Sherlock Holmes Faces Death movie posted on ImagineNation.

Basil Rathbone was a consummate actor and his portrayal of Holmes remains a defining one, even with the advent of some other fine actors since.

Nigel Bruce,it goes without saying, was the perfect foil for the brilliant acting of Mister Rathbone.

My own take on the heroes of detective literature is somewhat different, in that the two of them are part of a larger circle of friends called The Baker Street Adventurers, and I introduce a lot of fantasy and sometimes sci-fi elements into the stories and novels.

Irregardless of your tastes, the main core of this team is their friendship and honor, as well as their stubborn disregards of what is obvious to find that which is not.

Enjoy!

--John--

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Six is now posted on ImagineNation.

Chapter Thirty-Six

And he wasn't...Santa Claus. He was something far beyond a children's fairy tale.

Jimbo sat at a nicely handmade table, hewn from the trees about them, and shaped into something resembling a mushroom, but with six seats about it. He sat next to Mrs. Santa Claus and Samuel and Nanny next to Mister Santa Claus. 

Mrs. Santa Claus had that same ageless beauty that suffused Santa Claus, but with a more down home feeling to it. Her whole presence was tidy, warm and friendly, like a favorite dog or cat, or couch. Something you just knew you'd never feel bad on or around.

The small child they had seen earlier was squeezed  between Jimbo and Santa, as everyone was beginning to think of them, because they had no other way to describe them that didn't include they know what you are thinking. He had all white hair as well and eyes that seemed to be on fire all the time with an enthusiasm that was remarkable for one his age. His fingers were deft and quick, his mind even quicker. He had a tendency to knit his eyebrows together when he concentrated and his lips would pout.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jimmy." Mrs. Santa Claus said to him, jumping up to go through the rounded doorway into her tiny kitchen and come back quickly with a salt shaker. "Your salt."

"But I didn't ask..." He let it go. This had happened continuously for about an hour now. He'd think something..."

"And I know." Mrs. Santa Claus told him with a wink and a twinkle in her eye. 

"Okay." Jimbo finally asked out of exasperation. The idea of someone diving into his mind uninvited was beginning to worry him, if not irritate him.

"You want to know how I do it. Right?" She asked.

Santa smiled at her and she smiled back. "A little birdie told me."

Samuel suddenly realized what the tiny black thing was that was nestled in her snow white hair. He had thought it was some kind of ornament, but when it unruffled its feathers, and cocked a black eye on him, he almost choked on the slice of bread he had been eating.

Nanny pounded his back and he stopped coughing, but instead began laughing over and over. 

Jimbo glared at him. "Uh, this isn't funny."

Samuel wiped at the tears in his eyes. "He's telling the truth, Jimbo. She does have a little bird talking to her. It's right in front of your eyes."

Jimbo looked over at her, but saw nothing. "Oh. Invisible friend, right?"

Samuel stopped laughing. "Sorry, Jimbo, I thought everyone could see it."

Nanny glared at him too. "I can't either, and I usually do."

Mrs. Santa patted her arm. "Deary, you're still a young soul, you can't be expected to see everything...yet."

That got Nanny even more mad. "I resent being talked down to!"

She started to get up.

Both Samuel and Jimbo held her down.

"Okay. I'll stay, but all this spiritual mumbo jumbo is starting to get to me..." She froze at her words. She  swiveled her eyes to look at Jimbo. "I'm starting to be you!"

Jimbo laughed. "Happens to the best of us."

Santa and Mrs. Santa laughed.

The child, a young boy of about the age of ten, set a piece of cloth he had been shaping in his lap next to Nanny. "Like it?"

Nanny forgot her anger when she saw the tiny Christmas tree. "It's beautiful! How'd you do that?"

"With love." The boy answered with a straight face. "Mommy shows me how to do it every day. I've been getting better. Do you like it?"

Nanny looked at him more closely. "You've asked me that two times. Why?"

"Denny is special." Santa told her,  his eyes solemn. "He knows how to shape the future."

"Don't we all?" Nanny laughed, thinking he was being companionable, not serious.

Samuel looked at the tree more closely and he could see Nanny, Jimbo and himself climbing inside of it, following a trail of cavernous tunnels, pursued by something indefinable. He gave Denny a startled look. Denny looked him in the eyes. "You like it?"

"I'm not sure." Samuel answered. "It doesn't look like a future I want to experience."

Mrs. Santa put a hand on his. "Honey, it's not the future that is, but the future that could be."

Santa nodded. "Denny's gift is more of a warning of what the future will become if we misstep or take the wrong direction."

Jimbo set his napkin down. A handmade cotton like material that never lost its crispness, no matter how much he folded it. "Don't you think it's time you told us who you people really are?"

Santa smiled. "Friends."

Mrs. Santa nodded. "Oh so true."

Denny smiled at them and grinned like the little child he appeared to be. "Friends we  cherish."

One moment the happy family was seated there with them, smiling, then they were gone. The home around them vanished. The furniture was all that was left. It sat beneath a towering tree and a soft mist of rain was drizzling between the leaves and beginning to wet them.

They got up from the mushroom table and it too vanished.

"Well, at least they didn't just dump us on the ground." Jimbo admitted reluctantly.

Nanny shivered.

Next to the huge tree trunk, their back packs lay neatly stacked. A basket of bread and fruit sat next to them, with a note on top. 

Nanny ran over and read the note. "We hope you'll enjoy this little gift from us. And remember choices are never final, there's always another door that can be opened, and we love you from the bottom of our hearts."

She looked up at them. "Signed Mister and Missus Claus."

Jimbo shook his head. "No, I refuse to believe it. Just a legend. A myth."

Samuel looked to his right were Al and Marilyn were dancing a slow waltz. Al looked over and shook his head. "Al doesn't think so."

He looked back at Jimbo. "Neither do I."

Nanny came back. "What now?"

"We rebuild our tent and wait for the morning."

So they pulled out the tent from Jimbo's backpack and slung it together. They were so tired and worn out by the time they finished, they could barely crawl into their sleeping bags.

As they lay there Jimbo said. "Notice the temperature here remains perfect, no matter what the time of day or night? Like it's controlled somehow."

"Noticed." Samuel answered with a yawn. "Did you also notice that the trees talk?"

Jimbo laughed. "Sammie, please no more stupid jokes!"

"I'll second that." Nanny said with a whimper of a yawn. "I just don't understand why I'm so tired all the time down here. I never feel entirely rested, and yet I feel more clear than I've ever been."

"It's the vibration of the place." Samuel explained. "It's very high."

"If it's so absurdly high." Jimbo demanded. "Then why did that  ship blow up? Sounds like some contrast is going on."

"I believe so too, Jimbo, and I think that's what the warning was about. That everything is not what it appears to be."

"Then what is it?" Nanny asked, stiflying another yawn.

"Some kind of test maybe." Samuel commented. 

He propped himself up on an elbow and looked at his friends. "I remember Al telling me once that the people who live down here are of such a high vibration that anything negative around them turns on itself and destroys itself."

"Like that ship?" Nanny asked.

"Yeah. Like that. But then that beggars the question of how the ship could even exist here at all, as they were obviously accustomed to having control of this territory."

Jimbo yawned loudly, then sat up, awake again. "That would mean this so-called hollow earth is more than it seems. Maybe divided up."

"Or shared." Nanny added, getting excited herself.

Samuel nodded. "But the question in my mind is why the more advanced civilization would allow the negative one to exist in its own space."

Samuel was about to say more, when he noticed Al squatted near the door, shaking his head. "It's not about one or the other, Sam, it's about learning."

"Yeah. But what?"

"Who you talking to?" Nanny asked, confused by Samuel's sudden turn in conversation.

"His invisible friend. " Jimbo explained. "Who else?"

Nanny threw herself back down into her sleeping bag and shut her eyes. "You two just blow my mind. I can't keep my head straight around you. Good-night."

Jimbo lay back down too, but he wasn't sleepy anymore, not any more than Samuel, who had stopped talking and lay down as well.

"Sammie."

"Yeah."

"Do you think that ship was Nazi?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Then that would mean that they built an empire down here."

"Sad, but true."

"That would also mean that one day they might emerge again."

"True enough."

"I don't think we can fight something like that."

"Won't have to."

"How you figure that?"

"When have we ever been in any fight where the odds were in our favor?"

Nanny stirred. "Will you two spiritual war heroes shut up, a girl needs her beauty sleep."

Samuel and Jimbo shut their eyes, but neither one of them slept very well that night. Especially after they heard a sound similar to the one made by the earlier flying ship and a great shadow passed by and a spot light speared the ground not even ten yards away.

Alma, an award winning CGI short. Very unique now posted on ImagineNation.

Saw this some time back and found it to be quite interesting. Very nice concept.

--John--

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Five is now posted on ImagineNation.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Samuel, Jimbo and Nanny found themselves waking up in a smoking forest, where the remains of the flying vessel were smoking and burning and pieces of it were scattered helter skelter, some pieces glowing red hot. A few body parts were scattered in the debris and they didn't look human. Pieces of arms that were a wierd green color and slimy, and smashed heads that were connected to a second head. One body was intact, but missing its head. The body resembled that of Seran's.

"What the hell just happened and why are we still alive?" Jimbo demanded.

Samuel groaned, holding his head between his hands. "Angelic rescue."

"I don't believe..."

"...in angels. I know. I know." Samuel retorted, but must you holler it at the top of your voice."

Nanny scooted over to Samuel and shoved his hands away. "Sam, you got a head injury."

"Am I going to die because of it?" He asked with a smile, forcing himself to stand on his feet.

Nanny growled at him angrily. "You should, you silly sonovua..."

Jimbo a finger to her lips, cutting her off. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

She smashed his hand away and turned on him, ready to swing at him. He caughter her hands and gave her a fierce look. "Samuel just saved your ass and you're complaining?"

"He said the angels did it!"

Jimbo snorted. "Samuel's too damned proud to take credit for his work. That's why he's poor..." 

Glares at Samuel. "...And why I'm poor...sort of."

"Ranch." Samuel said.

"Yeah, ranch." Jimbo admitted, then let go of Nanny who grumbled to herself, but  began to calm down. She started to walk, then realized she had just stepped into a pile of something gooey. She made a face. "Oh my God! It's a..."

It was a heart. A very, very big one and now collapsed around her right boot.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Like a Twinkie." Jimbo asked her, shoving a Twinkie in her face.

Nanny screamed and ran behind a shrug and began throwing up.

Samuel looked at Jimbo and Jimbo gave him an innocent look. Jimbo unwrapped his Twinkie and ate it down. "Just being friendly."

"Sure." Samuel accused, then realized what Jimbo was doing. "Where'd you get that?"

Jimbo pointed behind Samuel and he saw their backpacks in a nice heap. "Wow! We really did have some Angelic help."

"Not likely. But keep thinking that." Jimbo said, reaching into his backpack for another Twinkie.

Nanny came staggering back into view and Jimbo spun around and offered the second Twinkie to her. "Hungry yet?"

Nanny covered her mouth, then ran back for the bushes again.

Samuel wagged a finger at Jimbo. "You're a naughty, naughty boy."

Jimbo replied by downing the second Twinkie in one gulp.

They waited for Nanny to come out again and she gave Jimbo a look that could kill, but he softened it somewhat when she realized he was holding her backpack. She snatched it and gave him a dirty look.

He said nothing.

Samuel saw Al waving to him from their left and looked back at his friends. "I think we better get moving before another of our sky friends come looking for us."

"At least we agree on something." Nanny grumbled, and followed him as he led the way.

Jimbo dropped back and holstered his pistol, then he rethought it, took it out and kissed its barrel. "Ain't no love, like a hot guy, baby!"

Nanny looked back at him and scowled. "You idiot! Guns are for children."

"Tell that to the next Nazi we meet, honey." Jimbo responded.

She gave him an even bigger scowl, then hurried up and slipped an arm through Samuel's, taking him totally offguard.

"So, Sam, tell us about what got you into this business."

They spent the next three hours going deeper and deeper into the woods, talking about nothing deep or in particular, just gabbing to keep their minds off what had happened earlier. "How had they really escaped certain death. Who had struck down the ship?"

Samuel looked across at Al and M who were walking to his left. "Well?" He asked.

Al shrugged, but a smug smile was on his face.

Marilyn pointed and Samuel looked back to see Nanny and Jimbo having a merry time  conversing. "She's got a temper like a bottle of nitroglycerin, but she forgets like a child."

Marilyn nodded. 

Samuel sighed. "And as usual, I'm the odd man out."

Marilyn put her head against his shoulder and he felt a slight distubance as her ethereal body touched his. "Thanks, I needed that."

She smiled, then kissed him lightly on his cheek and vanished.

"Up ahead." Jimbo hollered.

Samuel snapped back into his body, letting go of his thoughts and saw a kind of structure intertwined with the trees ahead. 

He and the others made their way forward cautiously. The Hollow Earth hadn't been too friendly so far, and they weren't taking any chances. Jimbo had his pistol out and Samuel had his hand up, in case he need to use his powers.

Nanny gripped her Bowie knife. Jimbo looked down at that. "Where'd you get that toothpick?"

"From your backpack."

"Hey!" He cried out.

Ahead of them the structure lit up as bright as a Christmas tree.

"Fall back." Samuel warned and they fell behind one of the massive trees to see what happened next. 

Nothing happened for about five minutes, then two children came out and began playing in the light. They were both white haired and slender with long ears.

"Elves." Nanny cooed.

"Not likely." Jimbo drawled.

"You ruin everything!"

"I do my best." Jimbo replied to her with a scoundrel's smile. She smiled back, then looked forward again.

"My children won't harm  you." A man's voice spoke kindly from behind them.

Jimbo spun around with his pistol ready to fire, then lowered it. 

A man, who looked an awful lot like Santa Claus, wearing long suspenders and coveralls, with twinkling blue eyes, an axe and a bucket of water stood there looking at them with a smile.

"My wife should have dinner just about ready. We've been expecting you." He told them, then walked past and into the light.

The two children ran up and he set down his bucket and axe and swung them up into his powerful arms and swung them around and around to their delight.

"He's not Santa Claus." Jimbo finally managed to say.

"Sure, you just go ahead and tell yourself that, Jimmie." Nanny said as the man began to laugh like the archetypal Santa Claus does in all the videos  and movies they'd seen.

 

Journey to the Center of the Earth

San Francisco is struck by a tsunami and earthquake that level the city and kill millions.

The Golden Gate Bridge collapses. London's Tower of London, Big Ben and many other historical areas are flattened by a massive earthquake. 

Delhi, India is destroyed. Moscow, Russia is turned to rubble. 

Beijing, China is swallowed by the earth opening up beneath it. 

Billions die in a matter of minutes. The earth is no longer the safe place humans assumed it was. As new nations are formed and old ones reconstruct they learn that the Big One that caused the death of billions was intentional. 

Hurriedly, they gather together a crack team of scientists and military personnel called the Hollow Earth Special Forces Team. 

The Team must journey to the center of the earth and stop an event that will mean the end of all life on our planet. 

Journey to the Center of the Earth is an epic adventure of brave men and women who must overcome monsters, sabotage and beings with a hidden agenda intent on stopping their success.

Over 400 pages of stunning action, emotion and adventure as never before read. Available now at Amazon. Com and other fine retailers. Purchase now for $14.36.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter Eight: Boomerang is now posted on ImagineNation.

A pose that struck terror into the hearts of the criminals he fought. Captain Marvel of the Golden Age of Motion Picture Serials.

I remember watching this and thinking how nifty it would be to fly without using any kind of mechanical device, like I do in my dreams.

Course it took Billy Batson to be befriended by a Mystic with magical powers, but these days it only takes a burst of complex radiation to X your way into the air. Go X-Men and Supe!

--John--

SHERLOCK HOLMES: Terror by Night (1946, 720p) - Full Mystery Movie now posted on ImagineNation

I remember watching these movies on an old black and white TV with my parents. The music and the noir were just scary. Loved Basil Rathbone. Certainly the quintessential detective actor at that time.

--John--

 Before Flash Gordon, before Tarzan of the Apes, before Star Wars, before Harry Potter, there was the greatest detective of all time....Sherlock Holmes.

Read some of his greatest adventures not told by the author in this beautifully bound paperback version sold at Amazon.

You'll discover a creature who lives in our world, but is not of it.

Experience a realm that is invisible to our own, but contains all the creatures of fancy and legend.

Unfold a plot to rule the world by a mastermind.

These are just some of the adversaries and adventures Sherlock and his friends, the Baker Street Adventurers, will investigate and face.

But it now on Amazon!

The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter Seven: Human Target

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Four is now posted on ImagineNation

Chapter Thirty Four

A door slid open in the side wall and they turned to see Seran enter, this time in a beautiful wrap of gold and white. He wore a kind of wreath about his hair that was dappled with glittering jewels of some kind. His face was more bronze and his eyes a deeper blue. He stood about seven feet tall. Intimidating to say the least to those in the room, who were not used to men of such gigantic stature.

Seran gave them a curt nod. "I was chosen because I am the shortest of my kind. I hope I am not dispositioning you too much with my stature. Normally, we have some of our friends from neighboring realms  introduce us first so we are not such a shock to our visitors. The last ones....French, I believe...almost died when they saw my father and brothers. They all stand over nine feet tall."

"And there were giants in those days." Muttered Nanny.

Seran turned to look at her. "Your mother will be happy to see you."

Nanny almost fainted on the spot. "My mother! Here?"

"Have you never wondered how you came to have so much occult abilities by the mother you knew in this life?"

"Actually...no." Nanny squeaked, trying her best to maintain her spunky character, but somewhat failing in it. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest she feared everyone could hear it. Her mother alive and here!

Seran smiled gently, then turned to Samuel. "And you, young man, surely you have wondered what created such fantastic genetics in your own spiritual body?"

"Actually." Sam almost said more, but Al was shaking his head vigorously no.

"Actually, no as well."

Seran's face fell. "That is sorrowful."

He turned to Jimbo. "I'm sure you know where your genetics came from, so I won't bother to regale you with any falsehoods."

Jimbo made fists from his hands, but held his temper at the arrogance of Seran's words. 

Suddenly, the old man's kindness seemed more and more a smokescreen for something darker and more malignant.

Samuel gave Jimbo a quick look and a secret signal with his right hand, which Seran saw, but did not comment on, but Jimbo, however, burst into a smile and relaxed. "No hard feelings about it. We Texans have enough pride in ourselves not to worry over such a simple thing as genetics."

"Too bad." Seran said with a tone of sadness. "Genetics are everything.

"Okay." Nanny broke in. "You obviously didn't come in here to give us a lecture on our fathers and mothers and gene code, so what are you really here for and why did you....beam us up?"

Seran laughed.

"Actually, we didn't beam you up. All three of you have been unconscious for about a week. It's a...."

"Say what?" Jimbo demanded. "Did you just say I've gone without double Whammies for a whole week?"

Seran gave Jimbo a blank look.

Samuel intervened. "Its a flat piece of meat made from cows and cooked in drizzles of barebecue sauce and flopped in a double layer on a toasted sesame seed bun."

Jimbo's mouth began to water. "Come to think of it, when do we eat?"

Seran half bowed to him. "I am being negligent as a host. We shall be landing soon and I shall make up for it with a full buffet."

"It better be big. A whole week is a long time on this fuel tank." Jimbo growled.

Seran laughed. "Oh, I suspect it will be more than enough."

"I must ask one thing of you before I leave."

"Anything." Samuel said calmly, even though he was getting bad vibes from Al and Marilyn who was making horns behind Seran's head.

"When we land, do not try to run away."

He motioned and the door opened again for him. He made it halway out, then looked back at them. His friendly eyes suddenly burned with a cold anger. "It might not turn out so well for you this time."

The door swished shut, cutting him from view of the others.

Samuel motioned to them to sit on the floor next to him. They did.

"What the hell was that all about?" Jimbo asked. "I've never  heard so much polished bull in my whole life. That was enough crap to fill the Yankee Stadium and overflow into the Hudson River."

Nanny nodded. "Did you see his eyes at the last. What happened to the wise old man?"

Samuel took her hand in his right, then motioned for her to take Jimbo's left and he Samuel's right. They formed a tight circle.

"Close you eyes." He told them.

They did. The moment they did, Nanny let out a shriek and broke the circle, jumping up to muffle a scream she felt ready to explode.

Samuel and Jimbo looked at her, calmly.

"You two are freaks!" She declared, but when they said nothing, she dropped beside them and took their hands again. "This better be good." She warned Samuel with an angry glare.

Immediately she found herself seated in the middle of a kind of temple room, with incense burners all around them, and torches hanging from the ceiling in very ornate, bronzed dishes. Guards stood at four doors. The guards stood about eight feet tall and had dog faces and eagle wings. They each held a crystal spear between their hands. 

"This is just..."

"Nuts." Jimbo said. He looked over at Samuel. "This time I know I've gone mad."

Samuel said nothing, his eyes were still closed.

Finally, Nanny nudged him with her knee.

Samuel opened his eyes. "Sorry, Al was telling me something."

"Who? Oh, him."

She saw Al standing behind Samuel with his arms crossed, giving her a stare of confidence.

"As long as we maintain this circle I'll be able to talk to you and we won't be overheard."

"Why should we worry about that?" Nanny asked.

Jimbo sighed. "Oh probably because we're in six hells worth of danger, and likely to die at any moment."

"Worse." Samuel admitted.

Jimbo sighed. "Some things never change."

Nanny almost let go, but Samuel grabbed her fast. "Hold tight. It's important."

"Okay. But don't get any ideas I like any of this, because I don't let go." She told him.

Samuel gave her a very stern look and she swallowed hard. The gentle, jovial spiritual guy she had come to know was replaced by an implacable warrior.

"These are not Mount Shasta inhabitants, and we are not going to the flying city. That city in fact does not even exist. It's an illusion they've cast to catch the unwary."

"You mean there's been more down here?"

"All those people you saw that came up the mountain and never returned. The ones you told us about in the restaurant. They ended up here. On this ship. They never left it. Alive."

Nanny almost shrieked again.

"But why would they want to harm us?" She demanded, like a petulant child, her lower lip quivering with anger. Her eyes squinted when she was mad and her cheeks turned red.

Jimbo moved closer to her, so his shoulder touched hers and she felt this sudden sense of well being and safety. She looked over at him and his eyes were filled with the need to be trusted. "It's not about why us, but why anyone?"

"Jimbo's right." Samuel agreed. "These people are not old. They are new to this inner realm. And they are shunned by the true inhabitants. The wise ones that live here."

"How do..." Nanny caught herself again as Al gave her the evil eye.

"All right. You know. But again, what do they have to gain by keeping us from leaving?"

"They're not ready to be exposed yet to the world." Samuel explained. "They have been hiding here since...."

Al looked over and held up two fingers. "World War Two."

"Oh my God!" Nanny said, suddenly realizing what he was getting at. The sybmols on this ship. "They're..."

"Yes." Samuel said. "They are."

"So what do we do next?" Nanny asked him.

Samuel looked at her. "Trust me."

"That's a hard sell." She said.

Jimbo looked at her sternly. "Nanny. This is no joke. Sammie and I have been in situations like this before and the ones we were helping...well, if they didn't listen..."

"They died." Samuel finished for him.

Nanny did freak this time.

She jumped up to scream and everything went blam and crazy!

 Before Flash Gordon, before Tarzan of the Apes, before Star Wars, before Harry Potter, there was the greatest detective of all time....Sherlock Holmes.

Read some of his greatest adventures not told by the author in this beautifully bound paperback version sold at Amazon.

You'll discover a creature who lives in our world, but is not of it.

Experience a realm that is invisible to our own, but contains all the creatures of fancy and legend.

Unfold a plot to rule the world by a mastermind.

These are just some of the adversaries and adventures Sherlock and his friends, the Baker Street Adventurers, will investigate and face.

But it now on Amazon!