AustLit

'Christopher Sequeira, who devised the multiversal Baker Street collection Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Was Not invites you to another dazzling exhibition of reality-flipping tales about a literary icon, with contributions to this house of nightmares by some of the best in the field. Enter freely, and of your own will?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'They are superhuman champions: hyper-charged, meta-guardians of humanity; protecting the innocent from the corrupt, saving us from the sadistic; shielding us from human or inhuman evil in all its forms.

'But, what if the gleaming smile from the chiseled jaw was actually the animalistic baring of teeth? What if THEY were the nightmare threat? They are not superheroes, but superhorrors!

'This dark potential is revealed as we present tales of shock and the macabre from a roster that includes some of the greatest creative minds from the realms of fantasy, science fiction, horror and comic-books. What sort of dark and chilling fates arise when those with powers far beyond mere mortals are the central figures not in tales of triumph, but of terror?' (Publication summary)

'In the story that first established the monstrous cosmic terrors of his Mythos writer H. P. Lovecraft said “We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity…” 

'Which makes it all the more fitting that the adepts of Lovecraft’s vision writing today would choose to unveil ever-evolving and terrible fears besetting those that live on the largest island on the planet, and force the protagonists of some startling new horror fiction tales in this book to face, indeed, not placidity, but their own black seas of infinity…and madness.

'Again, some of the greatest scribes of the weird and startling from the land down under bring you brand new stories in the Lovecraftian genre, taking you from the realms of contemporary Australian cities, to the blood-soaked, post-colonial past (touching the powerful original cultures of the land), and even hinting at the disturbing future of Terra Australis.

'You will fear a sunburnt country.

'Tales of terror by Alan Baxter, David Conyers, Julie Ditrich, Jason Fischer, Steve Kilbey, Steven Paulsen, Steve Proposch, Alf Simpson, Cat Sparks, Maurice Xanthos. Introduction by Cat Rambo and Afterword by Jack Dann.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'An anthology based on the Martian invasion of earth imagined by H.G. Wells.

'With stories set in Australia of the past, present and future, this riveting and inventive collection features 16 of Australia's best science fiction, crime and speculative fiction authors: Kerry Greenwood, Carmel Bird, Jack Dann, Janeen Webb, Sean Williams, Angela Meyer, Lindy Cameron, Jenny Valentish, Narrelle M Harris, Lucy Sussex, Rick Kennett, Jason Franks, Dmetri Kakmi, Bill Congreve, Jason Fischer, and Kaaron Warren.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

A 'what if?' anthology, centred on the question What if Sherlock Holmes had a different offsider than Doctor Watson?

Some of the doctors are fictional and drawn from either other novelists' works (e.g., Dr Henry Jekyll [Robert Louis Stevenson] and Dr Antonio Nikola [Guy Boothby], some are fictional and drawn from Conan Doyle's own work (e.g., Dr Grimesby Roylott [from 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band']), and some are historical (e.g., Dr John Dee, Doc Holliday, and Conan Doyle himself).

'It’s 1890. Holmes’ fame has spread even to the colonies and he and his stalwart chronicler Watson are swept up in an array of mysteries ‘down under’. They find themselves summoned from location to location, dealing with the exciting and unique mysteries of this strange island continent.' (Synopsis)

'24 established Australian genre fiction writers. 24 amazing artists. 24 gripping pieces of prose that will astound, horrify, amuse and delight you. H. P. Lovecraft began the traditions of his Cthulhu cosmology with 'The Call of Cthulhu' almost a century ago, and Australia was a prominent part of that first tale. Now HPL's Mythos, as it effects Australia, is the subject of its own collection of horror stories!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Separated from his wife, Watson returns to Baker Street. On the mantlepiece, where Holmes keeps the souvenirs of his latest case, Watson finds a stone bearing a demoniacal, but vaguely familiar figure. While Holmes is out, Gregson arrives with news of an antiques appraiser, Pethebridge, who has apparently shot himself through the heart with a crossbow. They are interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious Arab. Gregson takes Watson to the murder site. Under the body is a photograph of a dying shaman. Holmes arrives on the scene and reveals the probable route of the murderer's arrival and escape, while his and Gregson's ongoing investigations lead to death and Watson coming into possession of another identical stone, and a photograph with a familiar face in it. He is forced into a terrible act to bring a case that begins in his own past, to its end.'

Source: Sherlock Holmes Pastiche Characters (http://www.schoolandholmes.com/summariess.html). (Sighted: 17/7/2014)