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The first Sherlock Holmes novel written by a black author debuted this month. “Anomalous: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure featuring Jack Johnson and Alphonse Capone” was released Aug. 1 during Sherlock Holmes Week by author Samuel Williams Jr. The Holmes canon features very few black characters with the main one, Steve Dixie, portrayed in a negative light as a member of the Spencer John criminal gang.  Williams, a passionate Conan Doyle fan, said he wrote the book to examine the racial climate in America in the post-Victorian era; to give the Dixie character some redemptive value; and to have Holmes embark on an adventure working undercover in America. The novel also gives an historical glimpse into the life of Jack Johnson, America’s first black heavyweight boxing champion. “Samuel is very keen to expand the popularity of the canon within the African-American community and initial reviews are extremely positive,” writes publisher Steve Emecz. “Williams has pulled off a feat that’s truly worthy of the prodigious athletic and investigative talents of Jack Johnson and Sherlock Holmes. He’s blended the compelling and provocative stories of the life and feats of these two legendary figures into a well-crafted, riveting, and always readable mix of historical fact and imaginative fiction,” writes author and civil rights activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson. The book is available from MX Publishing through its website, http://www.mxpublishing.com.  Article: http://www.pe.com/local-news/san-bernardino-county/san-bernardino-county-headlines-index/20120727-san-bernardino-local-author-releases-sherlock-holmes-adventure.ece

The first Sherlock Holmes novel written by a black author debuted this month.

“Anomalous: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure featuring Jack Johnson and Alphonse Capone” was released Aug. 1 during Sherlock Holmes Week by author Samuel Williams Jr.

The Holmes canon features very few black characters with the main one, Steve Dixie, portrayed in a negative light as a member of the Spencer John criminal gang. 

Williams, a passionate Conan Doyle fan, said he wrote the book to examine the racial climate in America in the post-Victorian era; to give the Dixie character some redemptive value; and to have Holmes embark on an adventure working undercover in America.

The novel also gives an historical glimpse into the life of Jack Johnson, America’s first black heavyweight boxing champion.

“Samuel is very keen to expand the popularity of the canon within the African-American community and initial reviews are extremely positive,” writes publisher Steve Emecz.

“Williams has pulled off a feat that’s truly worthy of the prodigious athletic and investigative talents of Jack Johnson and Sherlock Holmes. He’s blended the compelling and provocative stories of the life and feats of these two legendary figures into a well-crafted, riveting, and always readable mix of historical fact and imaginative fiction,” writes author and civil rights activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson.

The book is available from MX Publishing through its website, http://www.mxpublishing.com. 

Article:

http://www.pe.com/local-news/san-bernardino-county/san-bernardino-county-headlines-index/20120727-san-bernardino-local-author-releases-sherlock-holmes-adventure.ece

Posted 9 months ago
3 notes
  1. thenorwoodbuilder said: It sounds interesting!Only thing that drives me back a little: the nth encounter between Sherlock Holmes and a big name of history (of crime, in this case: Capone). I’m a little tired, after Freud, Wilde, B. Shaw, etc. Not to mention Jack the Ripper!
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