THE

WOLD NEWTON

CHRONICLES

Updated Dec. 6, 2002

Welcome to the Wold Newton Chronicles.

Here at the Wold Newton Chronicles, we intend to publish articles and speculations relating to the Wold Newton families and the world in which they live. What are the Wold Newton families, you ask? According to noted science fiction writer and genealogist, Philip Jose Farmer, these are the people who are descended from the British noble families and their retainers who were passing the village of Wold Newton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, on Dec. 13, 1795, when a meteorite impacted the ground there. The families, who were travelling in two coaches, were exposed to high levels of ionization. This caused certain mutations in their genetic code. The people in the first coach were John Clayton, the third Duke of Greystoke, and his wife, Alicia, nee Rutherford, sister of the eleventh Baron Tennington; The eleventh Baron, George Edward Rutherford, and his wife, Elizabeth Cavendish; Honore Delagardie and his wife, Philippa Drummond; and Fitzwilliam Darcy and his wife, Elizabeth Bennett. In the second coach were Sir Percy Blakeney, the famous Scarlet Pimpernel, and his second wife, Alice Clarke Raffles; Sir Hugh Drummond, brother of Philippa, and his wife, Georgia Dewhurst; Dr. Siger Holmes and his wife, Violet Clarke Raffles, the sister of Alice. A friend of Dr. Holmes', a young medical student by the name of Sebastion Noel, was following on horseback. Also present were four coachmen, Louis Lupin, Albert Lecoq, Arthur Blake and Simon MacNichols.

These families intermarried in the following generations, reinforcing the mutated gene and eventually producing what Farmer calls a "nova of genetic splendor, this outburst of great detectives, scientists, and explorers of exotic worlds, this last efflorescence of true heroes in an otherwise degenerate age." The inheritors of this gene include: Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage and his aide, Monk Mayfair, Nero Wolfe, James Bond, Bulldog Drummond, the Shadow, G-8, the Spider, Captain Midnite, Flash Gordon, Travis McGee, Lew Archer, Lord Peter Wimsey, Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Kinsey Milhone, Mack Bolan, Professor Challenger, Richard Hannay, Denis Nayland Smith, C.Auguste Dupin, Kickaha, Sam Spade, Charlie Chan, and John Shaft.

As the documents exploring these families show, this family also produced it's share of bad apples, men and women who excelled at evil just as well as others did at good, such as Fu Manchu, Professor Moriarty, Carl Peterson, and Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

On this site, we will be exploring the heritage and lineage of the Wold Newton families, as well as other facets of the world in which they live.

The study of Wold Newton originally arose out of the researches of the followers of Sherlock Holmes, particularly W. S. Baring-Gould's Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street and Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-fourth Street, and H. W. Starr's articles, "A Case of Identity, or The Adventure of the Seven Claytons," and "A Submersible Subterfuge". Philip Jose Farmer developed the concept into something resembling its current form in two important biographies, Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, as well as in a number of other works. Another important document is Rick Lai's article, "The Secret History of Captain Nemo."

For those of you who are unable to procure copies of the above works, I'd recommend checking out the Lineages Page, where I'm in the process of posting brief summaries of the material presented therein.

Current research into these historic families is being conducted by the New Wold Newton Meteoritic Society. The Society takes it's name from the original Wold Newton Meteoritic Society. For information on them and their journal, The Wold Atlas, as well as reprints of articles from this seminal Wold Newton source, just go here.

I also maintain the Wold Newton Superhero Universe, which examines the nature of the superhero world, as well as taking a look at some of the personal and family histories of our favorite heroes.

My name is Mark K. Brown, and I will be presenting what I hope is the best in Wold Newton speculation in the coming months. This page is constantly under construction, so if you are interested, please return periodically and check us out.

The first articles in the Wold Newton Chronicles are now online:

The Magnificent Gordons by Mark K. Brown.

D is for Daughter, F is for Father by Mark K. Brown and Brad Mengel.

The Greatheart Silver Problem by Art Bollmann.

The Amazing Lanes by Win Scott Eckert.

Name of a Thousand Blue Demons by Cheryl L. Huttner.

The Daring Drummonds by Brad Mengel.

The Land Family by Brad Mengel.

Keeping Secrets: A Speculative History of the Modern British Secret Service by Brad Mengel.

Sexton Blake's Family by Brad Mengel.

Kiss of the Vampire by John A. Small

Notes on the Gill-Man of the Upper Amazon by Michael D. Winkle.

I am greatly indebted to all of the above, and to the other members of the New Wold Newton Meteoritic Society. Some of them have their own sites, which are listed below:

The Wold Newton Universe -Win Eckert's fabulous chronology of the entire Wold Newton world, with sub-chronologies of several major characters, and various articles on different aspects of the Wold Newton Universe. Win is the father of current Wold Newton speculation and, at the present time, this is the most complete Wold Newton site on the internet.

The Secret History of the Wold Newton Universe -Dennis Power explores the influence of aliens on the Wold Newton Universe, and takes a look at the role of the Wold Newton families in taming the Wild West.

Yet Another Wold Newton page -Chris Davies makes his own wonderful blend of Wold Newton and the universes of anime and manga. This is a good introductory page, with a chart of the known lineages, and fiction relating to Wold Newton world.

Some Unknown Members of the Wold Newton Family Tree -Jess Nevins brings us another Wold Newton, and the articles displayed there are excellent. I highly recommend them.

The French Wold Newton Page - Jean-Marc Lofficier's page covers new ground related to the history of France, and makes astounding discoveries involving the meteor fall at Wold Newton itself.

Schroeder's Speculations-Wold Newton Articles by Al Schroeder is the latest Wold Newton page and so far covers Al's take on the backgrounds of Bruce Wayne and Superman.

I am especially indebted to Win Eckert, who converted a vast amount of text into html and helped make this website possible. Also, for set of Wold Newton links far more complete than anything I can currently whip together, check out Win's excellent linkage site.

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Please feel free to drop me a line here, and tell me what you think, make suggestions, and offer speculations of your own. I am accepting contributions from other theorists, just send me a note first. That's all I ask.

Wold Newton Chronicles site was created for the sole purpose of entertainment and information. All rights reserved. The text and design of this page are copyrighted 2000 by the author, Mark K. Brown. No copying or reproduction of this article or any portions thereof in any form whatsoever is permitted without prior written permission and consent of the author. The author claims no interest in nor ownership of any images or characters used in the creation of this site.