Hey,
all. I know I haven't posted anything since Thursday. I was at
FarmerCon/Pulpfest, and having a blast with my buddies. Today marks my
triumphant return. First of all, before I give you my belated Crossover
of the Week post, I wanted to share this picture of me and my dear
friend, co-publisher, and predecessor as custodian of the Crossover
Universe, Win Scott Eckert (I'm on the left):
July 1917
THE HUNTERS OF MARS
Leo Saint-Clair (aka the Nyctalope) takes a transport to
the Martian city of Helium, where his assistance has been requested by John
Carter, Warlord of Mars (aka Barsoom.) Carter managed to convince two other
Martian races, the Sorns and the Hither People, to join forces with his to
drive the invading Cephales from Mars. The Cephales fled to Earth, where they
crushed England’s armies before falling prey to the planet’s bacteria. The
surviving members of the colony returned to Mars, where Leo and Oxus prevented
them from attacking the newly-created French colony. After the Cephales’
defeat, the duo learned of other races on the Red Planet such as the Tharks and
the Red Men of Helium. Oxus believes that the radium used by the people of
Helium might be able to revive an ancient capsule he has discovered in one of
the nearby Martian ruins, which apparently contains secrets that could advance
the cause of space travel by light years, and end the Great War within a few
months. Leo meets with a group consisting of the Thark Tars Tarkas, Carter, and
the latter’s wife, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. Reports are mentioned of a
warrior resembling Carter in ancient Phoenicia, as well as a 13th
century “Outlaw of Torn.” Carter wishes Leo to investigate the mutilations of
several Tharks. Kantos Kan and other Martians gather around the bodies of two
murdered palace guards. Leo tells Carter that the killer does not operate under
the ethical codes of the Tharks, the Sorns, the Hross, the Hither People, or
any other known race on Barsoom. He theorizes that the killer is a hunter from
another world collecting trophies. Leo is well versed in the hunting techniques
of Quatermain and Roxton. The hunter, or Predator, is blown up by a device in
its gauntlet after being killed, destroying a Thark incubation chamber in the
process. Carter says that he will take the sole surviving infant to Sola, who
will care for him.
Short story by Matthew Dennion in The Nyctalope
Steps In, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2011;
reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 8), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds.,
Rivière Blanche, 2011. The Nyctalope, and Oxus appear in French pulp novels by
Jean de La Hire. Helium, John Carter, Barsoom, the Tharks, the Red Men, Tars
Tarkas, Deja Thoris, Kantos Kan, and Sola are from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars
novels. The Sorns and the Hross are from C.S. Lewis’ Out of the
Silent Planet. The Hither People are from Edwin Arnold’s Lieutenant
Gullivar Jones: His Vacation. The Cephales (or Kephales) are from de La
Hire’s The Great Adventures of a Scout; here, they are conflated with
the Martians from H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. George Alec
Effinger’s story “Mars: The Home Front” proposed that Wells’ Martians (aka the
Sarmaks) came from Barsoom, while The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,
Volume II depicted John Carter’s alliance with the Sorns and the Hither
People to drive off Wells’ Martians. The Nyctalope and Oxus encountered Wells’
Martians in de La Hire’s The Nyctalope on Mars. The capsule is from the
British television serial Quatermass and the Pit. The Phoenician warrior
is the title character of another Edwin Arnold novel, Phra the Phoenician,
whom Dennis E. Power and Dr. Peter Coogan conflated with John Carter in their
essay “John Carter: Torn from Phoenician Dreams (An Examination Into the
Theories that John Carter was Phra the Phoenician and Norman of Torn)” (Myths
for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott
Eckert, ed., MonkeyBrain Books, 2005.) The Outlaw of Torn is from the novel of
the same name by Burroughs; Philip José Farmer conflated him with John Carter
in his speech “The Arms of Tarzan,” also reprinted in Myths for the Modern
Age. Quatermain is H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain, while Roxton is Lord
John Roxton from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger tales. The Predator
race is featured in a series of science fiction films. The Predators have
appeared in several crossover tales in comic books; however, only those
crossovers involving Crossover Universe mainstays such as Tarzan or Mycroft Holmes
are incorporated into CU continuity.
