Adrift on The Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson [Paperback]

_Adrift on the Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson_ is an excellent collection of the various eerie sea stories of William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918). Praised as an expert story-teller by H. P. Lovecraft, Hodgson was British born and became a cabin boy on a ship defying his father's wishes. Hodgson was obsessed with physical training and developed his body as he traveled on the seas, but during his spare time he engaged in reading and taking photographs. Later, Hodgson was to become a writer who wrote stories about the seafaring life and incorporated uncanny elements in them revealing the mysteries of the open sea. Hodgson's stories are unique in his ability for "conveying feelings of the spectral and abnormal" as H. P. Lovecraft put it. These stories are filled with strange sea creatures, such as deadly molds and fungi, gigantic crabs, sea serpents, octopi (the dreaded "devil-fish"), and sea caterpillars, and haunted direlects. The stories also feature the natural atmospheric occurrences of the sea, including deadly lightning and cyclones, as well as earthquakes. One of the stories in this collection also includes the element of magical rites in it and another features a sea-ghoul. In addition, a great number of Hodgson's stories reveal his fascination with the Sargasso Sea, a snare of weed-patched sea in the mid-Atlantic that became legendary to sailors. Indeed, frequently ships appear caught in the weed of the Sargasso Sea and nefarious sea creatures lurk beneath it in the stories. This collection also features some poetry of Hodgson as well. Hodgson was later to enlist during the First World War and was killed in battle.

This collection includes the following stories and poems of Hodgson:

"On the Bridge"

"The Voice in the Night"

"Grey Seas are Dreaming of My Death" (verse)

"Out of the Storm"

"The Voice in the Dawn"

"The Haunted Jarvee"

"From the Tideless Sea (First Part and Second Part)"

"The Derelict"

"The Wild Man of the Sea"

"The Place of Storms" (verse)

"The Haunted Pampero"

"An Adventure of the Deep Waters"

"Demons of the Sea"

"Through the Vortex of a Cyclone"

"The Finding of the Graiken"

"A Tropical Horror"

"Thou Living Sea" (verse)

"The Mystery of the Derelict"

"The Stone Ship"

"The Shamraken Homeward-Bounder"

"Farewell" (verse).

These stories are very well written and interesting and will appeal to all those who enjoy the weird element and eerie description of the strange and supernatural and sea-faring lore.

William Hope Hodgson, whose life was tragically cut short in WWI, spent years at sea while a teenager and young man, and his experience with that life allowed him a familiarity and ease in telling sea yarns. The stories do have a theme that crops up regularly, namely, the device of the Sargasso Sea, the seaweed 'island' that inhabits the mid-Atlantic. All of the stories are entertaining, and a couple are classics. You will recognize one of them as an old television episode. Some stories are more engrossing than others, but on the whole, this is a book you will have trouble putting down, if you like sea yarns and weird tales. The poems, while not great poetry, also pack an emotional punch, and I'm glad they were included.

A found the name "William Hope Hodgson" by watching the japanese commentary with english subtitles to the 1960's rubber monster flick, "Matango"

That film (though quite fun and creepy in a wonderful way) DOES NOT COMPARE with the amazing short story it was based on. But I couldn't find the story anywhere. I read it online and decided that I had to have it. This book not only contains that one, truly great but unfortunately hard to find story, but many others that I've found to be absolutely fantastic.
If you like creepy short stories that weave a cloud of atmosphere and apprehension and drop it on your head like a flash flood, You'll love Hodgson's short stories. For the small price you pay, you'll find these stories stick with you right into your dreams and nightmares.
Absolutely wonderful.

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