Crossover of the Week

Late July 1912

THE RETURN OF THE WINCHESTER MAN 

Criminologist Professor Craig Kennedy and his friend and biographer, reporter Walter Jameson, travel from New York City to Chicago at the behest of the leader of the White Hand, a group of businessmen who oppose the Italian American Black Hand criminal organization, whose brother has been murdered by, apparently, the Black Hand’s assassin, the Winchester Man. In the process, they meet Sherlock Holmes, who is in Chicago disguised as the Irish American Altamont. After solving their own case, Kennedy and Jameson help Holmes thwart an arson attempt at the Republican Convention, orchestrated by Von Bork. Crime in New York has become relatively mundane, except for a new safecracker calling himself the Gray Seal. The leader of the White Hand mentions “that little punk Colombo.” 

Short story by Walter Jameson, edited by Greg Gick in The Further Crossovers of Sherlock Holmes, Richard Dean Starr and E. R. Bower, eds., Moonstone Books, 2017. Craig Kennedy and Walter Jameson are from Arthur B. Reeve’s detective novels. Holmes’ time in Chicago as Altamont was alluded to in “His Last Bow,” in which he defeated Von Bork. Jimmie Dale, aka the Grey Seal, is the hero of a series of novels by Frank L. Packard. “That little punk Colombo” is Chicago gangster Spats Colombo from the movie Some Like It Hot. 

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, coming from Meteor House in August! 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 1928

MATTHEW HENSON AND THE ICE TEMPLE OF HARLEM

Matthew Henson must stop the would-be dictators of the Medusa Council from getting their hands on a meteor fragment he brought back from the Arctic. Henson’s friend Professor Henrik Ellsmere spent some time in a sanitarium called Dunwich. At the Cotton Club, a wealthy man flirts with a woman named Myra, who spent time in Asia, where she learned to speak Chinese. As he does this, Jimmie Dale, aka the Gray Seal, burgles his home. The Challenger’s Club, a club for explorers and hunters, has portraits of Allan Quatermain, Phileas Fogg, and Gertrude Bell. Henson disguises himself as a deliveryman for B. Jonas Freight.

Novel by Gary Phillips, Agora Books, 2020. Matthew Henson was a real person. The Medusa Council also appears in the Moonstone Books anthology Day of the Destroyers, edited by Phillips, as well as his collection Astonishing Heroes: Shades of Justice. Dunwich Sanitarium is likely located in the titular Massachusetts town from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” Myra is a future agent of the shadowy vigilante. “B. Jonas” was the name on the door of the office where that pulp hero’s agents submitted reports to him. Perhaps he met Matthew Henson shortly before the 1929 events of The Living Shadow and heard from him about his battle against the Medusa Council, inspiring his own use of the B. Jonas cover. The Gray Seal is from Frank L. Packard’s novels. Allan Quatermain is from H. Rider Haggard’s books and stories. Phileas Fogg is from Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. According to this novel, the Challenger’s Club was already in existence during the historical New York draft riots of 1863, so it was not named after Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger, who was born in the same year.

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

Crossover of the Week

Many thanks to author Michael Howard for sending me a list of the crossovers in his novel, and a promo code to purchase a copy!

Spring 1912 

JIMMIE DALE, ALIAS THE GRAY SEAL 

Jimmie Dale, the Gray Seal, battles a white slavery ring. Appearing or mentioned are Dick Van Loan; Frank Havens; Artie “Chimp” Jermyn; Daniel Reid; the Blakeney family; Gunnison; Lady Kate Maxwell; Wilson Hargreaves; the Faithful Fifty; Billy McGee; Mrs. Battle; a Hirondel roadster; Harrisonville, NJ; the Ruritanian embassy; Aubrey Maturin; McKenzie of the Oracle; Glencannon’s Dew; the Sea-Girl; Allan Montague; frog-headed natives near Ponape; Haddock of the Karaboudjan; Englehorn of the Venture; Officer Karl Lohmann; Latveria; Yat Soon; the Si-Fan; Ashton-Kirk; a Potawatomi Indian; Lupin; Meadowes; Sam; Detective Gryce; Middleton, CO; Parr; Kramer; Fernack; Rumsey; Summers; Arthur Dimmesdale; Townsend Harper; Waverly; Frances Baird; the Duchess of Denver; Joan Barkley North; Hamilton Cleek; Thurston Howell II; Philo Vance; Westrel Keen; Drusilla Lane; the Continental Detective Agency; the Black Ship; Rachel Barans; Stars Hollow; the Model Press Clipping Bureau; Miriam Possible; James Clarkston Savage; Anatole; the de la Vega family; Professor Kennedy; Rosalind Hollis; Victor Carden; Ida Jones; Nick Carter; Hesselius; Baul-tar; Carcosa; Professor Harold Hill; a blonde southern woman named Porter; Skarl the Drummer; the Black Lotus; the Teduki bush; Yajur-tahn; Lake Hali; Mana-Yood-Sushai; Prince Omar; Officer Humboldt; Q-6; Blair Hospital; Dr. Gillespie; Ephraim Tutt; Professor Van Dusen; the Moreau Men; and Hugo Danner. 

This 2017 novel by Michael Howard is a prequel to Frank L. Packard’s Gray Seal series. Dick Van Loan is better known as the Phantom Detective. Frank Havens is his ally, the publisher of the New York Clarion. Artie “Chimp” Jermyn is a member of the family seen in H. P. Lovecraft’s “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family.” Daniel Reid is the nephew of John Reid, the Lone Ranger, and the father of Britt Reid, the Green Hornet. “Gunnison” is a reference to Bill Gunnigan, the city editor on Britt's newspaper, the Daily Sentinel. The Potawatomi Indian is the Lone Ranger’s companion Tonto. Joan Barkley is from The Lone Ranger radio series; her married name implies she is an ancestor of Hugh North, the protagonist of F. Van Wyck Mason’s novels. Jimmie Dale is revealed to be a descendant of Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel, the hero of Baroness Orczy’s books. Lady Kate Maxwell is from the Night Wind stories by Varick Vanardy. Wilson Hargreaves (or Hargreave) is from Doyle and Watson’s “The Adventure of the Dancing Men.” The Faithful Fifty, Yat Soon, and the Black Ship are from the Shadow novels. Billy McGee is from Earl Derr Biggers’ novel Seven Keys to Baldpate. Mrs. Battle is the wife of G-8’s butler. The Hirondel roadster and Inspector John Fernack are from Leslie Charteris’ Saint novels. Harrisonville, NJ is from Seabury Quinn’s Jules de Grandin stories. Ruritania is from Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda. Aubrey Maturin is a descendant of Dr. Stephen Maturin from Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels. Captain Leonard McKenzie of the Oracle is the father of the Marvel Comics hero Namor the Sub-Mariner. Glencannon’s Dew is a reference to Guy Gilpatric’s Mr. Glencannon stories. The Sea-Girl is from Robert E. Howard’s Sailor Steve Costigan tales. Allan Montague is from the works of Upton Sinclair. The frog-headed natives are from Abraham Merritt’s The Moon Pool. Captain Archibald Haddock and the Karaboudjan are from Hergé’s comic The Adventures of Tintin. Captain Englehorn and the Venture are from King Kong. Officer Karl Lohmann is from Fritz Lang’s M and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Apparently, he lived in New York for a time before the events of those films. Latveria is the country ruled by the Fantastic Four’s archenemy, Dr. Victor von Doom. The Si-Fan is from Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. Ashton-Kirk is a detective created by John T. McIntyre. Lupin is Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Meadowes is a relative of Bertie Wooster’s valet before Reginald Jeeves in P. G. Wodehouse's novels. Anatole will go on to be the chef of Bertie’s aunt and uncle, Dahlia and Tom Travers. Sam is Johnston McCulley’s lisping pickpocket Thubway Tham. Ebenezer Gryce is Anna Katharine Green’s police detective, often working in tandem with Amelia Butterworth. Middleton, CO and Miriam Possible are from the animated television series Kim Possible. The cartoon is too outlandish to fit smoothly into the Crossover Universe, so presumably Kim has a CU counterpart. Deputy Parr was created by Frederick Irving Anderson. By extension, Anderson’s characters Oliver Armiston, the Infallible Godahl, Sophie Lang, and Jason Selfridge are also in the CU. Inspector Kramer (or Cramer) is from Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels. Inspector Rumsey is from Hulbert Footner’s Madame Rosika Storey series. Inspector Summers is from Herman Landon’s Picaroon tales. Arthur Dimmesdale is a descendant of the reverend of the same name seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Townsend Harper is from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Monster Men. Alexander Waverly is from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Frances Baird is from Reginald Wright Kauffman’s Miss Frances Baird, Detective. The Duchess of Denver is the mother of Dorothy L. Sayers’ sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. Hamilton Cleek, “the man of the forty faces,” is Thomas W. Hanshew’s detective. Thurston Howell II is the father of Thurston Howell III from the TV series Gilligan’s Island. Philo Vance is S. S. Van Dine’s detective. Westrel Keen, Rosalind Hollis, and Victor Carden are from Robert W. Chambers’ The Tracer of Missing Persons. Drusilla Lane is the niece of Drury Lane, an actor and amateur sleuth created by “Barnaby Ross” (Ellery Queen). The Continental Detective Agency is from Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op stories. Rachel Barans is related to Rabbi David Barans from the TV series Gilmore Girls, which takes place in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. The Model Press Clipping Bureau is from Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. James Clarkston Savage is meant to be Doc’s father. Savage says he and Jimmie are related; Philip José Farmer established the elder Savage’s real name was James Clarke Wildman, Sr., and revealed he was the great-grandson of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Officer Humboldt is from the Doc Savage novel The Annihilist. The de la Vega reference implies Jimmie is also descended from Johnston McCulley’s Zorro. Professor Craig Kennedy is Arthur B. Reeve’s detective. Ida Jones is one of the assistants of dime novel detective Nick Carter. Dr. Martin Hesselius is from J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s In a Glass Darkly. Baul-tar and Yajur-tahn are meant to be Baal-Pteor and Yajur from Robert E. Howard’s Conan story “Shadows in Zamboula.” The Black Lotus is also from the Conan tales. Carcosa and Lake Hali are from Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. Professor Harold Hill is from the musical The Music Man. The southern woman named Porter is related to the jungle lord’s wife. Skarl the Drummer and Mana-Yood-Sushai are from Lord Dunsany’s The Gods of Pegana. The Teduki (or Taduki) bush is from H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain series. Prince Abdul Omar is J. U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith’s detective Semi-Dual. John Christopher, aka Q-6, is the father of Jimmy Christopher, aka Operator #5. Blair Hospital and Dr. Gillespie are from Max Brand’s Dr. Kildare stories. Ephraim Tutt is Arthur Train’s lawyer. Professor Augustus Van Dusen is Jacques Futrelle’s detective, “the Thinking Machine.” The Moreau Men are a reference to H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau. Hugo Danner is from Philip Wylie’s Gladiator. 

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! As with the first two volumes, the book is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!