The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes
Page 29
THE SHATTERED TEACUP
This was the first of a number of Christmas stories I’ve written for Newbury and the gang.
What I consider to be a “traditional Christmas” is essentially Victorian—plum puddings, mistletoe, presents under the tree—the fault, I think, of Charles Dickens, who popularised many of these notions with his Christmas stories. It’s become a bit of tradition for me, too, to write a Newbury & Hobbes story at Christmas time.
This one was originally written to go inside a Christmas card, which was sent to my friends and family. There’s a gag hidden in the story, too—an ongoing friendly rivalry with my brother, Scott, over who can outdo the other by referencing a story from our youth—about a shattered mug. Go and watch his movie, The Tournament, if you want to see how he got me back.
WHAT LIES BENEATH
I don’t think I’ll ever stop experimenting with ways to tell different Newbury & Hobbes stories, and this was one of the first. It’s told in an epistolary format, but the twist (and I’m assuming you’re reading these notes after you’ve read the stories) is that the letters are all being written to the corpse of their author’s murdered wife. I’ve always been intrigued by epistolary stories, and there’s another, of sorts, later in the books.
I think this was the first Newbury & Hobbes story not to feature any steampunk or fantastical elements—it’s a simple horror story about a man’s jealousy and dangerous obsession with his wife.
THE LADY KILLER
In some ways this is the newest story in the collection, but in others it’s one of the oldest, too. The mysterious spy, “Lady Arkwell”—or Clarissa Karswell, as Newbury comes to know her—was born out of a desire to have a recurring sparring partner for Newbury, someone who could turn up in a number of stories and mix things up a little bit between Newbury and Veronica.
This, really, is Clarissa’s origin story, and I wrote the first half of it a couple of years ago, before shelving it to get on with what I was really supposed to be doing—writing the new novel. It sat there for some time, although references to Lady Arkwell started to show up in other stories, almost as if I was unconsciously seeding her into the saga.
Again, when it came time to decide which stories to include in this book, this one seemed like a natural choice, so I went right back to the start of Clarissa’s tale and started over. This story is the result. It won’t be the last we see of Clarissa Karswell.
THE CASE OF THE NIGHT CRAWLER
If you hadn’t realised by now, I’m a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. I can’t recall the genesis of this story, other than the fact I’d always wanted to dabble with a Holmes story, and couldn’t resist making it a crossover—something I’d later go on to explore in more depth in my Sherlock Holmes novel, The Will of the Dead, which features Bainbridge as a main character.
The story was originally written for a convention chapbook for Teslacon, and revised for inclusion in my Encounters of Sherlock Holmes anthology.
It was a great deal of fun to have Watson team up with Newbury and Veronica instead of Holmes, but to make sure Holmes was there in the background, pulling the strings, circling Newbury as a bit of a rival. Watson ends the story thinking he’s finally got one over on Holmes, but Holmes, of course, knew what was going on all along, and just wanted to make sure he was free to attend a violin concerto.
THE SACRIFICIAL PAWN
This story serves as a prologue, of sorts, to the fourth novel in the series, The Executioner’s Heart. In that book, Newbury has managed to obtain a rare and dangerous book of ritual magic, The Cosmology of the Spirit, which he’s using to “heal” Veronica’s clairvoyant sister, Amelia.
It’s also a reference to one of my earliest pieces of published fiction, a novella I wrote for Telos Books for their Time Hunter series, The Severed Man. That book features a secretive devil-worshipping cult known as “The Cabal of the Horned Beast”, and they reappear here for the first time since 2004. What I found interesting about writing this one was the fact the cult, although clearly the “bad guys”, are the ones who are hard done by. It’s Newbury who steals from them, provoking them into seeking revenge. We see that revenge played out in full in The Revenant Express.
CHRISTMAS SPIRITS
Another Christmas tale. This one has its roots even more firmly in Dickens—it’s essentially a riff on A Christmas Carol, with Newbury, befuddled by opium on Christmas Eve, hallucinating the spectres of Templeton Black, Bainbridge and Veronica: past, present and future. There’s some foreshadowing of what’s to come in The Revenant Express, and it was the first time I’d properly written about Templeton Black, albeit as a ghostly spirit.
STRANGERS FROM THE SEA
Another recent tale, this, written for the charity anthology Storyteller, a tribute to the fantastic writer Matt Kimpton.
I wrote this straight after “The Dark Path” and wanted to do something else with Templeton Black, something that picked up on the themes of that other story and showed Newbury later, already lost to his obsession with the occult.
The genesis of the story was lovely, too—a friend called Nick Campbell found a page in an old children’s book listing loads of wonderful old titles, most of them forgotten and long out of print. A group of us began riffing on the titles, imagining what stories might have belonged to them. It was Stuart Douglas of Obverse Books who jumped in and suggested he pull together an anthology as a tribute to Matt, with each author taking a title from that list and writing a new story. This one is mine.
THE ONLY GIFT WORTH GIVING
Yet another Christmas tale! This one’s set later in the series, though, after the events of the sixth novel. Things have changed for Newbury, Veronica and Bainbridge, and Newbury’s fallen into another of his black moods. Bainbridge pays him a visit on Christmas Eve, however, with the only Christmas present he knows will rouse Newbury from his depression—a new case.
This one was written for the Newbury & Hobbes Annual 2013, which was a ridiculous amount of fun to put together. It was written long before I ever got round to finishing “Lady Arkwell’s Deceit”, but echoes the already-planned ending of that story, with the enigmatic Clarissa Karswell sending Newbury a note to reignite their little game.
A RUM AFFAIR
This one was also written for the Annual. I was playing around with form again here. I’d been writing a long sequence of “drabbles”—one-hundred-word stories—that built into a longer narrative, and decided to write a story in twelve minichapters, one each for the twelve days of Christmas. I love the discipline of writing precisely like this, carefully choosing every word and sticking to the rules. It’s quite a challenge, but it’s something I do a lot. I have notebooks full of these things, mostly featuring Newbury and Lady Arkwell. One day I’ll collect them all into a book.
A NIGHT, REMEMBERED
I wrote this story around the time of the centenary of The Titanic, but this is the first time it’s seen print. It was written entirely at a writer’s retreat, fuelled by coffee, doughnuts and the good company of other writers.
It features what’s probably the last appearance of Lady Arkwell, chronologically speaking, but it’s the first time Peter Rutherford appears in the Newbury & Hobbes story. He’s a character I created for my novel Ghosts of War, a British spy who represents the next generation of secret agents. Here, he’s charged with interviewing an older Newbury about what really happened the night the Titanic went down, and passing on another of Lady Arkwell’s notes.
THE MAHARAJAH’S STAR
This might be my favourite of the short stories I’ve written to date. It represents a kind of nexus point in my fictional universe, the point where everything came together and I realised that all of my stories were really all part of one big saga. It features Peter Rutherford interviewing Professor Archibald Angelchrist—an aged, retired Secret Service man—about an adventure he once had with Newbury, Veronica and Bainbridge.
Angelchrist was a key character in my Doctor Who novel, Paradox Lost, a
nd then later in The Executioner’s Heart, but this was his first appearance.
I like how it takes the form of smaller, nested stories that all come together at the last moment—and the fact it’s got terror birds and reanimated pygmies in it. It’s the story I typically bring out for readings and events.
THE ALBINO’S SHADOW
There are few greater pleasures in life than sitting down to read an issue of the Sexton Blake Library. For years I’ve been addicted to these pulps, which had their golden age in the inter-war years. They’re rip-roaring adventures, full of larger-than-life heroes and villains.
The best of these villains, and, in my humble opinion, one of the best fictional characters ever created, is Zenith the Albino. He’s a gentleman prince from Eastern Europe, who smokes opium-tainted cigarettes and always wears immaculate evening wear, treats women with the utmost respect and has a rather relaxed attitude towards life and death. He appeared in over forty novels and novellas during the 1920s and 1930s.
This story was written for a new anthology of Zenith stories, and I decided to pitch him against Peter Rutherford, my British spy of the same era. Of course, it was too good an opportunity not to have Rutherford seek the advice of Veronica, amongst others, when going up against such a dangerous foe.
What I was also doing here, and in these other Rutherford stories, is showing the changing of the guard, the handing over of the baton from Newbury and Veronica to the next generation. Rutherford is clever enough, and respectful enough, to know that he can learn a great deal from those who have fought such battles before.
OLD FRIENDS
I suppose this is quite a sentimental story, really, but I’m a romantic at heart.
I was doing two things here. Firstly, exploring Angelchrist’s history with Newbury, Veronica and Bainbridge to really get to the bottom of his place in the saga, his relationship with the key characters. Secondly, showing another side to Rutherford, and how he thanks Angelchrist for all of his help by reuniting him with his old friends at Christmas. It felt like a good note to end the collection on, the point where Rutherford goes it alone, leaving the old guard to retire in peace, finally able to simply enjoy one another’s company at Christmas, safe in the knowledge that someone else is out there now, looking out for the interests of the British Empire.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“The Dark Path”, “Lady Arkwell’s Deceit” and “A Night, Remembered” are original to this volume.
“The Hambleton Affair” first appeared in the limited-edition hardback of The Affinity Bridge, published by Snowbooks in 2008.
“The Shattered Teacup” first appeared in a limited edition chapbook for Christmas 2008, given away by the author as a Christmas card.
“What Lies Beneath” first appeared in the limited edition hardback of The Osiris Ritual, published by Snowbooks in 2009.
“The Case of the Night Crawler” first appeared as a limited edition chapbook for Teslacon II, published by Percepto Press.
“The Sacrificial Pawn” first appeared in Team Up, published by Obverse Books in 2011.
“Christmas Spirits” first appeared in the hardback edition of The Immorality Engine, published by Snowbooks in 2011.
“Strangers from the Sea” first appeared in the charity anthology Storyteller, published by Obverse Books in 2013.
“The Only Gift Worth Giving”, “A Rum Affair” and “Old Friends” first appeared in The Newbury & Hobbes Annual 2013, published by Obverse Books in 2012.
“The Maharajah’s Star” first appeared in the charity ebook anthology, Voices From the Past, edited by Scott Harrison and Lee Harris, published by H&H Books, 2011.
“The Albino’s Shadow” first appeared in the anthology Zenith Lives! edited by Stuart Douglas, published by Obverse Books in 2012.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Mann was born in Darlington and is the author of over ten books, as well as numerous short stories, novellas and original audio scripts.
The Affinity Bridge, the first novel in his Newbury & Hobbes Victorian fantasy series, was published in 2008. Other titles in the series include The Osiris Ritual, The Immorality Engine and the forthcoming, The Revenant Express.
His other novels include Ghosts of Manhattan and Ghosts of War, mystery novels about a vigilante set against the backdrop of a post-steampunk 1920s New York, as well as an original Doctor Who novel, Paradox Lost, featuring the Eleventh Doctor alongside his companions, Amy and Rory.
He has edited a number of anthologies, including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction and The Solaris Book of New Fantasy, and has written new adventures for Sherlock Holmes and the worlds of Black Library.
AVAILABLE NOW FROM TITAN BOOKS
GEORGE MANN
SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE WILL OF THE DEAD
A young man named Peter Maugram appears at the front door of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson’s Baker Street lodgings. Maugram’s uncle is dead and his will has disappeared, leaving the man afraid that he will be left penniless. Holmes agrees to take the case and he and Watson dig deep into the murky past of this complex family.
A brand-new Sherlock Holmes novel from the acclaimed author of the Newbury & Hobbes series.
AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 2013
GEORGE MANN
THE REVENANT EXPRESS
A NEWBURY & HOBBES INVESTIGATION Join Sir Maurice Newbury on his fateful journey to St. Petersburg in the aftermath of the “Executioner” affair, pursued by those who would see him dead...
AVAILABLE JULY 2014
TITANBOOKS.COM
COMING SOON FROM TITAN BOOKS
GEORGE MANN
ENCOUNTERS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
BRAND-NEW TALES OF THE GREAT DETECTIVE
The spirit of Sherlock Holmes lives on in this collection of fourteen brand-new adventures. Marvel as the master of deduction aids a dying Sir Richard Francis Burton; matches wits with gentleman thief, AJ. Raffles; crosses paths with H.G. Wells in the most curious circumstances; unravels a macabre mystery on the Necropolis Express; unpicks a murder in a locked railway carriage; explains the origins of his famous Persian slipper and more!
FEATURING ORIGINAL STORIES FROM
Mark Hodder • Mags L Halliday • Cavan Scott • Nick Kyme • Paul Magrs • George Mann • Stuart Douglas • Eric Brown • Richard Dinnick • Kelly Hale • Steve Lockley • Mark Wright • David Barnett • James Lovegrove
COMING SOON
Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes (February 2014)
TITANBOOKS.COM