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Another New Release of The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories

Three new volumes of the wildly successful MX Books of New Sherlock Holmes Stories will soon be released by MX Publishing. The release will comprise parts XXII, XXIII, and XXIV. With this release, the series has grown to over 500 new Holmes adventures by nearly 250 contributors from around the world. The theme is Some More Untold Tales, meaning adventures that were alluded to in the original stories by Sir Artur Conan Doyle, but that he never got around to writing. My new story, Another Case of Identity, will be found in Part XXIV.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories was first published in 2015. It was a huge three-book set featuring over sixty new traditional Holmes exploits, all set within the correct time period. It was wildly successful, sparking the demand for even more traditional Holmes adventures

Each volume in the latest release contains forwards by the noted Sherlockians Otto Penzler, Roger Johnson, Lizzy Butler, Steve Emecz, and David Marcum, as well as stories by the following contributors:

Part XXII: 1877-1887

S.F. Bennett, William Todd, Geri Schear, Susan Knight, David Marcum, Bob Bishop, Tracy J. Revels, Chris Chan, Richard Paolinelli, Derrick Belanger, Stephen Mason, Leslie Charteris and Denis Green, Tim Symonds, Liese Sherwood-Fabre, Ian Ableson, Chris Chan, Mark Mower, Robert Stapleton, Roger Riccard, Kevin P. Thornton, and Denis O. Smith , and a poem by Christopher James

Part XXIII: 1887-1894

Will Murray (2 stories), Tim Gambrell (2 stories), Craig Janacek, I.A. Watson, Jane Rubino, Paul Hiscock, Hugh Ashton, Mike Chinn, Shane Simmons, Dacre Stoker and Leverett Butts, David Marcum, Matthew J. Elliott, Paul D. Gilbert, Tracy J. Revels, Margaret Walsh, Arthur Hall, Barry Clay, Steven Philip Jones, Jan van Koningsveld, and Marcia Wilson, and a poem by John Linwood Grant

Part XXIV: 1895-1903

Marcia Wilson, Brenda Seabrooke, Stephen Herczeg, Tracy J. Revels, Kevin P. Thornton, Thomas A. Burns, Jr., Dick Gillman, Jayantika Ganguly, John Davis, DJ Tyrer, Harry DeMaio, Arthur Hall (2 stories), Susan Knight, David Marcum, Craig Stephen Copland (2 stories), Gayle Lange Puhl, John Lawrence, John Linwood Grant, and Paula Hammond, and a poem by Joseph W. Svec III

The series is particularly noteworthy because all of the stories are strictly canonical – there are no anachronisms, supernatural events, or other occurrences not justified by Doyle’s original stories. Any of the stories in these volumes could have appeared in the Strand Magazine. Holmes and Watson are portrayed as the Victorian gentlemen and heroes that they were; not as the caricatures so prominent in other modern depictions.

This series was conceived as a philanthropic project; all contributor royalties go to the Stepping Stones School for special needs children at Undershaw, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former homes in the UK. To date the project has raised nearly $70,000 for the school. The collection has had some very famous authors contribute to it, including Lee Child, Jonathan Kellerman, Lyndsay Faye, Bonnie MacBird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The link for the Kickstarter is below. Please follow it and reserve your copies now!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mxpublishing/the-mx-book-of-new-sherlock-holmes-stories-xxii-to-xxiv?fbclid=IwAR28I0_3LETCtAbe6aV_o2x7_EBkHhzV9z00Kv6nelvsQ2WBm70Dd3hmCVI
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My Latest Sherlock Holmes Story is Coming Soon!

My latest Sherlock Holmes short story, The Witch of Ellenby, will appear in Volume XVIII of the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, which is being published as a set of three volumes, XVI to XVIII.  The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories is the world’s largest collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, and the theme of the stories in the latest three volumes is Whatever Remains… Must Be The Truth. This means that the stories must have a supernatural element, but the mystery must have a mundane explanation. The collection contains forewords from Sherlockian author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Roger Johnson of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.

All of the stories in this collection are cannonical pastiches, which means that they are written in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. The Witch of Ellenby is set in 1899. The majority of the action takes place in the village of Ellenby, in England’s beautiful Lakes District, where Holmes and Watson have been summoned to investigate a case of witchcraft. Steve Emecz of MX Publishing recently interviewed me about my contributions to the series and about my Natalie McMasters Mysteries (available on this website on The Books tab).

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories is the brainchild of its editor, David Marcum, one of the world’s leading Sherlockians. In 2015, he wanted to create a new collection traditional Holmes stories in Conan Doyle’s original format, and partnered with MX Publishing to do so. The decision was taken to donate all of the royalties from the project to the Stepping Stones School for special needs children, housed at Conan Doyle’s former residence, Undershaw. As with previous volumes, all the royalties from the collection are being donated to Stepping Stones .  

The new books are currently available for pre-order at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mxpublishing/mx-book-of-new-sherlock-holmes-stories-vols-xvi-to-xviii) in hardback, paperback or electronic format until 5 September 2019. You are encouraged to pre-order, because this will help the publisher to defray publication and shipping costs. The three volumes will be published in October.

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Humble Brag Time!

I’m excited to tell everyone that I finally made the big time! My Sherlock Holmes story, The Horror in King Street, will be published in the prestigious MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories in June of 2019.

The first MX Anthology released in early 2015 was the brainchild of the Sherlockian David Marcum (https://www.amazon.com/David-Marcum/e/B00K1IKA92). It comprised three simultaneously released volumes of hardcovers that contained 63 new stories and it was the largest Holmes book of its kind ever released.

The requirements for a story to be included in the MX Books are that it must be well written, completely Canonical (meaning that it does not deviate from the facts or the style of the 63 Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur and must be of similar length), must not be a parody, or contain actual supernatural encounters, or anachronisms, and Holmes and Watson must be portrayed as heroes, not broken addicts or murdererous sociopaths.

Since the first three volumes were released, a total of twelve volumes of 400-600 pages each have been published, with nearly 300 new Holmes stories by over 100 of the best Sherlockian authors from around the world. Forewords have been contributed by bestselling authors such as Lee Child, Jonathan Kellerman, Nicholas Meyer, and Lyndsay Faye, and Sherlockians like Colin Jeavons, who played Lestrade in the Granada series, so I’m in extremely good company indeed. The royalties benefit the Stepping Stones School for special needs children at Undershaw, a former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. To date, over $30,000 has been raised for the school.

The Horror in King Street will appear in Part XIII: 2019 Annual, scheduled for publication on June 22nd, 2019.

Here are some Publishers Weekly reviews of the more recent volumes:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781787050860 (Part VI—2017 Annual)
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781787052017 (Part VII: Eliminate the Impossible)
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781787052055 (Part VIII: Eliminate the Impossible)
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781787052819 (The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part IX)
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/reviews/single/9781787052857 (The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part X )

I will also mention that the new Natalie McMasters story, Trafficked!, to be released early next year, will contain some Sherlockian elements as well as allusions to another well-known detective from West 35th Street in New York City. Stay tuned.