Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Crossover Cover: Improbable as It May Seem - The Impossible Man is Back in Town!

 

The Thing (Ben Grimm) has regained his powers and rocklike form, having previously lost both and used an exoskeleton created by Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) to replicate them. Ben says to Reed, “I tore outta your precious exoskeleton like Doc Savage rippin’ a t-shirt!” A year after this adventure, Ben and his teammate Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) will have a cross-time exploit with Doc and two of his aides.

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Crossover TV Episodes: Terminus

 

Are you a James Bond fan?

Then you'll love the Endeavour episode "Terminus," which has a nod to Thunderball, as well as the TV series On the Buses and the Doctor Who serial "The Mind of Evil!"

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Monday, January 29, 2024

Crossover Covers: Neck and Neck

 

Sergeant Beef investigates two murders, those of his biographer Lionel Townsend’s aunt and a publisher. Beef tells Townsend he’d like to know what’s happening between his (Townsend’s) brother Vincent and their relative Edith Payne. Townsend says that there’s nothing going on between them, to which Beef replies, “That’s what I mean...It’s like the old Sherlock Holmes gag of the behavior of the dog in the night.” The publisher’s secretary compares Townsend to Dr. Watson and Captain Hastings. Beef complains, “As I’ve said before, hardly anybody seems to have heard the name Beef. Now take Hercule Poirot..." The publisher’s stepson is a Major in the 10th Loamshires. Sherlock Holmes’ famous quote about the curious incident of the dog in the night-time appears in Doyle and Watson’s “The Adventure of Silver Blaze.” Captain Arthur Hastings is Hercule Poirot’s friend and sometime biographer, whose accounts were edited for publication by Agatha Christie. The Loamshire Regiment appears in several works of fiction, including H. C. “Sapper” McNeile’s Bulldog Drummond novels, Evelyn Waugh’s Put Out More Flags and Men at Arms, and the movie The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. The English county of Loamshire is originally from George Eliot’s novels. 

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Crossover of the Week

Autumn 1902

THE IGNOBLE SPORTSMEN 

Sherlock Holmes investigates the inexplicable deaths of members of the Fellowship of Herne, a club that hunts humans. The Fellowship’s members include Englishmen, Americans, Canadians, and a few Russians. When Watson idly suggests an invisible animal could be responsible for the deaths, Holmes replies, “There was a strange case, out in the American Southwest, a year or two ago. A man named Morgan was found dead, out among the chaparral. The local constabulary thought it was murder, at first, but...The human eye is an imperfect instrument, Watson. Some things are beyond its perception. There’s supposedly a fellow in West Sussex who’s doing some interesting research into such matters, but for the moment we are forced to rely on it.” The Great Detective and his Boswell have visited Bluegate Fields often, most recently during an investigation into the disappearance of a young aristocrat named Gray. Holmes and Watson crack the case with the help of a Pinkerton named Leverton, who mentions the Red Circle. 

Short story by Dr. Watson, edited by Josh Reynolds in Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes, J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec, eds., EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, 2018. One of the Russian members of the Fellowship of Herne is probably General Zaroff from Richard Connell’s story “The Most Dangerous Game.” Hugh Morgan is from Ambrose Bierce’s story “The Damned Thing.” The fellow in Sussex is Griffin from H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. Gray is the title character of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Leverton is from Doyle and Watson’s “The Adventure of the Red Circle,” which Baring-Gould placed in 1902. “The Damned Thing” was first published in 1893, and the events of The Invisible Man take place in 1896. Therefore, Watson must have been engaging in his recurring chronological misdirection by changing Holmes’ words to make the events regarding Morgan and Griffin seem more recent. 

This crossover write up is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Crossover Cover: To Wake the Dead

 

Are you a John Dickson Carr fan?

Then you'll love this book in his Dr. Gideon Fell series, which has a connection to one of his Sir Henry Merrivale novels!

For more information, be sure to purchase a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Friday, January 26, 2024

Crossover Cover: Joe Ledger: Unstoppable

 

This anthology of stories featuring Jonathan Maberry's character Joe Ledger has several stories in which the contributors have Ledger meeting their own characters.

In Jon McGoran's "Strange Harvest," Ledger and McGoran's detective Doyle Carrick investigate a pharmaceutical corporation. 

In Scott Sigler's "Vacation," Ledger, vacationing in San Francisco, is asked to investigate the murder of two DEA agents. Inspector Lawrence “Pookie” Chang takes Ledger to the mansion of a possible suspect, Jebediah Erickson. Chang and Erickson are from Sigler’s novel Nocturnal.

In Larry Correia's "Psych Eval," the Department of Military Sciences must deal with a demonically possessed agent. Agent Franks has been contacted and is on his way. Franks is from Correia’s Monster Hunter International series.

In Jeremy Robinson's "Prince of Peace," an enigmatic group takes Joe Ledger and Chess Team’s Jack Sigler prisoner. Chess Team is the subject of a series of novels by Robinson. 

In James R. Tuck's "White Flame on Sunday," Ledger joins forces with monster hunter Deacon Chalk to combat a Sumerian elephant cult. Like Ledger, Tuck’s character Deacon Chalk has several solid links to the CU. 

Dana Fredsti's "Crash Course" features Ledger in the world of Fredsti’s Ashley Parker series, which takes place after a zombie apocalypse. Obviously, this would be an AU.

These crossovers are among the hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!


Thursday, January 25, 2024

Crossover Cover: God's Games

 

Are you a Nero Wolfe fan?

Then you'll love Tommy Hancock's story in this anthology, which has a Wolfe connection, among other crossovers!

For more information, be sure to check out my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Crossover TV Movie: The Last Electric Knight

 

Ernie Lee, the descendant of a long line of martial artists, is a native of the island nation of Patusan. Patusan is the setting of Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim. The protagonist of Lord Jim, Charles Marlow, also appears in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Chance, and “Youth.” Heart of Darkness is in the CU through Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Atom Mudman Bezecny’s “The Revelation of the Yeti.” The Last Electric Knight spun off into a TV series, Sidekicks. Patusan also appears in the movie Surf Ninjas.

This crossover is only one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Crossover Cover: The Horseman

 

Are you a fan of Billy Tucci's character Shi?

Then you'll love this comic, in which she encounters Hank Kwon's character the Horseman!

For more details, be sure to check out my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Monday, January 22, 2024

Crossover Cover: Castle Dark

 

Adventuress Frances West battles the vampire Drakkar alongside her friend and sometime lover Maxim Gunn. Drakkar controls creatures called diablosaurs. At the end, Drakkar relocates to Arkham, Massachusetts. Maxim Gunn appears in his own series of novels by Boving, which has several connections to the CU. The diablosaurs, created by Maurice Renard’s character Dr. Lerne, first appeared in Boving’s “Wings of Fear” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 9: La Vie en Noir, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2012). At the end of that story, the last surviving diablosaur escaped. Perhaps the diablosaurs seen here were the result of someone’s attempt to recreate Lerne’s experiment, since otherwise it’s unlikely the surviving one would have been able to reproduce. Arkham, Massachusetts is a recurring setting in H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos tales. 

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Crossover of the Week

Spring 1909

ROULETABILLE AT THE OLD BAILEY 

French journalist Rouletabille reports on an English homicide. Another reporter, Ben Bates, points out the prosecution leader, Sir Wilfrid Robarts; his junior, T. C. Rowley; and Edward Leithen and Impey Biggs representing the defense. The judge is Mr. Justice Wargrave. The prosecution calls consulting detective Harry Dickson, who worked for Nick Carter when he was younger. Dickson has his offices in Baker Street, as do all four of London’s greatest detectives: Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake, Sir Seaton Begg, and Victor Drago. 

Short story by Martin Gately in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 14: Sang Froid, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2017; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 24), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018, and Les Nouveau Exploits de Rouletabille, Rivière Blanche, 2019; and in The New Exploits of Joseph Rouletabille, Black Coat Press, 2020. Rouletabille is from Gaston Leroux’s detective novels. Ben Bates is from the 1988 TV mini-series Jack the Ripper. Sir Wilfrid Robarts is from Agatha Christie’s “The Witness for the Prosecution.” T. C. Rowley is from John Mortimer’s Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Edward Leithen is from the works of John Buchan. Impey Biggs is from Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey novels. Mr. Justice Wargrave is from Christie’s And Then There Were None. Harry Dickson appeared in German, Belgian, Dutch, and French pulp novels, the latter mostly written by Jean Ray. Nick Carter is one of the most famous dime novel detectives. Sherlock Holmes needs no introduction. Sexton Blake is an iconic British penny dreadful detective. Seaton Begg is an AU version of Blake seen in Michael Moorcock’s The Metatemporal Detective, but apparently a distinct version separate from Blake exists in the CU. Victor Drago, created by Chris Lowder and Mike Dorey, appeared in the British comic Tornado

This post is dedicated to author Martin Gately, who sadly passed away last week. Martin was a great guy and a very talented writer with decades of experience, and I will miss him a lot.

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Crossover Cover: Diamondback: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

 

Are you an Orson Welles fan?

Then you'll love this novel by Derrick Ferguson, which has a nod to Citizen Kane, as well as connections to many of Ferguson's other works!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Friday, January 19, 2024

Crossover Cover: John Carter of Mars: Gods of the Forgotten

 

John Carter and his daughter Tara are pulled into an adventure that involves a threat dating back to Barsoom’s ancient past. Carter learns of his relative Edgar Rice Burroughs’ death through the Gridley Wave. He later encounters Betty Callwell, aka Loto, and then the Wave’s inventor, Jason Gridley, who has been transported across space since his goddaughter Victory Harben was pulled into a purplish light in Pellucidar. Gridley’s most recent jaunt brought him to Venus, where he met an Earthman named Carson Napier. Jason Gridley, the inventor of the Gridley Wave, connects Edgar Rice Burroughs’ various series. Loto first met Carson Napier in Burroughs’ Escape on Venus, and again in Christopher Paul Carey and Cyrus Mesarcia’s comic book miniseries Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond, which ended with her being transported to another world. Victory Harben is the daughter of Gretchen von Harben from Burroughs’ Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, and the niece of Erich von Harben from Tarzan and the Lost Empire. Jason Gridley and Victory Harben’s journeys across time and space form the basis for the Swords of Eternity Super-Arc running through the new Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe novels. Gridley encountered Carson Napier in Matt Betts’ Carson of Venus: The Edge of All Worlds. Pellucidar is from Burroughs’ series of novels beginning with At the Earth’s Core.

Appearing as a backup is a "Quantum Interlude" entitled "Where Angels Fear..." In Pellucidar, Janson Gridley, the son of Jason and Jana, the Red Flower of Zoram, receives a message via Gridley Wave from Victory Harben, whose signal Abner Perry traces from the direction of globular cluster NGC 7006. Perry has been speaking over the wireless with young Moritz about his ideas of energy-matter transmission. The mention of NGC 7006 suggests Victory is transmitting from somewhere near Poloda, the planet featured in Burroughs’ Beyond the Farthest Star. Stanley Moritz is from John Eric Holmes’ Mahars of Pellucidar.

These crossovers are only two of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Crossover Cover: Sleep Big

 

Are you a hardboiled mystery fan?

Then you'll love Terence Faherty's story "Sleep Big," featuring his Hollywood actor turned P.I. Scott Elliott, which ties in with Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novel The Big Sleep!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes1 and 2!

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Crossover Cover: Urban Allies

 

This anthology consists of collaborations between Urban Fantasy authors teaming their respective characters. Two of the stories have relevance to the Crossover Universe. 

In Weston Ochse and David Wellington's "The Lessons of Room 19," vampire hunter and ex-con Laura Caxton is blackmailed into helping Seal Team 666 member Jack Walker rid himself of his dependence on a “ghostskin” that bears the spirit of his dead girlfriend. Ochse’s Seal Team 666 series is in the CU through references in Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger books, so this story brings in Laura Caxton, the protagonist of a series of novels by Wellington. 

In Larry Correia and Jonathan Maberry's "Weaponized Hell," the aforementioned Joe Ledger, of the Department of Military Sciences, and Agent Franks of the Monster Control Bureau battle terrorists who are summoning demons. Ledger and Agent Franks (from Correia’s Monster Hunter International series) are both in the CU.

These crossovers are only two of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Crossover Cover: Sick Leave

 

Are you a fan of British horror movies and cop shows?

Then you'll love Gordon Rennie and Tieren Trevallion's Absalom story in this issue, a spin-off of Rennie and Dom Reardon's also crossover-filled comic Caballistics, Inc., which has references to the movies The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Death Line, and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, and the TV series The Sweeney and Z Cars!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Monday, January 15, 2024

Crossover Cover: The Hound's Daughter

This story by Josh Reynolds takes place in 1924. Charles St. Cyprian’s longtime foe Dr. Gottlieb Hochmuller, aka the Hound, was a member of the Kaiser’s sorcerous cabal alongside Professor ten Brinken. When Hochmuller’s daughter, Nadja Highmill, asks St. Cyprian if ghosts leave tracks, he replies, “Some. That unpleasant business at the Red Lodge comes to mind.” The Si-Fan lurk in every opium den not owned by the Sisterhood of Rats. Hochmuller’s notes are a cavalcade of horrors such as even Prinn and Alhazred might’ve blanched at. Dr. Wilfred Ptolemy, who is working with Hochmuller, mentions the Moreau Fallacy. Professor Jakob ten Brinken is from Hanns Heinz Ewers’ Alraune. The Red Lodge is from H. R. Wakefield’s ghost story of the same name. The Si-Fan is Dr. Fu Manchu’s organization. Abdul Alhazred is the author of the Necronomicon in H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Moreau Fallacy is named after the titular vivisectionist from H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Crossover of the Week

Summer 2021

WHAT SONG THE SIRENS SANG 

A man calling himself Smith offers Gideon Sable and his lover Annie Anybody a stone that he says contains the last echoes of the sirens’ song. The stone is then stolen by Switch It Sally, the wife of crew member Lex Talon, aka the Damned, who was forced to do it by her abductor, a collector known as Coldheart. Gideon says the original Gideon Sable, whose name he assumed after his disappearance, specialized in stealing the kind of things others couldn’t, including jewels from the crown of the man who would be king. In disguise, Gideon and Annie visit Honest John’s Magical Emporium and World of Wonders, where the password of the day is “Swordfish.” Gideon and Annie pilfer Honest John’s Secret Stash, which includes Tom Pierce’s grimoire, which Gideon realizes transported several people to Widdicombe Fair, rather than an old grey mare doing so; the cocoon of a death’s-head were-moth; a pop-up edition of the Necronomicon; and Dracula’s skull, as well as the smaller skull of Dracula when he was a boy, which Gideon is skeptical about. Gideon and Annie have stolen Honest John’s swag for their own shop, Old Harry’s Place, which they inherited from the previous owner and the store’s namesake. Gideon says some of the stacks that used to fill up Old Harry’s went back so far he worried he’d end up in Narnia. Gideon says the rock has a special presence, like the Maltese Falcon or the last of the Anglo-Saxon Crowns. Gideon, Annie, and Lex visit Murray the Mentalist, whose other personae include Madame Osiris. Murray tells them to recruit Polly Perkins, a werewolf whose tracking talents will come in handy. Murray says he will transport the foursome to Seattle, where Coldheart is based, through the Low Road, the path the dead use to take them from this world to the next. Gideon says the Hagges are always watching the Low Road. 

Novel by Simon R. Green. The man who would be king is a reference to Rudyard Kipling’s story of the same name and its title character, Daniel Dravot. The use of “Swordfish” as a password is a nod to the Marx Brothers film Horse Feathers. Tom Pierce (or Pearce) is from the Devon folk song “Widecombe Fair.” The death’s-head were-moth is a nod to the film The Blood Beast Terror. The Necronomicon is the most infamous tome in H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Dracula needs no introduction. Narnia is from C. S. Lewis’ novels. The Maltese Falcon is from Dashiell Hammett’s titular detective novel. Madame Osiris and the Hagges are from Green’s Secret Histories novel Live and Let Drood. Polly Perkins was the alias used by a disguised elf in Green’s Nightside novel The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny. Presumably, the elf took the name from the real Polly. The Low Road first appeared in Green’s Ghost Finders series. 

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Crossover Cover: The Man with the Radio Mind

 

Are you a Clayton Rawson fan?

Then you'll love this story featuring his character of professional mind reader Mr. Mystery, which has a shout-out to one of his other series characters, the magician-detective Merlini!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Friday, January 12, 2024

Crossover TV Episode: Quartet

 

In this episode of Endeavour, Endeavour Morse investigates the murder of a contestant at an international event for the game show It’s a Knockout! The French team is from St.-Josse-des-Bois, a small town in the Pas-de-Calais. The victim was a postal clerk in Werfen, Bavaria. Chief Superintendent Bright says, “Good god! It’s a machete-wielding West Indian with a distinctive facial scar we’re trying to find. In Oxford! It’s not the Scarlet Pimpernel.” Morse passes an ad for Grimsby Pilchards. It’s a Knockout! was a real show. St.-Josse-des-Bois is the setting of the four-episode series Monsignor Renard, co-written by Endeavour creator Russell Lewis and starring John Thaw, who played the older Endeavour Morse on Inspector Morse. Werfen is a real town in Salzburg, Austria, but the movie Where Eagles Dare placed it in Bavaria, Germany. We can assume there are two towns in different countries named Werfen. The Scarlet Pimpernel is from Baroness Orczy’s novels. Grimsby Pilchards are from “The Bowmans,” an episode of the television series Hancock. Morse passed ads for the Pilchards in two previous episodes.

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Crossover Cover: Happy Returns

 

Are you an Anthony Trollope fan?

Then you'll love this novel by Angela Thirkell, one of many by her set in Trollope's fictional English county of Barsetshire, which has references to Anthony Hope's The Dolly Dialogues and Henry Kingsley's Ravenshoe!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Crossover Covers: The Big Bleed Out

 

Private eye and monster killer Cal McDonald briefly teams up with Larry Van Helsing, another member of the line of monster hunters.

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Crossover Cover: Dead Streets

 

Are you a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

Then you'll love this novel, the second in Tim Waggoner's Nekropolis series, which among many other crossovers has a cameo by Dr. Frank-N-Furter!

For more information, be sure to check out my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Monday, January 8, 2024

Crossover Cover: MatchUp

This anthology of collaborations between female and male thriller writers teaming up their respective characters includes four stories involving characters who are in the CU. 

In Karin Slaughter and Michael Koryta's "Short Story," police detective Jeffrey Tolliver is partnered with Lincoln Perry, and they go after a drug dealer. Jeffrey Tolliver is from Slaughter’s Grant County series, which is connected to her Will Trent novels, which are in turn in the CU through a crossover with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Therefore, this crossover brings in Koryta’s series about ex-cops turned private eyes Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard.

In Lisa Jackson and John Sandford's "Deserves to Be Dead," cop Regan Pescoli meets Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Regan Pescoli is the protagonist of a series of novels by Jackson. Sandford’s Virgil Flowers series is in the CU through connections to his character Lucas Davenport, who is himself in the CU through Stephen King and Peter Straub’s Black House. Flowers reports to Davenport, and the two frequently appear in each other’s series.

In Diana Gabaldon and Steve Berry's "Past Prologue," ex-government agent turned bookseller Cotton Malone meets eighteenth century Scottish soldier Jamie Fraser through time travel. This crossover brings together Jamie Fraser from Gabaldon’s Outlander series and Berry’s series character Cotton Malone, both of whom have independent links to the CU. 

Lastly, in Kathy Reichs and Lee Child's "Faking a Murderer," Child’s character Jack Reacher helps to clear the name of Reichs’ forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan when she is accused of murder. Reacher is in the CU. Reichs’ Temperance Brennan novels are the inspiration for the television series Bones, which is also in. The Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan of the TV show is a generation younger than her literary counterpart, and has a completely different family tree, supporting cast, and background, so this must be an AU.

These crossovers are four of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Crossover of the Week

Autumn 2004

HELL ON EARTH 

Caballistics, Inc. battles the living dead and a fallen angel in the North Yorkshire village of Boswell. Appearing or mentioned are: the Templars Resurgent; the Starry Wisdom; Delta Green; the Cult of the Black Sun; Arkham University; the Quist Foundation; Doomwatch; the Carnacki-Silence Spectrum; Motley Hall; Yuggoth; the Lamp of Alhazred; the Merrin Ritual; the Karras Ritual; Hobb’s End; Florizel Street; Totters’ Lane; the Brigadier; “a similar facility that stored such material in the U.S.”; Ringstone Round; jaunting bracelets; the eighth Dagger of Megiddo; a chameleon circuit; an owl named Ozymandius; Department 7; Omega; a water tower undergoing a sweep for medieval magic residue; Exham Priory; Watchers; “certain subterranean mouths”; Nephren-Ka; Kadath in the Cold Waste; Irem; Kiran; Sarnath; Ib; Hali; Raccoon City; Umbrella; Mr. Phelps; the Jones/Brody archives at Barnett College in New York; Nyarlahotep; the Yeti incident; Drax Industries; the British Rocket Group; Saknusem’s Swallow; Leidenbrock’s Ledge; Wenley Moor; Sir Rufus Folkes; Templar; Harold Pelham; “something Straker Estates”; and the Mayflower Project. 

Novel by Mike Wild, 2000 AD, 2006. The Templars Resurgent are the Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici from Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. The Starry Wisdom Church and Nephren-Ka are from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark.” Arkham University must be in Lovecraft’s recurring setting of Arkham, Massachusetts. Yuggoth is another name for Pluto in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Exham Priory is from Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” Kadath in the Cold Waste, Sarnath, and Ib are mentioned in several Lovecraft stories. Irem is from Lovecraft’s “The Nameless City.” Kiran is from Lovecraft’s “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.” “Nyarlahotep” is a misspelling of Lovecraft’s god Nyarlathotep. Delta Green is from the eponymous supplement for the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu. The Cult of the Black Sun is a CU version of the group seen in Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's superhero comic book Zenith. The Quist Foundation and Doomwatch are from the TV series Doomwatch. The Carnacki-Silence Spectrum is named after Thomas Carnacki and John Silence, occult investigators created by William Hope Hodgson and Algernon Blackwood, respectively. Motley Hall is from the TV series The Ghosts of Motley Hall. The Lamp of Alhazred is from August Derleth’s titular Cthulhu Mythos story. The Merrin Ritual and the Karras Ritual are named after the late Fathers Lankester Merrin and Damien Karras from William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist. Hobb’s End is from the movie Quatermass and the Pit. Ringstone Round is from the television serial Quatermass. Professor Bernard Quatermass heads the British Rocket Group. Florizel Street was the original title for the long running British soap opera Coronation Street. Totters’ Lane and chameleon circuits are from Doctor Who. The Brigadier is Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart from that series. The Yeti incident is a reference to the serial “The Web of Fear.” Wenley Moor is from the serial “Doctor Who and the Silurians.” The “similar facility that stored such material in the U.S.” is the warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant was stored in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones’ friend Dr. Marcus Brody appears in both that film and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The latter is the source of Barnett College. Jaunting bracelets are from the television series The Tomorrow People. The eighth Dagger of Megiddo is a nod to the Seven Daggers of Megiddo from the movie The Omen. Ozymandius (or Ozymandias) is from the TV series Ace of Wands. Department 7 and Omega are from the show The Omega Factor. The water tower is Castle Saburac from the TV series Catweazle. The Watchers and “certain subterranean mouths” (Hellmouths) are from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hali is from Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. Raccoon City and the Umbrella Corporation are from the Resident Evil video game series. Mr. Phelps, who is given a “mission, should [he] choose to accept it,” is apparently related to the late Jim Phelps from the TV series and movie Mission: Impossible. Drax Industries is from the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Moonraker. Saknusem’s Swallow and Leidenbrock’s Ledge refer to Arne Saknussemm and Otto Lidenbrock from Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Rufus Folkes (or ffolkes) is from the movie North Seas Hijack. Simon Templar is Leslie Charteris’ adventurer the Saint. Harold Pelham is from the movie The Man Who Haunted Himself. Ffolkes and Pelham were both played by Roger Moore, who also played Simon Templar on the 1960s The Saint TV series. “Something Straker Estates” refers to Richard Throckett Straker, vampire Kurt Barlow’s minion in Stephen King’s 'Salem’s Lot. The Mayflower Project is from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Saturday, January 6, 2024

Crossover Cover: The Adventure of the Black Katana

 

Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?

Then you'll love Bradley H. Sinor's story in this anthology, "The Adventure of the Black Katana," which has references to the Cthulhu Mythos and Raffles, as well as Sinor's story "Places for Act Two!" from the anthology Dracula in London!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Friday, January 5, 2024

Crossover Cover: Decently and Quietly Dead

 

In this story by Matthew Baugh, Mysterious Dave Mather is forcibly recruited by Judge Parker to apprehend a cult leader called Jehoiakim. Mather was interrupted during a dalliance with a prostitute by two of Parker’s marshals, Dave Bliss and One-Eyed Cogburn. When Mather shows Sheriff Teague the silver bullets he intends to use on Jehoiakim, Teague says he has heard of a man who uses silver bullets, supposedly as a reminder of the cost of human life. Jehoiakim intends to summon Tawil-at-U’mr. Mysterious Dave Mather was a real lawman, gunfighter, and sometime criminal in the Old West. Baugh’s fiction portrays him as a fighter against supernatural evil, particularly the beings of the Cthulhu Mythos. Marshal Dave Bliss is from the movie Hang 'em High. One-Eyed Cogburn is Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn from Charles Portis’ True Grit. The man who uses silver bullets is the Lone Ranger. Tawil-at-U’mr is an avatar of Yog-Sothoth in H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price’s “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.”

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Crossover Cover: Il Suo Nome Era Satanik

 

Are you an Italian comic fan?

Then you'll love this story, in which Max Bunker and Dario Perucca's psychologist Beverly Kerr encounters Bunker and Magnus' femme fatale Satanik!

For more details, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Crossover Covers: Lords of the Jungle

 






The jungle queen Sheena travels back in time and teams up with Tarzan. Although this version of Tarzan is based on Burroughs’ novels, Cheetah from the movies inexplicably appears. Win Scott Eckert adds, “Tarzan (from September 1936), Sheena (from 2016), and another character from the future are ‘protectors’ of their domains with the power to open ‘doorways’ to other times or realms. While certainly it has been posited in other non-ERB tales that Tarzan is somehow drawn to ‘gates’ which lead to other dimensions and otherwise-hidden cities (see Malibu’s Love, Lies, and the Lost City), it has never been proposed that Tarzan does this consciously and intentionally.” Therefore, I am considering this an alternate universe story.

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Crossover TV Episode: Exeunt

 

Are you a Charles Dickens fan?

Then you'll love the series finale of Endeavour, which has a shout-out to Oliver Twist, as well as the movie Trouble in Store!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Monday, January 1, 2024

Crossover Cover: The Wedding Seal

 

In Josh Reynolds' story in this anthology, Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass encounter selkies in the Orkney Islands. Carnacki is mentioned, and St. Cyprian’s head is described as ringing like the Nine Tailors of Fenchurch St. Paul. Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. The Nine Tailors of Fenchurch St. Paul are from Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey novel The Nine Tailors.

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!