The House On The Borderland
Written by William Hope Hodgson
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”The House On The Borderland” is an English, supernatural horror, fantasy novel first published in 1908 and written by William Hope Hodgson with elements of the psychedelic in the descriptions by the character of the recluse. Some might call this tale a bad acid trip or wonderful nightmare. This classic inspired great horror wtiters like H.P Lovecraft who called it ”a classic of the first water.” Other works from the author include ”The Night Land”, ”The Ghost Pirates” and ”The Boats of the Glen Carrig”. He has also written many short stories and poems. He was a soldier, author and writer by profession. I was surprised this story was written by someone in the early 20th Century.

”The House On The Borderland” is the story of two men named Mr. Tonnison and Mr. Berreggnog who stumble upon strange ruins by a lake while on a fishing trip in Ireland. They are spooked out by the area and find a journal written by an unknown recluse who owned the house when it was intact. The journal tells the remarkable tale of this recluse, his dog named ”Pepper” and his older sister named Mary.

It´s a strange and horrific tale of part human, part swine monsters, demons and celestial happenings which include time and dimensional travel. At one point the recluse witnesses accelerated time of the world around him and the movement of celestial bodies in other dimensions. He really goes on quite a trip. Questions remain for the reader at the end of the story such as: what happened to the house, the recluse and his older sister Mary? How much of the story in the diary was lunacy, his imagination or the supernatural?

According to his diary he is eventually stalked by a demon who infects his new dog with a fluorescent, whitish fungal poison. His dog licks a scratch on his wrist and infectes him. It seemed that the recluse died from his last confrontation with the poisonous demon and the entire house collapsed into the lake but nobody really knows. Was it his sister behind the door, at the end of the diary? Did he die from the fungal poisoning? Like I said. Who knows?

The focal point of the story is the house/ruins. The recluse was able to buy it for a low price because all the locals considered it haunted and claim it was built by the Devil. It stood over a large circular chasm and was surrounded by gardens with rooms that connected to counterpart rooms in other dimensions. The ruins were the remnants of the house after most of it collapsed into the chasm. The house basically sat on the boderland of many dimensions.

I really enjoyed the way the author invited us in to these mysterious worlds with his descriptions. His descriptions of accelerated time experienced by the recluse was spot on. Also the horrible demons that seemed omnipresent in the recluse´s story are just strange and their fanatical desire to enter the house, presumably to kill him and cross the worlds, was terrifying.

”The House On The Borderland” is a good read for those who like horror, mystery or just strange stories. Keep in mind that this was written in 1908 with just the writer´s imagination. He had no scientific training and this is before the days of televisions, computers and mobile phones. The author did not have access to the wealth of knowledge that exists in the modern age. If you consider all these facts you realize that William Hope Hodgson really is a skilled storyteller.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to all.

(Commentary by www.ink2quill.com )
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