The House on the Borderland

William Hope Hodgson was an English poet, novelist, and short story writer. Born in 1877 to a large family that lost three out of twelve children and moved eleven times in 21 years, his writing career was deeply influenced by these losses and constantly shifting settings, including Ardrahan, Ireland, which would later play host to his most famous story, The House on the Borderland. After dropping out of school to become a sailor at the age of thirteen, his early years were spent at sea, imbuing his writing with a unique blend of eerie atmosphere and the nautical realism for which he would become known. The son of an Anglican priest, Hodgson’s upbringing also introduced a transcendental element to his narratives, masterfully exploring the unknown, the strange, and the supernatural. His first published work was a short story titled “The Goddess of Death,” published in 1904. His first novel, The Boats of “Glen Carrig,” followed in 1907. The House on the Borderland was published in 1908, a story that so profoundly induced the dual terror and wonder of the barely glimpsed unknown beyond the thin veil of reality that it inspired H.P. Lovecraft’s writing career. Unsurprisingly, The House on the Borderland went on to become Hodgson’s most famous work, the author himself named one of the “founding fathers of weird fiction.” Tragically, Hodgson's promising literary trajectory was cut short when he was killed in action by a direct artillery impact during World War I in 1918. However, his legacy persists through an incredibly influential body of work, with The House on the Borderland persisting as a revered touchstone within the genre of weird and speculative fiction.