The Voice in the Night [SS collection]
by William Hope Hodgson
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Description
English writer William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) wrote a prodigious amount of fiction-weird, adventure, mainstream, and even proto-science fiction-during his relatively brief career, cut short when he died in Belgium during the final stages of World War I. This volume presents the best of his tales and demonstrate the wide range of his short fiction.From the ghost story "The Goddess of Death" (1904) to the posthumously published tale "The Hog," Hodgson is preoccupied with supernatural show more incursions into our mundane world. "The Hog" is one of the most accomplished tales of the psychic detective Thomas Carnacki.As a seaman in both the Mercantile Navy and the Royal Navy, Hodgson had his fill of life on the sea. Many of his tales deal with the horrors to be encountered in the vast expanse of seas and oceans. "The Voice in the Night" (1907), perhaps Hodgson's most notable weird tale, speaks of the hideous fungi consumed by a shipwrecked couple on a remote island. "The Derelict," "The Mystery of the Derelict," and several other stories deal with other terrors to be met with in such mysterious realms as the Sargasso Sea.William Hope Hodgson was, for many years after his death, a nearly forgotten master of the weird. But in recent decades his literary accomplishments have been increasingly recognized, and this volume puts the very best of his short fiction in the hands of a new generation of readers. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I listened to the HorrorBabble reading of 'The Voice in the Night' by William Hope Hodgson on YouTube. I had just learned that it was the inspiration for my sister's childhood favorite horror movie, 'Attack of the Mushroom People' (original Japanese title, 'Matango').
I have some of William Hope Hodgson books, but not this story, so I pleased to find it online in print and audio.
Why is the man in the rowboat that approaches a becalmed schooner one night refusing to be seen by lantern light? That becomes apparent as the poor fellow tells his story. Indeed, I think the narrator was very glad he could see only a hint at the end. I certainly hope that nameless northern Pacific island is never found by anyone again -- at least not without show more hazmat suits. show less
I have some of William Hope Hodgson books, but not this story, so I pleased to find it online in print and audio.
Why is the man in the rowboat that approaches a becalmed schooner one night refusing to be seen by lantern light? That becomes apparent as the poor fellow tells his story. Indeed, I think the narrator was very glad he could see only a hint at the end. I certainly hope that nameless northern Pacific island is never found by anyone again -- at least not without show more hazmat suits. show less
The First Of The Last Of Us. Builds very neatly from a Victorianesque beginning to a full-on body horror ending. Pity about the poor OCR at archive.org.
Listened to this on the Curious Tales podcast.
I found this short story terrifying, it actually made me sweat and shudder. Excellent.
I found this short story terrifying, it actually made me sweat and shudder. Excellent.
I'm sad that it took me this long to discover the writing of William Hope Hodgson. I happened upon this story after Amazon suggested an anthology inspired by his writings. I'm going make an effort to read more of his longer works.
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Author Information
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Suhrkamp Phantastische Bibliothek (64, 340)
suhrkamp taschenbuch (0749)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Voice in the Night [SS collection]
- Original publication date
- 1907
- People/Characters
- George (sailing in a schooner | narrator); Will (sailing in a schooner with George); John (survivor of the sinking of the Albatross); John's fiancée (another survivor); possibly a survivor of the abandoned ship on the nameless island
- Important places
- the northern Pacific Ocean; a schooner becalmed on the northern Pacific; a nameless island and an abandoned ship by it
- Related movies
- Matango (1963 | tt0057295) | also known as Attack of the Mushroom People (1963 | IMDb)
- First words
- It was a dark, starless night.
- Quotations
- 'I reached the rail and clambered over it, onto the deck. Here I saw that the decks were covered, in great patches, with grey masses, some of them rising into nodules several feet in height; but at the time I thought less of ... (show all)this matter than of the possibility of there being people aboard the ship. I shouted; but none answered. Then I went to the door below the poop deck. I opened it, and peered in. There was a great smell of staleness, so that I knew in a moment that nothing living was within, and with the knowledge, I shut the door quickly; for I felt suddenly lonely.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Then the oars were dipped, the boat shot out of the patch of light, and the—the thing went nodding into the mist.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 820 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) literatures
- LCC
- PQ1145 .H691 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Collections General
Statistics
- Members
- 47
- Popularity
- 635,211
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.70)
- Languages
- English, German, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 6
