Line #7 CanonWelding/Literature


1	CanonWelding in literature.
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4	* In general: a fix-up is the term for a novel created by welding multiple short stories together. Website/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fix-up a list of them.]]
5	* Fantasy author Creator/MichaelMoorcock gradually connected almost every single character he'd created into a MythArc revolving around the concept of the [[CosmicPlaything Eternal Champion]].
6	** Moorcock's ''Series/DoctorWho'' novel ''The Coming of the Terraphiles'' features a ''Captain'' Cornelius, who may or may not be another aspect of the Eternal Champion (much like [[Literature/TheCorneliusChronicles Jerry Cornelius]]) which ties the Eternal Champion into the Whoniverse as well![[note]]Moorcock has said that Captain Cornelius was created because he was told he couldn't use Jack Harkness. Whether this makes Captain Jack the Eternal Champion is an open question, but it's fun to think it might.[[/note]] There's also a Second Aether, referencing Moorcock's Second Ether sequence which also takes place in the Eternal Champion continuity.
7	** Moorcock also wrote some stories set in Creator/AlanMoore's Creator/AmericasBestComics Universe, characters from which later appeared in Elric comics; Elric himself briefly met ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian in an early issue of Conan's Creator/MarvelComics series.
8	* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
9	** ''Literature/FoundationSeries'':
10	*** Ultimately, Dr. Asimov merged three (at least) different continuities; the ''Literature/RobotSeries'' (specifically ''Literature/IRobot'' and the ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'' sequels), ''Literature/TheEmpireNovels'', and the ''Literature/{{Foundation\|Series}}'' series itself.
11	*** ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'': Dom's story to Trevize and Pelorat about the "Eternals" in chapter 17 is a reference to ''Literature/TheEndOfEternity'', which Dr Asimov wrote in the 1950s. The end of the novel revolves partly around allowing humanity to expand into an empty galaxy.
12	*** ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth'': This novel uses TheQuest to have Trevize and company travel to several worlds established by ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'' and sequels, such as Aurora and Solaria. At the ultimate goal of their search, Earth, they discover [[spoiler:R. Daneel Olivaw, the secondary main character from that series]]. One of them also describes the plot of ''Nemesis'' in a fictional context.
13	** The early robot story "Literature/{{Robbie}}" was given an OrwellianRetcon to tie it into the Robot series, replacing the Finmark Robot Corporation with US Robotics and Mechanical Men, and adding a Susan Calvin cameo.
14	** "Literature/ThatThouArtMindfulOfHim": This story is set at a point between ''Literature/IRobot'' and ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'', while giving an explanation for how the BanOnAI during Susan Calvin's day is overcome and incorporated into daily life on Earth during Detective Baley's day. It also makes reference to a Multivac input, which puts the various Multivac stories in [[TheVerse the same universe]] as the positronic brain robots.
15	* The final novels in Creator/AnneRice's ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' tie Lestat's story into that of ''Literature/TheMayfairWitches''.
16	** Actually, they were tied together much before that, notably by the Talamasca (introduced in ''Queen of the Damned'' and later a key player in both the vampires and witches novels) and a few common supporting characters like Aaron Lightner. In other words, the Witches novels avowedly take place in the same world as the ''Vampire Chronicles'' from day one, though their interactions increase substantially over time. Hints in ''The Vampire Lestat'' also indicate that Rice's least-liked novel, ''The Mummy,'' also shares a continuity with these series.
17	** The novel ''The Queen of the Damned'' establishes that witches and spirits are real. ''Memnoch the Devil'' claims that God, the angels, and TheDevil are all real.
18	** However, despite Lestat having actually met Christ, Rice insists that her biographical novels recounting the life of Jesus are not part of the same continuity.
19	* Creator/JRRTolkien:
20	** ''Literature/TheHobbit'' was not, at the time of its writing, intended to be in the same continuity as ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', which Tolkien regarded mainly as personal recreation and had as yet no intent of publishing. Despite this, he couldn't help throwing in a few [[ShoutOut names and locations]] that referenced ''The Silmarillion''. When he began writing the sequel that would become ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', he went whole-hog and moved ''The Hobbit'' to Middle-Earth, ''The Silmarillion'' becoming the BackStory of the novels. In fact, the ring that Bilbo found was originally just an ordinary, harmless magic ring and nothing more, and Gollum, having no motive to kill Bilbo, happily led him to safety at the conclusion of the riddle game. It wasn't until ''The Lord of the Rings'' was being written that Tolkien decided that it was ''the'' ring, and he revised the Bilbo-Gollum encounter in order to make it more sinister. The in-universe explanation for the altered narrative is that Bilbo wrote the first version while under the influence of the ring as he wanted to conceal the actual circumstances of his acquiring it. The revised, true version was written later, after he was no longer in the ring's grasp.
21	** Tom Bombadil, Goldberry and Old Man Willow originally appeared in a poem published in 1933. They had no connection to Middle-Earth until the writing of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' was in progress, and that didn't turn them into anything more significant than a WackyWaysideTribe.
22	* Creator/CSLewis:
23	** ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'': ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'' contains not only Myth/{{Merlin}} as a real, historical character, along with the rest of Myth/ArthurianLegend, but one of the main characters interrogates him regarding "Numinor", a misspelling (or obsolete spelling) of "Numénor", from ''Creator/JRRTolkien'''s ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and surrounding legendarium, which was unpublished at the time. This is surprising on the one hand for its implications for the worlds in question, as well as unsurprising because of the authors' close friendship and the fact that both canons are set on Earth but at different times (the inestimable past and the present). It's all the more incredible to realize that it took 32 years for ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' to be published (in 1977) after ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'' (in 1945), making it surely among the longest complete payoffs for an EasterEgg.
24	* Creator/RobertAHeinlein did this towards the end of his career, incorporating all his previous stories (often with radically different universes) into one meta-universe, thanks to a handy trans-dimensional device invented by one of his characters. Then he brought the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' series in, and the [[Literature/LandOfOz Oz books]], and eventually ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_as_Myth all fiction ever created]]''.
25	** Though he did give preference to the ones he liked, and especially those written by authors with whom he was personally acquainted; one of the transdimensional 'jumps' involved taking the characters into the Literature/{{Lensman}} universe created by his friend, Creator/EEDocSmith. He even threw in some real people: the characters of ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'' run into [[Creator/LewisCarroll Charles Dodgson]] while in Wonderland, and near the end of the novel, it's mentioned that [[Creator/RobertAHeinlein Bob]], [[Creator/ArthurCClarke Arthur]], and [[Creator/IsaacAsimov Isaac]] should be showing up for a big meeting soon.
26	** Nearly all main characters he ever wrote are in one scene at the end of ''Literature/TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls''.They try to [[spoiler:recover Mycroft Holmes, whose death was perhaps the biggest TearJerker Heinlein ever wrote. Towards the end the characters are aware they are in a story, and find the Author to be a bastard...]]
27	* Creator/LarryNiven originally had two continuities: the first was the "slowboat" stories of early colonization of space by humanity (featuring the novels ''World of Ptavvs'', the Gil Hamilton stories, and ''A Gift from Earth''), while the second featured faster-than-light travel and aliens (featuring the stories of Beowulf Shaeffer, Louis Wu, and the ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}''. Then he wrote his short story "A Relic of the Empire", which combined the two continuities and created the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' universe.
28	** Niven needed to introduce a {{Retcon}} into the ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' series to make this work: in the first ''Ringworld'' novel, everybody knows that humans evolved on Earth, but in its sequel, ''The Ringworld Engineers'', it's common knowledge that humans are descended from the [[Literature/{{Protector}} Pak]].
29	* ''Truckers'', the first novel in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/NomesTrilogy'', takes place in the (real) town of Grimethorpe, but in the later books the Store is relocated to Blackbury, which is also the setting of the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy''. (However, the later republishing of Terry's early short stories has revealed that "Blackbury" was ''always'' his go-to town name, including in an antecedent to the ''Nomes Trilogy'' called "Rincemangle, the Gnome of Even Moor".)
30	* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs had Literature/{{Tarzan}} travel to the underground world of Literature/{{Pellucidar}} in order to rescue the hero of the series. ERB weaved together the continuity of his books in other ways.
31	** The character Jason Gridley is introduced in ''[[{{Literature/Pellucidar}} Tanar of Pellucidar]]'', meets Literature/{{Tarzan}} in ''Tarzan at the Earth's Core'', and appears as part of the frame story in ''[[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars A Fighting Man of Mars]]'' and ''Literature/PiratesOfVenus'', linking together Burroughs' four main series.
32	** The technology for the Moon mission from ''Literature/TheMoonMaid'' was Barsoomian in origin.
33	** Tarzan is a supporting character in ''The Eternal Lover'', whose central character is the sister of the hero of ''The Mad King''; thereby bringing those otherwise non-series novels into the fold.
34	* Terry Brooks' ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' series was always established as being set a fantasy world that formed AfterTheEnd of modern civilisation. His ''Literature/TheGenesisOfShannara'' series is set during the collapse of civilisation, and establishes the Four Lands as the future of his ''Literature/TheWordAndTheVoid'' novels.
35	* What Creator/AugustDerleth called the "Franchise/CthulhuMythos" (a term never used by Creator/HPLovecraft and only by Derleth after Lovecraft's death) originated from cross-references by Lovecraft between his own stories and that by other writers. Lovecraft, not Derleth, referenced passages from the Necronomicon, other forbidden books, or placing offhand comments during the expository monologues, about various {{Eldritch Abomination}}s having no bearing on the current story. Specifically, ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath'' ties most of his early standalone [[ShortStory short stories]] into the Dreamlands Cycle, and also brings in "Pickman's Model" and the Randolph Carter stories. The Dreamlands Cycle is ultimately linked to the so-called Cthulhu Mythos, though a few stories, such as the early "Literature/{{Dagon}}", ''may'' be outside the grand continuity. Several other authors have tied them together, notably Creator/AugustDerleth and Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith. Even the demonic race beneath the Earth from "Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls" appears to be referenced in "Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness".
36	** Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith's Xiccarph and Zothique series were not originally connected to the "mythos" in Smith's own writings.
37	** Lovecraft and others tied works by earlier writers he did not personally know. For example, Creator/RWChambers' ''Literature/TheKingInYellow'' (referenced in "The Whisperer in Darkness"), to the work of Creator/ArthurMachen (the Aklo language) and Creator/LordDunsany (Bethmoora).
38	** Though they never met in person, Lovecraft and Creator/RobertEHoward were pen pals and some of their letters discuss plans to combine their respective universes, but their [[DiedDuringProduction untimely deaths]] prevented this from [[WhatCouldHaveBeen being made a reality]] beyond a few vague hints in various stories.
39	* Creator/StephenKing:
40	** Beginning with ''Literature/{{It}}'', King began tying many of his novels into ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, to the point that every single novel he wrote during the early 2000s was somehow related to the epic. The process included bringing back a character he PutOnABus (literally) in ''Literature/SalemsLot'' and {{retcon}}ning the BigBad from ''Literature/TheStand'' into the Crimson King's [[TheDragon Dragon]]. (Indeed, the Crimson King himself made his first appearance outside ''The Dark Tower'' series.)\
41	From ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'' (1996) to ''Literature/FromABuick8'' and ''Everything's Eventual'' (2002), 100% of King's fiction output (six novels and two story collections) tied into ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' (at least retroactively). These were bookended by ''Literature/WizardAndGlass'' in 1997 and the conclusion of ''The Dark Tower'' series in 2003-04. There's also the aforementioned incorporation of everything back to ''Salem's Lot'' and ''Literature/TheStand'', written before ''Literature/TheGunslinger''.\
42	And lest we forget, ''Salem's Lot'' takes place in the same city as ''Jerusalem's Lot'', an earlier short story, confirmed to be in the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. Therefore, ''The Dark Tower'' series is part of the Mythos by extension. Oh and as mentioned above Franchise/{{Transformers}}, Series/DoctorWho, Franchise/SherlockHolmes, and everything else on this page has crossed over with the Cthulhu Mythos.
43	** It's also been established that if there's anyone in a King story with the initials R.F., they're probably a very particular person: [[spoiler:Randall Flagg, the BigBad of ''Literature/TheStand'', ''The Eyes of the Dragon'' (as Flagg, no first name), and the Crimson King's [[TheDragon Dragon]].]] Except for (presumably) Rudy Foggia of ''The Jaunt'', who is quite dead at the beginning of the story.
44	*** In 2022, King threw a further wrinkle into this one with [[https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1509629947194880003 a tweet]] suggesting that [[spoiler:[[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]] might actually be Flagg as well]]. Although this one was probably a case of TrollingCreator.
45	** ''Literature/{{It}}'' also contains an appearance by Charles Pickman, from the Creator/HPLovecraft story ''Pickman's Model'' -- which ties it to all the Lovecraft stories mentioned below. King's next novel, ''Literature/TheTommyknockers'', not only crossed over with ''It'', but also tied in several of King's other novels, including ''Firestarter'' and ''Literature/TheTalisman''.
46	** The books ''Dolores Claiborne'' and ''Gerald's Game'' were [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally two halves of one book]], ''In The Path of the Eclipse'', and the published versions still refer to each other, as the female protagonists of the books have a psychic link, having times when they suddenly get the feeling that this other person, whom they don't know, is somehow in danger. Both books also feature the same eclipse as a plot point: Jessie Burlingham is molested by her father during the event, while miles away, Dolores uses the eclipse as an opportunity to murder her abusive husband.
47	** ''Literature/{{Misery}}'' refers to ''Literature/TheShining'' at one point, when Annie mentions the ruin of the Overlook Hotel.
48	* Creator/TonyHillerman once had two series, one featuring Navajo cop Jim Chee and one featuring Navajo cop Joe Leaphorn. There is now only the ''Literature/LeaphornAndChee'' Mysteries.
49	** Though to be fair, from the beginning the Chee stories (which came second) would reference Leaphorn and characters and events from his stories--they just weren't featured in the same books for a while.
50	* Before he's done, F. Paul Wilson's ''Adversary Cycle'' bids fair to weave in practically every book and short story the man has ever written.
51	* Creator/MercedesLackey's assorted UrbanFantasy stories seem to be set in different continuities, until mention is made of the west coast elfhames (from the ''Bedlam's Bard'' series) in the ''[=SERRAted Edge=]'' novels, and of Tannim, the mulleted protagonist of the [=SERRAted=] Edge novels appearing as a bit character in his teens in ''Literature/JinxHigh'', a Diana Tregarde investigation.
52	** Since ''Jinx High'' was Tannim's first appearance, and the ''Bedlam's Bard'' events were namechecked in the first [=SERRAted=] Edge novel, this one was evidently intended from the start, or nearly so.
53	* Kate Elliott has confirmed that her new ''Crossroads'' trilogy of fantasy novels is actually a fictional story within the context of her earlier ''[[Literature/NovelsOfTheJaran Jaran]]'' series of SF novels.
54	* Creator/PeterFHamilton retconned several of his earlier SF short stories to be set in the same universe as his immense, later ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'' and published them in a collection called ''A Second Chance at Eden''. However, he has avoided this phenomenon elsewhere and has created no less than three distinct SF universes existed at similar points in history, making it impossible for them to coexist in the same continuity.
55	* Creator/AlastairReynolds did something similar with several of his early SF short stories, retrofitting them into his ''[[Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries Revelation Space]]'' series of books and publishing the results as a collection called ''Galactic North''.
56	* Creator/GuyGavrielKay's ''Literature/TheFionavarTapestry'' presents the world of Fionavar as so significant that echoes of it appear in the mythologies of every other world in TheMultiverse. His subsequent stand-alone novels ''Literature/{{Tigana}}'' and ''Literature/TheLionsOfAlRassan'', although each set in a different world, each has a moment showing that to be true. ''Literature/{{Ysabel}}'' is more overt, actually featuring several characters from the ''Fionavar Tapestry'' later on.
57	* The Creator/PeterDavid novel ''Howling Mad'' mentions Mayor Penn, who is the returned King Arthur from ''Literature/KnightLife''.
58	* A particularly confusing example is ''The Well of Lost Plots'', which ties the world of ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' into a book ([[Literature/NurseryCrime now a series]]) that Jasper Fforde wrote ''first'', but which was published ''afterwards'' (''The Big Over Easy'', originally ''Nursery Crimes''), and does so by establishing it as fictional within the Nextiverse, although, like all works of fiction, Thursday can enter it, and spends most of the book inside it, being ultimately responsible for its odd mix of genres. Everyone follow that?
59	** To further confuse things, the ''Thursday Next'' stories are themselves fictional within the ''Nursery Crimes'' series.
60	* Creator/AgathaChristie's AuthorAvatar Ariadne Oliver seems to tie several of her series together. She originally appeared in the [[Literature/ParkerPyneInvestigates Parker Pyne]] stories (as did Miss Lemon). Then she became established as a Literature/HerculePoirot character, starting with ''Cards On the Table'' (which also featured Superintendent Battle, who'd previously appeared in the two novels starring Bundle Brent). Then she was the main character in the 1961 novel ''The Pale Horse'', which also featured the vicar's wife from the Literature/MissMarple novel ''The Moving Finger''. And in ''Murder in Three Acts'', Poirot meets Mr Satterthwaite, who previously appeared in ''Literature/TheMysteriousMrQuin'' collection of short stories. Literature/TommyAndTuppence are also linked, since the same slightly unhinged old lady appears in ''The Pale Horse'', the Miss Marple novel ''The Sleeping Murder'', and the Tommy and Tuppence novel ''By the Pricking of My Thumbs'', despite ''Literature/PartnersInCrime'' having them refer to Poirot as a fictional character. Then again, ''Partners in Crime'' mentions Poirot, but not ''Agatha Christie'', and the novel that Tommy references is ''The Big Four'', one of the ones narrated by Hastings, so maybe it was, in-universe, written by Hastings, Watson-style.
61	** Tommy and Tuppence can also be linked to the others through a mysterious character who is only referred to as Mr. Robinson. This character appears with Poirot in ''Cat Among the Pigeons'', Marple in ''At Bertram's Hotel'', and Tommy and Tuppence in ''Postern of Fate''. He also appears in ''Literature/PassengerToFrankfurt'', which does not feature any of Christie's series detectives.
62	* While Creator/KimNewman has seeded connections between his books since the beginning, the short story "Literature/ColdSnap" seems to be a concentrated effort to tie them ''all'' together. A "Literature/DiogenesClub" story (and therefore featuring characters whose AlternateUniverse selves appear in the ''Literature/AnnoDracula'' novels) it adds characters from his early work such as ''Literature/{{Jago}}'', and even features the villain from his ''Series/DoctorWho'' novella ''Time and Relative''. The connection seems to be a case of TheMultiverse, rather than a single world, since some of the characters are more or less explicitly indicated to be alternate versions of the ones from the novels; this may have been the only way to tie the fairly light-hearted action-adventure of the Diogenes Club series to a set of works that shade into outright horror. The events of ''Time and Relative'' are explicitly described by a character with knowledge of the multiverse as having happened in "a continuum several path-forks away from our own", and the ending hints that the events of ''Jago'' will go differently in the Diogenes timeline because of the Club's involvement.
63	** Under the pseudonym Jack Yeovil, Newman wrote a number of books based on Games Workshop properties. ''Krokodil Tears'', one of the ''Literature/DarkFuture'' books, had its BigBad have a vision of an alternate version of himself as the Big Bad from his [[Literature/{{Drachenfels}} Vampire Genevieve series]] of ''Warhammer'' books.
64	* Paul Magrs is a matter of this trope; by his own admission, everything he writes, whether original or franchise-based or plain fanfic, takes place in "a single set of mashed-up universes", though TheMultiverse with a dash of BroadStrokes is sometimes at play.
65	** Iris Wildthyme appeared in his first-ever short story (''Patient Iris'') and in his MagicRealism ''Phoenix Court'' novels, before he revealed she was an extremely eccentric Time Lady when he started writing for the ''Series/DoctorWho'' EU and couldn't resist putting her in (since she was a Dr Who pastiche to start with).
66	** Iris Wildthyme, in her appearances in novels and audios, occasionally interacts with an organisation called MIAOW, the Ministry for Incursions And Other Wonders (simultaneously a parody of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'''s UNIT). This organisation has also turned up in his ''Brenda and Effie'' series of novels set around Whitby. Characters from his Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures novel ''Mad Dogs and Englishmen'', his AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho audio drama ''The Boy That Time Forgot'', and the ''Pheonix Court'' series that featured the original version of Iris have also appeared in this series. A character from one of Magrs' Tenth Doctor novels also reappeared in an Iris Wildthyme short story, along with a character from the Brenda and Effie series.
67	** Additionally, a couple of Magrs's stories (some ''Who'', some not) strongly imply that "the Ministry for Incursions And Other Wonders" is the full name of the Ministry from ''[[Series/TheAvengers1960s The Avengers]]''. One of his Eighth Doctor short stories goes as far as to suggest that the Ministry/MIAOW is also the organisation [[Series/ThePrisoner1967 running the Village]].
68	* Creator/HRiderHaggard's novel ''She and Allan'' brought together Ayesha from ''Literature/{{She}}'' and Allan Quatermain from ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines''.
69	* Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' series of novels was originally 4 books long (initially published in serial form in an SF magazine). In the late 1940s or early 1950s, he took an early work of his named ''Triplanetary'' and retrofit it in with the rest of the ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' universe. He wrote an additional novel, ''First Lensman'', to bridge the gap between the two storylines.
70	* Creator/JulesVerne did this quite a bit:
71	** Most famously, he welded ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'' with his earlier books ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' and ''Literature/InSearchOfTheCastaways'' by adding Captain Nemo from the former and Tom Ayrton from the latter to the cast of characters. However, doing so opened a few [[PlotHole plot holes]], and the time period doesn't quite match.
72	** ''Literature/RoburTheConqueror'' mentions the cannon from ''Literature/TheBegumsMillions''. (Insert inevitable joke about "[[{{Pun}} Cannon Welding]]" here.)
73	* Creator/DavidGemmell has stated that all his books take place in the same world, despite covering vastly different territory, such as a low-magic fairly standard fantasy world (''Literature/{{Drenai}}'' saga), a post-apocalyptic world (''The Jerusalem Man'') and our own world (an Arthurian duology and a duology set in ancient Greece). (Those last three are explicitly connected by the plot device of the [[Literature/StonesOfPower Sipstrassi stones]].)
74	* L. Frank Baum, the author of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', also wrote [[Literature/LandOfOz Oz sequels]] and non-Oz works of fantasy. Through several {{Crossover}}s, he established that all of them take place in the same magical continent, called Nonestica.
75	* Leslie Charteris introduced Inspector Teal in the novel ''Daredevil'' featuring Storm Arden before Teal appeared in ''Literature/TheSaint''.
76	* Creator/PoulAnderson's [[Literature/PolesotechnicLeague Nicholas van Rijn stories]] and Literature/DominicFlandry stories weren't, originally, part of the same universe. But a bit of prodding by fans, and he wrote some bridging so that now they are both part of the ''Literature/TechnicHistory''.
77	* Creator/DaleBrown has done this. Rebecca Furness and Daren Mace, characters originally in the non-Patrick [=McLanahan=] book ''Chains of Command'', joined the main continuity in ''Battle Born'' and ''Warrior Class'' respectively. The eponymous space station of ''Silver Tower'', thought a victim of CanonDiscontinuity because of its long absence from his books, joins the main continuity in ''Strike Force''. TheDragon of non-Patrick [=McLanahan=] book ''Storming Heaven'', Gregory Townsend, is DragonAscendant BigBad of main continuity title ''The Tin Man''.
78	* Creator/IainBanks, in his mainstream (non-SF) literature has said he doesn't do sequels/prequels; though he did include one subtle crossover in ''Complicity'': Cameron's friend Al, an engineer he met on a paintballing weekend, is Alexander Lennox, recovered from his car-crash in ''The Bridge''.
79	* All of Creator/ChristopherMoore's varied books appear to take place in the same verse, whether the setting is modern suburban California or Israel in Jesus's time. Various characters make appearances outside of their respective novels, like angels and vampires and fruit bats. Of course, whether this is actual canon ''welding'' or just his [[TheVerse Verse]] depends on whether Moore had the broad strokes sketched out from the start or just made it up as he went (and tied it together afterwards)!
80	* Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer took this to the extreme in his creation of the Wold Newton Universe. His novels ''Tarzan Alive'' and ''Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life'' link the two heroes' respective families to the same event, the meteor strike in Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England, on December 13, 1795. Other stories, both by Farmer and other writers, have expanded the Wold Newton universe to demonstrate links to Literature/TheScarletPimpernel, Franchise/SherlockHolmes, Literature/TheSpider, Literature/JamesBond, Literature/NeroWolfe, [[Literature/TheMalteseFalcon Sam Spade]], Radio/TheLoneRanger, Radio/TheGreenHornet, and even Franchise/StarTrek.
81	** In a way, his series of books beginning with ''To Your Scattered Bodies Go'' could be considered the logical conclusion of this trope, as he intentionally designed a world in which he could bring in any character from any story written by anyone.
82	* Creator/MadeleineLEngle first connected her "Kairos" and "Chronos" series when Canon Tallis from Kairos novel ''The Arm of the Starfish'' appears in Cronos novel ''The Young Unicorns''; several characters from each series would cross over later.
83	* In ''The Art of Detection'', Laurie R. King welds her wildly successful series about [[Literature/MaryRussell Sherlock Holmes' female apprentice]] to her lesser-known series about a modern San Francisco cop. The novel is a serious MindScrew, as Sherlock Holmes appears to be simultaneously real and fictional in it.
84	* Creator/SimonRGreen's series The {{Literature/Nightside}}, Literature/SecretHistories, and Ghostfinders take place in the same world. And constantly [[ShoutOut reference]] each other. There are also very strong connections to his Deathstalker, Forest Kingdom, and Hawk and Fisher series. And all his other writings.
85	** In the latest Nightside novel there's even a perspective-flipped recreation of a scene from a Hawk and Fisher novel, of the duo waiting at a tavern to meet Razor Eddie.
86	* An [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unreleased]] series of novels (''Alien Exodus'' and ''The Human Exodus'') in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse would have done this between ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Film/THX1138'', and ''Film/AmericanGraffiti''. The novel would have had descendants of the characters from the latter two works warp across time and space to ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway and become the first humans in that place.
87	* Narita Ryohgo wrote links establishing that his three series of light novels -- ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'', ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' and ''Literature/{{Vamp}}'' -- all take place in one universe. For example, Shizuo from ''Durarara'' mentions getting into a fight with person strongly implied to be one of the ''Baccano!'' characters.
88	* It's not clear if this was intended from the start, but a minor character in the ''Starbuck'' series (set in the American Civil War) by Creator/BernardCornwall was revealed in the second book to be the son of Richard Sharpe, the hero of the ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'' series, Cornwall's earlier and more famous series set in the Napoleonic Wars.
89	* Neil Munro wrote two series of short stories for the ''Glasgow Evening News'': ''Erchie, My Droll Friend'' about a Glaswegian waiter, and ''Para Handy, Master Mariner'' about a steamboat going up the West Coast of Scotland. When Erchie needs to take a ship to his daughter's wedding, naturally it's Para Handy's ''Vital Spark''.
90	* Andrzej Pilipiuk has connected his Literature/JakubWedrowycz stories with his more serious trilogy called ''Kuzynki'' (''Cousins'') -- Jakub is mentioned by name in second volume and makes a cameo in third, combined with the illustration to leave no doubt that this is indeed him. This is odd, because in first book of the trilogy Jakub is clearly fictional as one of the characters reads his books and considers them [[SelfDeprecation the evidence that modern Polish literature is terrible]].
91	* E. F. Benson's ''Literature/MappAndLucia'' series only came together with the novel of that title, which brought the characters of ''Miss Mapp'' together with those of two previous ''Lucia'' novels. Although not regarded part of the series ''per se'', another earlier novel ''Secret lives'' was also subsequently tied into the same continuity.
92	* Creator/AnneMcCaffrey:
93	** ''Pegasus In Flight'' and ''Pegasus In Space'' were written as {{Interquel}}s to officially merge the original ''Literature/ToRidePegasus'' with the later ''The Rowan'' and the rest of the ''Literature/TowerAndTheHive'' series into a single continuity.
94	** In one of the ''Literature/CrystalSinger'' novels, the protagonist travels in a BB Ship, the unique form of space travel featured in her earlier ''[[Literature/TheShipWho The Ship Who Sang]]''.
95	* Just about every book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child take place in the same fictional universe. They're probably best known for the Literature/AgentPendergast series, but even their non-Pendergast books share characters that tie in with one another. For example, one of their earlier books, ''Literature/{{Thunderhead}}'', introduced anthropologist Nora Kelly and featured William Smithback from their first Pendergast-related novels; Kelly was later made a recurring character in the Pendergast novels. Two Pendergast novels feature a wheelchair-bound profiler named Eli Glinn, he was introduced in an earlier novel entitled ''Literature/TheIceLimit'' and has later appeared in their new Gideon Crews series of novels. Mime, a hacker from the duo's second book ''Literature/MountDragon,'' has appeared in their later Pendergast novels.
96	* Several of Creator/PiersAnthony's works. The last book of the ''Mode'' series featured a brief trip to ''Literature/{{Xanth}}''. The 27th ''Xanth'' book included a visit to Phaze, a world from the ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' series.
97	* At the end of Creator/ChristopherAnvil's "War With The Outs" series, humanity learns that beyond the Outs' territory, space is controlled by two new alien races, the Stath and the Ursoids. Both of these had previously made appearances in his "Colonization" series, suggesting that the "War With The Outs" stories take place earlier in the same universe.
98	* Susanna Clarke published a short story where one of characters from ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' visits village from Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'', making both stories take place in one world. As far as we know, this is still canonical.
99	* OlderThanRadio: French writer Creator/HonoreDeBalzac wrote a few independant novels and short stories before making recurring characters. He next made the project of making a study of human society and called his work ''The Human Comedy'' (in reference to ''The Divine Comedy'').
100	* OlderThanPrint:
101	** As the original versions of the stories have been lost and had to be speculatively reconstructed by scholars from the evidence of the various German and Scandinavian versions it is hard to tell, but it is quite clear that the ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' is an amalgam of some quite different stories, and it is a matter of conjecture to decide when the welding of the elements occurred and which ones are to be attributed to the author of the Nibelungenlied. The story of the dragonslayer called Siegfried or Sigurd accounts for the first half of the main plot and the originally unrelated story of the death of the Burgundian kings at the hands of the Huns and their king Atli (Attila) for the second. The welding necessitated some changes, thus in the Scandinavian epics that contain just the Atli saga, the sister of Gunther, who is married to Atli, kills her husband to avenge her brothers. In the Nibelungenlied Kriemhild kills her brother using the army of her second husband Etzel (Attila) to avenge the murder of her first husband Siegfried.
102	** A canon-welding that does seem to be the idea of the writer of the Nibelungenlied is the inclusion of Dietrich and his knights in the finale, which fuses the Nibelungen story to the cycle of epics about Dietrich of Bern (Theoderic the Great). In that cycle Attila was presented essentially as a sympathetic character and generous host, not the kind of treacherous and cold-blooded killer as in the Atli sagas.
103	* George Mann's timeline of the ''[[Literature/TheAffinityBridge Newbury & Hobbes]]'' universe, at the back of ''The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes'', includes his Franchise/SherlockHolmes novel, his ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' work and ''Literature/TheGhost2010''.
104	* Creator/RobertEHoward did this a lot with his historical, horror and fantasy stories. Just to name a few examples: Literature/{{Kull}} was explicitly tied with Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian in the essay "The Hyborian Age". Both was tied with the historical-fantasy character Literature/BranMakMorn through the Kull-Bran crossover "Kings of the Night". The ring of Thoth-Amon, from the Conan stories, and worshipers of Bran are featured in Howard's modern horror stories, while both Bran and Kull are mentioned in one of his Turlogh Dubh O'Brien stories set in 1200's. It wouldn't be unreasonable to consider all of Howard's speculative fiction to be part of [[TheVerse the same verse]], even if Howard never lived to point it out himself. And of course Howard and Creator/HPLovecraft making references to each-others in their works was the foundation of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos mention above.
105	* Members of a family named "Hempstock" have appeared in quite a few seemingly unconnected works by Creator/NeilGaiman, including ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'', ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' and, most predominately, ''Literature/TheOceanAtTheEndOfTheLane''. Death from ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' also gets a mention in ''Stardust''.
106	* Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/TheSleeperAndTheSpindle'' posits that the fairy tales Literature/SnowWhite and Literature/SleepingBeauty take place in neighboring kingdoms, with Snow White's prior experience of evil enchantresses and enchanted sleep becoming vital to resolving the latter princess's curse.
107	* Indie author Royce Day's SpaceOpera ''Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures'' series and DieselPunk novella ''Prisoner of War'' both involve characters of a species that resemble humanoid foxes, feature characters who express similar religious and political views, and have a protagonist named Lord Rolas Darktail. But it wasn't confirmed as the same 'verse until ''Shadow of her Sins'' in the former series, which featured a minor character from Gerwart, an expy of Germany from "POW".
108	* There's a ''Literature/{{Flashman}}'' book where the title character (himself originally from ''Literature/TomBrownsSchooldays'') encounters Literature/SherlockHolmes, Watson, and their nemesis Tiger Moran.
109	* Creator/SteveAlten's flagship ''Literature/{{Meg}}'' series and his seventh novel, ''The Loch'', became part of the same continuity with the latter book's sequel ''Vostok''.
110	* An unusual example of an author allowing someone else to Canon Weld their work: the ''Creator/ArthurCClarke's Venus Prime'' series by Paul Preuss have as their premise that many of Clarke's stories are set in a single Verse.
111	* Creator/RolandSmith linked his ''Jacob Lansa'' series with the standalone book ''Sasquatch'' by having Buckley Johnson, a character from the latter, appear in the third ''Jacob Lansa'' book. Lansa later appeared in ''Tentacles'', the second of the ''Cryptid Hunters'' series, and returned in the sequels alongside Dylan Hickock, the protagonist of ''Sasquatch''.
112	* The ''Literature/MarlaMason'' series' ninth book, ''Lady of Misrule'', reveals the author's previously stand-alone novel ''The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl'' to be set in the same universe.
113	* This, alongside ExecutiveMeddling, is the very origin of the ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' series: the author Emilio Salgari had originally written ''The Tigers of Mompracem'' as a stand-alone novel (and made clear in the ending that Sandokan was retiring from piracy) and planned a Tremal Naik series starting with ''The Mistery of the Black Jungle'' (that ended with a CliffHanger), but when reprints of the former outsold the latter by a fair margin the publisher asked Salgari to bring back Sandokan, and ''The Pirates of Malaysia'' starts with Kammamuri from ''The Mistery of the Black Jungle'' learning that Sandokan has unretired... [[OhCrap And the ship he's on has wrecked on his island]].
114	* The Literature/KateShugak novel ''Restless in the Grave'' features an appearance from Liam Campbell, the Alaska State Trooper protagonist of Dana Stabenow's other crime series, and other characters from his books. It may be a FullyAbsorbedFinale as there have been no Campbell novels since, and in ''Restless in the Grave'' [[spoiler:Liam has finally married his long-term love interest, and his mentor Moses is killed off at the climax.]]
115	* "The Dancing Floor", one of Creator/CherryWilder's last published works, combines elements from her Literature/{{Torin}} novels and her Literature/RhomaryLand novels, establishing them as part of the same future history.
116	* Keith Roberts' short story "Unlikely Meeting", published in ''Magazine/{{Interzone}}'' #88, has the eponymous teenage witch from ''Anita'' meet Kaeti from ''Kaeti and Company''. Since Kaeti and company are a UniversalAdaptorCast anyway, he doesn't need to worry much about how it all fits together. (They've both read each others' books but it's not even particularly clear whether that's MutuallyFictional or ATrueStoryInMyUniverse.)
117	* Creator/MatthewReilly: After years of hints - the Supernova from ''Literature/TempleMatthewReilly'' mentioned in ''Area 7'' and ''Hell Island'', Astro appearing in both the Scarecrow adventure ''Hell Island'' and the West novels - it's outright confirmed in ''The Four Legendary Kingdoms'', the fourth Literature/JackWest Jr book, that the two series take place in the same universe, with [[spoiler:Scarecrow appearing as a main character. And then ''The Three Secret Cities'' even off-handedly reveals that ''Literature/TheTournament'' is also a canon historical event, integrating that one too.]]
118	* ''Literature/TheGiverQuartet'': initially a standalone, ''Literature/TheGiver'' is about a boy named Jonas who lives in a FalseUtopia; he escapes at the end, along with baby Gabe, but [[AmbiguousEnding their fate is ambiguous]]. Another Creator/LoisLowry book, ''Literature/GatheringBlue,'' is set in a primitive village AfterTheEnd, but the characters eventually find a more advanced village with characters who ''might'' be Jonas and Gabe; WordOfGod initially said that it was up to reader interpretation. The following sequels, ''Literature/{{Messenger}}'' and ''Literature/{{Son}},'' slowly do away with any ambiguity.
119	* Creator/CliveBarker did this with ''Literature/TheScarletGospels'' distinctly bringing Harry D'Amour and ''Literature/TheHellboundHeart'' and ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}'' character Pinhead together, but there were hints in earlier books this may have been planned for longer. A passing reference in the same novel also ties in the otherwise unrelated ''Literature/ColdheartCanyon''.
120	* The ''Literature/FiveKingdoms'' series is set in the same [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]] as that of the author's previous work, ''Literature/TheBeyonders.'' Two characters who died in the previous series show up in the world's shared afterlife in ''Five Kingdoms,'' and it's mentioned by those characters that the creatures known as torivors who trouble the Outskirts are a problem in their world, too.
121	* Creator/DonaldKingsbury's ''Literature/PsychohistoricalCrisis'': A FanSequel to the ''{{Literature/Foundation}}'' series {{retcon}}s several setting details and ties in Dr Asimov's otherwise unrelated {{Novelette}} "Literature/Nightfall1941". Since it's not "official", it's free to ignore the Robots connection, and does so.
122	* Creator/RexStout, creator of the Literature/NeroWolfe series, also wrote a 1937 novel called ''The Hand in the Glove'' starring a female private investigator called Dol Bonner. The character didn't really take off in the same way that Wolfe did, and eventually Stout incorporated her into the Wolfe series in the 1950s as a recurring character.
123	* Creator/AndreyLivadny has recently combined his extensive ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series with several other series and stand-alone novels into a single [[TheMultiverse multiverse]] titled ''The History of Worlds''. The only commonality between the five distinct universes is the existence of Earth and humanity. Alien races are all different.
124	* The works of Creator/ArthurMachen are all implied to take place in the same universe. Most of his stories are set either in London or somewhere in the English countryside, and there are multiple mystery stories revolving around a Mr. Dyson which are often revealed to have a supernatural element, making it an early example of the OccultDetective trope. His most famous novel, ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'', has one-shot main characters, but one of them —the doctor who [[spoiler:witnesses the BodyHorror scene in the climax]]— sends a manuscript detailing the events he witnessed to "[his] friend D.", a passage which most readers agree to be a reference to Dyson.
125	* Creator/JamesEllroy wrote his most famous books, the LA Quartet, then followed them up with the Underworld Trilogy, set a few years later. A couple characters from the Quartet appear in the Trilogy (Pete Bondurant, most prominently), but it wasn't until Ellroy began his ''second'' LA Quartet with ''Literature/{{Perfidia}}'' and ''Literature/ThisStorm'' that he started formally welding together the first Quartet and Trilogy into a single universe.
126	* A passage in ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' by Creator/CharlesDickens has Ebenezer Scrooge witness spirits outside his chambers after Marley's ghost departs the room, callously greedy people in life who are [[FateWorseThanDeath doomed to wander alone with heavy chains attached to them for eternity, filled with regret for their cruelty in life but can never interfere with the physical world]] (though Marley's ghost was able to warn Scrooge of his fate should he not change his ways, giving his partner a chance to perform a HeelFaceTurn). The CanonWelding comes in when Scrooge recognises one of the spirits as a man in a white waistcoat weeping at being unable to help a poor woman and her child. WordOfGod says that this man is the same man in the white waistcoat from ''Literature/OliverTwist'', who had refused food or help to Oliver when he had asked for more.
127	* Creator/SeananMcGuire's ''Literature/InCryptid'' and ''Literature/GhostRoads'' take place in the same universe, and the ghost characters Rose Marshall and Mary Dunlavy appear in both. Rose guest-stars in the ''[=InCryptid=]'' short story ''The Ghosts of Bourbon Street'' (free on the author's website) and later appeared in book seven of the main series ''Tricks For Free''. Mary appears as a major character in ''Tricks for Free'' and the eighth book, ''That Ain't Witchcraft''.
128	* In Creator/SarahJMaas' ''Literature/CrescentCity,'' it's revealed that the various magical creatures who live on Midgard originally came from different worlds. The second book ends with the protagonist accidentally transporting herself to the world of ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses,'' while there are other references connecting it to ''Literature/ThroneOfGlass'' as well.
129	* [[Creator/BrandonSanderson Brandon Sanderson's]] [[Literature/TheCosmere Cosmere]] is a case of this being planned out from the start. Most of Sanderson's major works (including ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'', the ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'' cycles, ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'', and ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'') are all set in the same universe, with a shared backstory, cosmology, and underlying rules for the various magic systems. To begin with the individual stories are essentially independent, with the crossover elements little more than easter eggs, but as the Cosmere progresses the various continuities are gradually woven together. Increasingly, what happens in Series A will have an impact on what's going on in Series B and C.
130	* Creator/JennMcKinlay brought her three CozyMystery series together in ''Literature/LibraryLoversMysteries'' book 8 (''Death in the Stacks''), in which the main characters from the ''Literature/HatShopMysteries'' and ''Literature/CupcakeBakeryMysteries'' series visit Briar Creek and attend the library's annual Dinner in the Stacks fundraiser. Nick, a photographer from ''Hat Shop Mysteries'', even lends a brief hand in solving the case by letting Lindsey Norris (the protagonist of the ''Library Lover's Mysteries'' series) look through the photos he took of the event.
131	* ''Literature/GoblinsInTheCastle'': While the original story was a standalone, follow-up material connected it to some of Coville's other works.
132	** The 2008 short story ''The Boy With Silver Eyes'' features both the goblins' home of Nilbog and a Guardian of Memory from ''Literature/TheUnicornChronicles'', revealing those settings are connected, and by extension the ''Literature/MagicShop'' series (both ''The Unicorn Chronicles'' and the ''Magic Shop'' series have mentioned the wizard Bellenmore, who helped the dragons leave Earth when it was too dangerous for them to remain).
133	** ''Goblins on the Prowl'' elaborates on this, explicitly mentioning Bellenmore and the departure of the dragons, along with mentioning the events of ''The Dragonslayers'' (that book's Princess Wilhelmina is noted as now being Queen of the Forest of Wonder) and ''The Foolish Giant'' as having happened in the past, with Harry (the titular giant) being a cousin of the father of Bonecracker John, who's a friend of Igor's and tells the story to he and his traveling companions. The story's villain, an evil wizard who ends up being hit with his own Spell of Stonely Toadification, is actually the giant stone toad of Toad-in-a-Cage Castle. [[spoiler: And he's also not actually evil -- it was an act to acquire the ArtifactOfDoom he was trying to get away from the villagers.]]
134	* ''Literature/FallOrDodgeInHell'' by Creator/NealStephenson is a sequel to ''Literature/{{Reamde}}'' that also includes references to ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'' (which is itself strongly tied to ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'').
135

Context CanonWelding / Literature