Crossover of the Week

Summer 1940

WALKING ON FOREIGN GROUND, LIKE A SHADOW 

Judex travels to New York at the request of Kent Allard, the Shadow, whose parents were friends with Judex’s mother, Julia Orsini. A gangster named Tony Rico has learned the Shadow possesses the twin jewels of the Russian Czar. Rico received information on the Shadow from his old foe Benedict Stark. The Shadow asks Judex to impersonate him, with Mary Gillespie, the owner of the Gillespie Circus and the daughter of Colonel Gillespie, posing as Margo Lane. Rico is chauffeured by a man named Otero. Learning about Stanford Marshall, aka the Black Tiger, Rico killed him and stole his invisibility belt, invented by a pair of scientists named Stanford and Van Dorn. Rico also targeted Professor Adam Strang, who read Reggie Ogden novels, and was involved in a caper with a criminal engineer called Sparks who created a machine to kill people by radio control, based on television technology invented by a Dr. Houghland. Judex meets with Mary Gillespie at Rusterman’s. Mary has an ex-husband named Jim. “Rainbow” Benny Loomis likes to hang out at Rusterman’s. Loomis tells Judex and Mary that Rico thinks he’s the new Enrico Bandello, and his birth name is Chris Jorgenson. A wounded Mary says her uncle Leonard will treat her. The Shadow saw Judex with his wife Jacqueline, and felt his loneliness deepen. 

Short story by Atom Mudman Bezecny in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 17: Noblesse Oblige, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2020; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 29), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2022. Judex and his wife, the former Jacqueline Aubry, are from Louis Feuillade’s film serial Judex. Arthur Bernède’s novelization of the serial identified Judex’s mother, the Comtesse de Tremeuse, as the former Julia Orsini. The shadowy pulp hero and his companion need no introduction. The vigilante battled Stark, the so-called “Prince of Evil,” in four novels by Theodore Tinsley. Tony Rico is from the 1933 film The Shadow Laughs. Bezecny identifies Rico with Chris Jorgenson from Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man; in the film adaptation, Jorgenson was played by Cesar Romero, the same actor who played Tony Rico. Mary Gillespie, her father the Colonel, her ex-husband Jim Quinn, and the Gillespie Circus are from the 1937 film The Shadow. Otero and Enrico Bandello are from the movie Little Caesar. The Black Tiger is from the 1940 serial The Shadow. Stanley Stanfield and Professor Carl Van Dorn are from the serial The Vanishing Shadow. Professor Adam Anton Strang and Sparks are from the serial The Whispering Shadow. Reggie Ogden is from the 1933 movie The Shadow. Dr. James Houghland is from the movie Murder by Television. Rusterman’s is from Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels. “Rainbow” Benny Loomis is from the movie Shadow of the Thin Man. Except for the 1940 serial, none of the films with “Shadow” in the title involve Walter Gibson’s pulp hero. Dr. Leonard Gillespie is from Max Brand’s Dr. Kildare stories. Although this case is dated to 1928, the shadowy hero began his crimefighting career in 1929, and his four battles with Stark took place in 1939, and so I would place it in the early 1940s instead. 

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand appearing 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!

Crossover of the Week

Autumn 1888-Winter 1892

THE PHANTOM MASQUERADE 

Appearing or mentioned are: the Phantom of Truth; Baptiste Severn; the Repairer of Reputations (aka Jean Grimoire and Johann Grimm); Carcosa; the King in Yellow; Thomas Fane (aka the Pallid Mask, Sir George Burnwell, and Fantômas); the Yellow Sign; Dr. Antonio Nikola; Maître de Grandin; Cardec; Le Roi en Jaune; the Lake of Hali; Joseph Clampin; the Black Coats; Professor Hern; Verschwinden und Seine Theorie; End House; Appledorn; Captain Tobias; Morryster’s Marvells of Science; Trauvells in Ye Easte; Parapelius Necromantius; Joseph de Quincey; Lionel Dacre; Mary Holder; the Saaamaaa Ritual; Yian; John Clay; the Sigsand Manuscript; Emile Le Brun; Cassilda; Boris Yvain; Juve; the Red Offering; the Disposer of Souls; the Thirteenth Covenant; Hendrika Pienaar; Colonel Beltham; Orianne Coyatier; Thomas Carnacki; the Shrine of Erlik; and the Scarlet Lake. 

Short story by Rick Lai in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 14: Coup de Grace, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press 2017; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 24), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. The Phantom of Truth, Severn, the Repairer of Reputations, Carcosa, the King in Yellow, the Yellow Sign, Le Roi en Jaune, the Lake of Hali, Cassilda, and Boris Yvain are from Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. Jean Grimoire is an alias for John Grimlan from Robert E. Howard’s “Dig Me No Grave.” “Thomas Fane” is Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s villain Fantômas. Inspector Juve is one of Fantômas’ greatest foes. Hendrika Pienaar is the Lord of Terror’s unnamed Boer wife mentioned in The Daughter of Fantômas. Her surname suggests she is related to Peter Pienaar, Richard Hannay’s Boer friend in John Buchan’s novels. Colonel Beltham, aka Lord Edward Beltham, is also from the Fantômas books. Sir George Burnwell and Mary Holder are from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes tale “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet.” John Clay is from “The Adventure of the Red-Headed League.” Le Brun is from “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.” Although his first name is given as Emile here, Matthew Ilseman’s “A Theft of China” has it as Anton. Perhaps his full name is Anton-Emile Le Brun. Dr. Antonio Nikola is Guy Boothby’s criminal scientist. Maître de Grandin is Dr. Jules de Grandin’s grandfather mentioned in Seabury Quinn’s “Clair de Lune.” Cardec is from Marie-François Goron and Emile Gautier’s Spawn of the Penitentiary. Joseph “Pistolet” Clampin and the Black Coats are from Paul Féval’s novels. Orianne Coyatier is the granddaughter of Jean-François Coyatier, aka the Marchef, the bodyguard and executioner of the Black Coats’ leader, the Colonel. Professor Hern and Verschwinden und Seine Theorie are from Ambrose Bierce’s “Mysterious Disappearances.” End House, Appledorn, Captain Tobias, the Saaamaaa Ritual, the Sigsand Manuscript, and Thomas Carnacki are from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. Morryster’s Marvells of Science is from Bierce’s “The Man and the Snake,” and is also mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Festival.” Trauvells in Ye Easte is from Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary. Parapelius Necromantius is from Bierce’s “Beyond the Wall.” Joseph de Quincey is from Evangeline Walton’s Witch House. Lionel Dacre is from Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Leather Funnel.” Yian and the Kuen-Yuin Oath are from Chambers’ The Maker of Moons. The Red Offering is from Lin Carter’s story of that name. The Disposer of Souls is Zukala, from a series of poems by Howard. The Thirteenth Covenant is from Robert Bloch’s “The Mannikin.” The Shrine of Erlik and the Scarlet Lake are from Chambers’ The Slayer of Souls. The Dark Star of Yrimid is from Chambers’ The Dark Star and The Slayer of Souls.

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand appearing 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!

Crossover of the Week

January 1936

THE REPLACEMENT 

Bruce Wayne is staying at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, which he thinks of as a missing link between Gotham and Metropolis. Bruce’s father Thomas told him that before they came together to start the hotel, the Waldorf and Astor families had invited him to their individual hotels several times. Bruce’s butler Alfred Pennyworth answers a phone call from “Miss Lane.” Bruce thinks this is Lois Lane, but Alfred says it was her eldest sister, Margo, who has connections to the Cobalt Club and Lamont Cranston. In the 1920s, Cranston was an advisor to General Cho Tsing, then studied under Marpa Tulku in Tibet, along with Shiwan Khan. Cranston’s other identities include Clifford Gage and Kent Allard. Officially, Bruce is in New York to launch WayneTech, a scientific subsidiary of his family’s business empire, which he seeks to expand. In doing so, he has met with Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards, whose son Reed is also a potential genius. Alfred drives Bruce to a meeting at the Empire State Building, where they are greeted by a man who is one of the world’s top chemists, despite his apelike appearance. On the 86th floor, they meet an elegantly dressed Brigadier General, who tells Bruce his friend Harvey Dent shows promise to be an outstanding attorney, and a tall, extremely thin man who wears a monocle over a damaged eye. Bruce is ushered in to meet Clark and Kent, who know he was motivated by the tragedy of Park Lane, also known as Crime Alley. During his stay in England, Bruce spent some time with an old beekeeper in his cottage on the South Downs of Sussex. Clark asks Bruce to escort his cousin Patricia next time she’s in Gotham. Getting on the elevator, Bruce runs into Britt Reid, the publisher of the Daily Sentinel, and his valet Kato. Kent asks the latter if he spent any time in Tibet studying with the Sâr Dubnotal. 

Short story by Xavier Mauméjean in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 16: Voir Dire, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2019; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 26), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2020. Bruce Wayne will soon become Gotham City’s most famous vigilante, Batman. Bruce’s parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, were murdered by Joe Chill in Park Row (to use the correct name), later known as Crime Alley. Alfred Pennyworth is the Dark Knight’s butler. WayneTech is the research and development branch of Bruce’s company, Wayne Enterprises. Harvey Dent will later become Gotham’s District Attorney, until his face is scarred by an acid-wielding criminal, leading to him becoming the gangster known as Two-Face. Metropolis is Superman’s hometown. Lois Lane is the Man of Steel’s coworker at the Daily Star (later renamed the Daily Planet), and later his wife. Her sister is an agent of the shadow-cloaked vigilante. Philip José Farmer jokingly proposed the relationship between the two in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. The shadowy hero frequently impersonates a wealthy globetrotter, often seeking information at the Cobalt Club. The General is from the Shadow novels The Fate Joss and The Teeth of the Dragon. Tulku is from another entry in the series, Masters of Death. Khan battled the vigilante in that book and three others before it. Gage is another of the slouch-hatted crimefighter’s aliases. Howard Stark is the father of Tony Stark, better known as Marvel Comics’ armored hero Iron Man. Nathaniel Richards’ son, Reed, will later be known as Mr. Fantastic, the leader of the Marvel hero team known as the Fantastic Four. The 86th floor of the Empire State Building is the headquarters of the bronze man. The apelike chemist, the Brigadier General, and the thin man are three of his aides. The old beekeeper is Sherlock Holmes. Doc’s cousin is from Lester Dent’s pulp novels. Britt Reid is also known as the Green Hornet. Kato is Reid’s chauffeur and his partner in his war on crime. The Sâr Dubnotal is an occult investigator from the French pulps. Although this story is dated January 1938, Bruce Wayne’s debut as Batman has been placed in Early May 1936, since the first Batman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” was a swipe of the Shadow novel Partners of Peril, which Rick Lai placed in that period in his book Chronology of Shadows: A Timeline of the Shadow’s Exploits. Therefore, I am instead placing it in January 1936. 

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand included 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!

Crossover of the Week

May 26, 1846

THE LAMENT OF THE DUKE AND THE KING 

The so-called Duke of Bridgewater and King of France hop a train, and in the process meet Doctor Omega and his companion Miki. The Doctor gives the conductor a Hynerian sixteen harzmo gold piece. They are joined by the Doctor's other companion, the Steel General. The King says he is the long-lost Dauphin of France, and that he used to be visited by a woman named Madame LaFarge. The Chevalier de Maison-Rouge allegedly tried to rescue the King’s mother. An artist named La Salle was sent by the Baron de Batz to rescue the Dauphin and replace him with a lookalike. When he nearly drowned, a man named Moreau rescued him. The General claims he incited Moreau’s animal people to revolt, but the Doctor clarifies that the King means Andre-Louis Moreau, who he and Miki saw costar with Marguerite St. Just in a play called Don Juan Triumphant in 1791. De Batz was working with the Scarlet Pimpernel, who the Duke claims was the Prince-Regent’s butler, Mr. Edmund Blackadder. The Pimpernel turned the Dauphin over to a smuggler dressed as a scarecrow, who handed him off in turn to an American named Bumppo. The Doctor refers to Miki’s colossal, radioactive, reptilian friend, and says General Santa Anna has the services of an evil scientist named Dr. Campos, who has uncovered a mind control device left on Earth centuries ago by an alien named Kukulcan. 

Short story by Matthew Baugh 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. The Duke of Bridgewater and the King of France are from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Doctor Omega is the title character of Arnould Galopin’s novel. Miki Saegusa is from the Godzilla movies. Although the massive level of destruction seen in the films does not fit into the CU, other crossovers indicate a version of Godzilla exists in the CU whose exploits are much less Earth-shattering. The Hynerian Empire is from the television series Farscape. The Steel General is from Roger Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness. Madame LaFarge (or rather DeFarge) is from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The Chevalier de Maison-Rouge is from Alexandre Dumas’ eponymous novel. Florence de La Salle is from Rafael Sabatini’s The Lost King. The Baron de Batz is a historical figure who appears in both that book and Sabatini’s Scaramouche, whose title character is really Andre-Louis Moreau. The other Moreau and his animal people are from H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau. Marguerite St. Just is the wife of Sir Percy Blakeney, aka Baroness Orczy’s hero the Scarlet Pimpernel. The play Don Juan Triumphant is the basis for the opera of the same name penned by the title character of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. Edmund Blackadder is from the television series Blackadder the Third. The smuggler dressed as a scarecrow is Russell Thorndike’s Dr. Syn, aka Captain Clegg and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Natty Bumppo is from James Fenimore Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales. Dr. Campos is from the movie Santo Contra Hombres Infernales. Kukulcan is from the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth” and the Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle episode “Tarzan and the Space God.” 

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand appearing 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

March 58 BCE

LUCRETIUS’ MAZE

Titus Crow uses his alien clock to time travel to ancient Rome. Ariston tells Crow and Titus Lucretius Carus a story Rael told him involving a Lamia snatching a newborn. Crow and Lucretius are helped against some cultists by another time traveler, Setni, who serves the Great Brains. Crow begins to see Lucretius more and more as an equal to his friend, Henri-Laurent de Marigny. Yog-Sothoth is mentioned. The Great Brains of Kalapol have deprived Setni of his faithful Pentoser. Another time traveler summons Shub-Niggurath to destroy Rome. The defeated and dying villain identifies himself as Montbrison, who came from 1942 in a time-vest invented by a scientist named Noël Essaillon. Montbrison was previously exposed as a murderer by P.I. Nestor Burma. Setni thinks of Maïcha.

Short story by Jean-Guillaume Lanuque in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 15: Trompe l’Oeil, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2018; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 25), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2019. Titus Crow and Henri-Laurent de Marigny are the protagonists of a series of Cthulhu Mythos novels by Brian Lumley. Yog-Sothoth is one of Lovecraft’s Outer Gods, while Shub-Niggurath is one of the Great Old Ones. Rael is from Genesis’ album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Setni, the Great Brains of Kalapol, Pentoser, and Maïcha are from a series of science fiction novels by Pierre Barbet, which represent yet another of the many possible futures for the CU. Montbrison is from 120, Rue de la Gare, one of Léo Malet’s novels about private eye Nestor Burma. Noël Essaillon is from René Barjavel’s novel Future Times Three.

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand included 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!

 

Crossover of the Week

Winter 1938 

THE THIRD EYE OF OSIRIS 

The Bimbashi Baruk receives a message from Sir Denis Nayland Smith asking him to meet him at Sir Lionel Bart’s reception in Aswan. Other guests at the party include the Graf, a clubfooted German; John Solomon; Professor Tör Andersen; and André de Savery. The Graf is really Adolph von Grundt, on whom Desmond Okewood has kept a close eye ever since they met in the Great War. Smith says the Americans have the Ark of the Covenant, which is probably buried in a warehouse somewhere. When Sir Lionel asks Baruk if he knows about the Eye of Osiris, he asks in turn if that was one of John Thorndyke’s cases back in the '20s, involving a jewel. Professor Andersen is really Fu Manchu. The real Andersen was murdered by the Si-Fan. Dr. Petrie has spoken highly of Sir Lionel. Gaston Max confirmed for Smith that the true Andersen’s body was in the Paris sewers where de Savery said it was. In 1905, Smith encountered Hanoi Shan. Fu Manchu, after confirming Sir Lionel is with Smith and the others, says only Dr. Petrie and young Greville are missing. 

Short story by David L. Vineyard in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 14: Coup de Grace, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2017; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 24), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. Bimbashi Baruk is from Sax Rohmer’s Bimbashi Baruk of Egypt. Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Sir Lionel Barton (or Bart as he’s called here), Fu Manchu, the Si-Fan, Dr. Petrie, and Shan Greville are from Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. Gaston Max appears in his own series of novels by Rohmer; one of these, The Golden Scorpion, has a cameo by an unnamed Fu Manchu. John Solomon’s stories were told by H. Bedford-Jones in several magazines, mainly The Argosy and People’s. André de Savery is an alias of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Adolph von Grundt and Desmond Okewood are from Valentine Williams’ Clubfoot novels. The American government did seal the Ark of the Covenant in a warehouse after Indiana Jones recovered it, as seen in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dr. John Thorndyke encountered a jewel called the Eye of Osiris in R. Austin Freeman’s novel of the same name. Hanoi Shan is from H. Ashton-Wolfe’s Warped in the Making; Philip José Farmer identified him with Fu Manchu in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. 

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand included 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!

Crossover of the Week

Summer 1966

THE HOUSE OF EL HOMBRE LOCO 

Werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky is unable to make a date with Princess Dala. He is attacked by what appears to be Gouroull, the creation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, whom he has encountered once before, but it turns out to be a human dressed up as the monster. Meanwhile, Pete Dumond plays chess with Dr. Génessier. Génessier once stole the faces of pretty girls for his daughter Christiane. Daninsky is attacked by more seeming monsters: a female vampire wielding a scythe, an enormous lump of rock and moss covered in fur, an extraterrestrial with an enlarged brain and insect-like arms ending in pincers, and a group of scarred warrior-monks. Now able to control his transformations, Daninsky appears in a horror film directed by an Italian named Guido. 

Short story by Nathan Cabaniss 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 23), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. Waldemar Daninsky was played by Paul Naschy in a long-running series of Spanish horror films. Daninsky must have lost control of his lycanthropy again after the events of this story, as he has no power over it in films made after the time in which this story occurs. Princess Dala is from the movie The Pink Panther. Gouroull is the name given to Frankenstein’s monster in novels by Jean-Claude Carrière. Pete Dumond is from the movie How to Make a Monster. Dr. Génessier and his daughter Christiane are from Jean Redon’s Les Yeux Sans Visage and its film adaptation by Georges Franju. The scythe-wielding vampire is Eva from Jean Rollin’s film Fascination. The rock-and-moss creature is the titular alien from the movie Night of the Blood Beast. The insect-like alien is the Metaluna Mutant from the movie This Island Earth. The warrior-monks are the Blind Dead from a series of Spanish horror movies. Since Gouroull is real within the context of this story, the other monsters probably are as well, and This Island Earth and the Blind Dead films have already been established as taking place in the CU. Guido Anselmi is from Federico Fellini's film 8 1/2. 

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

Spring 1909

ROULETABILLE AT THE OLD BAILEY 

French journalist Rouletabille reports on an English homicide. Another reporter, Ben Bates, points out the prosecution leader, Sir Wilfrid Robarts; his junior, T. C. Rowley; and Edward Leithen and Impey Biggs representing the defense. The judge is Mr. Justice Wargrave. The prosecution calls consulting detective Harry Dickson, who worked for Nick Carter when he was younger. Dickson has his offices in Baker Street, as do all four of London’s greatest detectives: Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake, Sir Seaton Begg, and Victor Drago. 

Short story by Martin Gately in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 14: Sang Froid, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2017; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 24), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018, and Les Nouveau Exploits de Rouletabille, Rivière Blanche, 2019; and in The New Exploits of Joseph Rouletabille, Black Coat Press, 2020. Rouletabille is from Gaston Leroux’s detective novels. Ben Bates is from the 1988 TV mini-series Jack the Ripper. Sir Wilfrid Robarts is from Agatha Christie’s “The Witness for the Prosecution.” T. C. Rowley is from John Mortimer’s Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Edward Leithen is from the works of John Buchan. Impey Biggs is from Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey novels. Mr. Justice Wargrave is from Christie’s And Then There Were None. Harry Dickson appeared in German, Belgian, Dutch, and French pulp novels, the latter mostly written by Jean Ray. Nick Carter is one of the most famous dime novel detectives. Sherlock Holmes needs no introduction. Sexton Blake is an iconic British penny dreadful detective. Seaton Begg is an AU version of Blake seen in Michael Moorcock’s The Metatemporal Detective, but apparently a distinct version separate from Blake exists in the CU. Victor Drago, created by Chris Lowder and Mike Dorey, appeared in the British comic Tornado. 

This post is dedicated to author Martin Gately, who sadly passed away last week. Martin was a great guy and a very talented writer with decades of experience, and I will miss him a lot.

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

December 24, 1783; December 24, 1928 

THE GIFT THAT KEPT ON TAKING 

In 1783, young Ebenezer Scrooge receives a monkey’s paw that will supposedly grant wishes as a Christmas gift from his father but abandons it after making two wishes. On Christmas Eve 1928, Fascinax investigates the deaths over the years of schoolchildren who have suffered the same fates as the subjects of Scrooge’s wishes more than a century ago. He believes the murderer to be a creature variously identified as the Krampus, Hans Trapp, Belsnickle, and Père Fouettard. The occult investigator believes the first victim this Christmas will be Pinkie Brown. The spirit of Scrooge tells Fascinax that toward the end of his life, an old friend and three spirits showed him the error of his ways, that a Mr. White and his wife have another monkey’s paw, and that this paw can undo the curse that has lasted for over a century. 

Short story by Matthew Dennion in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 18: Eminences Grises, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2021. Ebenezer Scrooge is from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The Monkey’s Paw is from W. W. Jacobs’ story of the same name. Fascinax is the title character of a 1920s French pulp magazine by an anonymous author. The Krampus, Hans Trapp, Belsnickle, and Père Fouettard are all from European folklore. Pinkie Brown is from Graham Greene’s novel Brighton Rock, in which Pinkie takes over the gang of the late Kite, whose murder is described in Greene’s novel A Gun for Sale. 

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

Summer 1903

A PIRATE’S LIFE 

Dr. Eric Palmer is brought before Captain Nemo and Robur, who need his help to investigate a murder at the Pirate’s Conference they are hosting, which is held every fifty years, and whose attendees include sea and air pirates. James Gunn and Archibald Haddock escort Palmer to the scene of the crime. The dead man is the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is supposedly over three-hundred-years-old, but part of a succession of men who have used that identity. Others attending the conference include the German Captain Mors and members of the Singh Brotherhood. Palmer asks Gunn about pirate dynasties, and the latter names the Turners and Sala’s band of women. Gunn introduces Palmer to the Nautilus’ first mate, Mister Ishmael. Captain James Hook asks Palmer about his progress on the case. The alleged Dread Pirate Roberts was really Manfred von Warteck, whose family aspires to rival the great criminal brotherhoods of Europe, such as the Black Coats. 

Short story by Travis Hiltz in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 16: Voir Dire, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2020; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 27), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2020. Dr. Eric Palmer is from Paul Féval, fils’ novel Felifax, the Tiger-Man. Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus, are from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. Robur is from Verne’s Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World. James Gunn is a descendant of Ben Gunn from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Archibald Haddock is from Hergé’s comic The Adventures of Tintin. The Dread Pirate Roberts is from William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. Captain Mors is a German pulp hero. The Singh Brotherhood and Sala’s group, the Sky Band, are from Lee Falk’s comic strip The Phantom. The Turners are from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Ishmael is from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen portrayed Ishmael as the Nautilus’ first mate. Captain James Hook is from J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Manfred von Warteck is related to Baron Glô von Warteck, the villain of Jean de La Hire’s The Nyctalope vs. Lucifer. The Black Coats are from a series of novels by Paul Féval. 

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!

My first short story!

My contributor copy of the anthology containing my first published fiction has arrived, and I could not be more delighted! Six more days until it hits the streets! And yes, of course I wrote up my own story for Crossovers Expanded Volume 3. :)

Crossover of the Week

Spring 1966

THE REVELATION OF THE YETI 

In Africa, Doctor Omega asks Barton Werper if he’s ever been to Vulcan. Werper says their guide is Robert John Kilgore, aka Ki-Gor, and that his biographical subject is the most famous Jungle Lord, but there were earlier ones in India, such as Mowgli. The Doctor mistakenly refers to Ki-Gor as “John-Gor.” Ki-Gor describes Werper’s father, Lt. Werper of the Belgian Army, as almost as poor of an abuser of the native peoples of Africa as that ivory trader in the Congo. Accompanying them on their search for the Yeti is Nora the Ape-Woman. The Doctor recalls meeting two other animal-human hybrids, Paula Dupree and Felifax. Ki-Gor once found a lost Egyptian civilization called Memphre which some say is, like Opar or Kor, one of the lost colonies of Karkosa. Ki-Gor says some claim that vile cults lurk at their destination of a kind unseen since the days of Solomon Kane. Werper remembers some of the names of the beings presumably worshipped by these cults, such as Cthulhu, Azathoth, and Dagon, members of the Great Old Ones. Doctor Omega tells his traveling companions about the Tcho-Tcho. Nora heard about the Jermyn family in the Congo. Through a dimensional shift, they find themselves on the Plateau of Leng. Nora identifies some runes as written in Aklo. According to the Doctor the Yeti are called the Mi-Go on Pluto, where they serve Yog-Sothoth. Omega speculates that a door he sees is a spatial portal, an artifact of the Ancients. A quartet of sorcerers consists of Doctor Karswell; Madame Palmyre, who worships an entity called Baal; Cristaldi, a Mexican warlock who once fought Dracula; and the Master, who worships a god called Manos. The Doctor is puzzled on hearing the Master’s name. 

Short story by Atom Mudman Bezecny 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 22), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. Doctor Omega is from Arnould Galopin’s titular novel; Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier’s adaptation and translation identified him with the Doctor from the television series Doctor Who. Vulcan is from the Doctor Who serial “The Power of the Daleks.” The Doctor’s archenemy is his fellow Time Lord the Master. “Barton Werper” was the nom de plume used by Peter and Peg Scott for a series of unauthorized Tarzan novels in the 1960s. Robert Kilgour (spelled “Kilgore” here), aka Ki-Gor, appeared in tales by John Murray Reynolds and various authors using the pen name “John Peter Drummond” in the pulp Jungle Stories. Memphre is from the Ki-Gor tales. Mowgli is from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Jongor is the hero of a series of novels by Robert Moore Williams. Lt. Werper is from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. The ivory trader in the Congo is Kurtz from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Nora the Ape-Woman is the title character of Félicien Champsaur’s novel. Paula Dupree is from the movies Captive Wild Woman, Jungle Woman, and The Jungle Captive. Felifax is from Paul Féval, fils’ Felifax, the Tiger-Man. Kor is from H. Rider Haggard’s She novels. “Karkosa” is a reference to the kingdom of Khokarsa from Philip José Farmer’s novels of Ancient Opar. Farmer meant Khokarsa to be the same location described in Ambrose Bierce’s “An Inhabitant of Carcosa.” Solomon Kane is Robert E. Howard’s Puritan adventurer. The Great Old Ones, including Cthulhu, Azathoth, Dagon, and Yog-Sothoth, and the Plateau of Leng are from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Tcho-Tcho are from August Derleth’s contributions to the Mythos. The Jermyns are from Lovecraft’s “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family.” The Aklo language is from Arthur Machen’s “The White People”; Lovecraft later used it in “The Dunwich Horror” and “The Haunter of the Dark.” The Mi-Go are from Lovecraft’s “The Whisperer in Darkness.” Craig Hinton’s Millennial Rites identified the Great Intelligence from the Doctor Who serial “The Abominable Snowmen” with Yog-Sothoth. The Ancients are from the movie Stargate and its television spin-offs. Karswell is from M. R. James’ “Casting the Runes.” Madame Palmyre and Baal are from Renée Dunan’s Baal. Cristaldi is from the movie Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man. The Master (not the Doctor’s foe) and Manos are from the movie Manos: The Hands of Fate.  

This crossover write-up 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 2016

GUIDED TOURS OF FAMOUS SECRET PLACES 

A guide leads a tour group around Paris as part of a magic working, beginning at the Rue Morgue. The members of the tour group are from Arkham, Brichester, Derry, Ingersham, Medicine Man, Mud Creek, and Harrisonville. The first stop is the L’Épi-Scié Tavern, followed by a mansion on the Rue Thérèse. De Castries taught the guide that silver and abstract designs kept his enemies away. The mansion was, and perhaps still is, the meeting place of the Habits Noirs, or the Black Coats in English. The guide lists secret societies that have manipulated humanity throughout history, including the Black Coats, the Si-Fan, the Illuminati, the Shin Tan, the Brotherhood of the Seven Kings, the Black Lodge, and the Power House. The Mona Lisa was stolen twice, the first time by Arsène Lupin, using a secret passageway also used by the notorious Belphégor, also known as the Phantom of the Louvre. Other secret passages in Paris include the room in the Dragon Volant and the passages used by Erik under the Opera House. The guide makes the Voorish Sign and takes the group through the Room of the Barbarous Gods, which includes giant stone statues of the Serpent-Men of Valusia and a black idol from the castle of Joiry. Escaping from the Louvre through the sewers, and feeling like Jean Valjean in the process, the guide and his group resurface not far from the Court of the Dragon. An imitator of Erik battled Lupin’s grandson in the '60s. The next stop after the Opera House is the Rue d’Auseil. The Hidden Places, parts of the world that have been separated from the normal world by powers unknown, include St. Beregonne’s Lane in Hamburg, the cities of Selene and Xebico, the land of Lilliput, and the parts of the Sargasso that Hodgson wrote about. They should not be confused with journeys to other worlds like those of Randolph Carter or the crew of the Mainz Psalter. Occasionally, a person like Erich Zann will find their way into the Rue d’Auseil. A gaping hole in the sky leads into the realm of Azathoth. The guide cries out words in the old tongue of R’lyeh. The man from Mud Creek invokes Cthulhu and Dagon, while the man from Derry sings of the Black Goat of the Wood with a Thousand Young. 

Short story by Matthew Ilseman in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 14: Coup de Grace, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2017; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 24), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. The Rue Morgue is from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Arkham, Massachusetts is the setting of many of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos tales. Brichester is a town in the Severn Valley in Ramsey Campbell’s contributions to the Mythos. Derry is a recurring setting in the works of Stephen King. Ingersham is from Jean Ray’s The City of Unspeakable Fear. The town of Medicine Man is from Gene Wolfe’s The Sorcerer’s House. Mud Creek, Texas is the setting of many works by Joe R. Lansdale. Harrisonville, New Jersey is the home of Seabury Quinn’s occult detective Dr. Jules de Grandin. The L’Épi-Scié tavern and the mansion on the Rue Thérèse are from Paul Féval’s novels about the crime cartel known as the Black Coats. Thibaut de Castries is from Fritz Leiber’s Our Lady of Darkness. The Si-Fan is the society controlled by Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu. The Illuminati is a historical group, but the reference here is specifically to Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson’s The Illuminatus! Trilogy. The Shin Tan is led by Monsieur Ming, the archenemy of Henri Vernes’ hero Bob Morane. The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings is from L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace’s book of the same name. The Black Lodge is from Talbot Mundy’s Jimgrim novel The Devil’s Guard, as well as the television series Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: The Return. The Power House (aka Krafthaus) is from John Buchan’s The Power House. Arsène Lupin is Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief. Belphégor is from Arthur Bernède’s titular novel and serial, as is the Room of the Barbarous Gods. The Dragon Volant is from the story “The Room in the Dragon Volant,” included in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s In a Glass Darkly. Erik is the title character of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. The Voorish Sign is from Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” The Serpent-Men of Valusia are from Robert E. Howard’s Kull stories. Joiry is from C. L. Moore’s tales of Jirel of Joiry. Jean Valjean is from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. The Court of the Dragon is from Robert W. Chambers’ “In the Court of the Dragon,” included in The King in Yellow. Arsène Lupin’s grandson encountered an Erik-like villain in “Vissi d’arte, Vissi d’amore,” an episode of the anime Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. The Rue d’Auseil and Erich Zann are from Lovecraft’s “The Music of Erich Zann.” St. Beregonne’s Lane is from Jean Ray’s “The Shadowy Street.” Selene is from Féval’s Vampire City. Xebico is from H. F. Arnold’s “The Night Wire.” Lilliput is from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. The Sargasso reference is to William Hope Hodgson’s Sargasso Sea stories. Randolph Carter is from Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle. The Mainz Psalter is from Jean Ray’s titular story. Azathoth is one of Lovecraft’s Outer Gods. R’lyeh is the sunken city where a slumbering Cthulhu is imprisoned. Dagon is from Lovecraft’s “Dagon” and “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” The Black Goat of the Wood with a Thousand Young is Lovecraft’s Great Old One Shub-Niggurath. 

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

November 5-7, 1964

FROM PARIS WITH HATE 

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, OSS 117, is assigned by his boss Armand Lesignac to rescue the French Minister of Justice from Fantômas. Lesignac says Lupin supposedly has a grandson running around Tokyo, and that Fantômas has already put Malloy, aka 077, in a body cast. 117 sets a trap to lure criminals who can help him against Fantômas using the Pink Panther diamond with the help of Inspector Clouseau. Diabolik and Eva Kant show up, as well as Anthony Logan, aka Kriminal. 117 tells Kriminal if he refuses to cooperate, he has arranged with the British government for him to spend the rest of his life in a high security “Village.” 117 calls Diabolik and Kriminal third-rate knockoffs of Fantômas, along with Satanik and Killing. 

Short story by Nathan Cabaniss in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 13: Sang Froid, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2016; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 22), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. OSS 117 is the protagonist of Jean Bruce’s spy novels. Armand Lesignac is from the movies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio. Fantômas is Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s master villain. Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin is the grandfather of the title character of Kazuhiko “Monkey Punch” Katō’s manga Lupin III. Dick Malloy, Secret Agent 077, was played by Ken Clark in three Italian spy films. The Pink Panther diamond and Inspector Clouseau are from the Pink Panther film series. Diabolik and Eva Kant are from the comic series created by Angela and Luciana Giussani. Kriminal is the antihero of an Italian comic book by Max Bunker and Magnus, as is Satanik. The Village is from the classic television series The Prisoner. Killing is the title character of an Italian photo comic (“fumetti”) series.  

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are official and AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 20: Fin de Siecle

The twentieth and final volume of Tales of the Shadowmen is coming out in December. Eighteen years is an impressive run, and they've assembled a massive array of great authors for the swan song. Although it's not listed on the site yet, I can verify that there will be at least one additional author. That author is Sean Lee Levin, also the author of Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1-3, and his story pits Irma Vep of Louis Feuillade's classic 1915 silent serial Les Vampires against the eponymous femme fatale from Mario Roncoroni's 1915 silent film Filibus. :D Of course, since this is me we're talking about, there are other crossovers in the story as well. I've been wanting to contribute to Shadowmen for years, and I'm delighted to be in at the last hurrah. This is my first published fiction, as opposed to Crossovers Expanded, which is more reference and metafiction, and I am extremely excited!

Crossover of the Week

Winter 1990
DWELLING IN THE DARK 
Peyton Westlake, aka Darkman, meets with gangster Frank White disguised as his lawyer Joey Dalesio, who he diverted to another location after his meeting with Arty Clay. The vigilante is trying to find out who Robert Durant’s superior was. White and Durant are both members of the Black Coats, whose leader is Colonel Bozzo-Corona. Westlake spends the next several months traveling the country, clashing with Marsellus Wallace and posing as a fixer for Keyser Söze. He also gets valuable information on Gordon Gekko by posing as various employees of Jackson Steinem & Co., after two unsuccessful attempts to question him, first while impersonating FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and later as reporter Carl Kolchak. Westlake comes face-to-face with the Colonel and his executioner, the Marchef. The Colonel mentions Westlake’s girlfriend, Julie Hastings, and says the last person who was able to hold his own against the Marchef was the Nyctalope. 
Short story by Matthew Dennion in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 16: Voir Dire, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2019; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 27), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2020. Darkman is from the titular movie and its sequels, as are Robert Durant and Julie Hastings. Frank White, Joey Dalesio, and Arty Clay are from the movie King of New York. The Black Coats, Colonel Bozzo-Corona, and the Marchef are from Paul Féval’s crime novels. Marsellus Wallace is from the film Pulp Fiction. Keyser Söze is from the movie The Usual Suspects. Gordon Gekko and Jackson Steinem & Co. are from the movie Wall Street. Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast is the protagonist of a series of novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Carl Kolchak is from the TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. The Nyctalope is Jean de La Hire’s pulp hero. 

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House! As with the first two volumes, this latest one is an AUTHORIZED continuation of Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover of the Week

Spring 1925
THE PECULIAR CATS OF THE SEA OF DREAMS 
Ismeddin guides Madame Palmyre, Victoria Custer, Mademoiselle Kephra, and Renée to Atlänaat, where they seek a Dreamer. The ladies, after eating drugged fruit, awaken in a vault that has carvings in Arabic script from the writings of an Arab scholar of centuries past, which an American translated as, “That does not sleep, which doth eternal lie, and in strange aeons, even death may die.” Victoria wants to find her lover, Nu, son of Nu, who her brother says she only dreamed was alive. Madame Palmyre believes the Dreamer is her former lover, a god known variously as Azathoth, Cthulhu, Mana-Yood-Sushai, and Baal. The Dreamer sends them to Earth’s Dreamlands. The women meet Randolph Carter, formerly of Boston and currently of Celephaïs. Carter’s bookshelves hold titles such as Astral and Astarral Co-Ordination and Interference, the Black Tome of Alsophocus, the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, and the Necronomicon. Carter says his passions are reserved for his books, cats, and his quest to see the Great Ones in their unknown home of Kadath. A cat who gained the power to speak in the waking world after eating his master’s parrot guides the women and Carter past the turquoise temple of Nath-Horthath. Victoria is abducted by men who take her to the Black Galleys, which typically frequent the port of Dylath-Leen. Carter says a shantak-bird could fly his friends to Dylath-Leen, but he does not know how to summon them. Instead, they are transported inside a strange catlike creature. Our heroines confront the men from Leng, as well as creatures resembling bipedal frogs with pink tentacles where their faces should be. 
Short story by Matthew Baugh in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 16: Voir Dire, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2019; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 27), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2020. Ismeddin is the protagonist of a series of stories by E. Hoffmann Price. Atlänaat and the Dreamer are from Price’s stories “The Dreamer of Atlänaat” and “A Jest and a Vengeance.” Madame Palmyre and Baal are from Renée Dunan’s novel Baal. Victoria Custer and Nu are from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Eternal Lover. Victoria’s brother Barney is the protagonist of Burroughs’ The Mad King. Mademoiselle Kephra is Cleo Kefra from Jack Mann’s Gees novels Maker of Shadows and The Ninth Life. The Arab scholar is Abdul Alhazred, and the passage quoted is from his Necronomicon, one of the occult tomes of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Azathoth and Cthulhu are also from the Mythos. Mana-Yood-Sushai is from Lord Dunsany’s The Gods of Pegana. The Dreamlands are from Lovecraft and Price’s “Through the Gates of the Silver Key” and the other tales in Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle. Celephaïs is from Lovecraft’s story of the same name, as well as the Dream Cycle tale “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath,” as is Nath-Horthath. Astral and Astarral Co-Ordination and Interference is from William Hope Hodgson’s “The Whistling Room,” a tale of Carnacki, the ghost-finder. The Black Tome of Alsophocus is from Lovecraft and Martin S. Warnes’ titular story. The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan are from “The Other Gods” and “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.” Kadath is seen or mentioned in several of Lovecraft’s stories. The talking cat is from Joann Sfar’s comic book The Rabbi’s Cat. The Black Galleys, Dylath-Leen, the shantak-birds, the Men of Leng, and the froglike creatures (the Moon-beasts) are from “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.” The Catbus is from the animated film My Neighbor Totoro. 
This crossover write-up is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House! Much like the first two volumes, this book is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover of the Week

1766

THE DARKNESS IN THE WOODS

Doctor Joseph Balsamo travels to New Orleans, where he is asked by Louisiana’s acting governor to investigate a rash of murders of local Indians. Some of the natives say the killings are the work of the Jibbenainosay, which translates as “Spirit That Walks.” Balsamo questions a little girl named Atala who survived one of the killer’s attacks. Atala was named after a woman with whom her ancestor was deeply in love. Two potential suspects are a pirate captain named Clegg and a Quaker called Wandering Nathan. Clegg’s ship is called the Imogene. Clegg, whose true name is Christopher Syn, claims to have killed Black Satan. The killer turns out to be Wandering Nathan, whose last name is Slaughter. The watch commander on duty when Balsamo and Clegg captured Slaughter was named Childress. Balsamo and Clegg discover a makeshift man made of twigs, branches, and a human skull, dressed in a pale, yellow cloak. They realize there was a second killer.

Short story by Nathan Cabaniss in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 11: Force Majeure, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2014. Joseph Balsamo, Count Cagliostro, is an historical figure who also appeared in novels by Alexandre Dumas, and was identified as the founder of a villainous branch of the Wold Newton Family in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Nathan Slaughter (aka the Jibbenainosay) is from Robert Montgomery Bird’s novel Nick of the Woods. Atala is a descendant of the Natchez Chactas, whose love for the earlier Atala was chronicled in François-René de Chateaubriand’s novel named for the latter. The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn (aka Captain Clegg), the Imogene, and Black Satan appear in novels by Russell Thorndike. Childress, implicitly the second killer, is the ancestor of serial killer Errol Childress from the television series True Detective, who was connected to the Yellow King of Carcosa from Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow.

Crossover of the Week

2006

DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS TITLE

Ash Williams travels to France, searching for the Necronomicon. Ash reached out to several people in the paranormal community for leads on the book, including some Ghostbusters in New York and an elderly Frenchman called the Sâr Dubnotal. Inside the cabin where he believes the Necronomicon to be, he drives off a creature called Baal, ending its alliance with the vampire Countess Irina. Irina’s giant servant says the book Ash seeks is the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, while the book Irina holds is the First Necronomicon, written by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. When Irina asks if he is “the one destined to fight the forces of darkness,” Ash responds, “The same…although I did hear something about a girl named Buffy who hangs out with the band Slayer, I think.”

Short story by Matthew Dennion in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 11: Force Majeure, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2014; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 16), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2015. Ash Williams and the Necronomicon Ex Mortis are from the Evil Dead film series. Although this story supposedly takes place in 1993, shortly after the third Evil Dead movie, Army of Darkness, this cannot be correct. In the CU, the films take place from 1982–1983, and Ash spent over twenty years in a mental institution after the events of the comic book miniseries Army of Darkness: Shop ‘til You Drop Dead, only to escape in 2005, as seen in Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator. Furthermore, 1983 would be well before Buffy Summers (from the movie and TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer) discovered she was the latest in a long line of Slayers. Therefore, I have placed this story in 2006, a year after Ash escaped from Arkham Asylum in Massachusetts. The Ghostbusters in New York are from the movie Ghostbusters and its sequel, as well as the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters. The animated series Extreme Ghostbusters is set in the 1990s, and features a younger group of investigators who have taken up the mantle of the retired original Ghostbusters. Ash probably contacted the latter-day team. The Sâr Dubnotal is an occult investigator who appeared in a French pulp series. Baal is from Renée Dunan’s novel of the same name, which has been translated by Brian Stableford for Black Coat Press. Countess Irina Karlstein is from the film Female Vampire. In the movie, which was made and takes place in the 1970s, Countess Irina is mute. How she gained the ability to speak is unknown. The Necronomicon penned by Abdul Alhazred is from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, of course.