The House on the Borderland

Reluctant tourist
makes time travel tedious
whinge about decor.

One of the strangest books I have ever read.

Written just over 100 years ago, this book has that timely cadence and style of the era but is far beyond extraordinary in it's imagination than anything else that's contemporary. Is it gothic horror or science fiction?

A warning for the reader: it doesn't try to answer questions. It only takes you through the journey and allows you to make your own conclusions.

A good short piece for travel or a weekend.

Two buddies take a fishing trip in a remote area of Ireland near an old decrepit house. While exploring, they come across an old manuscript filled with unimaginable horrors.

Cosmic horror is the central theme running throughout this pulse-raising book. The manuscript that the two feverously read features an old recluse who spins fantastical stories about his time at the house. Some interactions with things that go bump in the night are familiar within the genre, while others are quite innovative for the time and are brought to a fever pitch: exploring cellars with a lantern, visiting the moors at night, and gloomy caverns that descend into chasms.

|| “It was not Halloween. If I were telling a story for amusement's sake, I should probably place it on that night of nights; but this is a true record of my own experiences, and I would not put pen to paper to amuse anyone.”

I felt I was walking the unlit corridors with the recluse and pepper (his dog), twisting around corridors and pondering what evil lay ahead. There is a keen sense of foreboding the author implies, which just amplifies the subtle scares and magnifies the twists and turns. Overall, I just think it is so ahead of its time! Do you like Gothic elements? It has it. Do you like other worldly creatures crashing the party? Call the Ghostbusters. Do you like decaying mansions and those who lift trap doors to find out what's beyond? Yep, this has it.

Oh, and the cosmic horror elements just put it over the top! I do not want to give much away, but it has the most ingenious visual of variable space and time. Very Lovecraftian.

Add it to your Halloween repertoire. You will not be disappointed.

|| “Then, at least, I should have known my danger, and been able to meet it; but to wait like this, through a whole night, picturing all kinds of unknown devilment, was to jeopardize one's sanity.”