Category: The Blasphemous Tome

We’re back and we’re finally free of the city of the Elder Things. Now, we’re racing off to the aëroplane as fast as our little legs will carry us. Everything will be fine once we’re airborne. We’ve learnt our lessons and we shan’t look back. Nope, no way. Not after that whole shoggoth incident. Looking back only leads to trouble. We’re smarter than that now.

Oh, bugger. We looked back.

Main Topic: At the Mountains of Madness part 5

This is the final part of our discussion of Lovecraft’s epic, At the Mountains of Madness. After all the geological, biological and historical explorations of previous chapters, we find ourselves caught up in something almost mystical. The story ends with another infodump, but one born of madness. As ever, we pick this apart in search of gaming inspiration.

We then offer a quick overview of other works inspired by At the Mountains of Madness. Unsurprisingly, Beyond the Mountains of Madness, the classic Call of Cthulhu campaign, plays a big part in our discussion.

It says a lot about our interests that we completely neglected to discuss any video games. There are plenty of fine games out there that draw upon Lovecraft’s tale, but you’ll have to turn to younger and hipper podcasters for details of them.

Links

Some of the things we mention in this episode include:

• “Pharos” from Fungi From Yuggoth
• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
• “The Thing on the Doorstep”
• “The Dreams in the Witch-House”
• The House of Doors by Brian Lumley
• “The Colour Out of Space”
• Jacob’s ladder
• The Archetypes from “The Seven Geases”
• Beyond the Mountains of Madness
• Assault on the Mountains of Madness
• The Antarktos Cycle
• Frozen Hell by John W Campbell
• The Great White Space by Basil Copper
• “Shaft Number 247” from New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
• “The Crevasse” from Nathan Ballingrud’s North American Lake Monsters
• Monsterland — the upcoming TV programme based on North American Lake Monsters
• “Branch Line Repairman” by Adrian Tchaikovsky, from The Private Life of Elder Things
• The Thing From Another World
• The Thing
• Guillermo Del Toro’s ill-fated adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness
• Prometheus
• Ubik by Philip K Dick
• Blade Runner (A Movie) by William S Burroughs
• Antarctic Journal
• R-Point
• Ian Culbard’s graphic novel adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness
• The manga adaptation by Gou Tanabe
• Illustrated edition by François Baranger

• Mountains of Madness by The Tiger Lilies
• At the Mountains of Madness by the psychedelic rock band, HP Lovecraft
• The HP Lovecraft Historical Society’s readings of Lovecraft’s fiction
• The HPLHS Dark Adventure Radio Theater adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness
• Extinction Rebellion
• The Last Winter
• Blood Glacier
• Lake Vostok
• Aghori ascetics
• The Exegesis of Philip K Dick

News

The Blasphemous Tome issue 5

Issue 5 of The Blasphemous Tome has come back from the printer and the first batch will be in the post any day now!

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.

Dragonmeet 2019

Matt and Paul will be attending Dragonmeet in a few days. This one-day convention takes place at the Novotel in West London on the 30th of November. Paul will also be a guest on a panel hosted by our good friends Baz and Gaz of the Smart Party. Check the programme on the day for details.

Other Stuff

Reviews and Social Media

We share a lovely new review from The Final Sam in the USA. 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.

Songs

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!

You will find a couple of our final abominations in this episode. Be warned.

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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.

Main Topic: At the Mountains of Madness part 4

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

News

The Blasphemous Tome issue 5

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 before we send out the first batch in late November will also receive one of our eldritch Christmas cards.

Dragonmeet 2019

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.

Wandering Monsters on YouTube

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.

Other Stuff

Reviews and Social Media

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.

Songs

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.

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