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So what's the Wold Newton Universe?
Like I've said elsewhere, it's not really a universe so much as it's a hypothesis deriving from a certain point of view. The point of view is that certain fictional characters may have been (or still be) real people about whom stories have been written. The hypothesis is that a lot of them are related to each other. The point of view has been used in dozens of fictional biographies. The hypothesis was largely developed by author Philip Jose Farmer in two of them that he wrote: Tarzan Alive! and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life
What makes this site so special?
I'm writing it for one. GRIN
Right ... so what have you got for us?
Well, first off, I have some locally hosted articles.
Ad Astra: Some Inquiries into the Genealogy of the Kinnison Family
Unexamined Lives: Some Further Branches of the Clayton Family Tree
Prelude to Federation Part One (2001-2041)
Prelude to Federation Part Two (2041-2078)
An excerpt from An Otherwise Degenerate Age? The Life and Lineage of Tsukino Usagi
Dating Fantasy: An Inquiry into the Chronology of The Last Unicorn
Of Evil Empires and Dark Forces: Examining the Case Against "The Four" in Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary
A Case of Continuity: An Inquiry into the Implications of the Life and Career of May-Day Parker
A Journey of Somwhat More Than Ten Thousands of Years:
Some Speculations on the Life of Kane
Two Hawks From Thanagar: A Speculation on the Careers of Katar Hol and Fel Andar
Crimson and Viridian: Some Heretofore Undisclosed Incidents in the Lives of Britt Reid and Britt Reid II
A Rope Occam Can't Cut: Were There Three Margo Lanes?
Legends of the Future: Astro Boy and the Secret History of the Japanese Comic and Animation Industries
And some articles hosted elsewhere.
A Prehistoric Timeline of the Wold Newton Universe
The Green Light of Justice
Scions of the Dark Knight
Some of the fanfiction I've written with a Wold Newtonian feel.
A Letter of Joel, inspired by Superman/Batman: Generations
Angels Would Fall, inspired by Charlie's Angels: The Movie.
Method, inspired by Tomb Raider
And, newly revised, my Wold Newton: Generations series of stories.
1979: Tread Softly
1989: A Journey into Mystery, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
1999: Things Man was Meant to Know, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
2009: In Memoriam
Last but not least, some family trees.
The Wold Newton Family - 1795-2015, a combination of the family trees in Farmer's original biographies (visible here) with more recent research. (Warning! VERY large!)
The Cool and Funky Family Tree of Tsukino Usagi, aka Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon
Please note that all these are subject to revision. I reserve the right to change what I've written about my ideas if I ever change my mind about them.
Please tell me you're the only one who does this kind of thing.
Nope! There's a lot of people involved.
Sigh.
Oh, behave.
Here are some links to other Wold Newton resources:
Win Scott Eckert's Expansion of Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe is the original and probably the most comprehensive site, containing a multitude of articles and an extremely detailed timeline.
Mark Brown's Wold Newton Chronicles presents other articles, including many written in the 1970s for the original fanzine of Wold Newtonian speculation, The Wold Atlas.
Dennis Power's Secret History of the Wold Newton Universe is an engaging, paranoid speculation that tries to tie in several of Farmer's stories that were apparently unconnected to the Wold Newton concept ... or were they?
Al Schroeder's Schroeder's Speculations includes the most extensive research anywhere on Superman's connections to the Wold Newton concept, and much else as well.
Jess Nevins' Page of Fantastic, Mysterious, and Adventurous Victoriana and Pulp Adventure Heroes of the Pre-War Years offer information about hundreds of such characters, making them an important source of information about them. Unfortunately, the author's biases often get in the way of that data, and those interested in his more detailed speculations (available here) would be even more advised to keep that in mind.
Michael D. Winkle's Fiction and Reality: Story Nexusoffers up a number of fascinating tales that demand to be read.
What's to come?
Fanfiction and more articles. Stick around. The game's just getting started.