The Night Land Journal
Grey Dog Tales' celebration of William Hope Hodson continues with a gracious mention of the Night Land website, and other items of interest, including interviews with Chico Kidd (A.F. Kidd) and William Meikle, and a new Carnacki story by J. Patrick Allen.
Carnacki readers may remember Ms. Kidd and Rick Kennett as the authors of No. 472 Cheyne Walk: Carnacki, the Untold Stories, published by Ash Tree Press — a collection of Carnacki pastiche. The stories include incidents Carnacki referred to in Mr. Hodgson's original tales, but were never related in full.
William Meikle has also published Carnacki stories, in two volumes: Carnacki: Heaven and Hell, from Dark Regions Press, and Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate, from Dark Renaissance Books. The latter is currently published in a hardcover edition. eBook and paper are apparently planned but not yet available.
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William Meikle, who has published other Carnacki stories I'll mention later, has written a novella, Pentacle. The teaser reads:
There are houses like this all over the world. Most people only know of them from whispered stories over campfires; tall tales told to scare the unwary. But some—those who suffer—know better. They are drawn to these places to ease their pain. If you have the will, the fortitude, you can peer into another life, where the dead are not gone, where your love might live forever.
But that’s not the case for the residents of the Edinburgh house, for something has disturbed the quiet reflection in that old building. A creature has slipped through, sniffling and snuffling in all the dark places, disrupting the balance of time and space.
And it's John’s job to fix it…by any means necessary.
The titular pentacle is one some of you will have read about before.
Pentacle is available as an ebook at Amazon and also as a limited edition hardcover. It's published by Dark Fuse.
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A German band named AHAB have released a metal album named after William Hope Hodgson's novel The Boats of the Glen Carrig. The genre is described as Nautik Doom on their Facebook page.
They have CDs, vinyl, and assorted shirts, jackets, and bags with strange creatures, giant squids, etc. at their shop.
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Grey Dog Tales is hosting a month-long celebration of William Hope Hodgson. (Since I was bringing the site up, I'm a little late with this notification.)
William Hope Hodgson is often praised for his fantastic vision. He's not often praised for his characterization. Yet John Linwood Grant, in a post entitled "The Writer on the Borderland 1: Hodgson and Carnacki", points out that Mr. Hodgson's characterization of his occult detective Thomas Carnacki shows some humanizing characteristics not so clearly depicted in other writers' counterparts.
I note that the same effect takes place in The Night Land. Mr. Hodgson often depicted protagonists who were desperately afraid of the weird threats they confronted: I believe a courageous character showing fear to be part of his technique for making his Outer Monstrosities fearful. X, the unnamed hero of The Night Land, is a brave, determined man and an accomplished fighter; and he regards certain of the Night Land's creatures with utter dread.
Mr. Grant is the author of Tales of the Last Edwardian, a series of ghost or horror tales. They are available for free from Smashwords.
In the second half of the post Tim Prasil discusses how an anti-supernatural canon historically came to inform the literary concept of the mystery story.
Mr. Prasil is the author of the Vera Van Slyke occult detective stories.
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What if you could be a divinity?
What if it cost you everything?
What if you faced monsters more terrible than you could imagine?
What if those monsters might be your salvation?
The sun has died...
Not a planet, not a star shines n the black heavens above The Night Land.
In its midst The Last Redoubt, a vast, pyramid-shaped arcology, stands obdurate against the night, while within it the remnant millions of humanity live and thrive. The Days of Light are less than a legend to them, mouldered to dust amidst the chaos of ancient libraries.
Outside, strange immense and malevolent entities watch — and wait.
The Last Redoubt has stood ten million years and may stand ten million years more - but its final fall is inevitable. The last age is drawing to its close and the end of everything comes ever nearer.
The people of the Last Redoubt face this fate with stoicism, hedonism, heroic folly... except for two secretive orders who are making plans for survival and have found their champions, a man and a woman who will together carry the essence of humanity beyond the end of night.
But can they preserve their own humanity as well?
Brett Davidson's long-awaited Night Land novel Anima has been published by Three-Legged Fox. It's illustrated by well-known artist SMS, whose work has frequently appeared in Interzone, and who has a Night Land gallery here. It's 432 pages, and available as a hardcover or a paperback.
Anima is available at:
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