with Kim Krisco
We are delighted to welcome back author Kim H. Krisco to Omnimystery News.
Kim visited with us last week, when we discussed his new book, Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Years (MX Publishing; November 2014 trade paperback and ebook formats). But it turns out we weren't the only one to interview Kim recently; Mr. Sherlock Holmes himself requested some time with the author, and we are pleased that Kim has agreed to share his exchange with the famous consulting detective with us today.
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Photo provided courtesy of
Kim H. Krisco
Holmes: Thank you for agreeing to this interview Mr. Krisco.
Krisco: I was surprised by your invitation … especially given that you're the fellow who seems to know all the answers.
Holmes: A misnomer, I fear. I do not know all the answers, but I do know all the questions … which is the next best thing. So, let me begin with this question: Why on earth did you not let me retire in peace?
Krisco: You yourself said that you thought retirement would elude you. I don't think anyone who knows you would believe that you would be content to raise bees, interesting as they are, on the Sussex seashore. But you must understand that it is not merely me who impinges upon your "golden years," but your fans who are begging you to come out of retirement. One hundred years ago your fans, wouldn't let Conan Doyle kill you off, and today your fans want the master detective in action once again.
Holmes: So be it. But why you … an American? Don't get me wrong, I love America and Americans, but I might have thought you ill-prepared for the challenge.
Krisco: Right to the point Mr. Holmes. Let me say that I am an ardent fan, and a writer by trade. But, I didn't start out to write stories about you. I was initially planning a series of mysteries based upon British mythology. I traveled to the UK and Scotland in May of 2013. One of my research treks brought me to Ben MacDhui Mountain in Aviemore Scotland, to research the Legend of the Grey Man of Ben MacDhui. There I heard about a creature known locally as 'Fear Liath Mor'. Over the centuries dozens of sighting have amalgamated into an image of a humanoid about ten feet tall, covered in hair, and having long arms. I even uncovered a report, written in 1891, where a climber reported finding large footprints measuring over 14 inches and stride over 5 feet long. When I spoke with locals about this malign creature, one person remarked, "It's a mystery that only Sherlock Holmes can solve." That gave me the idea to change the entire series of mysteries into a series featuring you.
Holmes: Knowing how our turbulent world needs reason more than ever, I am mystified by your pandering to the gullible masses … the Grey Man … really!
Krisco: Funny … that's exactly what you said in the first story in my collection — A Bonnie Bag of Bones.
Holmes: You evade my question though. Philip K. Jones, a noted Sherlockian scholar, in a recent review, said that your collection … I quote: "is one of the finest sets of Sherlockian fiction I have seen. The author has a good grasp of Nineteenth Century British politics and thought … " How were you able to accomplish this?
Krisco: The same way you are able to meet and overcome challenges — relentless dedication, hard work, the required confidence to seek help when I need it. I read all your stories of course … indeed all of Conan Doyle's works to better capture his style and voice. I did meticulous and deep research in libraries, the internet and, as I noted earlier, on site visits. Also, as I began writing, I engaged a "special editor" to help me — a fellow named Joe Revill in the UK. His job was, primarily, to help me with my language. He assisted in other areas as well, but he helped me write and think like a Brit — a one hundred year old Brit at that.
Holmes: All well and good. You do seem to be giving due diligence to your craft and "The Canon," as it is called. And, I must give you even more credit for the stories themselves. I was challenged and exhilarated by all the adventures you created for me — although I came much to close to death in a couple of them. The Cure the Kills … The Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train, among others, allowed me to exercise my singular skills to the maximum.
Krisco: Yes my stories brought you to the mountains of Scotland, racing across America, and trekking into the jungles of the Belgian Congo. You also "shared the stage" with some turn-of-the-century celebrities: G.K. Chesterton, Leander Starr Jameson, Emmeline Pankhurst, Harry Houdini, and President Theodore Roosevelt, to name a few.
Holmes: Yes, I will admit that I found the circumstances you put me in both exciting and harrowing … including my reunion with "the woman."
Krisco: Thank you. Yes, I wanted to create a rich "reader experience." I did this in a number of ways: I created detailed historical backgrounds, but I also introduced a bit more action and suspense than one might find in a typical short story from the Doyle canon.
Holmes: I think you succeeded there … and I have the scars and bruises to prove it. However, I shall not complain. You know, I abhor boredom.
Krisco: And, I would not want you to seek relief by way of unnatural drugs.
Holmes: I low blow, sir. And you haling from Colorado which has just legalized marijuana?
Krisco: Touché, sir. Yes, "the high street" can have a different meaning here in Trinidad, Colorado.
Holmes: I will be merciful sir, to both of us, and change the subject. There is one more thing I wished to ask you before we end this interview: Why did you bring "the woman" into my life again?
Krisco: I will answer that question as best I can without divulging the details. After all, we don't wish to blemish the reader's experience. Let me simply say that I believe Irene Adler, although she might have been reported as dead by some, was, in a manner of speaking, always alive and well within your daily existence. You secreted a portrait of her in your desk drawer, and you carry a gold sovereign on your watch chain that she gave to you as an unwitting witness at her wedding to Godfrey Norton in the church of Saint Monica. Irene Adler has been in your thoughts since you met her. And, as readers will learn, in The Curse of the Black Feather, you have been in her thoughts as well. Your reunion was inevitable.
Holmes: Even the most disciplined mind may be subject to assault by fantastic notions. In most cases, these pass quickly. The best course of action is to expose these delusions to the cold light of reality, whereupon they will probably wither away.
Krisco: Once again, you take the words from my mouth … I should say off the page of the story The Curse of the Black Feather. As I recall, Watson's response was similar to what mine is at this moment. With apologies to the Bard and Queen Gertrude, "Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much."
Holmes: Well sir, with that I think our interview is at an end.
Krisco: But, not your stories. They are just beginning in Sherlock Holmes — The Golden Years. (Available everywhere.)
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Kim H. Krisco's diverse career created a circuitous route to his becoming a full-time writer. He has taught college; managed instructional media and distance learning programs, written and directed TV and films; and served in corporate communications, human resources and training functions. As he puts it today, "I am being re-educated by Nature." This is his way of saying that he lives in a relative seclusion in an area of the Colorado Rockies, in a straw-bale home he and Sara Rose built themselves.
For more information about the author, please visit his blog at Sherlock Holmes — The Golden Years and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook.
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Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Years
Kim H. Krisco
A Short Story Collection
Sherlock Holmes lamented, "I fear that retirement will elude me." It surely does in this five-story chronicle:
The saga begins with The Bonnie Bag of Bones that lead the infamous duo on a not-so-merry chase into the mythical mountains of Scotland and ultimately to the "the woman" who is tangled within a mystery that has haunted Holmes for a quarter century.
Curse of the Black Feather continues the adventure in which Holmes teams up with the Irregulars and a gypsy matriarch, to expose a diabolical "baby-farming" enterprise. Their quest arouses a vicious adversary, Ciarán Malastier, who has Holmes struggling for his very life.
Maestro of Mysteries begins with a summons to Mycroft's office and ends with a deadly chase in Undertown, far beneath the streets of London. Malastier escapes, but only into the next adventure.
The Cure that Kills sees Holmes and Watson in hot pursuit of Ciarán Malastier, racing across America and pitting them against the largest detective organization in the world.
In the final story, The Kongo Nkis Spirit Train, Holmes and Watson travel to the Dark Continent to derail a "spirit train" that ensnares people's spirit, and enslaves their bodies.
In the end, this historically accurate chronicle sheds new light on greatest mystery of all, Sherlock Holmes himself.
