Customer Reviews

Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and Other Nautical Adventures (The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Vol. 1)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's great to see that finally ALL the works of William Hope Hodgson are being published. It's about time that this great storyteller is about to get his masterpieces printed in style. I just bought the first volume and I must admit it's been done with care: the book cover is intricate + the nice pictures, layout, design, and editing work ensures that the volume can only be marvelled with content. As a fan, I for one have been waiting for this event to happen and will ensure that I will collect all these editions from Night Shade Books. So, if you're a fan then this is a must buy. And if you aren't acquainted with the author yet and are into stories of the tall and dark seas, then this is a great place to start on your sea journey to the worlds of William Hope Hodgson.

P.S. For those wondering which stories are all there, here's the complete list:

Introduction by Jeremy Lassen

The Boats of the "Glen Carrig"

The Sargasso Sea Stories:
-From the Tideless Sea Part 1
-From the Tideless Sea Part 2: More News From the Homebird
-The Mystery of the Derelict
-The Finding of the Graiken
-The Thing in the Weeds
-The Call In the Dawn

The Exploits of Captain Gault:
-Contraband of War
-From Information Received
-The Case of the Curio Dealer
-The Diamond Spy
-The Drum of Saccharine
-The Red Herring
-The German Spy
-The Painted Lady
-The Problem of the Pearls
-My Lady's Jewels
-The Adventure of the Garter
-Trading with the Enemy
-The Plans of the Reefing Bi-Plane

The Adventures of Captain Jat:
-The Island of the Ud
-Adventure of the Headland

Stories of Cargunka:
-The Bells of the Laughing Sally
-The Adventure with the Claim Jumpers

A Note On The Texts

As the title implies this is a review of the Night Shades Volumes rather than the written material itself, for that i give 5 stars as William Hope Hodgson work goes without saying or repeating what other reviews have written.

I have an extensive collection of books from leather bound to paperback and when i saw (albeit late) these books for sale i was somewhat curious to their construct. Faux leather... i wasn't sure what that was and these volumes offered many short stories which i have not read so i decided to purchase the first 3 volumes as they coincidentally contain my favorite Hodgson works.

The first two volumes i ordered from Amazon and the third from another seller at an inflated price. The books are not what i imagined faux leather to be or even similar to what my online searches described. They are basically regular board hard covers with vacuum formed plastic over the top very similar to the the diaries and note books students at my school were issued in the mid to late 90's.

The silver "embossing" merely appears to be silver paint which i found rubs off alarmingly easy and there is a fine residue of this silver material over the books themselves and pages which migrated to my hands upon reading. This is, i found, most annoying as i enjoy reading in bed before i sleep and i had to get up to wash my hands after each reading. Because of the plastic covers and the silver paint i fear that after time on my shelf in close proximity the volumes will stick together.

The binding is also glue (stitching would have been nice) and the paper of a lower quality which may brown over time.

All in all i would have rather they made these volumes with acid free paper, stitched binding, cloth hard cover and a regular dust jacket. This i would even pay extra for due to the contents and assemblage of rare works contained within.

Hopefully these volumes will be re-issued in the future meeting the above criteria.

These books are worth the 20-30 dollars you will pay for new on Amazon simply because of the written material and collections of stories however they are not worth paying inflated prices (like i did for volume 3 on another sellers site) when they become out of stock.

I seldom review a book before reading it completely, but here I have to make an exception because I was bowled over by the appreance of this book as soon as I opened the Amazon box. This book is obviously a very loving treatment of Hodgson's works, the picture here doesn't do it justice. It is nicely bound and the cover is a deep blue textured faux leather, the drawings and lettering on front and spine, and the portrait of Hodgson on the back cover are deeply embossed in brilliant silver and quite stunning! WHY OH WHY someone had to slap a barcode sticker with strong adhesive on the back is beyond me, it took me 30 minutes of soap, window cleaner and knife to carefully remove it without marring the book. This book also contains wonderful line illustations at the beginning of several of the tales. Heads and tails above the quality of most books purchased nowadays.

The stories themselves (I've only read a few so far in the Sargasso Sea section) are quite enjoyable. I'm a fan of Lovecraft, Blackwood, Machen, et al and also love a good sea story, so these are right up my alley. Well-written, interesting, and atmospheric while still having enough action to move things along.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys stories in this genre and who wants a beautiful set of books on their shelves. This would look great in a nice glass-doored bookcase. I'm looking forward to buying the whole set.

If you haven't ...you should. Hodgson is a master of his craft from the fog bound streets of London to the tropical heat of a becalmed ship in the Pacific. This is a beautiful presentation which will eventually consist of five volumes, I am already impressed by my first two volumes....and eagerly await the rest.

It was just by dumb luck that I happened to make up my mind to seek new editions of my old, dog-eared paperbacks of Hodgson's work at the same time these became available. There's no need to review the work of the author--if you're looking for Hodgson's books these beautifully-bound new hardbacks are th ones to buy.