Crossover of the Week

Summer 1958

CRUEL HEAVEN 

The Demon Khan (aka Mina Struan) recruits Herbert West’s former assistant Daniel Cain to resurrect the Atlantean wizard Khutulus. Also appearing or mentioned are: the Black Tigers; Ilchedai Khan; Shiwana; the Golden Horde; the Dark Star (aka Yrimid); Mi-Ling; the Purple Sacrament; Burle Haisson; Stuart Hartwell; Tsan Chanyu; the Temple of Xangi; the Seven Rubies of Bolopore; Mina Struan’s paternal grandfather and grandmother; Daniel Cain’s great-grandfather; the Disposer of Souls (aka Erlik); the Black Lotus; the Winged Rider; Suleiman Ishak; The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan; the Upas-Purãnas; Les Chroniques de Nemedea; Yahlgan; Dr. Omega Stark; Miskatonic University; Thoolsah; Kuen-Yuin; Khalkuru; R’ylethee; the Red Offering; King Cual of Valooze; Ulthar; the Dreamlands; Zushakon; Nug; the Black Litany; Alanhati; Derrick Struan; the Lurker of the Fourth Axis; a Mongol chieftain; the Sung orchids; the Choking Chalice; the ape-men of the Gobi; Kang; Than-Kul; the Livre d’Ivon; and Yin-yang Li. 

Short story by Rick Lai in Legacy of the Reanimator: Chronicles of Dr. Herbert West, Peter Rawlik and Brian M. Sammons, eds., Chaosium, 2015. Herbert West and Daniel Cain are from H. P. Lovecraft’s “Herbert West – Reanimator.” The Demon Khan is Erlik Khan from Robert E. Howard’s Steve Harrison stories, who Lai conflates with Yasmeena from Howard’s El Borak tale “The Daughter of Erlik Khan.” Khutulus is meant to be Kathulos from Howard’s “Skull-Face” and “Taverel Manor.” Lai conflates him with Kuthulos from Howard’s Kull story “The Cat and the Skull.” Thoolsah and Djelcurdes are Thulsa Doom and Delcardes from the same tale. The Black Tigers are from the El Borak story “The Country of the Knife.” Ilchedai Khan and the Golden Horde are from the TV movie Fanfare for a Death Scene. Shiwana is the daughter of the shadowy vigilante’s archenemy. The Dark Star is from Robert W. Chambers’ titular book. It was given the name Yrimid in The Slayer of Souls. Mi-Ling and Burle Haisson are from the round robin novels “Herbert West – Reanimated” and “Herbert West – Reincarnated.” The Purple Sacrament is based on a purple healing potion used by the slouch-hatted crimefighter and his agents. Hartwell is from Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” Peter Rawlik gave Hartwell the first name Stuart and portrayed him as a rival of Herbert West. Tsan Chanyu is meant to be Shiwana’s father’s fortress, as well as the beginning of “the cruel empire of Tsan Chan, which is to come in 5,000 A.D.” in Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Out of Time.” One of the inhabitants of Tsan Chan is Yiang Li, a philosopher who has his mind swapped with that of one of the Great Race of Yith; Lai refers to him as Yin-yang Li, and reveals he is really an immortal Daniel Cain. Xangi and Kuen-Yuin are from Chambers’ “The Maker of Moons.” The Seven Rubies of Bolopore are from the Shadow novel The Seven Drops of Blood. Mina Struan’s paternal grandfather is Dirk Struan from James Clavell’s Tai-Pan, while her grandmother is Ling Ju Hai, identified as Fu Manchu’s mother in Philip José Farmer’s Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Daniel Cain’s great-grandfather, whose second wife was Chinese, is Thomas Henry Caine, the father of Kwai Chang Caine, the protagonist of the TV series Kung Fu. Cain’s grandfather is Kwai Chang’s older half-brother, Danny Caine. The Disposer of Souls is Zukala, from a series of poems by Howard. Lai identifies Zukala with Chambers’ version of Erlik and the King in Yellow, from Chambers’ titular collection. The Black Lotus is from Howard’s Conan stories. The Winged Rider is from Harold Lamb’s Khlit the Cossack story of the same name. Suleiman (or Solomon) Ishak is from Sax Rohmer’s The Mask of Fu Manchu. The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan are from Lovecraft’s “The Other Gods” and “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.” The Upas-Purãnas are from Lin Carter’s Thongor novels. Les Chroniques de Nemedea are a reference to The Nemedian Chronicles from the Conan stories. Yahlgan is from Howard’s “Black Hound of Death.” Omega Stark is the daughter of John Stark, aka Om, from Howard’s “The House of Om,” a synopsis for an unwritten short story. Miskatonic University is a staple of the Cthulhu Mythos. Khalkuru is a conflation of Cthulhu with Khalk’ru the Kraken God from A. Merritt’s Dwellers in the Mirage. R’ylethee is R’lyeh. The Red Offering is from Carter’s eponymous story. King Cual of Valooze is Kull, who rules the kingdom of Valusia. A lost civilization called Valooze appears in the El Borak story “Khoda Khan’s Tale.” Ulthar is from Lovecraft’s “The Cats of Ulthar.” The Dreamlands are from Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle stories. Zushakon is from Henry Kuttner’s “The Bells of Horror.” Nug is from Lovecraft’s “Out of the Aeons,” “The Mound,” and “The Last Test,” co-written with Hazel Heald, Zealia Bishop, and Adolphe de Castro, respectively. The Black Litany is from Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.’s poem “The Black Litany of Nug and Yeb.” Alanhati is another name for Atlantis in Brian Lumley’s “In the Vaults Beneath.” Derrick Struan is meant to be Fu Manchu. The Lurker of the Fourth Axis is a conflation of Lovecraft’s Yog-Sothoth with the titular god from E. Hoffmann Price’s Pierre d’Artois story “Lord of the Fourth Axis.” The Mongol chieftain is Khoon from Mark Channing’s Colin Gray novels. The Sung orchids are meant to be the Burmese orchids from which Fu Manchu’s Elixir Vitae is derived, although Sung is from August Derleth and Mark Schorer’s “The Lair of the Star-Spawn.” The Choking Chalice and Kang are from Frank Gruber’s “The Choking Chalice.” The ape-men of the Gobi are from Howard’s “Three-Bladed Doom” and “The Devils of Dark Lake.” Than-Kul is from Howard’s poem “The Doom Chant of Than-Kul.” The Livre d’Ivon is the French version of the Book of Eibon, a Cthulhu Mythos tome created by Clark Ashton Smith. Although Lai says Dirk Struan is Fu Manchu’s father, Farmer identifies his father as Sir William Clayton in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. In Win Scott Eckert’s “Being an Account of the Delay at Green River, Wyoming, of Mr. Phileas Fogg, World Traveler,” Dr. Shan Ming Fu, who is meant to be Fu Manchu, mentions his and Fogg’s “shared paternity,” a reference to Farmer’s identification of Fogg as another of Sir William’s many offspring. To make this story compatible with Farmer’s genealogy, we must assume that Fu deceived his daughter about his parentage for reasons of his own. 

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!