Beyond the Mountains of Madness

"The umbrella has collapsed. The portal is open."

This one was sure a beast getting onto the street, but — finally, at long last — here it comes. Some years back, editor Robert M. Price approached me wondering whether I might be interested in writing a story for an anthology based on H. P. Lovecraft's short novel, At the Mountains of Madness, which is one of his better known — and one of my personal favorite — works of fiction. Of course I was, so I wrote a story, titled "The Danforth Project," which takes place in contemporary times. In it, a phenomenon in Antarctica reveals a mountain range that has never been seen — except by a number of individuals, specifically, those from Lovecraft's tale plus a handful of others over a long span of years. An air reconnaissance mission is hurriedly launched to investigate, and most of my story is an account of the pilot's experiences on his long excursions over the mysterious Antarctic continent. Solidly based on Lovecraft's epic work, I've also woven in a bit of lore from some of his other tales, "Dreams in the Witch House" being the most prominent of them.

Dark Quest Books was initially slated to produce the book, but over time, problems with the publisher began to mount. Some authors were paid, some were not. A few copies of the book were printed, but it was never put into official release, and for all intents and purposes, as a product, it died a cold, ignominious death — at least until Celaeno Press, which had recently come onto the scene with In the Court of the Yellow King (which includes my story, "Masque of the Queen"). Publisher Edward Lipsett and editor Price worked to get the book repackaged, using the same cover art and most of the same content, with two additional tales. At long last, the deal was done, and now the book is available for purchase. I can safely say this one is a winner, and my hat is off to all parties who worked hard to make this happen. There couldn't have been a more deserving volume to be rescued from the pit into which it had been shamefully discarded.

Besides myself, contributors to Beyond the Mountains of Madness include Ken Asamatsu, Glynn Owen Barrass, Pierre Comtois, Laurence J. Cornford, Cody Goodfellow, C.J. Henderson, Willie Meikle, Edward Morris, William Patrick Murray, Joe Pulver, Peter Rawlik, and Brian M. Sammons, with a special guest appearance by Weird Tales legend John Martin Leahy and an introduction by Robert M. Price.

Here's a link to the Amazon page: Beyond the Mountains of Madness

Beyond the Mountains of Madness

It's been a long, strange road for this volume of blood-chilling tales to see the light of day. A few years back, director Guillermo del Toro was all set to make a big-screen adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's acclaimed short novel, At the Mountains of Madness. To coincide with the film's release, writer, editor, and high priest of the Cthulhu Mythos, Dr. Robert M. Price, compiled an anthology of stories — including one of mine, titled "The Danforth Project" — that took the theme of Lovecraft's story of horror in the Antarctic and ran with it. At the last minute, however, del Toro's project fell through, and the anthology went into limbo. After several fits and starts with various publishers, Dark Quest Books picked up the project, and now... finally... it's here. Well, my contributor copies have not yet arrived, but several other authors whose works are included in the book have verified the book is, in fact, a reality. Other contributors include Ken Asamatsu; Glynn Owen Barrass; Pierre Comtois; Laurence J. Cornford; Cody Goodfellow; C. J. Henderson; Edward Morris; Will Murray; Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.; Pete Rawlik; and Brian Sammons. Fine company indeed for paying tribute to one of Lovecraft's best stories and one of my favorite works of dark literature.

Publisher's description: "The frozen continent of Antarctica still harbors mysteries, slowly being revealed by intrepid scientists and by melting ice caps. The stories in this new collection offer more revelations still, as our frostbitten authors chip away at the legacy bequeathed by H. P. Lovecraft in his historic novella, At the Mountains of Madness. Lovecraft's epic is itself a continent teeming with lurking fears and horrors unknown. What mysterious entities did his star-headed crinoids serve? What genetic secrets gestated within the shifting masses of the unholy shoggoths? Can a mere human fathom or describe the thought patterns of such creatures? If the Elder Things survived, what further nefarious mischief might they have spread? Had there been other, earlier or later expeditions to the Lovecraftian tundra? Did the cyclopean metropolis of the Old Ones exist in this or some other dimension? Could there be unsuspected links between the Miskatonic Expedition and characters or events in other Lovecraft tales? What if The Twilight Zone had adapted At the Mountains of Madness for television?"

The Mountains of Madness is now available as a trade paperback, available from Dark Quest Books for $14.95.