H.P. Lovecraft

Chapter II tells the story of the advance research party via a series of radio transmissions by the researcher Lake.

The advance party venture further inland via plane. Before long, they make the discovery of a mountain range, hitherto undiscovered and possibly rivalling the Himalayas in scope. As they investigate the mountain range further, they begin to realise that this range dwarfs the Himalayas. Furthermore, there are odd rectangular formations upon the highest peak, which bring to mind images of castles.

At one point during their scouting flights, a sudden onset of violent turbulence causes damage to one plane and grounds the others. Unable to use their planes for now, the party procedes by sled dog. Before long they come across a cave complex which gives way to a huge underground hollow area.

Here they come across a remarkable discovery which excites the listeners. In the cave complex they find more peculiar triangular striations dating back to almost a billion years ago, and fourteen specimens of life previously undiscovered. These beings have barrel-like bodies, starfish shaped toothed heads, and leathery wings. While apparently animals, it is found that they also share a lot of common features with plants. The scientists conclude that it would be difficult to properly classify them without dissection. What is clear is that these triangular striations were made by the starfish heads of the beings. Lake notices the striking similarity between these creatures and the Elder Things described in the Necronomicon.

The group has trouble transporting the specimens, as the sled dogs grow anxious and violent in the presence of them. Fearing that the dogs may damage the specimens, the party resolves to transport the bodies by foot.

The description of the flight again is very similar to that in Unknown Kadath, where Carter and his entourage of ghouls and night gaunts are suddenly borne upon a powerful wind into the entrance hall of the castle upon Kadath. I get that this is a Miskatonic funded expedition, but is the Necronomicon required reading for all students and academics?

Chapter IV pulls back the veil on the convenient lies told in Chapter III.

While the group reported that all but one human body was found and all sled dogs were dead, in fact two human bodies were missing from the campsite and all but one dog was found. Further inspection of the site revealed that clumsy dissections of the human bodies had taken place, and most bodies were missing various chunks. A large pile of viscera was determined to belong to an eleventh human body and the body of a sled dog. Evidently, the cruel imprecise hacks at these bodies hint at early experimentation with dissection equipment. The group rejects the idea that the missing scientist Gedney could be possible for this barbarity. Unfortunately, a need to cover up that events of this site led to the convenient attribution of the deaths to a maddened Gedney.

Though sufficiently scared, the surviving group are singularly taken with a sense of scientific adventure and so seek out the ancient discoveries. The cave mouths leading to the large hollow complex seem suspiciously uniform in size and shape, and are entirely absent of stalactites stalagmites. The group begin to conceive of an intelligent design to the cave complex.

Dyer and fellow Poe reader Danforth ascend the mountain, wanting to see what lies beyond the mountain range. They eventually glimpse beyond the peak to spy an ancient and alien landscape.

This draws the mind back to Carter's shantak flight from Inganok to Leng as the prisoner of the strange merchant. So far this very much seems like a waking world parallel to Unknown Kadath.

Here again we see our favourite Lovecraftian trope of an ostensibly intelligent person being acutely aware of horror and impending doom, yet borne onwards by an insatiable lust for knowledge.

Chapter I of At The Mountains of Madness introduces the story from the perspective of William Dyer, a geologist employed by Miskatonic University.

Dyer is a member of a cross-disciplinary research expedition to Antarctica; his particular interest is in obtaining deep-level specimens with the aid of new drilling machinery. During the voyage to Antarctica, Dyer experiences regular mirages of cosmic castles atop distant mountains.

Upon making land at McMurdo Sound, one research student notes volcanic activity on Mt Erebus and recognises it as the likely inspiration for Edgar Allen Poe's poem Ulalume. Dyer is also a reader of Poe and reminisces on an antarctic scene from the story The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

Some borings promise intersting results, and so the crew dynamites and chisels at a hole to find numerous fossil fragments. One member of the expedition notes curious striations on segments of the rock, which Dyer dismisses as normal. The team later resolve to send a small advance party to scout out interesting areas via plane.

Poe is listed by Lovecraft as one of his literary influences, and a huge inspiration for this story which Lovecraft mentions in the text is Arthur Gordon Pym. Lovecraft was also a keen follower of the Antarctic expedition of Admiral Byrd, which took place in 1928-30.

The mirages of castles atop distant peaks to me is a clear reference to Unknown Kadath which we've read previously in this book club.

Dyer also mentions the Plateau of Leng which we now know is linked geographically to Unknown Kadath. Unsurprisingly, this geologist is very familiar with the blasphemous works of Abdul Al-Hazred.

Chapter III begins with the expedition party at the main base losing contact with the advance party. The group believe that the adverse wind that grounded the group must have damaged all of their radio equipment, and so a second group, including Dyers, ventures out to re-establish contact.

Dyers is disturbed to find a shocking similarity between the vista laid out before him, and the evil Plateau of Leng believed to lie in Central Asia. Dyers supposes that rumours of the Plateau may have long ago been misconstrued to place the plateau in Asia; perhaps it is simply that early rumours were propagated from Central Asia. After all, some dare to hint at a more ancient origin of the infamous Pnakotic Manuscripts, believed to have been written during the most recent ice age. Studying the mountain range further conjures forth images of cyclopean cities perched atop the peaks.

The group eventually finds the site of the advanced party and discovers that the wind has indeed done much damage. However, there is much about the scene that hints at events much more sinister.

Of the twelve members of the advance party, eleven are confirmed dead and the twelfth member is missing. The party's entire retinue of sled dogs have been slaughtered. Of the fourteen specimens of ancient bodies, the eight most well-preserved bodies are missing. The other six bodies have curiously been stood upright, buried in snow, and the snow pillars have been adorned with some dotted script similar to soapstones found by the advance party. Oddly, the wind appears to have damaged all of the probing equipment in such a way that suggests a curious inspection of the equipment.

Fortunately, the buried specimens are sufficient to confirm Lake's description of the bodies. The rescue party packs up what equipment can be salvaged and makes a journey up the mountain by plane. What they find convinces them to conspire never to speak of the expedition in great detail, lest it inspire curiosity. They plot to hide physical specimens of the bodies and to never reveal photographic evidence of their existence. They cannot afford another expedition to venture further into the cave complex and unearth what lies below.

The Pnakotic Manuscripts are another example of some ancient rare tome to which nearly everybody and their gran has access. I'm reminded of the ending of Polaris, where no one believes that the dreamer is some ancient soldier lost in time. All he had to do was namedrop the Pnakotic Manuscripts and have an army of academics at his beck and call.

We've seen the Plateau of Leng mentioned as a Central Asian location in a previous dream cycle story: The Hound. The gravedigger found an ancient amulet that the Necronomicon links to cannibalistic men of Leng.

In Chapter V, Dyer and Danforth descend into the city and investigate.

Dyer and Danforth fly over the cyclopean city. Though the city is only about 50km wide, no matter how far Dyer and Danforth fly they cannot see the end of the city. The roofs of most buildings have long decayed away, and the ruins that remain are coated with such a layer of ice as to hint of abandonment hundreds of millennia ago. Of note to the two is a fixation with five-pointed stars in the architecture.

The city matches the mirages that Dyer frequently experienced, and so he guesses that some array of ice particles in the air must have reflected the image of the city in such a way to fool him. This doesn't explain some of the warped architecture that he saw in the mirage but not now.

The pair land the plane, prepare for a swift take-off, and descend into the maze of the city. Buildings are tight-packed, with no streets of roads. Dyer and Danforth squeeze through tight alleyways, often overshadowed by the buildings drooping over them.

Finding one large star shaped building still mostly in tact, Dyer and Danforth plan to leave a paper trail and to wander in.

Again Dyer makes frequent references to Lovecraftian entities and artifacts of antiquity: he speaks of Leng, the ancient race of Mi-Go, the formless creature Tsathoggua, and the Pnakotic Manuscripts. He states how the city is unfathomably ancient, such that fabled ancient lands such as Atlantis, Lemuria, and Olathoë would be considered a relatively recent affair. He states this city as being contemporary with the sunken city of R'lyeh, Ib in the land of Mnar, and the Nameless City.

Here Lovecraft makes numerous references to previous tales from the Cycle. Olathoë and the Pnakotic Manuscripts are references to the very first dream story, Polaris. Leng is mentioned often but first mentioned in Celephaïs. Iv in the Land of Mnar is the ancient city of moon people destroyed by the people of Sarnath. And finally the Nameless City itself is mentioned.