This
special from PulpWork Press includes three stories with crossovers.
In
Josh Reynolds' Royal Occultist story "The Teeth of Winter,"
Charles St. Cyprian, hunting down a man-eating wendigo in Alberta
alongside his assistant Ebe Gallowglass and the elderly Native
American gunfighter Lone Crow, makes the third Hloh gesture. St.
Cyprian first met the Inuit angakkuq Ukaleq in London, before
the War, when he was an assistant to Thomas Carnacki. St. Cyprian and
Lone Crow discuss Dr. Silence. St. Cyprian traces the sacred shape of
the Voorish Sign in the air. Lone Crow appears in weird Western
stories by Joel Jenkins. Hloh is from Margery Lawrence’s stories
about occult detective Miles Pennoyer. Thomas Carnacki is from
William Hope Hodgson’s collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder,
while Dr. Silence is from Algernon Blackwood’s collection John
Silence. The Voorish Sign is from H. P. Lovecraft’s story "The
Dunwich Horror."
Just
as Reynolds' story features a character created by Joel Jenkins,
Jenkins' own contribution to the special is a Royal Occultist story.
On Maitress Island, St. Cyprian and Gallowglass battle the God of the
Dark Burgeoning Deaths. St. Cyprian notes, "Professor Moriarty
Moreau is said to have possession of a fragment of the Pnakotic
Manuscript which contains directions for sealing portals without the
use of human blood." Bella Mae Jobson of the Royal
Archaeological Society comes to St. Cyprian and Gallowglass’ aid.
St. Cyprian and Gallowglass are from the Royal Occultist stories by
Josh Reynolds. Professor Moriarty Moreau’s connection to Professor
James Robert Moriarty and Doctor Alphonse Moreau is unknown. The
Pnakotic Manuscript is from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Bella
Mae Jobson, originally from P. G. Wodehouse’s Drones Club story
"The Editor Regrets," first encountered St. Cyprian and
Gallowglass in Reynolds’ story "Deo Viridio."
The
final story relevant to this blog is "Dillon and the Night of
the Krampus" by Derrick Ferguson. Dillon and his friends Wyatt
Hyatt and Reynard Hansen battle a Krampus in Reynolds, Alaska. Dillon
receives a puppy from Hoover, a man he met years ago. Dillon once
sought out a man named Jim Anthony in New York to learn certain
specialized knowledge from him. Professor Ursula Van Houghton, who
teaches at Grand Lakes University, has been hired by the people of
Reynolds to help them deal with the Krampus and recover their stolen
children. Dillon took some courses in archaeology and cultural
anthropology at the University of Northeastern California under
Professor Sydney Fox. Hoover is Alaska Jim Hoover from the German
pulp magazine Alaska Jim, Ein Held der
Kanadischen Polizei. Jim Anthony appeared in
the American pulp Super Detective.
Dillon first met Alaska Jim and Jim Anthony in the novel The
Vril Agenda, coauthored by Ferguson and
Reynolds. Grand Lakes University is from the movie Back
to School. The University of Northeastern
California is from the sitcom Undeclared.
Professor Sydney Fox is from the television series Relic
Hunter.
Happy
holidays!
