Conversations with Monsters

If you could talk with evil figures from history, people like Adolf Hitler, but also fictional characters like Dracula and Frankenstein, what would you say? What would you ask them? Dr. Holmes, the hero of our story, does just that, holding conversations and confrontations with Dracula, Frankenstein, Medusa, a werewolf, two ancient Egyptian mummies, a witch, and the Grim Reaper, but also the real-life monsters Leopold II, Stalin, and Hitler. As a result of their conversations, the curse is lifted on Dracula and he becomes a librarian, Frankenstein runs for political office, werewolves join police forces, and Medusa becomes a beloved housewife. There is no redemption for Stalin and Hitler. Holmes finds a way to control the Grim Reaper and descend into Hades where he befriends Cerberus, the three-headed guardian of the Gate to the Underworld, and calls forth the souls of these real-life monsters, who are constrained to appear before him and answer any questions truthfully, in spite of the seething animosity they show towards him. He also has more pleasant conversations with Napoleon Bonaparte, Elizabeth I of England as well as her father Henry VIII and his six wives, and the arch pirate Blackbeard who he rescues from purgatory. In another more pleasant conversation, he holds discussions with Isaac Newton, Galileo, and Albert Einstein, getting them to describe how they came up with some of their theories on astronomy and relativity.