When looking back at my first William Hope Hodgson-related post, I noticed that I hadn't put up links to the following stories. They're all in the public domain (Hodgson died in WWI, and anything published 1923 or before is public domain in the US, so any of his works published in his lifetime are PD) and available free online.
So:
The Boats of the Glen-Carrig (novel). One of Hodgson's sea-horror novels, not really the cosmic type like The Night Land and The House on the Borderland.
The Ghost Pirates (novel). Another sea-horror novel.
Carnacki the Ghost-Finder (collection of short stories). An interesting set of stories; while set in the modern day (well, Hodgson's modern day; the earliest 20th century) they use either the same 'cosmology' of supernatural effects and beings as The Night Land, or a very similar one. Carnacki is a sort of occult detective; think The Ghostbusters, except not comedy. Some of the 'hauntings' are real and some are frauds. (Also, on the same website, the Forgotten Futures free RPG: here is the Carnacki setting stuff. The entire Forgotten Futures site is well worth exploring if you have any interest in old SF.
Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani (original magazine title: "The Baumoff Explosive") (short story). A strange short piece about a scientist who tries to replicate the darkness at Jesus's Crucifixion. A bit odd, but quite short (a little over 6500 words), so try it.
Showing posts with label early cosmic horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label early cosmic horror. Show all posts
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Pre-Mythos Cosmic Horror, Part 2: Machen's "The Great God Pan"
Sorry for the several-month hiatus. Hopefully I will be able to post more regularly in the future.
Another pre-Lovecraftian story that fits very well into Lovecraftian themes - and in fact was definitely an influence on Lovecraft's mythos - is "The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen.
Briefly, the story begins with an experiment intended to allow the subject (the mad scientist involved's foster daughter) to perceive aspects of reality normally invisible to human senses. The experiment is only partially successful - the alteration works, but whatever the girl sees drives her totally insane. Over a decade later, a farm family agrees to raise a mysterious girl named Helen, as her guardian claims that country life would improve her condition (and provides a very generous stipend). Soon, however, other children begin to experience strange events while Helen is around, claiming to see frightful "men in the wood". One boy is so frightened that the mental damage appears permanent, and his father is highly suspicious: but of course nothing can be proved. Another girl is traumatized when Helen vanishes in front of her, in broad daylight. As Helen grows, the events become worse. She marries, and her husband is eventually driven to madness, discarding all his wealth (and becoming a beggar) in the effor to escape her. Eventually it becomes so severe that a single evening's conversation drives upstanding, content men to suicide... [highlight for ending spoilers] She is eventually cornered and forced to commit suicide. Her strange death throes show her inhuman nature more clearly than ever. It is finally revealed by the doctor responsible for the original experiment that Helen is Mary's daughter, conceived by an unknown being at the time of Mary's being driven insane by the vision given her by the experiment.
"The Great God Pan" is somewhat reminiscent of Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror", and I imagine it was one of Lovecraft's inspirations for that story. Quite creepy even today despite its early date, "The Great God Pan" is clearly one of the formative cosmic horror stories.
It is interesting that no use is made in this story of the unpronounceable, alien-sounding names often found in Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and their later imitators. The horrors are referred to by traditional names: 'Pan', 'satyrs', 'demons' - though it is quite clear that the beings in the story are more alien than those that the names normally suggest. It is strongly implied, though, that these beings were the original inspiration for the stories of Pan and the satyrs: "The ancients knew what it meant", the mad doctor says before beginning his experiment.
However, Lovecraft did often associate traditional legends with his invented creatures, and he did not always make use of invented names: "Dagon" never provides any 'true' name for the briefly-glimpsed aquatic horror, and "Pickman's Model" strongly connects the moldy scavengers with tales of changelings, witches, and corpse-eating ghouls.
Another pre-Lovecraftian story that fits very well into Lovecraftian themes - and in fact was definitely an influence on Lovecraft's mythos - is "The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen.
Briefly, the story begins with an experiment intended to allow the subject (the mad scientist involved's foster daughter) to perceive aspects of reality normally invisible to human senses. The experiment is only partially successful - the alteration works, but whatever the girl sees drives her totally insane. Over a decade later, a farm family agrees to raise a mysterious girl named Helen, as her guardian claims that country life would improve her condition (and provides a very generous stipend). Soon, however, other children begin to experience strange events while Helen is around, claiming to see frightful "men in the wood". One boy is so frightened that the mental damage appears permanent, and his father is highly suspicious: but of course nothing can be proved. Another girl is traumatized when Helen vanishes in front of her, in broad daylight. As Helen grows, the events become worse. She marries, and her husband is eventually driven to madness, discarding all his wealth (and becoming a beggar) in the effor to escape her. Eventually it becomes so severe that a single evening's conversation drives upstanding, content men to suicide... [highlight for ending spoilers] She is eventually cornered and forced to commit suicide. Her strange death throes show her inhuman nature more clearly than ever. It is finally revealed by the doctor responsible for the original experiment that Helen is Mary's daughter, conceived by an unknown being at the time of Mary's being driven insane by the vision given her by the experiment.
"The Great God Pan" is somewhat reminiscent of Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror", and I imagine it was one of Lovecraft's inspirations for that story. Quite creepy even today despite its early date, "The Great God Pan" is clearly one of the formative cosmic horror stories.
It is interesting that no use is made in this story of the unpronounceable, alien-sounding names often found in Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and their later imitators. The horrors are referred to by traditional names: 'Pan', 'satyrs', 'demons' - though it is quite clear that the beings in the story are more alien than those that the names normally suggest. It is strongly implied, though, that these beings were the original inspiration for the stories of Pan and the satyrs: "The ancients knew what it meant", the mad doctor says before beginning his experiment.
However, Lovecraft did often associate traditional legends with his invented creatures, and he did not always make use of invented names: "Dagon" never provides any 'true' name for the briefly-glimpsed aquatic horror, and "Pickman's Model" strongly connects the moldy scavengers with tales of changelings, witches, and corpse-eating ghouls.
Friday, May 8, 2009
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.
---
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
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.
---
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
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