Crossover Cover: Mobilis in Vacuo

 

In this story by Jean-Pierre Laigle, Captain Nemo recounts to Professor Aronnax how a piece of Atlantean technology once transported the Nautilus to Uranus, before the Baltimore Gun Club’s lunar expedition. Captain Nemo, Professor Aronnax, and the Nautilus are from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. The Baltimore Gun Club is from Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon. This story is supposedly an unpublished chapter of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, to be inserted between the current chapters IX and X of Part II of the published version. 

This crossover is one of over a thousand covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, coming this summer from 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

Summer 1911

HOW THE PROFESSOR TAUGHT A LESSON TO THE GNOLES 

Professor Moriarty is hired by the thief Nuth to help him plunder the treasures of the creatures known as the gnoles. Nuth says thieves trace their lineage to Slith, and before him Prometheus, and that the history of thievery is as storied as that of any noble house in Ruritania or Celephais. He also asks Moriarty, “Shall I allow the foreigner Rocambole or the dissolute Raffles to wear the crown that is rightfully mine, then?” Moriarty has a tank which is based on the designs of “a certain Sikh of my acquaintance.” Moriarty says he will teach the gnoles the lessons of Troy, of Sarnath, and of Peking. 

Story by Josh Reynolds in The Adventures of Moriarty, Maxim Jakubowski, ed., Robinson, 2015. Nuth and the gnoles are from Lord Dunsany’s “How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles.” Slith, besides being mentioned in that story, appears in Dunsany’s “Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men”; both stories are included in the collection The Book of Wonder. Ruritania is from Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda. Celephais and Sarnath are from the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Rocambole is Ponson du Terrail’s adventurer. A. J. Raffles is E. W. Hornung’s gentleman thief. The Sikh is Captain Nemo. Rick Lai’s “The Secret History of Captain Nemo” and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen indicate Nemo would have no reason to do Moriarty any favors, so the Professor must have stolen his old foe’s technology. 

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand appearing in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, coming this summer from 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

Summer 1903

A PIRATE’S LIFE 

Dr. Eric Palmer is brought before Captain Nemo and Robur, who need his help to investigate a murder at the Pirate’s Conference they are hosting, which is held every fifty years, and whose attendees include sea and air pirates. James Gunn and Archibald Haddock escort Palmer to the scene of the crime. The dead man is the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is supposedly over three-hundred-years-old, but part of a succession of men who have used that identity. Others attending the conference include the German Captain Mors and members of the Singh Brotherhood. Palmer asks Gunn about pirate dynasties, and the latter names the Turners and Sala’s band of women. Gunn introduces Palmer to the Nautilus’ first mate, Mister Ishmael. Captain James Hook asks Palmer about his progress on the case. The alleged Dread Pirate Roberts was really Manfred von Warteck, whose family aspires to rival the great criminal brotherhoods of Europe, such as the Black Coats. 

Short story by Travis Hiltz in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 16: Voir Dire, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2020; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 27), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2020. Dr. Eric Palmer is from Paul Féval, fils’ novel Felifax, the Tiger-Man. Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus, are from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. Robur is from Verne’s Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World. James Gunn is a descendant of Ben Gunn from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Archibald Haddock is from Hergé’s comic The Adventures of Tintin. The Dread Pirate Roberts is from William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. Captain Mors is a German pulp hero. The Singh Brotherhood and Sala’s group, the Sky Band, are from Lee Falk’s comic strip The Phantom. The Turners are from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Ishmael is from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen portrayed Ishmael as the Nautilus’ first mate. Captain James Hook is from J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Manfred von Warteck is related to Baron Glô von Warteck, the villain of Jean de La Hire’s The Nyctalope vs. Lucifer. The Black Coats are from a series of novels by Paul Féval. 

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 Cover: Captain Nemo

 

Are you a fan of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea?

Then you'll love this novel by Czech author "J. M. Troska" (Jan Matzal), in which his inventor characters Arne Farin and Pavel Holan, the protagonists of two series that crossed over with each other, meet Captain Nemo!

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

Crossover Cover: Young Nemo and the Black Knights

In 1836, 18-year-old Prince Rajesh Dakkar and a diverse crew dubbed the Black Knights travel aboard a boat called the Nautilus to find the Library of Alexandria in order to acquire a manuscript that reveals Atlantean secrets Rajesh, after renaming himself Captain Nemo, will one day use to create a remarkable submarine, also called the Nautilus. Rajesh’s collection of books includes the dark Necronomicon written by a mad Arab. In the CU, Prince Dakkar was born in 1808, not 1818 as stated by Vance, so I consider this otherwise excellent book an AU.

Crossover Cover: The Deep: Here Be Dragons

The Nekton family travels the world in their advanced submarine the Aronnax. The submarine is named for Professor Pierre Aronnax from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The sequel is The Deep Vol. 2: The Vanishing Island.

Crossover Covers: The Luke Challenger series

This series features Luke Challenger, Professor Challenger's grandson. The first book, Return to the Lost World, takes place in May–July 1933. 14-year-old Luke and his cousin Nick Malone, who is the same age, travel to Maple White Land to rescue Luke’s mother, Lady Harriet Challenger, from the Sons of Destiny, a multinational group dedicated to allowing fascism to rise so they can take over the world. The second book in the series, Return to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, takes place in June–August 1934. Challenger Industries is contacted by Jessica Land, the 16-year-old great-granddaughter of Ned Land, who has found out her great-grandfather had been willed the Journals of Captain Nemo by Professor Aaron X. Perrier (who Jules Verne disguised as Pierre Aronnax). Luke and Nick join the expedition to locate the Nautilus in a race against the Sons of Destiny to gain the nuclear secrets of the submarine. It is possible references to the Nautilus being nuclear-powered and The Mysterious Island being fictional are influenced by Professor H. W. Starr’s essay “A Submersible Subterfuge, or, Proof Impositive.” The third book, Return to King Solomon’s Mines, takes place from December 1934–January 1935. Luke and Nick go to Ethiopia to visit Luke’s mother on an archaeological dig. Accompanying them is Elsa Fairfax, great-granddaughter of Allan Quatermain. The expedition comes across Kukuanaland, and discovers the people were ruled by the reincarnation of the High Priestess Gagool after the death of King Ignosi. Nick Malone is the son of Ned Malone and the late Enid Challenger. If he and Luke are both 14-years-old in 1933, they would’ve been born around 1919. However, Ned and Enid fell in love during the events of Doyle’s The Land of Mist, which Rick Lai has dated to 1926. Combined with the dismissal of The Mysterious Island as fictional, this argues against placement of these books in CU continuity.

Crossover Covers: The Halflife Chronicles

Chris Cséjthe finds his life turned upside down when he discovers vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures exist, and he himself is now halfway through the transition between human and vampire. Dracula appears prominently in the first novel, One Foot in the Grave, as do tanis leaves, legends of which inspired the tana leaves in Universal Studios’ Mummy movies. A vampire named Barnabas who carries a wolf’s head cane appears; this is Barnabas Collins of Dark Shadows fame. A New Orleans vampire enclave with literary pretensions is mentioned, a reference to Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. In the fourth book, Dead Easy, Chris encounters the Great Old Ones and Captain Nemo. Nemo tells Chris Professor Aronnax was fictional and Verne made The Mysterious Island up out of whole cloth. Nemo died in the 19th century, and was later resurrected as a rakshasa, a spirit being from Hindu mythology. Several individuals experienced in dealing with the supernatural are mentioned: a wizard in Chicago (Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files novel series); a necromancer in St. Louis (Anita Blake from novels by Laurell K. Hamilton); a waitress in Bon Temps (Sookie Stackhouse from Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries); a weather warden (Joanne Baldwin, the protagonist of a series by Rachel Caine); and a guardian in London (Aisling Grey from novels by Katie MacAlister). Simmons’ take on Captain Nemo is very different from his established history in the CU. Combined with the fact both Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake’s exploits take place in worlds where the public is aware vampires and other supernatural entities are real, this places The Halflife Chronicles in an alternate universe.

Crossover Cover: Season of Madness

Dr. Watson teams up with Dr. John Seward to investigate a rash of madness in London. It is stated that Jack the Ripper’s murders happened a decade ago, which would suggest that this novel takes place in 1898. However, the events of Dracula are described as having taken place “many months” ago, whereas in the CU it took place in 1887. Additionally, the portrayals of the Ripper, Elizabeth Bathory, and Irene Adler conflict with CU continuity, placing this book in an alternate universe. Also included in this book is the story "Attack of the Electric Shark," in which British Secret Service agent Quincey “Hound-Dog” Harker unearths the Nautilus to use in battle against another submersible called the Electric Shark. Quincey Harker’s portrayal here is irreconcilable with that in the Marvel Comics series Tomb of Dracula. Additionally, it is stated that a long-forgotten civilization (possibly Atlantis) created both the Nautilus and the Electric Shark, which contradicts Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island.

Crossover Cover: Cthulhu Unbound Volume 2

This Cthulhu Mythos anthology includes four stories with crossovers. In Douglas P. Wojtowicz's "The Hunters within the Corners," the masked vigilante Skaramine battles August Shorer, the last of Keziah Mason’s students and coven. Skaramine was mentored by an old man named Kent, who gave him his twin Colt .45s, and taught him how to heal his own wounds, change his appearance, blend into the shadows, and throw his laugh. Kent is said to have been "a shadow hunting shadows" in another era. Kent is Kent Allard, aka the Shadow. In Patrick Thomas' "Surely You Joust," Sir Dagonet, jester and Knight of the Round Table, and the mage Ganieda (Gani for short), Merlin’s twin sister, journey to the kingdom of Lyonese to recruit a knight of its court to join the knights of Camelot, but wind up nearly being sacrificed to Father Dagon. Sir Dagonet (aka the Infinite Jester) appears in Thomas’ Murphy’s Lore series and its spinoffs, which have already been incorporated into the CU, as you can see by clicking on  the Murphy's Lore label. In Mark Zirbel's "Santiago Contra el Culto de Cthulhu," the masked Mexican wrestler Santiago battles Cthulhu. Talking about the villains he encounters a regular basis, Santiago says, "One week, the great-great-great-grandson of Doctor Frankenstein is trying to steal my brain to turn his monster into the World Heavyweight Champion, the next week, some voodoo priestess wants to eat my heart in order to gain control of a legion of masked wrestler zombies." Santiago’s match with Cthulhu is rather tongue-in-cheek; he immediately defeats the Great Old One by punching him in the testicles. Therefore, it seems safe to say this story takes place in an AU. In "Nemo at R'lyeh" by crossover-loving author Joshua Reynolds, Captain Nemo and the crew of the Nautilus explore the resurfaced island of R’lyeh, and narrowly avoid an encounter with the dreaded Cthulhu himself. Robur is also mentioned.