Not
long ago, Night Shade Books published an anthology called The Ghost Pirates and Others: The Best of William Hope Hodgson. The collection features Hodgson’s short novel The Ghost Pirates, and eleven short
stories. The author is probably best
known for his book, The House on the
Borderland, a weird blend of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
In
his famous essay on supernatural horror in fiction, Lovecraft criticizes
Hodgson for “uneven stylistic quality” and worse, “a tendency toward
conventionally sentimental conceptions of the universe, and of man’s relation
to it and to his fellows…” However, he
praises the British author for his masterful use of “casual hints and insignificant
details” to create a sense of the proximity of malevolent, unnatural beings and
phenomena.
The Ghost Pirates is effective in creating a mood
of eeriness and impending doom aboard the ship Mortzestus. Readers
unfamiliar with nautical jargon or ship directions may want to have at hand a
dictionary of merchant sailing ship terminology. What are we landlubbers to make of lines like
this one: “…the Second Mate gave the
order: ‘Mizzen t’gallant clewlines and buntlines,’ and led the way up to the
poop. He went and stood by the haulyards,
ready to lower away.”
But
this verbiage is not too cumbersome; there are enough comprehensible details to
generate real suspense and uneasiness. The
pace is leisurely at first, but there is rough sailing ahead as crew members
succumb to bizarre accidents, spectral visitors and time/space disorientation
on a ship with “too many shadows.”
There
has to be a horror template or archetype somewhere for stories about traveling
on claustrophobic vessels across oceans or even outer space. These settings seem to exponentially magnify the
possibilities for terror.
This is probably because of their relative isolation from those who
might rescue the crew, and the awful inability of heroes and heroines to simply
run away.
Though
I have not read many of Hodgson’s short stories, the few I have do not seem to contain the same quality or power as the novels.
In particular, those that feature his character Carnacki, the occult
detective, are often a difficult, tiresome read. This is due largely to all the didactic supernatural
mumbo-jumbo the author has his character expound on towards the end of a story. Hodgson is on less shakier ground when he is at sea.
His
knowledge of nautical details and the life of a sailor is a result of years of
service aboard merchant sailing ships.
This experience is reflected in novels and numerous stories that take
place on boats of various kinds.
According to the introductory note to the anthology, Hodgson’s
observation of the brutal and unjust treatment of sailors in the merchant
marine industry led him to become an advocate for better and safer working
conditions. He was also a part of the “physical
culture” movement of the late nineteenth century, became an early body builder,
and opened his own gym. His writing
career included poetry, essays, short fiction, novels, and war correspondence. He was killed in an artillery attack in 1918.
Though
often considered a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, Hodgson was a decade older,
and had died in the Great War just as Lovecraft was beginning to publish his
earliest stories. The two men occupy
distinctively different times in history.
But there are interesting similarities between them which might be explored
in a future post.
Night
Shade Books has been a renowned publisher of science fiction, fantasy and
horror for many years. Recently teh company has experienced financial difficulty and
nearly faced bankruptcy. As of last month,
a sales deal was reached with two partners, and so the company will continue to
produce genre fiction from contemporary and past authors. Some classic writers of weird fiction are in
their book list: Fritz Leiber, Clark
Ashton Smith, and Manly Wade Wellman, among others. (www.nightshadebooks.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your interest in The R'lyeh Tribune! Comments and suggestions are always welcome.