Thursday, April 24, 2014

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Having pretty much loved The Night Land, I went into this book with high expectations. I was not disappointed. In one word: WOW. This book was a wild roller coaster ride that I didn't want to end.
The story begins with two men on a fishing trip. While out, they decide to follow the river to see if there is better fishing. What they discover is that the river just ends. It's as if it is flowing underground. They then begin to look around and find an enormous chasm. They discover that the river comes out within the chasm and runs down to the bottom. Jutting out into the chasm is a large overhanging piece of rock with ruins of a house on it. Upon searching through the rubble, the men find an old handwritten manuscript.
It is within this manuscript that the real story is told. It's the story of the man that lived in the house that was once there. The story will take you from the action of the man being pursued by man-like creatures with swine heads to traveling through space and time. Hodgson's description of accelerated time is amazing. I've never read anything that made me really feel what it would be like until this book.
This story was the definition of weird fiction. You should definitely read it if you are a fan of the genre.
My copy is the second printing of "The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places". This book is part of a five volume series released by Night Shade Press between 2005 and 2007. Volumes 3 and 4 are a bit hard to find at the moment but, as of today at least, you can pick up the second printing of volumes 1, 2 and 5 on Amazon.

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