Request for help: polar expedition horror

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

So tomorrow is Walpurgisnacht, which every good vampire-lover knows is a fun day for the dead to rise. It also is the antipode of Hallowe'en.

Hallowe'en is my high holy season for ficcing and every year I try to tackle a different kind of scary story (ghosts, vampires, creepy objects, Lovecraftian possession, etc.).

This year, I've set my sights on polar expedition horror (a la Papí Doyle's "The Captain of the Polestar."). It will more than likely be Sherlock Holmes ACD AU but I'm not wedded to that.

Anyway, if anyone has thoughts or fictional or non-fictional works about polar expeditions that I should check out, let me know! I'm starting from zero that's why I need to start early. And if I can't make it work, I shall fall back on ye ol' haunted house. :)

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I'm just going outside, I may be sometime ...

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ha! The cousin of 'I wonder what that sound is. Let me go check--by myself!'

[potentiality_26]

Has anyone suggested The Terror yet? It's on my to-watch list so I can't personally speak to quality, but it's quite popular. There's one season of the TV show (season 2 I gather will have a completely different plot) and a book as well.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

No, but I'm just starting out and it looks perfect. I mean, 'demonic polar bear'? Sign me up! I put a hold on the book at the library. It probably has a nice bibliography I can explore and I did like one of the author's other works (Drood). Thank you so much!!

[ancientreader]

John W. Campbell Jr.'s "Who Goes There?" It's been made into more than one movie, I think, but I read the novella as a kid and I still break out into a sweat thinking about it -- no promise that it holds up, of course.

I don't seem to be able to link directly to the PDF, but when I Googled "who goes there" + campbell + "full text," it was the first hit. A New York University page and nothing funky when I downloaded it.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I've found it and will give it a read! Thank you! It was made into The Thing, which sounds promising!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I liked the story very much. I mean, it is science fiction/horror in the Lovecraftian sense but it is also kind of a locked room mystery too. Nice blend of the two genres.

[ancientreader]

Oh, I'd forgotten all about this exchange! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Just gave myself a shiver thinking about it again -- that's what comes of Reading at an Impressionable Age.

[mightymads]

Perhaps ACD's own recounting of that expedition might help. There's a chapter in his memoirs devoted to it :)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Perfect! Thank you so much! I am not familiar with Doyle's memoirs so this is wonderful.

[orchid314]

Have you read Alive, the story of the Uruguayan soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes in the 1970s? It's quite gruesome in places, but a strangely spiritual book.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I've not but I shall give a look. Thank you very much!