Who is the most popular fictional character ever? Given the number of books, movies, plays, stories, comics, and games about the amazing Sherlock Holmes, the answer is elementary.
We can’t get enough of the great detective, the most unlikable and unlikely hero. His superpower is his intellect. We could never be Superman, but when Sherlock examines the evidence and provides the solution, we all realize that with proper observation and deduction, we too could be heroes.
The character of Sherlock is so iconic that he can be rearranged in many different formats and still be recognizable. So when Jonathan and I started discussing the possibility of a collection of “Alternate Sherlock” stories, excitement grew. Sherlock as an alien! Sherlock as a computer program! Sherlock as a monk!
We invited some great writers to give us their interpretations with the only limitation being that we needed a mystery solved by a personality that was clearly Sherlock’s. Some of the writers kept the names and others created new ones but our favorite detective is still recognizable in each story.
The game is afoot!
—Michael A. Ventrella