At the Mountains of Madness

At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft (1936) I guess this is considered a novella, though I’m not sure how many pages it is—I listened to an audiobook version, at about 5 hours. It was originally published in serial form in a science fiction magazine, in the Thirties. It’s fun to imagine readers waiting for the next issue, getting obsessed with this creepy story. It’s about an exploration of Antarctica that then uncovered a lost city of some unknown, pre-human civilization, and the horrific discoveries that go along with that. I’ve been trying to write a similar exploration story for years, so I guess it’s kind of research—but it’s more than anything, my kind of entertainment—at least in this subtle, measured, slow-burn approach. It’s the kind of thing that a movie version CGI monster would ruin for me, ho hum, I guess. But the sane, low-key verbal account—just endless talking—I find that irresistible. You have to imagine, scientists and explorers though history discovering things that contradict previously believed facts, their faith, and other mythologies. Even mountains, deserts, and seas, come upon without prior knowledge of, must have seemed unsettling, though evidence of extinct civilizations even more so. There must have always been speculation that there has been arrivals from other worlds. What I like most about this book, I have to say, is the audio version narrator—his relentless, measured tone—a chillingly lowkey performance. I had to look him up, and it turns out it’s the excellent actor, Edward Herrmann—quite a surprise, in that he’s using a mild British accent. You’ve seen him, here and there—but my favorite roll of his is as “The Headmaster” in the late-Eighties, made-for-TV trilogy of The Lawrenceville Stories—a fantastic, recent discovery.

5.26.26