William Hope Hodgson -- Pre-Mythos Cosmic Horror

One of the earliest examples of cosmic horror fiction, written well before Lovecraft had gotten into his stride, is the work of William Hope Hodgson. It is quite different from Lovecraft's work; Hodgson wrote many more long works than Lovecraft, and while Lovecraft's characters are usually academics or antiquarians, beginning to investigate a supernatural threat only after it has been forcibly brought to their attention, Hodgson's characters are more proactive. They also run to brawny physical types. (This is due to Hodgson's being very involved in the bodybuilding craze of the beginning of the 20th century, and having worked as a sailor as well.) His sea experience can be seen in many of his novels (The Ghost Pirates, The Boats of the Glen-Carrig, etc.)

The Night Land is a long novel dealing with a heroic quest across the dead wasteland of the distant future Earth, so far in the future that the sun is a dead and lightless cinder and the Earth is frozen - all except for a single vast valley, carved deep into the crust, still warmed by volcanic processes. In this valley the last human beings exist, in a vast pyramid-city called the Great Redoubt, fueled from the "Earth-Current", electricity apparently drawn from the Earth's internal heat or magnetic field. This pyramid is armored and warded with energy shields against horrors that walk the dead lands, vast powers that can inflict a fate worse than death.

The House on the Borderland deals with an eerie house on the English-Scottish border and its reclusive owner's efforts to survive attacks by weird pig-like monsters and to discover their source. As the weird phenomena continue and worsen, he is thrust into visions of the far future and the destruction of the Earth, the solar system, and eventually all the stars of the universe.

The "Carnacki" short stories deal with an 'occult detective': some of the cases he deals with are real horrors, while others are frauds.

This set of stories share a common set of ideas about occult and 'supernatural' forces. Briefly, the human soul can be reincarnated, and people have destined 'soul-mates' whom they are reincarnated to meet; certain monstrous things can destroy soul as well as body, making death complete and permanent; electric and magnetic forces are closely tied to the occult powers, providing defenses (like Carnacki's "electric pentacle" and the Redoubt's Electric Circle) against their attacks, and sometimes strengthening the human spirit.

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Useful links:

The Night Land website run by Andy Robertson, by far the best site based on the book. Includes many stories and artworks set in the Night Land universe.

E-text of The Night Land

E-text of The House on the Borderland