William Hope Hodgson reprints

[j d worthington]

For those who are fans of Hodgson's work, Night Shade books is planning a reprint of the out-of-print volumes in their 5-volume set of his collected fiction:

Night Shade Books - Books

Night Shade Books - Books

 

[Nesacat]

Just when I thought it was safe to put away those safe-cracking tools; someone has to come up with a brand new reason to go on a bank robbing spree.

Now where's Harpo with that pocket universe ...

 

[j d worthington]

Well, Cat... at least you've got a bit before these come out....

 

[Nesacat]

Sometimes you just know that there are Gods out there and they watch out for book-crazy people.

 

[j d worthington]

An update on the final, fifth volume of the set has been sent out by Night Shade Books:

Hodgson volume 5 is getting close. All the stories have been scanned, and the editor is wrapping up the final bits now. As soon as he finishes doing that, we're into production and layout and hopefully off to the printer. We will definitely have this out before the end of the year. We didn't forget about you.

For information on what will be in the book:

Night Shade Books - Books

 

[nomadman]

That is indeed great news, though I'm a little anxious how easily (or cheaply) I'll be able to obtain copies here.

Incidentally, I'd just like to say how superb the covers are; Nightshade really seems to take great pains in this respect, moreso than many other bigger publishing houses it seems.

 

[j d worthington]

Hi, Nomadman, welcome to the Chrons! Glad to see another fan of Hodgson around... when I discovered his work ('way back in the early Devonian, if I recall correctly) I seemed to be the only one who'd ever heard of anything other than "The Voice in the Night"... so it's really nice to see his work coming back.

There's also a collection edited by Douglas Anderson, Adrift on the Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson, that you might look into, put out by Cold Spring Press....

 

[Connavar]

I downloaded The Boats of the Glen Carrig from gutenberg.


I wanted to try this author and not read his more famous work on the comp.

 

[j d worthington]

The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' is an odd novel... half brilliant supernatural tale, half maritime romance. Not entirely successful, but well worth reading. The House on the Borderland is just an incredible novel all around. The Ghost Pirates is a fine supernatural adventure... very much a page-turner; while The Night Land is at times tough slogging, and at other times one of the most imaginative novels I've ever read.

A lot of his shorter tales, though, are pretty concentrated stuff... "The Voice in the Night" remains one of the more horrific stories I've read; the situation in that one is simply ghastly any way you look at it....

 

[The Ace]

'The House on the Borderland,' is the only one of his I've read, but it is pretty special.

 

[Connavar]

The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' is an odd novel... half brilliant supernatural tale, half maritime romance. Not entirely successful, but well worth reading. The House on the Borderland is just an incredible novel all around. The Ghost Pirates is a fine supernatural adventure... very much a page-turner; while The Night Land is at times tough slogging, and at other times one of the most imaginative novels I've ever read.

A lot of his shorter tales, though, are pretty concentrated stuff... "The Voice in the Night" remains one of the more horrific stories I've read; the situation in that one is simply ghastly any way you look at it....

Thats sounds perfect about Boats


Looking only for a sample to see if his is anything good for me.

The Night Land sounded very interesting. It isnt out of print i hope....

 

[j d worthington]

Hodgson is uneven... varies between breathtakingly brilliant and a bit numbing, at times. I'm not sure about The Night Land, other than the Night Shade reprint (vol. 4 of the series mentioned above), which is a bit pricey unless you're a Hodgson fan; but I think it's available in paperback in Britain...

I'd also highly recommend "The Voice in the Night", which has seen reprint in quite a few anthologies. If you can't find it otherwise, here's the text from one of the sites mentioned on the Classic Horror thread:

http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0611.pdf

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

I'm always a big fan of William Hope Hodgson. I've read most of his nautical tales especially The Boats of Glenn Carrig and Ghost Pirates. House On The Borderland is infinitely phantasmal in construction with a slight time travel thrown in. As for The Night Land, it's a lot of sloggin' thru prose-wise.

I have the four volumes from Night Shade Books. I'm still waiting for that sucker, that volume five. They say they're still working on it. Right.

 

[j d worthington]

I'm always a big fan of William Hope Hodgson. I've read most of his nautical tales especially The Boats of Glenn Carrig and Ghost Pirates. House On The Borderland is infinitely phantasmal in construction with a slight time travel thrown in. As for The Night Land, it's a lot of sloggin' thru prose-wise.

I have the four volumes from Night Shade Books. I'm still waiting for that sucker, that volume five. They say they're still working on it. Right.

From my understanding, there have been problems with manuscripts on that one, various red tape, etc. They're also having some trouble getting manuscripts of some stories for the fourth volume of the CAS set -- but it is progressing... just not as quickly as anyone would like....

However, once they actually get the thing out... oh, how nice this set is going to be....!

 

[Lobolover]

I absolutely love Hodgson-to the extent where I printed out the WHOLE TEXT of "Night Land".I hope to read "House on the borderland" .

 

[j d worthington]

Well, I've just been to the Night Shade site, and Volume 5 is scheduled to come out in Jan. 2009:

Night Shade Books: Hodgson, William Hope - Collected Fiction vol. 5

 

[GOLLUM]

Whilst I'm a fan of Hodgson I'm happy enough with my Masterwork edition of House On The Borderland and other stories. I suppose I'm just more interested in Howard, Lovecraft or Ashtoh Smith, don't know why exactly. The extra collective cost is probably another incentive...and of course I'm also hanging out for their final Glenn Cook Dread Empire HC that collects all of the short fiction in that world, also out in Jan 09....

 

[Lobolover]

J.D.-

"The Getting Even of 'Parson' Guyles
* The Valley of Lost Children
* Date 1965: Modern Warfare
* My House Shall Be Called the House of Prayer
* Judge Barclay's Wife
* How the Honourable Billy Darrell Raided the Wind
* Sea Horses
* The Friendship of Monsieur Jeynois
* The Inn of the Black Crow
* What Happened in the Thunderbolt
* How Sir Jerrold Treyn Dealt with the Dutch in Caunston Cove
* Jem Binney and the Safe at Lockwood Hall
* Diamond Cut Diamond with a Vengeance
* Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani
* The Room of Fear
* The Promise"

Have you read any of this and is it worth it?

 

[j d worthington]

J.D.-
Have you read any of this and is it worth it?

Not read any of it yet -- most of this work has been OP for decades, iirc, and difficult to find. However, I invested in the entire Hodgson set when I first heard about it, and certainly don't regret doing so.

When I do have a chance to get to these, I'll let you know what I think; but you might want to check up on reviews by others in the meantime, as I'm not at all sure how long this will stay in print. (For instance, the CAS 3-volume complete poetry and translations from HP is now OP, with no indications of it being reprinted....)

As is so often the case, the majority of editions of Hodgson (with the exception of the Glen Cook, apparently, of which this is the first I've heard) will only collect his better-known work, with a few lesser-known (or unknown) tales. It's the best way to sell something, after all. But it does mean a fair amount of his work remains OP, except for a comprehensive collection such as this set....

 

[Lobolover]

Hm.Why do I think "Date 1965" will be a "parody" like SMith's "The great god Awto"?