March 1920
THE
JADE SUIT OF DEATH
Charles
St. Cyprian and his assistant Ebe Gallowglass battle the Order of the
Cosmic Ram, which has unleashed the demon Baphomet and the ancient
Chinese sage and werewolf Zhang Su. St. Cyprian uses a “devil-box”
formerly used by Carnacki to subdue the Hairy Hands of Dartmoor.
Soho’s dockworkers are a mixture of races, including Chinese,
Lascar, English and Tcho-Tcho. St. Cyprian and Gallowglass dwell at
No. 427, Cheyne Walk. Carnacki, St. Cyprian’s predecessor as Royal
Occultist, was once the apprentice to Edwin Drood, his own
predecessor. Picking up a letter, Gallowglass asks St. Cyprian,
“What’s a Janus House and why doesn’t it have a postmark?”
St. Cyprian replies, “The Sergeant has other means of posting
letters than Royal Mail.” St. Cyprian and Gallowglass answer a
summons from William Melion, who was once a member of the Kensington
Clique, a group of occultists that also included John Silence, Saxon
Amadeus Dorr, Sar Dubnotal, and Flaxman Low. In Limehouse, St.
Cyprian and Gallowglass meet with Lady Molly Robertson-Kirk, formerly
of Scotland Yard. St. Cyprian tells Robertson-Kirk he was sorry to
hear about Hubert, and she mentions Inspector Meisures. Amelia
Glossop is a member of the Order. Melion thinks of previous Royal
Occultists, such as Drood and his shimmering crystal egg, and Beamish
and his hunt for the worms in the earth. Philip Wendy-Smythe claims
to know the hidden mysteries of Lemuria and ancient Khem, the Aklo,
and how to make the Voorish Sign. St. Cyprian asks if he knows the
Hloh Gestures. Wendy-Smythe, who falsely believes one of his personal
curios is the idol of Chaugnar Faugn, invokes the myriad and
malevolent moons of Munnapor and the roving rings of Raggadorr when
he and St. Cyprian are attacked by an animated statue. Wendy-Smythe
tells his servant to retrieve the cursed scepter of Ibn-Schacabao,
but the butler gives notice, saying he’ll be in residence at the
Junior Ganymede Club. St. Cyprian’s unidentified enemy is a magus
in the truest sense of the word, on a level with Oliver Haddo or one
of that lot. St. Cyprian uses the powder of Ibn Ghazi to expose an
invisible menace. St. Cyprian tells Gallowglass to get the arbutus,
which is on the third shelf, left of the statue with the head of an
ibis; Gallowglass mistakes a falcon figurine for the ibis. Saxon
Amadeus Dorr smokes cigarettes made from the poppies of Leng. The
sorcerers of Averoigne are mentioned, as is the Westenra Fund.
Melion’s servant Ghale brews his tea from the blossoms of the
mariphasa, a flower known to grow only in the higher altitudes of
Tibet. Sadie Fleece refers to the Starry Wisdom. St. Cyprian uses the
sign of Koth, which guards the Black Tower and seals the vaults of
Pnath, to bind Zhang Su. Saxon Dorr tells Melion about a Polish
nobleman who shares his affliction of lycanthropy, and has lived for
centuries.
Novel
by Josh Reynolds, Emby Press, 2014. Thomas Carnacki and No. 427,
Cheyne Walk are from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki
the Ghost-Finder.
The Tcho-Tcho people are from August Derleth’s contributions to the
Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft. Edwin Drood is the title
character of Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel The
Mystery of Edwin Drood.
The Sergeant is Sergeant Roman Janus, the “Spirit-Breaker,” an
occult detective created by Jim Beard. John Silence is the
protagonist of an eponymous collection by Algernon Blackwood. The Sâr
Dubnotal appeared in a French pulp series by an anonymous author.
Flaxman Low is from Ghosts;
Being the Experiences of Flaxman Low by
“E. and H. Heron” (Hesketh V. Prichard and Kate O’Brien Ryall
Prichard). Lady Molly Robertson-Kirk, Hubert de Mazareen, and
Inspector Meisures are from Baroness Orczy’s collection Lady
Molly of Scotland Yard.
Amelia Glossop is presumably a member of the Glossop family from P.
G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves books. The Junior Ganymede Club is a club for
gentlemen’s gentlemen of which Jeeves is a member. The shimmering
crystal egg is from H. G. Wells’ “The Crystal Egg.” Worms in
the Earth are from Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story “Worms
of the Earth.” Khem and the Starry Wisdom are from H. P.
Lovecraft’s story “The Haunter of the Dark.” The Aklo language
is from Arthur Machen’s “The White People,” and was also used
by Lovecraft in “The Dunwich Horror” and “The Haunter of the
Dark.” The Voorish Sign and the powder of Ibn Ghazi are also from
“The Dunwich Horror.” The Plateau of Leng is featured in
Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos stories. The Sign of Koth and the Vale
of Pnath are from Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle. The Hloh Gestures are
from Margery Lawrence’s stories about occult detective Miles
Pennoyer. Chaugnar Faugn is from Frank Belknap Long’s novel The
Horror from the Hills.
Munnapor (or Munnopor) and Raggadorr are mystic entities from the
stories of Marvel Comics’ Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange.
Ibn-Schacabao is from Lovecraft’s story “The Festival.” Oliver
Haddo is from W. Somerset Maugham’s novel The
Magician.
The falcon figurine is the titular statue from Dashiell Hammett’s
The
Maltese Falcon.
Averoigne is a province of France that is the site of many
supernatural events in Clark Ashton Smith’s works. The Westenra
fund is named after Lucy Westenra from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Mariphasa is from the 1935 horror film Werewolf
of London.
The Polish nobleman is Waldemar Daninsky, a werewolf played by Paul
Naschy in a long-running series of Spanish horror films.
I take it that the previous Royal Occultist Beamish is a creation of Reynolds?
ReplyDeleteI thought you missed a crossover with Buffy thinking that Philip Wendy-Smythe was related to Wesly Wendy-Smythe. Then I checked Wikipedia and found out that the character I was thinking of was named Wesley Wyndam-Price. Of course, a relative of himself appeared in a Harry Dickson story.
Yes, Aylmer Beamish is an original character created by Reynolds, and mentioned in other Royal Occultist stories.
DeleteThank you. I need to read some of these stories.
DeletePlenty of free ones available, if you're interested: https://royaloccultist.wordpress.com/a-royal-occultist-chronology/free-fiction/
Delete