Tales of the Wold Newton Universe (48 page)

Once more, he lived the life of just one XauXaz.

The one and only.

And now, he had done what needed to be done in 1795, and could rest before the next phase.

He put down the newspaper. The story of the supposed deaths of Doctor James Clarke Wildman and his wife in their private plane far above the Arctic Circle was a fascinating ruse, but much too coincidental given the alleged deaths of Greystoke and his wife Jane just a few months before.

He thought of his prior engagements with his grandson, who had known him as Baron von Hessel.

If Wildman was on to him, aware of his existence and the threat he posed, then it was time to go after Wildman, before Wildman found him first...

A private clinic in upstate New York was Wildman’s last known location. Perhaps there were clues to be found there. There was a daughter, Patricia Wildman. His own great-granddaughter.

She could be made to talk.

A candle flickered with a soft movement of air. There should have been no air movement here.

XauXaz heard a soft scuff behind him.

He turned.

John Gribardsun stepped out of the shadows.

I would be more than remiss if I failed to acknowledge and pay tribute to the extraordinary speculative essays which inspired this tale. First and foremost among these is Christopher Paul Carey’s “The Green Eyes Have It—Or Are They Blue? or Another Case of Identity Recased” in my
Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe,
which, not incidentally, also inspired the appearance in other stories of a certain Trickster once called Baron von Hessel: he appeared as Baron Ulf von Waldman in “The Adventure of the Fallen Stone” in
Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook;
as Dr. Karl Walden in “Happy Death Men” in
The Avenger: The Justice, Inc. Files
, and “According to Plan of a One-Eyed Trickster” in
The Avenger: Heart of the Roaring Crucible;
and as Dr. Stipier in the forthcoming Honey West novella,
A Girl and Her Cat
.

Other creatively mythological essays from which I drew are: Dennis E. Power’s “The Royal Jelly Problem,” “Triple Tarzan Tangle,” and “The Root of the Wold Newton Family Tree” (all available at Power’s
The Wold Newton Universe: A Secret History,
www.pjfarmer.com/secret/index.htm
); and Jean-Marc Lofficier’s “Will There Be Light Tomorrow?”
(Shadowmen: Heroes and Villains of French Pulp Fiction).

Minor, but important, elements were taken from Cheryl L. Huttner’s “Name of a Thousand Blue Demons” and Rick Lai’s “The Secret History of Captain Nemo” (both in
Myths for the Modern Age).

It’s important to note that while I adopted many of the speculations presented in the essays noted above, I just as often deviated from them to follow my own path. None of the articles listed above were adopted wholesale; I am nothing if not an equal-opportunity deviant.

I also owe a debt to my fellow “fiction” scribes. The notion that a distorter could be modified into a time distorter comes from Paul Spiteri’s “Time Distorter” tales in
Farmerphile
no. 15 and
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions,
although the time distorter herein works differently. “The Wild Huntsman” also has ties to John Allen Small’s “Into Time’s Abyss” and Christopher Paul Carey’s novella
Exiles of Kho,
which I’ll let readers suss out for themselves.

Readers of
Myths for the Modern Age
may note that “The Wild Huntsman” contradicts my own “Who’s Going to Take Over the World When I’m Gone? (A Look at the Genealogies of Wold Newton Family Super-Villains and Their Nemeses)” in its treatment of Baron von Hessel. My only defense in this regard is that someone, somewhere along the way, must have been lying. It happens.

Readers may also need help in sorting out the tangled branches of the various official Wold Newton Origins stories and unofficial “sideways” tales.

The first story, “Is He in Hell?” was published in
Tales of the Shadowmen 6: Grand Guignol
(January 2010). It was revised to include its intended ending and was published as an official Wold Newton tale in
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions
(Meteor House, June 2010); this is the preferred text. Thereafter, two short sideways follow-ups to “Is He in Hell?” “Nadine’s Invitation” and “Marguerite’s Tears,” appeared in
Tales of the Shadowmen 7: Femmes Fatales
(December 2010) and
Tales of the Shadowmen 8: Agents Provocateurs
(December 2011), respectively. These sideways tales can be read separately from the main storyline, and conclude with a third story, “Violet’s Lament,” in
Tales of the Shadowmen 9: La Vie en Noir
(December 2012).

“The Wild Huntsman” in this volume carries forward the official Wold Newton Origins storyline and is a direct sequel to “Is He in Hell?”

To anyone reading “The Wild Huntsman” who has not read Philip José Farmer’s
Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke, Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Time’s Last Gift, The Other Log of Phileas Fogg,
and
A Feast Unknown...
One: for shame. Two: you might be a little lost at this point. Three: that’s all right, go out and find and devour those books immediately, and then follow them up with
Escape from Loki: Doc Savage’s First Adventure, The Dark Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel
,
The Peerless Peer
,
Ironcastle
,
The Evil in Pemberley House, Lord of the Trees, The Mad Goblin,
and
Gods of Opar: Tales of Lost Khokarsa.

Go on, we’ll be waiting right here for you.

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Brand-new editions of classic novels from one of the greatest science-fiction writers of the 20th century. Each novel containing unique bonus material from well-known Farmer experts and fans.

WOLD NEWTON SERIES

The Other Log of Phileas Fogg

Tales of the Wold Newton Universe
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Time’s Last Gift

Hadon of Ancient Opar

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A Feast Unknown

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