“Occasionally they shot each other - by accident, of course. Quite a number of officers lost their lives or limbs as a result of a mauling by a tiger, panther or wild pig, or through being crushed by elephants.”
from Mr. Kipling’s Army by Byron Farwell
“Bloody amateurs.”
(Incidentally I do recommend this book for anyone interested in the British army in the Victorian era.)
Imagine the twisted evil twins of Holmes and Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Prof. James Moriarty - wily, snake- like, fiercely intelligent, unpredictable - and Colonel Sebastian ‘Basher’ Moran - violent, politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike. Unraveling mysteries — all for their own gain.
This book is a pastiche which parallels the original Sherlock Holmes stories; instead of being narrated by Watson and about Holmes’s cases, it’s narrated by Moran and about Moriarty’s crimes. Because it’s a pastiche, I wasn’t sure how good the writing quality would be. Other Sherlock Holmes pastiches have let me down, including The 7% Solution. However, this book was great. Newman doesn’t write pastiches because he lacks imagination or writing talent; he writes pastiches because he genuinely has a passion for Victorian literature. In this case, he took two characters made by Arthur Conan Doyle and developed them as his own.
A little while ago I was watching an interview of an actor I like, and he mentioned that he never read books. I was surprised by how much this bothered me. I wasn’t bothered because – god forbid – an actor didn’t share the same hobby as me. It was more than that. I was disturbed, as if he had said something sinister. I couldn’t figure out why this was so disturbing until I read one scene in this book.
| — |
a note from Sebastian Moran to Dr Watson after Moran has murdered Mary Watson after the events of The Final Problem, from The Solved Problem by Luke Benjamen Kuhns in The Untold Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. So this is the one interesting thing that happened in this book. (via tiger-moran) |
Not quite Sebastian Moran, but close enough.
From Basil and the Pygmy Cats by Eve Titus, illustrated by Paul Galdone.
Professor Ratigan (with the eyepatch) and “the villain’s aide” Captain Doran, are captured by Basil and Dr Dawson.
| — | Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles by Kim Newman (via subpoenagirl) |
Slash goggles activate!
Where the hell can I get this book?
Amazon.co.uk; probably some other sites (some seem to have only the ebook version though), or apparently direct from the publisher here.
(Reblogging here in case people want the link)
The File on Colonel Moran - Volume One: The Lure of Moriarty by Vernon Mealor.
A good portrayal of Moran, who initially gets the better of Moriarty before he ends up in his employment.
| — | from Michael Kurland’s The Empress of India. |
| — | from Flashman and the Tiger by George MacDonald Fraser |
Moriarty rested his chin on the gold handle of his walking stick and gazed up at Moran. “When you and I are long gone,” he said, “the stars will still be in their places, and the planets will still be orbiting majestically around the sun.”
“And a fat lot we’ll care,” Moran commented.
A faint smile flickered across Moriarty’s face. “Sometimes it does one good to contemplate the infinite,” he said. “It serves to put things in their proper perspective.”
“When I want to feel small,” Moran said, “I contemplate my bank account.”
Hands-down my favourite passage from The Empress of India … for many reasons. <3
| — |
from The Empress of India by Michael Kurland. (And by “whatchamacallit” Moran means ‘misanthrope’) |
| — | Sebastian Moran (via murrehtrishoos) |
