Crossover of the Week

2003

THE BIG GAME

John Taylor battles Sir Francis Varney, the King of the Vampires, who is trying to turn the Nightside into a homeland for the undead. Appearing or mentioned are: Tsothagua Tequila; Jack Drood; the Street of the Gods; Kor; Julien Advent; Something from a Black Lagoon; the withered and mummified arm of the original Grendel monster, presented to the Adventurers Club by Beowulf himself, back in the sixth century; an ex-Ghost Finder; some kind of Boojum; the Suicide Club; Dracula; and Rassillonn’s Restorative.

Novella by Simon R. Green in Tales from the Nightside, Ace Books, 2015. Sir Francis Varney is from James Malcolm Rymer’s penny dreadful serial Varney the Vampire. Tsothagua Tequila is a reference to Tsathoggua, a Great Old One created by Clark Ashton Smith as part of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Jack Drood is from Green’s Secret Histories novels; his appearance here places this story before the short story “Question of Solace.” The Street of the Gods is from Green’s Hawk & Fisher novellas Winner Takes All and The God Killer. Kor is from H. Rider Haggard’s novel She. Julien Advent is an alias for the titular hero of the 1960s British television series Adam Adamant Lives! Something from a Black Lagoon is a reference to the Universal horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon. The original Grendel monster and Beowulf are from the Old English epic poem Beowulf. The ex-Ghost Finder must have been a former member of the Carnacki Institute from Green’s Ghost Finders series. The Boojum is from Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Hunting of the Snark.” The Suicide Club is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of the same name. Dracula needs no introduction. Rassillonn’s Restorative is a reference to the Time Lord Rassilon from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.