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All-Consuming Fire
''All-Consuming Fire'' is a novel written by Andy Lane and the 27th entry in the ''Virgin New Adventures'', a series based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. The novel is a crossover with Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and also with H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Plot The novel is framed as a book within a book, the majority of the story narrated by Dr. Watson. On the request of Pope Leo XIII, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate the theft of several books from the Library of St John the Beheaded, a secret Catholic library in England. One person on their list of suspects is the Doctor, who claims that the books were stolen to stop him from reading them, so they start working together to solve the case. The Doctor and Watson visit another suspect, but she spontaneously combusts when she recites words from one of the books. Holmes sees a fight to the death between dogs and a strange reptilian cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Lane
Andrew Lane (born 17 April 1963), as Andy Lane, is a British author and journalist best known for the Young Sherlock Holmes series of Young Adult novels. He has written novels in the Virgin New Adventures range and audio dramas for Big Finish based on the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. His Young Adult books are generally published under the name Andrew Lane, while media spin offs are Andy Lane. Career During 2009, Macmillan Books announced that Lane would be writing a series of books focusing on the early life of Sherlock Holmes. The series was developed in conjunction with the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Lane had already shown an extensive knowledge of the Holmes character and continuity in his Virgin Books novel '' All-Consuming Fire'' in which he created The Library of St. John the Beheaded as a meeting place for the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and ''Doctor Who''. The first book in the 'Young Sherlock Holmes' series – ''Death Cloud'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diogenes Club
The Diogenes Club is a fictional gentlemen's club created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and featured in several Sherlock Holmes stories, such as 1893's "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter". It seems to have been named after Diogenes the Cynic (though this is never explained in the original stories) and was co-founded by Sherlock's indolent elder brother Mycroft Holmes. The club as described by Sherlock Holmes in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter": Relation to British Secret Service Although there is no hint in the original Sherlock Holmes canon that the Diogenes Club is anything but what it seems to be, several later writers developed and used the idea that the club was founded as a front for the British Secret Service. This may have its root in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" (1908), in which Mycroft Holmes is revealed to be the supreme and indispensable brain-trust behind the British government, who pieces together collective government secrets and of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Darvill-Evans
Peter Darvill-Evans (born 1954) is an English writer and editor. Early life He was born and lived in Buckinghamshire until he went to university, graduating in 1975 from University College, London with a degree in History. Career In 1976 Darvill-Evans joined the staff of Games Centre, a specialist games shop in London. He became the manager of a branch of the shop, then manager of wholesale sales, selling board games and eventually role-playing games. In 1979 he became employed by Games Workshop, becoming first its Trade Sales Manager, then General Manager, responsible for purchases, sales, distribution and magazine publishing. When Games Workshop relocated to Nottingham, Darvill-Evans left the company, preferring to stay in London. He then wrote his first of three Fighting Fantasy gamebooks for Puffin Books. In 1989, he became a junior editor at W. H. Allen Ltd, initially overseeing the Target Books imprint. He also oversaw the Nexus imprint of erotic fiction for men, redesig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Anubis Gates
''The Anubis Gates'' is a 1983 time travel fantasy novel by American writer Tim Powers. It won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award. Plot summary In 1801 the British have risen to power in Egypt and suppress the worship of the old Egyptian gods. A cabal of magicians plan to drive the British out of Egypt by bringing the gods forward in time from an age when they were still powerful and unleashing them on London, thereby destroying the British Empire. In 1802, a failed attempt by the magicians to summon Anubis opens magical gates in a predictable pattern across time and space. In 1983, ailing millionaire J. Cochran Darrow has discovered the gates and found that they make time travel possible. Darrow organizes a trip to the past for fellow millionaires to attend a lecture by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1810. He hires Professor Brendan Doyle to attend and give expert commentary. One of the magicians, Doctor Romany, happens to spy the time travel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Powers
Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels '' Last Call'' and ''Declare''. His 1987 novel ''On Stranger Tides'' served as inspiration for the '' Monkey Island'' franchise of video games and was optioned for adaptation into the fourth ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film. Most of Powers' novels are "secret histories". He uses actual, documented historical events featuring famous people, but shows another view of them in which occult or supernatural factors heavily influence the motivations and actions of the characters. Typically, Powers strictly adheres to established historical facts. He reads extensively on a given subject, and the plot develops as he notes inconsistencies, gaps and curious data; regarding his 2001 novel ''Declare'', he stated, "I made it an ironclad rule that I could not change or disregard any of the recorded facts, nor rearr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Empire Of Glass
''The Empire of Glass'' is a Virgin Missing Adventures original novel written by Andy Lane based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It features the First Doctor, Steven Taylor, Vicki and Irving Braxiatel. Plot The Doctor, Steven, and Vicki land in what seems to be Venice in 1609, where they meet a host of major historical figures including Galileo Galilei and William Shakespeare. However, with the arrival of old acquaintance Irving Braxiatel, Vicki's abduction and the framing of Steven for murder, the Doctor soon finds himself embroiled in the sinister machinations of an alien invasion. Source materials In the acknowledgements, Lane notes that this was his own version of Tim Powers Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels '' Last Call'' and ''Declare''. His 1987 novel ''On Stranger Tide ...' ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doctor Who Magazine
''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. Now with 13 issues a year, as well as currently producing triannual deluxe Special Editions (2002–) and Bookazines (2013–), the publication features behind the scenes articles on the TV show and other media, as well as producing its own world famous comic strip. Its founding editor was Dez Skinn, and the incumbent editor is Marcus Hearn, who took over from the magazine's longest-serving editor, Tom Spilsbury, in July 2017. ''DWM'' is recognised by ''Guinness World Records'' as the longest running TV tie-in magazine, celebrating 40 years of continuous publication on 11 October 2019. History Originally geared towards children and predominately featuring comic strips, ''DWM'' slowly transformed into a mature magazine, expand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TARDIS
The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior appearance mimics a police box, an obsolete type of telephone kiosk that was once commonly seen on streets in Britain. Paradoxically, its interior is shown as being much larger than its exterior, commonly described as being "bigger on the inside". Due to the significance of ''Doctor Who'' in popular British culture, the shape of the police box is now more strongly associated with the TARDIS than its real-world inspiration. The name and design of the TARDIS is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), despite the fact that the design was originally created by the Metropolitan Police Service. Name TARDIS is an acronym of "Time And Relative Dimension(s) in Space". The word "Dimension" is alternatively rendered in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palace Hotel, San Francisco
The Palace Hotel is a landmark historic hotel in San Francisco, California, located at the southwest corner of Market and New Montgomery streets. The hotel is also referred to as the "new" Palace Hotel to distinguish it from the original 1875 Palace Hotel, which had been demolished after being gutted by the fire caused by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The present structure opened on December 19, 1909, on the same site as its predecessor. The hotel was closed from January 1989 to April 1991 to undergo a two-year renovation and seismic retrofit. Occupying most of a city block, the hotel's now more than century-old nine-story main building stands immediately adjacent to both the BART Montgomery Street Station and the Monadnock Building, and across Market Street from Lotta's Fountain. The Palace Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The original Palace Hotel (1875–1906) The original Palace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity shaking was felt from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region to the south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Devastating fires soon broke out in San Francisco and lasted for several days. More than 3,000 people died, and over 80% of the city was destroyed. The events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest earthquakes in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history and high on the lists of American disasters. Tectonic setting The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that forms part of the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The strike-slip fault is characterize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azathoth
Azathoth is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and Dream Cycle stories of writer H. P. Lovecraft and other authors. He is the ruler of the Outer Gods, and may be seen as a symbol for primordial chaos. H. P. Lovecraft Inspiration The first recorded mention of the name Azathoth was in a note Lovecraft wrote to himself in 1919 that read simply, "AZATHOTH—hideous name". Mythos editor Robert M. Price argues that Lovecraft could have combined the biblical names Anathoth (Jeremiah's home town) and Azazel—mentioned by Lovecraft in "The Dunwich Horror". Price also points to the alchemical term " Azoth", which was used in the title of a book by Arthur Edward Waite, the model for the wizard Ephraim Waite in Lovecraft's " The Thing on the Doorstep". The name may also be inspired by the phrase "As a thought". Another note Lovecraft made to himself later in 1919 refers to an idea for a story: "A terrible pilgrimage to seek the nighted throne of the far daemon-sultan Azathoth." In a lett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rakshasa
Rakshasas ( sa, राक्षस, IAST: : Pali: ''rakkhaso'') lit. 'preservers' are a race of usually malevolent demigods prominently featured in Hindu mythology. According to the Brahmanda Purana, the rakshasas were created by Brahma when he assumed a body of ''tamas'' (darkness), the beings springing forth and promising to protect the waters of creation. They are often depicted to be man-eaters (''nri-chakshas'', ''kravyads''), acting as embodiments of the powers of evil in the Vedic scriptures. They are offered a distinction from yakshas, their cousins who are depicted to be forces of destruction. The term is also used to describe asuras, a class of power-seeking beings that oppose the benevolent devas. They are often depicted as antagonists in Hindu scriptures, as well as in Buddhism and Jainism. The female form of rakshasa is rakshasi. Hinduism In Vedas The Hymn 87 of the tenth mandala of the ''Rigveda'' mentions about Rakshasas. They are classified amongst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
