Episode 168: At the Mountains of Madness Part 3

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2019/10/29/at-the-mountains-of-madness-part-3/

We’re back and we’re catching up with some history. Happily, the folks who lived here before documented the entire story of their civilisation in easy-to-read comics. Even more conveniently, they carved them on walls everywhere. If more graffiti were like this, we would all be historians. Sure, it’s in an alien language and filled with concepts beyond human comprehension, but that won’t stop us piecing it together. Just give us a few hours.

This is the section of At the Mountains of Madness in which Lovecraft tells us of the decline and fall of the Old Ones. While we’re experiencing the story at two degrees of remove, it’s still quite gripping. More importantly for Call of Cthulhu players, this is probably the largest history of the Mythos Lovecraft offered us in any of his tales.

This is also the part of the novel where things really get moving and the novel turns into a full-bore horror story. You will find gore, slime and sinister penguins aplenty down here in the dark. Better still, the narrative pace accelerates like a speeding shoggoth.

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• Eurythmy
• Petrified wood
• The Two-Headed Serpent
• “The Shadow Out of Time”
• “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”
• “The Thing on the Doorstep”
• Our episode about Hastur
• Crack in the World
• The origins of the Moon
• Barbapapa
• “Shoggoths in Bloom”
• The Private Life of Elder Things
• “The Whisperer in Darkness”
• The Loney

News

The Blasphemous Tome issue 5

We have started work on issue 5 of The Blasphemous Tome! This is the print-only fanzine we produce exclusively for our Patreon backers. Once again, this issue will feature a new scenario for Call of Cthulhu, called “Number 22”, written by our own Matt Sanderson. You will also find plenty of other juicy articles, stories and artwork. If you have any short pieces of prose (no more than 500 words) or black-and-white art you would to submit, please send them our way before the end of this month!

Dragonmeet 2019

At least some of us shall be attending Dragonmeet next month. The one-day convention takes place at the Novotel in West London on the 30th of November. If you see any of us wandering around, please do say hi (or anything else that takes your fancy). We’ll try not to bite. Paul will again be taking part in a seminar with Baz and Gaz of the Smart Party Podcast - please drop by and say hi!

Other Stuff

Songs

If, like some of the unfortunate members of the Miskatonic expedition, you were vivisected by an alien monstrosity, you may well cry out in terror and agony. We, on the other hand, scream with pleasure in honour of two new $5 Patreon backers. These cries are no less bloodcurdling, however.

Also, be warned that we are making some changes to our backer rewards soon. Once we have worked our way through our current backlog of $5 Patreon backers, we shall stop recording new songs. They have been great fun to do, but as listeners with ears as keen as young Danforth’s may have noticed, we are struggling to keep them fresh. We hope that their discontinuation will prove more of a relief than a disappointment.

Review

We share a marvellous new review from hobsoninthehills in the UK. 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!