Crossover Cover: Dept. of Monsterology: The Trouble with Harry

 

In a flashback to 1928, Professor Harry Wilmington explores lost Hyperborea, which was once home to a homo serpentine civilization, and which he suggests may be a non-degenerate offshoot of classic Valusian culture that survived the Thurian cataclysm. He also mentions the Yothian Chronicles and the Elder Things of Antarctica. Hyperborea and its Serpent People are from the works of Clark Ashton Smith. Valusia and the Thurian cataclysm are from Robert E. Howard’s Kull stories. Yoth is from H. P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop’s “The Mound,” while the Elder Things are from Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness.” 

This crossover is one of over a thousand covered 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

Summer 1967

YORKSHIRE STONES AND AMERICAN BARONS 

A Colonel and Sergeant summon Johnny Rich and May. The Colonel says the third Baron Tennington is in danger, but Johnny corrects him, saying that he has been dead for centuries, that one of his ancestors was familiar with the 11th Baron in 1795, and that the Colonel is talking about Stephen Tennington, the third Baron Darrowby. Johnny’s father mentored him in occult matters. May, who is of Manchu and English descent and has a contentious relationship with her grandfather and mother, dons a shooter’s vest with over a dozen small pockets, a smaller version of one worn by one of Johnny’s relatives, an adventurer of some note in the past. Their enemy, Jill Pole, is a Pict who worships the Moon-Woman. Johnny carries a sword cane whose silver blade, supposedly one of several forged by St. Dunstan, bears the inscription, “Sic pereant omnes inimici tui,” or “Thus perish all your enemies.” Johnny and May encounter another of the Moon-Woman's subjects, Thun Bronze Spear, son of Ka-Nu, son of Ka-Nu, who mentions King Bran and Gonar the Ancient. Johnny knows a French Japanese criminal who frequently uses grappling hooks in his thefts. 

Short story by Frank Schildiner in Johnny Rich, Pro Se Productions, 2018. The Colonel and Sergeant are Colonel Ross and Harry Palmer from Len Deighton’s spy novels. George Edward Rutherford, the 11th Baron Tennington, is from Philip José Farmer’s Tarzan Alive. The 11th Baron, who was present at the Wold Newton meteor strike in 1795, has several famous descendants, including Lord Greystoke and Professor Challenger. Darrowby, Yorkshire is from James Herriot’s It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet. Johnny Rich’s father is Dennis Wheatley’s occult adventurer the Duke de Richleau. May’s grandfather is Fu Manchu, and her mother is the Devil Doctor’s daughter Fah Lo Suee. Johnny’s relative is a certain golden-eyed pulp superman. The Moon-Woman is from Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story “Worms of the Earth.” Ka-Nu is from Howard’s Kull stories. Gonar is from the Bran Mak Morn stories. Two of St. Dunstan’s other silver blades are carried by Manly Wade Wellman’s occult detectives Judge Pursuivant and John Thunstone. The French Japanese criminal is Monkey Punch’s manga character Lupin III, the grandson of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. 

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 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 Avenger: The Sun King

This novel by my fellow New Wold Newton Meteoritic Society member Matthew Baugh pits the Avenger against the German pulp hero Sun Koh, sometimes described as "the Nazi Doc Savage." There are several other crossover references. Since Sun Koh is an Atlantean prince, there are a number of references to other works involving Atlantis, such as Arthur Conan Doyle's The Maracot Deep and Robert E. Howard's Kull stories. Nellie Gray's father, an archaeologist, was friends with several of his peers, including Dr. Littlejohn of a university in Massachusetts (William Harper "Johnny" Littlejohn, one of Doc Savage's aides, whom Farmer identified with Professor William Dyer of Miskatonic University from Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness"), Dr. Jones of a small but prestigious university in New Jersey (Indiana Jones), and Professor Smith of Cambridge, who smuggled dissidents out of Nazi Germany (Professor Horatio Smith from the movie Pimpernel Smith.) The other crossovers will be covered in my writeup in the books.

Crossover Cover: The Weird Western Adventures of Haakon Jones

This collection of Weird Western stories has several crossovers. In "Stuff of Dreams," set in March 1875, Haakon Jones is lured into a blizzard by a beautiful red-golden haired girl. It is suggested that Ithaqua may have caused the blizzard. The girl is clearly Atali, the title character of Robert E. Howard’s Conan story "The Frost Giant’s Daughter." It is possible that the frost giant and Ithaqua (from August Derleth’s Cthulhu Mythos story of the same name) are the same being. In "Belfry's in Your Bats!," set in August 1876, Jones thwarts a bizarre plot on the life of President Grant. He is assisted by a Secret Service agent named Jim who dresses in a tight suit and vest, and carries an explosive material in his boot heel. Jim is Jim West from The Wild Wild West. In "A Knight Does Not  a Pawn Make," set in 1877, Jones finds himself on the opposite side of a range war from an expensive hired gun. The man is unnamed, but dresses all in black, has a holster decorated with a silver chess knight, charges $1000 for his services, quotes classical authors, and gives his address as the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco. The hired gun is Paladin from the television series Have Gun – Will Travel. In "Surf City, Here I Come," set in 1889, Jones is a passenger aboard a ship that encounters the island of R’lyeh in the South Seas. Haakon fights the Deep Ones and briefly glimpses Cthulhu. In "The House of a Thousand Mirrors," also set in 1889, Jones nearly loses his soul to a witch’s enchanted mirrors in Deadwood. The mirrors are clearly meant to be those seen in Robert E. Howard’s Kull story "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune." In Howard’s story, Tuzun Thune is assisted by a girl. Rick Lai speculates that the witch who encountered Haakon Jones is an older version of that same girl. In "Action on Arkham's Boot Hill," set in 1904, Jones visits Arkham, Massachusetts, where he meets Miskatonic University student Ward Phillips. A character named Ward Phillips appeared in H.P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price’s "Through the Gates of the Silver Key." Phillips was based on Lovecraft himself, whose full name was Howard Phillips Lovecraft. If Lovecraft and Price’s Phillips is the same person as the Phillips who encountered Haakon Jones, he must be a few years older than Lovecraft, who was only fourteen years old in 1904.