Literature / Andrew Doran

Punching Nazis and squid.

The Andrew Doran series is a Cthulhu Mythos Two-Fisted Tales action adventure series by Matthew Davenport. Doctor Andrew Doran is an Adventurer Archaeologist in the employ of Miskatonic University during the build-up to World War 2. An expert on the Cthulhu Mythos and its various monsters, he is shocked and horrified to discover the Nazis have started using the occult in their plots to Take Over the World.

Rather than a Cosmic Horror story, the Andrew Doran series is a mostly Black-and-White Morality tale of our arrogant protagonist working to engage in larger-than-life battles agaisnt supernatural monsters. The resemblance to Indiana Jones is deliberate and frequently homaged in-universe.

Books in the series include:

• Andrew Doran Omnibus (volume 1)
  • "The Early Adventures of Andrew Doran" (Short story)
  • "Andrew Doran and the Forever Gate" (Novellette)
  • "Andrew Doran and the Journey to the Serpent Temple" (Novelette)
  • The Statement of Andrew Doran (Novel)
  • Andrew Doran at the Mountains of Madness (Novel)
  • "Andrew Doan and Obsidian Key" (Novelette)
  • "Andrew Doran and the Crawling Caves" (Novella)
  • Andrew Doran and the Scroll of Nightmares (Novel)

It has a Distant Sequel Spin-Off in Miskatonic University - Elder Gods 101 that takes place in the present day. Many of the Andrew Doran stories can also be found in the Books Of Cthulhu anthologies.

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The Andrew Doran series contains the following tropes:

Series Wide

• Academy of Adventure: Miskatonic University is the source of Andrew Doran's funding as well as resources. It's, sadly, also the reason the bad guys are able to get access to supernatural forces when they steal the Necronomicon.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: Andrew Doran's official job description is serving as an archaeologist in the service of Miskatonic University. In truth, he's long since abandoned most of his academic aspirations to focus on battling the Mythos.
• Archenemy: The Cthulhu Mythos and Nazis are this to Andrew Doran but, specifically, the Traum Kult or Dream Cult that combines both.
• Black-and-White Morality: The Cthulhu cults and the Nazis are allied in their plots to Take Over the World. Andrew Doran wants to stop them. It doesn't get much more black and white than that.
• Black Magic: The only kind that exists in the setting. Andrew can use some of it but all of it is dangerous and tied to the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Canon Welding: Captain Cross from the Harry Stubbs series regularly shows up with author David Hambling's permission.
• Cult: As to expected in a Cthulhu Mythos story.
  • The Night Watchers are a cult that worships Nightgaunts.
  • The Esoteric Order of Dagon is attempting to rebuild itself.
  • The Traum Kult is a group of Cthulhu Mythos worshiping Nazis.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Andrew Doran has never faced the Big C or any of the Outer Gods but he has defeated shoggoths, zombie Nazis, and other creatures.
• Cute Monster Girl: As befitting their Pulp roots, numerous monster-related women are still gorgeous.
• Expy: Andrew Doran is one for Doctor Henry Jones. The big difference being that Andrew Doran is a lot less rough and tumble and more scholarly despite still being a two fisted adventurer. He's also more interested in fighting occult conspiracies than teaching.
• Fantastic Nuke: The post-'Statement of Andrew Doran books take place after the invasion of Normandy so the Nazis want to use the Cthulhu Mythos to turn around the war. Andrew Doran saysummoning the Great Old Ones will bring about The End of the World as We Know It but the Nazi are crazy enough to try.
• Fish People: The Deep Ones hybrids are not limited to Innsmouth but exist all over the world, doing EVIL.
• Ghostapo:
  • The Traum Kult are described as "Hitler's personal psychic assassins" and are up to their neck in Wolfenstein-esque shenanigans.
  • The Ahnenerbe eventually replace the Traum Kult and are a direct branch of the SS. Also a Aluminum Christmas Trees organization.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Dean Smythe states this early on and Andrew Doran doesn't disagree.
  "A man like you makes a man like me wonder, Dr. Doran. How much of yourself do you lose every time you take that peek into the void?"
• Hunter of Monsters: Andrew's professed profession since he graduated Miskatonic University with destroying Artifact of Doom objects being his secondary objective.
• Insufferable Genius: Andrew Doran is supremely arrogant about his ability to deal with the Mythos and cultists. It often results in mistakes and his few failures.
• It Belongs in a Museum: Subverted despite Andrew Doran being an Expy of Indiana Jones. Andrew believes most of the occult artifacts he finds should be destroyed or buried away in a vault like radioactive waste.
• Lovecraft Lite: Pretty far to the Lite portion of the spectrum with Andrew Doran being a heroic two-fisted adventurer battling Nazis, Great Old Ones, cultists, and monsters while walking away with victory (nearly) every time.
• No Swastikas: The original covers for The Statement of Andrew Doran and Andrew Doran at the Mountains of Madness had these since, well, Andrew fights Nazis in WW2. The revised version removed these out of sensitivity according to Word of God.
• Occult Detective: A lot of Andrew's activities when he's not doing archaeology or outright war with the monsters is this sort of thing, including investigating murders as well as other Mythos activity.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Andrew Doran, like his film inspiration, strongly dislikes teaching and hates anything to do with the bureaucracy of academia.
• Psychic Powers: Andrew Doran is a powerful Dreamer and capable of seeing ghosts among other spectral phenomenon.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Andrew delivers a blistering one to Miskatonic University's dean over their handling of the Necronomicon.
• Red Baron: Andrew Doran is known among shoggoths as Klgthorf AKA "The cockroach that bites."
• Religion of Evil: Every cult that worships the Cthulhu Mythos is depicted this way.
  • The Night Watchers are a bunch of Nightgaunt worshipers who are tied to the Dreamlands.
  • The Esoteric Order of Dagon still wants to bring about the end of the world.
  • The Traum Kult are a bunch of Nazi worshipers of Cthulhu.
• Shout-Out:
  • The books are filled with references to virtually every single H. P. Lovecraft story ever written.
  • To the Harry Stubbs series by David Hambling and Cthulhu Armageddon by C.T. Phipps. Captain Cross shows up in multiple books as does a letter from J.H. Booth.
• Snakes Are Sexy: Whenever a Serpent Person female appears, they're invariably incredibly beautiful.
• Snake People:
  • Andrew Doran and the Forever Gate Bethany is one of the Serpent Men race of Howardian fame.
  • The Serpent People play a big role in Andrew Doran and the Journey to the Serpent Temple
• Take Over the World: The ambition of the Nazis and the Traum Kult.
• Those Wacky Nazis: Interestingly, the majority of the books are set after America has entered World War 2 and they're desperate for a miracle solution to their conflict with the enemy. This makes them more reliant on the Traum Kult to give them a miracle to win the war.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: As befitting something set in the Cthulhu Mythos, Andrew has dealt with numerous books relating to this, including the Necronomicon.
• Too Dumb to Live: Andrew Doran expresses this about Miskatonic University about their handling of the Necronomicon due to the fact they treat it as any other academic resources when they know magic is real.
• Two-Fisted Tales: Andrew Doran is a Genius Bruiser and square-jawed hero, even if he's more obnoxious and prideful than the majority of pulp heroes. He's up against Nazis, evil cultists, and monsters. The books are done in a deliberate episodic pulpy style reminiscent of older serialized fiction.
• Weakened by the Light: Cthulhu Mythos creatures are primarily nocturnal and dislike being in the light.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Andrew Doran tends to default to the idea that nonhuman=evil. As such, he doesn't hesitate to trade Olivia away in a Deal with the Devil once he finds out she's a product of his Dreaming.

The Early Adventures of Andrew Doran

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Adam Sturn is a malevolent ghost that wants to steal Andrew's body.
• Black Magic: Adam Sturn uses this to try to achieve immortality.
• Kid Hero: Andrew is only thriteen years old when he encounters the supernatural for the first time.
• Immortality Seeker: Adam Sturn killed himself in order to be able to become an immortal body stealing ghost.
• I See Dead People: Andrew discovers he has the ability to see ghosts, though he only encounters one.
• Kill It with Fire: Andrew ends up burning down Adam Sturn's house and banishing his ghost.
• Grand Theft Me: Adam Sturn wants to steal Andrew's body so he can live again.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Adam Sturn's ghost is able to interact with Andrew Doran and objects but had to be created by him committing ritualistic suicide.
• Starter Villain: Andrew Doran faces his first opponent in the ghost of Adam Sturm.
• Thanatos Gambit: Adam killed himself in a gory way using a shoggoth to move his spirit out of his body in hopes of taking over his neighbor's son's body.
• Uncertain Doom: It's unclear if Adam Sturn was killed for a second time or just decided to go for easier prey.

Andrew Doran and the Forever Gate

• Actually Not a Vampire: Andrew starts the adventure hunting a vampire that turns out to have been a sorcerer using Blood Magic.
• Alien Landmass: Once Andrew and Bethany enter the gates, they visit multiple alien worlds and environments.
• Bad Guy Bar: The Eel's Liver Tavern is full of people who are partially related to the Mythos.
• Bait-and-Switch: Andrew is asked what Bethany has in mind when they have the night free before they go onboard the Janus cruise liner. They end up studying the occult together.
• Big Bad: Julie Carter is a sorcerer who wishes to claim the power of Yog-Sothoth for herself.
• Cute Monster Girl: Bethany is a Serpent Woman but has a human appearance except for her inhuman eyes as well as a taste for mice. Andrew Doran is certainly attracted to her as well.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Zadie Allen grew up in Innsmouth as a pure blooded human, so she definitely has this.
• Defector from Decadence: Bethany Coombs is a Serpent Man (or woman) who works against extra-dimensional evils as well as the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Fantastic Racism: The Eel's Liver Tavern is a refuge for those of partially inhuman blood to seek refuge.
• Human Sacrifice: Julie Carter offers numerous human beings up to Yog-Sothoth in hopes that it can steal away their time in order to gain some of the Outer God's power.
• Mythology Gag: Zadie Allen is presumably the daughter or some other relation of Zadok Allen from The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
• You Killed My Father: Andrew has had several encounters with the children of monsters seeking revenge on him for his Hunter of Monsters ways.

Andrew Doran and the Journey to the Serpent Temple

• Ancient Tradition: The Serpent People tribesmen who guard the Temple of Rthar.
• And Then What?: Andrew notes Elena's plan is to acquire the Idol of Yig to be able to communicate with their god but it is missing a few steps to convincing it to kill all humanity.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: Despite Andrew fighting the real thing, Nathan and Elena want to exterminate humanity and replace them with the Serpent People.
• Batman Gambit: Andrew uses the Idol of Yig as part of an elaborate con to get Nathan and Elena to break the temple's taboos.
• Benevolent Abomination: Yig turns out to be one of these as he's the primary reason the human race hasn't been exterminated by the Serpent People.
• Benevolent Precursors: The Serpent People turn out to be this as they are older, wiser, and more technologically advanced than humanity.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Elena is friendly to Andrew Doran and mildly flirtatious but actually a genocidal monster.
• Exact Words: Andrew Doran said he'd give them the box, he didn't say the box contained the Idol of Yig.
• Fantastic Racism: Nathan and Elena are part of a faction of Serpent People who want to exterminate humankind.
• Femme Fatale: Elena attempts to flirt with Andrew in order to win him over but he sees right through her.
• Karmic Death: Nathan and Elena break sacred taboo and are killed by a hundred hurled spears.
• Macguffin: The Idol of Yig allows one to communicate with the deity.

Andrew Doran and the Obisdian Key

• Artifact of Doom: The Obsidian Key is linked to Yog-Sothoth and thus is too dangerous for anyone's hands. Even Andrew's.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The goal of the Crusaders was to use the Obsidian Key to physically enter Heaven.
• Bittersweet Ending: Andrew destroys the corpse golem with his magic sword and tries to destroy the Obsidian Key but believes the key can't be so easily disposed of.
• Body Horror: The Crusaders were molded into an enormous corpse monster to serve as its protector.
• Evil Stole My Faith: The Crusaders now believe Yog-Sothoth is the Christian God. Since this is a Cthulhu Mythos work, they may be right.
• Guardian Entity: The Obsidian Key is guarded by a Body Horror fusion of a half-dozen Crusaders into one being.
• I Lied: Andrew Doran betrays his word to the Crusaders by cheating in their contest in order to get the Obsidian Key.
• Knight Templar: A bunch of literal ones in this case, intending to use the Obisdian Key to go directly to Heaven.
• MacGuffin: The Obsidian Key is an artifact of incredible power but we don't know what it does, precisely.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: Historiae Tenebras or The Dark Histories that are related to the Knights Templar and the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Andrew Doran visits a trap-filled tomb manned by immortal Crusaders to retrieve a holy object.

Andrew Doran and the Crawling Caves

• Alien Invasion: The insect horde of Callisto intends to invade Earth and strip it clean of all life.
• All Planets Are Earth-Like: Callisto almost certainly doesn't have a race of sentient insects ready to invade Earth but it fits perfectly with the book's pulpy roots.
• Artifact of Doom: The Al Azif is the inspiration for the Necronomicon. It is far more powerful and alive.
• Barbarian Hero: Donny Bear is a bow-wielding hermit who lives in the woods and has a great deal of knowledge about the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Big Bad: Her Holiness...Patricia.
• Cult: The Al Azif worshipers worship the insects of Callisto.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Patricia is torn apart by the Al Azif and used to create the book's next incarnation.
• The End... Or Is It?: Bear (correctly) speculates the Al Azif cannot be destroyed and simply changed forms.
• Horde of Alien Locusts: The insect invaders of Callisto are compared to this and arguably are a literal example. They intend to use the Al Azif to travel to Earth and proceed to loot the planet, enslave humanity, and the move on.
  "They aren’t coming here to bring religious order, they are coming here to rule, subjugate, and devour our planet like an enormous plague of locusts.”
• I Have Your Wife: Andrew Doran's sister, Mary, has been kidnapped by Al Azif worshipers in hopes of getting the book from Miskatonic's armory.
• Insistent Terminology: Andrew Doran refuses to be addressed by his first name instead of doctor.
• The Man Behind the Man: Vhourvath is the insects of Callisto's philosopher king. He is the one behind the Al Azif worshipers.
• Path of Inspiration: The Al Azif cultists have been mislead by the aliens of Callisto into believing that they will be ushering in an age of peace and justice.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Donny prefers to use arrows because it's easier to draw magic glyphs on them.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Al Azif is one of these but has powers and mystical properties independent of being a book.
• Tom the Dark Lord: The leader of the Al Azif cult is named Patricia.

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