Episodes 77 - 83 ~ At the Mountains of Madness

[MediaGhost]

Sorry if this is bleeding obvious or has been pointed out before. 

Nope, I hadn't the foggiest clue Lovecraft lifted those names from a doomed expedition.  Lead poisoning and cannibalism, eh?  And here I'd thought the story couldn't get any creepier.  Heck of a first post, TUA!

[Genus Unknown]

Lovecraft didn't exactly "lift the names." Erebus and Terror are the real names of the real volcanoes.

[theuglyamerican]

Lovecraft didn't exactly "lift the names." Erebus and Terror are the real names of the real volcanoes.

Oh of course they are, I never meant to imply they weren't.  But of all the places he could have had his expedition make landfall, he deliberately chose a place that would invoke the specters of another doomed expedition.  It's a very subtle thing, but it speaks to his skill as a writer by this point in his career.  And not only that, it speaks to his sureness about his audience in that he simply tossed it off without comment and relied on them to get the reference. 

[MediaGhost]

Lovecraft didn't exactly "lift the names." Erebus and Terror are the real names of the real volcanoes.

Yeah?  Remind me to cancel my vacation reservations at the Mt. Terror Holiday Inn.  I thought that travel agent looked shifty...

[adamgurri]

I had real trouble with this one. I thought the beginning, when it was all about the excitement of going to barely explored lands, was great, it pulled me right in. But I had a real tough time with the never-ending descriptive passages. I love the mythos but I'm not sure I really absorbed all of it when presented in this form. I'm hoping that listening to the podcast, and then maybe rereading it later, will help me appreciate it more. But this wasn't one that I felt like I had really loved after just the first reading.

[Bob Lovecraft]

This is one of HPL's stories that NEEDS other people's observations. I hate how dense this thing is, and I have to say the podcast helps tremendously with this story. "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" was another story of Lovecraft's that had tons upon tons of details that I missed, and only really caught on to while Chad and Chris broke it down. AtMoM is a great story, but it should be read in small chunks with discussion of each chunk taking place before the next chunk is read.

Bob

[adamgurri]

It's funny because I actually got really sucked into The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

[Bob Lovecraft]

Oh so did I. It is right up there as one of my favorites. But I missed so much of the small details that Chad and Chris picked up on and brought to my attention. It was almost like HPL intentionally tossed out major plot points as one-sentence blurbs. I must have read it 3 times before I ever caught on to the fact that Joseph Curwen used the essential salts of the man who got him killed (for the life of me I can't remember the poor bastard's name) and brought the guy back just for the fun of torturing him. And I never really thought about the B. H. initials belonging to Benjamin Franklin, either. So yeah, the podcasts definitely help when reading stories of this size and complexity.

Bob

[adamgurri]

Oh yeah, the Ben Franklin thing blew me away when they brought it up in the podcast! Hahaha

[Genus Unknown]

I'm going to echo the sentiment of the last several posts and say that AtMoM's density makes it really hard to read, and the podcast is a great help.

I've never actually been a huge fan of this story, but I didn't want to be the first to admit that in front of the other Lovecraft fans. It's full of things that I feel like I should really like, but the overall product feels strangely weak. I can't put my finger on it, but I feel let down by AtMoM somehow. Maybe it's just that nothing can ever really live up to that super-awesome (as Chris would say) title.

[theuglyamerican]

The awkward pacing (in the biological section just podcasted and in the upcoming history section) are certainly hard sledding.  It is Lovecraft's most ambitious story (maybe A Shadow out of Time could rival it, but I think At the Mountains of Madness outdoes it in scope and agenda) and, as I've mentioned before, it's not my favorite.  I think he was showing off his chops when he was writing it and it does wrap up his Mythos very neatly (in large part, anyway) but I think it does suffer from the fact that there's a rip-roaring adventure tale wrapped around a pseudoscientific narrative.  You want more of the really thrilling adventure stuff like magnificent descriptions or terrain, the shocking scene at Lake's destroyed camp, the discovery of the ruined megalopolis, and the flight from the shoggoth, but it keeps being slowed down by the other things he's doing with the story.  I think the story is (editing aside) what Lovecraft wanted to be, which is NOT a rip-roaring adventure yarn.  I have to adjust my expectations every time I come to this story and accept it on its own terms.

[Mike J.]

The only reason I don't murder my co-workers on Thursdays!

Re: Lime juice: I think this is to ward off scurvy. Our boys will be eating dried and canned food for months.

The radio updates: The slightly stilted tone of these (dropping short words, etc) makes me think these are sent in Morse code. Is that confirmed or refuted in the story anywhere?

Re: Pre-Cambrian monsters: Am I the only one who thinks of "Tremors" every time he hears Pre-Cambrian? Allow me to nominate Tremors as an other Lovecraft-inspired film.

Re: Cubical mountain-top mirages: There are certain minerals that naturally form cubical crystals. Salt is a common one. There are also some metallic ones (Pyrite). Bismuth forms very ziggurat-y, stepped pyramid crystals. And mirages, though commonly associated with heat, do occur near the poles. See "Fata Morgana" at Wikipedia.

Re: The Cave: What's the purpose of function of the cave the Elder Ones are found in? Is it supposed to be a garbage dump, or a slaughter house, or what? (The scene of an ill-fated rave?)

Re: the reference to Wilmarth: That's a nice touch, and it makes it seem more like all the professors do work at the same university and talk with each other. Makes me think of "From Arkham to the Stars," where we see many of the old heroes gathered around a table, grumbling about past adventures.

Re: the survival of dogs / robots, post-humanity: There's a string of short sci-fi stories by Clifford D. Simak called "City" involving the evolution of dogs into an intelligent civilization. Interesting stuff, if you're in the mood.

Re: Antarctic exploration: There's a book called "Shackleton's Forgotten Men" about a team that went with Shackleton with the intent of laying supply caches in advance of his primary group (IIRC). They go through hell, enduring scurvy, frostbite, death, etc. Well written. If you're looking for Antarctic exploration stories, I can recommend it.

Thanks for your time, all.


MJ

[Genus Unknown]

By the way, that was a great tidbit in this week's episode about the statue of Zeus that had been underwater for centuries. Sent a chill down my spine.

[Monzach]

I'm confused... where do you guys get your episodes? I can't find anything on the HPPodcraft.com site or through the RSS feed. I don't use iTunes, so I guess if the only way to get the podcast on time is to use the Apple software, I'm not in a good place. 

[Bob Lovecraft]

The radio updates: The slightly stilted tone of these (dropping short words, etc) makes me think these are sent in Morse code. Is that confirmed or refuted in the story anywhere?

Re: Pre-Cambrian monsters: Am I the only one who thinks of "Tremors" every time he hears Pre-Cambrian? Allow me to nominate Tremors as an other Lovecraft-inspired film.

Re: The Cave: What's the purpose of function of the cave the Elder Ones are found in? Is it supposed to be a garbage dump, or a slaughter house, or what? (The scene of an ill-fated rave?)

MJ

Radio: You know, I never thought about the the radio transmitions being in Morse Code before, but that seems very plausible. I don't think it is ever mentioned in the story, but I could have missed it in all of the technical details.

Pre-Cambrian: Holy crap! I think about Tremors every time I hear that term tossed out! I don't care what I am watching/reading/etc., I always immediately think: GRABOIDS!!!!!!

The Cave: I always assumed the cave had been prepared by the Elder Things as a shelter for their long hybernation. It is implied, though I don't think ever stated, that this group was waiting out the eons until conditions were right for them to awaken and rebuild their civilization. And to that end, I always assumed there were other cache's of "survivors" from the war with the shoggoths. Concidering the size of the city, there could be a whole lot more hidden in undiscovered caves under the ice.

Bob

PS - Hey Mozarch, try refreshing the screen when you get to the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast home page. That should bring up the latest version of the page, then just grab the episodes you want.