The conventional words of wisdom for any aspiring new author have long been "write what you know," a bit of advice that English author William Hope Hodgson seemingly took to heart with his first published novel, "The Boats of the Glen Carrig." Before embarking on his writing career, Hodgson had spent eight years at sea, first as an apprentice for four years and then, after a two-year break, as a third mate for another long stretch. And those hard years spent at sea were put to good use not only in "Boats," but in his third novel, "The Ghost Pirates," and in many of his short stories and poems as well. According to August Derleth, "No other writer--not Conrad nor Melville nor any other--has so consistently dealt with the eternal mystery of the sea," a sentiment very closely echoed by Lin Carter in his excellent introduction to "Boats" in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition pictured above."Boats" is in many ways a remarkable book. It takes the form of a saga of survival narrated by John Winterstraw to his son in the year 1757, and tells of what happened to the two remaining lifeboats after the sudden sinking of the Glen Carrig. The survivors had drifted for many days before coming upon a desolate swampland (referred to by Winterstraw as the Land of Lonesomeness), replete with strange wailing noises and some decidedly nasty arboreal life. After fleeing this inhospitable land and surviving a horrible storm, one of the boats had fetched upon a small island in the middle of a gigantic area of entangling seaweed. Their adventures on this unusual island make up the bulk of Winterstraw's narration, and what a strange tale it is! Indeed, this island almost makes the one featured on the hit TV series "Lost" seem normal, surrounded and infested as it is with giant crab monsters (could Roger Corman be a fan of this book?), humongous octopi (think 1955's "It Came From Beneath the Sea") and, most memorably (WARNING: possible spoiler ahead), the weed men: pale, slimy, vampiric, bipedal slug creatures that swarm in the hundreds and attack both on land and at sea. Between fending off attacks from the nasty animal life on the island, seeking food and water, and attempting the rescue of an old, manned sailing vessel that had been trapped for years in the seaweed morass, the Glen Carrig survivors surely do have their hands full.But a capsule description of this novel cannot possibly succeed in conveying the eeriness of the book, or its outre sense of mood and otherworldliness. Hodgson has his Winterstraw narrator speak in a seemingly pseudo-archaic language that may intially put some readers off, but that (for me, anyhow) lends to an unusual veracity nevertheless, as well as strangeness. A single sentence can easily run on for 2/3 of a page in this novel, with six or seven semicoloned sections. The grammar and syntax used are quite bizarro, an expedient that Hodgson also used in his 1912 epic novel "The Night Land." In that later novel, this invented form of English was meant to convey the language of some billions of years hence; here, it stands in for an 18th century English that probably never was. Hodgson also uses many nautical terms that may send modern-day readers scurrying for their dictionaries, but most of those readers will not mind, being more than content with this short novel's rapid pacing, creepy atmosphere and, above all, truly frightening monsters. Not for nothing was this book chosen for inclusion in Newman & Jones' excellent overview volume "Horror: Another 100 Best Books." Though the only characters we really get to know with any degree of depth are our narrator and the remarkably intrepid bo'sun leader of the men, the book is as memorable as can be, and concludes most satisfactorily.(On a side note, sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that in my first sentence above, I refer to "Boats" as Hodgson's "first published novel" rather than his "first novel," and that is because there seems to be some confusion on this point. In his scholarly Internet essay "Writing Backwards: The Novels of William Hope Hodgson," Sam Gafford makes a convincing case for "Boats" being Hodgson's LAST novel, and "The Night Land" his first...in direct opposition to the order long believed to have been the case! Using internal evidence from a batch of recently unearthed Hodgson letters, Gafford really does press his point home....)
The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' is a creepy travelogue set in 1757, following a diminishing group of men through alien waters after the foundering of the title ship. hey, do you want some giant sea squid, terrifying sounds in the night including some heavy breathing and light shrieking, trees that ooze blood and display tormented human faces, horrible slug-like 'weed men', squirmy flappy tentacled stinging biting things etc? you got it. you want a survival story that has a nuts-n-bolts approach to dealing with clean water, food, repairing a boat, making a fire, all those basic details of an adventure tale? you got that too. hey, do you want a brave & kind & loyal & stronger & smarter than anyone around him type supporting character as your blue collar The Real Hero? with this novella, you get a grade A specimen of the type, free of charge. (oh noble unnamed bo'sun, you rock the house!)William Hope Hodgson is one of the senior members of the classic Weird Fiction crew, and yet he gets less love than melodramatic Lovecraft or the arch & ironic Clark Ashton Smith. unlike Lovecraft, he knows how to restrain himself. his style is wonderfully archaic but he rarely goes over the top and is able to capably conjure up an atmosphere of creeping dread without getting all hysterical about it. he's no Lovecraftian drama queen (don't get me wrong, i love Lovecraft). and unlike CAS, he doesn't seem interested in being witty or using sardonic drollness to create a kind of ironic distance from his horrorscapes (don't get me wrong, i love CAS the most of the Weird writers). Hodgson is rather dry, very sincere, practically humorless, and despite the palpable horrors of Boats, there is a kind of naturalist-slash-spiritual side to him that makes this tale particularly convincing. of all the Weird writers, i would say that his closest brother would be Algernon Blackwood.4 stars for the first two-thirds, which is expertly written and wonderfully dark and atmospheric. unfortunately, 2 stars for the last third, where a very annoying second boat is found, full of annoying people, and worst of all, The Tender & Brave Romantic Interest. that last third brings out the worst in both Hodgson and the narrator. on the one hand, we have endless descriptions of ropes & kites & repairing ships & oh yawn i'm falling asleep again. on the other hand, we have a narrator who suddenly embodies the most cloying aspects of Victorian culture (although, to be precise, the narrative actually takes place in the Georgian era) and who plunges into a particularly labored and trite romantic affair. it's like being forced to sit in Great Aunt Hortensia's stuffy, musty, doily-shrouded parlour and listening to her endless and microscopic descriptions of the Victorian Mating Ritual. especially irritating when i came over to visit Grandfather Jedediah and listen to some of his eerie ghost stories. get away Aunt Hortensia, your stories make me a little nauseous. and your tea is too sickly sweet.this was my first audiobook and i have to say that i didn't enjoy the experience. i have a couple more on my ipod so i will try again; hopefully this will turn out to be an anomaly. the narrator was as monotone as they come and the sinister, atonal sound effects & music - although suitably unnerving at first - eventually became wearying (although they did add a delightfully macabre quality to the saccharine romance). but worst of all was my inability to go back, reread, and so further enjoy all the glorious WORDS ON THE PAGE. it was frustrating and it made the experience so much less immersive.
Do You like book The Boats Of The 'Glen Carrig' (2005)?
Although I usually enjoy sea adventures (and, since Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym made a great impression on me when I read it in my youth, specially if they include horror elements), this book didn't particularly engage me. I believe that my problem was the main character: a true sycophant, more interested in bootlicking the bosun than actually deal with problems and a guy that forgets all about his fellow companions in disgrace as soon as he meets a beautiful woman (to tell you the truth, I would probably do the same in the case of the lady but it doesn't mean I would root for someone like that). The fate that most of the sailors encountered was something that I didn't expected either.On the bright side, his narrative was fun (although Lovecraft describes it as "an inaccurate and pseudo-romantic attempt to reproduce XVIII century language"), the first island they encountered (full of mist and mysterious trees) was terrific and the monsters that attacked them in the hill were engrossing.
—Mariano
The Glen Carrig is a ship that has foundered before the book begins, and the adventure concerns the survivors in two large rowboats, led by a capable bosun. First the boats find a low-lying wasteland of mud and peculiar bushes, cut across by meandering creeks and strange wailings. Later, a mighty storm leads them to a sea choked with weeds for scores of miles. Hostile creatures and ancient trapped ships lie within.This is probably Hodgson's most straightforward and accessible novel (I haven't tried The Ghost Pirates yet). Although his trademark weird horror is ever present, the tale is linear and unusually optimistic - a tribute to human resourcefulness and ingenuity. His depiction of a still chaste and ordered micro-society on a long-isolated ship seems a tad naive, but also good-natured. Look elsewhere for complex characters and cunning plots, but for creepy monsters on the high seas, you can't go wrong!
—Jason Mills
An interesting edition this; seemingly a scan and reprint of an edition originally released in the 1940's USA, complete with period advertisements, tiny text and a whole extra story at the end: "Even a Worm" by J. S. Bradford.I liked it but my expectations started out low, I have to say. When I started out with Hodgson, I read some great stories, "House on the Borderland" was supperb and "Carnacki the Ghost Finder" were generally very good. Then I read some weaker stories, "Ghost Pirates" and the terrible "In the Nightland". I've come to the conclusion that Hodgson just doesn't do dialogue very well and he really should have avoided effecting a pseudo archaic prose. But this story I found genuinely quite effective and creepy. An island full of trees that turn to flesh and send out tendrils to capture unsuspecting prey that they can absorb into their mass. Another island inhabited by blood sucking fungal lifeforms that have emerged from a black, bottomless pit. A continent of weed floating on the sea that harbours see monsters including giant crabs, squids and the slithering weed-men.All good stuff but I still found the narrative style a little dry and lack of dialogue and character establishment infuriating. Worth a read especially if you like nautically themed horror stories.
—Simon
