In August 1873, Allan
Quatermain and his Hottentot companion Hans encounter a group of scientists
that are attempting to learn the true nature of the Star of Bethlehem. Impey
Barbicane is the group’s chief engineer. The group uses a pair of submarines
based on technical details about Captain Nemo’s Nautilus told to Barbicane by Professor Aronnax. This tale is
framed as a letter by Lady Luna Holmes Ragnall to her cousin, recounting to him
how Quatermain told her the story in turn in 1882. Annotations and apicultural
commentary written in 1905 are provided by men identified as “M” and “SS.” A
pair of footnotes state, “Some authorities have argued from internal evidence
that ‘M’ is the initial of a pseudonymous name used by a certain Great
Detective during his retirement in Sussex,” and, “The same authorities
sometimes suggest that ‘SS’ are the initials of a neighbor, fellow honey
fancier, and occasional assistant of M during this late interlude.” A clipping
from a news story by E.D. Malone about the third expedition by Professor
Challenger to South America in 1915 appears. Allan Quatermain, Hans, and Lady Luna Holmes Ragnall
are from the novels of H. Rider Haggard. Impey Barbicane is from Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon.
Professor Aronnax, Captain Nemo, and the Nautilus are from Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. “M” is a reference to Mr. Mycroft, the elderly beekeeping sleuth
featured in novels and stories by H.F. Heard, who is heavily implied to be
Sherlock Holmes. “Mycroft’s” sidekick and fellow apiarist is named Sidney
Silchester. E.D. Malone and Professor Challenger appear in The Lost World and other tales by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Crossover UniverseTM is a companion blog to the books Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1-2 by Win Scott Eckert, and the forthcoming Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1-2 by Sean Levin. Material excerpted from Crossovers Volumes 1 & 2 is © copyright 2010-2014 by Win Scott Eckert. All rights reserved. Material excerpted from Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1 & 2 is © copyright 2014-present by Sean Levin. All rights reserved.
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I was very proud to help Mr. Miller with the editing of this delightfully unusual book.
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