******Beginning of Part Seven*******

March [Madness] continues up a Mountain [of Madness] Tee-Hee. It is currently a snow and cold day as I type this. I have a day off and what better way to spend it then enjoy this shoggoth of a tale. The HP Lovecraft Historical Society audiobook of this tale clocks over four hours long. I keep forgetting that this is one of HPL’s longer tales, if not his longest.

So, buckle up in your aëroplane, get your sledge dogs ready, and have your old school electric torches fully charged, it is time for us to venture into . . .

2# At the Mountains of Madness

Of all the works I have placed on this list, this is a lengthy one. But in my mind, its length adds to its appeal. It has so much space to breathe and let the mystery and horror slowly burn. There is so much to this story that I am still amazed to this day that a streaming series has not been made of it. Though, it might be a hard sell, given how unconventional it is.

Director Guillermo del Toro has been trying to make a movie of this novella forever. I do hope Netflix or someone funds him enough to direct or produce a miniseries of this tale. Though a lot of pre-production material exists, including a script reviewed by one of my favorite podcasts, “How did this not get made” which I will link here:

https://www.pipedreampodcasts.com/how-did-this-not-get-made

There have been other medias successfully produced that were inspired by this classic tale of Lovecraftian horror. Manga artist Gou Tanabe made a stunning and beautifully drawn comic series of the story which looks absolutely badass. Dark Adventure Radio Theatre by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society has an audiodrama adaptation. A virtual reality game called “Edge of Nowhere” from 2016 is based on the story which looks like a horrific and fun time.

There are a few different media I found doing a search that were inspired by this amazing work of weird and horror fiction. I’m making a list of stuff to check out as I look these up. So good!

I put this tale at number 2 for a reason. It is so damn engrossing, engaging, entertaining, and enrapturing. And this is just the intro, and here I am rambling on. Without further adieu, we venture into . . . the mountains of madness!

I — Okay, a lot of this first chapter is exposition and HPL being just a huge geek when it comes to exploration. There are so many technical turns and scientific concepts in this chapter that I’m actually impressed with the amount of research HPL had done.

The Antarctic was just being explored during his time and this sparked his imagination. Also the Edgar Allen Poe Novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, heavily inspired HPL to write this story. The Poe story is name dropped here in this story, as is HPL’s own Necronomicon. Yeah, we are only in chapter one and already the Necronomicon is brought up. That’s not foreboding at all.

Also HPL mentions a painter by the name of Nicholas Roerich and he describes the artist’s work as disturbing. But I looked up this guy’s paintings and they are both peaceful and badass to look at. They are mostly paintings of mountains, which make sense given this story's setting. Look up Roerich’s work, if you haven’t already. I would not mind hanging one of his paintings in my study.

The narrative in this first chapter does give a sense of being just engulfed and smothered by the cold and uninhabitable mountains plains of the south pole. It’s winter as I write this in real time and I can almost feel the chilling winds and smell the ice. HPL is boss at describing settings, something I always struggle with. This opening chapter does paint a Roeichian picture of the titular mountains of madness.

II — Holy smokes, so much technical and scientific terms are thrown at you in this chapter, it might as well be a lecture of archaeology and discovering weird alien lifeforms. It’s cool but wow, do people write like this in sci-fi stories anymore? I’m both impressed and horrified at the mountainous amount of terminology and detail HPL put into this chapter.

Oh, and nice shout out to your pale, Clark Ashton Smith, HPL. And his paintings are disturbing, you say? Are they actually cool and badass like Roeich—holy crap! Yeah, CAS had an imagination for disturbing stuff, wow! I’m impressed and inspired, CAS’s work is something to behold! I can see why HPL and CAS were bros, they have a common taste for the weird and macabre.

So, I have a question, is it animal, vegetable, or mineral? Is it an Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man?!!! Sorry, I’m a comic geek and just had to. But the way the Elder Things are described, I kind of was thinking of that weird super-villain from DC comics.

Oh and every time the Elder Things are described as tough yet flexible, I giggled. And I don’t really know why. At least HPL didn’t call them dank, otherwise I might have split open from laughter.

And once again, like from Dunwich Horror, we get foul smells and dogs barking. It’s almost like these Miskatonic scholars keep finding things they should not. This time will be different, nothing bad will happen this time. Hee-hee.

III — So, to warn you now reader, there is dog death. It’s not in any detail but dogs do die in this story. So, if you are sensitive to harm coming to dogs, just watch out for this chapter.

Oh and a Tsathoggua name drop! “Eldritch Garfield” for the win!

And another painter, Scoresby is mentioned. Oh, this guy had a thing for whales, ships, and glaciers. Cool stuff.

Oh and something about winds being the cover story for something far more horrifying decimating the first exploration team’s camp. This is when we get into the thick beef of this story. And it's only chapter four . . .

IV — Look up Giants’ Causeway, kind of freaky how nature can make such a clear geometric landscape. This is but a taste of what lays ahead in the mountains of madness.

So, our narrator Dyer [whom we first met back in 3#], flashes back to when he and his colleague Danforth venture further into the mountains. Honestly, I’m not sure how much more of play-by-play I can do without spoiling too much more. Or end up making this one entry of the article more lengthy and maddening then the whole thing itself. We shall see . . .

V — 🎵”We built this city, built this city on . . . Eldritch Horror!” 🎵

VI — In video games, there exists a genre called “Metroidvania” which takes its name as a mix of the franchises “Metroid” and “Castlevania”. These are exploration games and I could not listen to this chapter without picturing the two explorers as 2D characters jumping and climbing around an alien city. I would totally play a video game based on the city in the Mountains of Madness. I’m surprised there is not one, actually. Seems like a missed opportunity.

VII — Yeah! Shoggoths are finally mentioned! Love the shoggoth. It’s my second favorite monster in the Cthulhuian mythos. And this chapter is all about the thick history of the Elder Things. There is so much here I’m sure other authors who love HPL’s work have elaborated on. There is a lot here and I want to say these intelligent aliens are the most detailed of all of HPL’s creatures. I’m down to read more on the Elder Things.

VIII — Elder Things fled into the sea like a bunch of lemmings being chased into a river by a film crew. What killed the Elder Things? The Ice Age! . . . and other reasons. I just like the idea that the city the two explorers are in is the Elder Things’ summer vacation spot before the Ice Age really took over. That is just a hilarious thought right there. So much history Dyer and Danforth have discovered about this alien race. It’s almost enough to drive someone mad 😁

IX — It’s awkward when you're exploring what you thought was an abandoned alien city, and the aliens you found frozen are also in the city. The same ones that your friends rudely awakened and they stole all their stuff. Do you continue to explore? Yup, because “for science!”

X — Penguins! Finally we get to the penguins! And oh, they are so cute how grotesques and monstrous they are in this realm of dark ancient culture. I wonder how they tasted?

Oh, and there is a tunnel to unknown depths. I wonder what's down there . . .

XI — Hey, Dyer and Danforth finally run into Elder Things and . . . oh . . . umm . . . that’s not good. You should probably turn back and . . . RUN!

XII — I will not spoil because this is an awesome conclusion. There is so much yet so little. The last two chapters are certainly where the climax makes all other chapters previous worth reading.

Oh, wow, there you have it! “At the Mountains of Madness”! Now, after experiencing that story again, I can safely say that it is one of HPL’s finer tales. There is even a moment where the narrator relates to the alien creatures. This could hint to HPL’s growing understanding that his racial views and perception of different cultures may have been false. I’d like to think that this small hint of comradery by the narrator with aliens is a tiny hint of such a change.

Anyway, it is understandable why this tale is one of the most recognized and celebrated of HPL’s works. However, admittedly, this one might be a tough cookie to crack for beginners of HPL’s work. I do recommend finding an audiobook and taking the story in short bursts. I did this one revisit in one sitting which I kind of don’t recommend doing.

I do highly recommend the story itself though. It is wholly removed from typical story tropes and conventional narratives. This is a story most readers will likely have never read before. And I do challenge someone to read it. I did a long time ago and it is an interesting and rewarding work to read in small bursts.

If you are looking for an audiobook of “At the Mountains of Madness” and other HPL tales, check out the HP Lovecraft Historical Society site.

https://www.hplhs.org/

******End of Part Seven******