Manly W. Wellman & Wade Wellman - The War of the Worlds

[kooshmeister]

I know this is definitely more sci-fi than crime/mystery, but since it's part of the Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, I tossed it in here.



Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger confront an alien invasion in this retelling of H.G. Wells' seminal sci-fi classic, which, like so many of these Holmes pastiches, isn't content merely to spin a yarn. No, it has to present itself as having actually happened - up to and including treating the book it's based on as simply a second account of an actual event, i.e., the invasion.

And in an apparent attempt to elevate their own book, the Wellmans have chosen to take every opportunity they can find to have their characters go on about just how awful "that other account of the invasion by that Wells guy" is. There's even a letter from Watson at the end basically calling Wells a liar and a fraud.

Can anyone tell me why they chose to treat H.G. Wells with such disrespect? I know Wells snarked about the inaccurate depictions of tripods in his original work, and if that was what the Wellmans were attempting to emulate here, they went a tad overboard...

Besides that, the book itself is a little on the dull side. The business of Holmes being in love with Mrs. Hudson is just plain ridiculous as well, and I disliked the Wellmans' retcons (such as "revealing" that the invading aliens aren't actually Martians). It does have some good bits such as the beginning where Holmes purchases the crystal egg, and Challenger's misadventures during the invasion, but on the whole the book is a far, far clumsier attempt to insert Holmes and Watson into an unrelated sci-fi story than Loren D. Estleman's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes, with far more out of character moments and, of course, the shots at Wells that leave a bad taste in my mouth. For, shame, Manly and Wade! For shame!

[dem bones]

Does it mention when Wellman snr. & Wellman jnr. collaborated on the novel, Mr. Meister?

I've not got Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes but have read Estleman's Sherlock Holmes versus Dracula but nothing really stuck. If I remember, there was little by way of characterisation.

[pulphack]

It's not very good as a novel, simple as that really. There are two good stories in here jostling like ferrets in a sack, but they just don't meld together and too much jars. I read a few of those Titan Holmes reprints a few years back and was generally underwhelmed. There's a lot of good Sherlockiana out there, but whoever edited this line picked some duffers.

[ripper]

I have been thinking about getting this one for quite some time. What attracted me particularly was the teaming of Holmes and Challenger. I haven't come across very much at all in the way of extra-canonical adventures featuring the fiery professor, so I was intrigued. I see it is available on Kindle so I may download the sample. Holmes being in love with Mrs. Hudson does jar somewhat to say the least.

[kooshmeister]

Dec 15, 2014 5:46:51 GMT dem bones said:

Does it mention when Wellman snr. & Wellman jnr. collaborated on the novel, Mr. Meister?

1975, according to Wikipedia.

[mcannon]

Dec 15, 2014 16:19:21 GMT kooshmeister said:

Dec 15, 2014 5:46:51 GMT dem bones said:

Does it mention when Wellman snr. & Wellman jnr. collaborated on the novel, Mr. Meister?

1975, according to Wikipedia.

From memory, it was based on three novelettes / novellas that they had collaborated on and which had been published over the previous few years in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction".

Agreed, it's not Wellman's best work, but in some ways the literary mash-up nature of the book was ahead of its time. From what I've read Manly was a lifelong Holmes fan, and I suppose like many such writers, he wanted to have at least one crack at the character.

It's also the only fiction I've seen from Wellman Jr. Other than vague reference or two to him being a poet, I've seen practically no information on him.

[kooshmeister]

This still doesn't explain the bile for Wells.