Crossover of the Week

Summer 1855

PIERCING THE VEIL OF ISIS

            The Chevalier Auguste Dupin’s new assistant is Reginald Goodwin, who flirts with Juliette Saint-Fond. Juliette’s potential employer, Comte Jacques de Carignan, shows Dupin some of the grimoires in his personal library, including De Vermis Mysteriis, the Book of Eibon, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and John Dee’s personal copy of the Necronomicon, authored by Abdul Alhazred, “the Mad Arab.” The Comte and Dupin discuss the Illuminati. The Comte says that the Director of the city museum, Dr. Ponnonmer, procured the mummy of Allamistako from his cousin, Captain Arthur Sabretash. The Comte once believed that Cagliostro was his father. Edme-François Jomard had the Comte spy on Ethan Gage; one of these assignments happened while Gage was searching for his love, Astiza. The Comte tells Dupin that the Habits Noirs (aka the Black Coats) are also seeking the secret of life over death. The Comte says that Colonel Bozzo-Corona, the leader of the High Council of the Black Coats, is his true father. One of Bozzo-Corona’s cronies, Dr. Samuel, stole the secret of re-animation from the Comte, intending to use it to resurrect the mummy Pha-ho-tep, which he would control with a golden ankh.

            Short story by Paul Hugli in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 10: Esprit de Corps, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2013. The Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin is from Edgar Allan Poe’s tales “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” and “The Purloined Letter.” Dr. Ponnonmer (originally spelled Ponnonner), Allamistako (originally Allamistakeo), and Captain Arthur Sabretash are from Poe’s “Some Words with a Mummy.” Reginald Goodwin is an ancestor of Nero Wolfe’s legman and biographer Archie Goodwin. Juliette Saint-Fond is a descendant of the wealthy Saint-Fond from the Marquis de Sade’s novel Juliette. De Sade’s Juliette is the sister of the title character of his book Justine, thus bringing that novel into the CU as well. Abdul Alhazred’s Necronomicon was created by H.P. Lovecraft, and is a staple of his Cthulhu Mythos. De Vermis Mysteriis, the Book of Eibon, and Unaussprechlichen Kulten are Mythos tomes created by Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard respectively. The CU version of the Illuminati has had encounters with many adventurers, including Gary Seven and his companion Roberta Lincoln, as well as Lara Croft, and they have also appeared in a series of novels by Robert Anton Wilson. Count Cagliostro is a historical figure who was identified as the ancestor of a villainous branch of the Wold Newton Family by Philip José Farmer. He also appeared in novels by Alexandre Dumas. Ethan Gage and his lover Astiza are from novels by William Dietrich. The Habits Noirs, Colonel Bozzo-Corona, and Dr. Samuel are from the works of Paul Féval. Pha-ho-tep and the golden ankh are from the Mexican horror film Assignment Terror; the Colonel will use the mummy for his own nefarious ends in Christofer Nigro’s “Death of a Dream” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 9: La Vie en Noir, 2012.)