Crossover Cover: Gotham Ghouls

Mystery, Inc. is summoned to Gotham City by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to help them end an apparent curse that has been on them since they stole an opal. The “ghost” responsible turns out to be Catwoman. Ultimately, the gang works with Batgirl to apprehend all three larcenous ladies.

Crossover of the Week

Tomorrow is Win's birthday, so in honor of my friend and mentor, here's a write-up of a story by him that has strong ties to the Wold Newton event. Happy early birthday, Win.

December 11–13, 1795

THE WILD HUNTSMAN

In 1720, XauXaz of the Nine is killed by a man who appears through a mirror-like portal and is almost identical to himself, and who takes his place. XauXaz’s Other has a pocket watch embossed with a sapphire representing the star Capella. In 1795, at Blakeney Hall, the lord of the mansion, Sir Percy Blakeney, along with two of his guests, General Sir Hezekiah Fogg and Dr. Siger Holmes, are the first to discover a corpse, followed by Colonel Bozzo-Corona, his man Albert Lecoq, Sir Hugh Drummond, and Honoré Delagardie. John Gribardsun, who is known to them as Sir John Gribson, cuts down the body. Sir Percy identifies the dead man as Iain Bond, aide-de-camp to William de Winter, the king’s representative at his conclave. This is the second murder in as many days; both were accompanied by the sound of nine bells clanging. Delagardie complains about the previous victim, Gerolstein’s advances towards Philippa, Delagardie’s wife and Drummond’s sister. Gribardsun, investigating the grounds, catches a familiar scent. Peering upside-down through a window, he listens in on the men gathered inside a room, including Blakeney; Fitzwilliam Darcy; Fogg; George Edward Rutherford, the 11^th Baron Tennington; Holmes; de Winter; and John Clayton, the 3rd Duke of Greystoke. Apart from Fogg, Holmes, and de Winter, all of the men in the room are Gribardsun’s ancestors. Sir Percy summoned all these people to Blakeney Hall to strategize about ending the Reign of Terror in France. Holmes witnessed Lecoq’s meeting with Countess Nadine Carody at the Calyx Bar last month. Sir Percy implies Marguerite and Alice have assured him Carody prefers the company of her own gender. Colonel Bozzo-Corona and his Brothers of Mercy provided Marguerite and Alice with the Heart of Ahriman, so they and Percy could use it to defeat Baron de Musard. Gribardsun shifts his attention to the women present at the gathering: Alice Clarke Raffles, Lady Blakeney, Elizabeth Darcy, Countess Carody, Miss Caroline Bingley, Philippa Delagardie, Alicia, Lady Greystoke, Lady Tennington, Violet Clarke Holmes, Elizabeth de Winter and Lady Drummond. Gribardsun remembers killing another Baron de Musard in the late 1500s in France. Gribardsun later looks in on the Continental group, which includes Gerolstein’s brother, Gustavas Kramm, and Carody. The following day, Miss Bingley is discovered dead. Sir Percy remarks Darcy will have a hard time writing a condolence letter to her brother. Gribardsun later spies on Lecoq playing cards with Louis Lupin, Delagardie’s coachman. He finds no sign of the other two coachmen, Arthur Blake and Etienne Austin. However, he finds Blake is also spying on them, and watches him report to Sir Hezekiah and Sir Percy. Sir Percy, who calls Blake “cousin,” believes someone at the gathering is a Capellean. Sir Hezekiah believes that person suspects not only that Blakeney is an Eridanean agent, but that Fogg himself is an Old Eridanean, and also believes the clanging comes from a distorter. Gribardsun, considering the distorter, thinks that his own ship, the H. G. Wells I, was a sort of teleportation device. He also considers whispers throughout the ages of a group called the Nine, which in turn leads to associations in his mind with the nine bells and the significance of the number nine in Khokarsan culture, including the nine-sided temple of Kho and the Door of Kho that leads into the temple, and Kho’s nine primary aspects. Gribardsun wonders if the Capelleans and the Eridaneans could be extraterrestrials, remembering his past experiences in Africa with exotic plants and a massive crystalline root system, both obviously alien in origin, which devastated the continent of Khokarsa. On December 13, the members of the party set out on their coach ride. Holmes’ friend Dr. Sebastian Noel accompanies them. Dr. Jacob Moishe, the head of the team that invented the time machine utilized by Gribardsun, had proven the actions of time travelers merely spurred historical events. Gribardsun catches the familiar scent again, and flashes back to Khokarsa in 10,814 B.C. In that time, he also smells a familiar scent. Gribardsun has enlisted a tribe of the Neanderthaloid Gokako to perform excavations in his attempt to find the source of the crystalline root system running through Central Africa, which will some day destroy Khokarsa, and whose devastating effects he first encountered in 1918. His current location is the future site of a city, founded by Lupoeth, priestess of Kho, which is very important to him. He turns to face an old acquaintance. When Gribardsun last met him, in Africa in 1912, he resembled an African witch doctor, and Gribardsun saved his life. The grateful man offered Gribardsun a concoction that granted him everlasting life. The man before him now looks very different, and identifies Gribardsun as Sahhindar, the Gray-Eyed Archer God, and also the god of plants, bronze, and Time. He states he has realized Gribardsun is an immortal time traveler, like himself. This individual states he wants Gribardsun’s secret of eternal life, having not yet met him in his own future. Gribardsun performs the ritual upon the man, who calls himself Kethnu, which means “head man.” In 1795, Gribardsun finds himself face-to face with the man once known as Kethnu. The blue sapphire on the former Kethnu’s pocket watch reminds Gribardsun of the nethkarna, the seed of the Tree of Kho, which the oracles of Khokarsa used to tap into the root system. Greystoke’s fellow immortal gives his current name as XauXaz. XauXaz has used a time distorter to travel to the year 1795. The duo battles and XauXaz boasts he is Gribardsun’s grandfather several times over. Finally, XauXaz persuades Gribardsun to let him turn on the distorter. The coachmen, recognizing the sound, turn the carriages around, just as a meteor falls from the sky. XauXaz reveals he hopes a descendant of one of the individuals present at the gathering will be able to assist him someday, and comments many of those descendants will have remarkable talents, such as Gribardsun’s ability to survive his jungle upbringing. He adds he had received an elixir from “my friends who are also my enemies” before he first met Gribardsun that was less effective than the one the jungle lord shared with him, but even the second elixir he took is beginning to wear off. About one hundred years ago from XauXaz’s perspective, he was impersonating a seal-hunting schooner captain named Larsen, and began experiencing debilitating headaches as a result of the failure of the second elixir, causing him to fake his death. He believes the meteor’s effect on his ancestors was responsible for the elixir’s efficacy upon Gribardsun, and hopes direct exposure to the meteor will have a similar effect upon him. If that doesn’t work, he hopes a descendant will uncover the key to the perfect elixir. He mentions the elixirs that have already been created by descendants of those present by his native time, including a Royal Jelly treatment whose vital elements include a shard of the Wold Newton meteor. In both 1917 and a few years afterward, XauXaz will attempt to steal such a shard, and battled with Sherlock Holmes over it. Another elixir, the “Oil of Life,” will be created by a Mastermind from the Far East, who will be the 3rd Duke of Greystoke’s grandson. XauXaz has high hopes his grandson, James Clarke Wildman, will be able to perfect the elixir. XauXaz, disguised as a German Baron, clashed with him near the end of the Great War, and sparked his interest in such an elixir. He states Wildman and his wife have not been seen for many years, but he is convinced Wildman is as young as ever. XauXaz tells Gribardsun the British Secret Service were interested in the latter’s instances of the “human magnetic moment.” XauXaz wonders before returning to his own time if the meteor would not have landed in Wold Newton if Gribardsun had not been right there to guide it to that very spot. Back in 1972, XauXaz reflects on his discovery of the Capellean distorter in the 1930s. In the 1940s, he discovered how to suppress its clangings if he so wished, and used it to puzzle the Gray Man of Ice with his impossible comings and goings. In 1972, hearing of similar advances, XauXaz has modified his distorter to travel through time as well as space. He learned of the divergent parallel universe, which was created tens of thousands of years ago, in 1720 when the Shraask entity touched his mind, and his allies-enemies in the Nine, Anana and Iwaldi, also existed in that reality. In 1972, the time distorter and Shraask, who had been invoked by the other world’s Nine in 1720, enabled him to travel to that particular time and reality, where he killed his counterpart. XauXaz traveled back and forth between his own universe and the parallel world, where he impersonated his counterpart. On his counterpart’s Earth, XauXaz’s brothers Ebnaz XauXaz and Thrithjaz died before Shraask’s advent, whereas the brothers of the XauXaz who encountered Gribardsun had died due to his refusal to share Sahhindar’s elixir with them. When the otherworldly Nine became suspicious in 1968, XauXaz faked his death. Impersonating an elderly man named Mister Bileyg, XauXaz injected himself into the bloodline of John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith and his half-brother, Doctor James Caliban, becoming their grandfather. Now, he intends to begin the next phase of his plan, having read in a newspaper about the alleged death of Doctor Wildman and his wife, following the disappearance of Greystoke and his own wife. He thinks of his prior battles with his grandson, who had known him as Baron von Hessel. Wildman’s last known location is a private clinic in New York. XauXaz considers extracting information from Wildman’s daughter Patricia.

Short story by Win Scott Eckert in The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3: Portraits of a Trickster, Michael Croteau, ed., Meteor House, 2012; reprinted in Tales of the Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott Eckert and Christopher Paul Carey, eds., Titan Books, 2013. This story explains the reason why so many people were at the remote village of Wold Newton when a meteor fell there in 1795. XauXaz, the Nine, Anana, Iwaldi, Ebnaz XauXaz, Thrithjaz, John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith; and Doctor James Caliban are featured in Farmer’s trilogy of novels consisting of A Feast Unknown, Lord of the Trees, and The Mad Goblin. In these novels, XauXaz is portrayed as the inspiration for legends of the Norse god Wotan. In Tarzan Alive, Farmer noted Wotan was an ancestor of the jungle lord, and suggested he may have been responsible for the meteor coming to Earth in Wold Newton. Shraask is from the unpublished fourth book in the Grandrith/Caliban series, The Monster on Hold. The latter novel implies, and this story confirms, Grandrith and Caliban’s exploits occur in a parallel universe to the CU. Characters from Farmer’s Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life include: Dr. Siger Holmes and his wife Violet Clarke, ancestors of Sherlock Holmes; Albert Lecoq, father of Lecoq of the Black Coats and grandfather of Monsieur Lecoq; Sir Hugh Drummond and his wife, Lady Georgia Dewhurst, ancestors of Bulldog Drummond; Honoré Delagardie and his wife Philippa Drummond, ancestors of Lord Peter Wimsey; Alice Clarke Raffles, companion of Sir Percy and Marguerite Blakeney, and Sir Percy’s future second wife; George Edward Rutherford, 11^th Baron Tennington and his wife Elizabeth Cavendish, ancestors of the jungle lord; John William Clayton, 3rd Duke of Greystoke, and his wife Alicia Rutherford, also ancestors of the jungle lord; and Arthur Blake, ancestor of Sexton Blake. The Capelleans and the Eridaneans are warring alien races from Farmer’s novel The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, which is also the source of the distorter. Another time distorter, albeit operating on different principles, is used by Farmer himself in stories by Paul Spiteri. General Sir Hezekiah Fogg was mentioned as the great-grandfather of Phileas Fogg (from Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days) in the Have Gun–Will Travel episode “Fogg Bound.” However, according to The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, Phileas’ stepfather Sir Heraclitus Fogg was an Old Eridanean, a native member of the race rather than an adoptee. Therefore, Eckert proposed in “A Chronology of Major Events Pertinent to The Other Log of Phileas Fogg” (found in the 2012 Titan Books edition of Other Log) Sir Hezekiah was a prior alias used by Sir Heraclitus himself, who later posed as his own descendant. John Gribardsun, the H. G. Wells I, Project Chronos, and Jacob Moishe are from Farmer’s novel Time’s Last Gift; Gribardsun is actually the jungle lord, who received an immortality elixir from a grateful witch doctor according to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel Tarzan and the Foreign Legion. The timeline was split into two divergent realities when the H. G. Wells I’s second trip to 14,000 B.C. was diverted to 26,000 B.C. by Gribardsun’s presence in their intended time period, as chronicled by John Allen Small in his story “Into Time’s Abyss” (The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 2: Of Dust and Soul, Michael Croteau, ed., Meteor House, 2011). Sir Percy Blakeney and his wife Marguerite are from Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel novels. Percy, Alice and Marguerite battled Baron de Musard in Eckert’s story “Is He in Hell?” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 6: Grand Guignol, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2010). The Baron de Musard in that story is an ancestor of the Baron de Musard referred to in Farmer’s Doc Wildman novel Escape from Loki. Gribardsun’s battle with a member of that family in the 1500s was alluded to in Farmer and Eckert’s novel The Evil in Pemberley House. Colonel Bozzo-Corona and his Brothers of Mercy are from Paul Féval’s novels about the criminal conspiracy known as the Black Coats. Iain Bond is an ancestor of British Secret Service agent James Bond. William de Winter and his wife Elizabeth Richmond are from Jean-Marc Lofficier’s articles “Will There Be Light Tomorrow?” (Shadowmen: Heroes and Villains of French Pulp Fiction, Black Coat Press, 2003) and “The Tangled Web: Genealogies of the Members of the French Wold Newton Families–Rocambole and Fantômas” (found at The French Wold Newton Universe website); William is descended from Milady from Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Gustavas Kramm is the ancestor of Dr. Cornelius Kramm from Gustave Le Rouge’s Le Mystérieux Docteur Cornelius, while the surviving Gerolstein brother is the father of Rodolphe de Gerolstein from Eugène Sue’s The Mysteries of Paris; both were identified as present at the meteor strike by Lofficier in“Will There Be Light Tomorrow?,” which also first proposed the reason why those present at the meteor strike were gathered together. Fitzwilliam Darcy, his wife, the former Elizabeth Bennet; Elizabeth’s sister-in-law, Miss Caroline Bingley; and Caroline’s brother Charles are from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Countess Nadine Carody is from the film Vampyros Lesbos. The Calyx Bar is from Louis Feuillade’s film serial Judex. The Heart of Ahriman is from Robert E. Howard’s Conan novel The Hour of the Dragon. Etienne Austin was identified as present at the Wold Newton meteor strike by Cheryl L. Huttner in her creative mythographic essay “Name of a Thousand Blue Demons” (Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott Eckert, ed., MonkeyBrain Books, 2005); he is an ancestor of Professor Challenger’s chauffeur-butler Austin as well as Seabury Quinn’s occult detective Jules de Grandin. Dennis E. Power revealed Sexton Blake was related to the Scarlet Pimpernel in his series of articles “The Wold, Wold West” (found at the Wold Newton Universe: A Secret History website), a theory that was adopted by Eckert for his essay “The Blakeney Family Tree” (The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions, Michael Croteau, ed., Meteor House, 2010). Khokarsa is featured in three novels by Farmer, collected in the omnibus Gods of Opar. The Gokako are also from the Opar books, and Greystoke/Gribardsun appears in the series under the name Sahhindar. The Temple of Kho also appears in the Opar books. The nethkarna and the Door and Tree of Kho appear in Christopher Paul Carey’s novella Exiles of Kho. Lupoeth is mentioned in the Opar books, and her founding of Opar is depicted in Exiles of Kho. The city founded by Lupoeth is Opar itself, which is originally from the Lord Greystoke books. Dr. Sebastian Noel is from Rick Lai’s essay “The Secret History of Captain Nemo” (Myths for the Modern Age); he is the father of Dr. Noel from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Suicide Club” and the grandfather of Professor Moriarty. The crystalline root system is from Eckert and Carey’s story “Iron and Bronze” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 5: The Vampires of Paris, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2009). The root system is an extension of the star-shaped mineral-vegetable king from J.-H. Rosny aîné’s novel L'Étonnant Voyage d'Hareton Ironcastle, translated and adapted by Farmer as Ironcastle, and is also related to the Crystal Tree of Time, which the jungle lord encountered in 1918 during the events of Farmer’s The Dark Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel (based on ideas from “Crystal Corridors in the Farmerian Monomyth,” presentation by Christopher Paul Carey and Dennis E. Power, FarmerCon III, Peoria, Illinois, July 26, 2008). Wolf Larsen is from Jack London’s The Sea Wolf, and was identified as Doc Wildman’s grandfather in Tarzan Alive. Baron von Hessel is from Escape from Loki; Christopher Carey identified Larsen and von Hessel as aliases for XauXaz in his essay “The Green Eyes Have It–Or Are They Blue? or Another Case of Identity Recased” (Myths for the Modern Age). The Royal Jelly treatment was created by Sherlock Holmes, as revealed in William S. Baring-Gould’s biography Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street. XauXaz’s attempt to retrieve a shard of the Wold Newton meteor was chronicled in Watson and Eckert’s story “The Adventure of the Fallen Stone” (Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook, Howard Hopkins, ed., Moonstone Books, 2012), which also revealed the British Secret Service’s interest in the “human magnetic moment,” first identified in Tarzan Alive. The Oil of Life was created by Dr. Fu Manchu, who was identified by Farmer as the grandson of the 3rd Duke of Greystoke in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Wildman’s wife is Adélaïde Johnston Lupin, who appears in Eckert’s stories “The Eye of Oran” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 2: Gentlemen of the Night, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2005) and “Les Lèvres Rouges” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 3: Danse Macabre, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2006). Their daughter is Patricia Clarke Lupin Wildman, the protagonist of The Evil in Pemberley House. The Gray Man of Ice is Paul Ernst’s avenging pulp hero; Eckert has chronicled his battles with XauXaz in a trilogy of stories for Moonstone Books’ anthologies featuring the character. The private clinic is Doc Wildman’s Crime College.

Crossover Cover: Vampirella vs. Fluffy the Vampire Killer

Vampirella goes undercover as a teacher at a high school to investigate a series of teen murders, and winds up working with a vampire-slaying student named Fluffy. “Fluffy” is a thinly-veiled parody of Buffy Summers of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and therefore it can be assumed in creative mythographic terms, she is indeed Buffy. However, the death of “Fluffy’s” friend “Sallow” (Willow) must be considered a distortion. The date is based on the fact the principal of the school, who is portrayed as Vampirella’s ally Criswell, states the previous principal was eaten. Two Sunnydale High principals were devoured: Robert Flutie (in the Buffy episode “The Pack”), and R. Snyder (in the two-parter “Graduation Day.”) Since the events of “Graduation Day” resulted in the school being destroyed, I have concluded Criswell’s presence is mere fictionalization and the principal is actually Snyder. Furthermore, the presence of “Fluffy’s” vampire boyfriend “Cherub” (Angel) indicates this story takes place before the temporary removal of Angel’s soul and his equally temporary death in Season 2. The high school being shut down at the end of Vampi and “Fluffy’s” adventure is another distortion, as are references to the iPhone “There’s an app for that” ad slogan, Ryan Seacrest, and Bristol Palin.

Crossover Cover: Sex, Lies, and Private Eyes

This anthology from Moonstone includes two crossovers. In C.J. Henderson's "The Mind of the Dead," psychometrist Lai Wan comes to the aid of Carl Kolchak when they turn out to be investigating the same series of crimes. Kolchak also encountered Lai Wan in Spring 1997 during the events of Henderson and Joe Gentile’s novel Partners in Crime. September 15 is a Saturday, placing this story in 1997 as well, after Partners in Crime. “The Mind of the Dead” does not address whether Kolchak and Lai Wan have met before. In John Lutz's "Recreational Vehicle," a St. Louis private eye named Nudger travels to Florida to help his girlfriend’s aunt and uncle, who are being blackmailed, and works with his fellow P.I. Fred Carver to resolve the situation. Lutz’s P.I. Fred Carver is in the CU through a mention of Robert B. Parker’s eye Spenser in his first appearance, Tropical Heat, as well as a brief appearance in Robert J. Randisi’s Miles Jacoby novel Hard Look. This crossover brings in Lutz’s other series P.I. character, Alo Nudger.

Crossover Cover: The Web Weaver

 

A sequel to Siciliano's Holmes vs. the Phantom of the Opera novel The Angel of the Opera, which has already been placed in an AU. The Duke of Denver, presumably Lord Peter Wimsey’s father or grandfather, is mentioned.

Crossover Cover: The Dogs of War

Kurt Semmler once served in the OAS, a French terrorist group, under Colonel Marc Rodin. Rodin is from Forsyth’s novel The Day of the Jackal, which takes place in the CU via a reference to M’s club, Blades, from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.

Crossover Cover: The First Commandment

CIA paramilitary operative Rick Morrell tells his subordinate Mike Raymond he is going to call in a favor from an ex-Department of Justice operative turned book dealer named Malone to verify whether or not former Navy SEAL and current Secret Service agent Scot Harvath is in Zurich.

Malone is Cotton Malone, who appears in thriller novels by Steve Berry. Since Malone is in the CU, this reference brings in Scot Harvath.

Crossover Cover: Trouble in Paradise

Velma and Daphne are invited to Paradise Island by Wonder Woman on Batman’s recommendation, partly to learn the ways of the Amazons, and partly to help them stop the spate of mythological creatures that have been attacking recently. This is somewhat complicated by Fred, Scooby, and Shaggy being unable to set foot on the mainland due to the Olympian gods’ edict. Since the Amazons are canonically immortal, and other stories set in the CU have Wonder Woman active in the 1970s and early '80s, there is no problem with including this story, even though Diana was first active in the 1940s.

Crossover of the Week

October 31, 1921

THE GOTTERDAMMERUNG GAVOTTE

Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass team up with a group of occult detectives to prevent the Great Old Ones from being unleashed upon the world. Appearing or mentioned are: Semi Dual; No. 472 Cheyne Walk; Harley Warren; John Silence; Ravenwood; Sar Dubnotal; de Grandin; Thunstone; Pursuivant; Ms. Crerar; Kirowan; Zarnak; Thomas Carnacki; the Nameless One; a Tibetan lama with an unhealthy fascination for the color green; the Third Ritual of Hloh; Tserpchikopf; the Great Detective; the Hog; the Shambler; the Walker; the Lurker; the Yimghaz Sign; fire vampires; the dust of Ibn Gazi; Naacal; Thorne; openers and closers; the Drones Club; and Captain Drummond.

Story by Josh Reynolds in The Lovecraft eZine #18, Mike Davis, ed., October 2012. Semi Dual is an occult detective created for the pulps by J. U. Giesy. Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. Carnacki lives at No. 472 Cheyne Walk. The Hog is from the Carnacki story of the same name. Harley Warren appears in H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” and is mentioned in “The Silver Key” and “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” The Naacal language is also from “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” John Silence is from Algernon Blackwood’s collection of the same name. Ravenwood was the hero of a series of stories by Frederick C. Davis in the pulp magazine Secret Agent X; the Nameless One is Ravenwood’s Tibetan mystic mentor. The Sar Dubnotal was the subject of a French pulp series by an anonymous author who may have been Norbert Sevestre. Tserpchikopf is one of the mystic’s foes. Jules de Grandin is an occult detective created by Seabury Quinn. John Thunstone is the hero of a series of stories by Manly Wade Wellman, as is Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant. Rowley Thorne is Thunstone’s archenemy. Ms. Crerar is Sheila Crerar, an occult detective appearing in stories by Ella Scrymsour. John Kirowan is a recurring character in the works of Robert E. Howard. Anton Zarnak is an occult investigator created by Lin Carter; his adventures have been continued by a number of other authors. The Tibetan lama is Kendell Crossen’s pulp hero the Green Lama. The Ritual of Hloh and the Yimghaz Sign are from “The Case of the Bronze Door,” one of Margery Lawrence’s stories about psychic detective Miles Pennoyer. The Great Detective is Sherlock Holmes, of course. The Shambler is a reference to Robert Bloch’s “The Shambler from the Stars.” The Walker is Ithaqua (aka the Wind-Walker), from August Derleth’s story of the same name. The Lurker is Lovecraft’s Nyarlathotep; the Lurker appellation is an allusion to Derleth’s The Lurker at the Threshold. Fire vampires are from Donald Wandrei’s story “The Fire Vampires.” The Dust of Ibn Gazi is from Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” The openers and closers are from Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October; although the events of that novel have been placed in an alternate universe, there is nothing to prevent the Crossover Universe from having openers and closers of its own. The Drones Club is a recurring London gentlemen’s club in the interconnected works of P. G. Wodehouse. Captain Drummond is H. C. McNeile’s hero Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond.

Crossover Cover: The Bone Clocks

As I've discussed in previous posts, the connected works of author David Mitchell are in the CU through references in Joe Hill's novel NOS4A2, which also has references to Hill's father Stephen King's work. In this novel, the following appear or are mentioned: Dr. Marinus; Alan Wall; Hugo Lamb; Dominic Fitzsimmons; Felix Finch; Jonny Penhaligon; Kilmagoon Special Reserve; Elijah D’Arnoq; Spyglass magazine; Dwight Silverwind; and The Voorman Problem. Dr. Marinus, who is capable of reincarnation, is from The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. This incarnation of Marinus debuted in Mitchell’s libretto for Michael Van der Aa’s opera Sunken Garden. Johnny Penhaligon is a descendant of the Captain Penhaligon that appears in The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Alan Wall, Hugo Lamb, and Dominic Fitzsimmons are from Black Swan Green. Felix Finch and Spyglass magazine are from Cloud Atlas. The Afterword included in the paperback edition of this novel reveals Elijah D’Arnoq is the son of Mr. d’Arnoq, a minor character in Cloud Atlas. Kilmagoon Special Reserve is a fictional whiskey that recurs in Mitchell’s works. Dwight Silverwind is from Ghostwritten. The book The Voorman Problem is the basis for the movie of the same name in number9dream. The section of the book entitled “Sheep’s Head: 2043” takes place on an Earth ravaged by climate change, and therefore must represent an alternate future, which also appears to be the setting of Mitchell’s story “The Siphoners.” This section also has an appearance by Mo Muntervary from Ghostwritten.

Crossover Cover: Brimstone

Aloysius Pendergast encounters Count Isidor Ottavio Baldassare Fosco. Fosco is identical in name, appearance, and personality to Count Fosco from Wilkie Collins’ novel The Woman in White, which he actually refers to at one point. Therefore, the contemporary Fosco is probably a descendant of his earlier namesake.

Crossover Covers: The Luke Challenger series

This series features Luke Challenger, Professor Challenger's grandson. The first book, Return to the Lost World, takes place in May–July 1933. 14-year-old Luke and his cousin Nick Malone, who is the same age, travel to Maple White Land to rescue Luke’s mother, Lady Harriet Challenger, from the Sons of Destiny, a multinational group dedicated to allowing fascism to rise so they can take over the world. The second book in the series, Return to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, takes place in June–August 1934. Challenger Industries is contacted by Jessica Land, the 16-year-old great-granddaughter of Ned Land, who has found out her great-grandfather had been willed the Journals of Captain Nemo by Professor Aaron X. Perrier (who Jules Verne disguised as Pierre Aronnax). Luke and Nick join the expedition to locate the Nautilus in a race against the Sons of Destiny to gain the nuclear secrets of the submarine. It is possible references to the Nautilus being nuclear-powered and The Mysterious Island being fictional are influenced by Professor H. W. Starr’s essay “A Submersible Subterfuge, or, Proof Impositive.” The third book, Return to King Solomon’s Mines, takes place from December 1934–January 1935. Luke and Nick go to Ethiopia to visit Luke’s mother on an archaeological dig. Accompanying them is Elsa Fairfax, great-granddaughter of Allan Quatermain. The expedition comes across Kukuanaland, and discovers the people were ruled by the reincarnation of the High Priestess Gagool after the death of King Ignosi. Nick Malone is the son of Ned Malone and the late Enid Challenger. If he and Luke are both 14-years-old in 1933, they would’ve been born around 1919. However, Ned and Enid fell in love during the events of Doyle’s The Land of Mist, which Rick Lai has dated to 1926. Combined with the dismissal of The Mysterious Island as fictional, this argues against placement of these books in CU continuity.

Crossover Cover: Quest for Mystery!

Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne team up with Jonny Quest, Hadji, and Race Bannon to rescue Dr. Quest from the clutches of Dr. Zin.

Crossover Cover: Fortunehead!

The 50th and final issue of the DC Comics series Secret Origins featured the origin stories of several DC heroes, including the Western hero Johnny Thunder (not to be confused with the Justice Society member of the same name.) In this story, Johnny rescues his father, Sheriff Bill Tane, from a criminal named Rand. A flashback shows Johnny preventing a bank robbery as Rand rides into town. Rand asks a witness who the hero is; the man begins telling a story of a group of Texas Rangers who were massacred. The only survivor swore a vow. Another bystander contradicts him, saying Thunder “wasn’t thet guy.” As this discussion takes place, an image of a masked cowboy clad in blue and wearing a badge is shown. The bystander has confused Johnny Thunder with his fellow lawman, the Lone Ranger. Presumably, he has heard rumors of the Ranger’s origins.

Crossover Cover: Cold Days

Queen Mab of the Fae tests Harry Dresden by making a number of creative attempts to murder him, which he must survive. A ticking crocodile is mentioned as one of them. This must be the same one seen in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

Crossover of the Week

December 1896

CUT THE BRANCH

Appearing or mentioned are: the Black Coats; Joséphine Balsamo; the House of Crafts; Dr. Antonio Nikola; Catarina Corbucci; Count Salvatore Corbucci; Professor James Moriarty; Madame Fourneau’s College for Young Women; Norman Head; Noel Moriarty; Irina Putine; the Chupin Detective Agency; Urania Caber; the golden ram crest of the Cagliostro family; the Gentlemen of the Night; Orianne Coyatier; Rochelle Moreau; Ramirez; Professor Chavain; Madame Sara (aka Sarah Warrender); Colleen Pegler; the White Lodge; Frank Moran; Colonel Sebastian Moran; Patrick Dickson; Hamish Webb; Stangerson’s Disassociation of Matter Through Electricity; the Brotherhood of the Seven Kings; Gordo Reloj; Pilar; Aguilar; the All-Father; Dominick Moriarty; Marga Sandorf; Aristide Orlowsky Sandorf; Baron Von Schulenberg; Manny Bennet; Solly Bennet; Corben Caine; Wilmot Rogers; Jefferson Gonzales; the Lanky Gunman; the Yankee Whistler; a friend of Gordo’s; Dupont-Verdier (aka Satanas); Jillian Blake; Leonard; Etienne Cressy Raimond D’Arcourt; Sharita; the Duchy of Strackenz; the Thuggee cult’s alliance with Naga worshippers; Achmet Genghis Khan; Gruesome Clayton; Carfax Abbey; Dracula; and Ballmeyer.

Short story by Rick Lai in Sisters of the Shadows: The Cagliostro Curse, Black Coat Press, 2013. The Black Coats are a criminal conspiracy featured in novels by Paul Féval. Orianne Coyatier is the granddaughter of Jean-François Coyatier (aka the Marchef), who acted as the Black Coats’ executioner. The All-Father is the leader of the Black Coats. The Gentlemen of the Night are from Féval’s The Mysteries of London. Joséphine Balsamo battled Arsène Lupin in Maurice Leblanc’s The Countess of Cagliostro. Leonard is also from that novel. The House of Crafts is an allusion to the criminal organization known as Krafthaus in John Buchan’s The Power-House. Dr. Antonio Nikola is a scientist and criminal mastermind featured in novels by Guy Boothby. Catarina Corbucci is meant to be Madame Koluchy from L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace’s The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings. Norman Head is also from Meade and Eustace’s novel. Madame Sara is from Meade and Eustace’s The Sorceress of the Strand; her alias of Sarah Warrender is meant to imply she is the mother of Miss Warrender from Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Uncle Jeremy’s Household.” Achmet Genghis Khan was identified as Miss Warrender’s father in Doyle’s tale. Count Salvatore Corbucci dueled with A. J. Raffles in E. W. Hornung’s “The Fate of Faustina” and “The Last Laugh.” Professor James Moriarty is Sherlock Holmes’ archenemy. Noel Moriarty (whose full name is James Noel Moriarty) is the Professor’s younger brother mentioned in The Valley of Fear. Colonel Sebastian Moran is Professor Moriarty’s second-in-command from “The Adventure of the Empty House.” In The Power-House, the Krafthaus’ leader Andrew Lumley lives in a house called the White Lodge; the implication of the White Lodge reference in Lai’s story is Lumley is actually Noel Moriarty. Madame Fourneau’s College for Young Women is from the Spanish horror film La Residencia. Irina Putine is an alias for Irene Tupin from the same film. Professor Chavain is based on Madame Fourneau’s reference to her former student, a noted botanist. The Chupin Detective Agency, run by Victor “Toto” Chupin, is from the works of Emile Gaboriau. Urania Caber is meant to be Urania Moriarty, the Professor’s daughter, whose existence was revealed by Philip José Farmer in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Jillian Blake is based on a reference to a Jill Fagin who married a Blake in Farmer’s book. The golden ram crest of the Cagliostro family is from the animated Lupin III film The Castle of Cagliostro. Rochelle Moreau is the daughter of H. G. Wells’ Dr. Moreau and the niece of Bernard Moreau, who is mentioned in La Residencia. Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez is from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. “Colleen Pegler” is an alias for Peg Cullane from Louis L’Amour’s The Man Called Noon. Frank Moran is Francis “Colt” Moran from the film Today It’s Me…Tomorrow You! Patrick Dickson is meant to be Tricky the Gambler from the movie The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe. Hamish Webb is meant to be James Webb from the movie Black Killer. Stangerson’s Disassociation of Matter Through Electricity is from Gaston Leroux’s first Rouletabille novel, The Mystery of the Yellow Room. Ballmeyer is Rouletabille’s father. Gordo Reloj is meant to be Gordo Watch from the film Arizona Colt (aka The Man from Nowhere); “reloj”is Spanish for “watch.” Pilar and Aguilar are from the film A Stranger in Town. Dominick Moriarty is meant to be Dominick Medina from John Buchan’s The Three Hostages. Marga Sandorf is the niece of the title character of Jules Verne’s novel Mathias Sandorf. Aristide Orlowsky Sandorf is meant to be the Hungarian villain Orlowsky from the movie Django Strikes Again. Baron Von Schulenberg is from the movie The Big Gundown. Manny Bennet is meant to be Manuel from the film Cemetery Without Crosses. Corben Caine and Wilmot Rogers are Ben Caine and Will Rogers from the same film. Solly Bennet is Solomon “Beauregard” Bennet from the movie Face to Face. Jefferson Gonzales is from the film Ringo and His Golden Pistol. The Lanky Gunman is Hank “Lanky” Fellows from the movie A Taste for Killing. The Yankee Whistler is the title character of the movie Yankee. Gordo’s friend is Frank Talby from the movie Day of Anger. Satanas is from Louis Feuillade’s film serial Les Vampires; in the English language translation of the serial, Satanas’ real name is given as Claude Dupont-Verdier. Etienne Cressy Raimond D’Arcourt and Sharita are from Gardner F. Fox’s novel Woman of Kali. The Duchy of Strackenz is from George MacDonald Fraser’s Royal Flash; here, it is implied to be the same country as the Duchy of Cagliostro from The Castle of Cagliostro. The alliance between the Thuggee and Naga worshippers is from Emilio Salgari’s Sandokan novels. Gruesome Clayton is Sir William Clayton from Farmer’s Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Carfax Abbey is from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Crossover Cover: The Flaming Curse

In this issue's installment of his feature, the masked and winged hero Hawkman, looking into the background of a supposedly cursed man, receives some help from a retired detective who deduces his true identity. The detective, though unnamed, is clearly meant to be Sherlock Holmes. This crossover brings a version of Carter Hall, the Golden Age Hawkman, into the CU.

Crossover Covers: Inferior Five

This series features a team of incompetent second generation superheroes. Parodies of various CU characters appear, including Reed Victor, the Yellowjacket, and his chauffeur Plato (Britt Reid, the Green Hornet, and Kato); Caesar Single and Kwitcha Belliakin of C.O.U.S.I.N.F.R.E.D. (Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin of U.N.C.L.E.); John Claypool, Lord Gravestone, aka Darwin of the Apes (the jungle lord); Sir Chauncey Berkeley, the Crimson Chrysanthemum (Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel); and Allergy Queen (Ellery Queen). Parodies of several Marvel heroes also appear. While Dennis E. Power did a Wold Newton article regarding this series, for CU purposes, I consider it an AU.

Crossover Cover: Who's Scared?

When the Scarecrow douses Mystery, Inc. and the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City with his fear gas, it’s up to Scooby-Doo and Ace the Bathound, who as non-canines are unaffected by the drug, to save the day. The Mystery Analysts present for the meeting include Batman and Robin, Roy Raymond, Mysto, Doctor Thirteen, Kaye Daye, Slam Bradley, and Jason Bard. Paintings of Detective Chimp and Sam Simeon are also seen. Roy Raymond, TV detective, appeared in Detective Comics from 1949–1961. Mysto, Magician Detective appeared in his own back-up feature in the same series in 1954. Doctor Terrence Thirteen, “the Ghost-Breaker,” appeared in Star-Spangled Comics from 1951-1952. Kaye Daye is one of the original Mystery Analysts of Gotham City that appeared in Batman in the 1960s and 1970s. Slam Bradley appeared in Detective Comics from 1937–1949. Slam’s older brother Biff Bradley was involved in an affair on Dinosaur Island alongside several other adventurers in 1927, as seen in Guns of the Dragon, while Slam himself had an adventure with the third Batman and Robin team, the Elongated Man, and an elderly Sherlock Holmes in 1986, as seen in “The Doomsday Book.” Jason Bard first appeared in a Batgirl story in Detective Comics in 1969 before spinning off into his own back-up feature, which ran until 1973. Detective Chimp (Bobo, a chimpanzee skilled at solving crimes) had a back-up feature in The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog from 1952–1959. Sam Simeon, a talking ape who works as a P.I. with the curvaceous and brilliant Angel O’Day, was featured in the comic Angel and the Ape. These characters are all CU counterparts of their equivalents in the DC Comics Universe.

Crossover Cover: Kill Fee

N.Y.P.D. Lieutenant James Murtaugh attempts to apprehend a contract killer named Pluto, who picks his targets first and seeks money from people who stand to profit by their deaths only after the hit. Murtaugh went on to appear in Paul’s Marian Larch novels. Win included Paul's novel The Fourth Wall in Volume 2 due to references to Archie Goodwin and Dr. Vollmer from the Nero Wolfe series, and noted that some of the characters from that novel went on to appear in the Larch series.

Crossover Cover: Sherlock Holmes: The Game's Afoot

This anthology contains three stories with crossovers. In M.J. Elliott's "The Adventure of the Hanging Tyrant," set in 1894, Holmes investigates a case that involves Oswald Crawshay, who learned the art of housebreaking from his uncle, a suspect in the theft of the Melrose Necklace. Oswald's uncle is Reginald Crawshay from E. W. Hornung’s Raffles stories "Gentlemen and Players" and "The Return Match," both of which are included in the collection The Amateur Cracksman. In Christopher Sequeira's "The Adventure of the Haunted Showman," set in October 1897, Inspector Lestrade brings a potential client to Holmes, who says he is engaged in a pressing affair involving an unclaimed rare book recently auctioned after the sale of the Al Hazred Collection, and he shall not be free until a courier returns from Amsterdam with a message he requires. After the woman and Lestrade leave, Holmes admits to Watson he was lying about the prior case. Despite Holmes’ falsehood, he must be aware of the real "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, the author of the Necronomicon in H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. "The Return of the Sussex Vampire," also by Sequeira, is set in 1926. The elderly Holmes and Watson investigate a case of vampirism plaguing Josiah Ferguson’s daughters, similar to a case involving Josiah’s nephew Bob’s infant son that occurred years ago. Bob Ferguson is from Doyle’s "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire." Watson is uncertain what to do with notes from some of Holmes’ cases, including that of the Nikola Formulae. This is a reference to Guy Boothby’s master criminal Doctor Nikola. Watson has grown children (including at least two sons) and young grandchildren at the time of this case. However, in Farmer’s The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Watson states Nylepthah is the only one of his four wives to bear him a son, that child being born in November 1918. Combined with a reference to Watson attending Mycroft Holmes’ funeral in 1919, this places Sequeira’s tale in an alternate reality to the CU.

Crossover Cover: Man Bat and Robbin'

Scooby and the gang go to Gotham City to investigate monster sightings, and wind up working with Batman and Robin to pursue the source of the sightings, the Dynamic Duo's old foe Man-Bat. I am planning on reading the rest of this series in order to determine which stories can fit into CU continuity and which cannot. It's probably safe to say the ones featuring the Super Friends, the animated version of the Teen Titans, and Secret Squirrel don't take place in the CU. This story takes place a few years after The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and Fred refers to Mystery Inc. and Batman and Robin previously encountering the Joker and the Penguin.

Crossover of the Week

Early January–May 4, 1891

THE PROBLEM OF THE FINAL ADVENTURE

Colonel Sebastian Moran recounts the events leading to Professor Moriarty’s battle with Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls. Appearing or mentioned are: Watson; Colonel Moriarty; the third James Moriarty; “an Irish spinster scribbler”; the Fat Man of Whitehall; the Diogenes Club; Billy the Page; Charlie Vokins; Lestrade; Mackenzie; MacDonald; Simon Carne; the Ranee of Ranchipur; the Lord of Strange Deaths; Fal Vale; Sophy Kratides; Harold Latimer and Wilson Kemp; Charles Milverton; Dan Levy; Les Vampires; the Grand Vampire; Irma Vep; Kingstead Cemetery; La Castafiore; Thomas Carnacki; Van Helsing; Bulstrode & Sons; Baron Maupertuis; quap; Mr. Beebe; the Daughter of the Dragon; Doctor Nikola; Madame Sara; Margaret Trelawny; the Hoxton Creeper; Doctor Mabuse; Alraune ten Brincken; Arthur Raffles and Bunny Manders; Théophraste Lupin and Joséphine Balsamo, Countess Cagliostro; Doctor Jack Quartz and Princess Zanoni; Rupert of Hentzau; Irene Adler; the Si-Fan; Queen Tera; the Jewel of Seven Stars; the Black Pearl of the Borgias; the Duke of Shires; Dr. Syn; Barchester Cathedral; the Forsyte tomb; Colonel Clay; Jim Lassiter; Diggory Venn; Sir Augustus Moran; Von Herder; a skull-faced “ghost” in the khanum’s palace at Mazenderan; Parker; the Reverend John Jago; the Mountmains; Colonel Sapt; Princess Flavia; Birdy Edwards; Grimesby Roylott; John Clay; Bert Stevens; Fred Porlock; Birlstone Manor; Paul Kratides; Ruritania; Rudi; Michael; Rassendyll; The Englischer Hof; and Peter Steiler. The endnotes to the story reveal Kate Reed ghosted for her friend and later lover, Charles Beauregard, and the Diogenes Club traded as Universal Exports in the 1950s. Paul Forrestier is mentioned in the same endnote.

Short story by Colonel Sebastian Moran, edited by Kim Newman in Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d’Urbervilles, Titan Books, 2011. Moriarty, Moran, Holmes, Watson, the Fat Man of Whitehall (Sherlock’s brother Mycroft), the Diogenes Club, Billy the Page, and Lestrade are from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Further references from the Holmes stories: Colonel Moriarty, Inspector Patterson, the Englischer Hof, and Peter Steiler from “The Final Problem”; the third James Moriarty (the stationmaster, later known as the second Professor Moriarty), MacDonald, Birdy Edwards, Fred Porlock, and Birlstone Manor from The Valley of Fear; Sophy Kratides, Harold Latimer, Wilson Kemp, and Paul Kratides from “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter”; Charles Milverton from “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”; Baron Maupertuis, mentioned in “The Adventure of the Reigate Squire”; the Black Pearl of the Borgias from “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons”; Sir Augustus Moran, Von Herder, and Parker from “The Adventure of the Empty House”; Grimesby Roylott from “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”; John Clay from “The Adventure of the Red-Headed League”; and Bert Stevens from “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.” Moran’s claim he shot Moriarty as the latter grappled with Holmes at Reichenbach must be considered spurious; Holmes would surely have noticed, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen depicts Moran and Campion Bond tending to Moriarty after his plunge down the falls. Moran must have lied to conceal the fact the Professor survived his painful fall. The “Irish spinster scribbler” is Kate Reed, a “deleted” character from Dracula who appears in several stories by Newman, and also has a counterpart in the Anno Dracula Universe. Charlie Vokins is from “The Horizontal Witness,” an episode of the television series Cribb. Arthur Raffles, Bunny Manders, and Mackenzie are from the Raffles stories by E. W. Hornung. Dan Levy is from the novel Mr. Justice Raffles. Given that Philip José Farmer identified Raffles as the father of Arthur Upfield’s Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, Moran and Sophy must be mistaken about Raffles and Bunny’s sexual orientation. Simon Carne is from Guy Boothby’s collection of stories A Prince of Swindlers. Ranchipur is from the film The Rains of Ranchipur. The Lord of Strange Deaths is Fu Manchu; the Si-Fan is the criminal organization Fu Manchu runs. The Daughter of the Dragon is presumably meant to be Fu Manchu’s daughter, Fah Lo Suee; however, this conflicts with Fah’s established birthdate of 1896. Fu must have had another daughter before Fah Lo Suee. Fal Vale is from Arnold Ridley’s play The Ghost Train. Les Vampires, the Grand Vampire, and Irma Vep are from Louis Feuillade’s serial Les Vampires. Kingstead Cemetery and Van Helsing are from Stoker’s Dracula. La Castafiore is Bianca Castafiore from Hergé’s Tintin comics. Thomas Carnacki, “the Ghost-Finder,” was created by William Hope Hodgson. Bulstrode & Sons is a reference to the British sitcom That’s Your Funeral. Quap is a radioactive compound from H. G. Wells’ novel Tono-Bungay. Mr. Beebe is from E. M. Forster’s novel A Room with a View. Doctor Nikola is the master criminal created by Guy Boothby. Madame Sara is from L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace’s The Sorceress of the Strand. Rick Lai has identified Madame Sara as the mother of Miss Warrender from Doyle’s short story “Uncle Jeremy’s Household” in his own fiction, and therefore Moran is wrong about Sara’s sexuality as well as Raffles and Bunny’s. Margaret Trelawny, Queen Tera, and the Jewel of Seven Stars are from Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars. The Hoxton Creeper is from the Sherlock Holmes film The Pearl of Death. Doctor Mabuse is the subject of fiction by Norbert Jacques, as well as a film trilogy by Fritz Lang. Alraune ten Brincken is from the novel Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers. Théophraste Lupin is the father of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, while Joséphine Balsamo is Arsène’s future nemesis. Doctor Jack Quartz and Princess Zanoni are foes of dime novel detective Nick Carter. Rupert of Hentzau, Colonel Sapt, Princess Flavia, Ruritania, Rudi (Rudolf V), Michael (Black Michael), and Rassendyll (Rudolf Rassendyll) are from The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope. The Duke of Shires is from the Sherlock Holmes film A Study in Terror. Dr. Syn, aka the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and Captain Clegg, is from the series of novels by Russell Thorndike. Barchester Cathedral is from Anthony Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire novels. The Forsyte Saga is a series of novels by John Galsworthy. Colonel Clay is from the novel An African Millionaire by Grant Allen. Jim Lassiter is from Zane Grey’s novel Riders of the Purple Sage. Diggory Venn is from Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native. The skull-faced “ghost” in the khanum’s palace at Mazenderan is the Phantom of the Opera, from the novel by Gaston Leroux. The Reverend John Jago is an ancestor of Anthony Jago from Newman’s novel Jago, and also has a counterpart in the Anno Dracula Universe. Paul Forrestier is also from Jago. The Mountmains are likely kin to the Mountmains who appear in Newman’s Seven Stars. Charles Beauregard is from Newman’s Diogenes Club stories, and has a counterpart in the Anno Dracula Universe. In Billy Wilder’s film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, the Diogenes Club was portrayed as a front for the British Secret Service, a theory Newman has adopted for his own fiction; here, it is revealed the Club eventually became Universal Exports, the front for the BSS in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. However, the BSS must have still privately used the Club’s name at times, as demonstrated by Richard Jeperson’s exploits.

Crossover Cover: Don't Ask

John Dortmunder once again crosses paths with guards working for the Continental Detective Agency. The country of Klopstokia is mentioned, as is the Frankenstein family. The Continental Detective Agency is from Dashiell Hammett’s stories about the Continental Op. The Frankenstein family needs no explanation at this point. Klopstokia is from the film Million Dollar Legs.

Crossover Cover: The Templar Salvation

FBI agent Sean Reilly tells his girlfriend, archaeologist Tess Chaykin, about his friend Cotton Malone, a former government agent who has retired, moved to Copenhagen, and opened an antique bookshop. Cotton Malone, who appears in a series of novels by Steve Berry, is already in the CU. Therefore, this crossover brings in Reilly and Chaykin.

Crossover Movie Poster: Friday the 13th

A reboot of the horror franchise. An obnoxious jock named Trent is one of Jason Voorhees’ victims. This is meant to be Trent DeMarco from the movie Transformers, directed by Friday the 13^th producer Michael Bay. Travis Van Winkle played Trent in both films. The events of the Transformers films, involving giant shape-changing robots engaging in very public and destructive battles, are incompatible with CU continuity, and therefore I consider those films and this one as taking place in an AU.