Crossover of the Week

Early Autumn 1926 

A WHISPER OF SOFT WINGS 

Noticing parallels between his current case and a previous affair, Charles St. Cyprian asks Inspector Moxley if he was acquainted with Inspector Quennell. Not long after solving that case, Quennell turned over his notes to St. Cyprian’s predecessor, Carnacki. Quennell’s main suspect was Dr. Mallinger. The Voyagers Club resides on Dover Street, alongside others of its ilk, such as the Albermarle, the Drones, and the Diogenes. The late Geoffrey Botkin was one of the few who has been to Maple White Land, a few years after the Challenger expedition, with Lord John Roxton in 1913. According to a newspaperman named Malone, Botkin was almost eaten by a giant spider. The Voyagers’ bar has a bust of Quatermain over the door. St. Cyprian discusses an alchemist and member of the Order of the Cosmic Ram who engaged in experiments like Mallinger’s with another member of the Order, who also belongs to the Bollinger Club. St. Cyprian’s friend Bertie lives on Berkley Street. 

Short story by Josh Reynolds on the website Curious Fictions. Inspector Quennell and Dr. Carl Mallinger are from the movie The Blood Beast Terror. Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. The Drones Club is from the works of P. G. Wodehouse. Bertie is Bertie Wooster. The Diogenes Club is from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Maple White Land, Professor George Edward Challenger, Lord John Roxton, and Edward D. Malone are from Doyle’s The Lost World. Allan Quatermain is from H. Rider Haggard’s novels and stories. The Bollinger Club is from Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. 

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand included 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 Cover: The Hunting of Philip Ackroyd

 

Are you an Algernon Blackwood fan?

Then you'll love Josh Reynolds' Royal Occultist story in this anthology, which has a nod to one of Blackwood's Dr. John Silence stories, among other crossovers!

For more information, be sure to purchase 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 Cover: Spawn of the Ripper

 

Are you a fan of British horror films?

Then you'll love this anthology of stories inspired by Hammer and Amicus' films, two of which have crossovers, including a Royal Occultist story by Josh Reynolds!

For more information, be sure to purchase 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 Cover: The Occult Legion

 

Are you an occult detective fiction fan?

Then you'll love the centuries-spanning round robin story in these issues, featuring characters such as Joshua M. Reynolds' Charles St. Cyprian and Charles R. Rutledge's Carter Decamp!

For more information, be sure to purchase 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 Cover: The Bride of the Hound

 

In this story by Joshua M. Reynolds, Charles St. Cyprian, Nadja Highmill, and Philip Wendy-Smythe attend a party at Myrdstone Manor. Carnacki’s death at Ypres is mentioned. Nadja has said barely two words to their host, Delilah Myrdstone, since Gussie’s Christmas party last year. Delilah’s fiancé Mueller tells St. Cyprian certain translations of the Bible reference “the ghouls that burrow.” Wendy-Smythe mentions the primitive buildings found at Exham Priory a few years ago and says von Juntz was right about ghouls. “The Myrdstone Witch-Cult” is mentioned in Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak story “Curse of the Black Pharaoh.” Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. Carnacki’s death was likely staged, given his post-World War I appearances in the CU. Gussie is Gussie Fink-Nottle from P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves books. The Biblical references to “the ghouls that burrow” are fictional and derived from Robert Barbour Johnson’s “Far Below.” Exham Priory is from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” Friedrich von Juntz, the author of Unaussprechlichen Kulten, is from Robert E. Howard’s Mythos fiction.

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 1920

THE DOOR OF ETERNAL NIGHT 

Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass meet Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle, the latter of whom says Holmes used to talk to himself. Holmes and Carnacki worked together on a case in 1899 involving a man named James Phillimore. Doyle says Watson spoke of that affair once or twice. After the case, Carnacki became Edwin Drood’s apprentice. Supposedly, the King of Ruritania lives at Claridge’s when he isn’t serving as the doorman at Barribault’s. Colonel Bobdillo is taking Houdini, his wife, and Doyle to dinner. St. Cyprian draws the odd angles of the Voorish Sign and has a vision involving the three-lobed burning eye. An old man called Captain James Basil helps St. Cyprian and company out of a spot. St. Cyprian knew a man during the war who knew a little something about clouding men’s minds and had the most eerie laugh. Gallowglass refers to a previous case involving Bellingham and his mummy. Ten years ago, a cult in Cairo sealed Houdini into a pyramid. St. Cyprian tries to use a move on his opponent the Thin Man that Captain Drummond had shown him one night in Marseille. The Thin Man is St. Cyprian’s old foe, the mummy Nephren-Ka. If it hadn’t been for the debacle in Seven Dials, Bellingham’s influence among the subtly inclined might have grown to outstrip that of Crowley or Mocata. Doyle wonders if Bellingham is the same man a surgeon of his acquaintance named Abercrombie Smith spoke of. The Starry Wisdom is an offshoot of the Cult of the Great Pyramid Bat. Bobdillo knows the night-music of Khem. Houdini, recognizing Bobdillo from Egypt, asks him whatever happened to Abdul Reis. Captain Basil, who is really Sherlock Holmes, says Colonel Bobdillo was not a real Colonel, but took up the rank when the late, unlamented Colonel Sebastian Moran was locked away. 

Novella by Josh Reynolds, 18thWall Productions, 2016, reprinted in Casefiles of the Royal Occultist Volume One: Monmouth’s Giants, 18thWall Productions, 2019. James Phillimore is the subject of an untold Sherlock Holmes case mentioned in Doyle and Watson’s “The Problem of Thor Bridge.” This Phillimore is a distinct individual from the shape-changing alien who used that name in Farmer and Manders’ “The Problem of the Sore Bridge – Among Others.” Holmes used the alias of Captain Basil in “The Adventure of Black Peter.” Colonel Sebastian Moran is from “The Adventure of the Empty House.” Holmes’ description of Moran as “late” should not be taken literally, as the Colonel will not meet his end until 1935, as described in Kim Newman’s “The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Train.” Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. Edwin Drood is from Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The ex-King of Ruritania and Barribault’s are from the works of P. G. Wodehouse. Ruritania itself is originally from Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda. Colonel Bobdillo is from Elliott O’Donnell’s “The Mummy Worshippers.” The Voorish Sign is from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” The three-lobed burning eye is an avatar of Nyarlathotep from Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark.” Nephren-Ka and the Starry Wisdom Church are also from that story. Houdini’s interment in a Cairo pyramid and Abdul Reis are from “Imprisoned with the Pharaohs,” supposedly a factual account by Houdini himself, but a fictional story penned by Lovecraft. Khem is from both stories. The man St. Cyprian knew during the Great War is the future pulp hero of the shadows. Edward Bellingham and Abercrombie Smith are from Doyle’s “Lot No. 249.” Captain Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond is H. C. “Sapper” McNeile’s hero. Mocata is from Dennis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out. The pyramid bat is a fictional species seen in Sax Rohmer’s Brood of the Witch-Queen. The bat is also mentioned in Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak story “Curse of the Black Pharaoh.” Nephren-Ka appears in that tale under the name Khotep, and as Kephren in “Imprisoned with the Pharaohs.”

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: Cheyne Walk, 1985

 

Are you a Ghostbusters fan?

Then you'll love Josh Reynolds' story in this anthology, which has a nod to that film, as well as strong connections to Reynolds' Royal Occultist series, among others!

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!

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!

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!

Crossover of the Week

Winter 1925

THE CREEPING CRAWLERS OF CLAVERING 

Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist, and his assistant Ebe Gallowglass are summoned to Clavering Grange by Philip Wendy-Smythe. St. Cyprian carried his fair share of bags when he’d played batman for Carnacki. The Sign of Koth is marked on the billiards room door in jam. Wendy-Smythe has one of Vance’s monographs on elementals and has just completed the first English translation of The Book of Minor Grotesques. St. Cyprian says he’ll resolve matters in two shakes of a Shadmock’s tail and mentions the time a dog got into the Drones. He also traces the sign of Hloh in the air and takes the Voorish Sign out of a box decorated in Hyperborean iconography. The sound of rodents reminds Gallowglass of Exham Priory. 

Short story by Josh Reynolds in Shadmocks & Shivers: New Stories Inspired by the Stories of R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Dave Brzeski, ed., Shadow Publishing, 2019. Clavering Grange is the setting of a series of books and stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes. Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. The Sign of Koth is from H. P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.” Vance is Alice and Claude Askew’s occult investigator Aylmer Vance. The Book of Minor Grotesques is a recurring tome in Reynolds’ fiction. The Shadmock is from Chetwynd-Hayes’ eponymous story in the linked collection The Monster Club. The Drones Club is from the works of P. G. Wodehouse. Hloh is from Margery Lawrence’s Miles Pennoyer stories. The Voorish Sign is from Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” Hyperborea is from the fiction of Clark Ashton Smith. Exham Priory is from Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” Since the Clavering Grange stories are in the CU, so are Chetwynd-Hayes’ tales of psychic detective Francis St. Clare and his sidekick Frederica Masters, who visited Clavering in “The Cringing Couple of Clavering.”

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

April 17, 1922

THE COVENTRY STREET TERROR 

Charles St. Cyprian and his assistant Ebe Gallowglass are called in by Special Branch to investigate a series of apparent vampire attacks. Inspector Boothroyd thinks it might be poison, “like that business in Brichester last year.” Vampires are, save for that brief, unpleasant incident during Victoria’s reign so inventively described in Stoker’s book, mostly extinct in England. St. Cyprian says maybe Thibaut de Castries was right when he said, in Megapolisomancy: A New Science of Cities, that cities were the new dark forest of man’s fear. St. Cyprian considered placing a call to the Westenra Fund but decided against it. Edwin Drood helped the fund’s founding members kill a frisky Wallachian. The head of the fund is Lord Godalming. St. Cyprian tells Gallowglass, “Trout isn’t the most imaginative sort, but he and Cuff know the score. They were involved in that Myrdstone business, a few years back.” They are helped against the vampire by Baron Palman Vordenburg, who mentions a certain theater in the Boulevard du Temple where the undead congregate at times. He identifies the vampire as Lothar Karnstein, who was the lover of Countess Dolingen of Graz. St. Cyprian tells Trout and Cuff that Lothar is not exactly Raffles, running about in disguise. 

Short story by Josh Reynolds in Casefiles of the Royal Occultist Volume Two: Hochmuller’s Hound, 18thWall Productions, 2020. Brichester is a town in the Severn Valley in Ramsey Campbell’s Cthulhu Mythos stories. The brief, unpleasant incident during Victoria’s reign is a reference to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The Westenra Fund is named after the late Lucy Westenra, who was turned into a vampire by Dracula and subsequently staked by Van Helsing and company, including her fiancé, Arthur Holmwood, Lord Godalming. Countess Dolingen of Graz is from Stoker’s “Dracula’s Guest.” Thibaut de Castries and his book Megapolisomancy: A New Science of Cities are from Fritz Leiber’s novel Our Lady of Darkness. Edwin Drood is from Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Inspector Trout is from the movies The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again. Cuff may be a descendant of Sergeant Cuff from Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone. “The Myrdstone witch-cult” is mentioned in Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak story “Curse of the Black Pharaoh.” Baron Palman Vordenburg is a descendant of Baron Vordenburg from J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla.” The Karnsteins are Carmilla’s family. The theater in the Boulevard du Temple is the Théâtre des Vampires from Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. A. J. Raffles needs no introduction now. 

For many more crossover writeups like this, check out my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House! Much like the first two volumes, this book is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Merry John Mock

Hey, like William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki stories?

Then you'll love this story by Josh Reynolds featuring Carnacki's former apprentice and successor as Royal Occultist, Charles St. Cyprian, that also has crossover ties to the Jeeves and Wooster series, among others!

All the details can be found in Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, my AUTHORIZED companions to Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert, debuting at the Meteor House booth at PulpFest/FarmerCon in Columbus, OH on July 21-24!