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IN THE MAD MOUNTAINS
Stories Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
By Joe R. Lansdale
Fiction / Horror / Short Stories / Sci-Fi
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Pages: 256
Publication Date: October 15, 2024
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SYNOPSIS
“Joe Lansdale squares up to the Great Old Ones―and taps into rich veins of awe and wit, with always a backbeat thrum of cosmic terror.”
―Kim Newman, author of the Anno Dracula seriesEleven-time Bram Stoker Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep) returns with this wicked short story collection of his irreverent Lovecraftian tributes. Lansdale is terrifyingly down-home while merging his classic gonzo stylings with the eldritch horrors of H. P. Lovecraft. Knowingly skewering Lovecraft’s paranoid mythos, Lansdale embarks upon haunting yet sly explorations of the unknown, capturing the essence of cosmic dread.
A sinister blues recording pressed on vinyl in blood conjures lethal shadows with its unearthly wails. In order to rescue Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn traverses the shifting horrors of the aptly named Dread Island. In the weird Wild West, Reverend Jebidiah Mercer rides into a possessed town to confront the unspeakable in the crawling sky. Legendary detective C. Auguste Dupin uncovers the gruesome secrets of both the blue lightning bug and the Necronomicon.
Exploring the darkest corners of the human psyche, here is a lethally entertaining journey through Joe Lansdale’s twisted landscape, where ancient evils lurk and sanity hangs by a rapidly fraying thread.
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REVIEW
HALL WAYS REVIEW: What an eclectic, delicious collection of creepy short stories that Joe Lansdale has written in In the Mad Mountains.
I haven't read much H.P. Lovecraft, but I feel like I have (should?) given how many other stories I've read where the authors say their writing was influenced by him. I gobbled up Joe Lansdale's stories and found his writing to be engaging and outstanding -- and the stories stuck. Even months after finishing the book, driving in West Texas, past a desolate field of prairie grass shifting in the wind, I shivered and thought of the human-like but faceless Wanderers from "The Tall Grass." Flying over the odd mountains of Arizona, I recalled the creatures from the collection's title story, In the Mad Mountains, and felt sure if I looked hard enough, I'd see sucker-covered tentacles poking out from the crevices.
From story to story, the way Lansdale constructs his sentences allows readers to hear the voices of the memorable characters and become immersed in the scenes. Frequently, I was as desperate as the characters to escape their predicaments. That's because Lansdale knows how to craft passages that crawl up the back of your neck and make your hair stand on end, all the while compelling you to keep turning the pages.
"Just goes to show you can talk common sense a lot more than you can act on it." -- Huck Finn in Dread Island
The stories range from terrifying to perplexing and at times, poignant. The variety feels like sampling from the finest literary buffet and for me, stepping out of my comfort zone to try a new dish. Not one story was disappointing, and I'm interested in checking out more of Lansdale's books, especially to get more of characters Dana Roberts and Auguste Dupin. And slimy monsters with beaks and gnashing teeth. Those too.
In In the Mad Mountains, prepare for top-notch world building in otherworldly places you will NOT want to visit unless it's from safely within the pages of the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of nearly four dozen novels, including Rusty Puppy, the Edgar award-winning The Bottoms, Sunset and Sawdust, and Leather Maiden. He has received nine Bram Stoker Awards, the American Mystery Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas.
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In the Mad Mountains.
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Terrific review, Kristine. You're so right about how the stories stay with you. Good stories tend to do that. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Maryann. And you should know! You know how to write them!
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