Robert E. Wronski Jr.'s Blog, page 24

The Best Laid Plans...

For our fourth anniversary, which is tomorrow, I had this grand plan that every day from January 1 - 10, I would reshare four blog posts per day.  One would be from our most popular, counting down from 10th to 1st, one would be from our 10 oldest posts, one would be from our 10 newest, and 10 would be my favorites of the past four years.  Each of the posts would have an added anniversary introduction.

This plan went well for three days...

And then technology failed.  I lost my home wifi, and was unable to get to a hotspot until today, the day before the anniversary.

In a way, this is a fitting tribute to our anniversary.  Throughout the past four years, posts are constantly delayed due to technology fails and other life events that get in the way.  It's only appropriate that this should occur.  The TVCU has never been a well planned venture.  But we of the TVCU Crew continue to work at it, and somehow, things eventually happen and turn out great.

So, in the finest tradition of posting here, I must alter my original plan of last week.  Today, in the four hours I have here at Forbes Library, I will cover what would have been posted on January 4 - 9, and then tomorrow (or Monday), I will post the final four.

Thanks for continuing to come back, and bearing with our imperfections.

Reviews are in!!!

Here are a couple of reviews from Amazon.  See the original source here.I really do think this is a good book., December 25, 2014ByKevin T. Heim -Just to be up front, I was an unpaid contributor to this book, so while I have a personal interest init, I don’t see a dime if it sells or doesn’t.That said, I really do think this is a good book. Like myself, Robert’s interest in crossovers extends well beyond the limits of horror fiction, but for the most part he reigned it in to make this volume a genre-specific reference guide. Robert’s format lines up his sources according to the dates they were published / released, and this feels right to me. It’s not for everyone of course; many don’t give a fig about horror, or don’t want to suspend disbelief long enough to imagine that multiple, seemingly unrelated works of fiction share a reality. Others may appreciate the content, but prefer a format that places the stories in chronological order of when they take place, or alphabetical by title and/or author. I find that the way Robert set it up makes it a more palatable read. He also includes personal commentary on many of the sources he references, but does not discriminate against those sources he doesn’t like; if a crossover meets his criteria, it gets mentioned, and as someone with tastes that vary wildly, I really appreciate the inclusiveness.All Crossover fans should get this NOW!, December 13, 2014ByJames A. Peyton “Kevlar_Heart” (White Plains, NY USA) -Thorough — very well researched. Mr. Wronski has tackled a weird subject in a humorous way. Must have for any crossover enthusiast.

Feedback Request

So I know that some of you have bought the book by now. I’d love to get some feedback. http://www.amazon.com/Horror-Crossover-Encyclopedia-Robert-Wronski-ebook/dp/B00QRIZ62G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418110564&sr=8-1&keywords=the+horror+crossover+encyclopedia

Weekly stats and announcements

Weekly stats and announcements: Our numbers are way down. I guess it's understandable. We haven't posted much new stuff or even updated much lately, as we are working on the first tvcu book. James Bojaciuk did update the Holmes tulpa post, and I highly recommend it. Ivan Ronald Schablotski also recently updated his biography. We're still interested in new material from new writers, and also, anyone who is a blog admin can update any of my blogs if you feel motivated. If you add new material to one of my previous posts, don't forget to credit yourself. I'm also thinking of bringing back the quickies and Crew Reviews, but I don't have to be the only one generating those. Any current admin can do it, and if you aren't an admin but would like to do some quickies or Crew Reviews, let me know. Finally, this past week's top viewed were: 1) 90210; 2) Crazy Ivan; 3) the Horror Crossover Encyclopedia release announcement; 4) Offspring of Zed; and 5) My Little Pony.

The Horror Crossover Encyclopedia is here!!!

The book I've been talking about is finally here. That's right. It's the Horror Crossover Encyclopedia, the first in a series of books spun off from this very blog. Written by me, Robert E. Wronski, Jr., it also includes a bonus story and preface by James Bojaciuk, and and a foreword by "Crazy" Ivan Ronald Schablotski! It also features and amazing cover by Axel Medellin.


The e-book is currently available at Amazon and Goodreads, and tonight will become available on Smashwords as well. A print copy will become available in three weeks. Though not in stores, 18thWall Productions has informed me that if you request it at your local bookstore, they should be able to order a copy for you.

Call-Out for Writers

Writers wanted for TVCU Crew: The Next Generation. As the TVCU enters its fourth year, many of us have moved onto other projects, while still trying to hold on dearly to our roots in the TVCU. I never want to stop doing the TVCU, despite the books, nor do I want it to become one of those stagnant, dead sites like has happened to so many of my other favorite fan sites. So as I put the call out in 2011 for guest writers and TVCU Crew members, I now do so again. If you are a fan of the TVCU, and why are you reading this if you aren't, if you have any topic you'd like to tackle, please do so. For those who are already admins on the blog, you of course need no further permission to post, but for anyone else, feel free to submit to me if you have a guest post you'd like to submit. Just make sure that you keep to the rules, precedents, and format as established from previous posts, while remembering not to worry so much about the rules, precedents, and format as established from previous posts. What does that mean? It should be clearly a blog that is easily recognizable as a TVCU blog, and sticks to the core canon, but you should feel free to express yourself in your own writing style. For an example of how you can do your own thing while sticking to the TVCU way, I suggest taking a look at my posts on A Nightmare on Elm Street and Offspring of Zed, James Bojaciuk's posts on Wonderland and My Little Pony, and Gordon Long's posts on Rankin-Bass and Groundhogs' Day. Each of those are very different, and yet stick to the same basics for formatting and stick to the core rules of the TVCU. The most important thing is have fun. I have not yet ever turned down a post submitted to me, nor even told the writer to make changes before submission. Our blog gets about 10,000 views a month when we actively post new stuff and updates, and about 9,00 monthly views when we do absolutely nothing. So it's a good opportunity if you want to be a professional writer to get some exposure. Though James and I own the site, anything you write is your intellectual property. We may reuse excerpts in other posts (when a crossover from one post affects your subject). And we are currently working on TVCU books that will offer reprinted posts with new material. If we should select your post for inclusion, we would not do so without your permission, and you would be properly compensated for its use, just as if you were contributing to an anthology. So please, start watching and start writing.

James adds, " I'll also note, for anyone interested in taking part (and you should! This is fantastic fun!), that this is my all-time favorite TVCU article of all the ones I've written:

http://www.televisioncrossoveruniverse.com/.../one-ghost..."
James Bojaciuk also raises a good point. The TVCU isn't just about TV, though most of my focus goes there because it's the medium I know best that seems to get the least exposure when talking about crossovers. Literary works and video games are two areas that are perfectly acceptable, for instance, that have not really been explored much. James is the brave soul who tackles the literary aspects of the TVCU, and does so extremely well. Also, note, that even with our "observe and report" methodology, we do from time to time, come up with some great theories, like the Holmes tulpa, the Zed Anomaly, Armand Tesla, ect. If you've read the blog for a while, you probably understand it. Don't hold back for fear of rejection. Have fun with it. Remember, this is a world where Creed from the Office was the 1960s Joker, where Abed is now Batman, and where Cleveland and Charlie Brown are related.

An Interview with 18thWall Productions

A representative from the publisher interviewed me today, and I thought the questions were so good, that for marketing purposes, I should post here my answers.

18thWall:  Let's get started with the fact that you've been working on this for two years? James mentioned to me something about the TVCU and how that was the foundation of your book. Tell me a little bit about how you got started with the project.

Robert E Wronski Jr.:   I first started noticing crossover connections in 1978, first starting keeping track of them in 1980.  In 1984, I first coined the term TV Crossover Universe.  In 2007, I started turning those notes into a MySpace blog, which I later turned into it's own website, TelevisonCrossoverUniverse.com in January 2011.  I started writing the book, which is THE HORROR CROSSOVER ENCYCLOPEDIA, in April 2012 and wrapped it up and submitted it to 18thWAll on September 7, 2014.  By the way, it is HORROR CROSSOVER ENCYCLOPEDIA.  If you leave out "Crossover", it would be a misleading title.

18thWall:  Playing off of that, what made you want to do it in the first place?

Robert:  As I said, I've been fascinated with crossovers since I was a kid.  In 1978, my parents gave me an issue of Marvel's adaption of Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lypmics, my first crossover.  Immediately, I was hooked on the idea of different characters from different series interacting and existing in the same reality.  Soon, I started noticing that certain TV shows shared realities.  Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley and Mork and Mindy.  All in the Family, the Jeffersons, and Good Times.  I started keeping track of the groups that were connected in a notebook.  I did this for years.  Years later, when I discovered the internet, I learned that there were others who shared an interest in fictional crossovers.  I thought I was the only one.  I had found a few websites and joined a discussion group.  The discussion group had a lot of crossover enthusiasts but crossovers were not the main focus of that group, so I created my own Crossovers Forum on Facebook, which became really popular really fast, which I wasn't expecting.  Those other websites, and the popularity of the Crossovers Forum, prompted me a few months later to turn my years of notes into a website.  That too became really popular, more than I had expected.  Going back in time, I started writing my own fiction when I was five, though mostly orally in the early days.  When I was 10, a teacher really noticed I had a knack for writing, and I dreamed of being a writer, but my parents convinced me that safety and security in my career path were more important, so I left the writing behind me.  However, in my late 30s, it turned out safety and security still led me to poverty, unable to find a job with my degree.  So I figured, if I was going to be poor anyways, I might as well do what I love.  Knowing fiction writing wasn't my forte, but having a real knack for research and observational writing, I decided to take a risk and become a full-time writer, turning the blog into a book (and hopefully a series of books, each on a different specific genre relating to crossovers).

18thWall:  Why horror?

Robert:   I am a geek, and I love all things geek.  I knew I wanted to write about specific genres for each book, but I wasn't sure which one to start with.  So I posted a poll in the Facebook forum, listing several of my favorite genres, asking everyone to pick which one they'd like me to tackle first.  Horror was the top choice of the majority.  I'd been a fan of horror since I was a kid.  Though my parents didn't let me watch R rated movies, I was still able to watch the Creature Double Feature every Saturday afternoon with my father, getting exposed to the Universal and Hammer horror, as well as 1950s B sci-fi and Godzilla.  I was also big into horror comics, like House of Mystery.  Back then, any comic you bought at a news stand was safe for kids. Later, as I got older, I was able to get into other horror.  I read my first Poe and King in fifth grade.  When my family got HBO in the 1980s, I got a lot of exposure to 1970s and 1980s horror.  I'm a big fan of slashers and anything paranormal.  I actually grew up in a haunted house, so ghost stories were of particular interest to me.  I also loved magic. As a teen, I turned away for a time from my Catholic upbringing when I started heavily getting into reading about witches.  And vampires.  Something about the lore of vampires has always held a special interest for me.  Despite my love of horror, my greatest horror love, which would be H.P. Lovecraft, wouldn't be discovered until about 15 years ago.  As a now, sort of Christian, sometimes my Christian fellows will ask me how I can be a fan of horror and maintain Christian values.  I explain, most horror is about good triumphing over evil.  A great evil comes and usually, the meekest and purest find the strength to overcome the evil when no one else could.  Horror forces ordinary people to face their nightmares, and those with courage and conviction will overcome.  Unless it's Lovecraft, then you'll just go mad or die.

18thWall:  What can readers expect when they pick it up?

Robert:  This book was written to demonstrate that many horror series share the same reality.  To do this, I started with one story as the center of this Horror Universe.  That story was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.  This film has the Universal versions of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, and the Invisible Man.  From there, I then expanded the universe by finding all other horror series that have had crossovers with those four.  And those ones brought in made up the second layer.  Then, I sought out crossover connections with the second layer, to create the third layer.  And so on and so forth.  Though I include crossovers between horror series and non-horror series, non-horror series do not get used to connect to more crossovers.  Otherwise, it would soon lose its focus on horror.  So every single series mentioned in my book can be traced back to Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein using a "Six Degrees" methodology.  All the entries are posted in the order in which they were released.  Thus, 19th century literature like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein starts us off and we end with stories from 2014!  Each entry lists the title of the story, and who produced it.  It lists the release date, and the in-story setting.  It then lists all the horror crosses that can be found in the story, and then separately, all the non-horror crosses.  I then give the reader a summary of the story, followed by my notes on the story.  The notes give more details on the crossovers, and how the story fits into the overall canon of the Horror Universe.  In some cases, when warranted, I will through in some little known bits of trivia or my personal observations on the quality of the story.  This is not a fictional book.  As the title implies, this is a reference guide to fictional crossovers within the horror genre.  I take an "observe and report" approach.  I include each story based on the what you see in the film or read in the story.  Only when there is contradicting evidence do I try to create a theory using in-story references to reconcile the contradictions.  And every inclusion is based on the "six degrees" methodology.  I do not include things just because I like them, nor keep things out that I don't like.  I've very objective.  And though this is a reference guide, don't expect this to be a boring textbook.  If you love horror and/or fictional crossovers, this is a must have.  This is jam packed with fun information.  And because of my style of writing, my snarky, satirical commentary finds its way in.  This is anything but a dry read.

18thWall:  This one isn't really a question, it's more of a do you want to add anything spot. Add things, and when you send me your answers, I might send you a few more questions.

Robert:  I can't think of anything to add.  However, some of these questions have much lengthier answers, sort of, to these questions that I posted some time ago on my blog.  I'll provide the links.  (Some of this is also in the introduction to the book.)

Why Crossovers?  http://www.televisioncrossoverunivers...

Why Horror?  http://robertewronskijr.com/2014/08/1...

announcement

I’m pleased to announce that in a few weeks I’ll probably be pleased to make another announcement, or, if not, I won’t be either pleased or making an announcement. So please please me by joining me in being hopeful to be pleased in announcing to you something that will please me and hopefully please you. Please.

Update

Update: The publisher tells me the e-book version of the Horror Crossover Encyclopedia should be available in approximately two weeks and the paperback version in approximately a month. It will be available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. A lot of people have asked about it being in local bookstores. That's the publisher's call, but I believe it's not financially feasible and a bit risky for a young publisher and a new author to mass produce copies for a local market. Anyways, while you are waiting for the book, every day in October on my Facebook page I am posting an excerpt from the book that somehow relates to Halloween. On the Television Crossover Universe blog, each day, one of the oldest posts is being updated to incorporate information from the Horror Crossover Encyclopedia. And finally, on Halloween, check out the 18thWall website or tumbler. They will be posting a list of my 24 all-time favorite horror movies.

Those Who Live Long Forgotten: The Crossovers Between the Covers

Myths never die.

They cough away into obscurity, and settle into the comfortable spot just beyond our vision.

You would never believe the little girl with the too-big smile is the queen of vampires, no, no. Nor would you believe that the two semi-homeless women who list around New York in time with the tide are the remains of the two great monsters, out for revenge. You certainly wouldn't believe the master detective spent his final days in a cramped, black-ops prison.

No, you wouldn't believe a word of it.  Except, of course, for the fact it's printed in a very attractive book and sold for a very attractive price. Today, I've had the great pleasure of releasing my first book, Those Who Live Long Forgotten. Surprising no-one at all, the book is stuffed to the brim with crossovers.  Join me as we dig down deep and examine the stories in this collection.   Please note that two of these entries--the entries for "Ruin: The Rise of the House of Karnstein" and "Imprisoned, Half-Dead: A Syllogism"--are taken directly from Robert Wronski's upcoming book The Horror Crossover Encyclopedia. Thank you, Rob, for letting me borrow from your work. THOSE WHO LIVE LONG FORGOTTEN “THE MIRROR” (SHORT STORY BY HANNAH LACKOFF)Release Date:October 2014 (setting is divided between Once Upon a Time, Nazi Germany, and the present day)In-Story Crosses:Bloody Mary (folklore), An (Hannah Lackoff (see Notes)), and Snow-White (Grimms’)Authorially-Implied Crosses: See NotesThe Story: In three tales spun around a single magical mirror, we find the true origin of Bloody Mary (far bloodier, and far more horrifying than ever imagined), we find the events of Snow White occurring yet again (An and the seven protectors, escaping Hitler’s grip), and the origin of the woman who may one day be Snow-White’s own Evil Queen.
Notes: An is explicitly similar to Snow-White and, considering the mirror in every story is meant to be the same magical mirror, she could be a reincarnation of Snow-White (or, in my preferred explaination, cosmic recurrence is inacting the story once more). Bloody Mary is an endlessly popular folklore figure. If you need to know where she comes from, ask your mirror.Though left largely unstated, the unnamed woman who whispers “Mirror, mirror on the wall” is likely the true Evil Queen.For further crossovers: in her introduction, Lackoff states, “And what if all of these mirrors in every fairy tale was the same mirror?  What if all the glass, all the reflective surfaces were all part of something larger; an amorphous, transformative something that moved between worlds, influencing and meddling and sowing seeds of lust and envy and doubt?” In her introduction, she explicitly mentions the mirrors—and, sometimes, “mirrors”—in the myth of Narcissus, “Snow-White” (which is promenantly featured in this story), “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Snow Queen,” and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.If this is indeed the very same mirror—or fragments of the mirror—from “The Snow Queen” the mirror is was constructed by a very high-ranking demon. “One day, when he [the demon] was in a merry mood, he made a looking-glass which had the power of making everything good or beautiful that was reflected in it almost shrink to nothing, while everything that was worthless and bad looked increased in size and worse than ever. The most lovely landscapes appeared like boiled spinach, and the people became hideous, and looked as if they stood on their heads and had no bodies. Their countenances were so distorted that no one could recognize them, and even one freckle on the face appeared to spread over the whole of the nose and mouth. The demon said this was very amusing. When a good or pious thought passed through the mind of any one it was misrepresented in the glass; and then how the demon laughed at his cunning invention.”This is only speculation. The true origin of the mirror, however, remains to be seen. THOSE WHO LIVE LONG FORGOTTEN “RUIN: THE RISE OF THE HOUSE OF KARNSTEIN” (SHORT STORY BY RO MCNULTY)Release Date: September 2014 (setting is contemporary)Series: CarmillaThe Story: A teacher gets too close to one of his charges. Too bad she's a vampire. . .Notes: According to the author, this is the original Carmilla, risen again. Providing further evidence that this vampire is the same Carmilla, her "name" is Marcia Lisle, a near anagram for Carmilla. She previously used this tactic in "Carmilla," where Carmilla itself was an anagram for her birth name, Mircalla. Like all old ladies, she's set in her habits. THOSE WHO LIVE LONG FORGOTTEN “IMPRISONED, HALF-DEAD: A SYLLOGISM” (SHORT STORY BY JAMES BOJACIUK)Release Date: September 2014 (setting is late spring 1957)Series: Sherlock HolmesHorror Crosses: The War of the WorldsNon-Horror Crosses: Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, The Prisoner (see notes)The Story: A secret faction of what is presumably the British government fakes Sherlock Holmes' death and imprisons him on a faraway island. He plots his escape.Notes: Holmes mentions how his friend Peter would find his faked death to be deplorably acted. This is an invention of William S. Baring-Gould in Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, who had Holmes trained in acting and disguise by an old friend, "Lord Peter." "Lord Peter" has no relation to Dorothy L. Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey.   The methods used in the capture of Sherlock Holmes are identical to those suffered by Number Six in The Prisoner (a kidnapping disguised as death). The site in the story is still under construction. Perhaps Holmes was one of the early prisoners held in the village, though his escape was much more successful.  The story is intended to explain how Holmes could "die" in 1957, but be quite alive when he met the men from UNCLE in The Rainbow Affair and Batman in "The Doomsday Book."  Initially, there is a second prisoner held on the island. Although he dies when one of Holmes' plans backfires. He begs for his life by crying "I told you where Ogilvy's papers were! I told you!" Ogilvy was the well-known astronomer who first sighted the bursts from Mars. It would seem that, before his death, he wrote at length on the curious explosions, then--possibly--wrote some further notes after the initial landing. The British government was proactive in covering up the Martian War, and by 1957 seems all too ready to lock up anyone who claims to remember the war, whether they bargain for their freedom or not.       In case anyone missed it, you can purchase Those Who Live Long Forgotten at Amazon and at Smashwords.