THE
WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSETHE
WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE
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AN OVERVIEW OF KEY EVENTS IN THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE APPEARS IN BLACK TEXT - not intended as an all-inclusive history - for complete information refer to:
Philip José Farmer's Tarzan Alive, Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, and The Other Log of Phileas Fogg
William S. Baring-Gould's Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street and Nero Wolfe of West 35th Street
Professor H.W. Starr's articles A Submersible Subterfuge, or, Proof Impositive and A Case of Identity, or, The Adventure of the Seven Claytons (both articles included as addenda to Farmer's The Other Log of Phileas Fogg and Tarzan Alive, respectively)
Rick Lai's article The Secret History of Captain Nemo, Pulp Vault number 11, Tattered Pages Press
Peter Cannon's The Chronology Out of Time: Dates in the Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, Necronomicon Press, 1997
Daniel Harms' The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, 2nd ed., Chaosium Books, 1998 (including the Timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos by Shannon Appel)
Chris Jarocha-Ernst's A Cthulhu Mythos Bibliography & Concordance, Armitage House, 1999
Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volumes I and II and the annotations of volume I and volume II by Jess Nevins
other works cited on these pages
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
(Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers)"Captain Nemo" is actually the Indian Prince Dakkar. Ned Land refuses to believe the events of Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The first Nautilus submarine appears to sink into the Maelstrom in 1868, but Professor Arronax and Ned Land survive. Dakkar-Nemo also survives the incident, but radiation sickness continues to plague him, and he retreats with the Nautilus to remote Lincoln Island to recover.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a novel by Jules Verne, as is Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Professor H.W. Starr, in his article A Submersible Subterfuge, or, Proof Impositive, included in Farmer's The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, viewed the events of Verne's 20,000 Leagues sequel, The Mysterious Island, as completely fictional. However, while Starr was correct in asserting that Moriarty used the Nemo identity first created by Dakkar, he did not realize that most of the events of The Mysterious Island were true, that Prince Dakkar was not a fictional person, and that Dakkar was the true Captain Nemo.
1866 - Upon hearing of the mysterious exploits of another submarine, and its master, Captain Nemo, Arthur Gordon Pym also begins calling himself "Captain Nemo," and begins plundering ships worldwide. In the course of his adventures, this third Captain Nemo encounters the square-jawed, self-righteous Dick Lightheart and his boys, the water-logged survivors of an encounter with a "sea-monster." The sea monster turns out to actually be the third Nemo's submarine, the Enigma. Pym-Nemo regales Lightheart and the boys with a fictional autobiography, calling himself "Harold Duggan," a Confederate veteran whose fiancée, convinced that he was dead, married someone else. For this "Nemo" has sworn vengeance, sinking ships and generally causing havoc on the high seas. Having his destructive exploits attributed to the real Nemo is an added benefit. (Bracebridge Hemyng's Dick Lightheart; or, the Scapegrace at Sea; click here for more information.)
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1866-1886 - John Carter makes his first trip to Barsoom (Mars). However, before he reaches Barsoom, he is diverted to an astral plane where he meets several other cosmic explorers (Allan and the Sundered Veil). After this adventure, Carter resumes his journey to Barsoom and the events of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars ensue. The remainder of the series consists of: The Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars, Thuvia, Maid of Mars, The Chessmen of Mars, The Master Mind of Mars, A Fighting Man Of Mars, Swords of Mars, Synthetic Men of Mars, Llana of Gathol, and John Carter of Mars. A chronology of these adventures can be found here. |
1867 - The events of Nana, as related by Émile Zola.
September 1867-January 1868 - Spock of Vulcan, trapped in his past and stricken with amnesia after being subjected to a Klingon Mind-Sifter, spends several months with his human ancestor, Aaron Stemple, in the town of Seattle, Washington (Ishmael, as told by Barbara Hambly). Stemple and a few others realize that Spock is not of this world, but nevertheless protect and care for him. Stemple's experiences with Spock give him the means to successfully deal with another alien contact in 1873.
U.S. Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon begin working under the direct orders of President Grant.
This is the first episode of the 1960s television series The Wild Wild West. For further information and a list of episodes, see The Wild Wild West: The Series, by Susan Kesler, Arnett Press, 1988, or visit The Wild Wild West Chronology. Click here for more information on Artemus Gordon.
1869 - Birth of Arronaxe Land, daughter of Ned Land, named after Ned's friend Professor Arronax.
1869 - Secret Service agents James Douglas Henry and Barton Swift defeat the evil plans of Dr. Arliss Loveless, a relative of the equally evil Dr. Miguelito Loveless (1999 feature film Wild Wild West). Records of the conflict were altered and the victory was attributed to agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon. The reason for the alteration was either (1) based purely on racist motivations or (2) the result of a grand plot which is better explained by clicking here.
1869 - Bartholomew Aloysius Lash, otherwise known as Bat Lash, is born.
THE
LAND OF FURS A character named Hobson mentions Captain Hatteras. There is also a reference to a total eclipse in the Canadian North.
The Land of Furs (aka The Fur Country aka Seventy Degrees North Latitude) is a novel by Jules Verne. Since Captain Hatteras (1863) is in the Newtonverse, so are the events of this novel. The eclipse in question took place on August 7, 1869.
1869 - Captain
Cyrus Smith and other Union soldiers are stranded on Lincoln
Island (The Mysterious Island). In December 1869, Cyrus Smith and
his friends rescue Ayrton (from Verne's The
Children of Captain Grant), who says that he's been living on the island
for twelve years; obviously this is a bit of an exaggeration, as he was stranded
in March 1865.
1869
- The events of Charles Dickens' unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
1870s - Scarlett, by Alexandra Ripley, a sequel to Gone With the Wind.
1870-1889 - The events of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
The Floating Outfit meets Cheyenne Bodie.
Novel by J.T. Edson. The Floating Outfit is comprised of Dusty Fog, Mark Counter and the Ysabel Kid. Dusty Fog is a relative of the English Foggs, and thus is a Wold Newton Family member. Cheyenne Bodie is from the television series Cheyenne. Please read Brad Mengel's The Edson Connection for more information.
Summer 1870 - The first Professor James Moriarty, who has abandoned the "Captain Nemo" identity, uncovers the diabolical plans of an Anglo-Egyptian named Rathe, who formerly called himself Ahtar. Abetted by his masterful abilities of disguise, Moriarty kills Rathe and takes his place as an instructor at a school in London. He serves as young Sherlock Holmes' tutor (see The Infernal Device) and fencing instructor (see Young Sherlock Holmes).
Summer 1870 - The events of Dracula, My Love, as told by Peter Tremayne.
1870
- The events of Jules Verne's Une
fantaisie du Docteur Ox (A Fantasy of Dr. Ox aka Dr. Ox's
Experiment).
1870 - Birth of Jules de Grandin.
Winter 1870 - The actual first meeting of Holmes and Watson (Young Sherlock Holmes by Watson, Alan Arnold, ed.; Watson's account was made into a 1985 feature film). Holmes and Watson expose Rathe's evil plans, but Holmes' young love, Elizabeth, is killed by Rathe. Holmes thinks Rathe dead, but unknown to Holmes, Rathe survives and retreats to his true identity, Moriarty.
1871 - Main events of the tale of Carmilla, as chronicled by J. Sheridan LeFanu.
1871 - The events of Susan Coolidge's What Katy Did. Sequels are What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next.
1871-1876
- The events of Jules Verne's 500 Million of the Begum (aka The
Begum's Fortune aka Les cinq cents Millions de la Bégum).
Herr Schultz's projectile is launched in 1876; in 1886 scientists
would mistakenly suspect Robur's ship of being Herr Schultze's
projectile.
1871-1875 - Events of Hondo, as related by Louis L'Amour (click here for more information).
There is a reference to Matt Dillon.
1871
The Floating Outfit meet Lord James Roxton, the father of Lord John Roxton.
1871
The Floating Outfit encounter Edmund Fagin and Sir John Unglow Ramage, the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Ramage.
These three entries are Floating Outfit novels by J.T. Edson. Matt Dillon is from the television series Gunsmoke. Lord John Roxton is a Wold Newton Family member, who would accompany Professor Challenger to The Lost World. Edmund Fagin is the grandson to the Fagin from Dickens' Oliver Twist. Sir John Unglow Ramage is the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Ramage, from the Ramage series by Dudley Pope. Please read Brad Mengel's The Edson Connection for more information.
1871
- The events of The
Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
1872
Allan Quatermain goes on a quest to find the legendary White Witch, also known as Ayesha, She-who-must-be-obeyed.
Novel by Allan Quatermain, edited by H. Rider Haggard. Ayesha also appeared in Wisdom's Daughter, She, Ayesha: The Return of She, and The Vengeance of She.
Summer 1872 - Moriarty prepares to use the "Nemo" identity once more (see The Other Log of Phileas Fogg). During this time period, Moriarty also remarries, to a woman named Donleavy, thus providing his daughter Urania with a step-mother, as well as an alias: Urania becomes known as Patricia Donleavy (see The Beekeeper's Apprentice).
October-December 1872 - The events of Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.
Paladin meets Phileas Fogg during the events of Around the World in Eighty Days, as Fogg travels through America. Paladin helps Fogg, Aouda and Passepartout cross a river.
1960 episode of television series Have Gun, Will Travel. Evidently neither Verne nor Farmer knew of this particular incident.
In this companion novel to Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, it is revealed that the first Professor James Moriarty once posed as "Captain Nemo." Moriarty-"Nemo" has several Capellean assistants: Colonel James Moriarty (the very tall dark man with a heavy stoop); Colonel Sebastian Moran; and a man named Vandeleur. It is also divulged that Phileas Fogg, in disguise, was a crewman aboard the second Nautilus who was working against Moriarty-"Nemo" during 1865-1868, and that Fogg was ultimately responsible for the sinking of the second Nautilus. Moriarty-"Nemo," knowing that Fogg's servant Passepartout is listening, deliberately misstates the circumstances surrounding his own parentage. With the death of the last Old One (original alien Eridanean or Capellean), this adventure marks the end of the secret conflict between the Eridaneans and the Capelleans.
This novel written by Philip José Farmer was published by Tor Books in 1982 (original publication date 1973). Vandeleur appeared in Robert Louis Stevenson's short story The Rajah's Diamond, which appeared in the volume New Arabian Nights. Moran was the first Professor Moriarty's lieutenant and appeared in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Empty House. Colonel Moriarty is the Professor's elder half-brother. Regarding the theory, adopted here, that there were two Professor James Moriartys (as well as an older brother, Colonel James Moriarty), please refer to The Return of Moriarty and The Revenge of Moriarty, both by John Gardner, Berkley Books, 1981. The author is the same John Gardner, incidentally, who continued to write the James Bond series of books in the 1980s and '90s. The Rajah Dakkar of Bundelcund, a renegade Capellean who is killed in this adventure, is not the Prince Dakkar of Verne's The Mysterious Island, but rather the Prince's father. After these events, the first Professor Moriarty permanently gave up on the "Captain Nemo" identity and laid low for several years, before resuming his criminal career under his own name.
1873 - Bancroft Stoneham Pons is born to Asenath Pons and Roberta McIvor.
THE MYSTERIOUS ISLANDPrince Dakkar reveals himself to Cyrus Smith and the others who have been stranded on his island for three years. Captain Robert Grant and Ayrton appear, and there are references to the events of Five Weeks in a Balloon, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, and Around the Moon.
The Mysterious Island takes place from 1869-1873, but is placed here in the Chronology in order to put the events involving Dakkar in context. Regarding the dating, Rick Lai has stated: "Since the first Nemo book [20,000 Leagues Under the Sea] wasn't published until 1870, it might be argued that Cyrus Smith couldn't have read it until 1870. Such a conclusion would lead to the argument that The Mysterious Island didn't begin until at least 1870. On the other hand, it could be argued that Smith read the original account of Professor Aronnax's experiences aboard the Nautilus prepared for the American government (since it financed the Professor's expedition) before Verne 'edited' this report and had it published as a novel." Proceeding on that argument, the 1869-1873 dates are used here.
The novel is a sequel to both Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Children of Captain Grant (aka In Search of the Castaways). Five Weeks in a Balloon, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, and Around the Moon must also take place in the Wold Newton Universe.Jules Verne did fictionalize the ending of The Mysterious Island, in that Dakkar did not die and the Nautilus was not destroyed. Rick Lai's article, The Secret History of Captain Nemo, was an invaluable resource in resolving the question of Dakkar-Nemo and Moriarty-Nemo and the two submarines called Nautilus. However, I respectfully disagree with Mr. Lai's dismissal of The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, The Return of Moriarty, and The Revenge of Moriarty as completely fictional.
1873 - Throughout this time period, the Karsid Empire is in power in this quadrant of the galaxy. The Karsids have built their Empire primarily on economic infiltration of less advanced worlds, eventually leading to total dependence and subjugation, rather than military invasion. When the Karsids, disguised as humans, make first contact with the U.S. government, Congressman Aaron Stemple, addressing a secret Congressional committee, argues vehemently against any dealings with them. Fortunately for Earth, his arguments carry the day (Ishmael).
1873 - First recorded adventure of Jonah Hex (All-Star Western No. 10, DC Comics; click here for more information).
1874 - Birth of Richard Hannay. Hannay's uncle, William Drummond, is the grandfather of Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond and John "Korak" Drummond-Clayton. Hannay's maternal grandmother is Oread Butler, a cousin of Rhett Butler (Gone With the Wind).
1874 - Birth of Arsène Lupin.
The Ysabel Kid encounters Octavious Xavier "the Ox" Guilemont who makes reference to the first Professor Moriarty and to the Maltese Falcon.
1874
Dusty Fog reveals that Mark Counter is a relative of Bret Maverick.
1874
The Ysabel Kid meets Pedro, one of the heirs to the title of El Zorro.
Three more entries in the Floating Outfit novels by J.T. Edson. Comanche Blood is found in The Hard Riders. Bret Maverick is from the television series Maverick. Please read Brad Mengel's The Edson Connection for more information.
1874 - Birth of Randolph Carter, whose tales were chronicled by H.P. Lovecraft in such classics as The Statement of Randolph Carter, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, and The Silver Key.
1874
Calamity Jane works with Lt. Ed Ballinger, Belle Boyd, and Capt. Patrick Reeder.
Thanks to the research of Philip José Farmer, J.T. Edson reveals in this Calamity Jane novel that Ed Ballinger is the grandfather of Lt. Frank Ballinger, the Head of M Squad. M Squad's adventures were made into a television series which appeared from 1957 to 1960. Belle Boyd is revealed to be the great aunt of Jane Clayton, née Porter, and Patrick Reeder is the uncle to J. G. Reeder, Edgar Wallace's famous detective.
Sherlock Holmes crosses paths with Dr. Fu Manchu. Musgrave then recounts that he and Holmes would later take a "mad voyage" aboard the submarine Nautilus and encounter the maniacal Dr. Moreau.
A short story edited by G.A. Effinger, from a manuscript by Reginald Musgrave (from Doyle's "The Musgrave Ritual"). Story found in anthology Sherlock Holmes in Orbit, DAW, 1995. The Nautilus mentioned here would be Prince Dakkar's submarine. Dr. Moreau is from H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau.
November 1875 - The death of Professor Moriarty's beloved uncle and father-figure, Jerrold Moriarty, adds fuel to the Holmes/Moriarty feud (Enter the Lion: A Posthumous Memoir of Mycroft Holmes, edited by Michael P. Hodel and Sean M. Wright. Of course, given Sherlock's experiments with royal jelly bee pollen in the 1920s, the "Posthumous" of the title is highly questionable). This is the first time that Holmes becomes acquainted with the first Professor Moriarty in his true identity; Holmes had literally crossed swords with Moriarty five years earlier when Moriarty was posing as Rathe, but Holmes does not make the connection.
1876 - The first Professor James Moriarty begins to build his vast criminal empire. Over the years, many will serve with the Professor, including his daughter Urania (aka Patricia Donleavy); his younger brother, the third James Moriarty; Colonel Moran; and John Clay.
April-October 1876 - The Bellman Expedition (Lewis Carroll’s The
Hunting of the Snark).
The Lone Ranger (John Reid) and Tonto save President Grant's life.
This was a movie (with novelization by Gary McCarthy, Ballentine Books) that came out in 1981. Note that by virtue of all having encountered President Grant, James West, Artemus Gordon, The Lone Ranger and Tonto are established to be in the same universe. John Reid's grand-nephew, Britt Reid (otherwise known as The Green Hornet), encountered The Shadow in 1942, thus placing West, Gordon, The Lone Ranger, Tonto, The Green Hornet, and Kato all in the Wold Newton Universe.
1876 - Sherlock Holmes has a "brief but notable" stint on the New York stage billed as "Mr. William Escott." Holmes goes on tour and is involved in several mysteries while on tour. (Sherlock Holmes and the Hands of Othello by Alexander Simmons. This reference explains Holmes’ reputation at the time of The Suicide Club. Additionally, Holmes used the "William Escott" many times throughout his career. Indeed, as Baring-Gould states in Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, his birth name was William Sherlock Scott Holmes.)
1876 - Birth of Carthoris of Helium, son of John Carter and Dejah Thoris.
OFF
ON A COMET (HECTOR SERVADAC)Hector Servadac is trapped on a comet and journeys throughout the Solar System. There is a reference to the events of Black Indies.
Novel by Jules Verne.
1877
BLACK INDIES
(THE UNDERGROUND CITY)There is a reference to the events of Hector Servadac.
Black Indies (aka Les Indes Noires aka The Underground City aka Child of the Cavern) is a novel by Jules Verne.
1878 - The events of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Suicide Club, found in the volume entitled New Arabian Nights. The story's Prince Florizel of Bohemia also appeared in the same volume's The Rajah's Diamond and would be seen again in Watson's/Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia. The "celebrated detective" who is indirectly involved in these events is clearly Sherlock Holmes. And the tall man with a heavy stoop who declines to assist the Prince is Colonel James Moriarty. Finally, as Rick Lai demonstrated in his article, The Secret History of Captain Nemo, Dr. Noel, the retired master criminal who assists in the case, is the father of the first Professor James Moriarty and the second Professor James Moriarty. (See Edgar W. Smith's A Scandal in Identity in the volume Profile in Gaslight, Simon & Schuster, 1944; see also Jack Tracy's Some Thoughts on the Suicide Club in The Baker Street Journal, New Series, Vol. 22, #2, June, 1972.)
1878 - The Lone Ranger helps out Robert Walker, the son of lawman called "Six Gun" Walker. "Six Gun," who died in 1872, left his land and property to Robert, who has lived his entire life abroad. (Television episode of The Lone Ranger entitled Six Gun's Legacy.) Wold Newton researcher Chuck Loridans postulates that "Six Gun" Walker is actually the 16th Phantom, also called the Masked Cowboy. The Phantom Chronology indicates that the 16th Phantom operated during the1840s-60s and that he died sometime after 1867. Masked Men: A Chronology of the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet demonstrates that the first season of the Lone Ranger television series took place around 1878. It is possible that 16th Phantom and his wife, Texan Annie Morgan, had another child, born several years after the twins Kip (the 17th Phantom) and Julie (according to some the 18th Phantom), named Robert. The 16th Phantom died in 1872, and his younger son, who would not receive the Phantom birthright, did inherit his father's land in Texas, and returned to permanently settle there. Perhaps he is an ancestor of the modern-day kick-boxing Texas Ranger (see TV Crossovers), as well as Los Angeles policewoman Darcy Walker, better known as The Black Scorpion.
c. Late 1870s - The events of The Bostonians, as chronicled by Henry James.
c. 1880s - The events of Kim, as related by Rudyard Kipling.
1880 - The events of the Allan Quatermain adventure King Solomon's Mines, as related by H. Rider Haggard. The general reading order of Haggard's series is: Allan's Wife, Marie, Child of Storm, A Tale of Three Lions, Maiwa's Revenge: or, The War of the Little Hand, Hunter Quatermain's Story, Long Odds, Allan and the Holy Flower, Heu-Heu: or, The Monster, She and Allan, The Treasure of the Lake, The Ivory Child, Finished, King Solomon's Mines, The Ancient Allan, Allan and the Ice-Gods, and Allan Quatermain. The time period covered by Allan's Wife actually spans the events of Marie and Child of Storm. There is also a related novel of the great warrior Umslopogaas, Nada the Lily. The story of Quatermain's life continues in Allan and the Sundered Veil, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
1880 - Birth of Joseph Jorkens (click here for more information).
Sherlock Holmes works with Theodore Roosevelt.
This is a novel written by Theodore Roosevelt, edited by H. Paul Jeffers, Harper & Row, 1978.
1880 - Solar Pons is born in Prague to Asenath Pons, consular official for Great Britain, and Roberta McIvor.
1880 - The events of Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.
