Crossover Cover: Outlaws

A meeting about bank robberies being committed by a group of young radicals is held in the offices of Ward Keane, District Attorney of Plymouth County. The criminals are later put on trial for murder, with Special Assistant Attorney General Terry Gleason acting as prosecutor. The landlord of the Broad Street Grille is quoted in the Boston Commoner. Keane and Gleason were first mentioned in Higgins’ novel Impostors, which also features Roger Kidd from Higgins' Jerry Kennedy series. The first book in that series, Kennedy for the Defense, has a reference to Robert B. Parker's P.I. Spenser. The Boston Commoner newspaper appears in a number of Higgins’ books, including the aforementioned Impostors; the Jerry Kennedy series; Wonderful Years, Wonderful Years; Victories, a sequel to the novel Trust; and Bomber’s Law.

Crossover Cover: Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist

This ten issue miniseries is a reimagining of Flash Gordon’s first trip to Mongo. In this particular issue, the Phantom and Mandrake have a cameo. This story is irreconcilable with Alex Raymond's original tale, and therefore must be placed in an AU.

Crossover Covers: Conan/Red Sonja and Red Sonja/Conan

Crossover Movie Poster: Ricochet

Newscaster Gail Wallens does a report on discredited Assistant District Attorney Nick Styles. Gail first appeared in the movie Die Hard, which is already in the CU via the appearance of Sgt. Al Powell in an episode of Chuck. Mary Ellen Trainor played Gail in both films, which were also cowritten by Steven E. de Souza and co-produced by Joel Silver.

Crossover of the Week

Today marks my 700th post on this blog. Thanks to everyone who follows this site. In honor, of this occasion, I am doing something a little different for the Crossover of the Week. Instead of sharing a write-up from the main timeline, I am going to provide an excerpt from one of the addendums, "The Anno Dracula Universe and Character Guide."

Anno Dracula 1968: Aquarius (in Anno Dracula: Dracula Cha Cha Cha, Titan Books, 2012)

• Kate Reed
• Kôr (kingdom ruled by Ayesha, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed, in novels by H. Rider Haggard)
• Jerusalem’s Lot (’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King)
• Gamma Bomb (source of Dr. Bruce Banner’s transformation into the Hulk in stories published by Marvel Comics)
• Bali Ha’i (Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener, adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein as the musical South Pacific)
• Frank Mills is the title character of a song in the stage musical and film Hair
• Algernon Ford (The Reverend Alexander Algernon Ford; Gavin Reed, The Body Beneath)
• Horatio Stubbs is featured in a trilogy of novels by Brian Aldiss
• Seaton Begg is Michael Moorcock’s alternate reality counterpart to Sexton Blake
• Compact magazine is from the British soap opera Compact
• Bikini Girl magazine is from the film The Night Caller
• Wow Magazine is from the film Cover Girl Killer
• Fred Regent (Richard Jeperson’s policeman sidekick in Newman’s Diogenes Club stories)
• Jim Graham (Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard; Graham is a fictionalized version of Ballard himself)
• B Division and Pickering are from R. Chetwynd-Hayes’ book The Monster Club
• Herrick (William Herrick; Jason Watkins, Being Human)
• The Diogenes Club
• Detective Superintendent Bellaver, Detective Sergeant Griffin, and Keith Kenneth (Alfred Marks, Julian Holloway, and Michael Gothard, Scream and Scream Again)
• Premier Torgu (Ion Torgu; Fangland by John Marks)
• Lord Ruthven
• Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, Dracula A.D. 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula)
• Abraham Van Helsing
• Morgan Delt (David Warner, Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment)
• Nezumi first appeared in "Anno Dracula 1923: Vampire Romance"
• Arthur Bryant and John May are members of the Peculiar Crimes Unit in novels by Christopher Fowler
• Mycroft Holmes
• Richard Jeperson
• Donna Rogers (Anna Massey) and the Midnight Mess restaurant are from the film The Vault of Horror
• Geoff Brent (Geoffrey Brent; Ian Hendry, Police Surgeon)
• The Crimson Executioner (Mickey Hargitay, Bloody Pit of Horror)
• Carol Thatcher (Janet Lynn, Cool It Carol!)
• Geneviève Dieudonné
• Waldo Zhernikov (Herbert Lom, The Frightened City)
• Hogarth, aka Big Bloodsucker Hog (Peter Egan, Big Breadwinner Hog)
• The Living Dead motorcycle gang is from the film Psychomania
• Inspector Hornleigh (protagonist of a 1930s radio show)
• George Dixon (Jack Warner, The Blue Lamp and Dixon of Dock Green)
• Jack Regan (John Thaw, The Sweeney)
• Timothy Lea (Robin Askwith, Confessions of a Window Cleaner, Confessions of a Pop Performer, Confessions of a Driving Instructor, and Confessions of a Summer Camp Councillor; Askwith also played Joe Sickles in Cool It Carol!)
• Peter Steiger (Ralph Arliss, Blood Relations)
• University of Watermouth (The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury)
• St. Bartolph’s and Laura Bellows (Caroline Munro) are from Dracula A.D. 1972
• Walter Goodrich and Doctor Holstrom (Peter Cushing and Edward Woodward, Incense for the Damned)
• Caleb Croft and James Eastman (Michael Pataki and William Smith, Grave of the Vampire)
• Professor Bowles-Ottery (Leo McKern, A Jolly Bad Fellow)
• E. B. Fern is a science fiction author played by Harold Kasket in "Amazing Stories," an episode of the British television anthology Red Letter Day
• Tom Choley was played by Paul Angelis in a six-part adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel A Dog’s Ransom on the anthology series Armchair Thriller
• The Winchester is from the movie Shaun of the Dead
• Neville Hetherington (Robert Crewdson, Her Private Hell)
• Sybil Waite (Patricia Haines, Virgin Witch)
• Sixth Form Girls in Chains, Zarana and Lady Celia (Lady Celia Asquith-Leaves) are from Newman’s story "Soho Golem"
• The Science of Sex is from the movie Deep End
• Bathtime with Brenda is from the movie Terror
• Thomas Nolan is David Hemmings’ character from the film Blow-Up (Newman provided him with his surname, which is the same as that of Hemmings’ character in The Charge of the Light Brigade; Hemmings named one of his sons Nolan in honor of that role)
• Lucy Westenra
• Sir John Rowan (Peter Cushing, Corruption)
• Baron Meinster (David Peel, The Brides of Dracula)
• Clive Landseer (Alexis Kanner, Goodbye Gemini; the "white-blonde male and female twins who 'came together'" are Julian and Jacki Dewar, played by Martin Potter and Judy Geeson)
• Syrie Van Epp (Elizabeth Shepherd, The Corridor People)
• The Fevre Dream is from George R. R. Martin’s vampire novel of the same name
• Sebastian Newcastle (Don Sebastian de Villanueva, from vampire novels by Les Daniels)
• Herbert von Krolock and Professor Abronsius (Iain Quarrier and Jack MacGowran, Dance of the Vampires aka The Fearless Vampire Killers)
• Mrs. Michaela Cazaret and Tom Lynn (Ava Gardner and Ian McShane, The Ballad of Tam Lin)
• Paul Durward (Shane Briant, Captain Kronos–Vampire Hunter)
• Canon Copely-Syle (To the Devil a Daughter by Dennis Wheatley)
• Emir Abdulla Akaba was played by Henry Soskin in the "Death a la Carte" episode of The Avengers
• Plainview Oil is a reference to the film There Will Be Blood
• Berkeley-Willoughby (Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby, The Adventures of PC 49 radio series)
• Jack Andrus (Kirk Douglas, Two Weeks in Another Town)
• Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff, Targets; his role of Clayface is meant to evoke Basil Karlo, the first of several Batman foes to use the name Clayface, who modeled his masked persona after the character he played in the horror film The Terror, which is also the name of Byron Orlok’s last film)
• Countess Addhema (The Vampire Countess by Paul Féval)
• Toby Dammit (Terence Stamp, Spirits of the Dead)
• The Daughter of the Dragon (Fah Lo Suee, daughter of Fu Manchu; her alias of Lin Tang is the name given to Fu’s daughter in the Harry Alan Towers-produced films in the late ‘60s, in which she was portrayed by Tsai Chin, while her role as Thomas Nolan’s personal assistant is a reference to Chin’s appearance as Thomas’ unnamed receptionist in Blow-Up)
• The Lord of Strange Deaths (Fu Manchu)
• Barbara von Weidenborn (Evelyne Kraft, Lady Dracula; her pseudonym Barbarushka is a reference to 1960s fashion model Veruschka, who appeared as a fictionalized version of herself in Blow-Up)
• Edwina (Edwina Lionheart; Diana Rigg, Theatre of Blood)
• Marcus Monserrat and Mrs. Monserrat (Boris Karloff and Catherine Lacey, The Sorcerers)
• Hugh Conway and Shangri-La (Lost Horizon by James Hilton)
• Shambhala is from Tibetan and Indian Buddhist mythology
• K’un-L’un is the adopted home of the Marvel Comics hero Iron Fist
• Kent Allard
• "The secret of killing via shouting" is a reference to the film The Shout
• Catherine Cornelius is the sister of Michael Moorcock’s adventurer and secret agent Jerry Cornelius
• Moira Kent ("The Dancing Life of Moira Kent," strip in the British comic Bunty)
• Fontaine Khaled (The Stud and The Bitch by Jackie Collins)
• Sir Billy Langly was played by Kevin Brennan in "The Human Time Bomb," an episode of the television series Doomwatch
• The Steel Claw is a British comics character
• Vanessa is Richard Jeperson’s lovely companion
• Charles Beauregard
• Danny Dravot
• Whitney is Whitney Gauge from Newman’s "Moon Moon Moon"
• Maureen is Maureen Mountmain from Newman’s "Seven Stars"
• Louise-Ésperance is Madame Louise Ésperance "Mama-Lou" d’Ailly-Guin from Newman’s "The Serial Murders," which is also the source of Corri (Professor Barbara Corri) and The Northern Barstows
• Quelou is Mademoiselle Quelou from Newman’s Doctor Who novel Time and Relative
• CI5 is from the British television series The Professionals
• WOOC(P) (The Ipcress File by Len Deighton)
• The Circus is from the George Smiley novels by John le Carré
• Universal Exports is the front for the British Secret Service in the James Bond novels
• The Section is from the TV series Callan; David Callan’s boss is known as Colonel Hunter
• Sandbaggers are a reference to the British spy TV series The Sandbaggers
• Scalphunters are a reference to le Carré’s Smiley novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Edwin Winthrop
• Mildew Manor is from Kim Newman’s story of the same name
• James Manfred, O.B.E. (James Cossins, Raw Meat aka Deathline)
• The Department of Administrative Affairs is from the British sitcom Yes Minister
• Nicholas Dyer (Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd)
• Professor Elwyn Clayton (George Zucco, Dead Men Walk)
• Faber College is from the film National Lampoon’s Animal House
• Santonix (Rudolf Santonix; Endless Night by Agatha Christie)
• Harry Paget Flashman
• Horatio Hornblower
• George Edward Challenger
• Sir Francis Varney
• Prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall, Blacula and Scream Blacula Scream)
• Dru is Drusilla (Juliet Landau) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Ricky Strange (Steve Patterson) and Groover’s are from the film Au Pair Girls
• Mina Harker
• Kostaki ("The Pale Lady" by Alexandre Dumas)
• Styles, the Haymarket Strangler (Edward Styles; Michael Atkinson, Grip of the Strangler)
• Constable Thackeray is from the Inspector Cribb novels by Peter Lovesey
• Eric DeBoys was played by Patrick Mower in The Avengers episode "A Sense of History"
• Cathy Castel and Pony Tricot are meant to be the vampires played by Catherine and Marie-Pierre Castel in several films directed by Jean Rollin; "Pony Tricot" is one of Marie-Pierre’s stage names.
• Howard W. Campbell Jr. (Mother Night and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut)
• Miss Brabazon (Sheila Keith, House of Mortal Sin)
• Scrawdyke (Malcolm Scrawdyke; John Hurt, Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs)
• Withnail (Richard E. Grant, Withnail & I)
• Moïse King is a combination of Moise from the film The Party’s Over and King from the film These Are the Damned; both roles were played by Oliver Reed
• Simon Armstrong (The Feast of the Wolf by Thomas Blackburn)
• Anna Franklyn (Jacqueline Pearce, The Reptile; Pearce also played Marianne Gray in "A Sense of History")
• Fran (Marianne Morris, Vampyres)
• Roquentin (Antoine Roquentin; Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre)
• Elizabeth Bathory
• Hesselius (Dr. Martin Hesselius, In A Glass Darkly by J. Sheridan LeFanu)
• "The vanishing police box" is the Doctor’s TARDIS from Doctor Who
• The Mother of Tears is from Dario Argento’s film trilogy consisting of Suspiria, Inferno, and Mother of Tears
• Carmilla
• Edward Langdon, MP (Lennard Pearce, Face of Darkness)
• Dr. John Hardy (Marius Goring, The Expert)
• Lionel St. Dubois (Lorenzo "L. S. D." St. Dubois; Dick Shawn, The Producers)
• Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern, Rumpole of the Bailey)
• Joe Hawkins is the protagonist of the Skinhead novels by "Richard Allen," a pen name for James Moffat
• Adam Cochran (Dracula and the Virgins of the Undead by "Etienne Aubin," also a Moffat pseudonym)
• Reginald Bird (Ronald "Budgie" Bird; Adam Faith, Budgie)
• Peter Craven (Malcolm McFee, Please Sir! and The Fenn Street Gang)
• Fullalove of the Gazette (James Fullalove; Paul Whitsun-Jones, The Quatermass Experiment; Brian Worth, Quatermass and the Pit)
• Stenning of the Express (Peter Stenning; Edward Judd, The Day the Earth Caught Fire)
• DCI Charlie Barlow (Stratford Johns) and New Town are from the TV series Z Cars and its many spin-offs
• Sergeant Lynch (James Ellis, Z Cars)
• Jasper Lakin was played by John Laurie in The Avengers episode "Brief for Murder"
• Perryman (Det. Sgt. Perryman; Michael McStay, No Hiding Place)
• North (Det. Sgt. Bill North; Roger Rowland, Special Branch)
• The Bowmans, from the titular episode of the British sitcom Hancock, is a parody of the radio soap opera The Archers
• Sister George is from the play and film The Killing of Sister George
• Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham, Dracula A.D. 1972; Joanna Lumley, The Satanic Rites of Dracula)
• Marcus Obadiah (The Dead Travel Fast by Richard Tate)
• Kingstead Cemetery is from Dracula
• The India-Rubber Men are from Edgar Wallace’s novel of the same name
• Graf von Orlok (Max Schreck, Nosferatu)
• John Blaylock (David Bowie, The Hunger)
• Orlon Kronsteen (They Thirst and "Makeup" by Robert McCammon)
• Mavis Weld (The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler)
• Biff Bailey (Roy Castle, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors)
• Marcel DeLange (Martin Kosleck, House of Horrors [no relation to the above])
• The Gorilla of Soho is from the 1968 German film of the same name
• Renfield
• St. Swithin’s and Michael Upton (Barry Evans) are from the television series Doctor in the House and Doctor at Large

Crossover Cover: The Case of the Gilded Fly

Gervase Fen has an epiphany about the murder he is investigating, and hopes Gideon Fell never becomes privy to his lunacy. The reference to John Dickson Carr’s sleuth Dr. Gideon Fell reinforces Fen’s inclusion in the CU.

Crossover Cover: PulpWork Christmas Special 2014

This special from PulpWork Press includes three stories with crossovers.

In Josh Reynolds' Royal Occultist story "The Teeth of Winter," Charles St. Cyprian, hunting down a man-eating wendigo in Alberta alongside his assistant Ebe Gallowglass and the elderly Native American gunfighter Lone Crow, makes the third Hloh gesture. St. Cyprian first met the Inuit angakkuq Ukaleq in London, before the War, when he was an assistant to Thomas Carnacki. St. Cyprian and Lone Crow discuss Dr. Silence. St. Cyprian traces the sacred shape of the Voorish Sign in the air. Lone Crow appears in weird Western stories by Joel Jenkins. Hloh is from Margery Lawrence’s stories about occult detective Miles Pennoyer. Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, while Dr. Silence is from Algernon Blackwood’s collection John Silence. The Voorish Sign is from H. P. Lovecraft’s story "The Dunwich Horror."

Just as Reynolds' story features a character created by Joel Jenkins, Jenkins' own contribution to the special is a Royal Occultist story. On Maitress Island, St. Cyprian and Gallowglass battle the God of the Dark Burgeoning Deaths. St. Cyprian notes, "Professor Moriarty Moreau is said to have possession of a fragment of the Pnakotic Manuscript which contains directions for sealing portals without the use of human blood." Bella Mae Jobson of the Royal Archaeological Society comes to St. Cyprian and Gallowglass’ aid. St. Cyprian and Gallowglass are from the Royal Occultist stories by Josh Reynolds. Professor Moriarty Moreau’s connection to Professor James Robert Moriarty and Doctor Alphonse Moreau is unknown. The Pnakotic Manuscript is from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Bella Mae Jobson, originally from P. G. Wodehouse’s Drones Club story "The Editor Regrets," first encountered St. Cyprian and Gallowglass in Reynolds’ story "Deo Viridio."

The final story relevant to this blog is "Dillon and the Night of the Krampus" by Derrick Ferguson. Dillon and his friends Wyatt Hyatt and Reynard Hansen battle a Krampus in Reynolds, Alaska. Dillon receives a puppy from Hoover, a man he met years ago. Dillon once sought out a man named Jim Anthony in New York to learn certain specialized knowledge from him. Professor Ursula Van Houghton, who teaches at Grand Lakes University, has been hired by the people of Reynolds to help them deal with the Krampus and recover their stolen children. Dillon took some courses in archaeology and cultural anthropology at the University of Northeastern California under Professor Sydney Fox. Hoover is Alaska Jim Hoover from the German pulp magazine Alaska Jim, Ein Held der Kanadischen Polizei. Jim Anthony appeared in the American pulp Super Detective. Dillon first met Alaska Jim and Jim Anthony in the novel The Vril Agenda, coauthored by Ferguson and Reynolds. Grand Lakes University is from the movie Back to School. The University of Northeastern California is from the sitcom Undeclared. Professor Sydney Fox is from the television series Relic Hunter.

Happy holidays!

Crossover DVD Cover: Lupin III vs. Detective Conan

Arsène Lupin III and amateur sleuth Shinichi Kudo, aka Conan Edogawa, become involved in an investigation into the death of Queen Sakura and Prince Gill of the kingdom of Vesparand. Conan’s best friend and would-be love interest, Ran Mori, is a dead ringer for Princess Mira. Shinichi (or Jimmy in the English dubbed version) Kudo, aka Conan Edogawa, is from Gosho Aoyama’s manga Detective Conan (aka Case Closed) and its anime adaptation. Philip José Farmer identified Lupin III’s grandfather, Arsène Lupin, as a Wold Newton Family member, and therefore this crossover brings Conan Edogawa into the CU. Lupin and Conan encounter each other again in the film Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie.

Crossover Cover: Ghost of a Dream

The field agents of the Carnacki Institute investigate a haunting at an abandoned theater that is up for renovation. Julien Advent, the Apocalypse Door, the Droods, and Area 52 are mentioned, and Alistair Gravel appears. The Carnacki Institute is named after the title character of William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. The Apocalypse Door was destroyed by the Drood family in Green’s Secret Histories novel From Hell with Love. Julien Advent is from Green’s Nightside novels; he is meant to be adventurer Adam Adamant, from the television series Adam Adamant Lives! The Area 52 referred to in Green’s work is located in the Antarctic, and thus is probably meant to be the same one seen in the Image Comics miniseries of the same name. Alistair Gravel is probably meant to be a relative of combat magician William Gravel from Warren Ellis’ comic Gravel.

Crossover Cover: Radiation Wipeout

Matt Hawke, the Avenger, makes reference to meeting Mark Hardin, the Penetrator. The Penetrator battled a descendant of Dracula in Quaking Terror, so this crossover brings in the Avenger (not to be confused with the Wold Newton Family member who used that name, or Jim Brandon from the radio series The Avenger). The fifth book in Cunningham’s Avenger series was published in 2012, and updated the character so Hawke served in Afghanistan rather than Vietnam. However, it can be assumed the novel’s events actually take place in the 1980s, as did its predecessors.

Crossover Cover: I Spy Something...Boo!

Scooby and the gang team up with Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole to apprehend a ghost that repeatedly attempts to disrupt a treaty between two rival nations. Jonny Quest is mentioned. Secret and Morocco are anthropomorphic animals, and therefore I place this story in an AU.

Crossover of the Week

1911

THE WHITE LADY OF POURVILLE (LA DAME BLANCHE DE POURVILLE)

Detective Sexton Blake and his apprentice Harry Dickson travel to Pourville to investigate the appearance of what seems to be the legendary White Lady, whose gaze drives men mad. Dickson befriends Adèle Blanc-Sec. Dickson and Adèle travel to Tiffauges to research the history of Gilles de Rays, and are told about de Rays and Joan of Arc by Doctor Jules de Grandin of the Faculty of Forensic Medicine of Paris. A false de Rays proves to be the archcriminal Fantômas, who is told to surrender by a policeman named Juve. Fantômas’ plan involved a Subatlantic locomotive, designed by the great French inventor, Arsène Golbert, and sabotaged by William Boltyn, the leader of the so-called “billionaires’ conspiracy.” The alleged White Lady is actually the mentally ill Paulette Arnaud, whose sister Thérèse works for the French Secret Service. Most of the cases of madness suffered by those who encountered Paulette were actually caused by an Indian poison called Rajaijah.

Short story by Michel Stéphan appearing as “La Dame Blanche de Pourville” in in Les Compagnons de L’Ombre (Tome 10), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2012, and then in English in Harry Dickson vs. the Spider, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2014. Harry Dickson, “the American Sherlock Holmes,” was the subject of German, Dutch, Belgian, and French pulp magazines, the latter written by Jean Ray. Sexton Blake is one of the most famous British penny dreadful detectives. G.L. Gick’s story “The Werewolf of Rutherford Grange” revealed Dickson served as an apprentice to Blake in his youth, before he struck out on his own as a detective. Adèle Blanc-Sec will later become a private investigator herself, as seen in Jacques Tardi’s comic book The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec. Doctor Jules de Grandin is Seabury Quinn’s occult detective, who appeared in the magazine Weird Tales. Fantômas and Juve are from the novels by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre. Arsène Golbert and William Boltyn are from Gustave Le Rouge and Gustave Guitton’s pulp serial The Dominion of the World, which has been translated and adapted in four volumes by Brian Stableford. Thérèse Arnaud is from Pierre Yrondy’s The Adventures of Thérèse Arnaud of the French Secret Service, which has been translated by Nina Cooper for Black Coat Press. Rajaijah is from Hergé’s Tintin comic The Blue Lotus.

Crossover Movie Poster: Shorts

Toe Thompson eats a cereal called Great White Bites, which first appeared in Planet Terror. Robert Rodriguez directed both films. Win included Planet Terror in Volume 2, with the caveat that the film's apocalyptic ending must have been fictionalized.

Crossover Cover: Flashman and the Mountain of Light

Harry Flashman tells his great-niece Selina the story of a man who lost a rifle in Paris and tripped over it in West Africa twenty years later. The man who lost the rifle is Captain Battreau from P. C. Wren’s story “No. 187017,” included in the collection Flawed Blades. “No. 187017” and Wren’s other books and stories involving the French Foreign Legion are interconnected, including Beau Geste, which Philip José Farmer referenced in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. The main events of Fraser’s novel take place in 1845–1846, but the framing sequences, which refer to Flashman telling Battreau’s story to Selina, were written by Flashman after 1894 and before 1902.

Crossover Cover: Dogs of War

I mistakenly posted earlier about Underland, a book I already covered a couple months ago. Here's a replacement. 

The British agent Sparrow mentions the Nazis’ Special Projects Division from the video game Wolfenstein.

Crossover Cover: Horror in Clay

The Green Lama battles a murderous golem created by a Rabbi who initially unleashed the creature on the German consulate in New York. The Rabbi has learned of the Holocaust the Nazis will soon enact against his people from hieroglyphics in an ancient temple in Jerusalem. The temple had images on the walls of the Ark of the Covenant, the Staff of Ra, and crystal skulls. Also in the temple was a statue of a horrible ancient god named Cthulhu. The Green Lama appeared in stories by “Richard Foster” (Kendell Foster Crossen) in the pulp magazine Double Detective. The Ark of the Covenant, Staff of Ra, and crystal skull references are meant to evoke the Indiana Jones films; indeed, an earlier version of this novella that appeared in the anthology The Green Lama Volume One contains a reference to “Professor Jones, Jr. at Marshall College.” Cthulhu needs no explanation at this point. The Lama went on to battle Cthulhu in Garcia's The Green Lama: Unbound.

Crossover Covers: Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War

The Enterprise crew of the divergent universe seen in the films Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek: Into Darkness encounter Green Lantern Hal Jordan and the surviving members of six other Corps bearing different-colored rings that allow them to harness the powers of the Emotional Spectrum, who were sent there from their own reality (a possible future of the DC Comics Universe) to escape the wrath of the embodiment of Death known as Nekron, who instead follows them to this new universe.

Crossover Cover: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

According to the novelization of the first Star Trek film, “The moon Io had held some shocks for the first Earth scientists to land there, although not nearly as shattering as the earlier discovery that Earth’s own moon had once served as a base for space voyagers (their identity still a mystery) who had conducted experiments with Earth’s early life forms a million or more years before human history had begun.” This is a reference to the unknown race that created the Monoliths in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Since that film is incompatible with the early 21st century of the CU (or our world), the beings responsible for the Monoliths must have counterparts in both universe.

Crossover of the Week

HAPPY WOLD NEWTON DAY!!!

April 1917

THE ADVENTURE OF THE FALLEN STONE

Dr. Watson’s pregnant wife, Nylepthah, is staying with her cousin, Sir George Curtis. In 1919, Holmes would visit his old friend with a large financial payment from the English Lord of the Apes, the result of their adventure in Africa in 1916. Holmes’ gardener, Black Mike Croteau, has been murdered. After examining the body, Holmes and Watson are met at the former’s cottage by Harry Dickson, who has apprenticed with both Barker (Holmes’ Surrey rival) and Blake. He takes them to the Diogenes Club, where Holmes accuses his brother Mycroft of knowing there was a possibility he and Watson would be blown off course during the previous year’s African expedition he sent them upon. Holmes suggests Mycroft knew all along the ape lord was actually impersonating his deceased cousin, “William Clayton, the 7th Duke of Grey—.” Holmes points out Mycroft identified their flier, Leftenant John Drummond, as the great-nephew of Holmes’ old acquaintance, the 6th Duke. However, if Mycroft had been unaware of the imposture, he would have identified the Leftenant as the 6^th Duke’s grandson. Mycroft reveals William Clayton was a government agent reporting directly to him, and William’s alleged shipwreck in Africa was actually part of his investigation. When he died, the Duke’s cousin, the ape lord, who had survived a prior shipwreck as an infant, assumed his identity, wishing to avoid the publicity attendant to the discovery of an English lord who had been reared and suckled by apes. The mission involved tracking down the German spy Von Bork and his bacillus. Holmes deduces Mycroft hoped he and Watson would encounter the ape lord and asks why. Holmes speculates it has to do with the many unlikely coincidences the ape man comes up against. Mycroft says their scientists call it “the human magnetic moment.” Holmes’ adversary, Dr. Shan Ming Fu, informed Holmes of the lotus vitae almost ten years ago. Holmes’ encounter with the ape man brought him into contact with the jungle man’s “human magnetic” influence, causing him to discover the lotus in the hidden valley of Zu-Vendis, though he asked Watson to omit that discovery from his written account. The lotus has been stolen from Holmes’ garden. Mycroft says if Holmes’ bees can be induced to sample the lotus’ nectar, a particular honey may result, which would be the key ingredient in a unique concoction. Holmes mentions the “Hellbirds” incident, in which Von Bork escaped, though Mycroft asked Watson to distort his account of these events so Von Bork fell to his death from the Eiffel Tower. Von Bork is being trailed by Sexton Blake. The mastermind of the theft is a man who has been known by many names, including Wolf Larsen, Karl Woldheim, and Carl Woldhaus; currently, he goes by the name of Baron Ulf Von Waldman. He is the Commandant of a seemingly inescapable German prison camp for those who have escaped from other camps and been recaptured. The Baron also conducts experiments on humans. There are rumors Von Waldman is the son of Professor Moriarty. Holmes, Watson, Dickson and Isis Vanderhoek travel to Blakeney House. Isis’ father was Mr. Klaw, “the dreaming detective.” Mycroft tells Sherlock that the Diogenes Club has recently become more focused on investigating outré and unexplainable matters that affect the Empire. The butler at Blakeney House gives Dickson a coded message from Blake, in which he says he has wired Peter Blakeney in Richmond (with whom he has common relatives dating back to the mid 17th century), and Blakeney House is at their disposal, with Blakeney Jr. off at war. Blake soon arrives with a captive Von Bork in tow. Holmes recalls the tale of Openshaw. Blake tells his comrades about several places of interest in the East Riding of Yorkshire, including the village of Wold Newton, where a meteor fell near Major Edward Topham’s property, the Wold Cottage, in 1795. Holmes decides they must visit the Wold Cottage and the monument Topham had placed at the site of the meteor’s fall. Holmes unmasks “Blake” as Von Waldman. Holmes and his allies free the true Blake, and discover some fragments of stone. Holmes concludes the Germans believe exposing the lotus vitae to the meteor fragments will result in the prolongation of human life. Isis mentions Holmes’ own cultivation of the plant. Von Waldman escapes from his bonds, taking the plant with him; however, Holmes still has seeds to grow more. When Watson asks Holmes if he thinks Von Waldman is really the son of Professor Moriarty, Holmes replies that Mycroft’s files on the Baron indicate that he was born in 1888, that he was investigating Moriarty quite thoroughly at that time, and that there was no indication of a child born to the Professor in that period. Dickson suggests Von Waldman may have been someone else, much older, who once had access to a similar elixir, but whose supply may have run out, leading him to attempt to find a means of duplicating it.

Short story by Dr. Watson, edited by Win Scott Eckert in Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook, Howard Hopkins, ed., Moonstone Books, 2012. This story serves as a sequel to Watson’s account The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, as edited by Philip José Farmer. Watson’s wife Nylepthah and child are from that novel; Nylepthah is the daughter of Sir Henry Curtis from the Allan Quatermain stories (although Farmer says she is Curtis’ granddaughter, Eckert’s essay “Who’s Going to Take Over the World When I'm Gone?: A Look at the Genealogies of Wold Newton Family Super-Villains and Their Nemeses” [Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott Eckert, ed., MonkeyBrain Books, 2005] argues she is in fact his daughter). Nylepthah’s cousin, Sir George Curtis, is from Farmer’s translation and adaptation of J.-H. Rosny aîné’s Ironcastle; Farmer specifically identifies Sir George as Sir Henry’s nephew. The ape lord is Lord Greystoke, of course. Harry Dickson is “the American Sherlock Holmes” who appeared in French pulp stories by Jean Ray and others. Holmes’ rival Cecil Barker first appeared in the story “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman”; Dickson acted as his apprentice in Eckert’s story “No Ghosts Need Apply” (The Phantom Chronicles, Vol. 2, Joe Gentile and Mike Bullock, eds., Moonstone Books, 2010). Sexton Blake is one of the longest-running British penny dreadful detectives; Dickson acted as his apprentice in Greg Gick’s story “The Werewolf of Rutherford Grange” (originally published in two parts in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 1: The Modern Babylon, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2005, and Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 2: Gentlemen of the Night, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2006; reprinted in Harry Dickson and the Werewolf of Rutherford Grange, Black Coat Press, 2011). William Clayton, the 7th Duke of Greystoke, appears in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels Tarzan of the Apes and The Return of Tarzan; in his essay “A Case of Identity,” H. W. Starr identified the 6th Duke of Holdernesse and his son Lord Saltire from the Holmes story “The Adventure of the Priory School” as the 6th and 7th Duke of Greystoke, respectively, a theory adapted by Farmer for his biography Tarzan Alive. Leftenant Drummond is the jungle lord’s adopted son John Drummond-Clayton. Farmer identified the human magnetic moment in Tarzan Alive. Dr. Shan Ming Fu is Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu; Dennis E. Power revealed the Devil Doctor’s birth name in his essay “The Devil Doctor: The Early History of Fu Manchu,” found on the Wold Newton Universe: A Secret History website. The lotus vitae is the plant from which Fu Manchu’s life-prolonging Elixir vitae is derived; Fu Manchu told Holmes about the elixir in George Alec Effinger’s story “The Adventure of the Celestial Snows.” The honey is the Royal Jelly that, according to William S. Baring-Gould in his biography Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, has extended Holmes’ natural lifespan. The Hellbirds incident refers to Austin Mitchelson and Nicholas Utechin’s Holmes pastiche Hellbirds. Wolf Larsen is from Jack London’s novel The Sea Wolf; in his essay “The Green Eyes Have It—Or Are They Blue? or Another Case of Identity Recased” (Myths for the Modern Age), Christopher Paul Carey argued Larsen and Baron von Hessel (from Farmer’s authorized Doc Wildman novel Escape from Loki) were really aliases of XauXaz from Farmer’s trilogy of novels about the evil secret society known as the Nine. In his essay “Asian Detectives in the Wold Newton Universe” (Myths for the Modern Age), Dennis E. Power instead offered the alternative theory Larsen was the son of Professor Moriarty. Isis and her father Moris Klaw are from Sax Rohmer’s book The Dream Detective. The Diogenes Club’s latter-day focus on outré matters is the subject of many stories by Kim Newman. Blakeney House is one of the holdings of the Blakeney family, whose most famous member is Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel. Blakeney House previously appeared in Eckert’s stories “Is He in Hell?” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 6: Grand Guignol, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2010; reprinted and revised in The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions, Michael Croteau, ed., Meteor House, 2010) and “Nadine’s Invitation” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 7: Femmes Fatales, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2010). Peter Blakeney Jr. is Sir Percy’s descendant from The Pimpernel and Rosemary. In his series of articles “The Wold Wold West” (found at the Wold Newton Universe: A Secret History website), Dennis E. Power argued Sexton Blake was distantly related to the Blakeney family, a theory Eckert adopted for his essay “The Blakeney Family Tree” (The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1). Openshaw is from the Holmes story “The Five Orange Pips.”