Sunday, January 8, 2023

Crossover of the Week

Summer 1940
THE TRIUMPH OF FRANKENSTEIN 
Gouroull, the inhuman monster created by Victor Frankenstein, travels to the South American country of San Pedro and enlists his creator’s relative Dr. Elizabeth Frankenstein to make him a mate. Appearing or mentioned are a French werewolf, Hans, a dead Spanish Templar, the Kane newspapers, the Daily Beast, a giant rat killing people in Dutch East India, Selenian vampire tongue, the Pretorius Apothecary, Karnstein Castle, the Deep Ones, General Juan Murillo, Szell, West, Dr. Janos Rukh, Jack, Alfie Alperin, Sherlock Holmes, Hidalgo, the Pine people, the Ancients, “A foreign colonel named Bozo or something,” Lyte & Tremain, Captain Jack of the English Navy, Dracula, some booksellers called Ceniza, Moreau, a blind German engineer, a woman in Japan, Fritz, Fen-Chu, a faraway plateau surrounded by dreadful giant lizards, Clarke, Gladys, Wooster, mnophka, the black lotus, Clyde Burke, Spratt, Daka, a doctor who created an artificial woman from the spilled sperm of a hanged man, a circus knife-thrower, and Nephren-Ka. 
Novel by Frank Schildiner, Black Coat Press, 2017. Gouroull is the version of the Frankenstein monster seen in novels by Jean-Claude Carrière. San Pedro and its former President, Juan Murillo, are from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge.” The giant rat in Dutch East India is a nod to the Giant Rat of Sumatra, mentioned in the Holmes story “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.” The blind German engineer is Von Herder, the designer of Colonel Sebastian Moran’s air gun in “The Adventure of the Empty House.” The French werewolf is Bertrand Caillet from Guy Endore’s The Werewolf of Paris. Hans is Hans Beckert from the movie M. The mummified Spanish Templars are from the Blind Dead Spanish horror film series. The Kane newspapers are from Orson Welles’ classic film Citizen Kane. The Daily Beast is from Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop. Selene is from Paul Féval’s Vampire City. The Pretorius Apothecary refers to Dr. Septimus Pretorius from the movie Bride of Frankenstein. The Karnstein family is from J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla.” The Deep Ones from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” Dr. Christian Szell is from William Goldman’s novel Marathon Man. West is the title character of Lovecraft’s “Herbert West – Reanimator.” Dr. Janos Rukh is from the movie The Invisible Ray. Jack Woltz is from Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather. Alfie Alperin is from the movie Sunset. Hidalgo is from the Doc Savage novels. The Pine People are the Shonokins from Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone stories. The Ancients are from Wellman’s Silver John story “Shiver in the Pines.” The Colonel is Colonel Bozzo-Corona, the leader of the criminal society known as the Black Coats in Féval’s novels. Lyte & Tremain is a reference to Esther Forbes’ novel Johnny Tremain. Captain Jack of the English Navy is Captain Jack Aubrey from Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels. Dracula is self-explanatory. This novel utilizes Chuck Loridans’ “soul-clone” theory, created to reconcile several seemingly contradictory Dracula stories into a single continuity. The Ceniza family is from Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novel The Club Dumas. Moreau is from H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau. The woman in Japan is Dr. Kanoto Yoshimuta, the future Madame Atomos, from André Caroff’s novels. Fritz assisted Dr. Henry Frankenstein in his original experiments, as seen in the 1931 Universal film Frankenstein. Fen-Chu is from George Fronval’s L’Enigmatique Fen-Chu. The faraway plateau is Maple White Land from Arthur Conan Doyle and Edward D. Malone’s The Lost World. Bob “Doc” Clarke is better known as the Crimson Mask, whose battle against crime was chronicled by Norman A. Daniels and other authors writing as “Frank Johnson” in Detective Novels Magazine from August 1940-April 1944. Gladys is the future Mrs. Gladys Kravitz from the TV series Bewitched. Bertie Wooster is from P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves books. Mnophka is from Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Plutonian Drug.” The black lotus is from Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Burke is an agent of a certain slouch-hatted mystery man. Dr. Lancelot Spratt is from the Doctor books by Richard Gordon. Dr. Tito Daka is the villain of the 1943 Batman serial. Elizabeth’s doctor friend in Germany is Jakob ten Brinken from Hanns Heinz Ewers’ Alraune. The circus knife-thrower is Alonzo the Armless from the movie The Unknown. Nephren-Ka is from Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark.” 
This crossover write-up, and hundreds more, can be found in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Vol. 3, to be published ASAP by Meteor House!

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