Reader discussion: The House on the Borderland

Public reader discussion about The House on the Borderland in the WeRead Catalog by William Hope Hodgson.

Did H.P. Lovecraft ever talk about what or who inspired his work? Were authors "Lovecraftian" before Lovecraft?

By wise_island7124

Yeah, I think Lovecraft actually got into the weird stuff pretty seriously, like mid-to-late 1920s while he was digging into that essay he kept tweaking for years. And it’s not like he pulled it all from nowhere—there were a bunch of writers before him that clearly fed into his vibe. Early on he was into Lord Dunsany (that whole “fake mythology” idea), and he basically even had this Poe vs Dunsany thing going, where he talked about his “Poe pieces” and “Dunsany pieces.” Then Arthur Machen comes up a lot too—stuff like *The Great God Pan*—and later in life Lovecraft was really into *The King in Yellow* and how that could turn into his own Necronomicon nonsense. He also liked William Hope Hodgson, though it sounds like he didn’t get to him until later. What I find interesting is that a lot of these influences feel like they were about weird fiction beyond the usual ghosts/werewolves/vampires lane, and in his letters he’s pretty high on writers like Maupassant’s “The Horla,” Bierce’s “The Damned Thing,” and Blackwood’s “The Willows.” None of them were exactly doing cosmic horror the way he later defined it, but you can still see their fingerprints all over his work—except Hodgson maybe, just because he discovered him later. Also, I didn’t realize how much the non-fiction angle mattered too. He took inspiration from Margaret Murray’s witch-cult book (even if it’s wrong), mixed it with some other occult-ish stuff, and turned it into a bigger theory that kind of feeds stories like “The Dreams in the Witch House.” And he wasn’t just borrowing—he also helped fuel the weird scene by encouraging other living authors and trading influence with people like Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Derleth, Bloch, and others.

William Hope Hodgson - The House on the Borderland

By hardcover-panther

This is the first Polish edition translation I’ve seen (1985), and it was my first time reading this author, but I don’t think it’ll be my last. If you like early 20th-century literature, I’d really recommend it.

William Hope Hodgson "The Call in the Dawn"

By aquaCedar47

“Also known as ‘The Voice in the Dawn’” is supposed to be the last story in the Sargasso Sea Mythos. I’ve tracked down the other five, but I can’t seem to find this one at all, and I can’t even locate a summary of it. Has anyone got any idea where I could find the text—like a document or PDF—of “The Call in the Dawn”? For reference, the Sargasso Sea Mythos stories I’ve seen listed are: - “From the Tideless Sea, Part One” - “From the Tideless Sea, Part Two” (also called “More News from the Homebird”) - “The Mystery of the Derelict” - “The Thing in the Weeds” - “The Finding of the Graiken” - “The Call in the Dawn” And I kinda lumped in THE BOATS OF THE ‘GLEN CARRIG’ too, since the Sargasso Sea shows up in the second half of the book.

Haunted House Book Recommendations

By Crimson_Goose

Hey! I’ve been really into haunted house type novels for a while, and I’m trying to find some more. I’d especially love stuff that came out sometime in the 60s through the 80s, but honestly I’ll take any time period. So far I’ve read pretty much all of Shirley Jackson, plus Hell House, The House Next Door, Burnt Offerings, and a few other gothic mansion novels that aren’t straight-up horror. I’m planning to read The Amityville Horror next. For more “modern” stuff, I haven’t gotten as deep into it, but I’ve read House of Five Leaves and Mexican Gothic. I’m less interested in ghosts just floating around and more in houses that feel messed up or like they’re just inherently bad. Still, I don’t mind a spooky haunting as long as the house itself is really creepy. If anyone has recommendations, I’d love to hear them!

Cosmic Horror Recommendations?

By oceanlost

This is probably gonna be one of my first horror books. Can anyone recommend some really good cosmic horror? I think that’s what people mean when they say Lovecraft horror (?) I’m looking for something where the “beings” are way beyond what humans can even understand, and it messes with the characters mentally—super creepy and unsettling. Also, this is gonna be my third novel, so I’m still kinda new to all this. Thanks 😁

Thoughts on The House on the Borderland

By nebula_harmony16

I’m really into the first half of this book. The whole astral traveling thing is both awesome and scary, and the way that darker stuff creeps closer around the house is done really well. The Swine Things part had me on edge, especially with what happens after it. But the second half totally lost me. There’s a reveal that matters, but overall it felt like a drag to get through. Also, does anyone else feel like there’s no real community here? Like, where are the people?

The House On The Borderland - Your thoughts on Hodgson's books

By dustycrow

I just wrapped up The House on the Borderland, and while it is pretty unlike anything else, I can’t say I really enjoyed it all that much. Hodgson’s writing has a ton of imagination and this lyrical vibe, especially in the back half. It even made me feel like I was getting a weird cosmic take on A. Huxley’s Heaven and Hell / Doors of Perception at times, like it was trying to be extra trippy. Still, there were moments where some of the pictures he paints felt kind of silly to me. I read it in Portuguese, though, so the language didn’t trip me up as much. From what I gather, the older/“archaic” style is a bit of a debate with his books, and in my edition the translator kind of smoothed that out, so it didn’t seem that different from other translations I’ve seen. I’ve got a few other Hodgson books I’m considering, and I’m curious what you’d recommend. Do you think Night Land is actually better than The House on the Borderland? And would you rate his short stories or the Carnacki stuff higher, or do you prefer HoB?

A Rich Vein of William Hope Hodgson

By reflexedField9885

This month feels like a pretty good run for Hodgson stuff. Hippocampus Press put out William Hope Hodgson: Voices from the Borderland, which is a batch of literary essays, and Ulthar Press (Sam Gafford) has released Sargasso #2—plus Sargasso #1 in print-on-demand form. #1 used to be limited to 150 copies and sold out fast, so it’s cool to see it finally easier to get, and both are also on Kindle. I’ve skimmed a bit and there are some solid essays in there too. It honestly feels like interest in Hodgson Studies—and Hodgson fandom overall—is picking back up. He never had quite the same influence on Lovecraft and the others that he might’ve had if they’d discovered him earlier, but he was around the same era as Machen, Dunsany, M. R. James, Conan Doyle, and Wells. And it kind of makes sense he was helping point toward a lot of later weird fiction ideas: the bizarre fungi and devil-fish from the Sargasso stories (Mignola even nodded to that in Hellboy), Carnacki with the electric pentacles and the occult manuscript (Ellis and others clearly took a lot from him), The Night Land and House on the Borderland with that weird dead-world vibe, and then just tons of ghost stories…anyway, yeah, good stuff.

The Night Land by Hodgson - worth a read?

By tealPath

Hey everyone, I only just learned about this book, and the reactions to it seem all over the place (the writing and the whole maschilismo thing get mentioned a lot). I’m kinda craving cosmic horror / sci-fi right now, and this one sounds like it could fit. I also skimmed a bit about the stuff around the Redoubt and it actually looks pretty awesome. I don’t really mind if the writing is a little awkward as long as the ideas land. Is it worth checking out overall?

Just finished, The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft

By RapidDesk

I’ve been meaning to read this for ages, so when I finally did, I was kind of caught off guard—mostly by how short it is. It’s wild that something this small basically kicked off a whole chunk of modern horror stuff: games, movies, memes, tabletop culture… all that. I don’t even know if “culture” covers it right, because it still feels like it’s leaving a mark long after you turn the last page. You blink and it’s done, but the shadow it throws is huge. Still, it definitely got to me. It’s creepy in this low-key, slow way, not like jump scares or anything. More like you slowly realize reality might be flimsy, and it doesn’t care about you one bit. I was also surprised by how immersive it felt even though the tone is kind of detached and academic. It made me think a lot of how Hadrian Marlowe talks about the Watchers in Sun Eater—those ancient, impossible-to-grasp beings brushing up against what humans can perceive, and your brain kinda buckling under the pressure. Overall it just sits there and oozes dread and unease. Every page feels like it’s hinting, “you’re not supposed to know this.” No real relief, no catharsis—just the sick feeling of knowing too much and realizing how small you are. I totally get why it stuck around. Now I’m just left with this hollow, slightly grossed-out vibe, and honestly I want more books that hit that same cosmic dread spot. If this was the original blueprint, I wanna see how far people have taken the whole thing since.

Has anyone out there read The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson? I found this to be the most chilling SF dying planet novel…

By putty_sky

Not sure if it’s the 19th-century, “future gone wrong” horror vibe (even though it came out in 1912) or that it felt kinda like Mary Shelley. Either way, the whole making-the-universe thing, the gross creatures, and that super dark, trapped-in-a-room feeling really messed with me. I liked it, but I never want to reread it. It gave me nightmares. Anyone know what I should read that’s similar so I can steer clear?

Rank your favorite William Hope Hodgson stories

By orbit-eagle48

I’m trying to put together a simple guide for newer readers, focusing on some of the lesser-known weird fiction writers, and I figured I’d start with William Hope Hodgson. Could you list your 10 favorite Hodgson stories (either novels or short stories) and rank them, with your top pick as #1 and the rest going down to #10? If you haven’t read (or liked) enough of his stuff to do a full list, that’s fine, but I’m only counting people who rank at least 5 stories. Here’s a link to his full bibliography if you need it. Once I get enough replies, I’ll throw the results into a spreadsheet and share a table back with everyone. Thanks!

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

By putty_sky

I saw this brought up on an episode of *Lovecraft Country* and even got talked about like it’s a real classic. I’ve been into Lovecraft forever (and August Derleth and the whole crowd), but I hadn’t run into Mr. Hodgson’s work before it came up there. So when I found this weird fiction novel that was totally new to me, I started reading it live on Twitch. We’ve done two sessions so far, and we’re planning to wrap it up tonight. If you want to jump in, come on by—also, recordings of the first two are up on both Twitch and YouTube so you can catch up. After we finish *The House on the Borderland*, I’ll keep doing “Weird Fiction Fridays” weekly with more stuff from the genre, including Lovecraft himself. You don’t need a Twitch account to watch live or catch the replays, but if you liked the reading, it’s free to make an account and you can just hit follow. The recordings go up to YouTube the same day too, and that’ll be the place for the archives going forward. Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/obviouslybedtime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-E73SZX5my7OMlXpJJ36TQ

Currently reading The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson. Amazing!

By ShadowSwan8

I think everyone who’s looked into this book has probably been warned that the language is kind of ancient and clunky, maybe even “broken,” and that it’s written like a stream of thoughts with some repeating stuff. Honestly though, I haven’t found it that hard to follow. I did see that people sell edited or cut-down versions, and that feels kind of pointless to me—if you’re gonna read it, you might as well just get the whole thing. I’m reading the Nightshade Books edition. So far I’m really enjoying it, even if I’m not super far in. It kicks off with a frame story that’s sort of a silly love setup, but then the woman dies. After that, the guy’s soul gets thrown millions of years forward, after the sun is gone and most humans are stuck in this huge metal pyramid they call the Last Redoubt. Outside the pyramid it’s just endless dark and monsters everywhere. The reincarnated main guy is one of the few with psychic power, and he can basically feel/hear vibrations that match his lost lover’s voice. I haven’t gotten to the part where he goes looking for her yet, but I guess he’s got some spinning-disc weapon. Also the Last Redoubt runs on geomantic energy, and that ties into the weird “communing” thing he does for his psychic ability. I can’t help wondering if this is the kind of book that helped Lovecraft with his cosmic horror vibe—like, both of them seem to mess with monsters that exist in that in-between space, stretched across massive spans of time. The stuff about the pyramid’s history is wild, too, like how the Builders go inside and it turns into this whole Second History, and then later all those terrible outer races keep attacking until they set up an electric circle and seal the bottom half-mile, leading to this long “quiet watching” until the Earth-Current runs out.