William Hodgson
The House on the Borderland
H. P. Lovecraft's Favorite Horror Writer

The House on the Borderland H. P. Lovecraft's Favorite Horror Writer

"The House on the Bouderland," is another classic horror tale by H.P. Lovecraft's favorite horror/fantasy writer, William Hope Hodgson.The Story: Two good friends, Tonnison and Berreggnog, travel to a secluded village of Kraighten in countryside of Ireland. On the third day of their trip, they stumble upon the ruins of a bizarrely shaped house bordering a huge lake. In the house, they discover the mouldering journal of a recluse, an unnamed man who recorded his last days in the house before its total destruction.The recluse begins his journal with descriptions of how he acquired the house, along with his daily life with his sister and his faithful dog, Pepper. He confides that he is starting the diary to record the strange experiences and horrors that were occurring in and around the house. The horror begins when he relates a vision in which he travels to a remote and vast arena, "the plain of silence," surrounded by mountains with representations of mythological beast-gods, demons, and other "bestial horrors" on their slopes. In the center of the plain stands a house almost identical to his own, except that the house in the arena is much larger and appears to be made of a green jade-like substance. Along the way, he sees a huge, menacing humanoid swine-like creature. This is just the beginning of a horrific tale that horror master H. Pl. Lovecraft said greatly influenced his writing. About the AuthorWilliam Hope Hodgson (Nov. 15, 1877 - Apr. 1918) was a prolific English author who wrote in the Gothic/sci-fi style, which the great H.P. Lovecraft said greatly influenced him. Early in Hodson's career he wrote unique and dark poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He was also a talented photographer and a bodybuilder. He died in World War I at the age of 40.After his vision of the "arena," he becomes fascinated with the pit adjacent to his house (Ireland), and begins to explore it.
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