Friday 12 March 2010

Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man

Finally caught up with this story from Evan Lewis, he of Davy Crockett's Almanack, which was published in the feb 2010 issue of Ellery Queen Magazine and it's a mighty fine story.

The rickety two-story house looked like it had last been
painted around the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A
stocky man stood on the porch with his back to the street,
apparently talking with someone inside. His windmilling arms
and strident tones made it clear he was less than happy.

It's a spoof/homage to the Holmes/Watson tales with our man, modern day Sherlock Holmes, Skyler Hobbs - I'm unsure how to describe the story - maybe Terry Pratchett meets Conan Doyle comes close. But there's no taking away the achievement Evan Lewis has scored here. For a start Ellery Queen is a difficult market to crack and there are scores of Holmes spoofs out there and yet this one stands out - the story is a delight from start to finish - surreal, zany and really quite spiffing.

The mag is now available for download to anyone anywhere. One place to get it is FICTIONWISE, where you can choose from over a dozen different electronic formats.

2 comments:

David Cranmer said...

One of my favorite shorts of the year. There's another top Skyler Hobbs here:

http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2010/02/flash-fiction-skyler-hobbs-and-man-who.html

Evan Lewis said...

Thanks Gary! Your payola check is in the mail. (Yours too, David.)

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