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

“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.Table of ContentsIntroduction 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 Shadows”“The Crawling Sky”“Starlight, Eyes Bright”In the Mad Mountains

Kim Newman, author of the Anno Dracula series

“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. You’ll never look at the howling void in the black heart of the universe the same way again.”

Nick Mamatas, author of Move Under Ground and I Am Providence

“Here’s Lovecraft’s trick: he uses polyphony, many voices, to build his narrative case for the existence of cosmic squids whistling in the dark. Here is Lansdale's trick: doing it better, with a wider array of voices, including those of Poe and Twain and the classic American folk tale and his own Texas noir sensibility. This collection is a box of cursed yet delicious chocolates. Take a bite of every one!”

Laird Barron, author of Not a Speck of Light Praise for Joe R. Lansdale

“Horror royalty Joe Lansdale’s take on cosmic horror and the Cthulhu Mythos is everything you'd hope for―bloody, profane, grimly humorous, and as vivid as Technicolor hell splashed on a 20-foot tall silver screen.”

New York Times Book Review

“A folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace.”

Washington Post Book Review

“A terrifically gifted storyteller.”

Los Angeles Times

“Like gold standard writers Elmore Leonard and the late Donald Westlake, Joe R. Lansdale is one of the more versatile writers in America.”

Entertainment Weekly

“A zest for storytelling and gimlet eye for detail.”

Booklist

“Lansdale is an immense talent.”

Houston Chronicle

“Lansdale is a storyteller in the Texas tradition of outrageousness...but amped up to about 100,000 watts.”

Austin Chronicle --This text refers to the paperback edition.

“Lansdale’s been hailed, at varying points in his career, as the new Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner-gone-madder, and the last surviving splatterpunk . . . sanctified in the blood of the walking Western dead and righteously readable.”

About the Author

Internationally bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale has received the Edgar, Raymond Chandler, Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and Inkpot Awards. His work includes mysteries, Westerns, horror, thrillers, pulp, crime, and science fiction. He has written more than forty novels, including Dead in the West, The Bottoms, The Thicket, Moon Lake, and The Donut Legion. Lansdale’s short story collections include The Best of Joe R. Lansdale, Things Get Ugly, and Born for Trouble. Lansdale’s short fiction has also been adapted for Masters of Horror; Netflix's Love, Death & Robots; and Creepshow; Bubba Ho-Tep and Cold in July were adapted as major motion pictures; his two most famous characters are the basis for the Hap and Leonard TV series on Netflix. He has also written graphic novels for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, IDW, and others. Lansdale lives with his wife, Karen, in Nacogdoches, Texas. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

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