The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places (The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Vol. 2) [Hardcover]

William Hope Hodgson (Author), Jason Van Hollander (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Collection Fiction of William Hope Hodgson | Publication Date: July 19, 2005

The second of a five volume set collecting all of Hodgson's published fiction. Each volume contains one of Hodgson's novels, along with a selection of thematically-linked short fiction. Introduction by Jeremy Lassen The House on the Borderland Carnacki the Ghost Finder * The Gateway of the Monster * The House Among the Laurels * The Whistling Room * The Horse of the Invisible * The Searcher of the End House * The Thing Invisible * The Haunted Jarvee * The Find * The Hog Other Tales of Mystery and Suspense * The Goddess of Death * The Terror of the Water-Tank * Bullion * The Mystery of the Water-Logged Ship * The Ghosts of the 'Glen Doon' * Mr. Jock Danplank * The Mystery of Captain Chappel * The Homecoming of Captain Dan * Merciful Plunder * The Haunting of the Lady Shannon * Heathen's Revenge A Note On The Texts

Product Details

• Hardcover: 466 pages
• Publisher: Night Shade Books (July 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892389401
• ISBN-13: 978-1892389404
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #665,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding material, outstanding VALUE, January 18, 2006

By 

Mark Shanks (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places (The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

Lovecraft wrote of "The House on the Borderland", ""Never has a book so hauntingly conveyed a sense of terrible loneliness and isolation" and called it a "classic of the first water". Hodgson himself saw it as being part of a "trilogy", along with "Glen Carrig" and "Ghost Pirates". He was probably too close to his own work to see that ALL of the later, better material, carried the same oppressive message: we are shielded from malign outer forces by the thinnest of barriers, that what we would like to think of as "reality" is a tissue-thin wall separating us from entities whose very existance and purpose lie far beyond our ability to understand, much less deal with.

"The House on the Borderland" is probably the most accessible of the four novels Hodgson wrote, especially since it eschews the "archaic" language device and sickly-sweet "love interest" that make "The Night Land" so difficult. It is a crisply-written narrative whose power still grips after repeated readings. "Canacki the Ghost Finder" is a more familar "occult detective", somewhat along the lines of Blackwood's "John Silence", but he reaches incredible heights of tension and sense of dread, especially in "The Gateway of the Monster" and "The Whistling Room".

The remaining eleven short stories vary in quality, but none of them is a "dud", and none of them has been available in anything other than obscure, expensive, and now out of print anthologies.

Beautifully presented in dark blue with brilliant silver stamping, this and its companion volumes don't just LOOK good, they're **fantastic** values. Absolutely my highest recommendation. Reading this, you'll see that "fantasy" and "horror" writers of today scribble in the shadows of giants.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond genre fiction, January 31, 2005

By 

Mark S Gibson (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places (The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

This odd, deeply atmospheric novel is undoubtedly the masterwork of the eccentric Edwardian English wrtier William Hope Hodgson. It presents the haunting story of an old recluse who lives in a weird borderland between ordinarly reality and unspeakable horror. The tale is presented through the experience of two friends who discover an old manuscript in the ruin of a mansion while camping in rural Ireland. The papers describe the strange visions and terrifying experiences of the recluse who, together with his elderly sister, was the house's last living inhabitant. The story is powerfully evocative of the different kinds of evil that can befall a human mind. It should appeal to anyone who likes Lovecraft or Poe, but goes far beyond the limits of the horror genre in its imaginative power and artistry.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent collection, January 9, 2006

By 

cyberalchemist (Glebe, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places (The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

I'd guess that if you are looking at this review you probably already know that William Hope Hodgson is one of the masters of 20th Century Fantasy Horror, and a huge influence on all who came after him in particular HP Lovecraft. Whether you know anything about Hodgson or not, this volume is a good place to start reading. It contains two of his masterworks 'House on the Borderland', with its truly brooding sense of cosmic despair, and the stories of Carnacki the occult detective. It also has quite a few other stories I have not seen before which while generally not of the same quality are definately worth reading.

The production values of the book are excellent, with decent size font, sewn binding and rather irrelevant but interesting illustrations. My only vague complaint is that the backing boards are of a plasticky nature and probably will not last as long as cloth, but this is a triviality.

I will definately be getting the others of the series as they come out, and will probably not bother hanging on my copy of the old Arkhan collection of novels. There is no better recommendation.