BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG AND OTHER NAUTICAL ADVENTURES by William Hope Hodgson


Recently started.. William Hope Hodgson's THE BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG AND OTHER NAUTICAL TALES. The funky Nightshade Press edition, with the handsome embossed Cover.

I've always enjoyed Hodgson (having read THE KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS and THE NIGHT LAND some time ago) but I generally thought he was one of many voices of the Pulp era, an early fantasist with a darker imagination than most... not unlike Arthur Machen. I did NOT know that Hodgson was a merchant seaman for most of his life, and that ships and the sea permeate the body of his work that I was not familiar with. The BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG is a novella and series of short stories published in serial format (like most pulp fiction of the era was). Many of them have similar, strongly nautical themes, like the "Sargasso Sea" series, and the "Captain Gault" series. Here's a table of contents.

The Boats of the "Glen Carrig"

The Sargasso Sea Stories:
-From the Tideless Sea Part 1
-From the Tideless Sea Part 2: More News From the Homebird
-The Mystery of the Derelict
-The Finding of the Graiken
-The Thing in the Weeds
-The Call In the Dawn

The Exploits of Captain Gault:
-Contraband of War
-From Information Received
-The Case of the Curio Dealer
-The Diamond Spy
-The Drum of Saccharine
-The Red Herring
-The German Spy
-The Painted Lady
-The Problem of the Pearls
-My Lady's Jewels
-The Adventure of the Garter
-Trading with the Enemy
-The Plans of the Reefing Bi-Plane

The Adventures of Captain Jat:
-The Island of the Ud
-Adventure of the Headland

Stories of Cargunka:
-The Bells of the Laughing Sally
-The Adventure with the Claim Jumpers

(I'm in the middle of GLEN CARRIG now, it's a tad longer than most of the rest)

This is a very different kind of Hodgson than THE KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS-- still gothic, but less claustrophobic than his "land-based" fiction. There's much more action and mystery to the nautical tales, and I find that I'm liking them more than some of his other stuff I've read.

I found GLEN CARRIG in the library but will likely order the H/C book for myself if I can find it... yes, it's that good.

SF Site's review of Glen Carrig

Selected Chapters

Publisher