Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds (1975)

Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by American writers Manly Wade Wellman and his son Wade Wellman. A sequel to H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, it was published in 1975. It is a pastiche crossover which combines H. G. Wells's 1897 extraterrestrial invasion story with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger characters. The book is composed of stories originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Plot

The story consists of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Professor Challenger in London during the Martian invasion as described in Wells's novel.

Background

The book was inspired by a viewing of A Study in Terror.

The underlying philosophy of the book is very different to, indeed contradictory to, the original Wells story in which the idea is repeatedly expressed of humans being completely helpless before the Martian invaders, as other creatures are before humans. Conversely, in the Wellmans' book Holmes, Watson, and Challenger continually confront and outwit the Martians, undeterred by the invaders' technological superiority.

The story features a romantic relationship between Holmes and his landlady Mrs. Hudson, of which Watson is oblivious.

Publication history

Titan Books reprinted the book in 2009, under the title of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The War of the Worlds as part of its Further Adventures series, which collects a number of noted pastiches.