Crossover Cover: Work Suspended

It is mentioned Lady Metroland once attended a showing of John Plant’s father’s art. At the same party, Mrs. Algernon Stitch bought a painting for 500 guineas. Plant is friends with Basil Seal. Lord Monomark is mentioned. Lady Metroland is a recurring character in Waugh’s books and stories. Mrs. Algernon Stitch is from Scoop. Basil Seal is the protagonist of Waugh’s novels Black Mischief and Put Out More Flags. Lord Monomark previously appeared in Vile Bodies and Black Mischief, and was mentioned in A Handful of Dust.

Crossover Cover: Chastel

Are you a fan of Manly Wade Wellman's Judge Pursuivant?

Then you'll love the crossover in this anthology where he works with another of Wellman's occult detectives, Lee Cobbett!

For all the details, check out Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, my AUTHORIZED companions to Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert!

Crossover of the Week

1918

DEAD MEN’S BONES

Charles St. Cyprian, Sergeant Bass of the American 81st Infantry Division, and Thomas Carnacki are camped outside the fortress of Ylourgne in the province of Averoigne. St. Cyprian had to leave the company of a young woman he met at the cabaret in Vyones in order to go on this mission. Carnacki says he believes there is an oil painting of Ylourgne, or rather the Chateau de Faussesflammes, in the Louvre. The adventures of Carnacki, England’s present Royal Occultist, appeared in the pages of The Idler, just as those of the Great Detective had appeared in The Strand. Corpses throughout Averoigne are coming back as zombies, in places such as Vyones, Les Hiboux, and Ximes. The Isoile is mentioned. Professor Max Ewer tells the trio Ylourgne was the site of one of the greatest acts of alchemical diabolism in this age or any other, according to the writings of one Gaspard du Nord: a dwarf named Nathaire made a giant monster out of dead men’s bones, which rampaged through Vyones. Carnacki refers to the 266 Squadron RFC.

Short story by Josh Reynolds in Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters, Tim Marquitz and Nickolas Sharps, eds., Ragnarok Publications, 2014. Charles St. Cyprian is the protagonist of Reynolds’ Royal Occultist stories, which take place after he has assumed the role previously played by Carnacki. Sergeant Bass is John Bass, an occult detective from Jackapo, South Carolina featured in several of Reynolds’ stories. Thomas Carnacki appeared in stories by William Hope Hodgson published in The Idler, which were later collected as Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. Ylourgne, Averoigne, Vyones, the Chateau de Faussesflammes, Les Hiboux, Ximes, the Isoile River, Gaspard du Nord, and Nathaire are from the works of Clark Ashton Smith. This marks the second attempt by a madman to create their own version of Nathaire’s Colossus during the Great War; the first was in 1916, as seen in Matthew Baugh’s “What Rough Beast.” The Great Detective is Sherlock Holmes. The 266 Squadron RFC, from W. E. Johns’ Biggles books, is not to be confused with the real 266 Squadron RAF.

 

Crossover Cover: Depths of Horror

Are you a fan of Henry Kuttner's pulp character Thunder Jim Wade?

Then you'll love this story by Frank Schildiner where he crosses over with H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos (particularly "The Shadow Over Innsmouth") and Donald Keyhoe's pulp hero Richard Knight!

This and a vast multitude of other crossovers have write-ups in Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, my AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2, due out from Meteor House in July!

Crossover Cover: Dracula on the Rocks

In this story by Carole Nelson Douglas, Irene Adler encounters Count Dracula in Warsaw, 1886. Douglas’ Irene Adler novels have Irene happily married to Godfrey Norton until at least 1889, which does not fit with William S. Baring-Gould’s take on their marriage in Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street.

Crossover Cover: A Footnote in the Black Budget

Hey, like H. P. Lovecraft?

Then you'll love this crossover between his classic story At the Mountains of Madness and Jonathan Maberry's Joe Ledger series!

All the info is in Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, due out from Meteor House in July!

Crossover Cover: Ghoul

Young Timmy Graco and his friends find themselves battling a carnivorous ghoul in rural Pennsylvania. The boys are also troubled by the Sawyers’ dog Catcher. The LeHorn family is among the mourners at Timmy’s grandfather’s funeral. The Ghoul knows of the Thirteen, including Behemoth and the Great Wurms, as well as the Siqqusim. It is also familiar with the “ancient race of subterranean swine-things.” The Daemonolateria is mentioned. In Keene’s novel Terminal, Tommy O’Brien also mentions having been attacked by Catcher during his youth. The LeHorn family is from Keene’s novel Dark Hollow; this appearance takes place less than a year before the tragic events that befell them in the flashback portions of that novel. The Thirteen are the main villains of Keene’s mythos, thirteen ancient creatures who survived the destruction of the previous reality by God and now seek the destruction of the current reality, traveling from universe to universe bringing death and destruction; Behemoth and the Great Wurms can be seen in Keene’s Earthworm Gods novels, and the Siqqusim are the main villains of his The Rising series. The subterranean swine-things are from William Hope Hodgson’s novel The House on the Borderland. The Daemonolateria is a fictional book of magic that appears in a number of Keene’s works, including “Caught in a Mosh,” Dark Hollow, and Ghost Walk.

Crossover Cover: Hand of the Monster

Are you a fan of Frankenstein's monster?

Then you'll love the crossover in this book in which he meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Jim Beard's Monster Aces!

A write-up of this story, and countless other crossovers, can be found in my forthcoming books Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, AUTHORIZED companions to Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert, due out from Meteor House in July!

Crossover Covers: Agents of Light and Darkness

John Taylor is hired to find the Unholy Grail from which Judas Iscariot drank at the Last Supper. Appearing or mentioned are: the Street of the Gods (the Street of the Gods is from Green’s Hawk and Fisher novellas Winner Takes All and The God Killer); description theory bombs (a reference to description theory from Warren Ellis’ comic book Planetary, which takes place in an AU); one of Baron Frankenstein’s more successful creations (one of the many Frankenstein Monsters); Leo Morn and winter wine (from Green’s Drinking Midnight Wine); the Testimony of Grendel Rex (Grendel Rex is a member of the Drood family turned into a self-proclaimed god in Green’s Secret Histories novels); Shadows Fall and the Warriors of the Cross (from Green's Shadows Fall); copies of the Maltese Falcon (from Dashiell Hammett's novel, of course); a crate marked Antarctic Expedition 1936: Do not open until the Elder Ones return (from H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, although that story actually takes place in 1929–1930 rather than 1936); and Grendel’s Bane (Beowulf’s sword from the epic poem, bringing Beowulf into the CU).

Crossover of the Week

June 1967

HONEY WEST & T. H. E. CAT: A GIRL AND HER CAT

P.I. Honey West is visited by Dr. Isabella Fang, who smokes Red Apple Cigarettes. Dr. Fang hires Honey to recover an alleged rubella vaccine she developed, as well as a pocket watch, which have both been stolen by Dr. Karl Stipier. Accepting the case, Honey asks another Los Angeles-based detective named Scott to handle her other cases in the meantime, and travels to San Francisco. Honey’s old flame Johnny Doom, now a CIA agent, comes to her aid alongside two men she dubs Gray Suit and Blondie. Honey and Johnny book a room at the St. Francis hotel, although Gray Suit recommended the Hotel Carlton. Johnny reveals to Honey the “vaccine” is actually a biological weapon of a class the government has codenamed “Satan Bugs,” and Gray Suit and Blondie are members of a worldwide organization that is in regular conflict with a criminal organization and “secret nation” that has tried to form an alliance with an Eastern secret society known as the Si-Fan. Johnny calls another government agent, Derek, for information about Stipier and Fang. Derek says there are fearful whispers about Fang at The Dragon of the Black Pool in Chinatown. Honey tells Johnny she thinks she recognized Derek’s voice from a couple recent cases. Honey and Johnny are abducted by Dr. Fang’s grandfather, Dr. Shan Ming Fu, the leader of the Si-Fan. One of Shan Ming Fu’s minions is a sumo wrestler. At the elder doctor’s recommendation, Honey enlists the help of Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat, former circus aerialist and cat burglar turned owner of the Casa del Gato nightclub and bodyguard, to retrieve the biological agent. Honey came to Cat’s aid in Las Vegas a year ago. Besides Cat, Honey also meets his friend Pepe Cordoza and Captain McAllister of the SFPD. Stipier bought the mansion Silverstone West, which was built in the 1940s by an eccentric multi-millionaire named Tipton, from an employee of the latter’s named Michael Anthony. A man with a bowler hat and an odd rifle attacks Honey and Cat as they flee Stipier’s mansion with the Satan Bug and the watch. Honey’s great-grandfather, James, was a major during the Civil War, and later was involved in government work. Cat did some bodyguard work for a scientist named Dr. Quest last year; Quest’s wife was killed and his son was in danger. An agent for Intelligence One now guards the Quests. Honey was instructed in judo by a man named Macreedy, while Cat was taught how to tie knots by a young escape artist named Tony Blake. Honey arranges for a friend named Ben, who works at County General Hospital, to make a capsule that can pass for the real Satan Bug in order to deceive Shan Ming Fu. Blondie remarks Mr. Baldwin, the head of his organization’s primary enemy’s San Francisco offices, will be disappointed by Shan Ming Fu’s continued refusal to form an alliance with them.

Novel by Honey West, edited by Win Scott Eckert and Matthew Baugh, Moonstone Books, 2014. Honey West is a private investigator featured in novels by “G. G. Fickling” (Gloria and Forest Fickling). In the novel Bombshell, set in 1964, Honey and bounty hunter Johnny Doom are offered employment in the CIA. Honey evidently turned down the offer, as she had several adventures as a P.I. between Bombshell and A Girl and Her Cat, which were depicted in Fickling’s novels, the 1965-1966 Honey West TV series, and several stories and comics published by Moonstone. In the novel Honey on Her Tail, which takes place three years after this book, Honey finally becomes a CIA agent. Dr. Isabella Fang is the daughter of the villainous Dr. Fang, who had his own radio series in the 1930s. Isabella encountered the Green Hornet and Kato in 1964 during the events of Eckert’s story “Fang and Sting” (The Green Hornet Chronicles, Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert, eds., Moonstone Books, 2010). In 1974, Isabella and her grandfather would once again encounter the Hornet in Eckert’s “Progress” (The Green Hornet: Still at Large, Joe Gentile, Win Scott Eckert, and Matthew Baugh, eds., Moonstone Books, 2012). Dr. Shan Ming Fu is better known by the nom de guerre Dr. Fu Manchu; Dennis E. Power revealed the Devil Doctor’s birth name in his article “The Devil Doctor: The Early History of Fu Manchu” (found on the website The Wold Newton Universe: A Secret History). The Si-Fan is the secret society run by Fu Manchu in the novels by Sax Rohmer. Red Apple Cigarettes have appeared in a number of films, including Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, as well as several other stories by Eckert. The watch is a working (albeit inferior) replica of one of the distorters used by the warring Capellean and Eridanean races in Philip José Farmer’s The Other Log of Phileas Fogg. Dr. Karl Stipier is meant to be Baron von Hessel from Farmer’s Doc Savage novel Escape from Loki; von Hessel also appears under a variety of aliases in other stories by Eckert. The other detective in Los Angeles is Richard S. Prather’s Shell Scott. Gray Suit and Blondie are Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin from the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. U.N.C.L.E.’s greatest foe is the criminal organization THRUSH, which attempted to form an alliance with the Si-Fan in David McDaniel’s novel The Rainbow Affair. The man in the bowler hat is an unnamed THRUSH agent seen in The Rainbow Affair. Ward Baldwin is in charge of THRUSH’s San Francisco offices in McDaniel’s novels. The Hotel Carlton is the home of Paladin in the television Western Have Gun–Will Travel. The term “Satan Bug” is derived from Alistair MacLean’s novel The Satan Bug. Derek is spy Derek Flint from the movies Our Man Flint and In Like Flint. Honey encountered Flint during the events of the Moonstone comic Honey West, Captain Action, and Flint: Danger-a-Go-Go. The Dragon of the Black Pool restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown is from the movie Big Trouble in Little China. The sumo wrestler, Tak, will later battle Fu Manchu’s rebellious son Shang-Chi, as seen in the comic book Special Marvel Edition. Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat, Pepe Cordoza, and Captain McAllister are from the 1966–1967 television series T. H. E. Cat. Honey’s 1966 encounter with Cat was recounted in the two-issue Moonstone comic Honey West and T. H. E. Cat: Death in the Desert. John Beresford Tipton and Michael Anthony are from the television series The Millionaire. Tipton’s estate in that series was called Silverstone; Silverstone West is Eckert and Baugh’s invention. Honey’s great-grandfather is Secret Service agent James West from the classic television series The Wild Wild West. Dr. Benton Quest, his son Jonny, and Intelligence One are from the animated TV series Jonny Quest. Cat’s replacement as the Quests’ bodyguard is Roger “Race” Bannon. Honey’s judo teacher is John J. Macreedy from the film Bad Day at Black Rock. Tony Blake is the title character of the television series The Magician. Ben Casey, a doctor at County General Hospital, is from the television series that bears his name. The Ben Casey episode “For This Relief, Much Thanks” began a two-part story that ended with “Solo for B-Flat Clarinet,” the first episode of Breaking Point, bringing in that medical drama as well.

Crossover Cover: Variations on a Theme

In this story, Sonja Blue encounters the revenant known as the Crow, a gay black man who has been sent to take out the white supremacists who murdered him and his lover. This Crow is not Eric Draven, who recently encountered Razor, but was resurrected by the same mystic crow. This crossover further confirms Sonja Blue’s presence in the CU.

Crossover Cover: The False Globe

In this story by Erwin K. Roberts, the Moon Man (Steve Thatcher) remembers a reporter from the St. Louis Clarion telling him about the Saint, an Englishman dubbed the “Modern Robin Hood of Crime,” who steals from what he calls “the ungodly.” The reporter also said for some reason the Clarion’s home office takes a serious interest in mysterious folks like the Saint. The Moon Man appeared in tales by Frederick C. Davis in the pulp magazine Ten Detective Aces in 1933–1937. The Saint, also known as Simon Templar, is from Leslie Charteris’ books. The Clarion’s home office is the New York Clarion, owned by Frank Havens, an ally of another pulp hero, the Phantom Detective.

Crossover Covers: The Year of High Treason

In 1911, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Arsène Lupin, A. J. Raffles, Bunny Manders, Rudolf Rassendyll, Fritz von Tarlenheim, Rupert of Hentzau, Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Dr. Petrie, Fu Manchu, Kâramanèh, the jungle lord, and Michael Strogoff all become embroiled in an affair revolving around King George V’s Coronation Durbar in Delhi, India. Rassendyll and Rupert died in Anthony Hope’s novel Rupert of Hentzau, which takes place in 1890. No explanation is given for their apparent survival. Combined with the revelation Kâramanèh is not only a Tamil whose real name is Kannamma, but a loyal agent of Fu Manchu’s who deceived Petrie, this places Rajan’s novel outside CU continuity.

Crossover Cover: The Forgers

The New York Star is mentioned in the first exploit of adventuress Constance Dunlap. The Star is the newspaper that employs Walter Jameson, sidekick of Reeve’s scientific detective Craig Kennedy. The Constance Dunlap story “The Embezzlers” also mentions the Star. The fictional Central American country Vespuccia is mentioned in both the Craig Kennedy story “The Artificial Paradise” and the Constance Dunlap story “The Gun Runners.” Since Craig Kennedy is in the CU, so is Constance Dunlap.

Crossover Cover: Any Approaching Enemy

Lieutenant Jack Aubrey of the Leander delivers two mast sticks to the ship Louisa, captained by Charles Edgemont. Edgemont is already in through an encounter with Horatio Hornblower in his first appearance, Sails on Horizon. The appearance of Patrick O’Brian’s naval hero Jack Aubrey further confirms Edgemont’s presence in the CU.

Crossover Cover: The Problem of the Elusive Cracksman

This issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction includes "The Problem of the Elusive Cracksman" by Ron Goulart. Harry Challenge deduces the gorilla-like thief who stole the Mirabilis Diamonds took a serum that could turn an average man into a large, powerful superhuman. Challenge’s sidekick, the Great Lorenzo, recalls that a fellow named Dr. Henry Jekyll stumbled upon a similar concoction some years ago, and came to a bad end. Win included several Harry Challenge stories in the original Crossovers, and the Jekyll connection further cements Challenge in the CU.

Crossover of the Week

2012

THE IDES OF MARS

Martin Mystère finds himself in a holographic representation of Mars, where he is greeted by Colonel Bozzo and the Marchef. Bozzo is the head of the criminal organization once called the Brotherhood of Mercy or the Black Coats, now known as BlackSpear Holdings. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the Nyctalope prepares to do battle with the last survivor of the evil Martians he destroyed decades ago. Bozzo tells Martin some of the Martians’ technology was acquired by Kiang-Ho of the Golden Belt, who was defeated by Rama Rundjee, alias Doctor Mystère, after whom Martin was named. He also says Jean de La Hire was the Nyctalope’s biographer, just as Watson was Holmes,’ Ponson du Terrail was Rocambole’s, Burroughs was Greystoke’s, and Féval was Bozzo’s own. Bozzo knew Martin’s ancestor Remy d’Arx very well.

Short story by Jean-Marc Lofficier in Night of the Nyctalope, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2012; reprinted in French in La Nuit du Nyctalope, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2012. Martin Mystère’s exploits have been portrayed in comics by Alfredo Castelli. Colonel Bozzo (aka Colonel Bozzo-Corona), the Marchef, the Black Coats, and Remy d’Arx appear in a series of novels by Paul Féval. BlackSpear Holdings, the present-day incarnation of the Black Coats, also appears in Castelli and Lofficier’s graphic novel The Treasure of the Veste Nere and Lofficier’s novel The Katrina Protocol. The Nyctalope was the hero of French pulp stories by Jean de La Hire. Kiang-Ho of the Golden Belt is the archenemy of Philip Reade’s dime novel boy inventor (or “Edisonade”) Tom Edison Jr. Doctor Mystère’s adventures were recounted by Paul d’Ivoi; Castelli has established the Doctor’s adopted son Cigale is Martin Mystère’s great-great-grandfather.

Crossover Cover: The White Jade Ring

This collection includes the story “The White Jade Ring.” It is mentioned Francis X. Gordon and Steve Allison (aka El Borak and the Sonora Kid, respectively) recently had a “war with the Si-Fan.” The reference to the Si-Fan, the criminal organization controlled by Dr. Fu Manchu, reinforces Gordon and Allison’s inclusion in the CU.

Crossover Cover: Tequila's Sunrise

In 1520, fourteen-year-old Aztec boy named Chalco is given access to the Labyrinth so he can kill Hernán Cortés before he arrives in the New World, and prevent the fall of the Aztec Empire. The Daemonolateria is quoted: “To open doors, one must first know how to find them.” The Thirteen are mentioned, including Behemoth, Leviathan, Api, and Ob, Lord of the Siqqusim. Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war, mentions several different names for the being known as Quetzalcoatl, including “Jesus of Nazareth, Adonis, Mohammad, Buddha, Divimoss, Kurt Cobain, Prosper Johnson, Benj—.” While traveling the Labyrinth, Chalco sees into different worlds and time periods, witnessing a flooded world from which giant tentacles attack him, several people sealed inside a strange metal room, a group of pig-faced humanoids, a world where “the dead get up and hunt the living,” a planet overcome with living darkness, a tribe of goat-men who dance around a fire and rut with terrified human women, people on an island fleeing from savage monsters, and a coastline overrun with crab-lobster-scorpion monsters. After reaching his destination, Chalco is attacked by Meeble, the planned assassination of Cortés fails, and history continues as recorded. The Labyrinth is a recurring location in Keene’s works, an other-dimensional realm that connects all the various realities and parallel universes; this story provides the most extensive glimpse into the Labyrinth. All the worlds connected by the Labyrinth are threatened by a group of beings known as the Thirteen, pre-Universal monsters that travel from reality to reality destroying Earths. These beings are Ob, Ab, Api, Leviathan, Behemoth, Kandara, Meeble, Purturabo, Nodens, Shtar, Kat, Apu, and one more unknown to readers at this time. Ob, Ab, and Api are from Keene’s novels The Rising, City of the Dead, and Clickers vs. Zombies, as well as several short stories; these all take place in an alternate reality to the CU, with the exception of Keene’s “The Resurrection and the Life.” Leviathan and Behemoth appear in Keene’s novels Earthworm Gods, Deluge: Earthworm Gods II, Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes from the End of the World, and Clickers III: Dagon Rising, all also alternate realities. Although Leviathan is conflated by Keene with Cthulhu and Dagon, in the reality of the CU, they are separate beings. Kandara appears in Keene’s story “Babylon Falling”; its name is a reference to the Kandarian demons from the Evil Dead movies. Meeble appears in this story, and its minions are the villains of Keene’s novel A Gathering of Crows. Purturabo appears in Keene’s story “Caught in a Mosh.” Nodens is the villain of Keene’s novels Ghost Walk (which takes place in the CU) and Darkness at the Edge of Town (which doesn’t). Shtar appears in Keene’s story “The Cage.” The Daemonolateria is a fictional book of magic that appears in a number of Keene’s works, including “Caught in a Mosh,” Dark Hollow, and Ghost Walk; it is not to be confused with a real-world book called the Daemonolatreia. Prosper Johnson is a minor character mentioned in several Keene stories, most importantly in “Slouching in Bethlehem.” “Benj-” is Benjy from Keene’s novel Terminal, which is also the source of the people in the strange metal room (a bank vault). The pig-faced humanoids are a shout-out to William Hope Hodgson’s novel The House on the Borderland. The world of the living dead could be any of Keene’s various zombie universes: the worlds seen in his The Rising series, his novels Dead Sea and Entombed, or his comic The Last Zombie. The planet overcome with living darkness is from Keene’s novel Darkness at the Edge of Town. The goat-men are a reference to the satyr from Keene’s novel Dark Hollow. The island monsters are from Keene’s novel Castaways, and the crab-lobster-scorpion creatures are from Keene and J. F. Gonzalez’ Clickers trilogy (though the first book was written by Gonzalez and Mark Williams) and Clickers vs. Zombies, all different levels of the Labyrinth to the CU.

Crossover Cover: Hoofs

In this story by Manly Wade Wellman, John Thunstone tells Countess Monteseco he has to catch a plane to investigate a case with Judge Pursuivant.

Crossover Cover: The Second-Story Angel

This issue contains the story "The Second-Story Angel" by Dashiell Hammett, in which female con artist Angel Grace Cardigan swindles short story writers. Angel went on to appear in Hammett’s Continental Op stories “The Big Knockover” and “$106,000 Blood Money,” thus bringing this story into the CU.

Crossover Covers: Night of the Living Deadpool

A zombie apocalypse occurs, leaving the mercenary Deadpool the last remaining superhuman. In the second chapter, Deadpool and the group of survivors he’s leading spend about eight weeks traveling and seeking shelter, visiting Ash Williams’ cabin (from The Evil Dead), Hershel Greene’s farm and the West Georgia Correctional Facility (The Walking Dead), the Monroeville Mall (Dawn of the Dead), the Pacific Playland Amusement Park (Zombieland), and the Winchester Pub (Shaun of the Dead). Obviously, this one is an AU.

Crossover Cover: Bride of the Rat God

According to this novel by Barbara Hambly, Norah Blackstone came to America on a ship called the Ruritania, named after the country seen in Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau.

Crossover of the Week

Early January 1891

THE GREEK INVERTEBRATE

Professor Moriarty and Colonel Moran are asked by the Professor’s brother, Colonel James Moriarty, to ignore a summons from the third Moriarty brother, stationmaster James. The Professor and Moran defy his orders, and become involved with espionage and a new machine with which to wage war. Appearing or mentioned are: Sir Augustus Moran; the Club of the Damned; the Mausoleum Club; a chandelier falling on the audience of the Paris Opera during the jewel song from Faust; Fal Vale Junction; Greyfriars; the kuripuri; the Grand Vampire; Les Vampires; a German rival of Moriarty’s who sometimes assumes the guise of “a shock-haired, stooped alienist with mesmeric eyes”; Irma Vep; Palliser; Nevil Airey Stent; Fred Porlock; the Lord of Strange Deaths; R. G. Sanders; Eduardo Lucas; Thomas Carnacki; Cursitor Doone; Monsieur Sabin; Ilse von Hoffmansthal, aka Madame Gabrielle Valladon; Flaxman Low; Hugo Oberstein; Sophy Kratides; Malilella of the Stiletto; Irene Adler; Lady Yuki Kashima; Mad Margaret Trelawny; Dr. Syn; Partington; Paul Finglemore, alias Colonel Clay; and Ram Singh.

Short story by Colonel Sebastian Moran, edited by Kim Newman in Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d’Urbervilles, Titan Books, 2011. Professor Moriarty, Colonel Moran, and Irene Adler are from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Colonel Moriarty is mentioned in “The Final Problem.” Stationmaster Moriarty and Fred Porlock are from The Valley of Fear. Sir Augustus Moran, the Colonel’s father, is mentioned in “The Adventure of the Empty House.” Eduardo Lucas is from the Holmes story “The Adventure of the Second Stain”; since Lucas died in that story, which Baring-Gould has dated to October 1886, the Lucas in Newman’s story must be a cousin of Doyle’s character who is also involved in espionage. Hugo Oberstein is mentioned in both “The Adventure of the Second Stain” and “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans,” which is also the source of Partington. Sophy Kratides is from the Holmes tale “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter.” The Club of the Damned is from the 1970s British television series Supernatural. The Mausoleum Club is from the 1980s BBC radio comedy series Tales from the Mausoleum Club. The chandelier falling on the audience of the Paris Opera during the jewel song from Faust is a reference to The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Fal Vale Junction is from Arnold Ridley’s play The Ghost Train. Greyfriars is the school attended by Billy Bunter in stories written by Charles Hamilton under the pen name Frank Richards. The kuripuri (originally spelled curupuri) is from Doyle’s novel The Lost World. Les Vampires are from Louis Feuillade’s film serial of the same name, as are their leader, the Grand Vampire, and Irma Vep. This Grand Vampire’s predecessor, who appeared in “The Adventure of the Six Maledictions,” must be the one murdered by Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, in 1889, as mentioned in Josh Reynolds’ Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows. Rick Lai’s “All Predators Great and Small” has Irma as a child in 1895; perhaps the alias “Irma Vep” is used by whoever serves as Les Vampires’ primary female operative at any given time. This is likely the same Irma seen in Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows. Moriarty’s German rival is Dr. Mabuse, the master criminal who appeared in fiction by Norbert Jacques and three films directed by Fritz Lang. Palliser is Plantagenet Palliser, the protagonist of a series of novels by Anthony Trollope. The Palliser novels are connected to the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, as well as several non-series novels by Trollope. Stent is from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. The Lord of Strange Deaths is Fu Manchu. R. G. Sanders is Edgar Wallace’s Sanders of the River. Sanders and another of Wallace’s characters, Lieutenant Bones, appear in each other’s series. Thomas Carnacki, “the Ghost-Finder,” was created by William Hope Hodgson. Cursitor Doone’s name is meant to evoke the British comic book character Cursitor Doom. Monsieur Sabin is from E. Phillips Oppenheim’s novels Mysterious Mister Sabin and The Yellow Crayon. Ilse Von Hoffmansthal (originally spelled without the second “h”), aka Gabrielle Valladon, is from Billy Wilder’s film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Flaxman Low is from the collection Ghosts; Being the Experiences of Flaxman Low, by “E. and H. Heron” (Hesketh V. Prichard and Kate O’Brien Ryall Prichard). Malilella (usually spelled without the second “l”) is from Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s opera The Jewels of the Madonna. Lady Yuki Kashima is better known as the title character of Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura’s manga Lady Snowblood. Margaret Trelawny is from Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars. Dr. Syn is from novels by Russell Thorndike. Paul Finglemore, aka Colonel Clay, is from Grant Allen’s An African Millionaire. Ram Singh is from the film Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon. Several details given about the Moriarty family in this story contradict their established CU history: the Colonel is younger than the Professor, the father of all three brothers was named James, and the Professor implicitly killed his own parents. Moriarty must have had an ulterior motive for lying to Moran.

Crossover Cover: Undeadsville

This anthology of stories featuring Buffy Summers' predecessors as Slayer includes “Undeadsville” by Michael Reaves, set in December 1952. The current Slayer is Zoe Kuryakin, an 18-year-old first generation Russian Jew, who says she has no family she’s aware of, except for her cousin Illya, who is a few years older than her and attending college in the Ukraine. Zoe’s cousin is Illya Kuryakin from the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. If Zoe is eighteen in 1952, she would’ve been born around 1934. Since Illya was born in 1933, he would be only one year older than Zoe, not “a few years older.” In 1952, Illya was in the Russian Navy doing intelligence work, so perhaps his alleged college attendance was a cover story of some sort.

Crossover Cover: Deep Red Bells

This anthology includes “Deep Red Bells,” a Royal Occultist story by Josh Reynolds. Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass try to exorcise the ghost of a shark from St. Cyprian’s friend Gussie Fitzgrace’s body. St. Cyprian has a tremendous amount of respect for the Society for Psychical Research, engendered in him by his mentor Thomas Carnacki. St. Cyprian describes Gussie’s sister Dahlia as “this year’s answer to Rosie M. Banks, producing widely read and inevitably maudlin tripe with a speed that would astound the messenger of the gods himself,” and recalls an incident with an ichthyosaur skeleton in the Drones billiards room. Dahlia mentions “that business with the crystal egg.” St. Cyprian mutters “By their smell can men sometimes know them near,” in response to the odor Gussie is emitting. St. Cyprian asks Gallowglass if he did or did not give her Harzan’s monograph on the detection of abhuman manifestations, and says no two Saaitii manifestations are the same. St. Cyprian traces the sacred shape of the Voorish sign in the air. St. Cyprian possesses a silver disc that has engraved upon its surface the signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual, crafted by the hands of the last of the ab-human priests of Raaee sometime in the 1600s, and confiscated by Dr. John Dee. Thomas Carnacki, Harzan, Saiitii manifestations, the Saaamaaa Ritual, and Raaee are from William Hope Hodgson’s short story collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. Rosie M. Banks and the Drones Club are from the works of P. G. Wodehouse. The crystal egg is from H. G. Wells’ titular story. The quote “By their smell can men sometimes know them near” and the Voorish Sign are from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.”

Crossover Covers: Vampirella vs. Dracula Redux

Vampirella does battle with Dracula once again. This encounter takes place a year after “Crown of Worms.” This story ran untitled; I have taken the liberty of providing a title.

Crossover Cover: Pickman's Other Model (1929)

This anthology includes the story “Pickman's Other Model (1929)” by Caitlín R. Kiernan. The narrator, a Mr. Blackman, says of actress Vera Endecott, who modeled nude for Richard Upton Pickman, “Later, I would come to recognize some commonality between her face and those of such movie ‘vamps’ and femme fatales as Theda Bara, Eva Galli, Musidora, and, in particular, Pola Negri.” Eva Galli is from Peter Straub’s novel Ghost Story. Much of Straub's work is connected. For instance Straub and Stephen King's novel Black House, which also has connections to King's other works, mentions the town of Arden, WI from Straub's If You Could See Me Now, as well as Don Wanderley (or Wanderly), a character from Ghost Story.

Crossover Cover: Shonokin Town

The July 1946 issue of Weird Tales contains the story "Shonokin Town" by Manly Wade Wellman. John Thunstone wishes the late Lovecraft, who “knew so much about the legend of Other-People, from before human times, and how their behaviors and speech had trickled a little into the ken of the civilization known to the wakeaday world,” and de Grandin could see and hear the Shonokins. The H. P. Lovecraft reference implies John Thunstone exists in the same universe as Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Jules de Grandin is an occult investigator created by Seabury Quinn.

Crossover TV Episode: The Walls of Night

In The Fugitive episode "The Walls of Night," Dr. Richard Kimble, a fugitive hunting the one-armed man who framed him for his own wife’s death, passes Del Floria’s Tailor Shop in Seattle. As with its counterpart in New York, the Seattle Del Floria’s Tailor Shop must disguise the entrance to the local headquarters of U.N.C.L.E. This connection to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. brings The Fugitive into the CU.

Crossover of the Week

1881

THE WAR SHAMAN

The Merkabah Rider gives his ally Kabede a pistol with the Elder Sign imprinted on its side. Kabede refers to their conflict with the Great Old Ones. The two of them, along with the Rider’s old friend Dick Belden, are visited by Shar-rogs pa, the blue abbot of Shambhala, aka Faustus Montague. The monk Chaksusa told the Rider of the abbot when he’d battled Shub-Niggurath, the Yiggians, and the Black Goat Man. Faustus’ brother is Mun Gsod. Faustus tells the Rider, Kabede and Belden of stories that are true: a whaler with an Indian figurehead pursuing a pale leviathan to the doom of her crew and her scarred captain; a young boy putting his hand on a sword and drawing it lightly from a stone, becoming the greatest king the world has ever known; and thirteen heroes with two hearts between them, who set themselves between an insignificant world and all the evil that time and space can muster. He further states a word Chaksusa taught to the Rider, when combined with the Star-Stones of Mnar, is doubly detrimental to the Great Old Ones. The Apache Piishi has seen the Rider’s old acquaintance Misquamacus. Ten of Faustus’ disciples died battling Adon’s Creed on a mesa at a place called Stallions Gate in New Mexico. Among the allies of the Merkabah Riders are the Kun-Sun-Dai and the Watchers. Faustus thinks Misquamacus may be serving Nyarlathotep. The Rider’s own claustrophobia reminds him of his boyhood friend Aloysius Monkowitz’s many phobias. The Rider and Piishi faced Shub-Niggurath and the Cold Ones together. Misquamacus has manipulated the Billington family in the past. The geometric patterns in sand-images made by a group of skinwalkers remind the Rider of the diagrams in the Book of Zylac. Misquamacus summons Ossodagowah.

Short story by Edward M. Erdelac in Merkabah Rider: Have Glyphs Will Travel, Damnation Books, 2011. The Elder Sign, the Great Old Ones, Shub-Niggurath, and Yig are from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Star-Stones of Mnar are from August Derleth’s The Lurker at the Threshold. Misquamacus is from both The Lurker at the Threshold and Graham Masterton’s Manitou novels. The Lurker at the Threshold mentions both Misquamacus’ devotion to Nyarlathotep and his conjuring of Ossodagowah. The Billington family is also from The Lurker at the Threshold. “Shar-rogs pa” and “Mun Gsod” are Tibetan approximations of “Darkness Slayer” and “East-helper,” the English translations of the names of the blue wizards Morinehtar and Rómestámo from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This story reveals Rómestámo and Misquamacus are the same being. The whaler is the Pequod from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. The boy who drew the sword from the stone is King Arthur. The thirteen heroes with two hearts between them are the various incarnations of the Doctor, of Doctor Who fame. While most of the Doctor’s exploits take place in an alternate universe, it has been established the Doctor has a CU counterpart, who often goes by the name of Doctor Omega. Stallions Gate, New Mexico, is the future site of Project Quantum Leap, from the television series Quantum Leap. The Watchers (more properly the Watchers’ Council) are from the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while the Kun-Sun-Dai (whose full name is the Order of the Kun-Sun-Dai) are from the “Awakening” and “Calvary” episodes of the Buffy spin-off Angel. Aloysius Monkowitz is an ancestor of obsessive-compulsive private investigator Adrian Monk from the television series Monk. The Cold Ones and Zylac appear in Cthulhu Mythos fiction by Clark Ashton Smith. Zylac’s book, The Wisdom and Sacred Magic of Zylac the Mage, appears in stories by Joseph S. Pulver.