The House on the Borderland
Publisher Description
The House on the Borderland (1908) is a story. Two men, spending a week fishing in a remote area of Ireland, discover a diary hidden in the ruins of a strange house. Reading the diary, they learn about the "Recluse," the former owner of the property, who wrote about his efforts to fend off a frightening number of indescribable monsters that laid siege to his home. Full of menacing, otherworldly horror, The House on the Borderland is a delightful fright, featuring cosmic horrors that would inspire.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Horror Writers Association continues its Haunted Library of Horror Classics series with this reprint of Hodgson's eerie 1908 novel, a pioneering work in the weird fiction canon. Two travelers in Ireland come across a large house that has half-fallen into an immense pit surrounded by brambles and overgrowth. Within the house, they discover a tattered diary written by an unnamed man, referred to in footnotes as the Recluse, who lived in the house with his sister turned housekeeper, Mary, and canine companion, Pepper, his only friend. The Recluse writes of the unimaginable horrors he's experienced while living in the house, encountering demons he calls the "swine-things" and descending into madness as he visits otherworldly dimensions and sees visions of the end of the world. Even seasoned horror readers will be taken in by the atmosphere of existential dread Hodgson evokes in the Recluse's descriptions of his torment. An introduction by contemporary horror titan Ramsey Campbell, a brief account of Hodgson's life, and footnotes throughout add helpful context that will ease readers into Hodgson's uncanny world. Weird fiction fans should snap this up.
