The Ghost Finder

I thought I was the last remaining person to have read and know about William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki.  I have the books in collectable Arkham House editions, and while Hodgson is not generally high on my list of readable fantasists--some of these stories are quite good.

Comments

  1. FredJune 30, 2010 at 10:57 AM

    Steven,

    I've read Hodgson's _The Night Land_ and _The House on the Border_, and his sea fantasy (name escapes me)as well as a number of his short stories. I'm fairly certain I've read one or two of his "Carnacki" tales in anthologies but not all of them in a collection devoted to them.

    Hodgson is on my favorable list of fantasists. I should probably go looking for more of his works. Perhaps Carnacki should be next.

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  2. StevenJune 30, 2010 at 11:09 AM

    Dear Fred,

    You are thinking of _The Boats of the Glen Carrig_. While I like Hodgson, I recognize keenly some of his limitations--particularly in that last book with its poor imitation of 17th-18th century writing and speech. That said, there is much that is worth reading for the completeist. Indeed, _House on the Borderland_ is recommended by no one less than H. P. Lovecraft in his "Supernatural Horror in Literature."

    shalom,

    Steven

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  3. FredJune 30, 2010 at 12:12 PM

    _The Boats of the Glen Carrig_

    Right--that's the one. It isn't up to the standard of either _The Night Land_ or _The House. . ._, but it isn't that bad.

    I also have a short story collection called _Adrift on the Haunted Seas_ from Cold Spring Press (2005)

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