This review originally appeared on Goodreads on January 4, 2018.

The Collected Fiction, Vol. 3: The Ghost Pirates and Other Revenants of the Sea

By William Hope Hodgson – Night Shade Books – August 1, 2005

Review by Robin Marx

The third entry in Night Shade Books' series of superb William Hope Hodgson collections, this installment collects his novel The Ghost Pirates and 28 other sea-based stories. The stories are a mix of weird tales, mysteries, slice of life tales, and pulpy adventures.

The Ghost Pirates

As with his other ship-bound novel The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig', Hodgson makes excellent use of his experience as a sailor, serving up an atmospheric ghost story. Apart from the nautical theme, however, The Ghost Pirates is a very different novel from The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig', and in some ways an inferior one.

The highlights of this book are without a doubt the dialogue and the atmosphere. The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' lacked any spoken dialogue, so its inclusion here is a nice change. The jargon-sprinkled sea salt conversations are at times hard to follow, but they feel authentic and flavorful. Some reviewers bemoan the lack of a glossary of nautical terms—Hodgson doesn't go to any effort to explain capstans and binnacles to the reader—but I didn't feel as if missing out on a word here or there impacted my enjoyment of the overall story.

While the plot itself is quite sleight (a characteristic shared by all of the Hodgson novels I've read to date), its execution is well done. Hodgson was a master of atmosphere, setting up a number of strange occurrences that gradually build into a tense, unnerving scenario.

I enjoyed The Ghost Pirates, but I think I would've liked it better had I read it before The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig', rather than afterward. 'Glen Carrig' is filled with such bizarre fever dream imagery that the spirits of the dead, however spooky, seem rather conventional by comparison. That being said, The Ghost Pirates is an interesting traditional ghost story, and well told.

... and Other Revenants of the Sea

Making up the bulk of the book, the short stories that follow The Ghost Pirates are, inevitably, a mixed bag in terms of quality, but as a Hodgson enthusiast I appreciated the inclusion of even the lesser works (the posthumously published “Old Golly,” or “We murdered a black sailor because he was black and maybe he's haunting us now?”). The best of the stories are quite good, and the vast majority of them are at least interesting.

Fans of Hodgson's supernatural fiction will find a lot to like here. There are sea serpents, a were-shark, derelict ships overrun with carnivorous fungi and other bizarre horrors, fish men, even a ship made of stone.

The more conventional stories were also fascinating, however. “The Sharks of the St. Elmo” is a particularly tense story about a becalmed ship surrounded by thousands of thrashing sharks as far as the eye can see. The narrator finds himself pushed into a leadership role as the captain and First Mate drink themselves senseless and the crew begin searching about for a “Jonah,” a cursed shipmate who must be disposed of lest he damn the rest of the men. Jonahs are a recurring topic in many of the included stories.

Shipboard bullying is another recurring theme in this collection of stories. I suspect it's telling that, despite his prior career as a sailor, Hodgson refused a position in the Royal Navy when he enlisted in the first World War. Some of the brawlers featured here are presented in a favorable light (e.g., the eponymous “Jack Grey, Second Mate” is a badass who would be at home in a Robert E. Howard yarn), but most of the time they're vicious, drunk foes to be bested by the protagonists. “We Two and Bully Dunkan” is a clever shipboard heist in which two sailors get their revenge against their tormentors. Like a Boys' Life Magazine story gone horribly wrong, “The 'Prentices' Mutiny” is a harrowing tale of a ship's youngest crew members under siege by bullying shipmates turned murderous.

While I consider The Ghost Pirates to be the weakest of Hodgson's novels, it's still a worthwhile read, and the more than two dozen nautical stories that accompany it make this volume a particularly appealing package.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 28, 2012.

The Collected Fiction, Vol. 1: The Boats of the “Glen Carrig” and Other Nautical Adventures

By William Hope Hodgson – Night Shade Books – August 1, 2005

Review by Robin Marx

While I missed out on the gorgeous Night Shade Books print volumes, the e-book edition is a worthy substitute for those unwilling to pay the high secondhand market prices.

This first volume includes the novel The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig', followed by a host of short stories broken into the following thematically-related sections: the Sargasso Sea Stories, the Exploits of Captain Gault, the Adventures of Captain Jat, and the Stories of Cargunka.

The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' is a rather gripping survival horror story that follows the crew of a pair of lifeboats, sailors adrift after the sinking of the titular 'Glen Carrig.' Hodgson wastes no time getting into the action; the shipwreck itself is covered in basically a single perfunctory paragraph, and events start getting strange and deadly very quickly.

The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' is similar to his other novels, The House on the Borderland and The Night Land, in that they're basically a linear narrative following the protagonist through a number of bizarre episodes. They read more like travelogues than carefully plotted novels, but the events are interesting enough that this isn't much of a complaint.

The story is written in an intentionally archaic style, with no quoted dialogue and few named characters, but it's fast-paced and packed with engrossing imagery. Stylistically it's a much more approachable read than The Night Land, which—while challenging—I also enjoyed considerably.

The Sargasso Sea stories share a very similar tone with The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig'. From the “Tideless Sea Part 1” and “Tideless Sea Part 2: More News from the Homebird” are genuinely chilling. They're desolate and unnerving, like the very best of Hodgson's work. Unfortunately, the rest of the Sargasso Sea stories aren't quite as stellar, with Hodgson recycling basically the same core premise (a ship encounters a strangely-fortified derelict craft enmeshed in Sargasso weeds, and terror ensues).

While vastly different in tone from his supernatural fiction, the Captain Gault stories were an unexpected highlight in this volume. Captain Gault is a smuggler, and these humorous tales are all “howdunit” mysteries about him sneaking contraband past customs. Read consecutively (rather than periodically encountered in anthology magazines as they would have been originally), the formula they follow becomes a little apparent, but they're clever, punchy, and offer enough diversity to keep the reader engaged.

The Adventures of Captain Jat were intriguing, if perhaps not fully realized. There are only two stories in the cycle—perhaps a poor reception led to Hodgson abandoning the character—but both are interesting. Jat is an alcoholic, abusive sea captain with a taste for women and treasure, and the exquisitely named Pibby Tawles is his put-upon cabin boy and the only companion he trusts on his gold-seeking adventures. Though almost entirely unlikeable, Hodgson adds an interesting twist to the character of Jat by showing him act gruffly tender towards his young accomplice at surprising moments. Pibby, too, isn't simply a victim. He's equipped with a fair amount of sneaky cunning, often profiting at his master's expense. The dynamic between the characters is interesting and the stories themselves are fun supernaturally-tinged adventure. It reminds me a bit of Indiana Jones, if Indy was a boozer that beat on Short Round. It's unfortunate Hodgson didn't write any more stories featuring these two.

The two Stories of Cargunka are probably the weakest in the volume. D.C.O. Cargunka is a wealthy pub-owner that purchases ships and accompanies them on profit-seeking expeditions. While self-aggrandizing romanticist Cargunka himself is a fun character, the stories seemed overlong and plots weren't quite as appealing as the Gault or Jat stories. “The Bells of the Laughing Sally” has some nice ghostly moments, but except for some humorous dialogue, “The Adventure With the Claim Jumpers” is a mostly forgettable heist yarn.

While there are a few limp stories (inevitable in a collection of this size), Hodgson nevertheless maintained an incredibly high standard of quality throughout his brief but prolific career. I maintain that he's one of the more underrated figures in early 20th century horror fiction, and this collection also reveals how adept he was in other genres as well. Wholeheartedly recommended.

★★★★★

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Horror #CosmicHorror #NauticalFiction #TheBoatsOfTheGlenCarrig #WilliamHopeHodgson

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on June 7, 2011.

The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig'

By William Hope Hodgson – Chapman and Hall – 1907

Review by Robin Marx

This is a rather gripping survival horror story that follows the crew of a pair of lifeboats, sailors adrift after the sinking of the titular 'Glen Carrig.' Hodgson wastes no time getting into the action; the shipwreck itself is covered in basically a single perfunctory paragraph, and events start getting strange and deadly very quickly.

The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' is similar to his other novels, The House on the Borderland and The Night Land, in that they're basically a linear narrative following the protagonist through a number of bizarre episodes. They read more like travelogues than carefully plotted novels, but the events are interesting enough that this isn't much of a complaint.

The story is written in an intentionally archaic style, with no quoted dialogue and few named characters, but it's fast-paced and packed with engrossing imagery. Stylistically it's a much more approachable read than The Night Land, which—while challenging—I also enjoyed considerably.

Hodgson delivers a thoroughly entertaining and imaginative story. I've enjoyed everything I've read by him thus far, and it's become clear that he's one of the more underrated figures in early 20th century horror fiction. I recommend The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' wholeheartedly.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Horror #CosmicHorror #NauticalFiction #TheBoatsOfTheGlenCarrig #WilliamHopeHodgson

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on September 21, 2014.

At Drake's Command

By David Wesley Hill – Temurlone Press – November 16, 2013

Review by Robin Marx

This nautical adventure is the first chronicle of Peregrine James's adventures as a part of Sir Francis Drake's crew. The book reads like one of the early Horatio Hornblower novels, with an earnest and resourceful young man proving his worth to his superiors, but rather than a promising young midshipman, James acts as the ship's cook. This provides an interesting perspective on the events to follow.

This book is well-grounded in history, taking place on a historical expedition full of real, named historical characters. This feeling of authenticity extends to every corner of the book. The details of seagoing life and the dialogue all feel realistic and colorful. I particularly appreciated how the author didn't shy away from the bawdier aspects of the sailor's language and lifestyle like many nautical fiction authors; this earthiness added a level of realism that is often lacking in more “PG-rated” ocean adventures.

My only complaint about this book is that I wish there was more of it. I wasn't aware going into the book that it was to be part of a series, I expected a stand-alone novel and because of my misperception the pacing felt a bit off throughout the book. Nearly a quarter of the book is done before the ship actually ventures out to sea, and rather than circumnavigating the globe, the events described here hover around Africa's Barbary Coast, a fact that made me a bit nervous as the end of the book approached. Not only does the book only cover a portion of the journey, it also ends on a right bastard of a cliffhanger. While I was pleased to see that more adventures are to follow, and pacing is less of a concern if the reader is aware going in that more books are forthcoming, I still can't shake the feeling that—instead of a complete book with a beginning, middle, and end—this book is simply a bloodily truncated section of a larger work. That's one aspect that compares unfavorably with something like the Hornblower series, which managed to deliver satisfyingly self-contained stories within the framework of a larger saga.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I'm very eager to see what comes next.

★★★★☆

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