The William Hope Hodgson Megapack: 35 Classic Works

by William Hope Hodgson, H.P. Lovecraft (Introduction), Darrell Schweitzer (Introduction)

From classic novels like "The Ghost Pirates" and "The House on the Borderland" to short stories to even a pair of poems, "The William Hope Hodgson Megapack" presents 35 classic works. Included A NOTE ABOUT HODGSON, by Darrell Schweitzer
NOTES ON HODGSON, by H. P. Lovecraft
THE MYSTERY OF THE DERELICT
A TROPICAL HORROR
OUT OF THE STORM
THE FINDING OF THE "GRAIKEN"
ELOI ELOI LAMA SABACHTHANI
THE TERROR OF THE WATER-TANK
THE ALBATROSS
THE HAUNTING OF THE LADY SHANNON
THE SHAMRAKEN HOMEWARD-BOUNDER
ON THE BRIDGE
THE CAPTAIN OF THE ONION BOAT
THE WEED MEN
THE SEA HORSES
MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED THE HOUSE OF PRAYER
FROM THE TIDELESS SEA
THROUGH THE VORTEX OF A CYCLONE
GREY SEAS ARE DREAMING OF MY DEATH (poem)
THE DERELICT
THE BAUMOFF EXPLOSIVE
A TROPICAL HORROR
DEMONS OF THE SEA
JACK GREY, SECOND MATE
THE STONE SHIP
THE THING IN THE WEEDS
THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT
THE GATEWAY OF THE MONSTER (Carnacki the Ghost Finder No. 1)
THE HOUSE AMONG THE LAURELS (Carnacki the Ghost Finder No. 2)
THE WHISTLING ROOM (Carnacki the Ghost Finder No. 3)
THE HORSE OF THE INVISIBLE (Carnacki the Ghost Finder No. 4)
THE SEARCHER OF THE END HOUSE (Carnacki the Ghost Finder No. 5)
THE THING INVISIBLE (Carnacki the Ghost Finder No. 6)
THE GHOST PIRATES
THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND
THE BOATS OF THE "GLEN CARRIG"
GREY SEAS ARE DREAMING OF MY DEATH (poem)
And if you enjoy this volume, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see all the other entries in this great series, covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, classics -- and much, much more!

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Anthologies, Weird Fiction, Short Stories

917 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. Hodgson served with the British Army durng World War One. He died, at age 40, at Ypres, killed by German artillery fire.

Reviews

[S.E. Lindberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What does it all mean?” – narrator of House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

I bought Wildside Press's The William Hope Hodgson Megapack: 35 Classic Works primarily to read one of his most well cited works: The House on the Borderland. In the US, the Kindle version is only $0.99, and conveniently organizes 35 of William Hope Hodgson ‘s work with introductions from Darrell Schweitzer and Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Being a Megapack, it may take a while to read the whole thing, so I check in now to review. The collection is a great value.

The House on the Borderland (1908) was written by William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) who influenced many weird fiction writers. In the introduction, we have NOTES ON HODGSON, by H.P. Lovecraft which is telling:

”Of rather uneven stylistic quality, but vast occasional power in its suggestion of lurking worlds and beings behind the ordinary surface of life, is the work of William Hope Hodgson, known today far less than it deserves to be.

.... The House on the Borderland (1908)—perhaps the greatest of all Mr. Hodgson’s works—tells of a lonely and evilly regarded house in Ireland which forms a focus for hideous otherworld forces and sustains a siege by blasphemous hybrid anomalies from a hidden abyss below. The wanderings of the Narrator’s spirit through limitless light-years of cosmic space and Kalpas of eternity, and its witnessing of the solar system’s final destruction, constitute something almost unique in standard literature. And everywhere there is manifest the author’s power to suggest vague, ambushed horrors in natural scenery. But for a few touches of commonplace sentimentality this book would be a classic of the first water.”

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath seems similar to the strange quest presented in House on the Borderland. Sidebar, I am a huge fan of HPL’s Pickman’s Model and have been motivated to read the Dream-Quest novel since it has Pickman and his ghouls appear again, but the journey is so extended and unfocused, I have failed three times to finish that tale.

WHH’s House on the Borderland is very similar in style, but I could finish this one! The story is more plot-centric than character-driven; the meandering journey can easily lose the reader, at times becoming repetitive. However, it’s unique strength is its epic tale and flowery language interlaced with mystery & terror. The scope is truly epic. The tale concerns two adventurous hikers who go to remote Ireland, discover a enormous pit and ruined house. In the ruins, they find the titular manuscript: The House on the Borderland. The remaining story switches narration to the writer's perspective. The recluse narrator encounters lots of terror: his haunted house, the swine-things stalking him in the gardens, evils floating up from the Pit, disease corrupting his body, and being extracted from his body to lose one’s anchor in reality…. and have one’s soul float across the cosmos into heavenly and hellish worlds.

Characterization is weak & distant, but read this for the Journey: The main narrator is nameless, and his relationship with his sister is bizarre. At times when she should be involved, Mary is marginalized or disregarded to the point I thought she may be a ghost. Several instances have the narrator securing himself in a locked room with no concern about Mary who is left elsewhere prone to attack. WHH seems to be aware of this and writes: “She is old, like myself; yet how little we have to do with one another. Is it because we have nothing in common; or only that, being old, we care less for society, than quietness?” But this does not make up for her floating in and out of the story so oddly.

There is also the “dear One”, a nameless love interest of the narrator. She mysteriously appears in the middle of the story (which is weird because the House is very remote) but her prime story is literally left out as “unreadable fragments”? WTH? Why? It seemed as easy out for WHH to avoid real storytelling than it did for driving any story line. I any event, this approach deflates the cool/weirdness of the narrator searching and finding remnants of his "dear One’s" soul. It was confusing, and I was convinced for a while that she may have been Mary.

Pepper, the dog, is a splendid character and plays a larger role than Mary. And there is “Tip,” Mary’s cat which is abruptly introduced and then disregarded. Why Tip got a name and the dear One did not, I have no idea. Names are important, but in this story, the characters are simply less important than the places.

The names of the strange geography resonant like a Jack Vance novel: Plain of Silence; The Sea of Sleep; The Pit; House in the Arena; and Green Sun. Reading this will be more pleasurable if you focus on the trippy geography than the characters. The language is captivating; excerpt below. At times, WHH seems to be blatantly ironic, like when he uses the word “Presently?” in the middle of a timeless adventure. Really? Like most weird fiction writers of the early 20th century, they peppered their prose with the transitional word “Presently.” WHH did so ironically throughout the trippy, disembodied adventures across time & outerspace.

"What does it all mean?" : I don't know. Nevertheless, the journey is very weird and very fun. A must read for weird fiction aficionados.

Excerpt:

It might have been a million years later, that I perceived, beyond possibility of doubt, that the fiery sheet that lit the world, was indeed darkening.
Another vast space went by, and the whole enormous flame had sunk to a deep, copper color. Gradually, it darkened, from copper to copper-red, and from this, at times, to a deep, heavy, purplish tint, with, in it, a strange loom of blood.

… Gradually, as time fled, I began to feel the chill of a great winter. Then, I remembered that, with the sun dying, the cold must be, necessarily, extraordinarily intense. Slowly, slowly, as the aeons slipped into eternity, the earth sank into a heavier and redder gloom. The dull flame in the firmament took on a deeper tint, very somber and turbid.

… Overhead, the river of flame swayed slower, and even slower; until, at last, it swung to the North and South in great, ponderous beats, that lasted through seconds. A long space went by, and now each sway of the great belt lasted nigh a minute; so that, after a great while, I ceased to distinguish it as a visible movement; and the streaming fire ran in a steady river of dull flame, across the deadly-looking sky.

…An indefinite period passed, and it seemed that the arc of fire became less sharply defined. It appeared to me to grow more attenuated, and I thought blackish streaks showed, occasionally. Presently, as I watched, the smooth onward-flow ceased; and I was able to perceive that there came a momentary, but regular, darkening of the world.”

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone interested in reading William Hope Hodgson, I highly recommend this Kindle Megapack. (In fact, I recommend any of the Megapacks on Amazon. They’re a very inexpensive way to get a whole bunch of stories by some almost-forgotten but very good authors.)

This Hodgson collection contains his best novels (House on the Borderlands and The Boats of the “Glenn Carrig”), his best short stories (Voice in the Night, The Derelict, Demons of the Sea, et al) and even his Carnacki “ghost hunter” stories (though I don’t know if all of them are collected here).

Hodgson has the power to conjure up haunting moods as well as melodramatic moments. Many of his sea stories reflect high adventure and his characters range all the way from funny stereotypes to poignant reflections of human nature.

Hodgson will probably be most remembered for his ghostly and horrific tales. But he is an author of versatility and wonder.

[Tanya Procknow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This got a three because there was stories I hated “House on the Borderland” and ones I really liked “The boats of Glenn Carrick”. The thing was even the one I liked the best had incredibly slow dull parts in it. I attributed it to the fact these are old stories and the writing style is just different than we are used to now. He certainly loved his sea stories and different dimensions, although he doesn’t word it as such. It was fun to read something very different but with amazing imagination.

[Maria Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So interesting

Such a fascinating read! At times the detail of putting to sea was a!most too much but always interesting. A surprising bonus was the very moving poems about loss. I found them extremely poignant. In all well worth reading

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection

Lots of good ghost stories, I really enjoy the Carnacki tales. After reading this the loss of Hodgson in WWI is a real loss for the genre of horror and ghost tales. You will see his influence in the world of many popular authors. Worth the time, check it out.

[Chris Nagy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't really read on my phone, so this is a maybe read when I'm stranded without paper between my fingers. I do love Hodgson, however.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these, but Hodgson (who was a sailor for a while) must have really hated the sea.

[Bill Borre]

The Thing in the Weeds is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
The Thing Invisible is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review on the way soon!