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The House of Silence
“‘The House of Silence’ was discovered a few years ago, fortuitously, after an inspired second reading of one of my own favourite horror novels: William Hope Hodgson’s ‘The House on the Borderland’. I had found a perfect incidental soundtrack for this indulgence, composed by the German dark ambient project ‘Nostalgia’. Soon after began a binging upon all the works by Hodgson I collected for years but not yet fully ingested. I even, at long last, imbibed in full his massive, flawed and sentimental masterpiece, ‘The Night Land’. I found a deep, lingering charm in its quaint yet epic atmosphere—the almost hypnotising pseudo-archaisms, the unrelenting otherworldliness of its settings and inhabitants, the aura of its dark, almost childlike mystery and wonder. The dreamful flavours of that dense, blocky text persisted with me, as did the realisation that the famous house on the Borderland featured alike in ‘The Night Land’: it was the sinister House of Silence itself—the Borderland of Borderlands!” — Avalon Brantley
“The House of Silence” is a fascinating full length novel of 288 pages with illustrations, colored endpapers and a silk bookmark, head and tail bands, hardcover binding.
Numbered out of 170 copies with a silvery moonlight-shining cover.
“The House of Silence” is a fascinating full length novel of 288 pages with illustrations, colored endpapers and a silk bookmark, head and tail bands, hardcover binding.
Numbered out of 170 copies with a silvery moonlight-shining cover.
285 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
2 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 1, 2017
I don't know if it is even possible to review this book without doing some form of disservice to it, or slipping into that pompous pretentiousness that is so common amongst the writers and readers of modern weird fiction alike (and is, in most cases, completely unearned).
What a wonder did this sybil bequeath to us. Not only is it a wonderful tribute to Hodgson's "House on the Borderland" and "The Night Land", as well as this effortlessly and perfectly built bridge between them, but one also finds more than a trace of Machen and that other, perennially underrated and overlooked British writer of strange stories, Sarban. And it is all told in Brantley's own voice, her own vision and sensibility that is so far removed from the trends that dominate modern weird fiction, written with her own command of language that allows her to effortlessly switch between the nostalgic images of pastoral life and those dreamlike, ecstatic, inimitable parts of this novel where linear time collapses. Some passages here are almost painfully beautiful.
This novel is a Treasure. It is as much in itself a triumph as it is ultimately a story of a triumph.
What a wonder did this sybil bequeath to us. Not only is it a wonderful tribute to Hodgson's "House on the Borderland" and "The Night Land", as well as this effortlessly and perfectly built bridge between them, but one also finds more than a trace of Machen and that other, perennially underrated and overlooked British writer of strange stories, Sarban. And it is all told in Brantley's own voice, her own vision and sensibility that is so far removed from the trends that dominate modern weird fiction, written with her own command of language that allows her to effortlessly switch between the nostalgic images of pastoral life and those dreamlike, ecstatic, inimitable parts of this novel where linear time collapses. Some passages here are almost painfully beautiful.
This novel is a Treasure. It is as much in itself a triumph as it is ultimately a story of a triumph.
September 4, 2022
RIP to the late Avalon Brantley, whose novel, The House of Silence was released in the same year she sadly passed away. It sounds like a platitude, but it's not: Brantley's passing was a true loss of some incredible young talent, and The House of Silence is proof-positive of her excellence as a writer.
Truth be told, for the first 100 or so pages, I found little to no evidence that this was a horror novel.
I should have been more careful . . .
Brantley will pull your heartstrings with sympathy and respect for the protagonist, she will make you love them for all their weaknesses and foibles: but she is only setting you up for a long, loooooong plunge into horror.
And what kind of horror? All kinds. Brantley here plays with tropes of gothic, folk, supernatural, cosmic, psycho-geographical, and post-apocalyptic horror, and even a dose of what feels like sword and sorcery. She has claimed that Poe was "Virgil to my Dante", and it shows in all the right ways. This is no pastiche, but an infusion of Poe. But even more so, this work rings with echoes of Gene Wolfe's best work, especially in terms of a non-linear plot, replete with long memory gaps, flash-backs that might be flash-forwards, and just an overall churning of time itself.
Furthermore, there is a great deal of vagary regarding who is and is not a friend or foe. The mistrust engendered here adds to the confusion, occasionally knocking the reader off their balance. This is true right up to the end, where friends become foes and foes become friends - ulterior motives are hidden until they explode on the scene, but in an organic way. Nothing here feels forced.
It's rare to read a novel that has so many disparate elements ("something for everyone to love/hate") and yet feels like a tightly-coiled whole, especially when said novel has a staccato structure and such whirling emotional highs and lows, all of it done in a highly poetic style that flows like a river.
A river of blood.
Those who know, know . . . You really should know!
Truth be told, for the first 100 or so pages, I found little to no evidence that this was a horror novel.
I should have been more careful . . .
Brantley will pull your heartstrings with sympathy and respect for the protagonist, she will make you love them for all their weaknesses and foibles: but she is only setting you up for a long, loooooong plunge into horror.
And what kind of horror? All kinds. Brantley here plays with tropes of gothic, folk, supernatural, cosmic, psycho-geographical, and post-apocalyptic horror, and even a dose of what feels like sword and sorcery. She has claimed that Poe was "Virgil to my Dante", and it shows in all the right ways. This is no pastiche, but an infusion of Poe. But even more so, this work rings with echoes of Gene Wolfe's best work, especially in terms of a non-linear plot, replete with long memory gaps, flash-backs that might be flash-forwards, and just an overall churning of time itself.
Furthermore, there is a great deal of vagary regarding who is and is not a friend or foe. The mistrust engendered here adds to the confusion, occasionally knocking the reader off their balance. This is true right up to the end, where friends become foes and foes become friends - ulterior motives are hidden until they explode on the scene, but in an organic way. Nothing here feels forced.
It's rare to read a novel that has so many disparate elements ("something for everyone to love/hate") and yet feels like a tightly-coiled whole, especially when said novel has a staccato structure and such whirling emotional highs and lows, all of it done in a highly poetic style that flows like a river.
A river of blood.
Those who know, know . . . You really should know!
July 6, 2017
Masterwork. These days, when these countless sequels/reimaginings of classic works of genre fiction tend to be cynical inversions/subversions/deconstructions of originals, Brantley's The House of Silence stands as a work of fiction fully dedicated to the vision of its two predecessors, even if it is stylistically very different. First things first, while this book can be read as a standalone novel, I can imagine it being a wholly different experience that way. Brantley assumes that her readers are familiar with "The Night Land" and "...the Borderland". For those who are, this will be a majestic experience, a tale of love, struggle, rebirth more so that a novel of weird horror. There were moments here that almost moved me to tears, other than made me shiver. No, I am not lying. Finale is glorious, just perfect.
Brantley's prose style is beautiful, poetic. Characterization is far stronger than that of its ethereal influences, in fact this starts of as a more conventional, if very well written and intriguing, folk horror novel. In a way, that lends more impact to what comes later on.
For those who never read Hodgson, I can assume that this will come off as a piece of hallucinatory folk horror. I suppose that they will instantly question the reality of narrator's experiences, seeing more grounded macabre and tragic element at the novel's core. I almost think that was intentional. Given the novel's currently limited availability, I guess we'll need to wait quite some time for a wider range of impressions.
Brantley was such a out of phase voice in the modern weird fiction land. I do hope that this book will eventually find some modicum of mainstream success and wider readership, it deserves it much more than a large chunk of our contemporary ""masterpieces"" of weird fiction.
Brantley's prose style is beautiful, poetic. Characterization is far stronger than that of its ethereal influences, in fact this starts of as a more conventional, if very well written and intriguing, folk horror novel. In a way, that lends more impact to what comes later on.
For those who never read Hodgson, I can assume that this will come off as a piece of hallucinatory folk horror. I suppose that they will instantly question the reality of narrator's experiences, seeing more grounded macabre and tragic element at the novel's core. I almost think that was intentional. Given the novel's currently limited availability, I guess we'll need to wait quite some time for a wider range of impressions.
Brantley was such a out of phase voice in the modern weird fiction land. I do hope that this book will eventually find some modicum of mainstream success and wider readership, it deserves it much more than a large chunk of our contemporary ""masterpieces"" of weird fiction.
March 30, 2021
Book: The House of Silence
Author: Avalon Brantley
Type of Book: Weird Novel
Similar Writers: William Hope Hodgson, Arthur Machen
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The House of Silence is dedicated to William Hope Hodgson. The narrator, who is based on Hodgson himself, returns home for the funeral of his father. About the first 70 pages of the novel is really a naturalistic narrative, the unusual aspects of this part of story are the occasional strange dreams of the narrator, and *allusions* to strange past events.
Later, we get stuff from Hogdson's work in this novel. The narrator is attacked by swine-things. The narrator is transported to the far future, when our sun expands, engulfing Mercury and Venus. There is also, I submit, the influence of Arthur Machen. A group of Christian monks turns out to be a whinge of warlocks. The narrator dreams (or perhaps the narrator sees another plane of existence?) of his deceased father, a minister, battling a monstrous evil being.
The narrator inquires about the love from his schooldays, and is informed that no one knows her whereabouts. The climax of the story is action packed, gruesome, and the narrator finds the truth of his searches.
Goodreads friends gave this book 5 stars. I heard that one of my favorite writers, Reggie Oliver, called this book a work of genius. I cannot go that far. In Delirium's Circle is still my favorite weird novel of the 21st Century.
Author: Avalon Brantley
Type of Book: Weird Novel
Similar Writers: William Hope Hodgson, Arthur Machen
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The House of Silence is dedicated to William Hope Hodgson. The narrator, who is based on Hodgson himself, returns home for the funeral of his father. About the first 70 pages of the novel is really a naturalistic narrative, the unusual aspects of this part of story are the occasional strange dreams of the narrator, and *allusions* to strange past events.
Later, we get stuff from Hogdson's work in this novel. The narrator is attacked by swine-things. The narrator is transported to the far future, when our sun expands, engulfing Mercury and Venus. There is also, I submit, the influence of Arthur Machen. A group of Christian monks turns out to be a whinge of warlocks. The narrator dreams (or perhaps the narrator sees another plane of existence?) of his deceased father, a minister, battling a monstrous evil being.
The narrator inquires about the love from his schooldays, and is informed that no one knows her whereabouts. The climax of the story is action packed, gruesome, and the narrator finds the truth of his searches.
Goodreads friends gave this book 5 stars. I heard that one of my favorite writers, Reggie Oliver, called this book a work of genius. I cannot go that far. In Delirium's Circle is still my favorite weird novel of the 21st Century.
March 7, 2023
Why do publishers of weird fiction favour tiny print runs? Maybe it's just economics - there seem to be a lot of writers in the genre and a relatively small audience. With some difficulty, based on others' reviews, I managed to find a copy at a fairly reasonable price. Last time I looked, there were no copies for sale at all.
"The House of Silence" is certainly not without flaws. The frequent use of American expressions by Irish characters will probably pass by many but it grates for British or Irish readers and some of the names are quite wrong for the time and place. More tellingly, the plot, such as it is, is rambling with an over-reliance on dream sequences and an overblown ending.
Any criticisms, though, are overwhelmed by its virtues, especially the prose style, which is ornate and rich but never quite oversteps into the purple. There are many passages of extraordinary beauty, such that the reader has to slow down and savour them, allowing the images they conjure to fill the mind. There are also scenes of real horror and fear which have the vividity of a nightmare. None of this would be quite as effective as it is without the novel's strong, believable characterisation and the evocation of the world of mid 20th century rural Ireland. This is beautifully done, especially the portrayal of the ambiguous status of the Anglo-Irish protagonist and his friend, which is written with such subtlety that I suspect the author had genuine links to Ireland.
It's not a tour de force but it is a great work of weird fiction that should be a minor classic. It's sad that books like this will have very few readers, ever.
"The House of Silence" is certainly not without flaws. The frequent use of American expressions by Irish characters will probably pass by many but it grates for British or Irish readers and some of the names are quite wrong for the time and place. More tellingly, the plot, such as it is, is rambling with an over-reliance on dream sequences and an overblown ending.
Any criticisms, though, are overwhelmed by its virtues, especially the prose style, which is ornate and rich but never quite oversteps into the purple. There are many passages of extraordinary beauty, such that the reader has to slow down and savour them, allowing the images they conjure to fill the mind. There are also scenes of real horror and fear which have the vividity of a nightmare. None of this would be quite as effective as it is without the novel's strong, believable characterisation and the evocation of the world of mid 20th century rural Ireland. This is beautifully done, especially the portrayal of the ambiguous status of the Anglo-Irish protagonist and his friend, which is written with such subtlety that I suspect the author had genuine links to Ireland.
It's not a tour de force but it is a great work of weird fiction that should be a minor classic. It's sad that books like this will have very few readers, ever.
Want to read
April 3, 2025If only I could find a copy. ¯\(ツ)/¯ After years searching, it seems impossible. -_-
January 7, 2021
I have no reason to change anything I wrote above on this whole webpage in earlier real-time. This work transcends its own (uniquely and adeptly stunning in itself) feasting goriness and melodrama of visionary myth and retribution. A Redoubt is the strongest certainty of all.
A New-found Horror Classic that should be read advisedly, because the Horror is somehow real and today I am one of us few readers so far still in its experiential aftermath…till thousands or mutable millions flock to join us here tomorrow?
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is its conclusion.
A New-found Horror Classic that should be read advisedly, because the Horror is somehow real and today I am one of us few readers so far still in its experiential aftermath…till thousands or mutable millions flock to join us here tomorrow?
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is its conclusion.
September 24, 2022
The House of Silence is both a homage and an extraordinary re-imagining of William Hope Hodgson’s seminal book of weird fiction, The House on the Borderland, told with an exhilarating exuberance of language and poetic vitality.
Ashley Acheson, the main protagonist is based on Hodgson himself, imagined as if he had survived the First World War. There is a mirroring of biographical details; the minister father, running away from home at an early age for a career at sea, the absence from the father’s deathbed, which here is the source of some anxiety. It is the call back to Acheson’s Irish homeland to attend his father’s funeral that sets the novel in motion. Initially, the novel is grounded in reunions, wild Irish landscapes, subtle observations of character and mood, but soon moves into a more heightened mode with the intrusion of the strange and the uncanny.
It’s Avalon Brantley’s dazzling display of language that really ignites this book. One facet of writing in the “genre” of weird fiction is that it grants a (post) modern author permission to indulge in a pre-Modern set of stylistic tropes and to revel in mock-Edwardian verbosity, but Brantley uses the tropes of weird fiction to her own ends. She has a poet’s sensibility for language and its cadence. She luxuriates in an ornate archaism, with long, intense sentences overloaded with adjectives. The language becomes positively sensory and I don’t think I’ve read such successful use of heavy alliteration outside the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. There are sections in this novel, especially in the vision sequences, where her writing is at fever pitch intensity, almost hallucinatory, and it generates a heady incantatory poetry, she is spell weaving, and one can become inebriated on the quality of her language.
More Weird Fiction reviews like this at
kulchurkat.wordpress.com
Ashley Acheson, the main protagonist is based on Hodgson himself, imagined as if he had survived the First World War. There is a mirroring of biographical details; the minister father, running away from home at an early age for a career at sea, the absence from the father’s deathbed, which here is the source of some anxiety. It is the call back to Acheson’s Irish homeland to attend his father’s funeral that sets the novel in motion. Initially, the novel is grounded in reunions, wild Irish landscapes, subtle observations of character and mood, but soon moves into a more heightened mode with the intrusion of the strange and the uncanny.
It’s Avalon Brantley’s dazzling display of language that really ignites this book. One facet of writing in the “genre” of weird fiction is that it grants a (post) modern author permission to indulge in a pre-Modern set of stylistic tropes and to revel in mock-Edwardian verbosity, but Brantley uses the tropes of weird fiction to her own ends. She has a poet’s sensibility for language and its cadence. She luxuriates in an ornate archaism, with long, intense sentences overloaded with adjectives. The language becomes positively sensory and I don’t think I’ve read such successful use of heavy alliteration outside the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. There are sections in this novel, especially in the vision sequences, where her writing is at fever pitch intensity, almost hallucinatory, and it generates a heady incantatory poetry, she is spell weaving, and one can become inebriated on the quality of her language.
More Weird Fiction reviews like this at
kulchurkat.wordpress.com
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews