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From looking for a lost play by William Shakespeare to finding a kidnapped child before the blackhearted thugs end its young life. Here are thrills and adventure as only a Watson could provide.
Art Director Rob Davis provides the interior illustrations, with Dr. John Waeltz providing the stunning painted cover.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!
Available now at Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.
My most recent published work: CNI Classified Vol. 2 short story “Hatchet Job” Oct 2025. Blue Planet Press. Robert Mendenhall created a fun group of military adventurers to write about. Masked Rider #4 – “A World Aflame” short story for Airship 27 – Western featuring Wyatt Earp fighting a fire rampaging through a small town. Secret Agent X Vol. 7 another short story for Airship 27 American Operation Hummingbird. Secret Agent X takes on a Nazi killer – always a great villain,
My most recent unpublished work: In Search of the Cinnamon Bear, a novel – sequel to 1938 radio serial The Cinnamon Bear.
Currently adventure/action pulp stories with historical basis. Overall, I have to say the subjects are a wide range. I’ve written articles, plays, novels, short stories. My themes center around good versus evil, justice prevails.
I remember as a child seeing a typewriter for the first time. I was fascinated by it. My mother gave me something to type but I didn’t want to copy something. Instead I wrote a story.
Included is I.A. Watson’s “The Adventure of the Strand Magazine Murder,” which brings Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s best-loved characters around to the venue that introduced them to the world.
There will be two different editions designed by award-winning artist Rob Davis. One in our normal 9 x 6 pulp book format and a special to look exactly like Holmes' publisher The Strand Magazine in size and spirit. This deluxe edition contains more illustrations and facsimile advertisements typical of the era in which the magazine first appeared. Regardless of which version fans buy, this will be a volume they will cherish forever.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!
Available now from Amazon in two different paperback formats and soon on Kindle.
In this volume, the Great Detective and his amiable assistant confront four truly unique and bizarre mysteries. Each of these will challenge Sherlock Holmes’ observation skills. From a trip to the Vatican to retrieve a “lost gospel” to unravel the death of a famous author, there is no rest for the two companions. A young Olympiad cyclist is murdered with an African Zulu spear while in the final entry, a cunning murderer uses well-known poems as clues to the identity of the next victim. The game is afoot once again with
Writers Ray Lovato, Jonathan Casey, I.A. Watson, and Ray Lovato provide the excitement and the thrills.
Art Director Rob Davis provides 14 wonderful interior illustrations while artist Howard Simpson illustrates a dramatic cover. Once again offering fans a beautiful treasure of great Holmes tales.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!
Now available at Amazon in paperback and on Kindle!
A young boy’s dog is cruelly slain. A British agent is murdered aboard a train and the daughter of a distinguished military officer commits suicide. These are just three of the five mysteries contained in this volume of new Sherlock Holmes adventures as offered by writers I.A. Watson, R.A. Jones, George Tackes and Jonathan Casey. Easy offers the brilliant Holmes and his ever-loyal companion, Dr. Watson, unique and exotic puzzles that will test their skills and bring them face to face with murder most foul.
“We never tire of receiving these amazing tales,” says Airship 27 Production’s Managing Editor Ron Fortier. “And after so many volumes, it is really exciting to discover as yet different types of mysteries proving that there really is no limit to the imagination of today’s modern new pulp writers. This collection is resounding proof of that.”
Art Director Rob Davis once again provides 12 beautiful black and white interior illustrations and artist Chris Rawding the stunning color cover to bring together another glorious addition to this incredible series. As ever, loyal Homes fans, the game is still very much afoot!
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!
Available now from Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle.
One of the running themes in the discussion of public domain characters are the technicalities about public domain versus trademark. This is a surprisingly hot button issue for some people, so I will try and explain why the argument is, in my opinion and experience, fairly silly.
There are characters whose stories have fallen into the public domain. This has led some to believe that the characters are openly available to free use. Sorry, this stuff, like life itself, is not that simplistic. Let's walk through an example.
One of my favorite heroes is the original Nick Carter. I’m not interested in his secret agent days and have limited enjoyment of his private eye days. No, my enjoyment is from his earliest days, when Nick was a heroic dime novel detective in the late nineteenth century. Over the years I read many of these stories and found the character among the best adventure protagonists of an interesting era.
With this in mind, I can tell you that his original stories are public domain. They fall well into the legal definition. So, does that mean I can write him free and sell my own Nick Carter tales?
Nope, nyet, non, and a big heck no. What the above means is that if I find a copy of one of his early adventures in the original form, not someone else’s reprint, I can reproduce that story exactly. The story is completely available for sale if I reprint it, but that is where my part ends.
You see Nick Carter, in all his forms, is a trademarked character owned completely by Condé Nast. There are elements of the character they specifically own and you may not use them under any circumstances. To do so will result in swift action by said company starting with a cease and desist letter and followed by a threat of a lawsuit.
Trademarks are less powerful bindings as creative rights, but they do exist. They are the power many big corporations like Disney plan on invoking in the future.
Now we come to the title of this essay… You can try, but should you? Many people who read the above will protest that you, as the fiction writer, can fight for the right to use the character. This occurred when people filed lawsuits fighting for the right to use Sherlock Holmes. This court battle was an interesting one that dragged on for several years.
The result was that much of the World’s Greatest Detective was declared public domain and therefore free to use, even regardless of trademark claims. Certain elements were still held by the Conan Doyle estate, but the majority is open to the public. This was a landmark decision, one in which I benefited recently.
However, we return to the question… You can try, but should you? You do have the right to fight for characters whose stories may or may not fall into the public domain, but is it worth your efforts? Remember that in many of these cases, your character’s trademark rights are held by a big company like Condé Nast. These people have the lawyers and resources to fight for their rights as well as the time to drag out their efforts in the courts.
Now, if you are someone whose bank account can afford the time, cost, and efforts that would go into a lawsuit over a character, you can go for it any time. In the case of Sherlock Holmes, the character is one of the most popular and beloved worldwide. The market was already present even if the win wasn’t assured at the start of the fight. While I adore Nick Carter, the fight would cost me and pretty much anyone else more than the character’s worth.
This now comes full circle. While a trademark is not as strong or as legally powerful as creative rights, the effort in fighting for your chose piece of fiction may be a climb as unobtainable as a proverbial Mt. Everest. While the climb is possible for some, the cost may be more than most bodies can bear.
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Frank Schildiner is a martial arts instructor at Amorosi’s Mixed Martial Arts in New Jersey. He is the writer of the novels, THE QUEST OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE TRIUMPH OF FRANKENSTEIN, NAPOLEON’S VAMPIRE HUNTERS, THE DEVIL PLAGUE OF NAPLES, THE KLAUS PROTOCOL, and IRMA VEP AND THE GREAT BRAIN OF MARS. Frank is a regular contributor to the fictional series TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN and has been published in FROM BAYOU TO ABYSS: EXAMINING JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER, THE JOY OF JOE, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF THUNDER JIM WADE, SECRET AGENT X Volumes 3, 4, 5, 6, THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO: FRONTIER JUSTICE, and THE AVENGER: THE JUSTICE FILES. He resides in New Jersey with his wife Gail who is his top supporter and two cats who are indifferent on the subject.
NOTE: This article was originally posted at Bibliorati. It is reprinted here by permission.
Once again, the famous Baker St. detective and his loyal companion take on the most baffling cases. Whether it be chasing down a cunning anarchist determined to destroy London, or rescuing his older brother from enemy agents, Sherlock Holmes, the world’s greatest consulting detective uses his amazing intellect to solve four new mysteries.
Writers I.A. Watson and Greg Hatcher offer up three unique cases while in a novella length adventure, Lee Houston Jr. has Dr. Waston traveling northward to solve the puzzle of mysterious flying lights in the night skies. Four amazing tales in which the world famous duo is once again pit their courage, skills and loyalty in the service of crown and country.
Also features a cover by Pulp Factory Award winning artist and designer Rob Davis inspired by a pen and ink sketch by Italian artist Ugo Matania.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!
Available now from Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.
After the success of Sherlock Holmes & the Occult Detectives Volumes I and II (Belanger Books, 2020), we are back, dear listener, to announce that we are now open to story pitches for a new anthology, Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives III! So do read on for everything you need to know…
Last year I had the pleasure of editing the two anthologies mentioned at the start, in which we presented almost 200,000 words of brand new stories from a host of contemporary writers, all based on the possibility that Sherlock Holmes chose, or had of necessity, to work with those figures of the time who called themselves occult detectives, psychic investigators and the like.
Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives III will once again be about detection, logic and mysteries. It will concern an authentic Sherlock Holmes, but with the same simple twist:
Perhaps Holmes is already privately aware that there may be supernatural elements in the world, but has tried to close off such thoughts, finding them too illogical. Or perhaps he is disturbed to find something quite inexplicable affecting his resolution of a particular case, and has to step beyond his normal boundaries. He may, of course, still be highly sceptical.
And maybe Dr Watson was never allowed to include any such explicit references when he wrote up his friend’s adventures, but now these instances can be brought into the light.
Does this ruin the core of Holmes’s original position? Not necessarily, for as we have oft said, Holmes’s most quoted comments on the supernatural are not quite as definitive as some might believe. Do you remember ‘The Sussex Vampire’? That particular Conan Doyle tale contains the famous lines, where Holmes tells Watson:
“This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.”
In ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, what he states is that normal investigative techniques and logical deduction would be of no use in supernatural cases.
“If Dr. Mortimer’s surmise should be correct, and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws of Nature, there is an end of our investigation. But we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling back upon this one.”
We could therefore say Holmes’s concern is that none of his peculiar intellectual talents can be of value in a situation where normal ratiocination is overthrown. He has dismissed that which will not yield to him.
If there are such cases, genuine ones, who will take them on? More foolish, credulous or cash-hungry ‘consulting’ detectives? Fraudulent psychics? Or, now and then, the true occult detectives, those who have developed a different blend of investigative skills and knowledge of matters apparently ‘outside the ordinary laws of Nature’…
Will they come to him for advice, will they cross his path during a case, or will he, however reluctantly, turn to them when only the impossible can explain what has happened…?
You may be able to tell us.
A Belanger Books Project, edited by John Linwood Grant
Core concept: A 5,000–10,000 word story featuring the canonical Holmes/Watson which has them encountering and working with, or even working against, an occult detective/psychic investigator. Existing literary characters or your own inventions both welcome. Period: c.1880-1925. English language, no reprints.
Your pitch must be accepted for your completed story to be read.
Pitch Deadline: 16 April, 2021.
Final Submission Deadline: 31 August, 2021.
Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 or $50 plus 1% of the Kickstarter net profits, whichever amount is GREATER, and a paperback copy of the anthology.
For more information, visit: http://greydogtales.com/blog/sherlock-holmes-and-the-occult-detectives-iii
By Timothy Miller
What’s a mystery all about? The ending? Well, of course, you say—the denouement, the unraveling of the clues, the big reveal. If it’s too easy to guess the ending before that very moment, or if the ending doesn’t seem to mesh with the clues provided by the author you’re disappointed with it. It’s a lousy mystery, right?
Read the full article: https://crimereads.com/the-mystery-is-holmes-why-we-return-to-conan-doyles-stories-over-and-over-again/
Why do people cheat, rob and murder? Why are people tempted to commit dark deeds? These are the questions that have always plagued the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. In this, the 12th Volume of the best selling series, Consulting Detective, he and his faithful companion, Dr. Watson take on five new cases that will challenge their intellect and lead them through the twisted minds of nefarious souls.
When a shadowy group of criminals start shaking down restaurants in Mobile, Joe Perrone once again dons the cloak and goggles of the Bay Phantom. Shortly thereafter, wealthy young men begin dropping dead without warning. What do these things have in common with a mysterious psychic, a sinister funeral home, and a nationalist movement known as the Transatlantic Patriots Guild? 
18thWall Publishing is creating a 12 part Sherlock Holmes novella series called The Science of Deduction that will be released in 2016. One title will be released each month that year, and then in December, all 12 novellas will be bundled into a complete anthology. The stories themselves must be novellas of 15,000 - 30,000 words in length, with the author's voice and narrative style coming through.
Stephanie Osborn is a regular here at the blog, particularly for the roundtables, but it's only fair to devote a little time to her all by herself. 
What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work? 
What inspires you to write? 
Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?
