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Work InformationAdrift on The Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson by William Hope Hodgson
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Here are sea stories with elements of sci-fi and horror written in the early decades of the last century by an ex-sailor who had a strong influence on those genres. I found most of them ripping yarns full of atmosphere and action. Occasionally he was too outlandish and once he lessened a story’s impact with a “scientific” explanation. He made much use of sea monsters, but I was more impressed with his use of plants, of all things, especially in his use of the weed-choked Sargasso Sea as a death trap for the unlucky. ( ) Quite a sea worthy author and if you are a fan of stories on the high seas, you might enjoy this. All the stories have a very authentic flavor to them from the descriptions to the dialogue. Unfortunately, I found a sameness to most of the stories after reading a few that was a bit disappointing. There's only so many times you can read about vicious seaweed and man giant sea monsters. no reviews | add a review
William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) is acknowledged as one of the undisputed masters of the sea story. There has never been a collection of his very best short stories offered to the trade. Hodgson's sea stories have unusual authenticity owing to his having spent a lot of time on merchant's ships-he left his family in 1890 at the age of thirteen to spend eight years at sea, where the experience of mistreatment, poor pay, and worse food was contrasted by Hodgson's immeasurable fascination with the sea. His obsession for the sea fills his writings. This volume collects the very best of Hodgson's sea stories-which has not been done before-with some of the most exciting and dramatic creatures of fantasy on the written page, exhibiting the sea in all her moods: wonder, mystery, beauty, and terror."This collection brings together the very best of his short stories, together with a sampling of his poetry. It includes a variety of his sea horrors along with two non-fantastic pieces: "On the Bridge," a journalistic story written immediately after the sinking of the Titanic which attempts to show some of the various factors which contributed to the tragedy, and the suspenseful nonfiction story "Through the Vortex of a Cyclone," which is based on Hodgson's own experiences at sea." – From the Introduction by Douglas A. Anderson"Among connoisseurs of fantasy fiction William Hope Hodgson deserves a high and permanent rank . . . Few can equal him in adumbrating the nearness of nameless forces and monstrous besieging entities through casual hints and significant details, or in conveying feelings of the spectral and abnormal." – H. P. Lovecraft"Among those fiction writers who have elected to deal with the shadowlandsand borderlands of human existence, William Hope Hodgson surely merits a place with the very few that inform their treatment of such themes with a sense of authenticity." – Clark Ashton Smith No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945RatingAverage:
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