At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

As far as the plot goes, there is more of an emphasis placed on the science fiction aspect's of the Cthulhu Mythos until the last few chapters and there is a great deal of detail given over to the Shoggoth and the Old ones. This interest is clearly reflected in the level of detail that has gone into the story and there is a real sense of the joy Lovecraft must have felt writing this tale. Clark Russell's 1887 book The Frozen Pirate, he had written several small treatises on early Antarctic explorers by the age of 12. According to Lovecraft's biographer S T Joshi, he had a lifelong interest in Antarctic exploration and was fascinated with the continent. While the rich prose is very much in Lovecraft's usual style - which does include the fairly relaxed pace that is prevalent throughout much of his work, there is a greater amount of time given to the backstory than usual. One of Lovecraft's longest works at over 40 000 words, At the Mountains of Madness is almost the size of a full novel and describes in rich detail an ill fated expedition to Antarctica, narrated by one of the survivor's and leader, the geologist William Dyer. The Barren, windswept interior of the Antarctic plateau is considered completely devoid of life until an expedition from the University of Miskatonic find strange fossils of unknown creatures along with carvings in stone that appear to be millions of years old. At the Mountains of Madness is a novella set within the Cthulhu Mythos and written by HP Lovecraft.

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft