Sherlockian Interview- David Marcum
Posted by Steve Emecz on
To celebrate the Kickstarter for Volumes 46-48 of the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories we're interview the contributors.
Today it's editor and author David Marcum.
We've also had the great news that Kickstarter has selected the campaign as "a “Project We Love,” which is our way of highlighting brilliant examples of creativity."
Tell us a little about yourself – Where you live and your main hobbies.
I’m the senior civil engineer for my hometown, in Eastern Tennessee in the United States. I enjoy reading and music – I’ve been a piano player since 1973 – and getting outside – especially to walk our dog, which we’ve had for just over a year.
I’m the senior civil engineer for my hometown, in Eastern Tennessee in the United States. I enjoy reading and music – I’ve been a piano player since 1973 – and getting outside – especially to walk our dog, which we’ve had for just over a year.
What’s the name of your story in this collection, and what is it about (with no spoilers)?
I have three stories, one in each volume. In Part XLVI, “The X-Marked Boxes”, Holmes relates one of his early cases in the winter of 1875, no long after he moved to London, in which a young guard at the British Museum sees boxes being suspiciously slipped out and carried away.
“The Debt to Jabez Wilson” (in Part XLVII) takes place in 1892, during The Great Hiatus, when Holmes is believed dead, and poor Jabez Wilson, embarrassed by Watson’s recent publication of “The Red-Headed League”, seeks help with further difficulties.
In “The Swapped Names of the Saviour” (Part XLVIII), a retired Holmes is approached by a print-on-demand publisher whose works have been subtly altered for no apparent reason.
What other projects have you recently completed that we can check out?
As the editor of these books, I’ve been working to complete these volumes, and I’ve also started work on the Spring 2025 edition, Parts XLIX and L – which will be the last volumes in the series. (Ten years, fifty volumes, and over 1,000 traditional Canonical Holmes adventures seems like a good place to stop.) I’ve recently finished editing “The American Adventures of Solar Pons” for Belanger Books, and I’ve been writing a lot of Holmes and Solar Pons stories for various upcoming anthologies. I’ve now written 130 Holmes stories and 34 Pons stories, with many more in the works. Finally, this fall will see Volume 7 of my own ongoing series, “The Collected Papers of Sherlock Holmes”, with over twenty more Holmes adventures, and I already have nearly enough for Volume 8 next year.
I have three stories, one in each volume. In Part XLVI, “The X-Marked Boxes”, Holmes relates one of his early cases in the winter of 1875, no long after he moved to London, in which a young guard at the British Museum sees boxes being suspiciously slipped out and carried away.
“The Debt to Jabez Wilson” (in Part XLVII) takes place in 1892, during The Great Hiatus, when Holmes is believed dead, and poor Jabez Wilson, embarrassed by Watson’s recent publication of “The Red-Headed League”, seeks help with further difficulties.
In “The Swapped Names of the Saviour” (Part XLVIII), a retired Holmes is approached by a print-on-demand publisher whose works have been subtly altered for no apparent reason.
What other projects have you recently completed that we can check out?
As the editor of these books, I’ve been working to complete these volumes, and I’ve also started work on the Spring 2025 edition, Parts XLIX and L – which will be the last volumes in the series. (Ten years, fifty volumes, and over 1,000 traditional Canonical Holmes adventures seems like a good place to stop.) I’ve recently finished editing “The American Adventures of Solar Pons” for Belanger Books, and I’ve been writing a lot of Holmes and Solar Pons stories for various upcoming anthologies. I’ve now written 130 Holmes stories and 34 Pons stories, with many more in the works. Finally, this fall will see Volume 7 of my own ongoing series, “The Collected Papers of Sherlock Holmes”, with over twenty more Holmes adventures, and I already have nearly enough for Volume 8 next year.