At the Mountains of Madness

#1080
Title: At the Mountains of Madness
Author: H. P. Lovecraft
Year: 1931 (orig.)
Publisher: ?
Pages: 142 

An incorrect cover, but I like it best of the choices.

While entertaining, and the world-building is fun, I agree with early Lovecraft critics that this is pulp. Most noticeable is the layering of description that means nothing--a thing is horrible because the narrator tells us so, though rarely for any reason other than that it is tautologically horrible. I was pulled repeatedly from my suspension of disbelief by the narrator's ability to effortlessly and seamlessly interpret pictographic murals to make unsupported and narratively suspect inferences about the emotions and motivations of aliens. This assertion of the meaning of things builds the narrator's surface credibility as a reporter and, as for Poe and Wells, I love the pseudo-scientific "factual" presentation of the story. However, it's immediately evident to the reader that Lovecraft is a sloppier writer than Poe or Wells, which dampens the effect significantly.