by Gafford, Sam
All volumes are handsomely bound hardcovers with facsimiles of the writer’s signature embossed on the cover. The Hodgson volume is graced with several photographs from the collection of Howard and Jane Frank which accompany a fine introduction by series editor, S. T. Joshi. The only major complaint with this volume is the brevity of the introduction which leaves the reader wanting more information.
The selection of stories to include could not have been an easy one, but Joshi’s choices are well considered and comprehensive. Two of Hodgson’s novels are included (The House on the Borderland and The Ghost Pirates). The Night Land could not have been included due to its length, and The Boats of the “Glen Carrig” was excluded in favor of the two superior shorter novels. Despite its early chapters, the majority of Boats is primarily an adventure novel and does not fall under the qualifications for this series.
The emphasis on weird stories excludes much of Hodgson’s other fiction (which many could state are inferior to these tales) such as the “Captain Gault” stories. However, the greatest of Hodgson’s stories of horror and the sea are well represented with the twenty one stories included in this volume. In addition to “The Voice in the Night” (probably Hodgson’s most famous short story), the collection includes “A Tropical Horror,” “From the Tideless Sea,” almost all the Carnacki stories, “The Derelict,” and lesser-known tales such as “The Thing in the Weeds,” “The Riven Night,” and more.
Joshi has taken pains to present the most authentic versions possible going back to the original publications due to the lack of Hodgson’s original manuscripts. Despite other publications, these are the most authoritative versions available and should become the standard from this point onward. The physical layout and production of the book is delightful and free of copyediting errors or typos. One can only hope that someday Centipede Press will reissue a similar edition of The Night Land as well.
