In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft

by Joe R. Lansdale

Ten-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 scarily down-home in these tales, merging his classic gonzo stylings with the eldritch vibes 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, Reverand 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.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale
“The Bleeding Shadow”
Dread Island
“The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning”
“The Tall Grass”
"The Case of the Stalking Shadow"
“The Crawling Sky”
"Starlight, Eyes Bright"
In the Mad Mountains

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Lovecraftian, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Anthologies

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2024

About the author

Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in more than two dozen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror," and he adapted his short story "Christmas with the Dead" to film hisownself. The film adaptation of his novel Cold in July was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Sundance Channel has adapted his Hap & Leonard novels for television.

He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.

Reviews

[inciminci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kept on hearing the name and reading a story or two by Landsdale here and there but had never finished a complete work by the author. It was only that Lansdale assembled his short stories inspired by H.P. Lovecraft in this collection that I finally took the time to read a full Lansdale book, and it was worth it.

The collection comprises eight stories which are more or less, directly or only implicitly, with humor or seriously feature the Weird Mythos. Before every story he gives a short explanation as to how the idea to write that specific story came to him, which is neat, actually.

The collection starts with a trope which is a personal favorite of mine: a Faustian bargain to be able to play music or an instrument like no other can. The Bleeding Shadow struck a chord with me, pardon my pun, in which the learned music is a kind of literal language, a spell more like, that can provoke and cause things to happen in reality.

This kind of mix of various tropes and themes from all over seems to be a kind of signature style for Lansdale, as he does it often in this work. It is an amusing pattern that can be intentionally laugh-out-loud funny, such as in the second story, Dread Island, in which our main characters are Huckleberry Finn and Jim who end up on an island populated by the Brer People and also various Great Old Ones causing mayhem and destruction. I have a rudimentary knowledge on Tom Sawyer, but the quasi "naive" voice of Huck, his funny conversations with and the almost sarcastic tone of Jim were enjoyable even for me.

Similarly, The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning pastiches The Murders in the Rue Morgue as well as The Thing on the Doorstep, and the titular In the Mad Mountains is based on both At the Mountains of Madness and Titanic, and follow the same pattern.

As enjoyable as this kind of mixing and mashing of tropes and fictional figures into a Lovecraftian mold is, it can, just a little bit, tire you out, and I personally felt the need to read more original fiction by the author himself. I found them in two stories: The Tall Grass, which was by any measure one of the finest horrors I have read and really succeeded in creeping me out in this day and age, as well as Starlight, Eyes Bright, atmospheric, eerie, quiet, an isolation almost palpable...

This is a very unique, very original collection all in all. Lansdale can do horror, and he can do humor, and both mixed, and at times that's exactly what I want to read. I'm glad to have finally broken into Lansdale territory, and glad to see his work is so extensive. There's so much to discover here.

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Champion Mojo Storyteller, that's what they call him. I don't know exactly who "they" are, but on this, we agree.

Joe Lansdale is an American treasure-he's funny and he can write whatever he wants to, in whatever genre he chooses and IT WILL BE GOOD. In these stories inspired by Lovecraft, Joe lets his imagination run wild with old gods, deals with the devil, Huck Finn and the Reverend Mercer. (If you know, you know.) This volume is a wild ride!

The Bleeding Shadow is a take on the old tale of Robert Johnson at the Crossroads. Cthulhu's songs are calling something, but as long as the record keeps playing, all is well.

Dread Island puts Huck Finn and Jim on a path to save Tom from the terrors that hide on the island. Will they all survive?

In the Tall Grass-when your train stops in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, and the trainman tells you not to wander off too far, you should listen.

The Case of the Stalking Shadow is a Dana Roberts tale. She is a supernormal investigator and she's come to a private club to tell the tale of her very first case.

The Crawling Sky features Reverend Jebediah Mercer, a character Lansdale has written about in the past. This time, he adds a pinch of Solomon Kane and maybe an echo of Ambrose Bierce, (as the author himself states, prior to the story.) How could it not be good?

Starlight, Eyes Bright-is a whimsical, fantastic tale of a piece of broken glass. (But it's so much more.)

In the Mad Mountains. A boat full of people goes down in the sea and only some were able to escape in lifeboats. It would have been easier on them if they had gone down with the ship. I think this was the bleakest tale of the bunch, and I loved it.

There you have it, 8 stories from a master of the form using language much more accessible than Lovecraft's ever was. Being that these are Lansdale stories, you can always count on some humor to lighten the mood at times, and you can always count on his work to whisk you out of your dreary day-to-day and transport you to new and terrifying realms. Do you dare to be whisked? Look for In the Mad Mountains, October 2024!

Highly recommended!

*ARC from publisher.*

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look, as soon as I see the words inspired by Lovecraft, I'm already in. I confess though at first dipping into In the Mad Mountains I got a little nervous, Lansdale stated that he was more keen on the Old Ones rather than the rather niche and esoteric "alas dear reader I cannot describe what I saw that fateful night" antics of Lovecraft. (I was nervous about this because bizarrely that semi-kitschy stuff is what I like most)

Anyway I needn't have been worried, although I will say the flavour of Lansdale's stories are a little different than Cosmic Horror - I would say more Horror Horror, or adventure horror - but in the end all GOOD.

The Bleeding Shadow has a Lovecraft Country vibe and is a very rough around the edges piece about a deal with the devil predictably gone wrong.

Dread Island, reads as a sort of "horror up" of classic tales. Possibly of any of the tales enclosed this has some of the most vivid imagery, and even though I prefer my horrors unknown the horrors presented in this story are quite memorable.

The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning, is a riff on Poe's Dupin. It's a little more light hearted than the previous too works, but in my opinion is just a wee bit too much. Not only does the story drag from Poe and Lovecraft, we also have Grimm and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein shoehorned in

The Tall Grass was perhaps my favourite tale of the bunch. It has a kind of more Cosmic vibe in terms of a relatively open ended story that's more about the MC brushing up against something horrific and then having to move on with their life.

The Cast of the Stalking Shadow is a solid piece, leaning back into more horror adventure than cosmic horror.

The Crawling Sky is a bit of a strange one. A recurring character for Lansdale the story reads as a more action adventure with Cosmic Horror influence. It's fun enough with a VERY rough around the edges vibe too.

Starlight, Eyes Bright stands out more weird addition, less overt grossness and more mystery. Something that is always favourable in a short story collection is a bit of variety in tone between stories and Starlight provides that.

In the Mad Mountains - I confess I found the final piece perhaps one of the weaker additions. In my opinion this is where the action adventure meeting cosmic horror didn't gel the best. I felt like the tale wanted to provide that Cosmic alarm and terror, while also having wee action set pieces which didn't create a consistent vibe. I also just felt like it was a bit much - too many elements thrown together in one tale.

Overall I really enjoyed this one - Lansdale has a bit of a cheeky lilt to his prose which is a unique touch to the genre, which like I said I'm a sucker for anyways!!

[Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lansdale strikes again!!
An enjoyably addictive collection of imaginative tales ranging from disarmingly pleasant to immensely spooky. I was so immersed in the stories that I was kinda shocked when I turned a page and the book was already finished. Good stuff!!

4 Sinister Stars

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of eight stories, all probably novelette in length, is a wild, diverse ride. They were written and published elsewhere between 2009 and 2015 and brought together for this collection because they all play with Lovecraftian mythos or face horrors that are Eldritch in scope. However, that similarity aside the run the gamut from a paranormal private eye story to an occult western with a priest-ghost hunter to rips in dimension and beasts whose names can take shape in human mouths. All the stories are fun, they feel fully realized, and have their own sense of world-building and narrative momentum. For the most part there isn’t an abundance of character interiority, it is more a description of events than an exploration of experience, but that works for these stories. There is a distance from the characters, a type of clinical commitment to pure story, that is common with cosmic horror, and this collection taps into that but only partially, offering some concessions to inner lives in a handful of stories, enough to keep the collection balanced and interesting. Even with those stories that are more detached in prose style the actual characters are still interesting and engaging game pieces to see set in motion. There are a few bits of action, and the occasional horror set piece, mixed throughout and they are all effective and a lot of fun. The stories feel a good length, with tight writing that changes style across the subgenres contained in the collection but always has a sense of urgency, the type of movement that I enjoy in short stories. The stories make use of their length well, none feel like they have been abridged or cut short, yet they also don’t feel like bloated short stories, using their word count to wrangle strong imagery and plot wrinkles.

The treatment of Lovecraftian mythos here is indirect in most stories and playful in those where it is direct. If you are expecting Lovecraft pastiche this is not the collection for you. Instead, if you’re looking to see how a horror that is cosmic and sometimes unimaginable might infiltrate a host of other subgenres – including an unexpected take on what Huck Finn and Jim might be up to after their Adventure – then you will enjoy this collection. Strong writing, memorable characters, and the dread and inevitability of the eldritch gods mixed with just a bit of action and gumption. There are only eight stories but not two feel alike, each one is playing in a different sandbox, though they are certainly sharing some of the same toys.

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the mad mind that brought you Bubba Ho Tep comes a wild collection of eight cosmic horror stories. Lansdale gleefully steals from Mark Twain, E.A. Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Philip Jose Farmer, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and others, (as well as including a few utterly original gems) simmering all together in a broth of his own genius to create a fabulous Lovecraftian gumbo of bizarre terror.


The Bleeding Shadow 5 ⭐️
Lansdale described this one as a cross between the tale of Robert Johnson selling his soul at the crossroads and Lovecraft’s story The Music of Erich Zann. I can’t improve on that description. Hard-bitten Southern noir from the wrong side of the color line, this is a perfectly chilling tale.

I had thought of it as a snake once. Alma May had thought of it like a hit-and-run car driven by the devil. And now I had thought of it like a bomb. That was some kind of feeling coming from a grooved-up circle of wax.


Dread Island 4 ⭐️
A surprising mash-up of Huckleberry Finn, Uncle Remus, and Lovecraft, with a couple of Easter eggs from other stories thrown in for spice. Huck narrates the tale in which he and Jim attempt to rescue Tom from a legendary, disappearing island in the Mississippi, and eldritch weirdness ensues.

Now, any old steamboater will tell you that come the full moon, there’s an island out there in the wide part of the Mississippi…if the weather’s just right, and you got some kind of eye on you, you can see it. It don’t last but a night — the first night of the full moon — and then it’s gone until next time.


The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning 3 ⭐️
Lansdale steals from the best. In this story he knicks Holmes and Watson from Conan Doyle (in everything but name), lifts Poe’s Paris setting and ape villain from The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and appropriates elements from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, serving them all up in a Lovecraftian stew, complete with familiar props like the Necronomicon.

”The end of the cosmos and our world as we know it is of considerable concern, of course, but no reason to abandon manners.”


The Tall Grass 4 ⭐️
A short and eerie tale of a man taking a cross country train trip. The train breaks down in the wee hours of the night amid a vast, empty plain of grass taller than a man. The curious narrator wanders into the grass while the train is being repaired, and glimpses a nightmare other world. Chilling and effective.

I saw too that the things were not entirely without features after all; or at least now they had acquired one all-encompassing feature. A split appeared in their faces where a mouth should be, but it was impossibly wide and festooned with more teeth than a shark, long and sharp, many of them crooked as poorly driven nails…Their breath rose up like methane from a privy and burned my eyes.


The Case of the Stalking Shadow 3⭐️
A Dana Roberts, Supernormal Investigator story, wherein she tells the story of her first “supernormal” encounter.

”Without seeing it, I could sense that it was coming closer. There was a noise associated with its approach…It was not footfalls on leaves or ground, but a strange sound that made me both fearful, and sad at the same time. It was the kind of sound that reached down into the brain and bones and gave you an influx of information that spoke not to the logical part of your being, but to some place more primal.”


The Crawling Sky 3 1/2 ⭐️
A Weird West tale of the Reverend Jebidiah Mercer.

”I am on a mission from God…I am a hunter of the dark and a giver of the light. I am the hammer and the anvil. The bone and the sinew. The sword and the gun…It is my lot in life to destroy evil. There is more evil than there is me, I might add.”


Starlight, Eyes Bright 5 ⭐️
A man finds a bizarrely beautiful piece of glass that he suspects is part of an alien entity, and tries to share the experience with his wife. A quietly eerie, lonely, beautiful tale.

”We are our own destruction,” he said. “They are the joy of the air and the sky and the earth and the beyond.”


In the Mad Mountains 4 1/2 ⭐️
A great ship goes down in an ice-strewn sea, and a lifeboat full of survivors take refuge on ice studded with ancient, derelict ships. Yet the stars are wrong, the sea is wrong, and none of the survivors remember originally boarding the ship, why they were traveling, or even what ocean they were crossing. A nightmare fueled tale of eldritch terror and madness.

The moon was bright. The sea was black. The waves rolled and the bodies rolled with it. The dead ones and the living ones, screaming and dying, begging and pleading, praying and crying to the unconcerned sea.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the advanced copy.

I'm a big fan of Lovecraftian/Eldritch/cosmic horror in general, like it's probably my favorite niche genre of anything, so I was excited to see this anthology - and not only is it all Lovecraftian or cosmic horror, it's by a well-established writer whose work even found itself on the excellent Netflix series Love, Death + Robots (seriously can't recommend this highly enough if you haven't checked it out yet).

Unfortunately, the bulk of the stories in Lansdale's collection are rather dull. One is the written version of one of his episodes on Love, Death + Robots, which was interesting. The best stories are near the end though.

As I usually do when reviewing anthologies, here were my favorites in the collection:

Dread Island - a sort of Mark Twain fanfic, it features Huck and Jim exploring an island not unlike what Algernon Blackwood wrote in The Willows, but a lot scarier. Really well done, it had me on the edge of my seat.

Starlight, Eyes Bright - mostly reminiscent of Color Out of Space, particularly the film adaptation from a couple years ago starring Nic Cage. This one ends in an unexpected way though. Short and sweet.

In the Mad Mountains - I think you can guess the inspiration behind this tale lol My favorite of the bunch and the creepiest in my opinion, this would make an excellent episode in the next season of Love, Death, + Robots!

The rest of the tales are sadly mostly average. But average isn't bad. The only real negative I can think of is that Lansdale can be awkward with dialogue. Very little of it feels natural, to the point where it's difficult to understand the time period, social standing, nationality, culture, etc a lot of the time. That's not something you think of as very important when reading but their absence or oddness is felt. The dialogue can get... old fashioned and unnecessarily formal, leaning academic a lot of the time rather than natural.

Anyway, overall a decent collection of Lovecraftian novellas sure to please any fan... as for others, I can't say.

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but I’m out. I just don’t care and reading the blurbs in front of the next couple short stories regarding their premise tells me I won’t likely care about them either.

Story #1 - It’s very Lovecraftian. But it’s not really original. I felt like it was missing context and set-up; as well as motivation by our lead character. I get what Lansdale was going for here but it misses the mark for me. Maybe as a reformed addict I’m too close to the subject matter of addiction… but mostly it felt a bit contrived and silly.

Story #2 - Written in the style of Mark Twain and even stars Tom and Huck. They end up in a Neverland, Oz, weird island place outside of space and time which I really enjoyed. But the random creatures (reminded me of Island of Dr. Moreau) had weird motivations and didn’t make any sense to me. The thing about Lovecraft that it’s important is that he always had logic and reason lead his stories. They could get as weird as weird can be but there always seemed to be a basis for that weirdness. This just felt like it was weird for the sake of claiming to be Lovecraftian. It just isn’t working for me.

Overall I’ve just lost interest and would rather reread Lovecraft (prejudice, racism, etc and all) than try to slog through another ‘like him’ story here. I think Lansdale is an excellent writer who has strong narrative voice. It was really the subject and logic of these stories that threw me off. And so I’m being pragmatic and stopping before I get more annoyed with wasting my precious reading time.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding collection of cosmic horror short stories in the Lansdale mode. He might dislike everything about Lovecraft's style, but Lansdale's commensurate skill at rending the veils in his own tales is unmatched in skill and gusto. Lansdale likes the Lovecraftian idea of borderlands that might appear to us as squalid rooming house walls or skies over tumultuous polar seas.

Some of the stories are brief, with a magical charm. Others are high-concept, hefty, with amplitude: Lovecraftian pastiche modified judiciously by post-1945 popular fiction cliches. Cosmic horror is fairly madcap in most situations, so genre cliche comes in handy for moderating the fiction's metabolism.

[Joe Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, short story anthologies can be oh-so shorter - especially in the case where one, or two, or a dozen, of the brief bastards within can be easily ignored. The ripe fruit can be cherry picked and easily sampled before calling it an evening.

In The Mad Mountains ain’t one of those anthologies. This is no snuff of brandy or lullaby before bed. In The Mad Mountains is a whip-like tentacle of poison that wraps itself around you, dragging you into deep corners of darkness while your heart pistons into overdrive. Here, the skies are red, the moon is a threat, and oblivion is the only promise of rest.

Thank you, Joe Lansdale, for sharing your H.P. Lovecraft-inspired nightmares.

In The Mad Mountains contains eight of such stories. The first few are repetitions of a theme: Cthulhu is coming and only a Texas PI/Huck Finn/Auguste Dupin can prevent the arrival. As far as themes go, though, Lansdale could not pick worse. He knows his stuff. This is not romantic, high art. Nor are these comic book thrills. Lansdale cements his magic as the street level player he is. All the dirt and scruff one can find once down on your knees is conjured into a spell that is both otherworldly and wholly recognizable. Lansdale knows his audience, too. A fast wit, some spry language, and a few despicable background cats - like the Dallas muscle in “The Bleeding Shadow” and the sheriff from “The Crawling Sky” - are all called-for ingredients. And with some of those characters, he better know that this Texas PI needs a follow up.

Once he works through those variations, Lansdale pleasurably mixes things up. Ghostly figures haunt train passengers in “The Tall Grass”. Stranger things exist in "The Case of the Stalking Shadow" and are trapped in broken glass with "Starlight, Eyes Bright". The end of human existence might not be the heavy end in all the stories, but the mortal threat is real.

Lansdale cleverly squishes together crime, scifi, and horror genres. All of this is within a beauty of a cover by a gent who knows a thing or two about blending genres: Mike Mignola.

What makes reading Lansdale so enjoyable is his delivery. Thematic sense aside, Lansdale adapts his writing style to fit the scenario: a hard boiled grit; a western politeness; a French elegance. And it all works. Furthermore, he provides all the necessary elements for a short story. He knows that not only are his characters up against the clock, but so is the reader.

After all, dawn approaches every day. And even shadows need some rest. In The Mad Mountains is the perfect length and is wonderfully Lansdale.


Many thanks to the kind team at Tachyon Publications for the advanced consideration. You guys rock. In The Mad Mountains is available starting in October 2024.

This review and a mad amount of others can be found lurking over @ Joe's.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Mignola's cover is simply awesome! Plus "Landsdale" and "Lovecraft" are trigger words for me: put them together, my brain goes numb and I start salivating. OK, that's perhaps too graphic (and hopefully a bit inaccurate), but it captures very well the impact of such a book to my hardened reading habits. Landsdale himself explains in his foreword that, though the volume does not contain every Lovecraft story he's written, it does contain his best stories of this type; and indeed, despite the absolutely non-Lovecraftian writing style, the 8 tales within are bound to impress for their wide range, their imaginative scope, and their distance from Lovecraft's actual writings: there's hardly any overlap, so, though the stories touch upon the Great Old Ones and the Necronomicon, standard Lovecraft fare, the claim of "stories inspired by H. P. Lovecraft" should be taken with a grain of salt.

The opening novelette, for example, "The Bleeding Shadow," a hardboiled detective tale about jazz blues music, though obviously inspired by Lovecraft's short story of "The Music of Erich Zann," has African American protagonists (femme fatale included), and it's implausible that Lovecraft, being an elitist and a racist, would have approved of any of its details. As far as imaginative scope goes, look at a couple of stories such as "Dread Island," in which Huck Finn and Jim get a taste of cosmic horror when they visit an island offering some nasty Lovecraft-inspired encounters, and "The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning,” an Auguste Dupin pastiche, with a nod to Frankenstein, a rather funny story indicative of a hugely creative mind. That said, there's one story standing out above the others, one which I liked tremendously: "In the Tall Grass". The title reminds one immediately of the well-known Stephen King and Joe Hill short story, though as Lansdale himsef explains in his story notes (every story has a preceding story note), his story came earlier. This tale is truly creepy, and I totally loved it. There's a western cosmic horror story as well, and one from the the Love, Death+Robots series, However, there is one story that outstayed its welcome, and that's the last (and longest) story, "In the Mad Mountains" - I admit it was a bit of a chore to read, not because it's too bleak (it is) but because it tries to do cosmic horror in combination with action and adventure, the former undermining the latter. As all stories though, it's consistently well-written and I have no regrets I stumbled upon it.

Overall, the collection does feel pulpy and the stories demand to be read with a "tongue-in-cheek" attitude; sometimes the author goes for comedy, other times for a noir atmosphere - but always with an eye on the horror aspects. I highly recommend it to all horror lovers who're looking for solid stories scary and entertaining at the same time.

[Becky Spratford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review at Booklist Online and on the blog: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2024/10... (link live 10/4/24)

Three Words That Describe This Book: Quirky Characters, Sardonic, Direct and Folksy Narration

Each story has a Lansdale introduction which sets the stage perfectly for each tale.

From draft:

Lansdale has captured the hearts of readers with his quirky characters, sardonic wit, and gritty tone. His latest collection gathers 8 stories, published in various anthologies since 2009, stories he describes in the book’s introduction as the “best” inspired by Lovecraft that he has written. Taking on the troublesome racism and sexism of the classic author head-on, Lansdale also actively eschews Lovecraft’s use of cumbersome prose, instead employing his trademark direct and folksy narrative voice to the Lovecraftian concept of “the Old Ones,” terrifying but also alluring beings from another realm, trying to intrude upon our world. The result is a collection that makes the enduring appeal of Lovecraft’s brand of existential dread and terrifying nihilism more accessible to today’s readers.

[Kenneth McKinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe Lansdale writing Lovecraftian inspired stories? Yes, please! Lets get right into it:



The Bleeding Shadow - a spin off the old Robert Johnson/sell your soul to the devil yarn. Nothing terribly new, but the expert story telling elevates the story from mediocrity.

4.0 stars out of 5


Dread Island - a mishmash of Huck Finn meets Brer Rabbit on a Lovecraftian island that only appears in the middle of the Mississippi River on the first night of a full moon. If it sounds like a doozy, it’s because it is!

3.5 stars out of 5


The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Light - Poe, Lovecraft, Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein and Grimm from the fairy tales all thrown in a blender to make this perfect tale. Such an awesome story!

5.0 stars out of 5


The Case of the Stalking Shadow - we’ve all had the feeling that something isn’t quite right, that feeling of dread and we don’t know why. Imagine, if you will, that it’s because you’re near a doorway to a horrifying other dimension, and it’s about to open. Another great story.

5.0 stars out of 5


The Crawling Sky - Lovecraftian western-infused tale of a traveling preacher that happens on a man locked up in a small town for telling stories that can’t be real. Oh but how wrong they are. Lansdale delivers another perfect balance that keeps you turning the pages.

5.0 stars out of 5


Starlight, Eyes Bright - Connie and Jim have the idyllic marriage until the night Jim went out for his walk and came back a different man.

5.0 stars out of 5


In The Mad Mountains - Amelia and Gavin awaken to find themselves floating in a life raft with other survivors, drifting towards an icy shore. How they got there, they don’t know. Nothing makes sense and the madness is only beginning.

3.5 stars out of 5


Overall: 4.43 stars out of 5


Lansdale never disappoints. How he never reached the heights of King, Koontz or Barker, I’ll never know. Joe says this will probably be his last hurrah writing anything Lovecraftian. That would be almost criminal. This collection was a ton of fun with some superb writing between the pages.

[Mike (Hail Horror Hail) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection that hits more often than not.
The Bleeding Shadow 5/5
Dread Island 2.5/5
The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Light 4/5
The Tall Grass 3.5/5
The Case of the Stalking Shadow 3/5
The Crawling Sky 4/5
Starlight, Eyes Bright 3.5/5
In The Mad Mountains 5/5

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few books scream "summer" as much as the collections of Lansdale's short stories, and I enjoyed them again this time, even if there were few new ones. The introduction also, where the author himself says he doesn't like the way Lovercraft writes at all, made me feel, if possible, even closer to him. There are gems and there are filler stories, but since we are talking about Lansdale, even the fillers deserve at least three stars, so, as they say in Italy, come caschi caschi bene.

Pochi libri urlano "estate" tanto quanto le raccolte dei racconti di Lansdale, e anche stavolta me li sono goduti, anche se poche erano le novitá. L'introduzione inoltre, dove l'autore stesso dice di non amare affatto come scrive Lovercraft, me lo ha fatto sentire, se possibile, ancora piú vicino. Ci sono delle perle e ci sono dei racconti riempitivi, ma siccome stiamo parlando di Lansdale, anche i riempitivi meritano almeno tre stelle, quindi, come si dice in Italia, come caschi caschi bene.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad collection but not a great one either. The first story was great and really had that Lovecraft feel. Having the first one be such a great one definitely hurt the rest. But, not a bad marketing technique; reading the sample is what encouraged me to buy it, only to be let down a bit. The last two were pretty good as well, which was nice, but nothing mind blowing.

[Conor Brandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in this one are very hit or miss, caused primarily by whether or not you are familiar with the inspiration of each story. Generally I had fun reading it but I don’t know if I would recommend.

[Ctgt · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Adam Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Lansdale and he was a big part of my high school reading so I was excited to read this Lovecraft inspired short story collection. I think the first story might be the best of them all, and that might actually hurt the rest of the stories. They are still good, but that first story is fantastic and could be expanded into a novel.

[Silver Screen Videos · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, a confession. I am not very familiar with the works of H. P. Lovecraft. I read some of his stories in my younger days and saw a few of the 60s horror movies adapted from them. But I don’t remember many details other than names like Cthulhu and the “Necronomicon.” I am more familiar with Joe Lansdale, one of today’s most versatile mystery, horror, Western and science fiction writers. Lansdale’s latest story collection, “In the Mad Mountains,” comprises “Stories Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft,” according to its subtitle. The book may be inspired by Lovecraft, but the stories take advantage of all the author’s areas of expertise and his sense of humor in an often creepy and always entertaining collection.

“In the Mad Mountains” has eight stories, most of them at novelette length. The stories vary widely in tone, setting, and style. Six of these stories have been published in other collections and anthologies since 2009. Those anthologies often had specific themes, which accounts for the unique themes of the tales initially included in those anthologies. The author provides a brief introduction to each story that often makes the story easier to follow. Most people would classify all of them as horror stories. Certain specific horror themes I recognized from my limited knowledge of Lovecraft’s work are common to most stories. The best way to describe the collection is to detail each story briefly.

“The Bleeding Shadow” is southern Noir from the 1950s (with fantasy horror elements) that reminded me of something Walter Moseley might have written. Here, the narrator is an unlicensed private investigator (in an era when blacks couldn’t get licenses) who is hired by an ex-flame to find her musician brother, Tootie. His only clue to Tootie’s whereabouts is a demo jazz record Tootie sent her. When the narrator plays the record, the music is unearthly. When he tracks down Tootie, he learns why.

“Dread Island” is the author’s unofficial horror sequel to “Huckleberry Finn.” Huck narrates, and other familiar Mark Twain characters like Tom Sawyer and Jim put in an appearance. In the story, Huck and Jim’s search for the missing Tom leads them to the titular island in the middle of the Mississippi River. There, they discover Uncle Remus’s characters come to life, like Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. Huck also learns that the island has trapped many unwary travelers over the years, including passengers on wrecked steamships and even Amelia Earhart. Also putting in an appearance that is far less welcome than Earhart is a demonic creature from another dimension that Huck calls “Cut Through You.”

If “Dread Island” is a tribute to Mark Twain, “The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning” is what the author calls a “Poe pastiche.” This story was written to imitate Poe’s detective works featuring C. Auguste Dupin. Here, Dupin and his companion, the story’s narrator, investigate a mysterious warehouse fire in which the lightning that caused the fire appeared to originate in the building and rise to the sky. One significant character in the story bears a fantastic similarity to Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Dupin uses a rare copy of the Necronomicon to solve the case.

“The Tall Grass” is the book’s shortest story and one of the creepiest. The narrator is a passenger on a train that pauses in the middle of the night in a field with, you guessed it, very tall prairie grass. The train seems abandoned except for the conductor, who advises the narrator to stay on board. There wouldn’t be much of a story had the narrator done so. He disobeys the conductor, gets lost in the grass, and encounters something bizarre. The images in this story stayed with me longer than any others from “In the Mad Mountains.”

“The Case of the Stalking Shadow” stars Dana Roberts, one of the author’s series characters. As an adult, Dana is a “supernormal investigator.” This story details how she acquired that interest. In “Shadow,” a teenage Dana spent the summer at a friend’s house, along with some younger children. One day, they played hide-and-seek in the nearby woods, which had a bad reputation. Not surprisingly, the game didn’t go well for Dana, and she found herself chased by a strange creature. She returned to the site years later to discover something even stranger. This story reprises a familiar theme in these tales: characters encountering portals between dimensions through which some very disquieting creatures pass.

“The Crawling Sky” is a Western featuring another Lansdale series character, the Reverend Jebidiah Mercer. He’s a frontier demon hunter, whose latest mission takes him to see a squatter who moved into a vacant house with the idea of turning it into a farm. The home includes a dry well filled with stones dumped there by an earlier resident. When the squatter removed the stones, he learned, to his regret, what they covered. The Reverend must get the thing from the well back where it belongs. This story has a hilarious introduction in which the Reverend persuades one of the townsfolk to fix him dinner, only to discover that horsemeat steak is on the menu. That revelation was scarier for me than the rest of the story, although the Reverend enjoyed the meal.

“Starlight, Star Bright” doesn’t feel like any of the other stories in the collection. A woman finds a piece of glass that she’s convinced contains something otherworldly. The story makes little sense, but it has a mystical feel to it. This one is very much a matter of taste, and it was my least favorite in the collection.

The author ends with the second longest story in the book, the titular, “In the Mad Mountains.” It has some of the same elements as “Dread Island,” but in a much harsher setting. A lifeboat containing a group of shipwreck survivors washes up on an arctic coastline. The survivors discover the wreckage of other ships and planes nearby, some of them over a century old. Although they can fish and scavenge the wrecks’ galleys for supplies, they realize they will eventually need to reach civilization. This is the gloomiest story in the book, and the explanation of the landscape on which they landed is the most bizarre.

If readers didn’t already know the authorship of these stories, most would probably believe that eight different authors wrote them. Joe Lansdale adapts a separate tone for each one that captures both the story’s spirit and my understanding of Lovecraft lore. Many stories feature portals to other worlds or places where the usual laws of space and time don’t work. Lansdale mixes humor, setting, and horror well. I liked the Twain and Poe tributes best because of the bold and successful attempts to match his famous predecessors’ style and incorporate typical Lovecraft elements. “In the Mad Mountains” is enjoyable for Lansdale and Lovecraft fans alike.   

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.            

[Володимир Кузнєцов · Rating 3 out of 5]

Цю коротку повість Джо Лансдейл написав для збірки "Боги Лавкрафта", що вийшла у 2015-му. І, треба відзначити, що йому вдалося у досить малому об'ємі доволі нетривіальну реалізацію, яка починається як типовий жахастик із дев'яностих, радше до Кінґа, ніж до Лавкрафта, але поступово набуває рис лавкрафтіанського горору, заершуючись вже 100% у традиції космічного жаху. Єдиним недоліком цієї історіє напевне є постійне намагання героїв пояснити навколишній світ - їхні міркування про те, що саме відбувається і чому мені здалися надто вже затягнутими та пустопорожніми. Ба більше, висновки героїв про те, що цей світ є лише таким собі Бардо, місцем переходу між світом живих та мертвих, а тож - нереальним - знецінює їхні старждання та робить загроу етемерною. Також досить натягнутим після всих цих міркувань виглядає епізод перед кульмінацією твору, де остання героїня, що вижила просто бовтається в човні і страждає від голоду та спраги. Після епічного наростання подій перед тим, цей епізод стає просто декульмінаційним і дещо псує те ґранд фінале, що автор припас на самкінець.
Непоганий твір, якому навіть важко докорити за вторинність, але цілком справедливо докорити за невиважену композицію і провисання в дінаміці оповіді.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC from Netgalley.

I've never been able to fully fall in love with anything by Lansdale. So it goes. There are two pretty fun stories and the rest are at least serviceable.

[Bryan Davenport · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a review for each story as i have had a stroke it is difficult for me to remember everything. so this is more for my own interest


The bleeding shadow-5 stars
Richard is a private eye but not a real one with a license. A prostitute who is a good friend walks into the bar he is in and tells him to come with her as she is in need of his skills. They return to her house where she plays a record her brother made that causes them both to become sick and see strange things. She asks him to find him in Dallas and bring him back. This story includes

Creepy record
Creepy dimensional creature
Shadow creatures
Dimensional hallway
Stairwell battle
Kicking down doors
Grand theft auto
Green clouds
Cthulhu wanting a soul

Dread island -5 stars

A small island on the Mississippi River appears only during a full moon.Tom Sawyer is persuaded by a young lady to go there to look for huck finn and Jim tells him a story on why not to go. They decide to go and it’s one hell of a huck finn story with a lovecraftian spin to several famous characters

Huck Finn and friends
Fishing
Water rafting
Necronomicon
Anthropomorphic creatures
Chanting
Leap of faith
Weird weather
Beheadings
Flying boat
Crash and splash
At least 7 dead bodies

Blue Lightning -5stars
Two detectives share an apartment and sit down to smoke and drink and conversation on the mystical blue Lightning sightings. As one of them goes to investigate the other recalls some old research he had done on the blue Lightning in the past. This leads to a fascinating story of soul transferring and the necronomicon.


Amputated Body part storage
Warehouse fire
Mythical blue lightning
Grave robbings
Mysterious ape man
Blood moon
Frankenstein castle
Sewer lair
Sword cane
Dueling pistol

Tall grass - 3.5 stars
Super short story about why you shouldn’t get out and investigate in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.
Creepy creatures
Fire
Curiosity

Stalking shadow -3.5 stars but could be higher after I read terror is our business
A game of hide and seek is scarier than you can believe as shadow creatures come out of a tree to mend flesh and bone. When age and curiosity get you the question is what is in the tree and then how the hell to get away and get home. .
Scary woods
Shadow man
Tree that leads to hell or another dimension
Tree was torn down and built on
Gas
Religious tendencies

Crawling Sky - 5 stars
Jebadiah Mercer rides into a shit town but more like a place of hell for all that live there. He speaks to the sheriff about a man locked in a wagon jail and states that he wants him so the kids will stop throwing rocks at him.

Wagon jail
Rock throwing
Haint mentions
Rancid horsemeat
Ugly mentinos
Where do kids come from
Pistol
Axe
Necronomicon

Starlight eyes bright 3.5 stars

A couple live in the middle of nowhere down a dirt road. They have a nice evening and always have the same routine. One night the husband goes for his nightly walk and finds a piece of glass that changes his life. I thought it was a neat lovecraftian story and as I thought about it for days it stayed with me and I wanted to know more so it did its job.

Glass
Outer space
Concerned wife
Butterfly

Mad mountains - 5 stars
A passenger ship sinks in the night as the survivors float in the water they catch a glimpse of an iceberg from a lightning strike but there is something hungry in the water.the survivors then make it to what might be land and has other ships wrecked on it and the fight for survival starts as they find dead bodies of sailors on ships with their brains scooped out. Will they be rescued or all die there by cold, hunger, or some other means

Numerous bodies
Old ships
Old planes
Snow sleds
Tentacle monsters
Time vortex
Crash and burn
Miasma
Mystical city made of bones

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for an advance copy of this collection of stories based on works by a classic horror writer, but written in a way that only this modern master could write, unique, disturbing, sometimes rude, but always memorable.

When I started reading horror I was one of those people who read whatever I could find. What i could find though wasn't very good. Strip covers at library book sales, cheap mass markets at tag sales. Stories that were scary, but were aimed at a market that didn't want their fears to be to plumbed. I was lucky to work in a chain bookstore with a guy who knew his horror. And knew how to order it. This guy was into small publishers, which was Arkham House, at the time, and limited editions. There was a series Night Visions that he was big on, and I told him damn the price, if you think its good, I'll read it. This is where I discovered Joe R. Lansdale. I don't remember the name of the story, but it was a nasty, scary, violent dark story about taking the wrong road, winding up in the wrong place, and fighting for one's life. And I found a new writer I had to know more about. Over the years Lansdale has done comics, his Jonah Hex are classics, movies, Bubba Ho-Tep is one I highly recommend, and television. Along with short stories that continue to disturb, make one sick, and make one go, how can a person write this well. In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, Joe R. Lansdale looks to the past, to the Old Gods who still spread their influence on us today, creating stories that might refer to Lovecraft, but are completely Lansdale.

In the introduction Lansdale explains what Lovecraft has done to influence his work, and what he enjoys most about the writer from Providence. Lansdale prefers the ideas of the Old Gods, the lurkers on the threshold, rather than the eldritch horror of the unnamable. From there we enter the stories. The first is a really unique one dealing with jazz, early rock and roll, and featuring African American protagonists, and one of them female. Three things Lovecraft would have hated. The next again draws on both the idea of something beyond, along with a mix of southern folk lore, and a bit of the classics, featuring Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer and Jim against creatures who have been corrupted by darkness. There is a Poe pastiche, a few characters from Lansdale long oeuvre, and the final story which would have been a fit in any of the Weird Tales magazines from the 1920's and 1930's.

Usually in most collections there are stories that don't jib with me, and that is fine. This book I kept saying oh this is really good, I think this might be my favorite. I think it was the fact that those these were horror stories, and created with the flavor of Lovecraft, Lansdale has his own ingredients and ways of making his stories so filling. And disturbing. There is a stong sense to these things should not be, but told in such different ways, one can't get tired. Lansdale makes the characters all unique. A black private detective, Huck Finn, a young woman sharing a story about a life changing event. One cares about the characters, what might happen, and what might happen to their souls.

This is a very strong collection of stories, one that will appeal to fans of both writers. Also this would be a good introduction not only to these masters of the macabre, to use an old phrase, but to horror in general. How one genre can differ in so many ways, and leave one with doubts of what the world around them might be really made of.

[Maryann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightfully creepy collection.

One thing you can always count on when reading a book by Joe R. Lansdale is the mastery of craft that is illustrated so well in this collection of short stories. While they all carry the central theme found in much of Lovecraft’s work, the stories are told in such a way that there is a clear distinction of voice. You couldn’t take a character from one story and have him or her tell the next one.

The refined detective C. Auguste Dupin recounts his experience in long monologues, as one would expect in a man of his time, but he couldn’t tell the story of Gavin and Amelia, who are up against the Mad Mountains. Theirs was a more physical adventure, as opposed to intellectual, and the beauty of all the stories is that Lansdale lets the characters speak, each in their own way.

The story featuring Huck Finn and his friend, Jim, who set off to rescue Tom Sawyer from “Dread Island” is told in a way that would make Mark Twain smile. Except for the horror elements, it was much like reading the original Huckleberry Finn. And the Reverend Jebediah Mercer from “The Crawling Sky” could ride his horse into any of the great western novels from Louis L’Amour – minus the creepy monster that wants to eat people.

An ongoing theme in Lovecraft’s work is how mankind is irrelevant in the face of cosmic horrors that apparently exist in some alternate universe. And each of the stories in this collection reflects that irrelevance to some degree, or totally. Some of those cosmic horrors do unbelievable, horrific things to the people who happen to break some small web of protection between us and them. Horrible creatures intent on eating humans, or pulling off heads to suck a body dry of blood, live on that other side of the universe, just waiting for a hapless victim yo breach their realm.

Pretty scary stuff if real, and Lansdale achieves his goal of making us very wary of walking toward any dark void, or toward the funny thing we might see in the distance.

It was a delightful surprise to finish the book and realize that I read every word of each story. Since I’m not a fan of the horror genre and generally skim over the more gruesome passages of a book I might read for review, I thought I’d do the same here. But I got so caught up in the lives of the characters and how their relationships evolved during the story, that I forgot to be grossed out at the carnage and the ugly beings that slid and slimed toward their victims.

Making us care about the people in the stories is part of that mastery of craft that I mentioned earlier. Every Lansdale novel that I’ve read does the same thing. Makes me care so much about the people that I have a hard time putting the book down.

Lansdale also has a gift for writing compelling descriptions in his narrative, such as this from the title story: “Sharks began to jump from the waves as easy as flying fish. They grabbed the star-heads in their toothy mouths, crunched them like dry toast, then pulled the remains of their squirming meals into the deep. More sharks came and went, like a pack of wolves, cutting through the blood-slick waters, snapping at the star-heads quickly, darting away and under, only to rise and circle back and strike again.”

Sometimes reviewers are asked which story they liked best in a collection, but please don’t ask me. They’re all wonderfully creepy and wonderfully written. Highly recommended for fans of horror stories, and even those who aren’t fans.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC that I received to be able to review the book.

[Ariel Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book from Lone Star Literary in exchange for my honest review.

"In The Mad Mountains" features eight captivating tales, with the initial stories revolving around a recurring theme: the impending arrival of Cthulhu, thwarted only by a Texas private investigator, Huck Finn, or Auguste Dupin. Lansdale adeptly merges crime, sci-fi, and horror, all wrapped in a stunning cover by Mike Mignola, an expert in genre blending. However, when it comes to themes, Lansdale seems to have chosen the least romantic and highbrow option. He knows his gift of writing. Lansdale showcases his skill as a storyteller, conjuring a gritty atmosphere that feels deeply relatable. He understands his audience perfectly, blending quick wit, lively language, and a cast of morally questionable characters—like the Dallas enforcers in “The Bleeding Shadow” and the sheriff in “The Crawling Sky.” With such characters, it’s clear that this Texas PI will have more adventures ahead.

As he explores variations on his main theme, Lansdale expertly mixes various elements. In “The Tall Grass,” spectral figures haunt train travelers, while “The Case of the Stalking Shadow” and “Starlight, Eyes Bright” introduce even stranger phenomena, trapped within the shattered glass. While the end of humanity may not loom heavily over all the narratives, the sense of mortal danger is palpable.

His writing is engaging and vivid, immersing readers in the atmosphere of the setting. His characters are well-developed, each with distinct personalities and motivations that drive the narrative forward Beyond thematic considerations, he tailors his writing style to suit each scenario, infusing it with hard-boiled grit, western courtesy, and French elegance—and it all seamlessly comes together. Moreover, he includes all the essential elements of a short story, recognizing that both his characters and his readers are racing against time. Lansdale's descriptions of the settings in each tale evoke a sense of both beauty and danger, reinforcing the themes of nature's unpredictability and the primal instincts that emerge in dire situations.

Overall, "In The Mad Mountain" by Joe R. Lansdale consists of gripping tales that showcase Lansdale's signature blend of horror, humor, and rich storytelling. Lansdale's unique voice and storytelling prowess make this novel an engaging and thought-provoking read long after the final page is turned. If you appreciate stories that combine elements of horror with deep character exploration and social commentary, this book is worth your time. Whether you're a longtime follower of Lansdale or new to his work, this novel is sure to captivate and entertain.

[Jill Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

To read the stories Joe R. Lansdale crafted for his most recent collection In the Mad Mountains is to explore universes you hope you never visit in person and to entertain the possibility that the world is far more mysterious and horrible than you might have previously believed. Each story is a perfect little cosmos of chill, dread, adrenaline, and other-worldliness. This collection is so compelling and so extraordinarily far from the norm in the best possible way.

The first story, “The Bleeding Shadow” pulled up memories of a college class I took entitled Poetry in the Blues. We studied the story of Robert Johnson and listened to many incredible blues songs about the dangers of making a deal with the devil. Take that irresistible deal for greatness and add in a film noir private eye and you have an absolute gem of tale. Lansdale’s deft hand with description is so impeccable, I could see the events unfolding clearly, almost like I’d seen the movie.

Where Percival Everett’s novel James retold the adventures of Huck and Jim through Jim’s eyes, Lansdale keeps Huck as the narrator, but considers what might have happened if horrid creatures and a disappearing island were mixed into the tale. Who wouldn’t want to explore a world where Brer Rabbit comes to life? It is simultaneously delightful and bone-chillingly scary—not to be missed.

As long-time fan of Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I must declare “The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning” as one of my favorites from this collection, and I cannot wait for the promised sequel. Once again, the action positively jumps off the page with gems like, “Each time a cold drop fell down my collar I started, as if icy fingertips had touched my neck.” You will not be able to put this story down once you’ve begun.

I could wax poetic about each tale in this impeccable collection, but hesitate to do so for fear of spoilers. Trust me when I say that you won’t regret spending some time in the marvelously eerie mind of Joe R. Lansdale.

I was a bit concerned in starting this book. I’m not the toughest when it comes to scary stuff. I make my husband read Stephen King books first, and then he tells me if it’s ‘my kind’ of King or not (for example-- ‘yes’ to Fairy Tale, The Gunslinger, and The Green Mile and ‘no’ to Cujo and It). So, if you’re a reader who can dabble in the horror pool, but can’t take a dive into the deep end, these stories are definitely in your wheelhouse.

[PulpMonkey (Chompa) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Joe R. Lansdale. His Hap and Leonard books are old friends that I love visiting. His westerns are dear to me. All of his work is very readable and a joy. Joe and I kind of part ways in horror (despite having read a few of his), but I’m a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos. Even there, we have a similar view.

This is what Joe said in the introduction: “Here’s an odd note: I really don’t much care for Lovecraft’s writing. It always seemed as unnecessarily difficult as trying to remove a Himalayan snowbank with a garden trowel and a bucket of hot water. What I liked about Lovecraft were his ideas of the Old Ones. That science-fictional horror he created. I find that vastly appealing. Not liking his writing style does not diminish his impact on the field of horror and science fiction for me, and many may find his rococo use of language exciting. I don’t.”

I totally agree with Joe on this and have to mention that Lovecraft wasn’t the best person either with his racist ideals.


The stories:
The Bleeding Shadow: Detective Noir mixed with blues and a nod to the Robert Johnson Crossroads legend. This is exactly what I look for in Mythos stories. The entity in this story is unknowable and alien. You can’t win; you might escape, but you won’t be the same. 4.5 stars

Dread Island: Huck Finn and Jim go to a disappearing island in the middle of the Mississippi. Uncle Remus meets Cthulhu with a side of Amelia Earhart and a big bomb. 3.5 stars

The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning: I’m not familiar with Edgar Allen Poe’s detective, C. Auguste Dupin, but he’s the focus of the story along with an interesting take on Frankenstein and his monster. 3 stars

The Tall Grass: This is a short story without any “guest star” characters and was very solid. 4 stars

The Case of the Stalking Shadow: Apparently, Joe Landsale has a recurring character named Dana Roberts, supernormal investigator. This is her earliest case and a very solid story. 4 stars

The Crawling Sky: This features Reverend Jebediah Mercer, a recurring character in Lansdales weird west stories and a favorite of mine. The Reverend is in fine form in this story. 5 stars

Starlight, Eyes Bright: I can see the Ray Bradbury influence, but this wasn’t for me. 2.5 stars

In the Mad Mountains: My worry was this was going to be very similar to Lovecraft’s Mountains of Madness. It was not like it and it was fantastic. 5 stars

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe R. Lansdale is a legend that does not need to hear my opinion on his writing. He has won several awards (including ten Bram Stoker Awards), has had his novels and stories adapted into movies and tv episodes, and his Hap and Leonard series of novels became a series that lasted three seasons. After publishing 40 novels and tons of short stories, my opinion is not going to change much. This is why when I look at his collection of Lovecraft inspired short stories, In the Mad Mountains, my opinions should be taken with a grain of salt. 

There are many stories in this collection that did not really do much for me. Lovecraft mythos is not on the top of my list of horror I adore, but I thought that if anyone could make stories that are great additions to the collection of writers who are doing great things with Lovecraft’s world, Joe R. Lansdale would be one of them. Instead many of the stories are not terribly engaging. Lansdale does some interesting things with putting characters into Lovecraft’s world. In “Dread Island”, Huck Finn and Jim have to find Tom Sawyer on an island that only shows in the middle of the Mississippi River on random nights before the island disappears again. “The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning” places Edgar Allan Poe’s detective, C. Auguste Dupin, with the Necronomicon. Two of the stories even bring his own characters from other books into his stories (“The Cast of the Stalking Shadow” and "The Crawling Sky"). 

These stories are good, but there are not really that many great stories. I really enjoy the first story, “The Bleeding Shadow”, about a ex-lover Alma May who wants the main character to find her brother, Tootie, and the final story “In the Mad Mountains,” about a group of people shipwrecked in the ice and weird things start killing them all. The rest of the stories are okay, and many of them have been published in other anthologies, or in the case of “The Tall Grass” adapted into an episode of Love, Death + Robots. These stories might be stronger in these original anthologies, surrounded by a variety of different voices because with this collection, there does not seem to be much variation in voice or structure.  Either way, Joe Lansdale is still a legend, and any book by him is worth reading. This one is just not his strongest.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Karen Siddall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome entertainment, just in time for spooky season.

In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft is a collection of shorter works by master storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, and its theme and publication couldn’t have happened at a better time – the start of spooky season. The stories, inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and influenced by several other giants of genre fiction, present a lot of variety while still landing squarely in the realm of Creepy and heading straight toward the Land of Aw-hell-no! They are wonderful.

Each of Lansdale’s stories is a fully developed, self-contained world in itself. The storytelling is immersive, and each takes on its own distinct voice and style to accomplish this. They don’t come across as Joe R. Lansdale just telling story after story (although that’s exactly what they are) but uniquely crafted singular gems. Some are longer than others, almost novella length, yet still remain lean and compact. Some build on characters created by others, as in “Dread Island,” which features Huck Finn, Jim, Tom Sawyer, and Becky Thatcher from the Mark Twain novels, Brer Rabbit and friends from Uncle Remus’s folktales, and even Captain Hook from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. However, historical figures make surprise cameos as well. I enjoyed finding these literary Easter Eggs. Lansdale even puts his own “Deadwood meets Cthulhu” character, Reverend Jebediah Mercer, through his paces in “The Crawling Sky.”

Much like with last year’s Things Get Ugly: The Best Crime Fiction of Joe R. Lansdale, as I read each selection, I couldn’t help but compile a mental list of family and friends who would also enjoy them. It’s a collection made for talking about and sharing.

I recommend IN THE MAD MOUNTAIN: STORIES INSPIRED BY H.P. LOVECRAFT to horror short story readers.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Book Blog Tours.