Wold Newton

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Synonym(s)Wold Newton Family, Wold Newton Universe
Related tropes/genresCrossover Universe
See alsocrossover, Shared universe
Related articles on Fanlore.

Wold Newton refers to a literary crossover fiction concept created by Philip José Farmer around 1972 and expanded by Win Scott Eckert in 1997, with them claiming that several well-known heroic (and a few villainous) characters are related because a meteorite fall.

Origin Concepts

On December 13, 1795 a meteorite fell near Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England; being thus titled Wold Cottage meteorite. Based on this real event, Philip José Farmer wrote two fictional biographies, "Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke" (1972) and "Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life" (1973), addressing the possible consequences of this event:[note 1]

  • The meteorite caused genetic mutations in the occupants of two passing coaches due to ionization;
  • Their descendants were thus endowed 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;
  • The progeny of these travellers are purported to have been the real-life originals of fictionalised characters, both heroic and villainous, over the last few hundred years.

The families and their descendants that Farmer originally included in his work are the characters Tarzan and Doc Savage, both Lord Peter Wimsey and Sherlock Holmes. This list later grew, with Farmer's inclusion of:

Expansion Concepts

In 1997, Win Scott Eckert coined the term World Newton Universe or WNU, which you introduced on your website "An Expansion of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe",[2] to detonate an expansion concept of the fictional crossover of the World Newton family by Philip José Farmer.

The expanded concept has been embraced by other authors, expanded list of related families, with proposals supported by informative context and persuasive arguments; coming to write fiction authorized by the Farmer and Farmer's Estate, being then its new characters recognized and added to the original universe.[1]

This characters incorporated into the WNU are not necessarily blood relatives, descendants, or ancestors of the coach travelers present at the 1795 Wold Cottage meteor strike, but these characters all exist in the same shared fictional universe, and not all characters in Farmer's Wold Newton fiction are core members of the Wold Newton Family, but all are linked into the larger WNU via connections with Farmer's primary Wold Newton Family works.[1][3]

Some of the characters added with the universe expansion are:

List of Works

Original and Expanded WNU

  • Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (1972)
  • Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (1973)
  • The Other Log of Phileas Fogg (1973)
  • Time's Last Gift (1972)
  • Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974)
  • Flight to Opar (1976)
  • Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe (edited by Win Scott Eckert, 2005)
  • Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Parts 1 and 2 (2010)
  • Tales of the Wold Newton Universe (edited by Win Scott Eckert and Christopher Paul Carey, 2013)
  • Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip José Farmer

Inspired by WNU

  • Anno Dracula series by Author Kim (partially inspired by the Wold Newton family)[4]
  • Tales of the Shadowmen anthology series edited by Jean-Marc Lofficier
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book and its sequels by Alan Moore (Wold Newton is a seminal influence)[5]

WNU's Fanworks

It was mentioned in five works in the AO3: World Newton search

External links

  • The Wold Newton Universe from Philip Jose Farmer's Official Site
  • Secret History of the Wold Newton Universe,[6] by Dennis Power now a defunct url

Notes & References

Notes

  1. ^ Excerpts about the consequences of the meteorite fall and the expanded universe by Eckert were taken from the page Wold Newton family - Wikipedia Article.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Wold Newton family - Wikipedia". 2022-04-16. Archived from the original on 2022-04-16.
  2. ^ "An Expansion of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe". 2010-01-25. Archived from the original on 2022-04-16.
  3. ^ "The Wold Newton Universe". 2008-01-04. Archived from the original on 2022-04-16.
  4. ^ "Anno Dracula: The Background". 2002-08-02. Archived from the original on 2022-04-16.
  5. ^ "Newsarama.com : Mondo Moore: Adding". 2009-04-29. Archived from the original on 2009-05-02.
  6. ^ The link for Secret History of the Wold Newton Universe is no available, (http://members.fortunecity.com/dennispower/index.htm)[dead link]