After a new collection of Solar Pons stories by David Marcum and an anthology of new stories by several authors, we got another new anthology from Belanger Books in 2020: The Necronomicon of Solar Pons. This collection was subtitled: “Lovecraftian Tales of the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street.”
For those not aware, Solar Pons is a popular pastiche of Sherlock Holmes that was created by August Derleth, continued by Basil Copper and now led by David Marcum. As Pons was created as a separate character from Holmes, who is noted as being his mentor and predecessor, he can be enjoyed in his own right.
Derleth also wrote Lovecraftian stories. So there are hints of this in the Solar Pons stories, though he didn’t have any stories where Pons dealt with it directly. This collection finally makes this happen.
The Necronomicon of Solar Pons has some non-fiction pieces, 10 Solar Pons stories from nine authors, and a bonus Sherlock Holmes stories.
The non-fiction items set the stage for the stories. These pieces by Bob Byrne (who created the Solar Pons Gazette) and Derrick Belanger give the reader a good background on Pons and the Cthulhu Mythos (or maybe that should be the Derleth Mythos, as some call it). As I wanted to get this review out sooner than later, I haven’t had the chance to read all the stories as yet. I’ll update this review when I do.
Stephen Herczeg kicks things off. A diner is apparently killed in a restaurant by an unknown assailant. What appears to be an invisible killer who used a set of claws. Pons is pulled into this mystery and goes deeper than he expected. I should point out that Herczeg is getting a collection of his Holmes stories soon.
Nick Cardillo‘s tale doesn’t make use of the Mythos, but instead Dracula, as Pons deal with an issue of revenge by Jonathan and Mina Harker‘s son. Do vampires exist in the Pons “universe”? Unclear.
From Stephen Persing we get a tale that is similar to Conan Doyle’s “The Empty House”. Dr. Lyndon Parker is helping the police by himself after Pons had died fighting a Moriarty-like character. But I don’t recall Pons having such a foe. But there are clear Cthulhu elements, and elements from a Lovecraft tale. And like that Holmes tale, Pons returns to solve the case. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide if they like this return.
I have read many Sherlock Holmes tales by I.A. Watson, so was curious to see how he’d do on Pons. Here Pons and his associate, Dr. Parker, head to Dunwich for a case of a young woman found dead on the beach, who apparently was in a centuries-old grave. The grave was for a member of the Whateley family. Oh, sorry, this is set in Dunwich in England, not New England. But it draws interesting inspiration from a couple of H.P. Lovecraft tales.
David Marcum’s work introduces us to a lady involved with a group trying to warn people of the threat of the Great Old Ones. I found interesting his tie-in with both Lovecraft and Derleth in this one, including Derleth’s first Lovecraft collection. And we learn how Pons learned of the Cthulhu mythos that lead him to writing his monograph.
Belanger’s “The Devil’s Tongue and Blue John Gap” is set in the same place as Conan Doyle‘s “Terror of Blue John Gap” (1910). I thought I had read this story, but hadn’t. Blue John is a semi-precious mineral found in a few locations in Derbyshire, England. Blue John Gap is a mine from Roman times that seems to house a dangerous creature in Doyle’s tale, probably named for the real Blue John Cavern. But in this story, the location seems menaced by some Lovecraftian creature. When Pons learns that the late father of the young man who hires him has a library filled with ancient tomes mentioned by Lovecraft and others, he’s on the case. I do need to read Doyle’s tale, as I wonder if some elements of the story are original or from the original work. I was annoyed by some formatting issues with this story that I hope have been fixed.
The bonus Sherlock Holmes tales is an interesting one. It’s by Belanger and was actually turned into one of the Solar Pons stories here. Which has happened before. So you can compare and contrast them.
It’s another great collection and I am looking forward to the 2021 collection as I contributed to the Kickstarter campaign. We have a new Pontine Dossier out for 2020, which I’ve reviewed, and look forward to the promised next Pons collection and Dossier, hopefully in 2021. As I read most of the Derleth and Pons stories back in the mid-1990s, I’ve considered revisiting them and reading the “new” ones (to me) in a future series of postings. A lot to look forward to.
