The Breath Of God!

Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God by Guy Adams is a delightful romp of a Sherlock Holmes pastiche. It has a great momentum as Holmes and Watson come up against the supernatural and find themselves among a gaggle of somewhat infamous associates. Dr. John Silence created by Algernon Blackwood finds his way to 221B Baker Street and enlists Holmes to help him battle the magical machinations of "The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn", or at least elements of it. Reluctantly Sherlock relents and allows himself to be brought into the case which eventually ends up taking the detectives to Boleskine, the lair of Alesteir Crowley. Along the way they meet up with Thomas Carnacki, the ghost detective created by William Hope Hodgson and Julian Karswell, the warlock invented by M.R. James for his story "Casting the Runes" which gave inspiration for the movie Night of the Demon.

The action is hectic and there is plenty which seems totally out of this mundane world, much which presumably would ultimately challenge the logic of Sherlock Holmes. Seeing Holmes and Watson in particular battle against the onslaught of the irrational is the key to this sprawling tale, from England to Scotland and back again. The personalities of the various magical types are vivid and entertaining.

I hesitate to say much for dread of spoiling this story, but I found Adams a worthy writer who doesn't so much ape the work of Doyle, but blend the elements of sundry writers into a satisfying whole. I have my reservations about what happens to one character alas, but nothing is ever ideal.

This is very much recommended.

This novel precedes Sherlock Holmes: The Army of Dr.Moreau which I looked at here. Having now read both, there is little direct connection between them.

Here are some tasty volumes to find out more about the sundry characters found in this tale. I just picked up the Hodgson volume myself and hope to read it soon.

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Casting The Runes!

I first heard about the movie Curse of the Demon (also called Night of the Demon) in Richard O'Brien's pop song "Science Fiction - Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It is reference with these lines:

"Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes, and passing them used lots of skills"

In the pre-internet days, getting information on obscure sci-fi movies was much more difficult, and getting hold of a copy to see was sometimes even more difficult if not outright impossible. None of my friends had ever seen the British movie starring Dana Andrews, but between us we were able to identify most all the movies alluded to in the famous song. I figured out The Night of the Demon reference somehow, and then went about getting hold of every movie mentioned in that song. It was harder than you might think.


The movie's hero played by Dana Andrews, a scientist and semi-professional skeptic, pit himself against a sorcerer and cult leader who uses ancient runic spells and a paper token to call down demons to kill his opponents. The trick in the movie to save oneself is to pass the rune-ridden paper which summons the demon to another unwary victim. The movie is moody and neatly atmospheric with a dandy monster who shows up a few very effective times. I've always been especially fond of Karswell, the villain played by Niall McGinnis, is especially charming and a baddie you can really identify with in many ways.


Well yesterday, I finally read the story by M.R. James, the notable British writer which inspired the oddly effective horror/sci-fi flick. It's titled "Casting the Runes" and after another quick viewing of the movie itself, I'm mightily impressed by how much of the original story does indeed survive in the 1957 flick. Here's a link to read the story for yourself.

If you've never perhaps seen Night/Curse of the Demon, I highly recommend it.

Here's the trailer.



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