw materials into the foundry, and the stairs would have to be ridiculously reinforced. So... yeah. Still made a good scenario based on it, but had to do a lot of fixing.
The Spirit of Death by David Stuart Davies [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - Enjoyable yarn, with a more direct use of the paranormal than the first. Too short to work as a full one-shot adventure, sadly, but the concept and villain are borrowable.
Father of the Man by Stephen Volk [3 Stars, 1 ToCA] - Interesting but did we really need Holmes to be connected both to Edgar Allan Poe and Jack the Ripper? Not particularly adaptable to an RPG scenario, as there's too much tie to specific people and places and times.
The Strange Case of Dr. Sacker and Mr. Hope by James Lovegrove [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - * sigh * Another "Holmes meets X" one, much bleaker than the one above. It was well-written, and followed the premise to a logical conclusion, but was not to my taste.
The Ignoble Sportsmen by Josh Reynolds [4 stars, 4 ToCA] - Finally we're back to an actual mystery with paranormal elements. Very, very well written, too, nearly matching the original Conan Doyle in style. Minor quibble: It's clear in the original Conan Doyle tales that Holmes doesn't care whether a problem is mundane, only whether its solution is, so I would reword a paragraph near the beginning. Otherwise, fascinating tale with just the right amount of supernatural weirdness.
The Strange Adventure of Mary Holder by Nancy Holder [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - When this one forgot to do overwrought purple prose, the writing was decent, but the first few paragraphs were an utter chore to get through (and nothing like Watson's usual style), but the story ... put it this way: When I read in the author bio that this author also wrote for the Buffyverse, suddenly what the story was trying to do made sense. It didn't work, but at least I could see what was going on.
The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange by Mark Morris [4 stars, 3 ToCA] - Enjoyable tale that would fit just as well in a regular Holmes anthology (though the author's grasp of Watson's character is a bit off). There are details that could work well in an RPG scenario, but it would need padding out.
The Magic of Africa by Kevin P. Thornton [2.5 stars, 3 ToCA] - Tried a bit too hard for plausible deniability on the paranormal aspect, but still mostly entertaining. Another one with usable elements for ToC, but too short on its own.
A Matter of Light by Angela Slatter [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - If this did not attempt to feature Holmes, it might be 3 or 4 stars. However, it badly misuses Holmes, so as a Holmes story, it's not worth much. The problem is that Holmes would have noticed all the things that Kit Whatsis did. If he's present, they either need to be in friendly competition (because one household member called Holmes and one called Kit), or Holmes needs to be utterly incapacitated in some fashion. Better, still, if Holmes were unable to come at all, and so Watson called Kit instead. The mild supernatural element was both fairly obviously telegraphed, and utterly irrelevant to the story, though.
The Song of a Want by Lyndsay Faye [4 stars, 2 ToCA] - A Holmesian prequel, giving a case prior to Watson, and indicating how the "Baker Street Irregulars" got started. Enjoyable, though a bit odd. Nothing overtly supernatural (though arguments can be made for the timing of the disease after the "doctor" spoke to Meggie), but plenty of creepy stuff. To adapt for RPG, I would need to make those elements overt.
Update after finishing: Most of the stories have elements that could be used in a ToC scenario, but are not sufficient in themselves without a lot of extras added in. As for the quality of the stories, they're mostly middle of the road with a few standouts (The Ignoble Sportsmen, The Lizard Lady, The Song of a Want), and a few duds.
Introduction by Charles Prepolec - I confess that I mostly skipped this, except for skimming a few paragraphs here and there. I opened the book to read stories, not people talking about stories.
The Cuckoo’s Hour by Mark A. Latham [3 stars, 4 ToCA] - Kind of meh story with some cool mechanisms, but I can definitely work with the basic idea as a one-shot plot. Given Holmes' tendency to ignore information not immediately relevant to understanding human behavior, his immediate recognition of the myth is suspect. UPDATE: After adapting this to an RPG scenario, I have more problems with it: (1) Bronze statues are not made in such a way that a person falling into a vat would result in a statue (text says "brass", but every time I looked for brass statue making, I instead found bronze); (2) The staircase arrangement makes no sense. If that's the only way down, it's ridiculously inconvenient to get raw materials into the foundry, and the stairs would have to be ridiculously reinforced. So... yeah. Still made a good scenario based on it, but had to do a lot of fixing.
The Spirit of Death by David Stuart Davies [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - Enjoyable yarn, with a more direct use of the paranormal than the first. Too short to work as a full one-shot adventure, sadly, but the concept and villain are borrowable.
Father of the Man by Stephen Volk [3 Stars, 1 ToCA] - Interesting but did we really need Holmes to be connected both to Edgar Allan Poe and Jack the Ripper? Not particularly adaptable to an RPG scenario, as there's too much tie to specific people and places and times.
Spoiler
It's also quite likely that the lid of the casket would have collapsed under the weight of the earth. If they'd reinforced that, in addition to giving the calming drugs, it would be more plausible.The Strange Case of Dr. Sacker and Mr. Hope by James Lovegrove [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - * sigh * Another "Holmes meets X" one, much bleaker than the one above. It was well-written, and followed the premise to a logical conclusion, but was not to my taste.
The Ignoble Sportsmen by Josh Reynolds [4 stars, 4 ToCA] - Finally we're back to an actual mystery with paranormal elements. Very, very well written, too, nearly matching the original Conan Doyle in style. Minor quibble: It's clear in the original Conan Doyle tales that Holmes doesn't care whether a problem is mundane, only whether its solution is, so I would reword a paragraph near the beginning. Otherwise, fascinating tale with just the right amount of supernatural weirdness.
The Strange Adventure of Mary Holder by Nancy Holder [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - When this one forgot to do overwrought purple prose, the writing was decent, but the first few paragraphs were an utter chore to get through (and nothing like Watson's usual style), but the story ... put it this way: When I read in the author bio that this author also wrote for the Buffyverse, suddenly what the story was trying to do made sense. It didn't work, but at least I could see what was going on.
Spoiler
The problem was that they jumped to killing as a solution far too soon. If the premise is that there's something else inside the girl, wouldn't an exorcism have been a more reasonable first step? In the Buffyverse where they could point to Demon-subtype-Q and say, "Nope. No other alternatives," it would be more defendable. As is? Utter rubbish.The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange by Mark Morris [4 stars, 3 ToCA] - Enjoyable tale that would fit just as well in a regular Holmes anthology (though the author's grasp of Watson's character is a bit off). There are details that could work well in an RPG scenario, but it would need padding out.
The Magic of Africa by Kevin P. Thornton [2.5 stars, 3 ToCA] - Tried a bit too hard for plausible deniability on the paranormal aspect, but still mostly entertaining. Another one with usable elements for ToC, but too short on its own.
A Matter of Light by Angela Slatter [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - If this did not attempt to feature Holmes, it might be 3 or 4 stars. However, it badly misuses Holmes, so as a Holmes story, it's not worth much. The problem is that Holmes would have noticed all the things that Kit Whatsis did. If he's present, they either need to be in friendly competition (because one household member called Holmes and one called Kit), or Holmes needs to be utterly incapacitated in some fashion. Better, still, if Holmes were unable to come at all, and so Watson called Kit instead. The mild supernatural element was both fairly obviously telegraphed, and utterly irrelevant to the story, though.
The Song of a Want by Lyndsay Faye [4 stars, 2 ToCA] - A Holmesian prequel, giving a case prior to Watson, and indicating how the "Baker Street Irregulars" got started. Enjoyable, though a bit odd. Nothing overtly supernatural (though arguments can be made for the timing of the disease after the "doctor" spoke to Meggie), but plenty of creepy stuff. To adapt for RPG, I would need to make those elements overt.