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ences in the Pontine Canon that indicate
the detective has no real skill with the in-
Christopher Lee, who starred in horror films for
strument. It seems quite possible that Pons
Hammer in the nineteen fifties and is still appearing
toys with the instrument solely because his
in huge hits nearly fifty years later (Star Wars and
‘illustrious predecessor’ was quite accom-
Lord of the Rings franchises), is well known to Sher-
plished on it.
lock Holmes fans, having portrayed the great detec-
tive, his brother Mycroft and Sir Henry Baskerville!
This is the only mention of Corvus. It seems odd
that a man who was powerful enough to
Lee also portrayed the devil doctor five times in the
rival the Doctor did not directly cross paths
nineteen sixties. As the picture below shows, Lee,
with Pons. Perhaps there is an untold tale
as British an actor as has ever been, certainly
somewhere in Doctor Parker’s notebooks
makes a fine-looking Fu Manchu.
involving the Baron.
This case offers us another example of the Pon-
tine Principle. Fu Manchu and his organiza-
tion assume that Baron Corvus is responsi-
ble. Parker blindly follows this assumption.
Pons assumes the opposite: that Lord Cor-
vus did not kidnap Kerah. It is this ap-
proach that leads to his solving the case.
We see many examples of this approach
throughout the Pontine Canon. Pons
makes a basic assumption that differs
from the other principal parties in the case,
whether the police or the client. He turns
out to be correct; the others wrong.
P a g e 1 2
T h e S o l a r P o n s G a z e t t e
A F a i r l i e O d d B u s i n e s s
R o g e r J o h n s o n , P S I , B S I , N M C
August Derleth wrote seventy-four short stories
“The Adventure of the Nosferatu” and “The Adven-
about Solar Pons and Dr Parker, plus the brief jot-
ture of the Extra-Terrestrial”, Peter Ruber quotes
tings gathered as “From the Notebooks of Dr Lyn-
Derleth’s response to an enquiry from Anthony
don Parker” and “More from Dr Parker’s Note-
Boucher: “[‘The Snitch in Time’] is not apt to ap-
books”, and just two short novels, Mr Fairlie’s Final
pear in any [Solar Pons] collection… it is rather
Journey and Terror over London. As Bob Byrne
more of a spoof than the other stories.” Even so,
pointed out in the first issue of The Solar Pons Ga-
he did choose to put the two off-trail adventures
zette, Pons is “Not a Novel Character”.
into that charming volume of miscellanea A Praed
Street Dossier, so perhaps he would eventually
Four of the short stories, categorised by Derleth as
have given them a place in the Omnibus.
“Solar Pons, off-trail”, take the detective into myste-
rious realms beyond the everyday. “The Adventure
In his introduction to “More from Dr Parker’s Note-
of the Snitch in Time” and “The Adventure of the
books”, Peter Ruber says, “Excerpts from Dr
Ball of Nostradamus” first appeared in book form
Parker’s Notebooks first appeared in the 1965 Can-
in A Praed Street Dossier, though the other two had
dlelight Press chapbook Praed Street Papers, a col-
to wait for posthumous publication in The Final Ad-
lection of essays August Derleth wrote to document
ventures of Solar Pons. All were written by Derleth
the beginnings and history of Solar Pons.” Mr Ruber
from plots devised by Mack Reynolds. After the au-
adds that a much expanded version of the Note-
thor’s death there was some dissent as to whether
books was subsequently published in A Praed
the first two – the only ones then known – should
Street Dossier, and continues, “ Sometime between be included in The Solar Pons Omnibus. James
the publication of A Praed Street Dossier and his
Turner, managing editor at Arkham House, decided
death in 1971, Derleth recorded a few additional
against. As Jon L Lellenberg states: “Mr Turner had
notebook entries which we present here for the first
his reasons. One was his decision, reinforced by
time. Very possibly they were written for Luther Nor-
Allen Hubin’s introduction to The Chronicles, that
ris’ Praed Street Journal, the official fan publication the Pontine Canon consisted of sixty-eight tales,
of The Praed Street Irregulars. The following text
and no more. A second reason was his assertion
was obtained from a carbon of the manuscript.”
that the two collaborations were largely the work
of Reynolds and not closely related to the
Well, Mr Ruber was himself the proprietor of the
chronological Canon.” Understandably this deci-
Candlelight Press, which published Praed Street
sion was opposed by “a number of Praed Street
Papers, so of course he knows about “From the
Irregulars, and a small campaign began to per-
Notebooks of Dr Lyndon Parker”. He could have
suade Mycroft & Moran to include these two sto-
saved himself the search for that carbon copy of
ries.” As a result, “The Adventure of the Snitch in
“More from Dr Parker’s Notebooks”, however.
Time” and “The Adventure of the Ball of Nostrada-
These “few additional notebook entries” were in-
mus” were added as an appendix to the Omnibus,
deed written for “the official fan publication of The
which was eventually published in 1982.
Praed Street Irregulars” – which, was not called
Praed Street Journal but The Pontine Dossier – and But did August Derleth himself consider these col-were actually published in the 1971 issue (New
laborations to be a part of the Canon? Introducing
Series Vol. 1, No. 2). Moreover, August Derleth had
P a g e 1 3
T h e S o l a r P o n s G a z e t t e
A F a i r l i e O d d B u s i n e s s . . . c o n t .
already contributed “Some Further Jottings from the
Our protagonist is Solar Pons, and he is very much
Notebooks of Dr Lyndon Parker” to the previous
his own man. It’s impossible to say how much bet-
issue of The Pontine Dossier, and these, I think,
ter the novel might have been if Derleth had revised
have not yet been published in any book (unless,
and refined it.
perhaps, in The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus).
The one Pons novel that saw print during the au-
The Final Adventures also features the first publica-
thor’s lifetime is Mr Fairlie’s Final Journey, and tion of a short novel, Terror over London, though
there is a marked contrast. Peter Ruber considers
that is not what August Derleth called it: the manu-
Terror over London “much more exciting and faster
script (or rather, I suspect, typescript) is, according
paced”, which is
certainly true, though over all I
to Mr Ruber, entitled Mr Solar Pons of Praed Street
consider Mr Fairlie superior. We can surely agree,
– a much less evocative name. Derleth refers in his
however, that it’s quite an achievement to place the
correspondence to The Adventure of the Clubs,
same leading characters credibly in two such sto-
which is clearly the same story. Again the title is
ries, the one an outrageously entertaining melo-
inferior to the one chosen by Peter Ruber.
drama of espionage and a bid for world domination,
the other a mystery that engages the reader’s sym-
Like the rest of The Final Adventures, apart from
pathy for characters who are real, flawed human
“More from Dr Parker’s Notebooks”, Terror over
beings. But each narrative is ingeniously plotted,
London is unfinished, in the sense that it was never
offering a baffling mystery with a logical solution:
revised and given that final polish that marks the
consequently Solar Pons and Dr Parker are per-
best – which is to say, most – of August Derleth’s
fectly at home in both.
work. He was a hack, as he freely admitted, but so
was Charles Dickens, and, like Dickens, Derleth
Even if Derleth had been able to revise Terror over
was far from being merely a hack. He could be a
London, the action would still, I suspect, predomi-
hasty writer, and some of his early horror stories,
nate, with character and place painted in with
especially, were clearly written for money and for
broad strokes. It’s that sort of story. Mr Fairlie’s
little else. Mainly, though, he wrote because he
Final Journey is different, and the difference exem-
loved to write and because he loved what he wrote
plifies another of the author’s great talents.
about. That affection shines through his very best
work, the regional sagas that can rank with Hardy’s
The early and late chapters of Bram Stoker’s novel
Wessex novels, and it’s evident throughout the
Dracula overflow with the authentic flavour of Tran-
tales of Solar Pons, in an output that spanned more
sylvania, the legend-rich “land beyond the forest”,
than forty years.
yet Stoker, as many know, never visited Eastern
Europe at all. He derived all his information from
Even in its unpolished state Terror over London is a
books, and, perhaps, from conversations with the
hugely enjoyable thriller, combining high adventure
traveller and philologist Arminius Vambery. Stoker
with sound detection. There may be a touch of John
did at least cross the Atlantic, with Henry Irving’s
Buchan about it. The flavour of Sax Rohmer is
company, and drew on his American memories in
strong. The influence of Arthur Conan Doyle, of
the novel The Shoulder of Shasta. August Derleth
course, is unmistakable. But, as always, you are
never left the United States; in fact he rarely left his
conscious that this is not an exploit of Richard Han-
home town of Sauk City, Wisconsin. Yet in the
nay, or Nayland Smith, or even of Sherlock Holmes.
chronicles of Solar Pons, especially in the later ac-
P a g e 1 4
T h e S o l a r P o n s G a z e t t e
A F a i r l i e O d d B u s i n e s s . . . c o n t .
counts, he often wrote so convincingly of specific
idiom.”
places in England that even a British reader could
believe that he was writing from personal experi-
Idiom has an interesting part in the story behind the
ence.
stories. Peter Ruber observes that John Metcalf
“often made suggestions about changing Dr Parker’s
At first his knowledge was drawn mainly from fic-
quaint blend of American colloquialism and Anglo-
tion, but before embarking on “The Adventure of
Saxon English. This Derleth was loath to modify, ex-
the Black Narcissus”, Pons’s first recorded exploit,
plaining once in a letter to fan Robert Pattrick, who
he sensibly invested in a copy of Baedeker’s Lon-
created a chronology of the adventures, that if the
don and Its Environs. By 1968 his reference collec-
stories were written to conform rigidly with accepted
tion on English history and topography numbered,
British usage, they would instantly be rejected by
as he said, “close to two hundred works, ranging
American magazine editors.”
from street and provincial guides, to such compara-
tively recent works as A J P Taylor’s English History:
Think about that for a moment. The editors would hap-
1914-1945, Eilert Ekwall’s The Concise Oxford Dic-
pily accept stories set in Britain, and narrated in the
tionary of English Place-Names, Paul Ashbee’s The
first person by a British character, but they would re-
Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain, the Allen-
ject any serious attempt to make the idioms accu-
Maxwell The British Isles in Color, and John Betje-
rately British. As a naively enthusiastic young British
man’s An American’s Guide to English Parish
reader I found that a pretty astonishing attitude, but
Churches”. It’s impressive evidence that he took his
I’ve learned over the years that the popular media in
writing seriously, and in Peter Ruber’s words:
the United States are far more insular than their
“Derleth’s descriptive narrative of the locales and
equivalents in other Anglophone cultures. George
streets where Pons and his associate Dr Lyndon Parker
Miller’s film Mad Max (aka The Road Warrior) was pursued their cases, were surprising [sic] authentic in dubbed for its American release on the grounds that
detail.”
audiences in the USA wouldn’t be able to cope with
Mel Gibson’s Australian accent. (Who was it said that
And it wasn’t just London. The Cotswold Hills, the rug-
no one ever went broke by underestimating the intelli-
ged coast of Cornwal , the little town of Rye in Sus-
gence of the American public?)
sex… and the several locations of Mr Fairlie’s Final
Editor’s Note: it was H. L. Mencken.
Journey… They’re all depicted with a thoroughly engag-
ing reality.
So Dr Parker’s accounts are written, as Michael
Harrison observes, “in a style full of Americanisms”.
August Derleth did not rely solely on books for his in-
August Derleth remarked that, being trained in the
formation about Britain. “For many years,” says Mr
American idiom, he himself was “peculiarly blind to
Ruber, “British writer John Metcalf read over early
the flaws in Dr Parker’s prose”, which he admitted
drafts of dozens of Solar Pons stories and contributed
was “neither really British nor fully American”.
comments and insight to authenticate them even fur-
ther.” The writing of Mr Fairlie, said Derleth, “required Based on the occasional
use of American idioms,
descriptive guides – some of the Little Red Guides,
Mr Harrison’s monograph in The Casebook of Solar
supplied by G Ken Chapman – of areas around Frome,
Pons convincingly argues that Parker had spent
Somerset, Scotland, and Wales – and application to
much of his life in the United States – which is ex-
Chapman and Michael Harrison for specific details of
actly the sort of game that devotees of the Holme-
P a g e 1 5
T h e S o l a r P o n s G a z e t t e
A F a i r l i e O d d B u s i n e s s . . . c o n t .
sian Canon have enjoyed for nearly a century, and
The Solar Pons stories have always thrived upon
for which the Pontine equivalent offers yet more
an unusually close relationship with their readers,
opportunity.
but that is now in jeopardy. Did Dr Parker live
much of his early life in the United States? Who will
But of course the original Solar Pons Omnibus was
know or care when an Americanism like ‘stoop’ –
not compiled and edited by its author. James Turner
made famous in Pontine scholarship by Michael
engaged the English writer Basil Copper for the
Harrison’s introduction to The Casebook – has
task, and the result was not what most members of
been replaced by the British ‘porch’?”
the Praed Street Irregulars had expected. “It came
to light,” says Jon Lellenberg, “that the text of
The irony is that Basil Copper loves the Solar Pons
the Pontine Canon was being subjected to two
stories just as much as do the Praed Street Irregu-
kinds of ‘editing’ by Messrs. Turner and Copper.
lars. As a writer, though, his affection and admira-
The first kind was stylistic in nature. Such spelling
tion are differently expressed. The Solar Pons Omni-
variations as ‘inquiry/enquiry’, ‘Pons’/Pons’s’, and
bus, published by Arkham House in 1982, is a
‘color/colour’ were scattered throughout stories
lovely two-volume edition, a pleasure to handle and
written over a thirty-year period, and Mr Turner
a treat to read. The cases are presented in order of