The Night Land, William H Hodgson's surreal fantasy, inspired largely by H G Wells' The Time Machine, (do you really need an amazon link?) but not resembling it all that much, is called by Gardner Dozois (editor of Asimov's Science Fiction since 1985) "one of the flat out strangest novels ever written" in the 21st annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology. The novel, written at the turn of the century, was also described by H P Lovecraft in the following way: "Allowing for all its faults, it is yet one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written." How many novels have you read that have an entire web site dedicated to simultaneously exalting it and apologizing for it? Andy Robertson's web site is a companion to the book he edited collecting stories from modern sci-fi writers attempting to pay homage to the under-appreciated novel. (note: The above-mentioned anthology contains a story, also published on Robertson's web site by John C Wright, entitled "Awake In The Night," which is fantastic in its own right, as well.) (Did I mention that Hodgson "brutally treated" Harry Houdini? Scroll To Middle Of Page.)
posted by shmegegge on Feb 18, 2005 - 9 comments