New pulp snow monsters are hard to find because I’ve written about so many related creatures already. I wrote about the monsters of the Antarctic including John W. Campbell’s the Thing in “Who Goes There?” (Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1938) and Lovecraft’s Shoggoths from “At the Mountains of Madness” (Astounding Stories, February March April 1936 ).
At the other end of the Earth, there are stories related to Wendigo and Ithaqua from “The Thing That Walked On the Wind (Strange Tales, January 1933).
Tales of Yetis and sasquatch like H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Whisperer in Darkness” (Weird Tales, August 1931),
Jim Kjelgaard’s “The Thing From the Barrens” (Weird Tales, September 1945)
and Wilford Allen’s “Arctic Death” (Weird Tales, June 1927),
the Japanese Yuki-Onna in August Derleth’s “The Drifting Snow”(Weird Tales, February 1939)
and even Canadian werewolves like Sewell Peaslee Wright’s “The Wolf” (Weird Tales, November 1927). Dan Simmons’ The Terror offers a weird polar bear-like monster too. There is an entire sub-genre dedicated to the weird and terrible in Canada’s North.
Edgar Rice Burroughs even put one on Barsoom, called the Apt, in “Yellow Men of Mars” (Amazing Stories, August 1941)
Jack Williamson did his own ice world in “Invaders of the Ice World” (Weird Tales, January 1934). So, what is left?
“Drome” (Weird Tales, January February March April May 1927) by John Martin Leahy, the author who later gave us the Yeti-like monster of “In Amundsen’s Tent” (Weird Tales, January 1928) wrote this serialized novel set on Mount Rainier near Seattle, Washington. The protagonists must contend with the monster that lives there, a weird combo of sasquatch and flying monster.
“The Polar Doom” (Weird Tales, November 1928) by Edmond Hamilton has another invasion, this time by aliens in flying saucers (this was long before 1947 and Ray Palmer’s push for UFOs.) Hamilton is clever in that he knows if he has the invaders camp out in the Arctic, the humans will have a much harder time getting to them. The plot is standard Hamilton with a small group of men saving the world.
Clark Ashton Smith wins the crown with his Hyperborea tales, from a time in the dim past when the world was known as Commoria. The great heights of civilization are being crushed under the approaching glaciers of the Ice Age. He offers up many monsters but the best are:
“The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” (Weird Tales, November 1931) features the formless spawn of Tsathaggua who guard their father’s temple. When the thief Satampra Zerios comes to steal a fortune he leaves with one less hand. The formless spawn are shoggoth-like puddles that live in large open bowls.
“The Ice-Demon” (Weird Tales, April 1933) has three warriors go to the desolate Mhu Thulan to the great glacier Polarion. There they meet the essence of cold evil that is devouring the entire continent.
“The Seven Geas” (Weird Tales, October 1934) features several snow monsters including the Yeti-like Voormis but Tsathoggua the bat-like is probably best remembered. He is mentioned in most of the Commoria tales. Lovecraft included old Tsath in his Cthulhu Mythos.
“The Coming of the White Worm” (Stirring Science Stories, April 1941) features the White Worm, Rlim Shaikorth. Found in an iceberg, the powerful sorcerer-thing torments Evagh and the mariners that free him.
“The Frost-Giant’s Daughter” (Fantasy Fiction, August 1953) by Robert E. Howard was an L. Sprague de Camp rewrite job from the earlier “Gods of the North”. This classic tale has Conan chasing the phantom girl, who invokes her giant brothers to kill him. Conan wakes from the experience thinking it a dream. The wisp of her clothing he clutches proves it otherwise. The de Camp version removes some of the “rapy” elements of the story because Conan’s motives aren’t all good.
Conclusion
The Pulps had monsters that lived in snowy climbs, made of snow and ice, and best of all, lived in colder ages past. The snow monster gained its popularity largely after the Royal Geographical Society’s Everest Reconnaissance Expedition of 1921, which gave us the Yeti. Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror writers have used the snow monster as a metaphor for the cold of the poles, their remoteness and harsh climate.
The tradition lives on in movies in the Star Wars and Star Trek universes. Long live the snow beast!
