Crossover of the Week

May 5, 1919

REVENGE OF THE REANIMATOR

            Robert Peaslee writes a letter to his wife Hannah describing his visit to Locus Solus in Montmartre, the estate of Dr. Martial Canterel. Peaslee, a native of Arkham, is met by a colleague of his, a young veteran named Gatsby. Peaslee mentions his father, Professor Nathaniel Peaslee. Canterel says that he believes a goggle-eyed light fixture he owns to be a piece of Nemo’s Nautilus. Canterel confuses Peaslee for Dr. Herbert West, a member of the faculty at Miskatonic, with whom he worked on a reagent long ago. His own reagent, Resurrectine, is based on their past work, and can bring the dead back to life. Canterel says that he infuses Vril energy into the reagent during formulation.

            Short story by Pete Rawlik in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 10: Esprit de Corps, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2013; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 14), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2014. Robert Peaslee, his wife Hannah, and his father, Professor Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee, are from H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Out of Time.” Arkham, Massachusetts and Miskatonic University play prominent roles in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Dr. Herbert West is from Lovecraft’s “Herbert West—Reanimator.” Locus Solus, Dr. Martial Canterel, and Resurrectine are from Raymond Roussel’s novel Locus Solus. Jay Gatsby is from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Captain Nemo and his Nautilus are from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. The Vril energy is from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel The Coming Race.