Crossover of the Week

Summer 1940

WALKING ON FOREIGN GROUND, LIKE A SHADOW 

Judex travels to New York at the request of Kent Allard, the Shadow, whose parents were friends with Judex’s mother, Julia Orsini. A gangster named Tony Rico has learned the Shadow possesses the twin jewels of the Russian Czar. Rico received information on the Shadow from his old foe Benedict Stark. The Shadow asks Judex to impersonate him, with Mary Gillespie, the owner of the Gillespie Circus and the daughter of Colonel Gillespie, posing as Margo Lane. Rico is chauffeured by a man named Otero. Learning about Stanford Marshall, aka the Black Tiger, Rico killed him and stole his invisibility belt, invented by a pair of scientists named Stanford and Van Dorn. Rico also targeted Professor Adam Strang, who read Reggie Ogden novels, and was involved in a caper with a criminal engineer called Sparks who created a machine to kill people by radio control, based on television technology invented by a Dr. Houghland. Judex meets with Mary Gillespie at Rusterman’s. Mary has an ex-husband named Jim. “Rainbow” Benny Loomis likes to hang out at Rusterman’s. Loomis tells Judex and Mary that Rico thinks he’s the new Enrico Bandello, and his birth name is Chris Jorgenson. A wounded Mary says her uncle Leonard will treat her. The Shadow saw Judex with his wife Jacqueline, and felt his loneliness deepen. 

Short story by Atom Mudman Bezecny in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 17: Noblesse Oblige, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2020; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 29), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2022. Judex and his wife, the former Jacqueline Aubry, are from Louis Feuillade’s film serial Judex. Arthur Bernède’s novelization of the serial identified Judex’s mother, the Comtesse de Tremeuse, as the former Julia Orsini. The shadowy pulp hero and his companion need no introduction. The vigilante battled Stark, the so-called “Prince of Evil,” in four novels by Theodore Tinsley. Tony Rico is from the 1933 film The Shadow Laughs. Bezecny identifies Rico with Chris Jorgenson from Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man; in the film adaptation, Jorgenson was played by Cesar Romero, the same actor who played Tony Rico. Mary Gillespie, her father the Colonel, her ex-husband Jim Quinn, and the Gillespie Circus are from the 1937 film The Shadow. Otero and Enrico Bandello are from the movie Little Caesar. The Black Tiger is from the 1940 serial The Shadow. Stanley Stanfield and Professor Carl Van Dorn are from the serial The Vanishing Shadow. Professor Adam Anton Strang and Sparks are from the serial The Whispering Shadow. Reggie Ogden is from the 1933 movie The Shadow. Dr. James Houghland is from the movie Murder by Television. Rusterman’s is from Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels. “Rainbow” Benny Loomis is from the movie Shadow of the Thin Man. Except for the 1940 serial, none of the films with “Shadow” in the title involve Walter Gibson’s pulp hero. Dr. Leonard Gillespie is from Max Brand’s Dr. Kildare stories. Although this case is dated to 1928, the shadowy hero began his crimefighting career in 1929, and his four battles with Stark took place in 1939, and so I would place it in the early 1940s instead. 

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

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 of the Week

Early June 2015

TOMMY HANCOCK’S BRANSON NON-ADVENTURE 

While New Pulp publisher and author Tommy Hancock is being treated at the Nettles Clinic for congestive heart failure, assassin and master of disguise Mirror Image is targeting another patient, Morton Vickers, an analyst for a multiagency task force operating against various loosely allied organized crime organizations. Vickers is the grandson of legendary 1930s G-Man Lynn Vickers. After hearing about the assassination plot, the Voice, long semi-retired, called Curt Van Loan’s covert network for help. A woman equally adept at disguise pits herself against Mirror Image. Lemuel Barnes of the Treasury Department is monitoring Vickers’ operation. The woman, Emily, later introduces herself to Hancock. 

Short story by Erwin K. Roberts in Legends of New Pulp Fiction, Ron Fortier, ed., Airship 27 Productions, 2015. Tommy Hancock is a real person, and this story is inspired by a medical crisis he suffered in real life on June 8, 2015. Lynn Vickers, Agent G-77, appeared in nine stories by Bryan James Kelly in the pulps Public Enemy and Federal Agent from 1935-1938. The Voice is the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by Roberts. The hero is implicitly the son of Secret Agent X. Curt Van Loan, another of Roberts’ creations, is the son of Richard Curtis Van Loan, aka the Phantom Detective, and Muriel Havens. Emily is the Pulptress, a second-generation heroine who has appeared in novels and anthologies from Hancock’s company, Pro Se Productions. Lemuel Barnes is likely a descendant of Bromley Barnes, a Treasury Department agent who appeared in stories, novels, and collections by George Barton from 1909-1920. 

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 of the Week

January 1936

THE REPLACEMENT 

Bruce Wayne is staying at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, which he thinks of as a missing link between Gotham and Metropolis. Bruce’s father Thomas told him that before they came together to start the hotel, the Waldorf and Astor families had invited him to their individual hotels several times. Bruce’s butler Alfred Pennyworth answers a phone call from “Miss Lane.” Bruce thinks this is Lois Lane, but Alfred says it was her eldest sister, Margo, who has connections to the Cobalt Club and Lamont Cranston. In the 1920s, Cranston was an advisor to General Cho Tsing, then studied under Marpa Tulku in Tibet, along with Shiwan Khan. Cranston’s other identities include Clifford Gage and Kent Allard. Officially, Bruce is in New York to launch WayneTech, a scientific subsidiary of his family’s business empire, which he seeks to expand. In doing so, he has met with Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards, whose son Reed is also a potential genius. Alfred drives Bruce to a meeting at the Empire State Building, where they are greeted by a man who is one of the world’s top chemists, despite his apelike appearance. On the 86th floor, they meet an elegantly dressed Brigadier General, who tells Bruce his friend Harvey Dent shows promise to be an outstanding attorney, and a tall, extremely thin man who wears a monocle over a damaged eye. Bruce is ushered in to meet Clark and Kent, who know he was motivated by the tragedy of Park Lane, also known as Crime Alley. During his stay in England, Bruce spent some time with an old beekeeper in his cottage on the South Downs of Sussex. Clark asks Bruce to escort his cousin Patricia next time she’s in Gotham. Getting on the elevator, Bruce runs into Britt Reid, the publisher of the Daily Sentinel, and his valet Kato. Kent asks the latter if he spent any time in Tibet studying with the Sâr Dubnotal. 

Short story by Xavier Mauméjean in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 16: Voir Dire, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2019; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 26), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2020. Bruce Wayne will soon become Gotham City’s most famous vigilante, Batman. Bruce’s parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, were murdered by Joe Chill in Park Row (to use the correct name), later known as Crime Alley. Alfred Pennyworth is the Dark Knight’s butler. WayneTech is the research and development branch of Bruce’s company, Wayne Enterprises. Harvey Dent will later become Gotham’s District Attorney, until his face is scarred by an acid-wielding criminal, leading to him becoming the gangster known as Two-Face. Metropolis is Superman’s hometown. Lois Lane is the Man of Steel’s coworker at the Daily Star (later renamed the Daily Planet), and later his wife. Her sister is an agent of the shadow-cloaked vigilante. Philip José Farmer jokingly proposed the relationship between the two in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. The shadowy hero frequently impersonates a wealthy globetrotter, often seeking information at the Cobalt Club. The General is from the Shadow novels The Fate Joss and The Teeth of the Dragon. Tulku is from another entry in the series, Masters of Death. Khan battled the vigilante in that book and three others before it. Gage is another of the slouch-hatted crimefighter’s aliases. Howard Stark is the father of Tony Stark, better known as Marvel Comics’ armored hero Iron Man. Nathaniel Richards’ son, Reed, will later be known as Mr. Fantastic, the leader of the Marvel hero team known as the Fantastic Four. The 86th floor of the Empire State Building is the headquarters of the bronze man. The apelike chemist, the Brigadier General, and the thin man are three of his aides. The old beekeeper is Sherlock Holmes. Doc’s cousin is from Lester Dent’s pulp novels. Britt Reid is also known as the Green Hornet. Kato is Reid’s chauffeur and his partner in his war on crime. The Sâr Dubnotal is an occult investigator from the French pulps. Although this story is dated January 1938, Bruce Wayne’s debut as Batman has been placed in Early May 1936, since the first Batman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” was a swipe of the Shadow novel Partners of Peril, which Rick Lai placed in that period in his book Chronology of Shadows: A Timeline of the Shadow’s Exploits. Therefore, I am instead placing it in January 1936. 

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 of the Week

July 1977

VOODOO VS. CTHULHU! 

Adventuress Nefertiti Bronze battles the Esoteric Order of Dagon, who killed her voodoo bocor ex-husband. Montresor Mountmain’s Chapel of Satan in Hell’s Kitchen is the base of one of the rival cults that falls victim to the worshippers of the Esoteric Order. Joseph Curwen, in his current body of Walker Phillip Ward, can turn up unannounced at Sbirro’s, though the restaurant is officially booked solid for years ahead. Curwen is interviewed by Whitney Gauge of the FBI’s Human Protection League, aka the Unnamables. Nefertiti’s grandmother was a seven-foot-tall Waziri princess named Ashanti. Curwen puts out a contract on Nefertiti, but the major assassins all fail, and Don Corrado Prizzi decides to sit things out. Curwen pores over photos of Nefertiti with famous people, including Derek Flint. 

Short story by Kim Newman in The Lovecraft Squad: Dreaming, Pegasus Books, 2018. The Esoteric Order of Dagon is from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” Montresor Mountmain is a member of the Mountmain family seen in Newman’s “Seven Stars.” Joseph Curwen is from Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Sbirro’s is from Stanley Ellin’s “The Specialty of the House.” Whitney Gauge first appeared in Newman’s Diogenes Club story “Moon Moon Moon.” The Unnamables first appeared in Newman’s “The Big Fish”; it is revealed here that they are synonymous with the Human Protection League (HPL), the branch of the FBI featured in The Lovecraft Squad books. The Waziri tribe is from the Tarzan novels. Don Corrado Prizzi is from Richard Condon’s series of novels, beginning with Prizzi’s Honor. Derek Flint is from the movies Our Man Flint and In Like Flint. 

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

Spring 1939 

THE SONG OF THE STORM 

A gangster’s henchman brings I. V. Frost the remains of a manuscript his boss burned, about one of Thomas Carnacki’s cases. In the manuscript, Carnacki identifies the charm on Sir Evan Chichester’s watch as the Talisman of Byagoona, which legend holds dates to antediluvian Stygia, and can allegedly switch one person’s mind into another’s body. The ancient sorcerer currently inhabiting the gangster’s body was given the Talisman by Byagoona. He tells Frost about some of his old foes, including the greatest swordsman in Spanish California and a famous gunfighter and his lover. The entity Rhagorthua taught him how to summon a storm by singing. 

Short story by Matthew Baugh in I. V. Frost: Tales of Mystery and Scientific Detection, Joe Gentile and Kim Perisin, eds., Moonstone Books, 2017. Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. Byagoona is a Great Old One from James Ambuehl’s “The Bane of Byagoona.” Stygia is from Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. The sorcerer wielding the Talisman battled Zorro in Baugh’s story “Zorro and the Bruja” (More Tales of Zorro, Richard Dean Starr, ed., Moonstone Books, 2010), and a fictionalized version of the historical gunfighter Mysterious Dave Mather in his tale “Trail of the Brujo” (Low Noon: Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy from the Weird Weird West, David B. Riley, ed., Science Fiction Trails, 2012). Rhagorthua is from David Conyers’ “A Handful of Dust.” 

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 of the Week

Summer 1936

THE FROST WOLF 

Harry Dickson meets with Prime Minister Caius Keyes and his wife Angelique. Keyes introduces Dickson to Doctor Omega and Captain Gullivar Jones. An object like a comet or meteor has crashed in Clapham Common, which Keyes initially assumed was a precursor to an alien invasion, being as familiar with the historical works of H. G. Wells as anyone. Omega says he is aware of a dog-like wolf with human-level intelligence which manifests itself at certain points in history, calling it the Hound of the Baskervilles, the Hound of Death, and the Beast of Gevaudan. Dickson has enough firearms to equip a fair-sized dinosaur-hunting party to the Lost World. Omega describes lights they see as the Aether’s spatio-temporal vortex. The inhabitant of the crashed time machine, injured from the mesonychid wolf’s attack, identifies himself as Heracles Danby. The injured Omega, Jones, and Danby, as well as another man, are treated in a high dependency ward run by a Dr. Mannering from Cardiff. The third man’s belongings bear the legend Catharus Mine, while his dog tags identify him as Adam Oberstein. Dickson witnesses a scene of horror that reminds him of the Miller’s Court Triptych painted by Walter Sickert depicting the death of the final victim of Jack the Ripper that he had been shown back when he was a member of the Roebuck Cabal. The Prime Minister says he used to be part of the Home Office’s elite Gordian Squad, but Dickson thinks that surely one of the Great Men of Baker Street or Rouletabille would have told him about it. The Frost Wolf is killed by Pandora, who is accompanied by Liandra Ritter and her son Kulath Jr., who refers to Danby as “grandfather.” Omega warns Dickson about Total Security Management and the Cull Men. 

Short story by Martin Gately in Exquisite Pandora and Other Fantastic Adventures, Black Coat Press, 2020. Harry Dickson appeared in pulp stories by Jean Ray and others. Caius Keyes, Angelique Datura, and the Gordian Squad first appeared in Gately’s “The White Box.” Doctor Omega is the title character of Arnould Galopin’s science fiction novel. Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier’s translation of that book identified Omega with Doctor Who. The lights are the Time Vortex from Doctor Who. Gullivar Jones is from Edwin L. Arnold’s Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation. The H. G. Wells reference evokes The War of the Worlds. The wolf first appeared in Gately’s “Wolf at the Door of Time.” The Hound of the Baskervilles is from the titular Sherlock Holmes novel. The Hound of Death is from Agatha Christie’s story of the same name. The Lost World is from Arthur Conan Doyle’s eponymous book. Heracles Danby, Liandra Ritter, and Kulath Sr. are from Gately’s “The Cataclysm Will Not Be Televised.” Dr. Frank Mannering is from the movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. The Catharus Mine is from Gately’s “Rouletabille and the New World Order,” and is associated with the Catharus Society, a precursor to THRUSH from the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Adam Oberstein is related to spy Hugo Oberstein from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes tales “The Adventure of the Second Stain” and “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.” The Roebuck Cabal is from Gately’s eponymous story. As established in Gately’s stories about Gaston Leroux’s journalist and detective Rouletabille, the Great Men of Baker Street are Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake, Seaton Begg (from the works of Michael Moorcock), and Victor Drago (from the British comic book Tornado). Pandora is from Gately’s “Exquisite Pandora.” Total Security Management and the Cull Men appear in another story by Gately, “The Unfettered Man,” set in one of the many possible futures for the CU. 

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 of the Week

May 26, 1846

THE LAMENT OF THE DUKE AND THE KING 

The so-called Duke of Bridgewater and King of France hop a train, and in the process meet Doctor Omega and his companion Miki. The Doctor gives the conductor a Hynerian sixteen harzmo gold piece. They are joined by the Doctor's other companion, the Steel General. The King says he is the long-lost Dauphin of France, and that he used to be visited by a woman named Madame LaFarge. The Chevalier de Maison-Rouge allegedly tried to rescue the King’s mother. An artist named La Salle was sent by the Baron de Batz to rescue the Dauphin and replace him with a lookalike. When he nearly drowned, a man named Moreau rescued him. The General claims he incited Moreau’s animal people to revolt, but the Doctor clarifies that the King means Andre-Louis Moreau, who he and Miki saw costar with Marguerite St. Just in a play called Don Juan Triumphant in 1791. De Batz was working with the Scarlet Pimpernel, who the Duke claims was the Prince-Regent’s butler, Mr. Edmund Blackadder. The Pimpernel turned the Dauphin over to a smuggler dressed as a scarecrow, who handed him off in turn to an American named Bumppo. The Doctor refers to Miki’s colossal, radioactive, reptilian friend, and says General Santa Anna has the services of an evil scientist named Dr. Campos, who has uncovered a mind control device left on Earth centuries ago by an alien named Kukulcan. 

Short story by Matthew Baugh in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 12: Carte Blanche, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2015; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 20), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2017. The Duke of Bridgewater and the King of France are from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Doctor Omega is the title character of Arnould Galopin’s novel. Miki Saegusa is from the Godzilla movies. Although the massive level of destruction seen in the films does not fit into the CU, other crossovers indicate a version of Godzilla exists in the CU whose exploits are much less Earth-shattering. The Hynerian Empire is from the television series Farscape. The Steel General is from Roger Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness. Madame LaFarge (or rather DeFarge) is from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The Chevalier de Maison-Rouge is from Alexandre Dumas’ eponymous novel. Florence de La Salle is from Rafael Sabatini’s The Lost King. The Baron de Batz is a historical figure who appears in both that book and Sabatini’s Scaramouche, whose title character is really Andre-Louis Moreau. The other Moreau and his animal people are from H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau. Marguerite St. Just is the wife of Sir Percy Blakeney, aka Baroness Orczy’s hero the Scarlet Pimpernel. The play Don Juan Triumphant is the basis for the opera of the same name penned by the title character of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. Edmund Blackadder is from the television series Blackadder the Third. The smuggler dressed as a scarecrow is Russell Thorndike’s Dr. Syn, aka Captain Clegg and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Natty Bumppo is from James Fenimore Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales. Dr. Campos is from the movie Santo Contra Hombres Infernales. Kukulcan is from the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth” and the Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle episode “Tarzan and the Space God.” 

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 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!

Bonus Crossover of the Week (RIP Rick Lai)

Autumn 1866

THE TOMB OF THE VEILED PROPHET 

Anis-ed-Dowleh, the Shah of Persia’s favorite wife, shows Haji Abdu, the Daroga of the Secret Police, the corpse of a handmaiden allegedly murdered by Erik, the court illusionist. Erik mentioned to the Shah’s spouse he had been trained to kill with the Punjabi lasso by the deposed Maharani of Pankot. Haji Abdu and Erik discuss the rebel leader Mokanna, whose cult was led by Abd Dhulma after his death. Erik shows the Daroga a map he acquired in the mountain citadel Yolgan, which has the words, “The Lord of the Empty Abode,” “The Lord of Illusion,” and “The Lord of the Fourth Axis” written on it. Mokanna appears to the duo, saying they have resurrected him by summoning the Three Avatars of Yog-Sothoth. Mokanna names the sorcerers of Lemuria and Attluma, including Thulsa Doom, Kathulos, Rotath, Mardanax, and Descales, each of whom performed the Black Litany to infuse their souls with the Torch Fire of Nug. Erik’s nom de guerre is derived from Erlik of the Dark Star, whom Mokanna describes as a minor entity eclipsed by the cosmic splendor of the Lord of the Fourth Axis and his twin spawn, Nug and Yeb. Mokanna evokes the Moon of Yian, saying Nug demands a Red Offering in exchange for bestowing his Torch Fire upon Erik. 

Short story by Rick Lai in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 12: Carte Blanche, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2015; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 20), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2017. Haji Abdu is from Sir Richard Francis Burton’s poem “The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî.” He is also mentioned in Philip José Farmer’s authorized Doc Savage novel Escape from Loki. Lai conflates Haji Abdu with the Persian from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. Erik is the title character of that book. Pankot is from the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Mokanna is from “The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,” the first of four poems in Thomas Moore’s collection Lalla-Rookh, as well as Sax Rohmer’s The Mask of Fu Manchu. Abd Dhulma is from G. G. Pendarves’ “Abd Dhulma, Lord of Fire.” Yolgan is from Robert E. Howard’s El Borak stories. The Lord of the Empty Abode is the title of Yog in Robert E. Howard’s Conan story “Shadows in Zamboula.” “The Lord of Illusion” and “The Lord of the Fourth Axis” are stories by E. Hoffmann Price. Here, the three Lords are all avatars of Yog-Sothoth, one of the Great Old Ones of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Attluma and Descales are from the works of David C. Smith. Thulsa Doom is from Howard’s Kull tale “The Cat and the Skull.” Kathulos is from Howard’s “Skull-Face” and “Taverel Manor,” the latter completed posthumously by Richard A. Lupoff. Rotath is from the Kull story “The Curse of the Golden Skull.” Mardanax is from Lin Carter’s Thongor novels. Nug and Yeb are from various Lovecraft collaborations: “Out of the Aeons” (co-written by Hazel Heald), “The Mound” (coauthored by Zealia Bishop), and “The Last Test” (co-penned by Adolph de Castro). The Black Litany of Nug and Yeb is from Joseph S. Pulver’s poem of the same name. Erlik of the Dark Star is from Robert W. Chambers’ The Dark Star. The Moon of Yian is from Chambers’ “The Maker of Moons.” The Red Offering is from Lin Carter’s Cthulhu Mythos story of the same name. 

As I wrote on Facebook yesterday, RIP my friend Rick Lai, an amazing human and writer. In the 1980s, he wrote articles expanding on the Wold Newton concepts of Philip Jose Farmer and continued it after the Wold Newton websites began appearing with Win Scott Eckert’s in 1997. He broke into fiction writing beginning with the story “The Last Vendetta” in the first TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN anthology, and consistently turned out quality work. I am honored to have had my first published story in close proximity to his contribution in the last TALES. I was constantly in awe of the depth of his knowledge and retention of pop cultural details, and I genuinely believe he was a genius. We also shared a love of Spaghetti Westerns, which he drew from often in his fiction. I’m in shock right now, and I am deeply saddened that I will never see him again. FarmerCon this year will be bittersweet without him.

Crossover of the Week

March 58 BCE

LUCRETIUS’ MAZE

Titus Crow uses his alien clock to time travel to ancient Rome. Ariston tells Crow and Titus Lucretius Carus a story Rael told him involving a Lamia snatching a newborn. Crow and Lucretius are helped against some cultists by another time traveler, Setni, who serves the Great Brains. Crow begins to see Lucretius more and more as an equal to his friend, Henri-Laurent de Marigny. Yog-Sothoth is mentioned. The Great Brains of Kalapol have deprived Setni of his faithful Pentoser. Another time traveler summons Shub-Niggurath to destroy Rome. The defeated and dying villain identifies himself as Montbrison, who came from 1942 in a time-vest invented by a scientist named Noël Essaillon. Montbrison was previously exposed as a murderer by P.I. Nestor Burma. Setni thinks of Maïcha.

Short story by Jean-Guillaume Lanuque in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 15: Trompe l’Oeil, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2018; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 25), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2019. Titus Crow and Henri-Laurent de Marigny are the protagonists of a series of Cthulhu Mythos novels by Brian Lumley. Yog-Sothoth is one of Lovecraft’s Outer Gods, while Shub-Niggurath is one of the Great Old Ones. Rael is from Genesis’ album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Setni, the Great Brains of Kalapol, Pentoser, and Maïcha are from a series of science fiction novels by Pierre Barbet, which represent yet another of the many possible futures for the CU. Montbrison is from 120, Rue de la Gare, one of Léo Malet’s novels about private eye Nestor Burma. Noël Essaillon is from René Barjavel’s novel Future Times Three.

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 of the Week

Winter 1936-Late Summer 1937 

THE DOMINO LADY’S SCANDAL 

The Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick) tries to clear the name of actor Emilio Romani, who has been falsely accused of statutory rape. Ellen met Romani at a party held by Neville Sinclair a week ago. Romani knows Alan Swann. During a trip to New York, Ellen met Theodore Marley Brooks, a lawyer who regularly tops the best dressed lists. While Ellen is no Monk Mayfair or Fergus MacMurdie, she is a skilled chemist. Romani’s alleged crime happened after he got back from a party thrown by Satan Devlin. Romani mentions the parties Valentino threw every Friday night at the Hyperion Hotel. Ellen learned how to palm a syringe from Mandrake, and how to crack a safe from Jimmie Gray, the heir to the Graylock Safe Company. During another one of her trips to New York, a fellow crimefighter taught Ellen a baritsu move that effectively turned her cape into a whip. The mastermind behind the plot against Romani, councilman and chess player John Sanford, taunts Ellen about her code against killing, saying, “I would already be dead if the Spider was standing before me.” A year later, Ellen catches up with Sanford in Palm City, where he is now calling himself James Fleming. 

Short story by Brad Mengel in Domino Lady Volume 3, Ron Fortier, ed., Airship 27 Productions, 2019. Neville Sinclair is from the film version of Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer. Although the film is incompatible with the comic and its continuations published by IDW, which are in the Crossover Universe, Adam Lance Garcia’s The Green Lama: Unbound and Frank Schildiner’s “Blood of the Hummingbird” also establish Sinclair has a counterpart in the CU. Alan Swann is from the movie My Favorite Year. Brooks and Mayfair are two of the bronze man’s aides. MacMurdie is one of the members of the avenging hero’s crime-fighting organization. Jack “Satan” Devlin appeared in five stories by Ernest Manning in Saucy Movie Tales from July 1936-January 1937. The Hyperion Hotel is from the TV series Angel. Mandrake is the title character of Lee Falk’s comic strip Mandrake the Magician. Jimmie Gray, aka the Shadow (no relation to the American pulp hero), is an Australian comic book character created by Jeff Wilkinson. The fellow crimefighter is the vigilante of the shadows. Baritsu is from Doyle and Watson’s “The Adventure of the Empty House.” The crossover comic “The Conflagration Man” implied Sherlock Holmes had taught both the shadowy vigilante and Doc baritsu. The Spider needs no further introduction. John Sanford (aka James Fleming) is meant to be the grandfather of Peter Fleming, aka Chess, from the TV series The Cape, which is set in Palm City. 

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 of the Week

Winter 1938 

THE THIRD EYE OF OSIRIS 

The Bimbashi Baruk receives a message from Sir Denis Nayland Smith asking him to meet him at Sir Lionel Bart’s reception in Aswan. Other guests at the party include the Graf, a clubfooted German; John Solomon; Professor Tör Andersen; and André de Savery. The Graf is really Adolph von Grundt, on whom Desmond Okewood has kept a close eye ever since they met in the Great War. Smith says the Americans have the Ark of the Covenant, which is probably buried in a warehouse somewhere. When Sir Lionel asks Baruk if he knows about the Eye of Osiris, he asks in turn if that was one of John Thorndyke’s cases back in the '20s, involving a jewel. Professor Andersen is really Fu Manchu. The real Andersen was murdered by the Si-Fan. Dr. Petrie has spoken highly of Sir Lionel. Gaston Max confirmed for Smith that the true Andersen’s body was in the Paris sewers where de Savery said it was. In 1905, Smith encountered Hanoi Shan. Fu Manchu, after confirming Sir Lionel is with Smith and the others, says only Dr. Petrie and young Greville are missing. 

Short story by David L. Vineyard in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 14: Coup de Grace, 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. Bimbashi Baruk is from Sax Rohmer’s Bimbashi Baruk of Egypt. Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Sir Lionel Barton (or Bart as he’s called here), Fu Manchu, the Si-Fan, Dr. Petrie, and Shan Greville are from Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. Gaston Max appears in his own series of novels by Rohmer; one of these, The Golden Scorpion, has a cameo by an unnamed Fu Manchu. John Solomon’s stories were told by H. Bedford-Jones in several magazines, mainly The Argosy and People’s. André de Savery is an alias of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Adolph von Grundt and Desmond Okewood are from Valentine Williams’ Clubfoot novels. The American government did seal the Ark of the Covenant in a warehouse after Indiana Jones recovered it, as seen in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dr. John Thorndyke encountered a jewel called the Eye of Osiris in R. Austin Freeman’s novel of the same name. Hanoi Shan is from H. Ashton-Wolfe’s Warped in the Making; Philip José Farmer identified him with Fu Manchu in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. 

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 of the Week

Late July 1912

THE RETURN OF THE WINCHESTER MAN 

Criminologist Professor Craig Kennedy and his friend and biographer, reporter Walter Jameson, travel from New York City to Chicago at the behest of the leader of the White Hand, a group of businessmen who oppose the Italian American Black Hand criminal organization, whose brother has been murdered by, apparently, the Black Hand’s assassin, the Winchester Man. In the process, they meet Sherlock Holmes, who is in Chicago disguised as the Irish American Altamont. After solving their own case, Kennedy and Jameson help Holmes thwart an arson attempt at the Republican Convention, orchestrated by Von Bork. Crime in New York has become relatively mundane, except for a new safecracker calling himself the Gray Seal. The leader of the White Hand mentions “that little punk Colombo.” 

Short story by Walter Jameson, edited by Greg Gick in The Further Crossovers of Sherlock Holmes, Richard Dean Starr and E. R. Bower, eds., Moonstone Books, 2017. Craig Kennedy and Walter Jameson are from Arthur B. Reeve’s detective novels. Holmes’ time in Chicago as Altamont was alluded to in “His Last Bow,” in which he defeated Von Bork. Jimmie Dale, aka the Grey Seal, is the hero of a series of novels by Frank L. Packard. “That little punk Colombo” is Chicago gangster Spats Colombo from the movie Some Like It Hot. 

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, coming from Meteor House in August! 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 1967

SATANIC SPIES AND OTHER MUSICALS 

The chauffeur for a cadet branch of the Falsworth family tells his friend about occult investigator Johnny Rich and his own chauffeur, partner, and lover May when they spot them at Lords. May’s mother employs dacoits and has access to poisonous vipers. The duo meets with the controller of British Intelligence and his employee George. One of rock star Bobby Belial’s followers is Helena Gurney, niece of the Earl of Gurney. Belial plays at a club owned by Danny and Tony Driscoll. The Driscolls and Harold Shand each claim the title of London’s boss. May is of Manchu descent. Johnny is a duke, and his late father was a legendary magus. After thwarting Belial, Johnny goes with May to the musician’s home, where they meet a Special Branch officer named Mendel. 

Short story by Frank Schildiner, originally available as an e-book from Pro Se Productions in 2017; reprinted in Johnny Rich, Pro Se Productions, 2018. Johnny Rich is the son of Dennis Wheatley’s occult detective the Duke de Richleau. May is the daughter of Fah Lo Suee and the granddaughter of Dr. Fu Manchu. The Falsworth family includes Montgomery Falsworth and his son Brian, both of whom operated as the masked hero Union Jack, and Montgomery’s daughter and Brian’s sister Jacqueline, aka the speedster superheroine Spitfire. All three are members of the Marvel Comics wartime superhero team the Invaders. Although superteams are rarely included in the CU, it has been established that the Invaders did operate briefly as a commando-style team, notably encountering a member of the Frankenstein family and his monster. Furthermore, Paul Hugli’s “As Time Goes By...” suggests a version of Union Jack exists in the CU. The head of British intelligence is Control, George Smiley’s boss in John le Carré’s spy novels. Inspector Mendel is also from the Smiley books. The Earl of Gurney is from Peter Barnes’ play The Ruling Class and its film adaptation by Peter Medak. Danny and Tony Driscoll are from the television series Only Fools and Horses. By extension, the spin-off The Green Green Grass and the prequel Rock & Chips would also be in the CU. Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby from Fawlty Towers appeared in the Only Fools and Horses episode “Homesick.” Harold Shand is from the movie The Long Good Friday. 

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

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 of the Week

Summer 1966

THE HOUSE OF EL HOMBRE LOCO 

Werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky is unable to make a date with Princess Dala. He is attacked by what appears to be Gouroull, the creation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, whom he has encountered once before, but it turns out to be a human dressed up as the monster. Meanwhile, Pete Dumond plays chess with Dr. Génessier. Génessier once stole the faces of pretty girls for his daughter Christiane. Daninsky is attacked by more seeming monsters: a female vampire wielding a scythe, an enormous lump of rock and moss covered in fur, an extraterrestrial with an enlarged brain and insect-like arms ending in pincers, and a group of scarred warrior-monks. Now able to control his transformations, Daninsky appears in a horror film directed by an Italian named Guido. 

Short story by Nathan Cabaniss in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 12: Carte Blanche, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2015; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 23), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. Waldemar Daninsky was played by Paul Naschy in a long-running series of Spanish horror films. Daninsky must have lost control of his lycanthropy again after the events of this story, as he has no power over it in films made after the time in which this story occurs. Princess Dala is from the movie The Pink Panther. Gouroull is the name given to Frankenstein’s monster in novels by Jean-Claude Carrière. Pete Dumond is from the movie How to Make a Monster. Dr. Génessier and his daughter Christiane are from Jean Redon’s Les Yeux Sans Visage and its film adaptation by Georges Franju. The scythe-wielding vampire is Eva from Jean Rollin’s film Fascination. The rock-and-moss creature is the titular alien from the movie Night of the Blood Beast. The insect-like alien is the Metaluna Mutant from the movie This Island Earth. The warrior-monks are the Blind Dead from a series of Spanish horror movies. Since Gouroull is real within the context of this story, the other monsters probably are as well, and This Island Earth and the Blind Dead films have already been established as taking place in the CU. Guido Anselmi is from Federico Fellini's film 8 1/2. 

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

Summer 1940

LADIES’ DAY 

Ellen Patrick (aka the Domino Lady) and her friend Diana are at a hair salon when the shop is held up by criminals led by a woman called Madame Orchid, who is looking for the owner. Ellen came to New York on the S.S. Claridon. Diana is romantically involved with a man named Kit, who “comes and goes like a ghost.” Other customers at the salon include a matronly society woman named Mrs. Claypool; Miss Dawn, a nightclub singer who’s been seeing a gang boss named Rocco; Jean Moray, and a former FBI agent who now works for a private citizen who specializes in taking down criminals like Madame Orchid and likes to stay in the shadows. The latter woman puts on makeup to appear Chinese and calls herself “Ming.” Madame Orchid seeks to collect ransom from the globetrotting cousin of the salon’s owner. Said owner is a tall, gorgeous woman with deeply tanned skin and bronze hair. Madame Orchid turns out to be Millicent MacGyver, a vengeful former employee of the salon. 

Short story by Matthew Baugh in Gentlemen Prefer Domino Lady, David Boop and Kim Perisin, eds., Moonstone Books, 2020. The Domino Lady is from Lars Anderson’s stories in the “spicy” pulps. Diana is Diana Palmer, the girlfriend (and later wife) of Kit Walker, aka the Phantom and the Ghost Who Walks. The S.S. Claridon is from the movie The Last Voyage. Mrs. Claypool is from the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera. Gaye Dawn and Johnny Rocco are from the film Key Largo. Jean Moray is the assistant of scientific detective I. V. “Ivy” Frost, who appeared in stories by Donald Wandrei in the magazine Clues Detective Stories. The former FBI agent is an agent of the shadowy pulp hero, and frequently assumes the guise of a Chinese woman named Ming during her investigations. The salon’s owner is the bronze man’s cousin. Millicent MacGyver is presumably a relative of Angus MacGyver from the television series MacGyver. “Ming” became an agent of the shadowy vigilante in the novel The Invincible Shiwan Khan, which Rick Lai placed in late September 1939, so this story probably takes place in the early 1940s. 

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

Winter 2005

BETTER THE DEVIL 

The members of Caballistics, Inc. must find who is targeting the organization for extermination. Appearing or mentioned are: the Templars Resurgent; the Starry Wisdom; Delta Green; the Cult of the Black Sun; Hobb’s End; the British Rocket Group; the Wild Hunt; The Carnacki-Silence spectrum generator; the Lamp of Alhazred; Exham Priory; Drax Industries; Flaxton Hall; Cavorite; Wenley Moor; Norrell; Stable Mews; Steed; the Ministry; Frank Marker; Arthur Daley; “Randall and...a partner’s name that had been scrubbed out long ago”; and the Brigadier. 

Novel by Mike Wild, 2000 AD, 2007. The Templars Resurgent are a reference to the Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici from Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. The Starry Wisdom Church is from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark.” Exham Priory is from Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” Delta Green is from the titular 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 Zenith. Hobb’s End and the Wild Hunt are from the movie Quatermass and the Pit. Professor Bernard Quatermass is the head of the British Experimental Rocket Group. The Carnacki-Silence spectrum generator is named after the title characters of William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder and Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence. The Lamp of Alhazred is from August Derleth’s titular Cthulhu Mythos story. Drax Industries is from the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Moonraker. Flaxton Hall is from the television series The Flaxton Boys. Cavorite is from H. G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon. Wenley Moor is from the Doctor Who serial “Doctor Who and the Silurians.” The Brigadier is the Doctor’s ally, Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. Norrell is Gilbert Norrell from Susanna Clarke’s alternate history fantasy novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Wild describes Norrell as having “a kind of otherworldliness,” implying he comes from an alternate universe. In the television series The Avengers, Ministry agent John Steed lived at 3 Stable Mews. Frank Marker is from the TV series Public Eye. Arthur Daley is from the show Minder. “Randall and...a partner’s name that had been scrubbed out long ago” refers to the show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). 

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

 Autumn 1921

A TALE OF TWO SOULS 

Dr. Henry Jekyll seeks the Sâr Dubnotal’s aid, having heard rumors back of an odd case where he assisted Professor Van Helsing. Jekyll’s other personality, Edward Hyde, has opened the Cenobites’ puzzle box. The Sâr’s sanctum includes such items as the Helmet of Nabu, the Witchblade, and the Resurrection Stone. A Cenobite with pins sticking out of his skull appears. The Sâr offers the Cenobite Hyde as his emissary on Earth, saying there are souls so evil they are beyond his ability to change them, such as Fantômas and Tserpchikopf. Two months later, Hyde offers the puzzle box to Irma Vep and the Great Vampire. 

Short story by Matthew Dennion in Sâr Dubnotal 2: The Astral Trail, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2015; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 19), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2016. The Sâr Dubnotal is a French pulp hero. Tserpchikopf battled the Sâr in several novels. Dr. Henry Jekyll and his alter ego Edward Hyde are from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Professor Abraham Van Helsing is from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The Cenobites and their puzzle box, the Lament Configuration, are from the Hellraiser movies. The Cenobite with pins sticking out of his skull is Pinhead. Captain Elliott Spencer became Pinhead in 1921, as established in Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, so this story must take place not long after. The Helmet of Nabu will later be worn by DC Comics’ mystic hero Dr. Fate. The Witchblade is from the titular Top Cow Comics series. The Resurrection Stone is from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, bringing in Harry Potter. Fantômas is Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s villain. Irma Vep and the Great Vampire are from the serial Les Vampires.

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!