Crossover Cover: MatchUp

This anthology of collaborations between female and male thriller writers teaming up their respective characters includes four stories involving characters who are in the CU. 

In Karin Slaughter and Michael Koryta's "Short Story," police detective Jeffrey Tolliver is partnered with Lincoln Perry, and they go after a drug dealer. Jeffrey Tolliver is from Slaughter’s Grant County series, which is connected to her Will Trent novels, which are in turn in the CU through a crossover with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Therefore, this crossover brings in Koryta’s series about ex-cops turned private eyes Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard.

In Lisa Jackson and John Sandford's "Deserves to Be Dead," cop Regan Pescoli meets Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Regan Pescoli is the protagonist of a series of novels by Jackson. Sandford’s Virgil Flowers series is in the CU through connections to his character Lucas Davenport, who is himself in the CU through Stephen King and Peter Straub’s Black House. Flowers reports to Davenport, and the two frequently appear in each other’s series.

In Diana Gabaldon and Steve Berry's "Past Prologue," ex-government agent turned bookseller Cotton Malone meets eighteenth century Scottish soldier Jamie Fraser through time travel. This crossover brings together Jamie Fraser from Gabaldon’s Outlander series and Berry’s series character Cotton Malone, both of whom have independent links to the CU. 

Lastly, in Kathy Reichs and Lee Child's "Faking a Murderer," Child’s character Jack Reacher helps to clear the name of Reichs’ forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan when she is accused of murder. Reacher is in the CU. Reichs’ Temperance Brennan novels are the inspiration for the television series Bones, which is also in. The Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan of the TV show is a generation younger than her literary counterpart, and has a completely different family tree, supporting cast, and background, so this must be an AU.

These crossovers are four 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: Cleaning the Gold

 

Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher and Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Will Trent butt heads at Fort Knox, but ultimately join forces to battle the bad guys. Child’s character Jack Reacher is already in the CU through various connections, including a reference in Stephen King’s novel Under the Dome, so this story brings in Slaughter’s Agent Will Trent. Beginning with the third book, Undone, the Trent series merged with Slaughter’s other series of thrillers set in Grant County, GA, with Will ultimately becoming romantically involved with one of the protagonists of those books, medical examiner Sara Linton.

This crossover 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 Audiobook: In Session

This audiobook is composed of three stories in which M.J. Rose's sex therapist character Dr. Morgan Snow meets and psychoanalyzes three other thriller series characters, Steve Berry's Cotton Malone, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, and Barry Eisler's John Rain. Reacher is in the CU through a reference in Stephen King's novel Under the Dome, and therefore this crossover brings in Snow, Malone, and Rain.

Crossover Cover: Fix

Repairman Jack has a chance encounter with a female spy known only as Chandler, and winds up working with her to prevent a deadly toxin from being unleashed on New York City.

Wilson’s “fixer” Repairman Jack is already in the CU, and this crossover brings in the main character of Konrath and Peterson’s Codename: Chandler series. Through various crossovers, the inclusion of Chandler brings the following works into the CU: Konrath’s respective series featuring Harry McGlade, Phineas Troutt, and Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels, and his novel Disturb; Konrath’s Afraid, Endurance, Trapped, and Haunted House, all written as by Jack Kilborn; Peterson’s Val Ryker series; Blake Crouch’s Abandon, Famous, and Snowbound, the Andrew Z. Thomas series, and the Letty Dobesh series; Garth Perry’s A.J. Rakowski stories; Henry Perez’s Alex Chapa novels; Jeff Strand’s Andrew Mayhem series; Tom Schreck’s Duffy Dombrowski Mysteries; Bernard Schaffer’s Superbia trilogy; Tracy Sharp’s Leah Ryan series; Jude Hardin’s Nicholas Colt series and the spinoff Jack Reacher Files series, set in the same continuity as Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series; Iain Rob Wright’s Sarah Stone series; and Crouch, “Kilborn,” Strand and Wilson’s novel Draculas, which mentions The National Tattler, a fictional tabloid from Thomas Harris’ novel The Silence of the Lambs. The Clayton family seen in Schaffer’s Guns of Seneca 6 series is descended from Superbia’s Cole Clayton, while the hero of Konrath’s Timecaster series (written as “Joe Kimball”) is Jack Daniels and Phineas Troutt’s grandson, and a recurring villain in that series is descended from characters in Afraid and Haunted House. Both series take place in alternate futures to the CU.

Crossover Cover: Bad Luck and Trouble

As those who've read my August 7 post about Stephen King's novel Under the Dome already know, Lee Child's character Jack Reacher is in the Crossover Universe. At the beginning of this particular novel by Child, Reacher is stranded in Portland, Oregon, broke after spending two nights with an assistant district attorney named Samantha. This is a reference to Samantha Kincaid, a deputy D.A. in Portland who is the protagonist of a series of novels by Alafair Burke, bringing her into the CU as well.

Crossover Cover: Under the Dome

This novel by Stephen King has connections to King's other works, the Cthulhu Mythos, and a popular contemporary thriller series. In it, the town of Chester's Mill, Maine finds itself under a dome created by aliens for a little over a week. Journalist Julia Shumway also appears. Chester's Mill and Julia were first mentioned in King's story "N." Chester's Mill shares a border with the towns of Castle Rock, Motton, and TR-90, which are each mentioned in several of King's works, and Tarker's Mill, the setting of Cycle of the Werewolf. Two of the other main characters are Jim Rennie and Dale "Barbie" Barbara. A note written by someone called Barbie to a man named Jim appears in King's novel Desperation. Chester's Mill resident Myra Evans first appeared in Needful Things. There are several references to two more recurring elements of King's fiction, Shawshank State Prison and the town of Derry. One conspiracy theory about the dome suggests that Great Cthulhu is responsible for it. Finally, a military policeman named Jack Reacher is referred to. Reacher is the protagonist of a series of novels by Lee Child. Although this novel was first published in 2009, it takes place during Barack Obama’s second term as president of the United States, and therefore between 2013 and 2016. According to King, there is a great deal of national news coverage regarding the dome, as well as a military blockade, although apart from the government no one finds out about the aliens that caused it. The nationwide knowledge of the dome’s existence is probably exaggeration on King’s part, although obviously enough people outside of Chester’s Mill learned about or heard rumors of the dome to have theories as to its origins.