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 TV Episodes: Terminus

 

Are you a James Bond fan?

Then you'll love the Endeavour episode "Terminus," which has a nod to Thunderball, as well as the TV series On the Buses and the Doctor Who serial "The Mind of Evil!"

For more information, be sure to pick up 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: Second Violin

 

Are you a James Bond fan?

Then you'll love this entry in John Lawton's Inspector Frederick Troy series, which has a cameo by a young Bond, as well as nods to Margery Allingham's Albert Campion mysteries, John Osborne's play The Entertainer, George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, and P. G. Wodehouse's Uncle Fred series! 

For more information, be sure to pick up 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 TV Episode: Raga

 

This episode of Endeavour is set in June 1970. Chief Superintendent Bright mentions his service in Pankot and Chandrapore. Oxford’s Conservative candidate in the general election is Archibald-Lake. Ludo Talenti says cooking show host Oberon Prince is no Robert Danvers. The island of Vrakonisi is mentioned. Pankot is from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Bright’s service there was first mentioned in the episode “Prey.” Chandrapore is from E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India. Hugh Archibald-Lake is the Conservative candidate in The Wednesday Play episode “Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton,” a sequel to the earlier “Stand Up, Nigel Barton.” Robert Danvers is from Terence Frisby’s play There’s a Girl in My Soup. Vrakonisi is from Colonel Sun, the first-post Ian Fleming James Bond novel, written by Kingsley Amis as Robert Markham.  

This crossover is one of hundreds 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 TV Episode: Game

 

In this episode of Endeavour set in July 1967, novelist Kent Finn tells Constable Morse he went to Lowlands. The computer JASON’s program is written in Forbin 66. WPC Shirley Trewlove identifies a chess move as the Kronsteen variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Lowlands University is from the TV series A Very Peculiar Practice. The Forbin 66 programming language must be named after Dr. Charles Forbin, the creator of the titular supercomputer from the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project. In Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel From Russia, with Love, Kronsteen is a SMERSH agent and chess champion who “had introduced a brilliant twist into the Meran Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined.” 

This episode is among the 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 Cover: Project Millipede

 

In May 1944, Atomic Robo’s sometime ally Sparrow, an agent of British Intelligence, must destroy a subterranean Nazi artillery cannon. At one point, a German seemingly shoots her, but she kills him. She explains her survival: “Latest from Q Branch. Bulletproof jacket.” Q Branch is from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.

This crossover, and hundreds more, are 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 Cover: Blitz

 

Are you a fan of the Urban Fantasy genre?

Then you'll love the third novel in Daniel O'Malley's Checquy Files series, which has crossovers with works running the gamut from the James Bond novels to the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks!

For more information, be sure to buy my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! Like the first two volumes, this latest one is an AUTHORIZED companion to Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert and will be published by Meteor House!

Crossover of the Week

Late January 1944

THE GLASS LADY 

The Avenger and the Domino Lady meet for the first time as they team up against Benson’s old foes Dr. Ulrich Blau-Montag, aka the Iron Skull, and Werner Konrad. The Domino Lady, as Ellen Patrick, attends a masked ball at the Schildiner mansion, wearing the Spang diamonds. One of the guests, a Marine with white-blonde hair, admires Ellen’s figure. Other guests include the Charleses, who have taken a break from detective work and come to Los Angeles from San Francisco for the party; Dix Steele; an up-and-coming actress named Betty, accompanied by a handsome brown-haired stunt-pilot who works at Chaplin Airfield; Norma; and Veronica Balza. A thief brings down the chandelier, which is compared to the Phantom’s grand chandelier at the Paris Opera House. Ellen calls Cole Wilson’s fiancée Heather Brail at the Chance Theater in New York. Sims, a reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, writes an article about the latest dustup between Cynthia Furnois, socialite daughter of film director Abelard Furnois, and bleach blonde actress Mavis Arden. During Benson’s convalescence following an explosion, the members of Justice, Inc. get a second opinion from Clark. Heather has been offered a starring role in a remake of a Rhonda Terry jungle movie. 

Part I of Hunt the Avenger by Win Scott Eckert, Moonstone Books, 2019. The Domino Lady appeared in stories by Lars Anderson in the “spicy” pulps. The Avenger first battled the Iron Skull in Ron Goulart’s novel The Iron Skull. The villain escaped to battle Benson again in Goulart’s story “The Return of the Iron Skull,” escaping Benson’s clutches once more in the conclusion. Werner Konrad, a Nazi spy, battled Benson in Goulart’s novel The Glass Man; like the Iron Skull, he was still at large at the end of the book. The Spang diamonds are a reference to Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever. The Marine is Richard S. Prather’s future private eye Shell Scott. Nick and Nora Charles are from Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man. Dixon “Dix” Steele is from Dorothy B. Hughes’ novel In a Lonely Place. Betty and her boyfriend are Betty Page and Cliff Secord from Dave Stevens’ comic book The Rocketeer and subsequent comics and prose stories from IDW Publishing. Norma Desmond is from the movie Sunset Boulevard. Balza and Ms. Terry are from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and the Lion Man. The Furnoises are from Tarzan at the Earth’s Core. The Phantom is Erik from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. The Chance Theater is owned by George Chance, also known as the Green Ghost. Fred Sims is a friend and contact of G. G. Fickling’s female private eye Honey West. Mavis Arden is from the movie Go West, Young Man. Clark is the bronze man. 

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

Crossover Cover: The Bamboo Bomb

 

Are you a fan of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels?

Then you'll love this book in "James Dark's" (J. E. Macdonnell) series about spy Mark Hood, which has a shout-out to the first Bond book, Casino Royale!

For more details, see my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED continuations of Win Scott Eckert's essential reads Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Covers: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest

Are you a fan of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? 

Then you may enjoy this final chapter of the series, picking up directly after the events of Volume 3: Century!

For a fuller write-up of this comic, check out the appendix on alternate universes in my forthcoming book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! As with the first two volumes, this book is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's invaluable tomes Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 and will be published by the awesome folks at Meteor House!

Crossover TV Episode: His Last Vow

Hey, are you a fan of the Daniel Craig James Bond films?

Then you'll love "His Last Vow," an episode of Sherlock, the BBC's updating of Sherlock Holmes to 21st century England, which has a line of dialogue implying Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes and Daniel Craig's Bond exist in the same universe!

All the details can be found in the addendum on alternate universes in Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, my AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2, coming out from Meteor House this month! Both books will debut at Meteor House's booth at PulpFest/FarmerCon on July 21-24. Win and I will be on hand to sign copies, as will William Patrick Maynard (author of not only the excellent continuations of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu series published by Black Coat Press, but the foreword to Vol. 2 as well) and Keith Howell (who provided the covers for both volumes.)

Crossover Cover: The Unnatural Inquirer

Hey, like spy fiction such as the James Bond novels, The Avengers, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Get Smart?

Then you'll love this entry in Simon R. Green's Nightside series, in which characters from all those series have an unnamed cameo at Strangefellow's Bar and Grill, though their gadgetry makes their identities clear. And that's far from the only crossover in this book!

For all the details on the crossovers in this, the other Nightside novels, and most of Green's other works, read 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, available from Meteor House in late July!

Crossover Cover: Four Bullets for Dillon

This collection of stories by Derrick Ferguson featuring his New Pulp hero Dillon includes two stories with crossovers. The first is "Dead Beat in La Esca," coauthored with Joel Jenkins. Dillon and rock star/mercenary Sly Gantlet manage to evade a group of would-be killers despite having downed several drugged drinks. Sly has partied in the fleshpots of cities such as Morocco, Cairo, Isthmus City, and Casablanca. When Sly challenges Dillon to an arm-wrestling contest, Sly’s date suggests they rent the best room at the Cobalt Club after he wins to celebrate. Isthmus City is from the James Bond film Licence to Kill. The Cobalt Club is from Walter Gibson's pulp novels about a vigilante who knows the evil lurking in men's hearts. This crossover also brings in Jenkins’ Gantlet Brothers, sibling musicians who moonlight as mercenaries, who appear in the novel The Nuclear Suitcase and the collections The Gantlet Brothers’ Greatest Hits and The Gantlet Brothers: Sold Out. John Velvet from the Dillon series appears in The Nuclear Suitcase. This story was originally published in the anthology Thrilling Tales, and was reprinted again in The Gantlet Brothers' Greatest Hits. Dillon and Sly worked together again in three novellas by Ferguson and Jenkins collected as The Specialists. I covered the first story, "Dead Beat in Khusra," in a previous post. The other story in Four Bullets for Dillon with crossovers is "Dillon and the Judas Chalice." Dillon, being chased by police through the city of Denbrook, tells his ally Wyatt Hyatt he took some training from a French race car driver named Vaillant. A potential client, Diogenes Morales, tells Dillon his former best friend, Cornelius Spoto, is plotting to overthrow the Caribbean island republic of San Monique. Dillon’s comrade Reynard Hansen claims to have been trained by the Thieves Guild of Seville. Morales’ daughter Fiesta attended the Higgins School of Higher Learning for Girls. Spoto worked with Dillon’s enemy Cecil Henshaw in Parmistan. The city of Denbrook, created by Mike McGee, was the setting of nine serialized novels by various authors on the online fiction site Frontier Publishing. The French race car driver is the title character of Jean Graton’s comic book series Michel Vaillant. San Monique is from the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Live and Let Die; since most of the Bond movies take place in an alternate universe to the CU, the San Monique mentioned in this story and Frank Schildiner’s “The True Cost of Doing Business” must be the CU version of the island. The Thieves Guild of Seville is a reference to Miguel de Cervantes’ short story “Rinconete and Cortadillo.” The Higgins School of Higher Learning for Girls is named after Professor Henry Higgins from George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, adapted as the stage musical My Fair Lady. Parmistan is a fictional country from the movie Gymkata.

Crossover Cover: World War Cthulhu

This anthology contains two stories with crossovers, both written by authors with no little experience at same. One is "The Yoth Protocols" by Josh Reynolds. An FBI agent named Sarlowe thinks of centers of eldritch activity, such as the Warren site in the Big Cypress, the Martense molehills, and "certain secret cellars where a certain artist had painted certain pictures and almost certainly been eaten." He also thinks of Inspector Craig and his Special Detail in the subway tunnels beneath New York, as well as worms in the earth. Sarlowe’s partner Indrid Cold is described as having a wax-like face. It is stated there are worse things in Heaven and Earth than dreamt of in Alhazred’s philosophy. The local "old ones" include the Shonokins and the K’n-Yani. Sarlowe reminds Cold of the Yoth protocols. A circular stone covering the stairs leading to the mound where the K’n-Yani live was placed there after the Zamacona Cylinder was unearthed. "The batrachian hillbillies in Massachusetts" and N’Kai are mentioned. Cold is the only person who ever used the Voormithadreth Corridor and hadn’t rotted from the inside out. Cold identified Valusian spectrum radiation within the mound. The Russian necromancer Grigori Petrov refers to the Zann Concerto and the maw of Leng. Cold asks Petrov if he was planning to let Tsathoggua’s children loose to do his dirty work. Sarlowe quotes, "Evil the mind that is held by no head." Sarlowe is a relative of occult detective Baxter Sarlowe from Reynolds’ novel Wake the Dead. The Warren site in the Big Cypress is from H. P. Lovecraft’s story "The Statement of Randolph Carter." The Martense molehills are from Lovecraft’s "The Lurking Fear." The secret cellars where an artist painted pictures and was eaten are from Lovecraft’s story "Pickman’s Model." Inspector Craig and his Special Detail are from Robert Barbour Johnson’s story "Far Below." The worms in the earth are from Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story "Worms of the Earth." Indrid Cold is an allegedly real person connected to the supposed Mothman sightings in 1966. His wax-like face implies Cold is a member of the wax-masked race of creatures seen in Lovecraft’s "The Festival," which is the source of the quote, "Evil the mind that is held by no head." Abdul Alhazred, the mad Arab, is the author of the Necronomicon in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Shonokins are from Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone stories. The K’n-Yani, Yoth, the Zamacona Cylinder, and N’Kai are from Lovecraft’s revision of Zealia Bishop’s story "The Mound." "The batrachian hillbillies in Massachusetts" are a reference to Lovecraft’s "The Shadow over Innsmouth." The Voormithadreth Corridor is connected to Mount Voormithadreth from Cthulhu Mythos stories by Clark Ashton Smith. Tsathoggua is also from Smith’s Mythos tales. Valusian spectrum radiation is a reference to the kingdom of Valusia in Robert E. Howard’s Kull stories. The Zann Concerto is from Lovecraft’s "The Music of Erich Zann." The plateau of Leng appears in a number of Lovecraft’s stories. The other story that I will include is "Cold War, Yellow Fever" by Pete Rawlik. Mitchell Peel is an operative of the Joint Advisory Committee on Korea (JACK), receiving orders from Colonel Doctor Wingate Peaslee, aka the Terrible Old Man. Peaslee tells Peel and other JACK agents Esteban Zamarano was sent to Banes, Cuba as part of Operation Mongoose to enlist his family’s aid. The Zamaranos bought six volumes from the sale of the Church of the Starry Wisdom Library, including what appears to be a Spanish-language edition of The King in Yellow. After contact was lost with Zamarano, another agent traveled to Banes, and disappeared himself, though not before sending the message, "Where is the Yellow Sign?" The Soviets are willing to neutralize the threat, but Peaslee says Washington does not want to see another Gizhinsk, particularly so close to the U.S. borders. Peel and company work with Major Romero of the Cuban Security Forces and Agent Tanya Romanova of Soviet Army Intelligence to deal with the situation. Romanova refers to documented cases of childrens’ minds being stimulated to see the universe in ways adults cannot, such as the Paradine children and "that village in Winshire." After the mission, a traumatized and disfigured Peaslee is retired to a minimum security facility near Arkham, Massachusetts. Mitchell Peel is related to David Conyers’ series character Major Harrison Peel, an NSA consultant who appears in stories set in the milieu of the Mythos. Wingate Peaslee is from Lovecraft’s story "The Shadow Out of Time"; his nickname of "the Terrible Old Man" is an homage to Lovecraft’s story of the same name. The Church of the Starry Wisdom is from Lovecraft’s "The Haunter of the Dark." Arkham, Massachusetts is the setting of a number of Mythos tales. The King in Yellow is from Robert W. Chambers’ short story collection of the same name, and was incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by Lovecraft in his story "The Whisperer in Darkness." The Yellow Sign is also from Chambers’ book. Gizhinsk and "that village in Winshire" are from John Wyndham’s novel The Midwich Cuckoos. Agent Tanya (or Tatiana) Romanova is from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel From Russia, with Love. The Paradine children are from the short story "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" by "Lewis Padgett" (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore).

Crossover Cover: The Young Sherlock Holmes Adventures

A graphic novel set in a steampunk universe in 1905 that more closely resembles a Dickensian 1870s. In the story “The Head of the Hydra,” a college-aged Sherlock Holmes is approached by Felix Leiter, who indicates he might wish to consult Holmes in the future. Leiter’s card reads Criminal -----ation Agency. This Leiter must be a counterpart to CIA agent (and later Pinkerton) Felix Leiter from the James Bond novels. We can assume the full second word in the name of the Agency is “Investigation.”

Crossover Cover: From a Drood to a Kill

Eddie Drood takes action when his beloved, Molly Metcalf, is abducted by the Powers That Be to take part in the Big Game. Appearing or mentioned are: the Merlin Glass, the London Knights; MI 13; the London Knights, Kayleigh's Eye, the Nightside, Saint Jude's Church, Strangefellows, Walker, Dead Boy, the Night Times, Castle Inconnu, Harry Fabulous, John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie, and the Hawk's Wind Bar and Grill (all from Green's Nightside series); Area 52 (probably the same one seen in the titular Image Comics miniseries); an old 1930s Hirondel (the same fictional car driven by Simon Templar, the Saint); Queen Mab (from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet); King Oberon and Queen Titania, and Puck (from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream); the original Fantom of the Paris Opera (from Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera); Charlotte Karstein, the Wilderness Witch (possibly a relative of Carmilla Karnstein from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire tale "Carmilla"); Castle Frankenstein (from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its many adaptations and sequels); the Ninteen Sixties Black Beauty (from the 1960s Green Hornet television series); a shocking pink Rolls-Royce (Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward's car, FAB 1, from the Supermarionation show Thunderbirds, which takes place in the 2060s; presumably the Droods acquired the car through time travel, and possibly dimensional travel as well); the only occasionally successful Lotus submersible (from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me); Julien Advent (from the Nightside books, but a thinly-veiled version of the title character of the television series Adam Adamant Lives!); Shadows Fall, Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat, and Old Father Time (from Green's novel Shadows Fall); the Carnacki Institute and Catherine Latimer (from Green's Ghost Finders series); Deathstalker (the protagonist of another series of novels by Green, which take place in an alternate future); Jason Royal (a thinly veiled version of the main character of the British television series Department S and Jason King); Lady Gaea (aka Gayle), Carrys Galloway, the Waking Beauty, and Bradford-on-Avon (from Green's novel Drinking Midnight Wine); the Doormouse and his House of Doors (from the Nightside series, though the Doormouse is a member of a group of hippies turned into mice first seen in Drinking Midnight Wine); Robot Archibald (meant to be Robot Archie, who appeared in the British weekly comic book Lion); knock-off Hyde (Dr. Henry Jekyll's formula from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, used as a drug); Martian Red Weed (from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds); and smoked black centipede meat (from William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch.)

Crossover of the Week

Summer 1945

ACCORDING TO PLAN OF A ONE-EYED TRICKSTER

            Richard Henry Benson, alias the Avenger, is visited by American government agent Tony McKay and a British agent named Jim. Jim tells Benson that almost thirty years ago, Sherlock Holmes, whose brother was then head of the British Secret Service, fought a man called Baron Ulf Von Waldman, who appears to be the same person as Dr. Walden, whom Benson encountered last month. Walden’s ally in his battle with Benson was the Countess Lilya Zarov. Walden has demanded that Benson and his own ally in their previous conflict, the Domino Lady, come to him. Walden is renting Stonecraft Castle. One of Walden’s past aliases is Larsen. Walden states that Benson is a great scientist, perhaps second only to another who lives in New York. Zarov once had her back broken by an enemy who was escaping from a prison camp Walden ran during the Great War. Prior to that, this enemy had slept with her, resulting in a pregnancy. Lilya used her shape-changing abilities, inherited from an extraterrestrial mother, to heal her injuries. Another member of her mother’s race was defeated by “a doltish ‘gentleman thief’” in the 1890s. Lilya’s son went on to battle his hated father, who did not realize the truth about his parentage, as the son had changed his features so that he would appear older. At the conclusion of the battle, Walden alludes to a future encounter with Benson’s daughter.

            Short story by Win Scott Eckert in The Avenger: Roaring Heart of the Crucible, Nancy Holder and Joe Gentile, eds., Moonstone Books, 2013. This story completes the trilogy begun by Eckert with his stories “Death and the Countess” (The Avenger Chronicles, Joe Gentile and Howard Hopkins, eds., Moonstone Books, 2008) and “Happy Death Men” (The Avenger: The Justice, Inc. Files, Joe Gentile and Howard Hopkins, eds., Moonstone Books, 2011.) Tony McKay is from Sax Rohmer’s novel Emperor Fu Manchu. “Jim” is James Bond. Sherlock Holmes’ encounter with “Baron Ulf von Waldman” was chronicled by Dr. Watson in his tale “The Adventure of the Fallen Stone” (Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook, Howard Hopkins, ed., Moonstone Books, 2012), edited by Eckert. Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, was portrayed as the head of the British Secret Service and one of the first to hold the title of “M” (a reference to the James Bond novels) in John T. Lescroart’s novels Son of Holmes and Rasputin’s Revenge, as well as Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Dr. Karl Walden, alias Baron Ulf Von Waldman, is meant to be Baron von Hessel from Philip José Farmer’s authorized Doc Savage novel Escape from Loki. In his essay “The Green Eyes Have It – Or Are They Blue?” (Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott Eckert, ed., MonkeyBrain Books, 2005), Christopher Paul Carey argued that the Baron and Wolf Larsen (from Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf) were aliases of the immortal XauXaz from Farmer’s trilogy of novels about the ancient society known as the Nine, a theory elaborated upon and modified by Eckert in his story “The Wild Huntsman” (The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3: Portraits of a Trickster, Michael Croteau, ed., Meteor House, 2012), among others. Countess Lilya Zarov is meant to be Lili Bugov, Countess Idivzhopu, from Escape from Loki; the use of the surname Zarov is meant to imply that she is related to General Zaroff from Richard Connell’s story “The Most Dangerous Game.” In his essay “Who’s Going to Take Over the World When I’m Gone?” (Myths for the Modern Age), Eckert argued that Doc Savage’s nemesis John Sunlight was the result of Lili and Doc’s sexual encounter in Escape from Loki; the shape-changing abilities shared by mother and child explain how Lili was able to recover from her crippling and disfiguring injuries suffered at the climax of that novel, as well as why Lester Dent claimed in The Fortress of Solitude that Sunlight “was not a young man,” despite the fact that he would have been only eighteen years old at that time. Doc Savage is the New York resident who is possibly a greater scientist than Benson. The Domino Lady, created by Lars Anderson, is one of the most well-known pulp heroines. Stonecraft Castle was formerly owned by James D. Stonecraft, an oil magnate obsessed with immortality, who appears in Farmer’s authorized Tarzan novel The Dark Heart of Time. The “doltish ‘gentleman thief’” is A.J. Raffles; his encounter with a member of Lili’s mother’s race was recounted by his amanuensis Harry “Bunny” Manders in “The Problem of the Sore Bridge – Among Others,” edited by Farmer. The Avenger and the Domino Lady’s future daughter, Helen Benson, was first mentioned in Farmer and Eckert’s novel The Evil in Pemberley House. The title of this story is a play on that of the Doc Savage pulp novel According to Plan of a One-Eyed Mystic.

Crossover Cover: Dillon and the Voice of Odin

Dillon battles the evil Odin, who is using a sonic device to menace the world. Dillon, whose catamaran is called the Copperfin, drinks a can of Tenku Beer. Double-O agents are mentioned in a flashback, and British Secret Service agent Gregory Tipp has an office on the tenth floor of the Transworld Consortium building, which is an elaborate front for the Service itself. At the headquarters of Odin’s ally Dr. Numby, Dillon admires swords handcrafted by Domingo Montoya, one of the greatest swordcrafters who ever lived. The president of the United States meets with Doctor Michael Cadwallander, Director of Special Projects for the Henderson Institute of Alternative Technologies, and Milo Dane, head of the Omega Elite, the U.S. government’s ultimate “dirty tricks” department. Dillon’s friend Eli Creed drinks Old Dusseldorf beer. Dillon’s catamaran is named after the U.S.S. Copperfin submarine seen in the film Destination Tokyo. Tenku Beer is from the film Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Double-O agents and Transworld Consortium are from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Domingo Montoya is the father of Inigo Montoya, one of the main characters of William Goldman’s novel The Princess Bride. The Henderson Institute of Alternative Technologies is run by Dr. Sylvester Henderson, whose brother Mongrel has appeared in stories by Ferguson for Airship 27 Productions’ Mystery Men (& Women) anthology series. Omega Elite has been mentioned in several of Ferguson’s stories. Old Dusseldorf beer is from the television series Magnum, P.I.