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The House on the Borderland
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Product Description
Product Description
"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." -- H.P. Lovecraft
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I thought this was a great read, I'd never heard of the author before but had seen it included in a horror listmania on Amazon which I'd tried other books from and enjoyed.
This edition is an Echo Library edition (www.echo-library.com) and includes the authors introduction, the introduction and chapters themselves, a short poem called grief and endnotes. There is also a page about the echo library itself which are making sought after books available in a mass published format again, it is a slim volume and has a cheap and cheerful appearence, like a facsimile edition.
The story itself is written in a great olde style, combining reflection and description brillantly and giving a clue to a time which is long vanished, including its norms and values (when menaced by strange creatures our protagonist doesnt seek to summon the authorities, he simply reaches for his amply stocked gun rack and gives fight, in a literal sense his home IS his castle).
The main body of the book is a discovered and half destroyed journal recounting strange battle, unworldly or other dimensional travels and coming unstuck from time itself but the beginning and finish of the book are accounts of the discovery of the book itself in a strange ruin on a cliff above a big pit.
Comparisons have been made with H. P. Lovecraft, which is perhaps fair, the style of a first person narrative contained in a discovered journal, of spooky unexplained placed bordering another unworldly place, scant explanation for fantastical experience or bewildering creatures are all present. However, the book is very much a story in a number of parts, he first in which the protagonist defends his home from invading pig creatures (which may be a figment of his imagination somehow) could be considered comparable to Matheson or Philip K. Dick, the incidence of the house and protagonist becoming unstuck from time itself are actually like HG Wells and along side the time machine are probably the best time travel narratives I've read.
I'm not surprised that there are such mixed opinions give the different styles and story telling that are included in a single short volume but I felt there was a nice olde "take heart and have no fear" adventure styling all throughout. The ending was a little disappointing and I was ready for a much greater expansion of the tale into something else but I understood how it had to end as it did in order to fit with the discovery of journal and return to that point.
This edition is an Echo Library edition (www.echo-library.com) and includes the authors introduction, the introduction and chapters themselves, a short poem called grief and endnotes. There is also a page about the echo library itself which are making sought after books available in a mass published format again, it is a slim volume and has a cheap and cheerful appearence, like a facsimile edition.
The story itself is written in a great olde style, combining reflection and description brillantly and giving a clue to a time which is long vanished, including its norms and values (when menaced by strange creatures our protagonist doesnt seek to summon the authorities, he simply reaches for his amply stocked gun rack and gives fight, in a literal sense his home IS his castle).
The main body of the book is a discovered and half destroyed journal recounting strange battle, unworldly or other dimensional travels and coming unstuck from time itself but the beginning and finish of the book are accounts of the discovery of the book itself in a strange ruin on a cliff above a big pit.
Comparisons have been made with H. P. Lovecraft, which is perhaps fair, the style of a first person narrative contained in a discovered journal, of spooky unexplained placed bordering another unworldly place, scant explanation for fantastical experience or bewildering creatures are all present. However, the book is very much a story in a number of parts, he first in which the protagonist defends his home from invading pig creatures (which may be a figment of his imagination somehow) could be considered comparable to Matheson or Philip K. Dick, the incidence of the house and protagonist becoming unstuck from time itself are actually like HG Wells and along side the time machine are probably the best time travel narratives I've read.
I'm not surprised that there are such mixed opinions give the different styles and story telling that are included in a single short volume but I felt there was a nice olde "take heart and have no fear" adventure styling all throughout. The ending was a little disappointing and I was ready for a much greater expansion of the tale into something else but I understood how it had to end as it did in order to fit with the discovery of journal and return to that point.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Most of William Hope Hodgson's stuff has badly dated by now, to the point of being unreadable, which is a great shame as he was possessed of a truly amazing scope of imagination. I am pleased to say his greatest work, (in my opinion anyway) "The House On The Borderland", has aged very well though. It is an enthralling, hallucinogenic read which, once you get into the story, will have you gripped right to the end.
Set in a remote part of Ireland it concerns a man, who seems to arrive out of nowhere with his downtrodden sister, to take up residence in a depressing country house. From the moment they arrive strange, bizarre, highly surreal things begin to happen. The narrator becomes obsessed that demonic pig-like creatures are trying to break into his house. When his sister tries to escape from this gloomy madness he locks her in her room. He eventually confines himself to his own room where he descends into a very trippy nightmare in which he envisages the end of the Universe and time itself. This is an incredible read as you get swept along on the psychedelic ride of the narrator's tortured mind.
You won't come to the end any wiser than you were to start with as to just what happened, but that doesn't matter. You will be baffled for ages by exactly what is this place, who is this person, what on earth was going on?!!! If you want an ultimate fantasy read then I recommend you get caught up in the pages of this.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This dates from 1907 and is a piece of wierd cosmic horror from Englsh writer William Hope Hodgson. The first part concerns a house under seige from subterranian hybred swine creatures in a modern 'Night of the living dead'style episode.The second part has its horrors in a more cosmic vein,featuring monsterously accelerated time sequences,psychadelic treks into space and other indescribable interdimensional entities.
This is a baffling,mind-expanding slice of Edwardian horrific psychedelia.Not one for your more mainstream type of horror fan.If you require your fiction to have an easily-understandable beginning-middle-end,you wont like this.
I am always awed in the presence of Hodgson ,with his vast imagination and ability to etch his unsettling scenarios and entities directly into the readers mind.One of the best "lost"authors I know.
I got my copy through 'The echo library',who actually print to order.I got an e-mail informing me my book was now being printed,which was nice.
This is a baffling,mind-expanding slice of Edwardian horrific psychedelia.Not one for your more mainstream type of horror fan.If you require your fiction to have an easily-understandable beginning-middle-end,you wont like this.
I am always awed in the presence of Hodgson ,with his vast imagination and ability to etch his unsettling scenarios and entities directly into the readers mind.One of the best "lost"authors I know.
I got my copy through 'The echo library',who actually print to order.I got an e-mail informing me my book was now being printed,which was nice.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Loved it - but shame about the over-written ethereal travel bit that...
Since this was written by a writer who was a huge influence on some of my favourite writers, I just had to read it.
Well, I'm of mixed views on it. Read more
Well, I'm of mixed views on it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Glynn James
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1563898608/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title
William Hope Hodgson. Granddaddy of contempory cosmological horror retold in graphic novel format.
While the story is basically that of the novel, the artwork is... Read more
While the story is basically that of the novel, the artwork is... Read more
Published 21 months ago by The Academate
Hello? Reality check!
Ok - here's my take on things...
First story - 100 payes - The Boats of the (something). Not bad. You can see that his style has something in common with Lovecraft. Read more
Published on 6 April 2006 by dangermash
Eerie
This is the text that purports to be one of the earliest of its genre - the gothic horror/suspense story. Read more
Published on 9 April 2003 by "talba"
Great Art, Hokey Tale
This graphic novel adaptation of William Hope Hodgson's 1908 gothic horror novel, while absolutely stunning visually, suffers from the hokeyness of story I find in almost all... Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2002 by A. Ross
Visionary Work
William Hope Hodgson (killed during WW1) was the writer that inspired HP Lovecraft. At his best his cosmic visions of what lies beyond this earth are truly staggering. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2000
Forget Blair Witch...
Today with all the hype of Blair Witch, why not sample the original first person tale of horror ? Curl up at home, alone, with this. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 1999
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