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Andy Robertson's Night Land Essays

The late Andy Robertson wrote these.  The first three remain the best critical introduction to The Night Land.

The Science-Fictional Underpinning of THE NIGHT LAND

By Andy Robertson

beaten brass rings and a wrought iron spike spiralling down into the center of an orange vortex.

The Night Land is typically assumed to be either a work of fantasy, or one of horror. I will argue that it is Science Fiction.

Immortality, Reincarnation, and Psychic Predation within a Science-Fictional Framework in Hodgson's Fiction

By Andy Robertson

A blue-green-aurora swirling over a snowy landscape

Hodgson's work assumes humans have an immortal, immaterial component which is constantly reincarnated in successive bodies, and is potentially the prey of larger and more powerful entities. I will argue that Hodgson has carefully worked this out within a consistent and rational science-fictional framework which merely borrows the background colouration of religious or occult superstition: and that in making this confusion, Hodgson was attempting a poetic reconciliation of scientific and religious views of the human condition.

What was Hodgson Attempting in his Treatment of the Erotic in THE NIGHT LAND and THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND?

By Andy Robertson

A man and a woman embracing; drawing in blue and white

The erotic aspects of Hodgson's work have been universally and justly abused. What on earth was he trying to do?

A Review

By Andy Robertson

cover of Awake in the Night Land, showing a tall pyramid in darkness lit at the top.

I expected a whole series of tales from John set in his version of The Night Land, but his next story was a radical departure from anything that he or any of the rest of us had ever done. It surpassed not only Hodgson's talents but, damn it, Lovecraft's. When I read "Awake in the Night" I felt some envy, but when the ms for "The Last of All Suns" crossed my inbox I felt something like awe.

A NIGHT-LAND–Inspired Story by Edmond Hamilton

By Andy Robertson

starcombers-cover-artist-unknown

Hamilton's interesting short novella "The Starcombers" contains elements clearly based on The Night Land.