The Sherlockian Interview - Stephen Herczeg
Posted by Steve Emecz on
The final four volumes (49-52) of The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories are now on Kickstarter (click here). Every day we will be featuring one of the authors in the collection. Today its Stephen Herczeg.
What’s the name of your story in the collection?
The Adventure at the Art School
How did the story come about?
I think I was watching a TV show that featured a crime centred around an art forgery and it piqued my interest. So, me being me, I spent the rest of the show thinking about how to turn a modern art forgery crime into a Holmesian mystery. What followed was a heck of a lot of research into 19th century artists, their favoured locations, their techniques, and then a lot of time stepping through Google Maps to investigate the towns and environs around Essex.
In the end, it seems I wasn’t the only one that though this was a good idea. The same specifics have been used multiple times in books, movies, and TV shows, but as far as I know, never like this in a Sherlock Holmes story.
Have you contributed to anthologies before?
Yes. This will be my 38th published Sherlock Holmes story. I’m so thankful to Steve Emecz and MX Publishing, along with his US contemporary Derrick Belanger at Belanger Books. Both have published the majority of my Holmes stories, and I hope to keep working with them for many years to come.
Where did you first discover Holmes?
My first recollections of Holmes were from watching “Murder by Decree” and “The 7th Percent Solution” on TV back in the 70’s. Mind you, these may simply be the fantasies of a child, but the name and imagery of Sherlock Holmes stuck with me all through teenage hood, so something must have caused those memories to flourish.
In adult hood, it was only natural that I was drawn to the Robert Downey Jr. movies, plus the Benedict Cumberbatch TV show. That led me to begin reading the canon, and surprisingly some of the stories were familiar which makes me believe that I actually read some during my teenage years (I was avidly reading a lot of crime fiction, e.g. Agatha Christie, Dashell Hammet, Mickey Spillane).
When I became aware of a H.G. Wells/Holmes crossover anthology opportunity, I jumped at the chance and was fortunate enough to be accepted. Since then I simply haven’t stopped.
Are there any writers/adaptations of Holmes you particularly enjoy?
Not trying to be a suck up, but David Marcum’s stories are possibly the pinnacle of Holmes pastiches and well worth a read for anyone who wishes to improve their ability to mimic Arthur Conan Doyle or write stories in the style and world that Holmes inhabits.David also has an unerring ability to undo hours of research in a split second with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the world and time of Sherlock Holmes.
Do you write on any other subjects?
Ooh, yeah.
I began writing prose (again) about eight years ago, and have had over two hundred stories published, ranging from 40,000-word novellas to 100-word micro-fictions. I mostly concentrate on horror and science fiction, but have dabbled in fantasy, and even a children’s story.
My latest story, They’re Here, is a kaiju alien invasion story that will come out soon in the collection “Attack of the colossal creatures from Planet X” from Specul8 Publishing, and I’m spending some time on converting my award-winning feature film script Titan into a novel.
Where can fans find more about your work?
I would love everyone to come over to my social pages and follow my work. You can find me on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephenherczegauthor
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17100782.Stephen_Herczeg
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Stephen-Herczeg/author/B07916SQQS
