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MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE is now available from MonkeyBrain Books: In his classic “biographies” of fictional characters (Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life), Hugo- and Nebula-award winning author Philip José Farmer introduced the Wold Newton family, a collection of heroes and villains whose family-tree includes Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Philip Marlowe, and James Bond. In books, stories, and essays he expanded the concept even further, adding more branches to the Wold Newton family-tree. MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER’S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE, edited by Win Scott Eckert, collects for the first time those rarely-seen essays. Expanding the family even farther are contributions from Farmer’s successors—scholars, writers, and pop-culture historians—who bring even more fictional characters into the fold. Table of Contents & More Ordering Info See also Recent & Upcoming Wold Newton-related Books Visit Win Scott Eckert.com

by Win Scott Eckert

The Wold Newton meteor event - artwork by Lisa Eckert

Doc Savage  *  Tarzan  *  Sherlock Holmes  *  James Bond  *   Fu Manchu

The Wold Newton Family is a group of heroic and villainous literary figures that science fiction author Philip José Farmer postulated belonged to the same genetic family. Some of these characters are adventurers, some are detectives, some explorers and scientists, some espionage agents, and some are evil geniuses.

According to Mr. Farmer, the Wold Newton family originated when a radioactive meteor landed in Wold Newton, England, in the year 1795 (click here to see a monument to the event). The radiation caused a genetic mutation in those present, which endowed many of their descendants with extremely high intelligence and strength, as well as an exceptional capacity and drive to perform good, or, as the case may be, evil deeds.

Popular characters that Philip José Farmer concluded were members of the Wold Newton mutant family include: Solomon Kane; Captain Blood; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Harry Flashman; Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty (aka Captain Nemo); Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveler; Allan Quatermain; Tarzan and his son Korak; A.J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; the evil Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; Doc Savage, his cousin Pat Savage, and one of his five assistants, Monk Mayfair; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; and Travis McGee.

Those wishing to explore the Wold Newton Universe in detail are referred to Farmer's two literary "biographies," Tarzan Alive, Doubleday 1972, Popular Library 1976, Playboy Paperbacks 1981, and Bison Books 2006; and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Doubleday 1973, Bantam Books 1975 and Playboy Paperbacks 1981.

The new edition of TARZAN ALIVE is now listed on the Bison Books website

More cover images: Tarzan Alive   Doc Savage

Mr. Farmer's original Wold Newton Family Trees (from Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life) are online in graphic format. These family trees are the starting point for the extended universe described on this site.

The roots of some of Farmer's ideas can be traced to Professor H.W. Starr's articles A Submersible Subterfuge, or, Proof Impositive (included as an addendum to Farmer's The Other Log of Phileas Fogg) and A Case of Identity, or, The Adventure of the Seven Claytons (included as an addendum to Tarzan Alive).

It should also be noted that, although Farmer incorporated the theory that Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe are father and son into his Wold Newton mythology, he was not the first to advance this hypothesis. For a more expansive treatment of Holmes and Wolfe, the reader is referred to William S. Baring-Gould's Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, Bramhall House, 1962, and Baring-Gould's Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street, Penguin Books, 1982.

More Fictional Biographies

Since Farmer's books fall under the rubric of "fictional biographies," it is useful to list all those which may prove of interest to the Wold Newton researcher (in rough chronological order). This list is strictly limited to fictional biographies which treat the character as if he/she were real. Therefore, reference books or articles that commingle pure fictional biographical details with "real world details" (e.g. Doyle based the character of Sherlock Holmes on Joseph Bell) are excluded.

• "An Informal Biography of Conan the Cimmerian," in The Blade of Conan, by Clark, Miller, and de Camp

• The Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel by John Blakeney

• The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower by C. Northcote Parkinson

• Sleuths: 23 Great Detectives of Fiction & Their Best Stories, edited by Kenneth MacGowan. Each story features a short biography of the detective in the story; many biographies are by the characters' authors, providing canonicity. The twenty-three detectives are: C. Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes, Martin Hewitt, Eugene Valmont, The Thinking Machine, The Old Man in the Corner, Craig Kennedy, Uncle Abner, Dr. Thorndyke, Father Brown, Astro, Philip Marsham Trent, Max Carrados, William Dawson, Mr. Fortune, Hercule Poirot, Jim Hanvey, Superintendent Wilson, Lord Peter Wimsey, Dr. Hailey, J.G. Reeder, Detective Duff, and Henry Poggioli.

• Four-&-Twenty Bloodhounds, edited by Anthony Boucher (Mystery Writers of America, 1950).   Like Sleuths, there is a mini-biography of each detective with a short story featuring them. The detectives featured are Shadrack Arnold, Senator Brooks U. Banner, Jim Burgess, Dr. Gideon Fell, Mortimer Death, Dr. Mary Finney, Sam Johnson, Scott Jordan, Johnny Lidell, Inspector MacGruder, John & Suzy Marshall, Merlini, Miss Rachel Murdock, the Mysterious Traveler, Nick Noble, O'Reilly Sahib, Ben Pedley, Solar Pons, Ellery Queen, Mike Shayne, Henry Smith, Dr. Paul Standish, Lieut. Timothy Trent, Jeff & Haila Troy, and Hidelgarde Withers. Nearly every detective has a "Detective's Who's Who" entry provided by their creator.  The only detectives who do not have an entry are Ellery Queen, Mike Shayne, and the Mysterious Traveler.  Instead, there a letter from Ellery Queen continuing a vague summation of his life: "I was born. I have lived, and I am going to hang on as long as I can." Mike Shayne's creator, Brett Halliday, provided a short story in which he described how he first met Mike Shayne (Halliday treats Shayne as if he was a real person). The Mysterious Traveler (a radio character created by Robert Arthur and David Kogan) allegedly wrote Boucher a letter so disconcerting that it is unprintable (Boucher claims he found it in the archives of Miskatonic University). In the Introduction, Boucher acknowledges that he got the idea from Kenneth MacGowan's earlier book, Sleuths.

• Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street by William S. Baring-Gould

• I, Sherlock Holmes by Michael Harrison

• Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes by Michael Hardwick

• The Private Life of Dr. Watson by Michael Hardwick

• Holmes and Watson by June Thomson

• "'Edgar Rice Burroughs': A Brief Biographical Sketch" in A Guide to Barsoom by John Flint Roy

• Tarzan Alive by Philip José Farmer 

• Leopold Bloom: A Biography by Peter Costello

• The Flying Spy (biography of G-8) by Nick Carr

• Yankee Lawyer: The Autobiography of Ephraim Tutt  by Arthur Train

• Jeeves:  A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman by C. Northcote Parkinson

• The Wimsey Family by C.W. Scott-Giles

• The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot by Anne Hart

• The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple by Anne Hart

• Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life by Philip José Farmer

• Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street by William S. Baring-Gould

• America's Secret Service Ace (biography of Operator #5) by Nick Carr

• Biggles: The Authorized Biography by John Pearson

• "The Obscure Life and Hard Times of Kilgore Trout," in The Book of Philip José Farmer, DAW Books, 1973; revised edition Berkley Books, 1982

• James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 by John Pearson

• John Steed: An Authorized Biography, Volume 1: Jealous In Honour by Tim Heald

A Listing of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton works

Philip José Farmer's calling card

Kindly provided by Christopher Carey

Additions To Farmer's WOLD NEWTON Framework / How This Site Works

It is theorized here that there are many other characters, heroic and otherwise, who also exist in the Wold Newton Universe; some, although of course not all, may actually be members of the Wold Newton mutant family, not described by Mr. Farmer. These characters include King Kull, Conan the Barbarian, Dracula, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, The Phantom, Victor Frankenstein and descendants, Horatio Hornblower, Zorro, The Lone Ranger, the agents of The Wild Wild West, Prince Dakkar, John Carter of Mars, Dr. Moreau, Kimball O'Hara, Dr. Nikola, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Nick Carter, The Opera Ghost, Brisco County, Jr., Mowgli, Carnacki, The Invisible Men, Captain Mors, Dr. Thorndyke, Tom Swift, Father Brown, Peter the Brazen, Jimgrim, The Green Hornet, The Saint, Indiana Jones, Solar Pons, Hercule Poirot, Charlie Chan, Carson of Venus, Miss Marple, The Continental Op, Philo Vance, Dr. Palfrey, Jules de Grandin, Rick Blaine, Superman, The Rocketeer, The Batman and Robin, The Wolf Man, Perry Mason, The Phantom Detective, Hop Harrigan, The Spirit, Captain America and Bucky, Godzilla, The Men From U.N.C.L.E., Doctor Who, The Avengers, The Prisoner, Derek Flint, Prince Zarkon, Remo Williams and Chiun, Carl Kolchak, Shang Chi, Steve Austin, Spenser, Maureen Birnbaum, the Ghostbusters, Buckaroo Banzai, the F.B.I. agents of the X-Files section, Buffy Summers, Lara Croft, and many more (see the Cast of Characters page for a complete list).

The Crossover Chronology is a list of crossover stories in which two or more literary characters, situations, universes, or, in some rare cases, actual historical personages, are linked together. A very good example is The Rainbow Affair, which brings together Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Nayland Smith, and James Bond (all already in the Wold Newton Universe, based on Farmer's family tree), with The Men From U.N.C.L.E, The Avengers, The Saint, Inspector West, Department Z, and Miss Marple (all added to the Wold Newton Universe per this crossover). The crossover stories establish that there are other characters who co-exist with the characters populating the Wold Newton Universe, although the newly-added characters are not necessarily a part of the Wold Newton Family Tree. For a very detailed essay on how this site works, read the Philosophy of the Wold Newton Universe page.

What is the WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE really all about?

So is The Wold Newton Universe only about crossovers? NO. Crossovers are merely ONE VEHICLE by which I've expanded on Mr. Farmer's original work, which is based primarily on GENEALOGICAL research. And this site now incorporates many more characters who have been genealogically added to the Wold Newton Family Tree by myself and many other Wold Newton researchers, who are listed throughout the site, or who maintain their own sites. Or both.

There are too many details in Mr. Farmer's work to be comprehensively covered on this site. This site was never intended to be the be-all and end-all of Wold Newton information. Far from it. That's why it's called an "Expansion." It expands upon the base that Farmer built, nothing more. And nothing less.

Yes, I've tried to incorporate many of Farmer's details in order to make the framework make sense, but I'm the first to say it in NO WAY substitutes for the original Farmer biographies. Reading Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life and Tarzan Alive are prerequisites to any in-depth Wold Newton discussion.  Try reading some of his articles also.  By the way, there's common misconception, which is unfortunately propagated by a few other companion Wold Newton sites, that Farmer himself termed his body of Wold Newton work "The Wold Newton Universe." He didn't. That was a catch-phrase that I came up with when searching for a name for this site, and somehow it stuck.

Anyway, navigate around the site a bit. Read the Crossover Chronology and the Articles. And then, if your interest is piqued, and you truly want to get down and dirty with the whole Wold Newton concept, you MUST go and hunt up some copies of Farmer's work. And read it. All the relevant material is listed above, and is essential to any deep discussion of Wold Newton. While you're at it, track down the Baring-Gould books which are also listed above, and read them too. If you like what you see on this website, then YOU WON'T BE SORRY you read the ORIGINAL source material.

A small fraction of the main referential material listed on this site may be very difficult to locate, but the rest of it? I don't plug commercial sites here, but I'll make an exception: ABE Books. This is a wonderful sites for used and out-of-print books. You should be able to find just about anything you need. There are also many e-text sites listed on my Links page.

How to navigate the WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE site

The recommended viewing order is:

• Read the introductory material on the Main page.

• Take a look at a list of the rest of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton works

• Consult the Cast of Characters, Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV first.

• Check out the Family Trees and Articles by Philip José Farmer.

• Then read The Philosophy of the Crossover Chronology for some basic premises and a better understanding of how crossovers work on this site.

• Then go to the

• The Star Trek site contains ancillary articles detailing the conjunction of the Wold Newton Universe and the Star Trek Universe. There is also a STAR TREK Timeline which covers all Star Trek fiction that has been authorized and licensed by Paramount, including, but not limited to, novels, comics and short stories, all placed in the context of the television episodes and films.

• The Chronology Central page is always being updated with new individual character or sub-universe chronologies, so check back periodically. Timelines include the ERB Universe, Doc Savage, James Bond, The Shadow, Tarzan, Fu Manchu, Zorro, Occult Detectives, and many more!

• The Articles pages feature more in-depth treatments of topics of interest to Wold Newton fans: Philip José Farmer's articles, comic strips, Asian detectives, Casablanca, U.N.C.L.E., Frankenstein, the Wimsey family, modern dinosaurs, the warrior Kane, the Maltese Falcon, Tarzan's daughters, the Time Traveler, the Raffles family, the Blakeneys, Captain Nemo, the Moriarty brothers, Dr. Nikola, Mowgli, La of Opar, Fu Manchu, and much, much more.

• The TV Crossovers page covers the seemingly endless parade of television crossovers that have some connection to The Wold Newton Universe. These crossovers and characters generally are not listed on the Cast of Characters or Crossover Chronology pages.

• The Alternate Universes page covers those dimensions "just next door" to the Wold Newton Universe and parallel universes that Wold Newton characters have been known to frequent, by means scientific, magical, or unexplained. In the same vein, check out The Anno Dracula Character Guide to Kim Newman's excellent series.

• There is also a new Wold Newton Universe Fan Fiction page, a Fan Art page, and, for a bit of comic relief, the BiZaRro WoLd NewToN uNiveRsE.

• The Betty Page site is just for fun. Betty once ran into Doc Savage's men, and the pictures of this encounter are well worth checking out.

• The Links and Acknowledgements page is just that, so take a look at the many Wold Newton aficionados from all over the world who have helped make this site better and better.

•  And if you get lost, try the Site Navigation link on every page.

The Wold Newton Universe is now searchable!

Enter your favorite character or search term here:

The first version of The Wold Newton Universe hit the web on August 27, 1997.

This page was updated on September 3, 2007. (That's 10 years and counting!)

Check out Michael Croteau's & Rick Beaulieu's Official Philip José Farmer Home Page!- The Brobdingnagian collection of all things Farmerian.

Mark Brown's Wold Newton Chronicles, continues the tradition of featuring the very best in scholarship and articles on Wold Newton topics ranging far and wide. Now includes articles from the pages of the long-lost, legendary Wold Atlas, and a section on an alternate version of the Wold Newton Universe where superheroes are much more prevalent.

Visit Dennis Power's Wold Newton site, The Secret History of the Wold Newton Universe, which features a great deal of Wold Newton speculation regarding alien influence in the Newtonverse, information on Wold Newtonites' role in America's wild west, excellent genealogical articles, links to online e-texts of many Wold Newton books, and quite a few dandy family trees in graphic format!

A Page of Fantastic, Mysterious, and Adventurous Victoriana and Pulp and Adventure Heroes of the Pre-War Years: Two encyclopedic collections of Victorian and pulp adventure characters from researcher Jess Nevins. Also check out his well-researched articles on Some Unknown Members of the Wold Newton Family.

Chuck Loridans' new MONSTAAH site features the Monster Timeline, Children of the Night, set in the Wold Newton Universe.

Jean-Marc Lofficier's French Wold Newton Universe has interesting timelines and articles on French Wold Newton characters.

Christopher Paul Carey's Wold Newton Studies

There are various items of interest to Wold Newton fans on each of these pages:

The Wold Newton Universe site was created for the sole purposes of entertainment and information.

All rights reserved. The text and design of this page are © 1997-2007 by the author, Win Eckert. 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.

(This means that if you want to post your own version of Wold Newton continuity and wish to post the text of this Chronology, in whole or in part, as a basis for your version of the continuity, you are legally obligated to ask my permission first.)

The author claims no interest in nor ownership of any images used in the creation of this site, with the exception of the Wold Newton banner, which is © 2000-2007 by Lisa Eckert.

Click here for image copyright information and other legal notices.