Review: Warlock Holmes - A Study in Brimstone

Warlock Holmes - A Study in Brimstone by G.S. Denning
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I laughed so hard the whole way through this book.

As someone who is obsessed with all things Sherlock Holmes, from the original Conan Doyle stories to Basil The Great Mouse Detective, when I saw Warlock Holmes: A Study In Brimstone I knew I had to read it.

The cover itself is striking and gives you a hint about the madness that may lay inside and it is all things good! There are four of the stories re-imagined inside here now entitled: A Study In Brimstone, The Adventures of the Resident Sacrifice, The Case of the Cardboard... Case, The Adventure of the Yellow Bastard, The Adventure of the _eckled _and, and finally Charles Augustus Milverton: Soulbinder.

Each of these tales were charmingly familiar to the original stories, but with an added hint of wackiness that I could only compare to Douglas Adams. John Watson still serves as the voice of the adventures and the insight into what is happening. It's just that this time he happens to be the only humans with whom we interact, so it makes seeing all of the supernatural things through his eyes all the more believable because he is just like the reader. Well to be fair he handles things a lot more calmly than I would and is much better at solving crimes.

Warlock Holmes as a character is ridiculous and lovely and manages to parody everything about Sherlock Holmes that is quite frankly ridiculous when you examine it, but in Warlock he gets away with it because he has such a charming air about him. Even while he was dragging you along into misadventure I feel you couldn't help but like him. It makes sense that John goes along with it.

My stand out character though (and I hope to see more of him) is Vladislav Lestrade. Vampire. Nihilist Vampire. I adored him. I've had a soft spot for the detective since he was re-imagined in the BBC's adaptation of Sherlock, but in this book he also really jumps off the pages for me. None of the bumbling detective from the start this Lestrade prowls, is unnerving and also the perfect gentleman despite his blood drinking habits. LOVE HIM.

I don't want to give too much away with this review, because I am going to be waving this book at every single person that I can and making them read it, but all I am going to say is that ending has me mourning that it isn't May 2017 yet. Bring on The Battle of Baskerville Hall.

As a final note I would say that I'm often disappointed by Sherlock Holmes parodies. They show no love or affection for the original stories and just purely make a mockery, which is all good and fine in its place. However, I call this book a triumph and far superior to that. The neatness of the writing, the references and the obvious good time that the author had with this book? It's all led to an utter success of a novel in my eyes.

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Review: Guildford Comic Con

Over the Bank Holiday weekend Guildford held its first ever Comic Con, and having had a week to digest the experience I am pleased to say that I still feel it was a success. Having been to several conventions in America and ones in London I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when preparing for this one. Would attendance be good? Would people cosplay or would they be too shy? Should I dress up myself and risk being one of the few?

Luckily, I was going with two good friends of mine – and they couldn’t be more different. One was a first time convention goer and had no idea what to expect, the other is the type of person who throws himself into every event at every single opportunity. Simply stated I knew I wouldn’t be the most over the top person there and I really did want to have the whole convention experience. As someone who often struggles with large groups of people cosplay is a coping method for me. I don’t have to be myself in that group of people, I can take on a persona. I chose two different costumes to wear over the weekend, ones that I had tried and tested before and felt comfortable in, which allowed me to experience the rest of it without any concerns.

On the Saturday there was some trepidation as I heard some reports of people leaving an hour after arriving and there generally not being much interest in the guests etc. We were finishing off our costumes and so didn’t make it to the venue until almost midday, which is when the day release tickets went on sale. Arriving at the Spectrum my confidence wasn’t boosted much either. The signage towards the event was pretty poor and as we approached the main entrance to the building we were notified by a couple of people in hi-vis vests that it would be easiest for us to make our way into the venue via the underground carpark. It did feel a little bit like we were being hidden away I have to say!

Yet as we made our way I felt my worry subside a little, we weren’t the only ones dressed up and the groups of people arriving were all in the spirit of other comic con’s I’d been to before. People of all shapes, sizes, ages and whole families were there. A whole family of four dressed up in Star Wars regalia were especially memorable. As were three friends dressed up as the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus. 

There were also the technically excellent costumes such as a lady we met who had made a truly epic battle Charizard, please go see her on Instagram at @misspikacosplay or the stunning Ariel who made one of the most gorgeous dresses I’d ever seen, again please check her out on twitter (@ballerinamousee)! What was noticeable was the real sense of community at the venue. We had long conversations with total strangers about topics that none of us had previously chatted about and the stallholders were especially friendly, not pushy about selling their wares and just enjoying the atmosphere as the rest of us were. In fact, several of them said how much they were enjoying the Guildford Comic Con over some of the larger ones because of the ability to talk to people. Though there was some crossover in merchandise the fact that it was smaller also meant that more of the stalls had unique products and therefore were able to get more customers.

On the second day I have to say it went very much like the first, but we knew more what to expect and it was noticeable that even more people had come in costume. Since we’d spent the previous day browsing the stalls (which somehow didn’t get dull!) we had a plan. We remembered items from the previous day that we wanted to buy, but were also going to make more of some of the cosplay events that were going on. Having totally missed these the day before I was curious about what sort of talks were going on. As a total novice to taking part in cosplay events myself, more doing it just for my own fun but never really performing, I was inspired to hear Cherry Pie Cosplay talking about her experiences and advice for people. She came across as very warm, funny and knowledgeable. I am certain that I was not the only one who went away from listening to her to be totally inspired about putting myself out there even more in the future! Want a glimpse of this awesome lady’s talent? Go find her on Facebook @cherrypiecosplay. Seriously, go see her! I am willing to bet that at next year’s comic con there is going to be a whole lot of amazing cosplay on view!

So the final verdict?

Swag gotten: shoes and t-shirt from @squeezssparkles (twitter), a limited edition Smaug Pop and lots of pocky that was consumed far too quickly. All of which make me smile a week later.

As for the three of us? Well let’s just say all of us are excited about going back next year and we’re already planning our group cosplay. Not a bad result at all!

Added bonus: got interviewed by @getsurrey for their live Facebook stream! https://www.facebook.com/getsurrey/videos/1358254680868957/?hc_ref=SEARCH