Status Updates From The Collected Fiction, Vol....

I finished the story The Boats of the “Glen Carrig” It was excellent.

“The Adventure of the Claim Jumpers”

Originally I was convinced that the overtures to Lord Byron were an attempt to suggest Cargunka as having a similarly scandalous history. After this story and Hodgson doubling down, I think that we are meant to believe either that Cargunka IS an immortal Lord Byron, or he has a mania where he believes that he is.

“The Bells of the “Laughing Sally””

This is a Scooby Doo story with Cargunka as a Hodgson insert; he’s short, strong, a poet, and a great cook. The “is it a ghost?” plot calls to mind the author’s Carnacki stories. In this case, the MC is trying to salvage loot from an infamous wreck, and they twig to something weird when its bell sounds back their own time signal.

“The Adventure of the Headland”

Hodgson’s characterization of Captain Jat is considerably more miserable / less sympathetic in this adventure, with Pibby coming into his own amidst a neverending torrent of physical abuse sandwiched in between racist comments. The bizarre cannibal priests who run and hunt with the dogs came as quite a surprise and feel like a unique, weird horror.

“The Island of the Ud”

The stretch of Gault stories left me off-balance for this weird adventure where a Captain and his cabin-boy steal pearls from an island where Maenad-like woman who wear crab claws (…some of whom may HAVE crab claws…) and who worship a gargantuan sea creature. Shades of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, here.

“The Plans of the Reefing Bi-Plane”

So this is a thriller with anti-German-American sentiments and a bizarre amount of gun-toting bravado where the gentleman rogue refuses to shoot to kill but definitely shoots the shit out of a TON of German-American agents. If he wasn’t such a smug git about how he was only grazing them with his bullets then I could take it a bit more seriously.

“Trading With the Enemy”

Now we are full into World War I stories! Gault is blackmailed by Germans into providing fuel for German submarines at sea. It’s a pretty action-packed adventure once everything gets running and has a pretty good surprise twist to get our Captain out of almost certain death. I was thinking that Gault was going to sell the Germans out… but, well, that isn’t how things play out.

“My Lady’s Jewels”

This time the female foil is something of a love interest who tries to engage Gault for some smuggling before she decides that she’d rather run the jewels herself. This is disappointing for the Captain, naturally, as she declined to trust his gentleman smuggler’s honor, but he is not one to desert his lady in her hour of need.

“The Adventure of the Garter”

Another woman, another scam on ol’ Captain Gault. Having female characters is a good change-up for the stories… even if they are villains. They’re still in a battle of wits against the smuggler, but he is too Xanatos to get got by a lady and her garter. He does get a chance to tie this up with a slight bit of romantic intrigue, but what had happened.

“The Painted Lady”

Switching things up a bit with smuggling fine art—the Mona Lisa—as well as a female adversary for Captain Gault to joust with. I had the solution of this one figured out fairly well, but it may be because I have now spent to much time in the Captain’s general state of mind.

“The Problem of the Pearls”

Gault is all about the bluff. If the official he was teasing had smashed the eggs in a moment of frustration then he would not have been able to send such a smug letter revealing the nature of the deception. Idk, given how every story ends with some good-natured gloating, the schtick of these stories is starting to wear on me.

“The German Spy”

This is set in the beginning of World War I, which would go on to kill Hodgson himself. Gault proves himself again one of those rogues with a certain sense of honor as he consigns himself to smuggle a German spy out of France… but the plans that the spy carries are not, shall we say, part of the deal. ALWAYS make sure that Gault is in on the deal.

“From Information Received”

This time the booty consists of 200,000 Cuban cigars. Previous stories have included an obvious informant and this one is no different, but Hodgson subverts this expectation by having the “suspected” informant being in on the ultimate truth of the scheme, a neat trick played on the reader, just as it’s wrought on the Customs officials.

“The Drum of Saccharine”

At this point, Gault’s chief bluff is to let the inspectors think that they know how the booty is hidden. A feint, I believe? In this case, he helps out two of his loyal crewmen in their own smuggling juncture, mostly in purposefully discussing the affair in the presence of the government’s inside man so as to mislead him.

“The Case of the Chinese Curio Dealer”

In a welcome change-up, I mean, if it weren’t for the language associated with “yellow peril” stories, has Gault hired out by a member of a secret brotherhood that he belongs to in order to film-flam another secret brotherhood that worships the nameless god of blood lust, but which is regarded as “Kuch”.

“The Red Herring”

This smuggling adventure’s hook has Gault, knowing that the authorities are on to him, building a rapport with the two men that he knows will be investigating him and his £6,000 of pearls. I like these sort of reverse-detective stories, I say because Gault is the criminal and he loves to brag to the officials he bests.

“The Diamond Spy”

It looks like the Gault formula involves a smuggler getting one over on government officials twofold, first by publicly humiliating them by leading them on to think that they have his number, and second by running a blind for his true smuggling operation. He lets you in on the first part, but the second comes as the surprise twist of the story. It’s a cute format.

“Contraband of War”

LOL. So this is a twist sort of story where Captain Gault gets up to chicanery and proves himself to be something of a criminal genius. He is playing at smuggling during a war that involves Ireland, I guess, which is odd because Hodgson wrote this pretty much right before war involving Ireland broke out. I guess he was predicting the future??? Anyway Gault is Very Kaz Brekker.

“The Call in the Dawn”

Okay, this one is fine. This story keeps its mystery while volunteering all of the usual particulars of the Sargasso Sea. The refrain that the sailors are searching for adds a haunting, dark wonder to the lonesomeness of the aquatic world, paired with Hodgson’s sheer appreciation for the stark splendor of the sea.

“The Finding of the Graiken”

Another squid story, but it’s a bit fresher because the owner of the ship is held captive as his friend hijacks the boat in some sort of altered fugue state, because his girlfriend / betrothed / whatev was lost at sea, and he somehow knows it was in Sargasso. Okay, whatever. I’m kind of over the whole Sargasso Sea if it’s nonstop squids and octopi.

“The Thing in the Weeds”

This is one of the more successful encounters against the horrors of the Sargasso, in this case the crew suffering from and then battling a giant squid. It’s pretty obvious when people seemingly vanish out of thin air, especially as these shorter stories eschew supernatural horrors. Idk, I could go for another jaunt in the Land of Lonesomeness.

“The Mystery of the Derelict”

More uncannily natural antics in the Sargasso. In this case, a third ship witnesses another crash into one of the ancient Sargasso derelicts, after which a drama is seen only by gunfire. The observing crew dispatches a boat to see what all the ruckus was… and then promptly wishes that they hadn’t. Rats!

“From the Tideless Sea Part Two: Further News of the Homebird”

This might as well be a marooned in space story with a hidden, horrible monster. Well, it’s not so bad in the end, as we get a rational explanation for the terror of the night, but the narrator raises questions as to what kind of animus the source of the peril had. Was there something more hideous than the crabs at work, here?