Home › Fiction

Fiction

cropped-Typewriter.pngIt’s heroes and horrors for all ages! That’s my brand! I have been writing stories since I was nine years old and I’m not stopping any time soon!

A highly enjoyable and necessary read! – Matthew J. Elliott (Sherlock Holmes on the Air!)

Reichenbach was only the start of Sherlock Holmes’ war with the Moriarty gang, and what he and Watson were really up to during the Great Hiatus is at last revealed in THE ADVENTURE OF THE COAL-TAR DERIVATIVE! This novel features previously publisher stories and brand new adventures, and tie together all of my Holmes pastiches written to date.

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM AUDIBLE!

Click here to read Sharlene Almond’s review!

Click here to read David Marcum’s review!

Click here to read Publisher’s Weekly’s review!

Fifteen top-notch artists from one of America’s most vibrant art communities–West Palm Beach, Florida–join forces with fifteen Sherlock Holmes writers to create a new kind of Sherlockian anthology. Each artist contributes a work of art reflecting one of these stories, one of which is my pastiche “The Case of the Petty Curses.”

Click here to join The Art of Sherlock Holmes Facebook page for the latest updates, creator videos, and sign up for the AOSH newsletter!

Click here to watch the my author interview for The Art of Sherlock Holmes!

A secret organization ruthlessly seeks power over supernatural terrors in this globe-trotting anthology of arcane mystery and adventure, from the bestselling world of Arkham Horror.

I love rogues, scoundrels and bent heroes. Historical figures like John Henry “Doc” Holliday and fictional characters like Captain Louis Renault from the 1942 film CASABLANCA. Now there is Kymani Jones, whose job description might read, “Freelance insurance claims adjuster and expert in objet d’art by day and picaresque vigilante thief by night.”

In “Forty Grain Weight of Nephrite” Kymani warns the renowned archaeologist/adventurer Professor Aron Vayner that an attempt might be made to steal his most precious possession, the Xiamen Bi, from his fortified Nob Hill estate. When it is inexplicably stolen Vayner hires Kymani to retrieve the priceless artifact no matter the cost, unaware that the Bi is a Key that Kymani intends to return to China if it is recovered.

But getting to the Bi is not going to be easy.

Standing in Kymani’s way are a warrior dedicated to protecting the Bi, an Interpol agent determined to expose and apprehend Kymani, and a Chinatown cabal led by one of The Red Coterie’s most dangerous members.

ALSO AVAILABLE ON AUDIBLE!

Click here to read the Trans-Scribe review of SECRETS IN SCARLET by review Amy Walker.

Click here to read The Cosmic Circus review of SECRETS IN SCARLET by reviewer Luna Gauthier.

Click here to read Ihate00 Critics review of SECRETS IN SCARLET by reviewer David Annadale.

bushwackers steven philip jones

“Reminds me of Louis L’Amour at his best.” – Ed Gorman (Spur Award winner, Sam McCain series)

The year is 1879 and manhunter Paul Kirk is hired to find the cross killers, a gang of bushwhackers terrorizing the Colorado San Juans. But Sheriff Jeb Moses is worried that a vengeful Kirk may be one of the bushwhackers. Originally published as a hardcover by Avalon Books and a paperback by Leisure Books.

 

Click here to watch Castle Bridge Media’s “Love Gone Wrong” launch party on YouTube!

Love Gone Wrong is the seventh volume of Castle Bridge Media’s popular Castle of Horror anthology series, and the focus of this edition is…well…love. All kinds of love. Familial, romantic, dedicated, obsessive…you name it. But what really ties these stories together is each one contains a misstep that slides the characters into the uncanny. This is the second publication of my short story “Expiration Date,” an Amicus inspired tale of a marriage left to sour and how even the best laid plans of vengeance involving the supernatural can go terribly awry.

My sorta-kinda occult detective Angel Neighbours makes her debut! Angel has been hired to track down the mysterious woman London’s newspapers have dubbed the Bloofer Lady. This “beautiful lady” is abducting children and leaving them in a lethargic state with two slight but inexplicable wounds on their throats.

henrietta hex steven philip jonesA bright, brave young woman, able to speak with ghosts, moves to a small town with a deadly secret. Some spirits are willing to kill to keep those secrets, and Henrietta must enlist the aid of the dead if she’s going to save everyone in town from joining the afterlife at once.

The original nine stories I adapted into comics as written by H. P. Lovecraft: “The Alchemist,” The Tomb,” “Dagon,” “Beyond the Wall of Sleep,” “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family,” The Picture in the House,” “The Music of Erich Zann,” and “The Lurking Fear”. Features a new introduction by myself, edits and a new foreword by noted Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi, illustrations by Demone Amerson, Aldin Baroza, David DeVera, Donald England, Thomas Finley, Bruce Gerlach, Tony Miello, Wayne Reid, and Joshua Werner, and cover by David Hartman.

  • KING OF HARLEM (Mundania Press)

Click here to read more about and see photographs from Orson Welles’ 1936 Voodoo Macbeth, including the production’s closing four minutes!

King_of_Harlem

“Jones is a bright new light in the mystery genre.” – Clive Cussler (Raise the Titanic!, The Chase)

Orson Welles is a twenty-year-old prodigy directing an all-Negro Macbeth for the WPA in Harlem. Welles is receiving ten death threats a day from people convinced he is producing minstrel Shakespeare, and tensions only increase after one of his actors is arrested for murdering a white socialite. Enter Sassafras Winters, a retired Chicago Cubs pitcher struggling to launch a new career as a private detective, and Chinaman, his enigmatic valet. Being hired by the WPA could be Winters’ big break if he can exonerate the actor and keep Welles alive until opening night, but that is not going to be easy.  No longer in print.

Click here to watch the book trailer!

“Every Lovecraftian will find something to enjoy in it.” – S. T. Joshi (I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft)

Lovecraftian weaves classic H. P. Lovecraft characters such as Herbert West and Randolph Carter and weird tales like “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Colour Out of Space” into a new single universe modern narrative. The first novel in this series introduces The Shipwright Circle, a gaggle of scholarly and creative friends at Miskatonic University in legend-haunted Arkham, Massachusetts.

Based on forgotten folklore, “The Monsters We Forgot” is an anthology trilogy dedicated to the monsters, myths, urban legends, and eerie fairy tales no one has dared to share…until now. The first volume of this anthology includes my short story “Expiration Date,” an Amicus inspired tale of a marriage left to sour and how even the best laid plans of vengeance involving the supernatural can go terribly awry. The moral of this story? Be there and never be too clingy!

“An adventure detective yarn with big guns and silver bullets, a loathsome bad guy, and a very American pulp feel, which is no bad thing.” – SFcrownest

Feril Nightlinger and his trusty assistant Mike Segretto acquire a very unusual client even by their standards.  A sin eater has been tricked into becoming a werewolf and needs Feril and Mike to help him before the next full moon.  The question is… how?

  • THE SCEPTRE: THE FRIGID CASTLE (Xlibris.com)

The Sceptre_sample_artA medieval fantasy set on the fictional island of Coventry. An exiled prince, a headstrong archer, and an eight-year-old magician’s apprentice must retrieve a stolen magical icon known as The Sceptre to rescue their separate kingdoms. Originally appeared in the anthology “Enchanted Realms II” from the Yahoo Group Fantasy Writers Wanted.  No longer in print.

 

herbert west steven philip jonesA paperback anthology of Lovecraft’s six “Grewsome Tales” that introduced Herbert West in Home Brew magazine in 1921. I edited the stories with the advice of noted Lovecraft scholar and editor S. T. Joshi, designed the interior layout, and wrote the introduction. Mikael Oskarsson contributed some very moody illustrations. No longer in print.

Herbert West may be Lovecraft’s best know character after Cthulhu, and thanks to Jeffrey Combs and the Re-Animator series of films he has become a modern horror movie icon. This anthology features Lovecraft’s original six Herbert West adventures with illustrations by Terry Pavlet, a new West adventure written by me, my script for an audio adaptation of the first West adventure “From the Dark,” and Lovecraft’s groundbreaking thesis Supernatural Horror in Literature with corrected text by noted Lovecraft scholar and editor S. T. Joshi. Cover art by Nabetse Zitro.

“What if the darkness of Lovecraft’s decadent New England overlapped into the Victorian era of Sherlock Holmes? What if a trail of clues led to impossible visions, malevolent gods and unspeakably eldritch vistas of terror? Could Holmes survive? Could his sanity survive?”

October 1882. Sherlock Holmes has been a troubled man since returning from St. Petersburg and a mission for Czar Alexander III. Dr. Watson is convinced that work is the cure for whatever is distressing his friend and his prayers seem to be answered when the Comté Antoine de Chabrillane arrives with a most unusual case. For thirty-one generations the heir of the House of Chabrillane in Brittany has died at the age of 32, all apparent victims of a vengeful alchemist’s curse. Antoine, the last of the Chabrillane line, is about to turn 32 and is determined that the curse shall end with him, either by Holmes solving the mystery of his ancestors’ deaths or with his own.

Sherlock_radio_coverFour original audio drama scripts featuring The Great Detective and The Good Doctor, written by myself and Matthew J. Elliott (Lost in Time and Space, The Immortals: An Unauthorized Guide to Sherlock and Elementary): “The Case of the Petty Curses,” “A Case of Unfinished Business,” “The Adventure of the Borgia Ring,” and “The Irregular Client.” Each script has been produced by Jim French Productions and broadcast on Imagination Theatre on the Air. Also includes an introduction by myself, a foreword by JFP’s Dr. Watson, Larry Albert, a give-and-take interview between me and Matthew, and an original cover and interior illustrations by Joshua Werner.

FULL-CAST RADIO PRODUCTION OF “PETTY CURSES” AVAILABLE!

FULL-CAST RADIO PRODUCTION OF “UNFINISHED BUSINESS” AVAILABLE!

Did Sherlock Homes really meet my masked mystery man Nightlinger? You bet your Persian slipper he did! And you can read all about it in “The Adventure of the Ambitious Task” in Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives Vol. 2. Nathaniel Hayes, heir of circus impresario B.E. Hayes, is dead. Scotland Yard suspects his fiance Ivy Forrester, a former ballerina with the Paris Opera House, and world-famous magician, escapologist and spiritual debunker Sheridan Nightlinger. When Nathaniel’s body vanishes from his crypt, Ivy’s grandmother Mrs. Cecil Forrester asks her old friends Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes for help, and it is not long before they are uniting forces with Nightlinger against the mysterious occultist Dr. Ianthe Hell.

      • SHERLOCK HOLMES: “ADVENTURE OF THE ABSENT CROSSING SWEEPER” (MX Publishing)

      • January 12, 1882, a few months after Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson’s first adventure A Study in Scarlet. Scotland Yard Detective G. Lestrade, a man not known for being over-tender of heart, has taken it upon himself to find a crossing sweeper who has been missing from his corner on Oxford Street since St. Andrew’s Day. Lestrade’s private search has reached an impasse so he comes to Holmes to request the assistance of the Baker Street Irregulars, unaware that Holmes has already engaged them as part of his own private investigation, a diplomatically delicate matter for the British Foreign Office (and his brother Mycroft) involving a noble but disreputable lodger in the Oxford building.

    FULL-CAST RADIO ADAPTATION AVAILABLE!

    This anthology includes my short story adaptation of my Sherlock Holmes audio drama first broadcast on Imagination Theatre on the Air in 2008. Proceeds from the sales of this anthology go towards renovating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former residence Undershaw, now the home for the Stepping Stones School for special needs students. In “Petty Curses” Sir Malcolm Angus-Burton is convinced his beautiful Egyptian wife Halima has cursed him. With no one else to turn to, Mrs. Angus-Burton asks Sherlock Holmes to prove her innocence, but, instead of refuting one curse, Holmes and his faithful friend Dr. John Watson discover two curses that may lead to one of the greatest tragedies London has ever known.

    • The commemorative anthology Imagination Theatre’s Sherlock Holmes includes my script for this Great Hiatus adventure which was originally broadcast on Imagination Theatre on the Air in 2014. All royalties from this anthology are being donated to the Stepping Stones School for special needs students at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home Undershaw. In “Unfinished Business” the world believes Sherlock Holmes died defeating Professor James Moriarty, but the war to stop the evil genius’ criminal empire rages on. Moriarty’s death triggers a plan that threatens three continents, and a mysterious government agent needs Dr. Watson’s help to solve a clue Holmes left behind to prevent this catastrophe.

      FULL-CAST RADIO PRODUCTION ALSO AVAILABLE!

      • If you liked the script, you’re going to love the short story version of this Great Hiatus Mystery.

        FULL-CAST RADIO PRODUCTION ALSO AVAILABLE!

      • This anthology includes my second Great Hiatus mystery, a follow-up to  “A Case of Unfinished Business.” In September 1920 Sherlock Holmes and John Watson agree to exchange facts on associated cases they worked on in June 1893 at the behest of Mycroft Holmes.  In Watson’s case the doctor and Inspector Lestrade search for two Scotland Yard detectives who vanished while investigating a smuggling operation run by a remnant of the Moriarty gang, which in turn leads to the recovery of a vital Indonesia-style statue for the British government.  In Holmes’s case, the great detective finally reveals the circumstances surrounding the Matilda Briggs and how they resulted in the prevention of a multi-national conflict.

        Click here to read the Publishers Weekly review of my story and this anthology!

        Click here to watch the my author interview for The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part XVII!

        This anthology includes my third Great Hiatus mystery. It is October 1893 and the world believes Holmes died defeating Professor James Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, but the war to stop the evil genius’ criminal empire rages on. Dr. John H. Watson discovers a link between the murder of Birdy Edwards from The Valley of Fear and the Jack the Ripper killings that might have been known to Sherlock Holmes.  Meanwhile Holmes races to prevent the assassination of the Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad in Khartoum that threatens the world’s fragile peace.

        bitwcoverThis story will make a whole lot more sense if you read The Knightmare Knife first. Trust me. Jennifer and the boys meet a feisty Kee’lan girl named Astrina, a few secrets about the history of the Plane of Imaginings are revealed, and there are hints of dark times ahead for one of our young heroes.  (Which one?  Well, one of the boys is named Timmy, and the title is Boy in the Well.  Do the math.) No longer in print.

        Click here to read the Coffee Time Romance review!

        Talismen__The_Knightmare_Knife

        “Engaging and entertaining!” – Phil Hester (Green Arrow, Firebreather)

        The first adventure in the Talismen saga! Colin Sinclair, Reggie Sinclair, Ollie Steele, and Timmy Shannon have never had a dream in their lives, but on their twelfth birthday they share the same nightmare about a vicious dragon and a mysterious orange-haired girl. The next day strange things begin happening to the boys. A monsters appears in the school water fountain … a hellhound prowls city streets … a green man dressed in gold stalks the boys … and then they are swept to another world where all dreams and nightmares come from where they meet an orange-haired girl named Jennifer. No longer in print.

        • witches hat steven philip jones

          Click here to check out the Wizard Academies website!

          Cardy Wagner is a twelve-year-old girl found unconscious inside the smoldering ruins of the town hall of Devil’s Bridge, Wales, after it is destroyed by lightning. While in the hospital, Cardy is invited by a streetwise young satyr named Alacrity Templemier to become a student at a special school for “reverberaunts,” young wizards who died under mysterious circumstances and return to life but don’t remember their past. Reverberaunts have only a year to find out who they were and how they died or go back to being dead, this time forever. No longer in print.

          Go to TOP of Page