Crossover Episode: Ride

 

In this episode of Endeavour, Detective Constable Endeavour Morse investigates the murder of artist Simon Hallward, whose landlady was named Mrs. Cravatte. Simon Hallward must be related to painter Basil Hallward from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Mrs. Cravatte was the name of Anthony Hancock’s landlady in the TV series Hancock and the movie The Rebel. Apparently, she relocated from East Cheam to Oxford at some point in the years since the events of The Rebel. 

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

Autumn 1902

THE IGNOBLE SPORTSMEN 

Sherlock Holmes investigates the inexplicable deaths of members of the Fellowship of Herne, a club that hunts humans. The Fellowship’s members include Englishmen, Americans, Canadians, and a few Russians. When Watson idly suggests an invisible animal could be responsible for the deaths, Holmes replies, “There was a strange case, out in the American Southwest, a year or two ago. A man named Morgan was found dead, out among the chaparral. The local constabulary thought it was murder, at first, but...The human eye is an imperfect instrument, Watson. Some things are beyond its perception. There’s supposedly a fellow in West Sussex who’s doing some interesting research into such matters, but for the moment we are forced to rely on it.” The Great Detective and his Boswell have visited Bluegate Fields often, most recently during an investigation into the disappearance of a young aristocrat named Gray. Holmes and Watson crack the case with the help of a Pinkerton named Leverton, who mentions the Red Circle. 

Short story by Dr. Watson, edited by Josh Reynolds in Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes, J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec, eds., EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, 2018. One of the Russian members of the Fellowship of Herne is probably General Zaroff from Richard Connell’s story “The Most Dangerous Game.” Hugh Morgan is from Ambrose Bierce’s story “The Damned Thing.” The fellow in Sussex is Griffin from H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. Gray is the title character of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Leverton is from Doyle and Watson’s “The Adventure of the Red Circle,” which Baring-Gould placed in 1902. “The Damned Thing” was first published in 1893, and the events of The Invisible Man take place in 1896. Therefore, Watson must have been engaging in his recurring chronological misdirection by changing Holmes’ words to make the events regarding Morgan and Griffin seem more recent. 

This crossover write up 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 2017

THE LIBRARIANS AND THE MOTHER GOOSE CHASE 

The Librarians must stop an individual claiming to be Mother Goose from getting her hands on all three of the original volumes of Mother Goose’s Melodies, written by Elizabeth Goose as a book of rhyming spells, and using it to reassemble the World Egg (“putting Humpty Dumpty back together again”) and undo the Big Bang. The team works with descendants of the original author to find the pieces. Cassandra Cillian is offered a drink at a music club, but declines, remembering her inebriated exploits at Dorian Gray’s club in London not too long ago. Eve Baird asks Jenkins about their current predicament caused by the Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, “How much does this suck?” He responds, “More than Vlad Tepes’ family reunion.” Jake Stone, exploring the inside of a well, counts himself lucky he hasn’t spied any rats yet, “unlike that one time in Sumatra.” Cassandra and one of the Goose descendants, tree-trimmer and part-time rapper George “Bo-Peeps” Cole, look for one of the volumes in the library of George’s great-grandfather Ezra Wilshire, which includes several occult volumes, one of which is Mysteries of the Worm. Jenkins dons an old-fashioned jet pack resting on the floor of the Library’s Annex, at the base of a glass display case containing the Maltese Falcon. In a flashback, Flynn Carsen, returning to the Annex from the Even More Forbidden City through the Magic Door, thinks he’ll have to consult Dragomiloff’s Guide to Lethal Implements regarding a jade dagger he has just evaded. He hangs his pith helmet on a hat rack that contains, among other headwear, a deerstalker cap. Flynn wouldn’t trade his job for all the Jewels of Opar. Jenkins contemplates putting the spell book alongside The Secret Memoirs of Tom Thumb and Rip Van Winkle’s Dream Journal. 

2017 novel by Greg Cox. The Librarians encountered Dorian Gray (from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray) in the episode “The Librarians and the Image of Image.” Flynn Carsen battled Dracula (or rather one of his soul-clones) in the TV movie The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice. Although The Librarians treated Professor Moriarty as a Fictional character brought to life, and indeed he is referred to as such here, the Sumatran rat and deerstalker references suggest Sherlock Holmes is every bit as real as the Librarians themselves. Mysteries of the Worm is a Cthulhu Mythos tome created by Robert Bloch. The Maltese Falcon is from Dashiell Hammett’s detective novel. Ivan Dragomiloff is from Jack London and Robert L. Fish’s The Assassination Bureau, Ltd. The Jewels of Opar are from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels. Rip Van Winkle is the title character of Washington Irving’s story. 

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 TV Episode: The Librarians and the Image of Image

 

The Librarians encounter Dorian Gray. The Library’s caretaker, Jenkins, met Gray in the Victorian era. It's also implied Dorian and Oscar Wilde were lovers. 

This episode is one of hundreds of crossovers covered 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

Winter 2018
THE LIBRARIANS AND THE POT OF GOLD 
The Librarians must find a leprechaun’s long-lost pot of gold before their old foes the Serpent Brotherhood can get their hands on it. Before that, the team deals with a seeming haunting at the Paris Opera House by a party that is seeking the only copy of the Phantom’s concerto, Don Juan Triumphant. The new Opera Ghost reveals to Jake Stone and Ezekiel Jones that he is the descendant of Erik and Christine Daaé, the consummation of whose relationship Gaston Leroux left out of his novel. Cassandra Cillian, before directly encountering the new Opera Ghost, wonders if the book was based on a real person who is still around, like with Dorian Gray. The Librarians’ Guardian, Colonel Eve Baird, having trouble reaching Jake and Ezekiel on her phone, remembers running into the same problem while buried alive beneath the Mountains of Madness. The Librarians play Trivial Pursuit; all three of them have mastered the Geography category, though Baird doubts there are too many Geography questions concerning Shangri-La, El Dorado, or the Bermuda Triangle. The Library holds everything from Penelope’s unfinished tapestry to Prufrock’s intimidating peach. Included in the Hibernian Wing is a copy of Bram Stoker’s book The Lair of the White Worm, which Jenkins describes as, “One of his lesser works, to be frank, but not nearly as fictional as generally believed.” Serpent Brotherhood member Max Lambton knows that magic wishes, be they granted by fairies, devils, djinns, or a mummified monkey’s paw, almost invariably backfire on the wisher, no matter how carefully the wish is phrased. Jenkins says a chasm he and Cassandra encounter reminds him of a bottomless pit he once encountered while in pursuit of a certain grail. Stone, battling Max, adopts a fighting stance taught to him by none other than the Monkey King himself. Ezekiel cracks a Glenn-Rieder X-3000 vault. 
2018 novel by Greg Cox. Erik the Opera Ghost, Christine Daaé, and Don Juan Triumphant are from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. Dorian Gray is from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Mountains of Madness are from H. P. Lovecraft’s novella “At the Mountains of Madness.” Shangri-La is from James Hilton’s Lost Horizon. Penelope’s unfinished tapestry is from Homer’s The Odyssey. Prufrock’s intimidating peach is from T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” The events of Bram Stoker’s novel The Lair of the White Worm have been established as part of the CU. The mummified monkey’s paw is from W. W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw.” The mention of a bottomless pit in conjunction with the Holy Grail is a reference to the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is from Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West. Glenn-Rieder security systems are from the TV series Leverage. 

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds found in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! As with the first two volumes, this one is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 and will be published by Meteor House!

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 TV Series: Penny Dreadful

 

Are you a fan of classic monsters such as Dracula and Frankenstein's monster?

Then you may enjoy the TV series Penny Dreadful, featuring versions of those and other iconic characters in Victorian London!

For more details, see the appendix on alternate universes in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! Much like the first two volumes, this book is an official and fully AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 and will be published by Meteor House!

Crossover of the Week

Autumn 1887 LES VAMPIRES DE PARIS Erik’s Angels of Music (La Marmoset, Sophy Kratides and Unorna) investigate a murder that appears to be the work of a vampire. Appearing or mentioned are: Montsou; Sybil Vane; Mr. Calhoun; Harold Latimer; Wilson Kemp; Sherlock Holmes; Paul Kratides; Scapinelli; Keyork Arabian; the power to cloud men’s minds in the mountain lamaseries of Tibet; strange orchids from the mangrove swamps of the Andaman Islands; the Scroll of Thoth; the Shout; Irene Adler; Trilby O’Ferrall; Christine Daaé; Olympia; Svengali; the Persian; Les Vampires; the Grand Vampire; Vénénos; the Hôtel du Libre Echange; Monsieur Morillon; Frederick Hohner; Ayda Heidari; Count Camille de Rosillon; Pontevedro; Dr. Geneviève Dieudonné; Inspector Raoul d’Aubert; the Black Coats; Sesostris, the Sorceress of Ecbatana; the lost treasure of Monte Cristo; Anatole Garron; Giovanni Jones; Monsieur Rémy; Dorabella; Clarimonde; Geraldine; the Count; Des Esseintes; the Marquis de Coulteray; Joséphine Balsamo; Gravelle; Dr. Michel Falke; Mircalla Karnstein; Abraham Van Helsing; the Princess Addhema; Firmin Richard; Jean Macquart; Simon Buquet; Bernard Hichcock; Patou; Inspecteur Legris; Monsieur Moncharmin; Jacques Rival; Henri Paillardin; Lord Ruthven; Sir Francis Varney; Ezzelin von Klatka; Inspecteur Bec; Chief Magistrate Barrière; and John Seward. Story by Kim Newman in Angels of Music, Titan Books, 2016. Erik, Christine Daaé, the Persian, Monsieur Rémy, Firmin Richard, and Armand Moncharmin are from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. La Marmoset and Mr. Calhoun are from Albert W. Aiken’s story “La Marmoset, the Detective Queen; or, the Lost Heir of Morel.” Sophy Kratides and her brother Paul, Harold Latimer, and Wilson Kemp are from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes tale “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter.” Irene Adler is from the Holmes story “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Ayda Heidari will later marry Bob Ferguson, as seen in “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.” Unorna and Keyork Arabian are from F. Marion Crawford’s The Witch of Prague. Montsou is from Émile Zola’s novel Germinal. Jean Macquart is from Zola’s La Terre. Sybil Vane is from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Scapinelli is from the movie The Student of Prague. The power to cloud men’s minds was learned in Tibet by the shadowy vigilante. Strange orchids from the mangrove swamps of the Andaman Islands are from H. G. Wells’ “The Flowering of the Strange Orchid.” The Scroll of Thoth is from the 1932 film The Mummy. The Shout is from the British horror film of the same name. Trilby O’Ferrall and Svengali are from George du Maurier’s Trilby. Olympia is from Jacques Offenbach’s opera Tales of Hoffmann. Les Vampires, the Grand Vampire, and Vénénos are from the film serial Les Vampires. The Hôtel du Libre Echange is from Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desvallières’ play of the same name, as are Bastien Morillon and Henri Paillardin. Frederick Hohner is from the movie The Climax. Count Camille de Rosillon and Pontevedro are from Franz Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow. Geneviève Dieudonné is from Newman’s Diogenes Club series and has a counterpart in the Anno Dracula Universe. Inspector Raoul d'Aubert and Anatole Garron are from the 1943 film version of The Phantom of the Opera. Simon Buquet is from the 1925 silent version of the novel. The Black Coats are from Paul Féval’s novels. The Princess Addhema is from Féval’s The Vampire Countess. Sesostris, the Sorceress of Ecbatana is from Aldous Huxley’s Crome Yellow. The lost treasure of Monte Cristo is from Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Giovanni Jones is from the Bugs Bunny cartoon “Long-Haired Hair”; this must be his CU counterpart. Dorabella is the title character of an episode of the 1970s British television series Supernatural. Clarimonde is from Théophile Gautier’s “La Morte Amoureuse.” Geraldine is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Christabel.” Here, the three female vampires are the Brides of Count Dracula. This story takes place during the events of Stoker’s novel. Abraham Van Helsing and John Seward are from Dracula. Professor Madame Saartje Van Helsing must be Abraham’s second wife; his first, Elizabeth, died in circumstances recounted in the Marvel Comics black-and-white magazine Dracula Lives! Jean des Esseintes is from J.-K. Huysmans’ A Rebours. The Marquis de Coulteray is from Gaston Leroux’s The Bloody Puppet. Joséphine Balsamo is from Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin novels. Gravelle is from the movie Charlie Chan at the Opera. Dr. Falke is from Johann Strauss II’s operetta Die Fledermaus. The first name Michel is derived from the 1946 film version of the operetta. Mircalla Karnstein is from J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla.” Bernard Hichcock is from the movie The Horrible Dr. Hichcock. Patou, a gendarme, is an ancestor of gendarme Nestor Patou from Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort’s musical Irma la Douce. Inspecteur Legris is from the movie The Man Who Could Cheat Death. Jacques Rival is from Guy de Maupassant’s Bel-Ami. Lord Ruthven is from John Polidori’s “The Vampyre.” Sir Francis Varney is from James Malcolm Rymer’s Varney the Vampire. Ezzelin von Klatka is from Anonymous’ story “The Mysterious Stranger.” Inspecteur Bec is from the 1986 TV movie adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Paul Barrière is from Cole Porter’s musical Can-Can.

This write-up is one of hundreds included in my forthcoming book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by the fine folks at Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's books Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover TV Episode: Age Before Beauty

Hey, like Oscar Wilde's classic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray?

Then you'll love this episode of the TV series Warehouse 13 that shows Dorian's portrait as one of the items in the Warehouse!

All the info on this and other crossovers on the show can be found in my books Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2, debuting at the Meteor House booth at FarmerCon/PulpFest in Columbus, OH on July 21-24! Both I and Win (who provided the foreword to Vol. 1) will be on hand to sign copies, as will William Patrick Maynard (who provided the foreword for Vol. 2) and Keith Howell (who did the absolutely stunning covers for both volumes).

Crossover Cover: Hungry Heart

This anthology contains a Nightside story by Simon R. Green. John Taylor is hired by a witch to recover her heart, which has been stolen by her ex-boyfriend. Appearing or mentioned are: one of Dracula’s coffins, complete with original grave dirt and a certificate of authenticity; the mummified head of Alfredo Garcia, smelling strongly of Mexican spices; the mirror of Dorian Gray; and a phial of heart’s blood from Varney the Vampyre. Dracula’s coffin is from Bram Stoker’s novel, of course. The mummified head of Alfredo Garcia is from the film Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. The mirror of Dorian Gray is a reference to Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Varney the Vampyre is the title character of James Malcolm Rymer’s penny dreadful serial.

Crossover Audio Drama: Frostbite

In New York City on Christmas Eve 1947, Dorian Gray encounters a woman in blue, who poisons him, though it does not kill the immortal. Before leaving, the woman identifies herself as Mina Harker. Mina’s reason for attacking Dorian is as yet unrevealed, as is why she is using her maiden name, despite having divorced Jonathan Harker nearly fifty years ago, as referenced in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Crossover Covers: Witchblade: Shades of Gray

Sara Pezzini meets Dorian Gray.

Crossover Covers: Prophecy

This miniseries from Dynamite Entertainment involves Red Sonja being transported through time to the year 2012, where she fights her old foe Kulan Gath alongside Dracula, Vampirella, Pantha, Dr. Herbert West, Eva (daughter of Dracula), Athena (the Greek goddess), and Ash Williams. A series of flashbacks to 1890 features Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Allan Quatermain, and Dorian Gray, who possesses the same dagger wielded by Gath. As Sonja is thrown forward and backward through time, images of a number of other characters are seen, including Indiana Jones, the Three Musketeers, Quasimodo, and the Phantom. There are a number of other characters seen in these sequences that don't fit into CU continuity: Dynamite's version of the Green Hornet, which doesn't fit with the NOW Comics stories of the '80s and '90s; the company's take on Flash Gordon, which has a very different version of Flash's origin story; the Lone Ranger appearing alongside Zorro, a reference to the Dynamite miniseries The Lone Ranger: The Death of Zorro, which contradicts the circumstances of the latter hero's death in the movie The Mask of Zorro; the characters of Project Superpowers, a series featuring a number of Golden Age superheroes brought into the present day; and Evil Ernie, whose stories take place in a world devastated by nuclear war. I have chosen to interpret these as cross-promotional cameos and disregard them for the purposes of the CU.