“So will we be hearing from the Bloody Black Baron again, do you think?”
“Who can say? With his nemesis gone, so is much of his raison d’être. Then again, the East End – all of London, for that matter – is still riddled with criminals and crime. I wouldn’t be sad to know that Cauchemar is out there, patrolling. I, for one, would sleep slightly easier at night.”
“Well then.” I extended a hand. “I shan’t be seeing you for a while, so – best of British.”
We shook hands warmly, and I left the house, wondering when next Holmes and I would be called to action.
The memory of our recent hair’s-breadth escapes and close brushes with death was still fresh in my mind. I bore a fair assortment of cuts, scrapes and bruises. I ought to have been dreaming of quiet nights in, a warm fireside, a well-upholstered chair, a good book, a glass of wine, the company of Mary, all the comforts of home and hearth. I should not have been contemplating how soon it would be before I sallied forth again into the cold, cruel world at Holmes’s side to confront evil and risk my neck doing so.
Yet, for all that, I hoped it would not be long.
AFTERWORD
In the opening passages of “The Final Problem” I wrote that Sherlock Holmes was “engaged by the French government upon a matter of supreme importance” in the winter of 1890 and the spring of ’91, and that during this period I received from him two notes postmarked Narbonne and Nîmes, updating me on his progress.
What those notes said, in fact, was that Holmes had “denied some would-be heirs of their hoped-for inheritance” and that “a Marquis has learned that a commoner may be the equal, if not the better, of an aristocrat”. These cryptic references pertain to his struggles against the Hériteurs de Chauvin, the full nature of which I may reveal in a further memoir, if I am so inclined.
For now, the time has come to set down my pen and add this manuscript to the many others currently being held for safekeeping by Cox & Co. Bank at Charing Cross, to whose vaults I entrust all of my never-to-be-published works.
The story of our involvement with Baron Cauchemar may yet see the light of day, should the executors of my literary estate see fit. I shall stipulate that this can occur only several decades hence, after I am long gone and so is Fred Tilling. That should spare him, and any offspring and immediate relatives he may have, from reprisals. The criminal fraternity possess long memories, but not that long. Their grudges usually fade once a generation or so has passed.
What will the world be like then, I wonder, in the dawning days of the next century. Will technological marvels of the kind the Vicomte de Villegrand and Fred Tilling purveyed be commonplace? Perhaps civilisation will have altered beyond all recognition, the march of Progress sweeping all before it like a relentless tide. Perhaps the imaginings of writers like Jules Verne and our own Mr Wells will have come true, their wildest prognostications made manifest. Perhaps mankind, aided by science, will have advanced to a blessed state of social perfection.
Or perhaps technology will be the downfall of us all, with war machines becoming ever more prevalent, ever more terrible, ever more destructive of human life. The hostilities in Europe are not long over. There, indeed, was a conflict in which science played a chilling role, turning conflict into mass slaughter, battlefield into abattoir.
Could that “great” war simply have been a foretaste of yet worse to come? And could there, even now, be another de Villegrand waiting in the wings, a brilliant madman dreaming of global conquest, of a world remade in his nation’s image?
I cannot say. I do not wish to speculate on the matter.
I am an old man and have no desire to spend my final years fearing for the future. I shall think only of the present and, of course, the past. Yes, the past. Always the past.
J.H.W.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book owes its existence to the hard work and generosity of two people.
George Mann was the middleman who made the introductions and helped get me onto Team Titan. He also gave me the opportunity to have a trial run at a Sherlock Holmes story in his anthology Encounters of Sherlock Holmes.
Editor Cath Trechman is the one who decided to take a punt on a Holmes novel from an author better known for his science fiction and untried in the detective mystery genre. She shepherded The Stuff of Nightmares from outline to final draft with immense patience, skill and care, offering brilliant solutions to knotty plot problems and making me work harder than I ever have before on a book.
I was eleven when I first started reading about the exploits of Conan Doyle’s great hero. It has been my dream, in the thirty-odd years since I fell under the spell of the character and his world, to write a Holmes tale myself. Thanks to the above two people, that dream has been made a reality, and I couldn’t be happier or more grateful.
J.M.H.L.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Lovegrove is The New York Times best-selling author of The Age of Odin, the third novel in his critically acclaimed Pantheon military SF series. He was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1998 for his novel Days and for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2004 for his novel Untied Kingdom. He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times.
SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE BREATH OF GOD
Guy Adams
A body is found crushed to death in the London snow. There are no footprints anywhere near it. It is almost as if the man was killed by the air itself.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson travel to Scotland to meet with the one person they have been told can help: Aleister Crowley. As dark powers encircle them, Holmes’s rationalist beliefs begin to be questioned. The unbelievable and unholy are on their trail as they gather a group of the most accomplished occult minds in the country... But will they be enough? As the century draws to a close it seems London is ready to fall and the infernal abyss is growing wide enough to swallow us all.
A brand-new original novel, detailing a thrilling new case for the acclaimed detective Sherlock Holmes.
TITANBOOKS.COM
SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE ARMY OF DR MOREAU
Guy Adams
Dead bodies are found on the streets of London with wounds that can only be explained as the work of ferocious creatures not native to the city.
Sherlock Holmes is visited by his brother, Mycroft, who is only too aware that the bodies are the calling card of Dr Moreau, a vivisectionist who was working for the British government, following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, before his experiments attracted negative attention and the work was halted. Mycroft believes that Moreau’s experiments continue and he charges his brother with tracking the rogue scientist down before matters escalate any further.
A brand-new original novel, detailing a thrilling new case for the acclaimed detective Sherlock Holmes.
TITANBOOKS.COM
PROFESSOR MORIARTY
THE HOUND OF THE D’URBERVILLES
Kim Newman
Imagine the twisted evil twins of Holmes and Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Professor James Moriarty—wily, snake-like, fiercely intelligent, terrifyingly unpredictable—and Colonel Sebastian “Basher” Moran—violent, politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike. When a certain Irene Adler turns up on their doorstep with a proposition, neither man is able to resist.
“Compulsory reading... glorious.” Neil Gaiman
“Newman’s prose is a delight.” Time Out
“A tour de force which succeeds brilliantly.” The Times
TITANBOOKS.COM
ANNO DRACULA
Kim Newman
It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. His polluted bloodline spreads through London as its citizens increasingly choose to become vampires.
In the grim backstreets of Whitechapel, a killer known as “Silver Knife” is cutting down vampire girls. The eter
nally young vampire Geneviève Dieudonné and Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club are drawn together as they both hunt the sadistic killer, bringing them ever closer to Britain’s most bloodthirsty ruler yet.
“Anno Dracula is the definitive account of that post-modern species, the self-obsessed undead.” The New York Times
“Anno Dracula will leave you breathless... one of the most creative novels of the year.” Seattle Times
“Powerful... compelling entertainment... a fiendishly clever banquet of dark treats.” San Francisco Chronicle
TITANBOOKS.COM
ANNO DRACULA
THE BLOODY RED BARON
Kim Newman
It is 1918 and Dracula is commander-in-chief of the armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The war of the great powers in Europe is also a war between the living and the dead.
As ever the Diogenes Club is at the heart of British Intelligence and Charles Beauregard and his protégé Edwin Winthrop go head-to-head with the lethal vampire flying machine that is the Bloody Red Baron...
“...stunning follow-up to his inventive alternate-world fantasy, Anno Dracula.” Publishers Weekly
“Gripping... superbly researched... Newman’s rich novel rises above genre... A superior sequel to Anno Dracula, itself a benchmark for vampire fiction.” Kirkus Reviews
“A delicious mixture of wild invention, scholarship, lateral thinking and sly jokes... Unmissable.” Guardian
TITANBOOKS.COM
ANNO DRACULA
DRACULA CHA CHA CHA
Kim Newman
Rome 1959 and Count Dracula is about to marry the Moldavian Princess Asa Vajda. Journalist Kate Reed flies into the city to visit the ailing Charles Beauregard and his vampire companion Geneviève. She finds herself caught up in the mystery of the Crimson Executioner who is bloodily dispatching vampire elders in the city. She is on his trail, as is the un-dead British secret agent Bond.
“He writes with sparkling verve and peppers the text with cinematic and literary references. Dracula Cha Cha Cha has full rations of gore, shocks and sly laughs.” The Times
“Newman’s latest monster mash is the third in a series of fiendishly clever novels... this novel is a rich and fulfilling confection.” Publishers Weekly
TITANBOOKS.COM
Table of Contents
Also Available from Titan Books
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Foreword
Chapter One: The Waterloo Massacre
Chapter Two: The Disfigured Delivery Boy
Chapter Three: A Study in Contrasts
Chapter Four: The Aroma of Overripe Bananas
Chapter Five: Grout the Irregular
Chapter Six: Asian Lilies
Chapter Seven: The Blood of a Machine
Chapter Eight: The Realm of Rats
Chapter Nine: A Living Ironclad
Chapter Ten: The Froggy Toff
Chapter Eleven: At the Villa de Villegrand
Chapter Twelve: Savate Versus Baritsu
Chapter Thirteen: Brawl on Primrose Hill
Chapter Fourteen: The Calm Before the Storm
Chapter Fifteen: The Fourth Bomb
Chapter Sixteen: Death of an Abbess
Chapter Seventeen: The Booby-Trapped Brougham
Chapter Eighteen: "Mrs H to the Smiths' Place"
Chapter Nineteen: Graveyard Vigil
Chapter Twenty: The Fall of the House of God
Chapter Twenty-one: "The Fatal Stone Now Closes Over Me"
Chapter Twenty-two: The Subterrene
Chapter Twenty-three: The Law is an Asset
Chapter Twenty-four: The Compromised Stockbroker
Chapter Twenty-five: Feigning Fenianism
Chapter Twenty-six: A Note of Shame
Chapter Twenty-seven: The Blood Beneath the Fingernails
Chapter Twenty-eight: In the Conservatory
Chapter Twenty-nine: Glass Guillotines
Chapter Thirty: The French Connection
Chapter Thirty-one: Wheels in Motion
Chapter Thirty-two: An Earthquake on Baker Street
Chapter Thirty-three: The maiden voyage of the Delphine's Revenge
Chapter Thirty-four: Baron Cauchemar Commences His Story
Chapter Thirty-five: Baron Cauchemar Continues His Story
Chapter Thirty-six: Baron Cauchemar Concludes His Story
Chapter Thirty-seven: Two Iron Dukes
Chapter Thirty-eight: A Whale Harpooned
Chapter Thirty-nine: Human Jetsam
Chapter Forty: A Manmade Titan
Chapter Forty-one: Duelling Machines
Chapter Forty-two: The Varnished Truth
Chapter Forty-three: A Departure
Afterword
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Also Available from Titan Books
Sherlock Holmes - The Stuff of Nightmares Page 26
