"My original ode to H. P. Lovecraft was a tough nut to crack, if I can be honest. Chasing the Moon drove me a little bit crazy. In the end, I was very happy with the way it turned out, and when I think about it now, if it hadn't been so difficult, I'm not sure it would've been the cosmic horror story it ultimately became. This short story, an homage to Poe with Lovecraftian influences, was easier. Maybe I sacrificed enough of my sanity to the original novel to make it so."
— Author's Notes
Pizza Madness is a Comic Fantasy short story written by A. Lee Martinez and published in the 2013 anthology book Robots versus Slime Monsters. The story is set after the events of the novel Chasing the Moon, following a nameless man who takes up a job as a Pizza Delivery Man which consumes his life.
Pizza Madness provides examples of:
- Darker and Edgier: While Chasing the Moon had its fair share of creep-factor by virtue of its Cosmic Horror influences, it played its darker elements for comedy. Here, we follow a poor soul who slowly descends into madness before becoming a warden so dedicated to his job, it may as well be a Fate Worse than Death. Not that he seems to mind, anyway.
- Evil Smells Bad: The first indication that something is off about the protagonist's new job is that he perpetually smells like pizza. At first he has to shower as soon as he gets home and eventually the smell drives his girlfriend away. The delivery guy takes the sent of pizza clinging to her as a sign that if he doesn't break things off with her, he'll drag her down with him.
- Mundane Horror: The story portrays the protagonist's pizza delivery job as though he had joined a cult in a more typical Cosmic Horror Story; the act of delivering pizzas consumes his every thought, the smell of pizza is treated like a black spot on his soul, he forgets the names of his friends and loved ones, and eventually he's driven to killing an older pizza delivery man that delivers "special orders" out of jealousy.
