A chapbook of two tales, a novelette and short story, respectively. In the novelette, the stronger of the two tales, an aged Nicolai Tesla is recruited to seek out Sherlock Holmes in the Dreamlands of H.P. Lovecraft. Their respective nemeses, Wilhelm Reisen and Professor Moriarty -- with the help of Hitler -- are calling up the Old Gods to break through the walls of sleep and thereby destroy and then control both worlds. A fine premise deserving of a longer work as neither Moriarty nor Hitler are developed characters in this particular tale, and Holmes himself when, at last, we meet him in the Dreamlands, is a vital if minor character I desired to see play a more active role in the tale's foreshortened last act. Albert Einstein, who delightfully makes an appearance, has at almost as much time "on-stage" as Holmes despite having a lesser part in the main story conflict. Vaughan's prose is overall well-written, and his evocative imagery of the Dreamlands will please the Dreamlands enthusiast:

"--flames leaping from braziers and basalt towers reaching into the sky where leather-winged creatures soared and thin black clouds raced across the face of the moon." (p.15)
"...Tesla wandered the streets of Ulthar, sometimes stopping at sailors' inns where he listened to tales spun in the lateness of the night composed of equal parts truth and drunken mead." (p.32)

I did find the last act, when all the above characters are present, to be a bit rushed and wished this last part of the story had been further mined and refined. Still, the tales are a pleasant return to Lovecraft's Dreamlands or would-be Dreamlands adventurers with companions from classic modern literature and history. ( )