Tag Archives: William Hope Hodgson

William Hope Hodgson

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Today, November 15, is the birthday of William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918). Hodgson isn’t as well remembered today as he should be, but he isn’t forgotten, either.

Hodgson is best remembered for his tales of Carnacki the Ghost Finder and the novels The Night Land and The House on the Borderland.

He wrote a number of short stories, many of them with nautical themes.

Night Sahde Books did a five volume set of his collected fiction in the early 2000’s. Copies go for a pretty penny these days.

Hodgson came from a time when short fiction markets were much more abundant than they are today. Lately I’ve been finding myself drawn to works from that period. Not that I’ve had a lot of  time for reading or writing (Note to self: October Writing report). But the thought of sitting back for a few hours and reading well-written short fiction has been very appealing.

Anyway, if you’re so inclined, raise a glass to Hodgson’s memory tonight, and if you have the time, read something by him.

 

Who Are the Giants?

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So yesterday’s post on Edgar Rice Burroughs and Harold Lamb and the recent post on the canon, coupled with today is the anniversary of the passing of J. R. R. Tolkien and the seventh anniversary of the death of Frederik Pohl, got me to thinking. I referred to Burroughs and Lamb as giants. In the canon post I quoted Newton talking about his achievements being due to his standing on the shoulders of giants.

So who exactly are the giants in the field? Continue reading →

William Hope Hodgson Turns 140

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William Hope Hodgson was born 140 years ago today, on November 15, 1877.  He was killed by an artillery shell in 1918 while fighting for the British in WWI.

Hodgson wrote in a number of related genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as well as straight nautical adventure.

The novels The House on the Borderland and The Night Land are among his best known works, although they are not considered easy reading as they were deliberately written in an archaic style.

Perhaps currently the most popular of Hodgson’s works are the stories of Carnacki the Ghost-Finder.  These are slightly different than the typical occult detective story in that not all the of cases Carnacki investigates turn out to be due to supernatural causes.  Sometimes the solutions are more mundane.  To my mind, this makes them more interesting.

Carnacki is popular enough that new stories about the character are still being written.