Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

as a teen i read hodgson's "the nightland" and "boats of the glen carrig" with the former impressing me strongly. i could never find "the house on the borderland" and was unaware of his short fiction. hearing of the release of hardcover editions of his collected works led to an enjoyable reread of "boats" and the short fiction in the 1st volume of the series.(also thank you to my teen son who suggested i seek out "house.") i preordered this 2nd volume months ago, and the wait was well worth it. "house" is a match for any work of fantastic horror (lovecraft, derleth, king, etc)and a book almost unbelievably inventive for its time. the short fiction in this volume is as much of a treat as what was in the 1st volume. the last story is a chilling comment on the danger of the western mind misunderstanding the thought processes of the east (certainlyly pertinent today) and all the short fiction has something to offer. this was strong work and is highly recommended.

I just received this book from Amazon and will be buying the other editions in this collection as my budget allows. I first read The House on the Borderland years ago and it is indeed a weird and memorable story, ranking up with Lovecraft's best work. This book includes a number of Hodgson's stories about a supernatural detective, and I can't wait to read them.

This edition is among the best of any horror and fantasy editions I've ever seen, with nice use of large and readable typefaces, a very sturdy binding, intriguingly strange artwork inside, and beautiful silver stamping on the cover. My wife has never read anything in this genre but when she saw my book she immediatley picked it up and was entranced by the wonderful craftsmanship in this edition. At just over twenty bucks, this is a terrific value and will not only look beautiful on your shelf but may keep you up all night!

Hodgson's master work is usually stated to be The Night Land, but in my opinion The House on the Borderland is better -- perhaps because it is shorter and it has more genuinely spooky action. It takes an effort to really get into Hodgson's prose style, but if you slow down and let your mind be lulled, his stories become quite engaging. The Night Land is flawed by his tendency to dwell too much on how many hours the central character walks or crawls, how many hours he sleeps, how many food pills he eats, etc., similar details of which we are spared in The House on the Borderland. Hodgson also has a romantic infatuation with simpering girl-women, whom he describes as "My Own" and over whom the narrator is the "master." This is outright cloying by modern standards. I am also struck by the interesting parallel of the quest in The Night Land to Tolkien's later narrative of Frodo's pilgrimage into the land of Mordor.

WOW ! William Hope Hodgson is a an underrated, but Great talent. Were he writing today, he'd be a "bestselling author" . . his horror stories are sublime !

"The House on the Borderland" is a scary, desolate , masterpiece . . i'd love to see it made into a movie ! Maybe M.Night, or Ridley Scott . .

His "Carnacki, The Ghost Finder", stories are deserving of 'classic" status. If you love horror, it's hard to beat these stories . . i found myself hesitant to walk around the house at night after reading these.

He did his research, he KNEW his subject matter. Buy it !