At the Mountains of Madness, Part 4 (Episode 169 The Good Friends ofJackson Elias)

[Paul Fricker]

We’re back and we’re nearing the end of our expedition. The tunnels below this ancient, pre-human city are full of penguin droppings but somehow these aren’t the foulest things down here. Something has been polishing these floors like a giant protoplasmic Roomba. We’re not sure what it is yet, but it does seem to have a lovely singing voice. Maybe it will be our friend.

Listen here.

This is the penultimate part of our discussion of Lovecraft’s epic, At the Mountains of Madness. We’re well into the action-packed part of the story, with monsters aplenty. Sure, some of these monsters are penguins, but they do look really creepy down here in the dark. Especially the ones without any eyes.

Links

Some of the things we mention in this episode include:

• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
• The lost colony of Roanoke
• Y’ha-nthlei
• “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”
• The Antarctic Regions by Karl Fricker
• Fricker Glacier
• The Generation Game
• Giant penguins!
• Penguin biscuits
• Palimpsests
• “The Shadow Out of Time”
• The Private Life of Elder Things
• The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
• Penguin Fringed Abyss podcast
• Isaac Bonewits
• Yukio Mishima
• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
• Frankenstein
• The Singularity

We have finished laying out issue 5 of The Blasphemous Tome and it will soon be heading to press!

The Tome is the print-only fanzine we produce exclusively for our Patreon backers. This issue features a new scenario for Call of Cthulhu, called “Number 22”, written by very our own Matt Sanderson. You will also find plenty of other juicy articles, stories and artwork, including many contributions from our wonderful listeners! If you would like to secure your copy, simply back us on Patreon by the end of the year. Those who back us (at $3 or more) before we send out the first batch in late November will also receive one of our eldritch Christmas cards.

Matt and Paul will be attending Dragonmeet next month. This one-day convention takes place at the Novotel in West London on the 30th of November. If you see them wandering around looking lost, please say hello and guide them to wherever they need to be.

Paul also offers a brief shout-out to Stephen Twining’s YouTube Channel, Wandering Monsters. While the channel mostly focuses on D&D, recent episodes have discussed Call of Cthulhu and Runequest as well.

We share a marvellous new review from TomasDeTorque in Australia. If you feel inspired to write a review of your own — whether on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you might find podcasts — we would be delighted!

As of episode 171, we shall be dropping the social media segment of the podcast. This is part of our grander plan to retool a few things to keep the podcast fresh.

As part of this retooling, we are also discontinuing the songs we sing to new Patreon backers. This is probably an act of mercy. While they’ve been fun to do, the joke is wearing thin. Thank you to everyone we’ve sung to and we hope the mental scars fade with time!

This episode sees (hears?) us singing to the fine folks behind Trebuchet Magazine. With recent issues about “Space and Time” and “The Human Body”, there is plenty of rich Call of Cthulhu inspiration to be found in its pages.