The Dream of X

by William Hope Hodgson, Stephen E. Fabian (Illustrator), Sam Moskowitz (Introduction)

The Dream of X is one of those lost books of science-fantasy -- forgotten for more than fifty years until the incredible researches of Sam Moskowitz recalled it to the light of day. It is a unique book; a carefully rewritten, revised, and reorganized version of William Hope Hodgson's massive, greatest work, The Night Land.And it is a remarkable book, designated by the author as the "rescued fragments" recovered from the ashes of a fire in the ancient house of the narrator.

Set in the distant future, "the last redoubt" of civilization sustains itself against an eternal, evil siege rarely equalled in the annals of weird fiction.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction

143 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1912

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

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy William Hope Hodgson’s creativity; however, this is not one of his classic best works. The prose meanders so much that the tale suffers in the telling. I agree that there is beauty in the evocative verbiage, but what does it matter that in an effusive word salad there is beauty, if the entire dream is lost? The original work titled the Nightlands was 200,000 words. What does it say to you that Hodgson pared his tome to an otherwise svelte 20,000-word novella, and I still did not understand the Dream? I understand that a dream is filled with metaphor and simile conveyed in lyrically poetic language, but Hodgson was usually very good at world-building. Here, I was lost from the very onset and 140 pages later, I was scratching my head. I do not count it a total loss, but I give it 2 Grey Geeks for the lyrical and innovative storytelling. This is part of the weird sub-genre of horror, so be advised that this is not Hodgson at his best, IMHO and if you are not a fan of weird Lovecraftian-style horror, you should probably give this one a pass.

[Ross Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ruthless distillation of Hodgson's classic future romance, THE NIGHT LAND, which pares the original novel's epic length, some 200,000 words, down to the size of a novella (20,000 words), making it eminently more readable, and losing none of THE NIGHT LAND's poetry, strangeness, nor charm.

[James T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like the Night Lands. It was one of the most imaginative books I’ve ever read. However, it was bogged down by this meandering prose, and excruciating detail. Most of said detail was pointless.

WHH rewrote the book as a short story the Dream of Mr. X. The immense creativity holds up, however much of the imagination is lost in this shorter rendition. The prose often remains meandering, and for such an abridged version this hurt much of the world and story development.

The brevity, and massive trimming, certainly add to the dreamlike quality, but it ultimately creates a whole just as flawed as the original Night Lands, albeit in different ways.

It’s an odd curio, but a creative one.

[John Hartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The words to describe how much this book means to me don't exist. It's the reason I started making music. I love it more than life.

[David Coombes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the abridged version of the The Night Land, which I've listened to rather than read. The atmosphere and world building are absolutely bonkers even if the story itself is pretty basic.