The Ghost Pirates and Others: The Best of William Hope Hodgson

by William Hope Hodgson, Jeremy Lassen (Editor)

William Hope Hodgson was a contemporary of H. P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith, and was one of the most important and influential fantasists of the 20th century. His novel The Ghost Pirates is a take-no-prisoners supernatural adventure story that is just as powerful today as it was 100 years ago.

In addition to his landmark novel, this volume contains some of his most influential short fiction; from his supernatural detective Thomas Carnacki to tales of the mysterious Sargasso Sea. The Ghost Pirates and Others is the perfect introduction to the magic, mystery and adventure of William Hope Hodgson.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics, Weird Fiction, Occult Detective, Speculative Fiction, Ghost Stories

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. Hodgson served with the British Army durng World War One. He died, at age 40, at Ypres, killed by German artillery fire.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume collects eleven short stories and a short novel, the titular piece. The book is subtitled "The Best of William Hope Hodgson" and I don't agree with that assessment, but it is a good overview of the scope of his work. There's one story that features Carnacki, his famous ghost-hunting character, The Searcher of the End House, but it's not one of the best in the series. Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani is an atypical religious story that (as several other readers here have noted) is quite reminiscent of the best of Machen. We Two and Bully Dunkan is a noirish caper/crime story that's quite brutal, and The Sea Horses is a very poignant story of a young boy and his sea-faring grandfather. Most of the others are supernatural sea stories, which is what Hodgson is most remembered for writing. (Aside from his two classic novels The House on the Borderlands and The Night Lands, of course.) My favorites of these are the haunting The Voice in the Night, The Ghost Pirates, and The Stone Ship. Hodgson is an under-appreciated early master of the genre, and arguably serves as the leading bridge between the Poe and Weird Tales eras. This edition has a wonderful cover by Matt Jaffe that reminded me of the best of Stephen Fabian's ghostly work.

[Ends of the Word · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Malta we say that "the sea is soft-bellied but hard-headed." English author William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) spent several years serving aboard merchant ships and learnt the hard way about the dangers and mysteries of the vast oceans. These themes keep resurfacing in his fantastical "sea stories", particularly his "Sargasso Sea" cycle.

One of Hodgson's best works is his novella "The Ghost Pirates", the title piece in this wide-ranging anthology of the author's short fiction published by Night Shade Books. A tale of a vessel haunted by strange shadows and phantom ships, its horrors are initially understated, rarely straying beyond an odd light here and there and strange mists which might or might not be otherworldly. When, however, the body count starts to rise, it becomes increasingly apparent that there is more than the crew's imagination at work. "The Ghost Pirates" neatly combines the nautical fiction and fantasy genres and is a gripping yarn with an authentic feel to it, although at times I found the overly technical descriptions offputting.

Hodgson's array of nautical terrors is surprisingly varied and is well-represented in this collection. We get to meet sea monsters (A Tropical Horror), islands taken over by deadly tropical plants (The Voice in the Night) and demon pirates (Out of the Storm). There are also some very human horrors (the bullying of the "revenge tale" We Two and Billy Dunkan). But Hodgson is at his most effective when seemingly natural events are described in a quasi-mystical fashion, redolent of the ending of Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (Out of the Storm, The Shamraken).

Not all of Hodgson's weird tales are set on ships. This volume includes a story featuring one of his regular characters, the "paranormal investigator" Thomas Carnacki (The Searcher of the End House) who recounts a "haunted house" episode of his youth. It is not one of the best Carnacki tales - the "rational" explanation at the end undermining its effectiveness.

Then there is Machen-esque "Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachtani", which I found the most disturbing of all the stories. A pious chemist tries to recreate the darkness of the Golgotha with unintended and unexpected consequences - this is a terrifying cautionary tale for all dabblers in the occult, however well-intended.

3.5*

[Meliae Sybella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compilation contains a story I had come across a couple years back in a collection of short stories 'Tales Before Tolkien.' 'Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani' is one of the best stories I have ever read. It was even more refreshing to realize that it was Hodgson who had written it(I could have sworn is was Machen.) It is a story of a very pious chemist who has created a chemical that is supposed to mimic the darkness seen around the cross after the death of Christ. The narrative is so elaborate and climatic that it left me feeling a bit shaken. After reading this, my appreciation for Hodgson has sincerely deepened.

[Aike · Rating 3 out of 5]

*finished the ghost pirates

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ghost Pirates and Others: The Best of William Hope Hodgson: edited by Jeremy Lassen (2012): containing the following stories:

The Ghost Pirates (1909): Brilliant short novel of the sea and its terrors is a fine, tightly plotted work of horror and disquieting weirdness. A careful, fairly slow build of suspense climaxes in a rapid-fire and horrifying climax.

A Tropical Horror (1905): Monsters from the sea attack a sailing ship. Gruesome stuff.

The Sea Horses (1913): Bittersweet but overlong and a bit treacly modern folktale set at sea.

The Searcher of the End House (1910): One of the weaker Carnacki the Ghost-Finder stories seems an odd choice.

The Stone Ship (1914): More weird but pseudo-scientifically plausible events at sea. Really a nice little tale of mounting terror.

The Voice in the Night (1907): You'll know what movies have lifted the central premise of this horror story once you read it. Probably Hodgson's most-reprinted piece.

Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani (1919): Unusual tale set on land applies really, really odd pseudoscience to the events of Christ's crucifixion. The last few paragraphs are the most Machensque writing Hodgson ever did.

The Mystery of the Derelict (1907): Yet more weird but pseudo-scientifically plausible events at sea. Actually, remove the 'pseudo.' This could actually happen. Also one of Hodgson's tales of the Sargasso Sea.

We Two and Bully Dunkan (1914): Humourous tale of revenge on the high seas. Certainly shows Hodgson's range.

The Shamraken Homeward-Bounder (1908): Odd, almost fabulistic sea tale.

Demons of the Sea (1923): Monsters from the sea attack a sailing ship. A minor work.

Out of the Storm (1909): Strange, disturbing tale involving shipwrecks and telegraph signals.

Overall: Really more of a career survey than a 'Best of,' as some of the selections are dubious (well, "The Searcher of the End House," "Demons of the Sea," and "The Sea Horses"). Nevertheless, highly recommended.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.29⭐

Haunted Ships and Broken Men-The Life and Work of William Hope Hodgson • Jeremy Lassen 3.5⭐
A Tropical Horror • (1905) 4.25⭐
Demons of the Sea • (1923) 4.25⭐
Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani • (variant of The Baumoff Explosive 1919) 4⭐
Out of the Storm • (1909) 5⭐
The Ghost Pirates • (1909) 4.5⭐
The Mystery of the Derelict • [Sargasso Sea] • (1907) 4.25⭐
The Sea Horses • (1913) 5⭐
The Searcher of the End House • [Carnacki (Hodgson)] • (1910) 4.5⭐
The Shamraken Homeward-Bounder • (1914) 3.5⭐
The Voice in the Night • (1907) 5⭐
We Two and Bully Dunkan • (variant of The Trimming of Captain Dunkan 1914) 5⭐
The Hell O! O! Chaunty • (1909) • poem 3⭐

[Abe Ziesing · Rating 4 out of 5]

GHOST PIRATES is a haunting and enchanting, gothic horror style, adventure at sea. The writing style has stood the test of time quite well with a flow to the prose that makes for easy and enjoyable reading. From cover to cover, the mood evoked is perfectly matched to the theme, with brooding danger and evil lurking in the shadows.

GHOST PIRATES was likely a major influence on one of my all-time favorites, ON STRANGER TIDES by Tim Powers which, of course, went on to birth the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. This book though, is raw and gritty - an unpolished gem that is well worth the time of readers that enjoy adventures on the high seas and/or ghost stories.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to shake the hand of whoever decided to put this book together over at Nightshade. William Hope Hodgson is one of my favorite authors, and even as his popularity has grown somewhat in recent years, a good, attractive, and affordable best-of collection has remained hard to find. Very glad to have this one, and this was also the first time I got to read the title novel, the last and probably my favorite of Hodgson's unofficial trilogy of novels (including The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and The House on the Borderland), in spite of its having less monsters and weirdness (respectively) than the other two.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Hodgson's House on the Borderlands years ago, having found the book on my school's library shelves, but I regrettably never followed up on any of his other work before now.

The stories in this collection reflect a surprisingly diverse selection of tone and approach to their subject matter. The title novella is an eerie and atmospheric tale that slowly builds in tension as menace surrounds the protagonist's ship. Hodgson uses a spare pallate to paint his descriptions, and the reader is left to fill in much of the detail, to chilling effect.

Although each of the stories has elements of the supernatural, it is only as backdrop for the human characters. The two most effective stories in the collection are "The Sea Horses" and "The Shamranken Homeward-Bounder." In each of these stories, the supernatural elements are toned down to a sort of magical realism which allows the poignant aspects of the stories to speak in a raw and human way.

As with all anthologies, there are a couple disappointments, but they are minor. "The Searcher of the End House" has a title that sounds Lovecraftian but contains a story that's a little closer to Scooby Doo. (Lovecraft began to be published about ten years after Hodgson, so this is a little unfair.) "We Two and Bully Dunkan" has a sort of adolescent adventure story feel to it, especially when compared to others in the collection, but it's clever and fun in its way.

I'm looking forward to reading more by Hodgson, especially his longer works.

[Jon Ring · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. I enjoyed every story, and for different reasons, which is particularly interesting considering the reoccurring sea theme throughout the book. "The Ghost Pirates" was a fascinating tale of Lovecraftian proportions with its otherworldly denizens and parallel dimensions. "The Voice in the Night" was so well-crafted and intriguing I couldn't put it down until I had read the conclusion. "The Sea Horses" was one of the saddest things I've ever seen in print, and even my jaded modern sensibilities, so inured by the glut of catastrophes and evil tidings in the daily news, were so taken aback by this poignant tale of a little boy and his grandpa that I teared up reading it. "Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani" was such an original yet subtly natural idea it blew me away with its creativity. I could write something about each one of these stories, but I'll end here simply: William Hope Hodgson was a phenomenal author, and his work still holds up.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories gave a clear impression that the writer really knew what it was like to be out on the sea - the tales suggested the writer understood not just the technical side of it, but also the experience of being out on the water with a small group of people for a long period of time.

While I noted a few jarring uses of phrases along the lines of 'and then a really bad thing happened...' at the end of a section, mostly the tension in the horror stories came about naturally, and it paid off at the end. As for the more comical tale towards the end of the collection, it was equally good, with a likeable pair of protagonists, a distinctly unlikable pair of antagonists, and a pleasing outcome overall.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed The Ghost Pirates, and have read several of the other stories in this collection before. There is an interesting fantasy/ sci-fi element to The Ghost Pirates, which is, of course, first and foremost a horror story. It delivers. I haven't read anything by Hodgson that I didn't enjoy.

[Baiculescu Nicolae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all these 3 books and found the Ghost Pirates to be the most interesting one. The other two were quite confusing and of an overly complex storyline (and not in a good way). A visionary writer with strong skills but not for everybody.

[A Stranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vast reproach into the nautical imagination opening-the-door to the celestial attention of the inner child. A simply marvellous adventure from start to finish. My read delightfully concluded with "The Stone Ship."

[Shaxar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gah, finally done. I hate when I have depression attacks mid-book; it just makes it worse because I feel guilty about not finishing promptly. =(

ANYWAYS. Review time. The summary blurb on the back of this book states that it's a good introduction to Mr. Hodgson's work, and since finding this is the first I've ever heard of him, I guess I'm in a good position to test that claim. As for me, I'd say it's spot on. The atmosphere in the stories is fantastic, and I just love the whole adventure-horror tone in general. The only bits I had trouble with was all the technical sailing jargon, though I could usually pick up the gist of it based on context. Hodgson presents good characters with relatable emotions, along with some of the best Reasonable Authority Figures I've ever seen in fiction. There are also some great snarky moments, and I always approve of books with great snarky moments. Most importantly for that cover blurb, reading this collection has made me very interested in finding more of Hodgson's work.

So, overall, I found this collection of stories engaging and atmospheric, with a great blend of horror elements. Also, bonus points for giving me a "omg, Titanic prediction!" moment in the 1909-published title story. While I know this collection is only available in paperback, it was so good that I would even buy it in hardcover if I could. A solid 4 stars.

[Brian Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of weird tales from the high seas, from a writer who inspired HP Lovecraft. These are written in the same style as Lovecraft. If you are a fan of weird fiction and horror, these tales deserve your attention. William Hope Hodgson, spent eight years working on merchant sea vessels. Reading the tales, the terminology and slang used by sailors at the turn of the twentieth century can be confusing, but nevertheless, looking up these words, in a dictionary, will make things easier for the reader. Hodgson's knowledge of the trade are second to non. His knowledge of what he writes about, are true to what life was like aboard a merchant vessel, with the exception of the supernatural elements of course. Only two tales in the collection do not have themes of mystery or the paranormal in them. The tales are all told from a first person narrative, who describes the events and situations with great detail. The characters are well described, under the confines of this narrative structure. Overall, these tales are enjoyable and well written for the time, and should be read by anyone, who is a fan of Lovecraft.

[Traci Ashbe]

There were some favorites here: The Stone Ship, The Ghost Pirates, and A Tropical Horror to mention a few. There weren't any that I didn't like. Focused, sea-worthy tales good for those that like to be creeped out.

[Jack Beltane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of weird tales, especially if you always wanted to live life on the high seas in the golden age of piracy. Hodgson perfectly balances fear, character, weirdness, and fact to create memorable stories, most of which take place on galleons.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for those who enjoy classic supernatural fiction.

[Lukas Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

We need more nautical horror.