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Diogenes Club: Difference between revisions
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A series of short stories by [[Kim Newman]].
First, a paragraph of historical context and disambiguation: The Diogenes Club was created by [[
In these short stories, Newman presents a somewhat different Diogenes Club: not the British secret service, but ''a'' British secret service, devoted to investigating the weird and improbable, from the return of Zombie Hitler to an [[Stealth Pun|insane murderer who devotes his kills to the goblins Snap, Crackle, and Pop]].
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The main sequence of stories range from [[Victorian Britain]], when Mycroft Holmes presided over the Club in its familiar form, to [[The Eighties]], when dark behind-the-scenes forces used the British government's enthusiasm for privatisation to have the Club officially dismantled and replaced by a tame band of paranormal investigators with electronic detectors and a silly acronym. Each story is a stylistic pastiche of the investigator of the unknown and/or secret agent fiction of the period in which it's set, with much [[Lampshade Hanging]] and other playing with tropes. (And then there's the story set on the set of a [[Show Within a Show]] soap opera, which explicitly lampshades a whole new set of genre tropes.)
The period that gets the most attention is [[The Seventies]], when Richard Jeperson, psychic detective and glam fashion enthusiast, was the Club's best agent, ably assisted by the elegant [[Only One Name|Vanessa]] and the down-to-earth Fred Regent. These stories homage British TV series such as ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'', ''[[
Other featured periods include [[Victorian Britain]], with Charles Beauregard and Kate Reed (alternate versions of whom featured in ''[[Anno Dracula]]''); and [[The Twenties]], [[The Thirties|Thirties]], and [[The Forties|Forties]], with Edwin Winthrop and Catriona Kaye (who had previously appeared as supporting characters in the nominally standalone novel ''Jago'', which also introduced the paranormal investigators with the silly acronym).
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* [[Enemy Mine]]: "Cold Snap" has Derek Leech and the Diogenes Club joining forces to save the world.
* [[The Fair Folk]]: The antagonists in "The Gypsies in the Wood".
* [[Footnote Fever]]: All the more recent stories include footnotes or endnotes explaining obscure historical or cultural details that might not be familiar to foreign readers. The cultural notes are pretty reliable, but the historical notes are written from an [[In
* [[Framing Device]]: In "The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Train", Richard Jeperson tells Fred Regent the story of his first major mission for the Diogenes Club, and his first meeting with Vanessa, on the eve of what turns out to be Vanessa's departure.
* [[Kid Detective]]: Richard Riddle, Boy Detective, who assists the Diogenes Club in "The Gypsies in the Wood", and in whose honour Richard Jeperson was named.
** A darker version appears in "Clubland Heroes" with Richard "Clever Dick" Cleaver; he's an off-the-scale genius who, unlike the more pleasant and engaging Richard Riddle, is also a snide, stuck-up and humourless little snot. {{spoiler|And then when he appears in "Cold Snap" following the ignominious end of his child-detecting career, he's let bitterness warp him into a genocidal maniac.}}
* [[Legacy Character]]: "Cold Snap", set in the 1970s, introduces Jamie Chambers, son of 1930s vigilante Jonathan "Dr Shade" Chambers. By the end of the story, he's considering going into the family business as Jamie Shade. An author's note adds that the current holder of the Shade Legacy is Christine Chambers, aka Lady Shade.
* [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]: Referenced not only in regard to Newman himself and [[
* [[Magicians Are Wizards]]: The Great Edmondo in "Sorcerer, Conjurer, Wizard, Witch".
* [[Meaningful Name]]: The psychiatrist in "You Don't Have to Be Mad..." is Dr. Ballance, which sounds like a good name for a psychiatrist -- but a slightly fuller rendition of his name reveals him as Dr. I. M. Ballance -- ''im''balance.
* [[The Men in Black]]: "The Undertaking", an Edwardian British group of MIBs, who are a rival organisation to the heroes (the Diogenes is, essentially, [[Doctor Who|UNIT to the Undertaking's Torchwood]]). They have Code Names like Mr. Hay, Mr. Bee and Mr. Sea, which is probably a [[Shout-Out]] to the names in ''[[Men in Black (
* [[Mister Strangenoun]]: The Undertakers.
* [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing
* [[Mythology Gag]]:
** One of the stories mentions that the Diogenes Club was aware of [[Dracula]]'s activities but correctly concluded that Dr Van Helsing could handle it without their assistance. ''[[Anno Dracula]]'' shows what might have happened if they were wrong.
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