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!

Crossover of the Week

December 25, 2003
DR. DOA 
Eddie Drood and Molly Metcalf go after the assassin known as Dr. DOA, who has poisoned Eddie. Appearing or mentioned are: the Wood Between the Worlds; Strangefellows bar, in the Nightside; the Walking Man; the Adventurers Club; Shadows Fall; the Unholy Grail; Baron Frankenstein; Castle Frankenstein; Dead Boy; Larry Oblivion; the Ghost Finders; tanna leaf; a woman with something moving inside her back; a woman smoking a cigarette through a hole in her throat; Cthulhu; Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar; Black Heir; Persecution Psmith; the Necronomicon; the Book of Eibon; the Mysteries of the Wurm; Harry Fabulous; Dorian Gray; Martian red weed; MI Thirteen; a Maltese falcon; the Organization; the Hydra’s teeth; and Hadleigh Oblivion. 
Novel by Simon R. Green. The Wood Between the Worlds is from C. S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew. Strangefellows bar, the Walking Man, the Adventurers Club, the Unholy Grail, Dead Boy, Larry and Hadleigh Oblivion, and Harry Fabulous are from Green’s Nightside series. Shadows Fall is from Green’s novel of the same name. Baron Frankenstein and Castle Frankenstein are from Mary Shelley’s novel. The Ghost Finders are the subject of another series of novels by Green. Tanna leaves are from Universal Studios’ Mummy film series. The woman with something moving inside her back is Karen Tandy from Graham Masterson’s novel The Manitou. The thing inside her back is Misquamacus, originally from August Derleth’s The Lurker at the Threshold. The woman smoking through a hole in her throat may be Juno from the movie Beetlejuice. Cthulhu, shoggoths, the Necronomicon, the Book of Eibon and the Mysteries of the Wurm are from the Cthulhu Mythos. Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar is from Neil Gaiman’s story of the same name. Black Heir and the Organization are from Green’s Ishmael Jones Mysteries series. Persecution Psmith, an immortal Puritan adventurer, is a thinly veiled version of Robert E. Howard’s Puritan hero Solomon Kane. Matthew Baugh also portrayed Kane as long-lived in his story “The Heart of the Moon.” Dorian Gray is from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Martian red weed is from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. MI Thirteen is the CU version of the British intelligence organization of the same name in the Marvel Comics Universe. The Maltese Falcon is from Dashiell Hammett’s classic detective novel. The Hydra’s teeth are from the movie Jason and The Argonauts. 
This write-up is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to 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!

Crossover of the Week

Hey, all. I know I haven't posted anything since Thursday. I was at FarmerCon/Pulpfest, and having a blast with my buddies. Today marks my triumphant return. First of all, before I give you my belated Crossover of the Week post, I wanted to share this picture of me and my dear friend, co-publisher, and predecessor as custodian of the Crossover Universe, Win Scott Eckert (I'm on the left):

July 1917

THE HUNTERS OF MARS

            Leo Saint-Clair (aka the Nyctalope) takes a transport to the Martian city of Helium, where his assistance has been requested by John Carter, Warlord of Mars (aka Barsoom.) Carter managed to convince two other Martian races, the Sorns and the Hither People, to join forces with his to drive the invading Cephales from Mars. The Cephales fled to Earth, where they crushed England’s armies before falling prey to the planet’s bacteria. The surviving members of the colony returned to Mars, where Leo and Oxus prevented them from attacking the newly-created French colony. After the Cephales’ defeat, the duo learned of other races on the Red Planet such as the Tharks and the Red Men of Helium. Oxus believes that the radium used by the people of Helium might be able to revive an ancient capsule he has discovered in one of the nearby Martian ruins, which apparently contains secrets that could advance the cause of space travel by light years, and end the Great War within a few months. Leo meets with a group consisting of the Thark Tars Tarkas, Carter, and the latter’s wife, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. Reports are mentioned of a warrior resembling Carter in ancient Phoenicia, as well as a 13^th century “Outlaw of Torn.” Carter wishes Leo to investigate the mutilations of several Tharks. Kantos Kan and other Martians gather around the bodies of two murdered palace guards. Leo tells Carter that the killer does not operate under the ethical codes of the Tharks, the Sorns, the Hross, the Hither People, or any other known race on Barsoom. He theorizes that the killer is a hunter from another world collecting trophies. Leo is well versed in the hunting techniques of Quatermain and Roxton. The hunter, or Predator, is blown up by a device in its gauntlet after being killed, destroying a Thark incubation chamber in the process. Carter says that he will take the sole surviving infant to Sola, who will care for him.

            Short story by Matthew Dennion in The Nyctalope Steps In, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2011; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 8), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2011. The Nyctalope, and Oxus appear in French pulp novels by Jean de La Hire. Helium, John Carter, Barsoom, the Tharks, the Red Men, Tars Tarkas, Deja Thoris, Kantos Kan, and Sola are from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars novels. The Sorns and the Hross are from C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet. The Hither People are from Edwin Arnold’s Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation. The Cephales (or Kephales) are from de La Hire’s The Great Adventures of a Scout; here, they are conflated with the Martians from H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. George Alec Effinger’s story “Mars: The Home Front” proposed that Wells’ Martians (aka the Sarmaks) came from Barsoom, while The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II depicted John Carter’s alliance with the Sorns and the Hither People to drive off Wells’ Martians. The Nyctalope and Oxus encountered Wells’ Martians in de La Hire’s The Nyctalope on Mars. The capsule is from the British television serial Quatermass and the Pit. The Phoenician warrior is the title character of another Edwin Arnold novel, Phra the Phoenician, whom Dennis E. Power and Dr. Peter Coogan conflated with John Carter in their essay “John Carter: Torn from Phoenician Dreams (An Examination Into the Theories that John Carter was Phra the Phoenician and Norman of Torn)” (Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott Eckert, ed., MonkeyBrain Books, 2005.) The Outlaw of Torn is from the novel of the same name by Burroughs; Philip José Farmer conflated him with John Carter in his speech “The Arms of Tarzan,” also reprinted in Myths for the Modern Age. Quatermain is H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain, while Roxton is Lord John Roxton from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger tales. The Predator race is featured in a series of science fiction films. The Predators have appeared in several crossover tales in comic books; however, only those crossovers involving Crossover Universe mainstays such as Tarzan or Mycroft Holmes are incorporated into CU continuity.