Writing a Holmes pastiche is a tricky proposition if you want to bring some of yourself to the work instead of just doing imitation. Some have never forgiven me for dispensing with Watson and having my narrator, Venier, diss him. I've taken to explaining that I did this for the same reason they did time travel tricks in the last Star Trek movie and killed off Kirk's father: that allowed them to not slavishly follow the past Star Trek history. They could take the characters and plots in new directions. Vernier gave me a similar kind of freedom, although I think was respectful to Holmes. Jeremy Brett was also a big influence on me. I loved his marvelous quirky neurotic performance, and the kind of muted, romantic longing he sometimes shows. ANGEL OF THE OPERA basically follows the plot of the original PHANTOM OF THE OPERA very closely, although I found the "hero" Raoul rather despicable, which comes out in the book. The Phantom is a sympathetic figure, one whose personality and genius in many ways parallel that of Sherlock Holmes. WEB WEAVER is all my own story, and I consider it a Holmes' pastiche for grown ups. It is a much darker book and deals with mature themes. One also sees the cruelty and poverty endemic in Victorian England. On one level, I also wanted Holmes to encounter a woman who was truly his equal, intellectually--and musically.
If you would like to see book covers for both Sherlock Holmes novels and my three vamire novels, have a look at my website at samsiciliano.net. The website is still under construction. There's also some brief biographical info, and I may eventual get more thought on writing onto that site.
Sam
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