Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1 & 2 (2016) by Sean Levin published Meteor House

A few years back Win Scott Eckert published Crossovers: A Secret History of the Universe which made connections to many different characters through the links of crossovers. 

I reviewed these back on the old blog (which will have to be reposted here soon)  and found them to be excellent works that were well researched.  However, by its very nature such a work is incomplete - new crossover stories are written all the time and older ones await rediscovery.  Win handed the title of Crossover Chronicler to Sean Levin who after several years of work has published these two new volumes.

Levin has taken Win's format and built two new volumes that have the same breadth and scope of history as Win's works.  Indeed if all four volumes were to reedited into one giant sized telephone sized work I may have some trouble identifying which entries were by which author but this is a good thing it makes Crossovers Expanded feel like an organic outgrowth of the original volumes.

 Looking through both volumes I was frequently surprised by crossovers I was unaware of and pleased to see some familiar authors and names appear in this book.  Full disclosure, several of my stories are referenced in this work and Sean has done a great job at spotting the connections I have sprinkled through my stories. 

I bow to Sean's knowledge of pulp and adventure fiction.  I must also compliment the artwork that littered the work that provided a visual link to the works.  Keith Howell has done a great job on the covers illustrating several heroic archetypes.

As a fan of pulp and adventure fiction these are invaluable reference works.

Wold Newton Day: Death Comes to Pemberley (2014) TV mini-series

More by luck than good management the final episode of this miniseries aired on December 12 here in Australia so I sat down and binge watched all three episodes together on Wold Newton Day.

I'd heard of the P.D. James novel it was based on but I hadn't read it.  There are hints that someone was aware of Farmer's theories,  The Darcys have a son named Fitzwilliam after his father and during Wickham's trial there is mention of his service in the late 1790s which lines up with Farmer's dating

As a fan of the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle six episode Pride and Prejudice Miniseries from 1995, I was a little disappointed that the cast from that didn't return for this follow up but I can understand the difficulty with that given that Colin Firth seems to be in a heap of movies (especially excited for Kingsman: The Secret Service).

Matthew Rhys made a good Mr Darcy, older and wiser.  I wasn't as fond of Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth Darcy, that comes more from the fact that I was madly in love with Jennifer Ehle than any problems with Martin's acting.  Jemma Coleman was a fun Lydia Wickham as was Matthew Goode as her husband.  And it was a pleasure to see Penelope Keith as Lady Catherine.

The idea of a murder in Pemberley isn't new (The Wild Hunstman by Win Scott Eckert, The six Mr & Mrs Darcy Mysteries by Carol Bebris) but I liked this story bringing Lydia and Mr Wickham back into the lives of the Darcys.  There was an extra darkness to some of the characters from the original novel but the events of the intervening years makes sense.

I also liked the new characters, Henry Alveston, a suitor for Georgiana Darcy and Sir Selwyn Hardcastle the magistrate and coroner investigating the murder with a history with the Darcy family. (one wonders if he was an ancestor to Judge Milton C Hardcastle from the 1980s TV series Hardcastle and McCormick). 

I'll have read the book now but this was a nice way to spend Wold Newton Day.

The Green Hornet Casefiles (2011 )edited by Joe Gentile & Win Eckert Moonstone

originally posted Sunday, February 19, 2012 8:01:03 PM

The second volume of short stories from Moonstone based on The Green Hornet TV series. I will repeat what I said about the first volume - this could be considered as another season of the TV series.

The stories are all excellent. Matthew Baugh’s Auld Acquaintance and Howard Hopkins Sting of The Yellow Jacket serve as direct sequels to their stories in the first volume and utilise an ally and an enemy for the Green Hornet with connections to an earlier crime fighting member of the Reid family.

Another theme that runs through several stories is the Detroit riots of 1967. In some stories, The Green Hornet and Kato merely acknowledge the riots happened and in others the crime fighters attempt to become involved. These stories add an layer of authenticity to the world of the Green Hornet.

I enjoyed Ron Fortier’s introduction talking about his time writing the Now Comics Green Hornet series and the afterwords about Raymond J. Meurer.

The one thing that comes through in these stories and the package as whole is the love for the character of The Green Hornet. I would recommend grabbing this (and the first volume if you haven’t already got it)

The Green Hornet Chronicles (2010) edited Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert published by Moonstone

originally posted Sunday, April 10, 2011 2:33:26 PM

Previously, I had reviewed Win's story in this volume and raved about it and when the complete anthology arrived I raced through the contents. All of the stories are set in the world of the 1960s TV series and I would say that all the stories would make excellent episodes of the series. indeed the book serves as a much belated second season to the TV show. (One can presume that the forthcoming The Green Hornet Casefiles will be season 3)

I enjoyed all the stories in this volume with several stories alluding to The Hornet’s relationship to The Lone Ranger with Matthew Baugh’s The Inside Man offering a clever riff on the connection. All of the stories were excellent with The Night Car By Will Murray, I had the Green Hornet’s Love Child By Greg Cox, Fang and Sting by Win Eckert and The Inside Man by Matthew Baugh as stand outs for me.

The volume includes three essays Reflections on The Green Hornet by Van Williams, Life at 90MPH by Dean Jeffries and The Soul of Solomon by Harlan Ellison.

I think Van Williams introduction shows the love that the actor has for the character and the role that will likely be part of his legacy.

The Jeffries essay is an interview with Jeffries who built the Black Beauty and many other custom cars for the screen and offers a insight into the process he used to design and build the car.

Harlan Ellison’s contribution is the one controversial entry in the book. Ellison starts telling us that he had an idea for The Green Hornet to meet The Phantom. He managed to sell the idea to the rights holders writes the start of the story and then decides that the story shouldn’t be written and turns the whole thing into an essay about why the story should be written. All I have to say is Ellison must have some good lawyers as this appeared here and in The Phantom Chronicles Vol2.

Overall The Green Hornet Chronicles is an excellent anthology with excellent stories and of you are a fan of the character grab a copy and then preorder the follow up volume.

"Fang & Sting" by Win Eckert (2010) in THE GREEN HORNET CHRONICLES

Originally posted Thursday, February 3, 2011 10:28:06 PM

All Pulp are very crafty. They give you a free sample and get you hooked. In a recent Moonstone Monday post we are given the complete text of Win Eckert's contribution to The Green Hornet Chronicles which can be read here

Go and read it I'll wait. Back? Okay.

Like all stories in this anthology, Fang and Sting is set in the 1960s Green Hornet TV series (the one starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee) Eckert gives us an exciting tale that would have been a brilliant episode of that show. Not only that but Eckert manages to explain how and why Lenore Case was able to discover that Britt Reid and The Green Hornet are the same person. Win manages to include several other pieces of Hornet Trivia into his tale such as the fact that Mike Axford first appeared in the radio shows Warner Lester Manhunter and Dr Fang and making a reference to The Evil in Pemberley House.

The Green Hornet and Kato roll to investigate the reappearance of the Mysterious Dr Fang who terrorised Detroit in the 1930s. The diabolic Doctor Fang is killing local politicians and implicating The Green Hornet as an accomplice. The fact that Kato is Asian makes the connection quite plausible in some people's eyes. Once again we see The Green Hornet as the master strategist and Kato as his swift right hand.

Eckert is true to the characters as presented in the TV show and makes a exciting tale offering a connection between Dr Fang and another villian. Eckert has indicated that the next Green Hornet Anthology will have a direct sequel to this story.

If the rest of the stories in the anthology are half as good as this story then the anthology is well worth twice the price. I've ordered my copy and as soon as I get it from Pulp Fiction. I'll review it here.

The Scarlet Jaguar (2013) by Win Scott Eckert Meteor House

Previously posted Tuesday, August 27, 2013 3:51:31 PM

Evil In Pemberley House, Wold Newton, Novel, Win Scott Eckert ...

 

This is the sequel to The Evil in Pemberley House which I reviewed earlier

Let me start by saying that the cover is beautiful. Pat Wildman looks amazing. Mark Sparacio does an amazing job on the cover that pales compared to the piece he did for the signature page which took my breath away. Meteor House has done an amazing job on this book (just as they did for their previous novella Exiles of Kho).

So to quote the proverb, you can't judge a book by its cover. So how does the book measure up to the cover? For me, the cover is a great ad for the book that hints at the awesomeness that we find in the book. When the book arrived, I was in the middle of The Complete Domino Lady (which reprints the seven pulp stories and a new story by Steranko who also provides some amazing artwork). I put it to one side to read The Scarlet Jaguar, fully intending to go straight back. I finished The Scarlet Jaguar with a big grin on my face and proceeded to reread the whole thing again. That's how much I enjoyed the book.

When we left Pat Wildman at the end of The Evil in Pemberley House, she had founded Empire Investigations with Charles Peter Parker. The Scarlet Jaguar opens a year later with Empire Investigations being hired to investigate the disappearance of a British Diplomat in a South American country that was moving towards democracy. What follows is a slam bang pulp ride with Wildman and Parker joined by Helen Benson, the daughter of The Domino Lady and The Avenger. Our trio of heroes face a weapon that can turn people and objects into red glass and The Scarlet Jaguar has threatened to use the weapon on the Panama Canal. Pat Wildman and her team race to stop this from happening.

Eckert has given us another exciting story, liberally sprinkled with references to other stories series and characters. One of Win's great talents is that he can drop these easter eggs and not bog the story down. I was pleasantly surprised to see an appearance of another of Philip Jose Farmer's creations in a cameo role with a hint of an earlier adventure with Pat Wildman. (which I want to read now - The Midget Airplane Heist is such a tantalising hint)

If The Evil in Pemberley House left us wanting more adventures of Pat Wildman, The Scarlet Jaguar lives up to that promise and further whets our appetite. In The Foreword, Eckert tells of his 2009 meeting with Lady Patricia and how he got permission to edit and publish the Memoirs of Pat Wildman and how she gave him notes that form the basis for a number of other stories (his three Avenger stories, The Adventure of the Falling Stone, The Wild Huntsman and Honey West/T.H.E. Cat: A Girl and her Cat.)

Win's stories are like those photo mosaics; each picture is complete but when you step back and look at the big picture it is a part of the larger tapestry.

The scene on the cover does happen in the story. If I had to make a complaint it would be that Mark Sparacio didn't give us a drawing of Helen Benson (who I'd also like to see in a solo adventure).

This is a great story and well worth getting if you can. 

 

**Update: This won The New Pulp Awards Best Novella & Best Cover Art **

The Evil in Pemberley House By Philip Jose Farmer & Win Scott Eckert (2009) Subterranean Press

Originally posted Tuesday, November 3, 2009 4:01:59 PM

Philip Jose Farmer, Evil In Pemberley House, Win Scott Eckert, Patricia Wildman

In 1997, Win Eckert started The Wold Newton Universe Crossover Chronology, a website expanding on Philip Jose Farmer’s pseudo-biographies Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Over the years, Eckert kept expanding the concept and in 2005 edited Myths for the Modern Age, a collection of several of Farmer’s unpublished Wold Newton Articles and new articles by various Wold Newton Scholars (including me). That same year, Win was able to meet Phil and during a search through Phil’s archive uncovered an unfinished manuscript and complete outline for The Evil in Pemberley House. Win sought permission from the Farmers and completed the manuscript. Sadly, Philip Jose Farmer passed away before the book was published.

The book tells the story of Patricia Wildman, the daughter of Doc Wildman, who after the death of her parents and husband discovered that she was to inherit an estate in England decides to travel there to start a new life away from all the tragedy. Instead of the happily ever after that she was hoping for Patricia discovers that she has stumbled into a supernatural mystery with the discovery of a family curse. Of course, being Farmer and Eckert the book is littered with Wold Newton references

My best comparison for this book is the first Austin Powers movie – not that Evil in Pemberley House is a funny book. The first Austin Powers movie worked as a comedy even if you weren’t aware of the various 60s spy references dropped (James Bond, the Avengers, Derek Flint, etc) but an awareness of those sources enriches your viewing of the movie. Similarly, The Evil in Pemberley House also works as a Gothic novel even if the reader has no awareness of the rest of the Wold Newton Cycle.

Many gothics take the Scooby Doo route and show the man in the mask muttering “I’d have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for that meddling heiress/governess” but Farmer and Eckert wisely leave the question open, the ghost that visits Patricia may be a relative in disguise hoping to scare off the heiress or might be the real ghost.

Patricia is a great character in her own right, as I said before she is the daughter of Doc Wildman (obviously Doc Savage) and as such is no shrieking, fainting damsel in distress. The novel was conceived and set in the 1970s and whilst Patricia might not get as much sex as her contemporaries The Baroness, The Sexecutioner and The Lady from LUST, Patricia is no prude. The sex in the novel is important to the plot.

The novel finishes in such a way that Patricia has the scope for a series of her own adventures and I sincerely hope that Eckert continues the adventures of Patricia.

Win once told me that Farmer’s manuscript stopped in mid-sentence, well I looked carefully but I can’t find the sentence where Win took over. In fact, there is nowhere in the novel that jars and tips the reader off that there are two hands at work here.

The Evil in Pemberley House was published by Subterranean Press and I would be remiss to fail to mention the cover art by Glen Orbik. Orbik’s work on the Gabriel Hunt series and several of the Hard Case Crime books (my favourite is Money Shot) brought him to my attention and he is a perfect choice for the cover art which evokes the gothic novel covers and still brings Patricia to life as a strong capable sexy heroine.

Subterranean brought Evil in Pemberley House in a standard and limited edition format. The standard is just the novel and the limited edition is a numbered and signed copy of the novel and a limited chapbook. The chapbook might be best thought of as like the second disk of special features in a special edition DVD. The cover of the novel is the Wildman Coat of Arms drawn by Keith Howell based on the notes of Philip Jose Farmer. The first article in the chapbook is a description of the coat of arms with reproduction of four pages of handwritten notes and sketches by Farmer.

Next the chapbook reprints Farmer’s outline, which was especially interesting to me as I am learning to outline myself. I would advise that the reader read the novel first so as to not spoil the story.

Next is a chronology of events described in the novel. The final special feature is “Excessively Diverted or Coming to Pemberley House” when Farmer started this novel there was no Wold Newton speculation and it was easy for him to make Patricia the sole heir. Since that time, there have been numerous speculations and original stories that have added other potential heirs to Pemberley House, Eckert examines each of these potential claimants shows how and why they were out of contention.

These special features added an extra layer of enjoyment to my reading of this novel.