Crossover Cover: Tomb of Ancient Evil

 

Are you a Cthulhu Mythos fan?

Then you'll love this novella by Frank Schildiner featuring Henry Kuttner's pulp hero Thunder Jim Wade that has ties to the Mythos, among other works!

For more information, be sure to purchase 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 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 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 of the Week

July 1942

THE HORROR OF HYPERBOREA

            Thunder Jim Wade and his aides Dirk Marat and Red Argyle battle the Nazi mad scientist Baron Victor von Hammer and his son Franz, who have abducted Professor Isaac Levi in the hopes that the scholar can lead them to the lost civilization of Hyperborea, planning to use its secrets to take over the world. Von Hammer is actually Baron Victor von Frankenstein, the illegitimate and long-lived son of the legendary Baron von Frankenstein and a barmaid he bedded while hunting his creation, while Franz is really one of the younger Baron’s own creations. A Bedouin aiding Wade and company against Frankenstein’s living corpses uses the language of ancient Stygia. The Bedouins invoke the name of Mitra. Levi’s daughter Lise says that her father witnessed the execution of a member of the Frankenstein family who created a creature that killed dozens of people in his and nearby villages, and a member of her mother’s family lost an arm fighting against one of the Frankenstein monsters. This ruined his dreams of being a soldier, though he did become a police officer. Lise tells Wade about traps in Hyperborea, the first being the anger of Zath, the lord of spiders and the earth. Wade and company store their Thunderbug ship in a warehouse owned by a doctor colleague of Wade’s who uses his vast fortune and amazing mind to save the world. Marat refers to the time Argyle destroyed an Oparian outpost by accident. Frankenstein, who has captured Wade and friends, tells Wade that he once defeated Bulldog Drummond in London. Zath served Bel, the masked maker of chaos. A statue of Louhi, witch queen of Hyperborea, appears. The second trial of Hyperborea is the many mouths of Xotli, the Atlantean lord of blood. Wade, Frankenstein, and the others are attacked by the witch men of Hyperborea. Louhi tells Frankenstein that she was ancient when his people were food for the Elder Worms and slaves to her people and their Acheron rivals, and that only ancient Gagool and Ayesha have lived nearly as long as her. She subjects Wade and the rest to the Trial of Bori, and thinks of a barbarian who nearly killed her thousands of years ago.

            Novella by Frank Schildiner, Pro Se Press, 2014. Thunder Jim Wade appeared in five stories by “Charles Stoddard” (a pseudonym for Henry Kuttner) in the pulp Thrilling Adventures in 1941. The elder Baron Victor von Frankenstein and his creation are from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, of course. The younger Victor was formerly known as Victor Saville, the protagonist of Robert Myers’ novels The Cross of Frankenstein and The Slave of Frankenstein. Hyperborea is from Robert E. Howard’s stories of Conan the Barbarian, as is Stygia. Mitra is a deity from the Conan tales. Bel is from the Conan story “The Queen of the Black Coast.” Acheron appears in The Hour of the Dragon and other Conan tales. The member of the Frankenstein family that was executed is from the Hammer film The Curse of Frankenstein. Creative mythographer Chuck Loridans has identified this member of the family as Victor Frankenstein III, the son of the former Victor Saville and the grandson of Shelley’s Victor. The police officer who lost an arm to one of the Frankenstein monsters is Inspector Krogh from the Universal film Son of Frankenstein. Zath is from L. Sprague de Camp’s novel Conan and the Spider God. Louhi is from de Camp and Lin Carter’s Conan story “The Witch of the Mists.” Xotli is from de Camp and Carter’s novel Conan of the Isles. The witch men of Hyperborea are from de Camp and Carter’s “Legions of the Dead.” Wade’s doctor colleague is Doc Savage. The New York warehouse owned by Doc is used for the storage of his many vehicles, and is disguised as the headquarters of a business called the Hidalgo Trading Company. The lost city of Opar in Africa is from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan books. Captain Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond is from a series of novels originated by H.C. “Sapper” McNeile, and continued after McNeile’s death by Gerard Fairlie. The Elder Worms are a reference to Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story “Worms of the Earth.” Gagool is from H. Rider Haggard’s first Allan Quatermain novel, King Solomon’s Mines, while Ayesha is the title character of Haggard’s novel She and its sequel and prequels. Bori (or Borri) appeared in “Twilight of the Grim Grey God” by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Sal Buscema, Conan the Barbarian #3, February 1971, Marvel Comics. The story was adapted from Howard’s “The Grim Grey God Passes,” which featured the Norse god Odin rather than Borri.

Crossover Cover: The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade Volume Two

Pro Se Press has just released this novella by my buddy Frank Schildiner, who has stated on Facebook that the Hyperborea in question is Robert E. Howard's version. Frank also did a story for The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade Volume One that had strong Cthulhu Mythos ties, as well as a reference to another pulp hero, Richard Knight. I look forward to buying a copy of Volume Two at Pulpfest/FarmerCon, and having Frank sign it. :)

Crossover Cover: Manchurian Shadows

Manchurian Shadows is the second book featuring Teel James Glenn's New Pulp character Anton "Dr. Shadows" Chadeaux. I am currently reading the book, and there are allusions to Doc Savage, the Shadow, the Spider, Thunder Jim Wade, the Green Ghost (George Chance), and the Green Lama (under his alias of Dr. Pali, misspelled "Pauli" here.) The Dr. Shadows story take place in the same universe as Glenn's collection Weird Tales of the Skullmask and his books about journalist Moxie Donovan, both of which also have crossover references to classic pulp characters. In addition, Glenn's e-book Secret of Wolf Island, which is set in the present day, features private eye Jonathon Shadows, Dr. Shadows' son.