Crossover of the Week

Autumn 1940

RED SHAMBHALA 

Jim Anthony battles a Russian villain called Koschei. Appearing or mentioned are: Xonira; the Heart of Fortune; the Bugle; the Globe; the New York Inquirer; Sovereign City; Maple White Land; Richard Upton Pickman’s infamous painting “Subway Accident”; Campalans; the Brainerd punch-card automata; Thunder Jim Wade; Doc Ardan; Hanoi Xan and his World Crime League; the Si-Fan; the Brotherhood of the Golden Chrysanthemum; the Vampires of Paris; the Order of the Cosmic Ram; Commissioner Warner; the Black Bat; the Kingscote School for Girls; St. Trinian’s; and a Freiburg dance academy of dubious reputation. 

Novel by Joshua Reynolds, Pro Se Productions, 2015. Jim Anthony appeared in the pulp magazine Super Detective. Xonira is from Derrick Ferguson’s Dillon series. The Heart of Fortune is the riverboat home and gambling casino of Ferguson’s character Fortune McCall. The Daily Bugle and the Daily Globe are from Marvel’s Spider-Man comics. The New York Inquirer is from the classic film Citizen Kane. Sovereign City is the setting of a book imprint from Pro Se; Fortune McCall is one of the city’s heroes. Maple White Land is from Arthur Conan Doyle and Edward Malone’s The Lost World. Richard Upton Pickman and his painting “Subway Accident” are from H. P. Lovecraft’s “Pickman’s Model.” The fictional cubist painter Jusep Torres Campalans was the subject of a biography by Max Aub. The Brainerd punch-card automata are based on technology invented by Johnny Brainerd in Edward S. Ellis’ The Steam Man of the Prairies. Thunder Jim Wade appeared in stories by “Charles Stoddard” (Henry Kuttner) in the pulp magazine Thrilling Adventures. Doc Ardan is from Guy d’Armen’s Doc Ardan: City of Gold and Lepers. Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier’s adaptation and translation of that novel implied Ardan was really a famous American pulp hero. Hanoi Xan and the World Crime League are from the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. The Si-Fan is from Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. The Brotherhood of the Golden Chrysanthemum is mentioned in several works by Reynolds. The Vampires of Paris are from the serial Les Vampires. The Order of the Cosmic Ram is from Reynolds’ Royal Occultist series. Commissioner Jerome Warner is from the Black Bat stories. The Kingscote School for Girls is from Antonia Forest’s Marlow novels. St. Trinian’s is the setting of a comic strip by Ronald Searle. The Freiburg dance academy is from the movie Suspiria.

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 of the Week

Autumn 1926 

WRATH OF N’KAI 

Countess Alessandra Zorzi, a professional thief-for-hire, comes to Arkham, Massachusetts to steal a mummy found in Oklahoma. Two years ago, Alessandra stole a gargoyle from the cathedral of Vyones. A month after that, she pilfered a copper ring crafted in the shape of a serpent from a house in Mayfair. Philippa “Pepper” Kelly, who works as a cab driver in male disguise, has as her head dispatcher a short, fat man named De Palma. At the unveiling of the mummy at the Miskatonic Museum, Alessandra runs into her old acquaintance Tad Visser, a New Yorker, who says the crowd includes bigwigs from Miskatonic, Harvard, Yale, and even representatives from his alma mater, Empire State. Alessandra knows of others in her profession who are violent or lacking in restraint, such as “that charlatan, Lampini.” Her teachers included an elderly Englishman with an inordinate fondness for cricket, a melancholy albino who smoked opium-soaked cigarettes, and the incomparable Mr. Nuth. Alessandra tells Pepper, “As a gentleman of my acquaintance once said, one cannot make bricks without clay.” Alessandra and Visser discuss Arkady Cottonwood’s book The Oldest Rite, a single copy of which Alessandra has stolen five times for three different clients. She also once procured a book on horology for a fat man in New York with a fondness for orchids. 

An Arkham Horror novel by Josh Reynolds, Aconyte, 2020. Vyones is from Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne stories. The gargoyle is a reference to Smith’s “The Maker of Gargoyles.” The copper ring is the Serpent Ring of Set from Robert E. Howard’s Conan story “The Phoenix on the Sword.” De Palma is likely the father or grandfather of Louie De Palma, head dispatcher for the Sunshine Cab Company in New York, from the TV series Taxi. Empire State University will later be attended by Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Lampini is Bruno J. Lampini, who appears in his own series of stories by Reynolds. Lampini is named after Professor Bruno Lampini from the movie House of Frankenstein. The elderly Englishman is E. W. Hornung’s amateur cracksman A. J. Raffles. The melancholy albino is Sexton Blake’s archenemy Zenith the Albino. Nuth is from Lord Dunsany’s story “How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles.” The gentleman of Alessandra’s acquaintance is Sherlock Holmes, who said “Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay” in Doyle and Watson’s “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches.” Arkady Cottonwood is from Reynolds’ story “Corn Wolf.” Cottonwood’s book The Oldest Rite is mentioned in several of Reynolds’ works. The fat orchid enthusiast is Nero Wolfe, although Alessandra’s acquisition of the book for him must have happened before he officially hung up his shingle as a private eye in 1930. Professor Tyler Freeborn mentions his expedition to the Great Sandy Desert with Professor Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee and Professor Ferdinand Ashley from “The Shadow Out of Time” as a past event. This reference must be disregarded, as that expedition took place in 1935, nine years after the events of this novel. 

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 of the Week

Yesterday, I had the immense pleasure of attending a midnight showing of one of my favorite movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As with the previous showings I attended, the audience participation was great, as was sharing the experience with people who love RHPS as much as I do. In honor of this great experience, here's my write-up of the novel that brings the movie into the CU.

2003

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNCANNY

John Taylor escorts an elf across the Nightside, helps deceased P.I. Larry Oblivion look for his brother Tommy, and refuses to take Walker’s place as agent of the Authorities that rule the Nightside. Appearing or mentioned are: Hydes; a cyborg from some future timeline with eyes glowing golden, mainlining a fierce and nasty future drug called Blood; taduki; Martian red weed; Queen Mab; Oberon and Titania; the Street of the Gods; Puck; the Sonic Assassin; the Time Tower; the Deep School; Salvation Kane; Old Mother Shipton; Indiana Jones; Mr. Stab; Miss Eliza Fritton, who used to run a private girl’s school; the Carnacki Insitute; the Droods; the Vril Power Gang; the Nazi Skull; Jacqueline Hyde; the worms of the Earth; a stuffed water baby; giant albino penguins; an old-fashioned grandfather clock, with a cobwebbed human skeleton propped up inside it; a lizard serum; Julien Advent; Rats’ Alley; Dr. Delirium; Wu Fang; and a Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw.

Novel by Simon R. Green. The Hydes are individuals who use the formula that turned Dr. Henry Jekyll into Edward Hyde as a narcotic. Jacqueline Hyde is a descendant of Jekyll’s who takes her ancestor’s serum, which turns her into a male Hyde. The cyborg from a future timeline with eyes glowing golden is one of the Hadenmen from Green’s Deathstalker series, which takes place in one of many possible futures for the CU. The Blood drug is also from the Deathstalker books. The drug Taduki is from H. Rider Haggard’s novels and stories about hunter Allan Quatermain. Martian red weed is from H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. Queen Mab is from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, while Oberon, Titania, and Puck are from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Street of the Gods is from Green’s Hawk and Fisher novellas Winner Takes All and The God Killer. The Sonic Assassin is Michael Moorcock’s secret agent Jerry Cornelius, an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. The Time Tower is from Green’s novel Shadows Fall. Salvation Kane is probably meant to be Robert E. Howard’s heroic puritan Solomon Kane. The Deep School is an extradimensional school for sorcerers seen in Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone stories. Old Mother Shipton, Mr. Stab, and the Droods are from Green’s Secret Histories series. Dr. Delirium goes on to become one of the main villains of the fourth Secret Histories novel, From Hell with Love. The Indiana Jones reference can be interpreted as a reference to either a real person or a fictional character, but since both Indy and John Taylor are firmly established as being in the CU, we can accept this as a legitimate crossover. Miss Eliza Fritton must be the same Miss Fritton who was the headmistress of St. Trinian’s, a private school for girls, in illustrated cartoons by Ronald Searle. The Carnacki Institute is featured in Green’s Ghost Finders series. The Vril Power Gang is a reference to the Vril power from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race. The Nazi Skull is a reference to Captain America’s Nazi archenemy, the Red Skull. The worms of the Earth are from Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story of the same name. The giant albino penguins are from Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness. The stuffed water baby is a reference to Charles Kingsley’s children’s book The Water Babies. The old-fashioned grandfather clock with a cobwebbed human skeleton propped up inside it is from the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, bringing that film and its sequel, Shock Treatment, into the CU. The lizard serum is probably the one used by the Lizard, a foe of the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. Julien Advent, a recurring character in the Nightside books, is meant to be adventurer Adam Adamant from the British television series Adam Adamant Lives! Rats’ Alley is from T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” Wu Fang is a pulp villain created by Robert J. Hogan. The Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw is a reference to W. W. Jacobs’ story “The Monkey’s Paw.”

Crossover Cover: Terovolas

Dr. Abraham Van Helsing travels to Texas to deliver the cremated remains of Quincey Morris to his brother Coleman, encountering werewolves in the process. Van Helsing twice refers to an adventure he had with his colleague Hamish and his famous friend, the Great Detective. Apparently Van Helsing prefers calling Dr. John Hamish Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ best friend and biographer, by his middle name. The afterword describes how Erdelac discovered Van Helsing’s papers at the University of Chicago in 1997. The papers had been earmarked for the Ravenwood Collection. The Collection is named for Abner Ravenwood, Indiana Jones’ archaeology professor at the University of Chicago and the father of his future wife Marion. Among the names listed in the acknowledgments are Dr. Byron McFynn Jr., History Department, Marshall College, Connecticut (the school Indy taught at); Professor Stanislaus Laff, History Department, Empire State University, New York City, New York (the college attended by Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man); and Professor William Wallace Spates III (the grandson of Professor Alfred William Wallace Spates from Erdelac’s Merkabah Rider books, himself based on a reference to “Spates’s catalog” in the movie Ghostbusters), Special Collections, Miskatonic University, Arkham, Massachusetts (the site of numerous Cthulhu Mythos stories by H.P. Lovecraft and others.) Quincey Morris’ body being recovered and cremated does not fit with the events of P.N. Elrod’s novel Quincey Morris, Vampire, which Win included in the original volumes, and so this book, while very good, unfortunately cannot be included in the CU.

Crossover Cover: Ship of Fiends

Spider-Man attempts to intercept a cruise ship whose passengers include a doctor who has developed a new vaccine which could cure his Aunt May’s illness. Unfortunately, Dracula seeks to destroy the vaccine for reasons of his own, and he and Spidey briefly cross paths. The Human Torch has a cameo. This version of Dracula is the same one seen in Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula series, which is largely compatible with Crossover Universe continuity. Since a version of Spider-Man is already in the CU through other crossovers, it is likely that this story occurred in the CU as well. The Human Torch and his teammates in the Fantastic Four have also already been included in the CU.

Crossover of the Week

August 17, 1939

BRONZE LADY DOWN

            Doctor Omega and his companion Madeline travel to the year 1939 in the Cosmos to attend the premiere of the film version of The Wizard of Oz. However, a temporal alteration causes the people around them to become poverty-stricken and hostile. They are saved by a man in black wearing a fedora and scarf and wielding submachine guns, who says that “the weed of exploitation bears bitter fruit.” Omega says that he felt the timeline realign as they traveled back from Oz, but someone else has altered it again. Omega blends in with a mob led by Dick Benson, a short, thickly-built man with pale, expressionless features, who is attacked by a man wearing a fringed black cape and a mask with bat ears, who says that “commies are a superstitious and cowardly lot.” Madeline learns that many human beings and livestock were killed by the von Hessel plague during the Great War. With agriculture destroyed, industry boomed, and the lower classes were adversely affected by the stock market crash. Violence erupted, and criminals with scientific weaponry arose. Omega says that the change to the timestream involves the Ardans and Bogg. At the Library of Congress, Omega has little luck finding reference to the names Wildman, Savage, or Ardan. Finally, he finds a story in a 1922 edition of the New York Daily Bugle about the marriage of Francis Ardan to Catherine Maxwell, daughter of Senator Maxwell. Omega believes that he must ensure that someone dies, and Madeline and he travel to the Caribbean circa June 12, 1902. In November 2 of that year, they witness a woman being saved from an aquatic monster by a blond man. A disheartened Doctor Omega then travels to 1936 to prevent the man who saved the woman from traveling to 1902. The Cosmos materializes on the 86^th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building. There, he accosts Phineas Bogg, and reveals that Bogg’s actions lengthened and intensified the Great Depression. Suddenly, a talking dog named Ralph and a woman named Josie appear. When Omega says that Josie is a member of an organization that polices time, Madeline asks if she knows Manse. Josie responds that she does, but Manse is in the Time Patrol, whereas she is a member of the Time Police. She also states that the temporal anomaly Bogg caused drew her and Ralph there. Omega reveals that Bogg was trying to save Doc Ardan’s mother. Finally, they settle upon a solution: removing Ardan’s mother from her proper time period and placing her in another, while merely allowing the world to believe her dead. When they retrieve Arronaxe Ardan, she asks whether they are Capellean or Eridanean. After Omega incapacitates Ardan, they deposit her in the 29^th Century with false identification papers. As Omega and Madeline depart once again for 1939, Bogg asks if Madeline is Jeffrey’s daughter. Josie responds in the affirmative, referring to Madeline as “Mama.” Madeline asks Omega what the new alias he chose for Arronaxe was, and he replies that it was Clarissa MacDougal.

            Short story by Dennis E. Power in Doctor Omega and the Shadowmen, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2011; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de L’Ombre (Tome 10), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2012. This story serves as a sequel to Power’s earlier story “The Deadly Desert Gnome” (Glimmerglass: The Creative Writer’s Annual, Volume 1, John Allen Small, ed., 2009) Doctor Omega is from the novel of the same name by Arnould Galopin; Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier’s adaptation and translation of Galopin’s novel implied that Omega was the CU counterpart of the time and dimension-traveling Doctor, of Doctor Who fame. Madeline is from the children’s books by Ludwig Bemelmans. The man in black with the fedora and scarf is the Shadow. Dick Benson is better known as Paul Ernst’s pulp hero the Avenger. The bat-eared man in the cape and mask is the Batman. Von Hessel is Baron von Hessel from Philip José Farmer’s Doc Savage novel Escape from Loki. Phineas Bogg and his companion Jeffrey Jones are from the television series Voyagers! Francis “Doc” Ardan Jr. is from Guy d’Armen’s novel Doc Ardan: City of Gold and Lepers. The Lofficiers’ adaptation and translation of d’Armen’s novel implied that Ardan was a young Doc Savage. Philip José Farmer revealed that Savage’s real name was James Clarke Wildman Jr., and that his mother was the former Arronaxe Larsen, in his biographies Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. The Capelleans and the Eridaneans are the warring alien races seen in Farmer’s novel The Other Log of Phileas Fogg. Doc’s headquarters is on the 86^th floor of the Empire State Building. The Daily Bugle is the New York newspaper Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) works for as a photographer. Catherine Maxwell is the wife of Bingham Harvard, alias the Night Wind, from the novels by Frederic van Rennselaer Dey and others. Josie Bauer is the adopted daughter of Philip José Farmer and an agent of the Time Police in Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon books. Ralph Von Wau Wau’s career as a detective alongside such capable allies as Dr. Johann H. Weisstein and Cordwainer Bird was chronicled by Jonathan Swift Somers III. Manse Everard is an agent of the Time Patrol in books by Poul Anderson. Clarissa MacDougal is from E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensmen novels.

Crossover of the Week

1939

THE DEATH’S HEAD CLOUD

            Jim Anthony battles a madman who has created a fog that has a lethal effect on those it comes in contact with. Appearing or mentioned are: Inspector Craig; Malone; Joséphine Balsamo; Irma Vep; “that odd Persson woman”; Pickman; Dr. Death; Dr. Satan; “the Mephistophelean master of the Si-Fan”; Fantômas; the Daily Sentinel; Reid; Xonira; Reid Enterprises; Patricia Savage; the Bugle; the Globe; the New York Inquirer; the Sky Band; Police Commissioner Warner; the Kingscote School for Girls; St. Trinian’s; the Minchin’s Seminary; “a dance academy in Freiburg of dubious reputation”; the Black Bat; “that arachnid lunatic in the fright-wig”; Ellen Patrick; Margo Lane; “the Remmers that Wolfe sent around”; Maple-White Land; “a lama with an unfortunate predilection for the color green”; Ravenwood; and Captain Nemo.

            Novel by Joshua Reynolds, Pro Se Press, 2013. Jim Anthony appeared in the pulp magazine Super Detective, in stories written by Victor Rousseau Emanuel, Robert Leslie Bellem, and W.T. Ballard. Inspector Craig is from Robert Barbour Johnson’s short story “Far Below.” Malone is Detective Thomas F. Malone from H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook.” Richard Upton Pickman is from Lovecraft’s “Pickman’s Model.” Joséphine Balsamo is Arsène Lupin’s archenemy. Irma Vep is from Louis Feuillade’s silent film serial Les Vampires. Persson is Una Persson, a recurring character in Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse. Dr. Death’s misdeeds were chronicled by Harold Ward in a titular pulp magazine. Dr. Satan’s crimes were recounted by Paul Ernst in Weird Tales. The master of the Si-Fan is Dr. Fu Manchu. Fantômas is the vicious criminal mastermind created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre. Reid is Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet. The Daily Sentinel and Reid Enterprises are both owned by Reid. Since Britt was based out of Detroit rather than New York, the reporter in this novel must be an employee of the Sentinel’s New York offices. Xonira is from Derrick Ferguson’s novels Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell and Dillon and the Pirates of Xonira. Patricia Savage is Doc Savage’s cousin. The Daily Bugle and the Daily Globe are seen in Spider-Man stories published by Marvel Comics. The New York Inquirer is from Orson Welles’ classic film Citizen Kane. The Sky Band was an all-female group of criminals featured in a storyline in Lee Falk’s comic strip The Phantom. The Black Bat appeared in stories by Norman Daniels in the magazine Black Book Detective. Commissioner Warner is also from the Black Bat stories. The Kingscote School for Girls is from Antonia Forest’s novels about the Marlow family. St. Trinian’s appeared in illustrated cartoons by Ronald Searle that were later adapted into a series of films. The Minchin’s Seminary is from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book A Little Princess. The dance academy in Freiburg is from Dario Argento’s horror film Suspiria. “That arachnid lunatic in the fright-wig” is the Spider. Ellen Patrick is better known as the Domino Lady, who appeared in stories by the pseudonymous “Lars Anderson” published in Saucy Romantic Adventure. Margo Lane is one of the Shadow’s most loyal and trusted agents. Wolfe is Rex Stout’s detective Nero Wolfe; Remmers is the rotund sleuth’s favorite beer. Maple-White Land is from Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. The “lama with an unfortune predilection for the color green” is Jethro Dumont, aka the Green Lama, whose stories were written by Kendell Crossen for the pulp Double Detective. Ravenwood, “the Stepson of Mystery,” is an occult detective appearing in stories by Frederick C. Davis in the pulp Secret Agent X. Captain Nemo is, of course, from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island.