The Adventure of the Speckled Band that of Dr Roylott. Holmes and Watson arrange to spend the night in Helen's room. In darkness they wait; suddenly, a slight metallic noise and a dim light through the ventilator prompt Holmes to action. Quickly lighting a candle, he discovers on the bell cord the "speckled band"—a venomous snake. He strikes the snake with a stick, driving it back through the ventilator. Agitated, it attacks Roylott, who had been waiting for it to return after killing Helen. Holmes identifies the snake as a "swamp adder" and reveals to Watson the motive: the late wife's will had provided an annual
The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (short story) only makes sense as a whole work. The story was first published in the June 1968 edition of "Galaxy Science Fiction" as "The Beast that Shouted Love", and was collected with other Ellison short stories as the first story in "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" in 1969. Subsequent publications have been in collections such as "Dark Stars", edited by Robert Silverberg, in 1969, "The Hugo Winners: Volumes One and Two", edited by Isaac Asimov, in 1971, and as part of Ellison's own retrospective collection, "Edgeworks 4", in 1997. The story includes many seemingly unrelated