Crossover Cover: Black Tide

 

In this story by James A. Moore and Charles R. Rutledge, the monster hunter Jonathan Crowley and the barbarian Kharrn, both immortals, battle the Deep Ones. Moore’s character Jonathan Crowley and Rutledge’s character Kharrn first met in the chapbook What Rough Beast. This story is a sequel to Moore’s Deeper, itself a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.”

This crossover is one of over a thousand covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, coming this summer from Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover of the Week

July 1977

VOODOO VS. CTHULHU! 

Adventuress Nefertiti Bronze battles the Esoteric Order of Dagon, who killed her voodoo bocor ex-husband. Montresor Mountmain’s Chapel of Satan in Hell’s Kitchen is the base of one of the rival cults that falls victim to the worshippers of the Esoteric Order. Joseph Curwen, in his current body of Walker Phillip Ward, can turn up unannounced at Sbirro’s, though the restaurant is officially booked solid for years ahead. Curwen is interviewed by Whitney Gauge of the FBI’s Human Protection League, aka the Unnamables. Nefertiti’s grandmother was a seven-foot-tall Waziri princess named Ashanti. Curwen puts out a contract on Nefertiti, but the major assassins all fail, and Don Corrado Prizzi decides to sit things out. Curwen pores over photos of Nefertiti with famous people, including Derek Flint. 

Short story by Kim Newman in The Lovecraft Squad: Dreaming, Pegasus Books, 2018. The Esoteric Order of Dagon is from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” Montresor Mountmain is a member of the Mountmain family seen in Newman’s “Seven Stars.” Joseph Curwen is from Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Sbirro’s is from Stanley Ellin’s “The Specialty of the House.” Whitney Gauge first appeared in Newman’s Diogenes Club story “Moon Moon Moon.” The Unnamables first appeared in Newman’s “The Big Fish”; it is revealed here that they are synonymous with the Human Protection League (HPL), the branch of the FBI featured in The Lovecraft Squad books. The Waziri tribe is from the Tarzan novels. Don Corrado Prizzi is from Richard Condon’s series of novels, beginning with Prizzi’s Honor. Derek Flint is from the movies Our Man Flint and In Like Flint. 

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 Cover: Athena Voltaire Pulp Tales

 

Steve Bryant's comics about 1930s adventurer and aviatrix Athena Voltaire are already solidly in the CU. This anthology of prose stories featuring the character has three tales with crossovers. 

In Mike Oliveri's "Just a Quick Pick Up," Athena is hired by a wealthy man to retrieve something important to him from a remote coastal town. Both Athena’s client and the townsfolk have amphibious features. At the end of this adventure, Athena vows not to return to Innsmouth anytime soon. Of course, this is a nod to Lovecraft's "The Shadow over Innsmouth." 

In Bryant's own story, "The Plot Twist Peril," Athena tells Harry Warner about some of her past exploits that he might be able to use as the basis for a film. One such tale has Athena battling the Pirate Queen and her Malay cutthroats off the coast of Burma over an artifact called the Helm of Nabu, the mystical helmet worn by DC Comics’ hero Doctor Fate. 

In Dirk Manning's "Weltschmerz (or "Athena Voltaire and the God of Flesh and Bone)," Athena, viewing a god summoned by Nazis, is sure he is not an Elder God, one of which she has half-memories of seeing during an exploit involving the disappearance of a young, rich woman in a fishing village the name of which she cannot remember. The Elder Gods are from the Cthulhu Mythos. The fishing village is presumably Innsmouth, meaning Athena did not keep her vow never to go there again.

These crossovers are three of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Waters of Darkness

 

In 1640, pirates and lovers Angus “Bloody Red” Buchanan and Crimson Kate O’Toole and their respective crews battle a sorcerer who worships the Old One Dagon. The pirates also duel with the Deep Ones, and the sunken city of Y’ha-nthlei is mentioned. The sorcerer says, “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die.” After vanquishing their foes, Angus and his first mate Mose Cooper discuss where they want to go next. Mose wants to search for the Golden Fleece, but Angus wants to visit an island off the coast of Sumatra, twelve degrees south and seventy-eight degrees east. The Old Ones, Dagon, the Deep Ones, Y’ha-nthlei, and the phrase “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die” are from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The island near Sumatra is Skull Island, King Kong’s home.

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

Crossover Cover: Tales from the Hanging Monkey Volume 2

 

In Crossovers Expanded Volume 1, I covered all four stories in the anthology Tales from the Hanging Monkey Volume 1, published by Airship 27 Productions. Two of the stories in the second volume have crossovers.

In Don Gates' "The Star of the Sea," a mysterious woman named Moira LeCain tells Corky O’Brian, the owner of the Hanging Monkey bar on the island of Motugra, about the sea creatures known as the Abyss Dwellers: “It is theorized that they have ties with the Deep Ones that are spoken about in the Ponape Scriptures, or with a particular kind of amphibian creature that are known to reside in certain black lagoons of the Amazon.” The Deep Ones are from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” The Ponape Scripture is from Lin Carter’s stories set in the milieu of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The kind of amphibian creature known to reside in certain black lagoons of the Amazon is a reference to the Gill-Man from the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon and its sequels.

In Lee Houston, Jr. and Nancy A. Hansen's "The Merciless Mermaid," Corky and friends battle a beautiful redheaded villain named Sirene and her crew of treasure seekers. Ultimately, Sirene and her men escape with a chest containing their quarry. One of the sailors, Sirene’s father, asks, “Ya have any idea how your client knew about it, let alone why he’s willing to pay so much for a small statue of a black enameled bird?” The statue is the Maltese Falcon, from Dashiell Hammett’s novel of the same name. There is a reference to the mess brewing in Europe, placing this story during World War II. 

These two crossovers are among hundreds I've written up for my latest 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 Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert!

Crossover Cover: Depths of Horror

Are you a fan of Henry Kuttner's pulp character Thunder Jim Wade?

Then you'll love this story by Frank Schildiner where he crosses over with H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos (particularly "The Shadow Over Innsmouth") and Donald Keyhoe's pulp hero Richard Knight!

This and a vast multitude of other crossovers have write-ups in Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, my AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2, due out from Meteor House in July!

Crossover Cover: World War Cthulhu

This anthology contains two stories with crossovers, both written by authors with no little experience at same. One is "The Yoth Protocols" by Josh Reynolds. An FBI agent named Sarlowe thinks of centers of eldritch activity, such as the Warren site in the Big Cypress, the Martense molehills, and "certain secret cellars where a certain artist had painted certain pictures and almost certainly been eaten." He also thinks of Inspector Craig and his Special Detail in the subway tunnels beneath New York, as well as worms in the earth. Sarlowe’s partner Indrid Cold is described as having a wax-like face. It is stated there are worse things in Heaven and Earth than dreamt of in Alhazred’s philosophy. The local "old ones" include the Shonokins and the K’n-Yani. Sarlowe reminds Cold of the Yoth protocols. A circular stone covering the stairs leading to the mound where the K’n-Yani live was placed there after the Zamacona Cylinder was unearthed. "The batrachian hillbillies in Massachusetts" and N’Kai are mentioned. Cold is the only person who ever used the Voormithadreth Corridor and hadn’t rotted from the inside out. Cold identified Valusian spectrum radiation within the mound. The Russian necromancer Grigori Petrov refers to the Zann Concerto and the maw of Leng. Cold asks Petrov if he was planning to let Tsathoggua’s children loose to do his dirty work. Sarlowe quotes, "Evil the mind that is held by no head." Sarlowe is a relative of occult detective Baxter Sarlowe from Reynolds’ novel Wake the Dead. The Warren site in the Big Cypress is from H. P. Lovecraft’s story "The Statement of Randolph Carter." The Martense molehills are from Lovecraft’s "The Lurking Fear." The secret cellars where an artist painted pictures and was eaten are from Lovecraft’s story "Pickman’s Model." Inspector Craig and his Special Detail are from Robert Barbour Johnson’s story "Far Below." The worms in the earth are from Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story "Worms of the Earth." Indrid Cold is an allegedly real person connected to the supposed Mothman sightings in 1966. His wax-like face implies Cold is a member of the wax-masked race of creatures seen in Lovecraft’s "The Festival," which is the source of the quote, "Evil the mind that is held by no head." Abdul Alhazred, the mad Arab, is the author of the Necronomicon in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Shonokins are from Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone stories. The K’n-Yani, Yoth, the Zamacona Cylinder, and N’Kai are from Lovecraft’s revision of Zealia Bishop’s story "The Mound." "The batrachian hillbillies in Massachusetts" are a reference to Lovecraft’s "The Shadow over Innsmouth." The Voormithadreth Corridor is connected to Mount Voormithadreth from Cthulhu Mythos stories by Clark Ashton Smith. Tsathoggua is also from Smith’s Mythos tales. Valusian spectrum radiation is a reference to the kingdom of Valusia in Robert E. Howard’s Kull stories. The Zann Concerto is from Lovecraft’s "The Music of Erich Zann." The plateau of Leng appears in a number of Lovecraft’s stories. The other story that I will include is "Cold War, Yellow Fever" by Pete Rawlik. Mitchell Peel is an operative of the Joint Advisory Committee on Korea (JACK), receiving orders from Colonel Doctor Wingate Peaslee, aka the Terrible Old Man. Peaslee tells Peel and other JACK agents Esteban Zamarano was sent to Banes, Cuba as part of Operation Mongoose to enlist his family’s aid. The Zamaranos bought six volumes from the sale of the Church of the Starry Wisdom Library, including what appears to be a Spanish-language edition of The King in Yellow. After contact was lost with Zamarano, another agent traveled to Banes, and disappeared himself, though not before sending the message, "Where is the Yellow Sign?" The Soviets are willing to neutralize the threat, but Peaslee says Washington does not want to see another Gizhinsk, particularly so close to the U.S. borders. Peel and company work with Major Romero of the Cuban Security Forces and Agent Tanya Romanova of Soviet Army Intelligence to deal with the situation. Romanova refers to documented cases of childrens’ minds being stimulated to see the universe in ways adults cannot, such as the Paradine children and "that village in Winshire." After the mission, a traumatized and disfigured Peaslee is retired to a minimum security facility near Arkham, Massachusetts. Mitchell Peel is related to David Conyers’ series character Major Harrison Peel, an NSA consultant who appears in stories set in the milieu of the Mythos. Wingate Peaslee is from Lovecraft’s story "The Shadow Out of Time"; his nickname of "the Terrible Old Man" is an homage to Lovecraft’s story of the same name. The Church of the Starry Wisdom is from Lovecraft’s "The Haunter of the Dark." Arkham, Massachusetts is the setting of a number of Mythos tales. The King in Yellow is from Robert W. Chambers’ short story collection of the same name, and was incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by Lovecraft in his story "The Whisperer in Darkness." The Yellow Sign is also from Chambers’ book. Gizhinsk and "that village in Winshire" are from John Wyndham’s novel The Midwich Cuckoos. Agent Tanya (or Tatiana) Romanova is from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel From Russia, with Love. The Paradine children are from the short story "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" by "Lewis Padgett" (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore).

Crossover Cover: Writ in Blood

The first novel in the Serenity Falls Trilogy. Immortal occult detective Jonathan Crowley encounters a Deep One. Besides the Trilogy, Crowley is featured in other novels and stories by Moore. The run-in with a Deep One (from Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”) brings him into the CU.

Crossover Cover: Deeper

Captain Joe Bierden takes a research team, including parapsychologists Jacob and Mary Parsons, to the town of Golden Cove to embark upon a month-long diving expedition, only to encounter the Deep Ones and ghostly pirates. Joe’s wife is from Black Stone Bay. Golden Cove is allegedly built on the site where Innsmouth, which allegedly was completely demolished by the FBI in their raid on the town, once stood. Since Innsmouth is shown as still existing after the events of Lovecraft’s story in several accounts, this must be considered fictionalization in order to maintain CU continuity. More likely, Golden Cove is actually a neighboring town to Innsmouth, since many of its citizens possess “the Innsmouth look.” Jacob and Mary Parsons first appeared in The Pack, the second novel in Moore’s Serenity Falls Trilogy; the trilogy's protagonist, Jonathan Crowley, is in the CU through other crossovers. Black Stone Bay is the setting of Moore’s novels Blood Red and Blood Harvest.

Crossover Cover: The Shadow over Innsmouth

The Shadow and Margo Lane battle what appear to be Deep Ones in Innsmouth. The “Deep Ones” turn out to be bootleggers disguised as the creatures spoken of in the legends of the area. A surviving bootlegger refers to a Shadow, inspiring H.P. Lovecraft to write “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” The implication that Lovecraft’s story is fictional, and based on legends rather than actual events, places this story in an AU.

Crossover Cover: Professor Challenger: The Kew Growths and Other Stories

This collection of stories featuring Professor Challenger has a few crossovers. In "The Kew Growths," Challenger and Edward Malone join forces with Thomas Carnacki to combat the menace of giant fungi that threaten to overrun England. Carnacki tells Malone that the fungi originated millennia ago on the high plains of Leng, and that he found a fragment of a chant hidden in The Concordances of the Red Serpent which alluded to manipulation and control of their sporulation process. Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s short story collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. Leng is from H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos tales. The Concordances of the Red Serpent is from Meikle’s novel of the same name. In "The Petrified Forest," Challenger and Malone encounter winged, five-pointed, barrel-shaped creatures that drain life from other beings and chant "Tekeli-Li!" The creatures are the Elder Things, which appear in a few Mythos tales, notably At the Mountains of Madness. In "Drums in the Deep," Challenger and Malone encounter a group of fish-men who chant the name Dagon. These are the Deep Ones from Lovecraft's "The Shadow over Innsmouth." In "The Cornish Owlman," Challenger, Malone, and Carnacki battle a supernatural owl-like creature in Cornwall. In "The Valley of the Lost," Challenger and Malone explore a plateau in Big Hole Valley, Montana, which is inhabited by creatures from the last Ice Age, an old blind man called the Pastor who came there on a gold-hunting expedition in the 1870s, and a race of hairy wee folk. The plateau, the Pastor, and the wee folk are from Meikle’s novel The Valley. In "Parting the Veil," it is mentioned that Malone learned about the concept of Faraday cages from one of Carnacki's dinner stories.