William Hope Hogdson, father of weird fiction

He was praised by Lovecraft. Such works as House on the Borderland or The Night land were highlighted as unforgetable by the Providence author. And it is not unthinkable that WP Hogdson is even better than HPL, his visions being even more powerful.

He was a precursor. A kind of father figure of quite a few, if not all, of those authors of weird fiction of late 19th and early 20th century.

His literary style is not great, true. It was Lovecraft himself who pointed out that. In a novel like The Night Land, this could be something of an obstacle for a quick and absorbing reading.

But only a bit. His somewhat baroque way of writing cannot spoil a most terrifying, deep vision of time and space. His path may be full of stylistic boulders, but we run over it, full of joy, mesmerized.

WH Hogdson. Night Land (1912). House on the borderland (1908)