I received a copy of Out of the Storm, but the paperback edition I purchased does not have the Moskovitz introduction! So I've ordered another copy, this time of the original hardcover edition. When I receive it, perhaps I can expand the biographical information on Hodgson contained in the Wikipedia entry.
Meanwhile, I have been gradually adding more material about Hodgson's works, in particular his miscellaneous short stories (those not featuring a recurring character). I wrote entries for "Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani" and also for "The Derelict." I was working my way through the Carnacki stories from 427 Cheye Walk, but Isaac said they were giving him nightmares, so we set aside that series. Instead I'm working on the miscellaneous stories in volume 2 of the Collected Fiction. I have read these once, but some did not stick in my mind very much (in fact, not all of them are terribly good). So far, these are "The Goddess of Death," "Terror of the Water Tank," and "Bullion."
As I go, I'm compiling a list of motifs that seem to commonly pop up in Hodgson's stories. Here are a few of the motifs I've catalogued: a secret passage; strangulation; knockout gas; events that appear to be supernatural but really aren't; an ancient idol; a faint sound of mysterious origin; a tendency for things to happen in threes. There are some less savory motifs such as Anglocentrism and outright racism as well. I'm naming these motifs and eventually will probably compile some kind of concordance of them. What is the point? Well, it provides a bit of insight into Hodgson's process. In his novel The Night Land he went whole-hog into his own vision and style, but when he started writing short stories for magazine publication he seemed, at least initially, to write in very formulaic ways, although his later stories became much more fluid and daring.
The process has gone approximately like this: first, read one of the stories aloud as a bedtime story to my family. We discuss it, and talk about vocabulary, structure, and motifs, and what is good or bad about the story. I may take some quick notes. The next day, if I get time, or maybe the day after that, I write the summary, then perhaps revise it later. It's a slow process, but I'm in no great hurry.
It has occurred to me that I could just record the bedtime story readings and then add Creative Commons music. This might work if it were just Grace and Isaac listening, but unfortunately Veronica tends to talk over a lot of the story, and if I had a microphone set up she would want to play with it. But I will figure out another way to bring some of these stories alive as podcasts in the near future.
15 September 2006
08 September 2006
Hodgson on Wikipedia, Hodgson on My Shelf
I have been expanding the Hodgson-related entries on Wikipedia. I've written the entries for Captain Gault, Captain Jat, and D.C.O. Cargunka, and added story summaries for most of the Carnacki stories.
I've recently purchased a couple of books of Hodgson fan fiction:
427 Cheyne Walk: Carnacki: The Untold Stories contains a dozen more stories about Carnacki. I've read the first two stories to my family as bedtime stories, and added information about the book and summaries of the first two stories to the Carnacki page on Wikipedia as well. So far, I'm moderately impressed; the first two stories are variations on themes explored by Hodgson, but they are very well-done, fleshing out the "Moving Fur" (or "Noving Fur") and "Black Veil" cases that Hodgson alludes to. The stories have not really blown me away yet, but there are ten more to go. If the collection is organized as it should be, things ought to get much more interesting very soon.
William Hope Hodgson's Night Lands: Eternal Love is a collection of stories set in the Night Land universe. I have not started reading this collection properly yet, but just picked at it. I am especially looking forward to John C. Wright's story "Awake in the Night." I am a fan of Wright's work after reading The Golden Age trilogy; I am actually re-reading it this month.
Now is a good time to be a Hodgson fan. If you tried to track down all of Hodgson's fiction a few years ago, before the publication of The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson from Night Shade Books, you probably had a very hard time: much of it had not been reprinted for decades, some was uncollected since its original magazine publication, and you would have had to purchase a lot of rare and expensive editions to find everything.
The situation with Hodgson's poetry is not so good, though. There is a new book, The Lost Poetry of William Hope Hodgson, edited by Jane Frank, which brings together three books of poetry as Hodgson originally arranged them, but although it includes 43 previously unpublished poems, it is not complete; it contains some, but not all, of the poems that were printed in the two collections published by Hodgson's widow, long out of print and now scarce. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to buy a copy of The Calling of the Sea, which collects those two collections, from 1977. That book is also out of print and expensive, although almost an order of magnitude less so than the original collections. It isn't quite clear to me whether the combination of those two books will actually net me all of Hodgson's poems, although I think I can figure that out very soon when I sift through some more bibliographies.
Hodgson's poetry does not have a great reputation. I agree with the general consensus that much of it is not very good, and especially, not very original. It's hard to write a good poem, and easy to write something which reads just like a bad version of something you just read by another writer. However, last night I read aloud three poems, all from "Spume," the third collection Hodgson organized, and all printed in The Lost Poetry. I was favorably impressed, and I'd like to promote more interest in Hodgson's poetry.
I'm bummed by the idea that works written a hundred years ago may still be under copyright, which means I may not be able to freely use them in my podcast. I have "contact Jane Frank" on my list of things to do, to see if I might be able to secure her permission to record some of the poems from The Lost Poetry.
I also bought a copy of The Wandering Soul: Glimpses of Life, which is a collection of papers from the Sam Moskowitz collection edited by Jane Frank. It is great stuff: photographs, a ship's log, non-fiction articles, Hodgson's promotional materials for his body-building business, etc. I am hoping to use it to flesh out the Wikipedia biography a bit. Biographical material by Hodgson is a bit hard to come by. I have ordered a copy of the collection Out of the Storm, edited by Moskowitz, because it contains a 100-page biographical essay about Hodgson. Apparently there are two more, written for the collections The Haunted "Pampero" and Terrors of the Sea. I may have to buy those, too.
It sounds like there is a need for two more books to accompany The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson. One is a collection of all his poems, and one is a collection of all the biographical materials that can be found, written by Moskovitz and others, perhaps along with some criticism. Is there a market for such a thing? The permissions would probably be much harder to manage than the actual editing!
I've recently purchased a couple of books of Hodgson fan fiction:
427 Cheyne Walk: Carnacki: The Untold Stories contains a dozen more stories about Carnacki. I've read the first two stories to my family as bedtime stories, and added information about the book and summaries of the first two stories to the Carnacki page on Wikipedia as well. So far, I'm moderately impressed; the first two stories are variations on themes explored by Hodgson, but they are very well-done, fleshing out the "Moving Fur" (or "Noving Fur") and "Black Veil" cases that Hodgson alludes to. The stories have not really blown me away yet, but there are ten more to go. If the collection is organized as it should be, things ought to get much more interesting very soon.
William Hope Hodgson's Night Lands: Eternal Love is a collection of stories set in the Night Land universe. I have not started reading this collection properly yet, but just picked at it. I am especially looking forward to John C. Wright's story "Awake in the Night." I am a fan of Wright's work after reading The Golden Age trilogy; I am actually re-reading it this month.
Now is a good time to be a Hodgson fan. If you tried to track down all of Hodgson's fiction a few years ago, before the publication of The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson from Night Shade Books, you probably had a very hard time: much of it had not been reprinted for decades, some was uncollected since its original magazine publication, and you would have had to purchase a lot of rare and expensive editions to find everything.
The situation with Hodgson's poetry is not so good, though. There is a new book, The Lost Poetry of William Hope Hodgson, edited by Jane Frank, which brings together three books of poetry as Hodgson originally arranged them, but although it includes 43 previously unpublished poems, it is not complete; it contains some, but not all, of the poems that were printed in the two collections published by Hodgson's widow, long out of print and now scarce. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to buy a copy of The Calling of the Sea, which collects those two collections, from 1977. That book is also out of print and expensive, although almost an order of magnitude less so than the original collections. It isn't quite clear to me whether the combination of those two books will actually net me all of Hodgson's poems, although I think I can figure that out very soon when I sift through some more bibliographies.
Hodgson's poetry does not have a great reputation. I agree with the general consensus that much of it is not very good, and especially, not very original. It's hard to write a good poem, and easy to write something which reads just like a bad version of something you just read by another writer. However, last night I read aloud three poems, all from "Spume," the third collection Hodgson organized, and all printed in The Lost Poetry. I was favorably impressed, and I'd like to promote more interest in Hodgson's poetry.
I'm bummed by the idea that works written a hundred years ago may still be under copyright, which means I may not be able to freely use them in my podcast. I have "contact Jane Frank" on my list of things to do, to see if I might be able to secure her permission to record some of the poems from The Lost Poetry.
I also bought a copy of The Wandering Soul: Glimpses of Life, which is a collection of papers from the Sam Moskowitz collection edited by Jane Frank. It is great stuff: photographs, a ship's log, non-fiction articles, Hodgson's promotional materials for his body-building business, etc. I am hoping to use it to flesh out the Wikipedia biography a bit. Biographical material by Hodgson is a bit hard to come by. I have ordered a copy of the collection Out of the Storm, edited by Moskowitz, because it contains a 100-page biographical essay about Hodgson. Apparently there are two more, written for the collections The Haunted "Pampero" and Terrors of the Sea. I may have to buy those, too.
It sounds like there is a need for two more books to accompany The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson. One is a collection of all his poems, and one is a collection of all the biographical materials that can be found, written by Moskovitz and others, perhaps along with some criticism. Is there a market for such a thing? The permissions would probably be much harder to manage than the actual editing!
19 August 2006
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" is Complete
All 17 chapters have been uploaded. Not counting the project introduction, the chapter files run for about seven hours. Wow! I can't quite believe it is finished.
If you are interested in the novel itself, I have written a longish essay on The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" for Wikipedia; see the Wikipedia article here. Wikipedia now also has the glossary I was working on earlier; there is a link to it on the main page for the novel. There are some more words I need to add to that glossary when I get around to it.
I am generally quite satisfied with the result, although there are things I would have done differently.
While I've used hardware compressors before, this was my first time using a software compressor. I got a little bit better as I went on, but there is still no doubt room for improvement in my compression settings.
I am aware of the occasional "glitches" (crackles, like static) in the voice recording. The inexpensive USB headset microphone I used for the project was not my first choice; I purchased it out of desperation after I was unable get rid of "glitch" problems affecting my more expensive, higher-quality USB microphone. I had already switched computers, versions of MacOS X, recording software, hard drives, cables, and everything else I could think of. For a while it seemed like the headset did not exhibit the "glitching" problem, but then it began to show up, and got worse as I continued to record.
This is a hobby project, and I was rapidly becoming fed up. I've been a software engineering professional for for almost 20 years, and yet couldn't make a relatively simple voice recording without technical problems. I nearly dropped the project until such time as I could purchase all-new hardware, but that might not have been feasible for a year or more.
Instead I made a conscious effort to let go of my usual technical perfectionism and use the setup I had, defective though it was. This meant using a very time-consuming editing process, re-recording the worst of the "glitched" words and phrases and paragraphs, some of which wound up with "glitches" of their own. Some of them I left alone, realizing that trying to re-record portions of the text and edit them in often produced a very discontinous-sounding recording. When that happened the cure was worse than the disease.
I am working on a more reliable recording setup for the next project; the USB microphone went in for repair and the manufacturer sent back a brand new one, one that (so far) does not seem to exhibit the data loss problem. I have made some test recordings and if it works reliably I will use it for my next project. A reliable setup would allow me to focus much more attention on my reading, which could only improve things.
I would welcome any comments on this production. I am also considering what piece of Hodgson's work to adapt next, and how best to do it. I'm considering lots of possibilities ranging from radio drama to live ambient music and vocal performance. Get in touch if you are interested! "Boats" will be 100 years old next year (or 250 years, if you take as fact that the "Glen Carrig" sank in 1757!) and it seems like I should do something to celebrate the novel's centennial.
If you are interested in the novel itself, I have written a longish essay on The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" for Wikipedia; see the Wikipedia article here. Wikipedia now also has the glossary I was working on earlier; there is a link to it on the main page for the novel. There are some more words I need to add to that glossary when I get around to it.
I am generally quite satisfied with the result, although there are things I would have done differently.
While I've used hardware compressors before, this was my first time using a software compressor. I got a little bit better as I went on, but there is still no doubt room for improvement in my compression settings.
I am aware of the occasional "glitches" (crackles, like static) in the voice recording. The inexpensive USB headset microphone I used for the project was not my first choice; I purchased it out of desperation after I was unable get rid of "glitch" problems affecting my more expensive, higher-quality USB microphone. I had already switched computers, versions of MacOS X, recording software, hard drives, cables, and everything else I could think of. For a while it seemed like the headset did not exhibit the "glitching" problem, but then it began to show up, and got worse as I continued to record.
This is a hobby project, and I was rapidly becoming fed up. I've been a software engineering professional for for almost 20 years, and yet couldn't make a relatively simple voice recording without technical problems. I nearly dropped the project until such time as I could purchase all-new hardware, but that might not have been feasible for a year or more.
Instead I made a conscious effort to let go of my usual technical perfectionism and use the setup I had, defective though it was. This meant using a very time-consuming editing process, re-recording the worst of the "glitched" words and phrases and paragraphs, some of which wound up with "glitches" of their own. Some of them I left alone, realizing that trying to re-record portions of the text and edit them in often produced a very discontinous-sounding recording. When that happened the cure was worse than the disease.
I am working on a more reliable recording setup for the next project; the USB microphone went in for repair and the manufacturer sent back a brand new one, one that (so far) does not seem to exhibit the data loss problem. I have made some test recordings and if it works reliably I will use it for my next project. A reliable setup would allow me to focus much more attention on my reading, which could only improve things.
I would welcome any comments on this production. I am also considering what piece of Hodgson's work to adapt next, and how best to do it. I'm considering lots of possibilities ranging from radio drama to live ambient music and vocal performance. Get in touch if you are interested! "Boats" will be 100 years old next year (or 250 years, if you take as fact that the "Glen Carrig" sank in 1757!) and it seems like I should do something to celebrate the novel's centennial.
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 17: How We Came to Our Own Country
The good ship Seabird is repaired, and all aboard her long to see England once agan. A vicious fight with the weed men claims one final victim before the ship is finally free of the Land of Lonesomeness. The friendships forged in that strange land will not be quickly forgotten.
The music is by Samsa, from the album The Laurentian Divide, the tracks "Make Me Know" and "Glow, Sparkle, Dust," and by PHOLDE, from the album In Favor of More Permanent Pleasures, the track "The Apex Towards the Observer." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Samsa, from the album The Laurentian Divide, the tracks "Make Me Know" and "Glow, Sparkle, Dust," and by PHOLDE, from the album In Favor of More Permanent Pleasures, the track "The Apex Towards the Observer." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 16: Freed
Aboard the ship, the men use long reeds from the island to help push the weed aside, and as the line is tightened the ship inches ever closer to the island. Our narrator and Mistress Madison find that they are in love, and at last the ship pulls itself free of the weed and into open water!
The music is by Adaptcore, from the album Sunset After Wind, the track "Dark Path from Rays in Water," and by Formication, from the album Pieces for a Condemned Piano, the tracks "On the Dying Pathway" and "The Final Stage of Trauma." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Adaptcore, from the album Sunset After Wind, the track "Dark Path from Rays in Water," and by Formication, from the album Pieces for a Condemned Piano, the tracks "On the Dying Pathway" and "The Final Stage of Trauma." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 15: Aboard the Hulk
The narrator rides aross the rope to the vessel in the weed. There he meets the dead Captain's wife and young niece, Mary Madison. But the rope line is already beginning to show signs of fraying, and so it is too risky for the narrator to return to the island. Can the hulk pull itself free from the weed before the rope breaks?
The music is by Samsa, from the album Sounds Good on Paper, the tracks "Plate Walk Away," "Unused Vessels," "Dead Telephones," "Quantum Foam," and "Ubligum Day." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Samsa, from the album Sounds Good on Paper, the tracks "Plate Walk Away," "Unused Vessels," "Dead Telephones," "Quantum Foam," and "Ubligum Day." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 14: In Communication
Another sailor is presumed lost after the tragic weed-man attack, and Job's grave has been plundered. The giant crossbow has failed to fire a line across to the trapped ship, but as luck would have it, one of the sailors is an expert in kite-making! Soon a heavy line connects the ship in the weed and the island. The ship begins to draw the line taught. But will it be strong enough?
The music is by Caul, from the album Apophasis, the title track. This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Caul, from the album Apophasis, the title track. This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 13: The Weed Men
The survivors' worst fears are realized when in the moonless darkness their camp is attacked by vile and terrifying creatures. It seems that only fire can deter these evil beasts, but the men are rapidly running out of fuel!
The music is by Slutmachine, from the album Inching Glaciers, the title track, and by PHOLDE, from the album In Favor of More Permanent Pleasures, the track "To Curse While Calling a Deity to Witness." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Slutmachine, from the album Inching Glaciers, the title track, and by PHOLDE, from the album In Favor of More Permanent Pleasures, the track "To Curse While Calling a Deity to Witness." These works are available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 12: The Making of the Great Bow
The survivors work to construct a giant crossbow in order to fire a line across from the island to the ship. But the island is unquiet in the night! Uncanny things are moving about in the valley, and in the waters between the island and the mysterious continent of weed.
The music is by Formication, from the album Pieces for a Condemned Piano, the track "Exit." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Formication, from the album Pieces for a Condemned Piano, the track "Exit." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
06 August 2006
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 11: The Signals from the Ship
The bo'sun continues work on the ship while keeping one eye on the ship in the weed. When the people on board the ship discover that there are people on the island, there is much rejoicing. But neither group can reach the other, and the men scratch their heads until the narrator proposes to bridge the gap with a cord shot from a giant bow.
The music is by Exit, from the album Sleep, the tracks "Sleep Part One" and "Sleep Part Two." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Exit, from the album Sleep, the tracks "Sleep Part One" and "Sleep Part Two." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 10: The Light in the Weed
The men bury the young seaman, Job. As they climb to the highest point of the island, they are relieved to discover a source of fresh water. The bo'sun orders the men to move the camp to more defensible high ground, while he continues his work on the boat. The men work diligently, and aside from a fight with a giant crab, the afternoon passes uneventfully. The narrator feels gloomy as he goes to sleep, but wakes to find that there is a light visible aboard the derelict vessel, trapped in the weed only half a mile from the island!
The music is by Samsa, from the album A Forest Without Trees, the tracks "Belief Revision," "Journey Beyond," "Centering Prayer," and "Evening Meditation." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Samsa, from the album A Forest Without Trees, the tracks "Belief Revision," "Journey Beyond," "Centering Prayer," and "Evening Meditation." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 9: What Happened in the Dusk
While the survivors work on the boat, Job is taken from the tent. Following the the slime trails of strange creatures, the men find Job's still-warm body in the valley, drained of blood. In their rage they set fire to the giant toadstools in the valley, which burn all through the night.
The music is by Mystified, from the albums Ophir and These Fragments. The tracks used are: from the album Ophir, the tracks "Constant" and "NV"; from the album These Fragments, the track "Vacuum Grains." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Mystified, from the albums Ophir and These Fragments. The tracks used are: from the album Ophir, the tracks "Constant" and "NV"; from the album These Fragments, the track "Vacuum Grains." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 8: The Noises in the Valley
The survivors try to care for injured seaman Job, who remains unconscious. The bo'sun starts repair work on the boat, and the other men establish camp. But while he sleeps, the the narrator is attacked by a slimy, tentacled beast, and as the men run out of fuel for the watch-fires, they wonder what strange things slither in the dark.
The music is by Mystified, the title track from the album These Fragments. This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Mystified, the title track from the album These Fragments. This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 7: The Island in the Weed
At last the survivors discover an island in the weed, and all go ashore to explore, except Job, who is left to look after the boat. But this island refuge may not be the place of safety that they long for -- Job is injured as a giant devil-fish attacks the boat, damaging it.
The music is by Mystified from the albums Ophir and These Framents (tracks: from Ophir: "Wind Hands Edit"; from These Fragments: "The Wind Was Heavy Seetyca Anemra Remix"). This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Mystified from the albums Ophir and These Framents (tracks: from Ophir: "Wind Hands Edit"; from These Fragments: "The Wind Was Heavy Seetyca Anemra Remix"). This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
26 July 2006
Interlude: the Words of the "Glen Carrig"
NOTE: I have adapted the following notes into a much longer essay on Wikipedia; see the Wikipedia article here.
The novel The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" starts in the middle. We know almost nothing about what happened to the "good ship" Glen Carrig. The subtitle mentions that it sank after striking a rock. We know nothing about the fate of the captain or how many people were lost. The lifeboats have no names. The title and subtitle seem to indicate that the boats are the subjects of the novel, although this conceit is not continued in the text.
There is a narrator. We are not told his name in the text, althouth the subtitle indicates the story is told by "John Winterstraw, Gent." The "Gent." is a hint about the narrator -- he is a man of status. There is a subtle class consciousness that plays itself out in the text, showing up especially in the end of the story, which I won't give away just yet.
His son, James Winterstraw, presumably doesn't get to use the title "Gent.," at least not yet, although in what may be the only deliberate humor in the book, he does give himself a little praise for writing down his father's story "very properly and legibly!"
Interestingly, the narrator is not really the hero of the story -- that honor goes to the bo'sun, who frequently behaves heroically, showing extremes of endurance, ingenuity, and bravery. The narrator greatly admires the bo'sun, although from a social distance. He portrays himself as more quick-witted than most of the crew, and he mentions with pride that his help is specifically requested by the bo'sun. The narrator does get some slight comeuppance, though, when his plan to use a giant bow to shoot a rope from the island to the weed-trapped brig fails [see end note 1], and another crew member comes up with the idea to use a kite instead.
The text is written, as I have mentioned before, in an archaic style. Reading the novel now, you can imagine that we are looking through a spyglass backwards through two lenses: first, it has been about 100 years since Hodgson wrote this novel. And second, Hodgson himself was writing about fictional events that he imagined had happened at least 150 years earlier.
Here are annotations for a few of the archaic terms used in The Boats of the Glen Carrig. I'm not going to go into details about the rigging of sailing ships -- that is only likely to reveal my profound ignorance on the subject, and the exact nature of different sails is not critical to understanding the story. But I think a few terms are worth discussing, and might help the reader see through that spyglass a little more clearly.
Batten: in the context of boat repair, a thin strip of wood.
Biscuit: "ship's biscuit" or "hardtack" is a dense, unleavened bread designed for long storage. They would be very dry, and probably not very easy to chew without soaking in some kind of liquid. Accounts of the flavor vary -- if you were starving to death, ship's biscuit probably tasted pretty good!
Bo'sun: slang form of "boatswain." A sailor in charge of the deck crew and lifeboats. We aren't told, but it seems likely that the captain of the Glen Carrig "went down with the ship" and thus the bo'sun is in charge of the suriving crew and passengers in the boats.
Breaker: in context, a small water cask. Finding fresh water is one of the crew's main concerns.
Brig: a two-masted sailing ship.
Bulkhead: a wall within a ship. Hodgson describes the bulkheads of the ship in the creek as having a "rubbed" appearance after the assault by the strange unnamed creature.
Colza oil: a vegetable oil pressed from a seed of the rutabaga. It is used in oil lamps and for lubricating machinery.
Cut-and-Thrust: the term refers in general to fighting with knives. I'm not entirely clear on just what kind of knife Hodgson was referring to, but it may have been a rapier, a slender sword with a sharp point. I think Hodgson gave the narrator a rapier, a fancy sword which would have required training, as one of the signs that he was of a higher social class than the sailors.
Cutlass: a short, thick sword with a sharp edge. A cutlass required little training to use effectively and, being short and heavy, could be used for fighting in confined spaces such as on board a ship.
Devil-fish: this word has been used to describe several different sea creatures, but in context it seems that Hodgson was referring to a monstrously large octopus. In several places Hodgson describes its movements as "flickering," which makes sound like it is moving with unnatural speed.
Dip: a candle. Hodgson refers to "tallow dips" made from fat.
Fathom: a unit of length, about 1.8 meters or about six feet. The term is now usually used only for water depth, but Hodgson uses it for distance as well.
Flake: In this context, an archaic term for coiling rope.
Fo'cas'le: the forecastle. The forward (Hodgson uses the slang spelling "forrard") part of the ship with the crew's quarters; on ancient vessels these resembled castles.
Frap: A "frappe" (with or without an accent on the e) is a frozen drink or milkshake. The word "frap" seems to be an archaic nautical term roughly synonymous, in this context, with "wrap." Hodgson uses this term to describe the way the strings of the stacked bows are bound together so that the bows can be fired as one.
Futtock: A curved piece of wood that forms the rib of a boat. It seems to have nothing at all to do with a futtock-shroud. It is not a naughty word.
Futtock-shroud: An iron bar used to stabilize a "top," or platform on the top of a lower mast. A "futtock-shroud" is not really a "futtock" nor is it a "shroud." Discuss. Also, a "shroud" is not a shroud, but a collection of rope lines. Confused yet?
Grain: in a list of miscellaneous items removed from the boat, Hodgson mentions "a three-pronged grain without the shaft." I was not immediately able to find a definition for "grain" that makes sense in this context, but I suspect he is referring to some kind of iron grappling hook. If you've got a better idea, please send me a note.
Gunwale: pronunced (and sometimes written) "gunnel," the top edge of the side of a boat.
Jorum: a drinking vessel, or the quantity that it contained. Hodgson uses the term to refer to a quantity of rum given to Job for medicinal purposes -- presumably a large dose.
Keel: the main structural member, running the length of the boat from bow to stern. It is very fortunate that the boat's keel is not damaged by the devil-fish attack, but only some of the boards adjacent to it.
Larboard: the port (left) side of a boat, to someone facing the front (bow).
Lazarette: This is a small compartment below the deck of a ship, used for storage. Hodgson uses this term in many of his sea stories.
Loom: part of the shaft of an oar. Job is injured while struck by the "loom" of an oar, when a devil-fish attacks the boat.
Mantilla: a light lace scarf worn over the head and shoulders. Hodgson uses this word in his dedicatory poem, "Madre Mia," as a metaphor for the effect of age on his mother's appearance.
Oakum: This is loose hemp fiber, hand-picked out of old rope (an extremely labor-intensive process). The loose fiber could then be mixed with pine tar and used as caulking, was stuffed into cracks in wooden boats with specialized tools. The work of "picking oakum" from rope was done in work-houses, prisons, and asylums.
Ordinary Seaman: a sailor with between one and two years of experience at sea. An ordinary seaman would have been expected to do a wide variety of labor-intensive jobs on board a ship.
Sea-anchor: a sea anchor does not anchor a boat to the bottom of the sea, but instead is designed to drag in the current, and helps to stabilize the boat during bad weather and keep the bow pointed into the waves, which minimizes the risk that the boat will be overturned.
Scuttle: a hatchway in the deck, side, or bottom of a ship, with a cover. Hodgson refers to the "leaf" of the scuttle (the covering).
Sennit: A form of braided cord; Hodgson describes "three-yarn sennit" made from old hemp rope found on the island.
Starboard: the right side of a boat, to someone facing the front (bow).
Step (verb): Hodgson describes the crew "stepping" the mast after the storm. This means to literally re-attach the mast, which they had removed and used along with the oars as a sea-anchor.
Stern: the rear of a boat.
Thole: an oarlock. A holder that holds an oar in place for rowing.
Thwart: a seat extending across the inside bottom of a boat. Hodgson several times describes the men as standing on a thwart: they are standing up on the seats to see clearly over the gunwales.
Tithe: in chapter 14 the narrator says that they did not "discover more than the merest tithe of the mysteries which that great continent of weed holds in its silence." Traditionally this term meant the donation of a tenth of one's income to the church; in context it means "a small fraction."
Whaleback: the term refers to a type of boat designed to shed water, but in context Hodgson seems to be referring to some kind of rib-like structure that could be raised up and covered with canvas to protect the lifeboats from rain and water.
END NOTES:
[1] The whole notion of firing a rope to a ship and rescuing people aboard by using a chair sliding along the rope may seem unrealistic, but I assure you it is quite possible. The Michigan coast guard at Sleeping Bear Point Lifesaving Station was equipped with a "Breeches Buoy," or a sliding chair, to rescue people from boats within three or four hundred yards from shore, although a "Lyle Gun" instead of a bow was used to fire a projectile carrying the first line, which was carefully pre-coiled in a basket to avoid fouling.
The novel The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" starts in the middle. We know almost nothing about what happened to the "good ship" Glen Carrig. The subtitle mentions that it sank after striking a rock. We know nothing about the fate of the captain or how many people were lost. The lifeboats have no names. The title and subtitle seem to indicate that the boats are the subjects of the novel, although this conceit is not continued in the text.
There is a narrator. We are not told his name in the text, althouth the subtitle indicates the story is told by "John Winterstraw, Gent." The "Gent." is a hint about the narrator -- he is a man of status. There is a subtle class consciousness that plays itself out in the text, showing up especially in the end of the story, which I won't give away just yet.
His son, James Winterstraw, presumably doesn't get to use the title "Gent.," at least not yet, although in what may be the only deliberate humor in the book, he does give himself a little praise for writing down his father's story "very properly and legibly!"
Interestingly, the narrator is not really the hero of the story -- that honor goes to the bo'sun, who frequently behaves heroically, showing extremes of endurance, ingenuity, and bravery. The narrator greatly admires the bo'sun, although from a social distance. He portrays himself as more quick-witted than most of the crew, and he mentions with pride that his help is specifically requested by the bo'sun. The narrator does get some slight comeuppance, though, when his plan to use a giant bow to shoot a rope from the island to the weed-trapped brig fails [see end note 1], and another crew member comes up with the idea to use a kite instead.
The text is written, as I have mentioned before, in an archaic style. Reading the novel now, you can imagine that we are looking through a spyglass backwards through two lenses: first, it has been about 100 years since Hodgson wrote this novel. And second, Hodgson himself was writing about fictional events that he imagined had happened at least 150 years earlier.
Here are annotations for a few of the archaic terms used in The Boats of the Glen Carrig. I'm not going to go into details about the rigging of sailing ships -- that is only likely to reveal my profound ignorance on the subject, and the exact nature of different sails is not critical to understanding the story. But I think a few terms are worth discussing, and might help the reader see through that spyglass a little more clearly.
Batten: in the context of boat repair, a thin strip of wood.
Biscuit: "ship's biscuit" or "hardtack" is a dense, unleavened bread designed for long storage. They would be very dry, and probably not very easy to chew without soaking in some kind of liquid. Accounts of the flavor vary -- if you were starving to death, ship's biscuit probably tasted pretty good!
Bo'sun: slang form of "boatswain." A sailor in charge of the deck crew and lifeboats. We aren't told, but it seems likely that the captain of the Glen Carrig "went down with the ship" and thus the bo'sun is in charge of the suriving crew and passengers in the boats.
Breaker: in context, a small water cask. Finding fresh water is one of the crew's main concerns.
Brig: a two-masted sailing ship.
Bulkhead: a wall within a ship. Hodgson describes the bulkheads of the ship in the creek as having a "rubbed" appearance after the assault by the strange unnamed creature.
Colza oil: a vegetable oil pressed from a seed of the rutabaga. It is used in oil lamps and for lubricating machinery.
Cut-and-Thrust: the term refers in general to fighting with knives. I'm not entirely clear on just what kind of knife Hodgson was referring to, but it may have been a rapier, a slender sword with a sharp point. I think Hodgson gave the narrator a rapier, a fancy sword which would have required training, as one of the signs that he was of a higher social class than the sailors.
Cutlass: a short, thick sword with a sharp edge. A cutlass required little training to use effectively and, being short and heavy, could be used for fighting in confined spaces such as on board a ship.
Devil-fish: this word has been used to describe several different sea creatures, but in context it seems that Hodgson was referring to a monstrously large octopus. In several places Hodgson describes its movements as "flickering," which makes sound like it is moving with unnatural speed.
Dip: a candle. Hodgson refers to "tallow dips" made from fat.
Fathom: a unit of length, about 1.8 meters or about six feet. The term is now usually used only for water depth, but Hodgson uses it for distance as well.
Flake: In this context, an archaic term for coiling rope.
Fo'cas'le: the forecastle. The forward (Hodgson uses the slang spelling "forrard") part of the ship with the crew's quarters; on ancient vessels these resembled castles.
Frap: A "frappe" (with or without an accent on the e) is a frozen drink or milkshake. The word "frap" seems to be an archaic nautical term roughly synonymous, in this context, with "wrap." Hodgson uses this term to describe the way the strings of the stacked bows are bound together so that the bows can be fired as one.
Futtock: A curved piece of wood that forms the rib of a boat. It seems to have nothing at all to do with a futtock-shroud. It is not a naughty word.
Futtock-shroud: An iron bar used to stabilize a "top," or platform on the top of a lower mast. A "futtock-shroud" is not really a "futtock" nor is it a "shroud." Discuss. Also, a "shroud" is not a shroud, but a collection of rope lines. Confused yet?
Grain: in a list of miscellaneous items removed from the boat, Hodgson mentions "a three-pronged grain without the shaft." I was not immediately able to find a definition for "grain" that makes sense in this context, but I suspect he is referring to some kind of iron grappling hook. If you've got a better idea, please send me a note.
Gunwale: pronunced (and sometimes written) "gunnel," the top edge of the side of a boat.
Jorum: a drinking vessel, or the quantity that it contained. Hodgson uses the term to refer to a quantity of rum given to Job for medicinal purposes -- presumably a large dose.
Keel: the main structural member, running the length of the boat from bow to stern. It is very fortunate that the boat's keel is not damaged by the devil-fish attack, but only some of the boards adjacent to it.
Larboard: the port (left) side of a boat, to someone facing the front (bow).
Lazarette: This is a small compartment below the deck of a ship, used for storage. Hodgson uses this term in many of his sea stories.
Loom: part of the shaft of an oar. Job is injured while struck by the "loom" of an oar, when a devil-fish attacks the boat.
Mantilla: a light lace scarf worn over the head and shoulders. Hodgson uses this word in his dedicatory poem, "Madre Mia," as a metaphor for the effect of age on his mother's appearance.
Oakum: This is loose hemp fiber, hand-picked out of old rope (an extremely labor-intensive process). The loose fiber could then be mixed with pine tar and used as caulking, was stuffed into cracks in wooden boats with specialized tools. The work of "picking oakum" from rope was done in work-houses, prisons, and asylums.
Ordinary Seaman: a sailor with between one and two years of experience at sea. An ordinary seaman would have been expected to do a wide variety of labor-intensive jobs on board a ship.
Sea-anchor: a sea anchor does not anchor a boat to the bottom of the sea, but instead is designed to drag in the current, and helps to stabilize the boat during bad weather and keep the bow pointed into the waves, which minimizes the risk that the boat will be overturned.
Scuttle: a hatchway in the deck, side, or bottom of a ship, with a cover. Hodgson refers to the "leaf" of the scuttle (the covering).
Sennit: A form of braided cord; Hodgson describes "three-yarn sennit" made from old hemp rope found on the island.
Starboard: the right side of a boat, to someone facing the front (bow).
Step (verb): Hodgson describes the crew "stepping" the mast after the storm. This means to literally re-attach the mast, which they had removed and used along with the oars as a sea-anchor.
Stern: the rear of a boat.
Thole: an oarlock. A holder that holds an oar in place for rowing.
Thwart: a seat extending across the inside bottom of a boat. Hodgson several times describes the men as standing on a thwart: they are standing up on the seats to see clearly over the gunwales.
Tithe: in chapter 14 the narrator says that they did not "discover more than the merest tithe of the mysteries which that great continent of weed holds in its silence." Traditionally this term meant the donation of a tenth of one's income to the church; in context it means "a small fraction."
Whaleback: the term refers to a type of boat designed to shed water, but in context Hodgson seems to be referring to some kind of rib-like structure that could be raised up and covered with canvas to protect the lifeboats from rain and water.
END NOTES:
[1] The whole notion of firing a rope to a ship and rescuing people aboard by using a chair sliding along the rope may seem unrealistic, but I assure you it is quite possible. The Michigan coast guard at Sleeping Bear Point Lifesaving Station was equipped with a "Breeches Buoy," or a sliding chair, to rescue people from boats within three or four hundred yards from shore, although a "Lyle Gun" instead of a bow was used to fire a projectile carrying the first line, which was carefully pre-coiled in a basket to avoid fouling.
24 July 2006
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 6: The Weed-Choked Sea
Having escaped the great storm, the crew navigates an ocean filled with huge floating masses of seaweed, where rotting ships are trapped forever in the "cemetery of the oceans."
The music for chapter 6 is by Aidan Baker from the album 24.2.24.4, available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music for chapter 6 is by Aidan Baker from the album 24.2.24.4, available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
23 July 2006
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 5: The Great Storm
The crew of the boats, having left behind the Land of Lonesomeness, encounters a storm of tremendous power.
Music for chapter 5 is by Cordell Klier, from the album Emmisary, available at darkwinter.com.
Boat sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
Storm and wind sound effects are taken from the freesound project. The individual files are attributed as follows:
1. By SpeedY (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=6479): full_thuderstorm.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=17055)
2. By jakeharries (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=373): waves_cave-29-10-05_02.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=9316)
3. By medialint (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=32690): nord_analog_howling_wind_storm.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=11863)
MP3 file
Music for chapter 5 is by Cordell Klier, from the album Emmisary, available at darkwinter.com.
Boat sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
Storm and wind sound effects are taken from the freesound project. The individual files are attributed as follows:
1. By SpeedY (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=6479): full_thuderstorm.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=17055)
2. By jakeharries (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=373): waves_cave-29-10-05_02.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=9316)
3. By medialint (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=32690): nord_analog_howling_wind_storm.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=11863)
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 4: The Two Faces
The men of the Glen Carrig, lost in the Land of Lonesomeness, finally discover fresh water. But their joy is chilled as they discover the source of the weird crying sound that haunts this cursed place.
The music is by Adaptcore, from the album Sunset After Wind, the track entitled "You Still Remember." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music is by Adaptcore, from the album Sunset After Wind, the track entitled "You Still Remember." This work is available at darkwinter.com.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
18 July 2006
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 3: The Thing That Made Search
Aboard the derelict vessel, the survivors hunt for potable water and discover disturbing notes left by a former passenger, containing references to a mysterious, threatening creature.
Music for chapter 3 is by Cordell Klier, from the album Emissary. This work is available at darkwinter.com. I used tracks 1-3.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
The mysterious notes found aboard the derelict vessel were read by Grace Potts.
MP3 file
Music for chapter 3 is by Cordell Klier, from the album Emissary. This work is available at darkwinter.com. I used tracks 1-3.
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
The mysterious notes found aboard the derelict vessel were read by Grace Potts.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 2: The Ship in the Creek
The survivors follow the stream and come upon a derelict vessel, well-stocked with food. But why was this ship apparently abandoned in great haste, and what is the source of those mysterious sounds in the night?
The music I chose for this chapter is also from The Laurentian Divide. The tracks are called "Oru Skies" and "Leaving Trees."
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The music I chose for this chapter is also from The Laurentian Divide. The tracks are called "Oru Skies" and "Leaving Trees."
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" Chapter 1: The Land of Lonesomeness
The survivors of the Glen Carrig paddle their lifeboats up a creek in search of fresh water, only to find a desolate land haunted by eerie sounds.
Music for chapter 1 is by Samsa, from the album The Laurentian Divide. This work is available from darkwinter.com under the same Creative Commons license as the podcast. The Samsa tracks I chose for this episode are "Glow, Sparkle, Dust," "Edge of Forever," "Leaving Trees," "From the Mountain, and "Channelate."
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
Music for chapter 1 is by Samsa, from the album The Laurentian Divide. This work is available from darkwinter.com under the same Creative Commons license as the podcast. The Samsa tracks I chose for this episode are "Glow, Sparkle, Dust," "Edge of Forever," "Leaving Trees," "From the Mountain, and "Channelate."
Sound effects are taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnesota, available at wanderingear.com.
MP3 file
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig": Introduction to the Project
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" is novel of 17 chapters. It is relatively short, about 130 pages in length. It isn't Hodgson's most famous work, or his best work, but it was influential, and that influence is felt even today in the work of writers such as China Mieville. The work came out of Hodgson's experiences at sea -- he left home to become a sailor at the age of 13. This may be reflected in Hodgson's decision to begin the work with a touching poem called "Madre Mia" -- "My Mother."
Te novel uses a framing technique in which the author claims to be presenting an old manuscript that he discovered; Hodgson also uses this technique in The House on the Borderland. This allows him to use an archaic style.
The novel is in the form of an adventure and survival story, but we see Hodgson introducing a number of slightly creepy and disturbing elements. This novel can be considered a warm up or finger exercise for the author's later explorations into more overtly supernatural horror such as the Carnacki stories and his nautical ghost stories, and also his supernatural science fiction work such as The Night Land.
Parts of this work have a slow feel, like a trip paddling up a stream in a lifeboat, so rather than edit the text, I have tried to adapt my reading to the material, giving it a kind of ambient feel, and pausing here and there to let the material breathe a bit.
This book was published in 1907, and is now out of copyright. If you would like to read it, you can find the text online from multiple sources, including Project Gutenberg. If you want to read a print edition, I highly recommend picking up volume 1 of the Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson. This is part of a very nicely designed five-volume hardcover set published by Night Shade Books, and if you enjoy Hodgson I recommend the whole set. The last volume is due out this year.
I am making this work available under a Creative Commons license. The license I've chosen is Attribution/Non-Commercial/ShareAlike version 2.5 You are allowed to use and distribute this work, and also any derivative works, but you must give me credit. You can use this work and any derivative works only for non-commercial use. If you distribute a derivative work, that work must be licensed using the same Creative Commons license.
For ambience I have chosen to use Creative Commons music and background sound. I don't know for certain yet exactly what music I'll be using for each chapter, so music credits will be included with each chapter, but for the first chapter, I've chosen dark ambient work by Samsa, from the album The Laurentian Divide. This album is available for download at darkwinter.com. I've also chosen to use some water and boat sounds taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnsesota, available at wanderingear.com.
Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy this project.
MP3 file
Te novel uses a framing technique in which the author claims to be presenting an old manuscript that he discovered; Hodgson also uses this technique in The House on the Borderland. This allows him to use an archaic style.
The novel is in the form of an adventure and survival story, but we see Hodgson introducing a number of slightly creepy and disturbing elements. This novel can be considered a warm up or finger exercise for the author's later explorations into more overtly supernatural horror such as the Carnacki stories and his nautical ghost stories, and also his supernatural science fiction work such as The Night Land.
Parts of this work have a slow feel, like a trip paddling up a stream in a lifeboat, so rather than edit the text, I have tried to adapt my reading to the material, giving it a kind of ambient feel, and pausing here and there to let the material breathe a bit.
This book was published in 1907, and is now out of copyright. If you would like to read it, you can find the text online from multiple sources, including Project Gutenberg. If you want to read a print edition, I highly recommend picking up volume 1 of the Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson. This is part of a very nicely designed five-volume hardcover set published by Night Shade Books, and if you enjoy Hodgson I recommend the whole set. The last volume is due out this year.
I am making this work available under a Creative Commons license. The license I've chosen is Attribution/Non-Commercial/ShareAlike version 2.5 You are allowed to use and distribute this work, and also any derivative works, but you must give me credit. You can use this work and any derivative works only for non-commercial use. If you distribute a derivative work, that work must be licensed using the same Creative Commons license.
For ambience I have chosen to use Creative Commons music and background sound. I don't know for certain yet exactly what music I'll be using for each chapter, so music credits will be included with each chapter, but for the first chapter, I've chosen dark ambient work by Samsa, from the album The Laurentian Divide. This album is available for download at darkwinter.com. I've also chosen to use some water and boat sounds taken from the album Thaw -- Field Recordings from Minnsesota, available at wanderingear.com.
Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy this project.
MP3 file
Starting Over
I have removed all the previously available files from this podcast and I'm starting over again with a clean slate. Since then I've gotten some more suitable software tools and learned a few tricks for compressing and mastering audio. The old files don't sound very good by comparison. I may wind up re-mastering some of the older material, but meanwhile I'm starting a new project for the Hodgson novel The Boats of the "Glen Carrig." Check back later, and thank you for listening!
MP3 file
MP3 file
The Hodgecast Blog is Open for Business
I'm creating a separate blog specific to the Hodgecast. What is the Hodgecast, you ask? My podcast, hosted as part of the Potts House, consisting of readings of work by William Hope Hodgson. (It is possible, or even likely, that I will wind up producing other Potts House podcasts).
Hodgson was a writer of nautical adventure, horror, supernatural, and science fiction stories around 1910. His work is now out of copyright. He was a very prolific writer and was published in some of the highest-paying magazines of the day. Hodgson died tragically in World War 1, at a relatively young age, and is now largely unknown except among fans of early science fiction -- his single best-known work is a novella called The House on the Borderland. One of my goals in recording his work is to help revive interest in his work.
Earlier this year I read and made available a number of Hodgson's stories, including a couple of his Carnacki the Ghost Finder supernatural detective stories. However, I was not really satisified with the sound quality I was getting, so I have started over, and I'm serializing Hodgson's first novel The Boats of the Glen Carrig. (There is some debate about whether this novel was written first, but it was his first novel published).
The sound quality is still not as good as I would like it to be -- I am currently using an inexpensive Logitech USB headset -- but it is about as good as I can get it with the time and money I currently have available to put into the project. I do also have a BLUE Snowball USB microphone, but it is in for repair. When it gets back, if I can get it to yield good results, I may try using it instead. A painfully dull account of my troubles with the Snowball microphone can be found in the archives on my other weblog Geek Like Me Too.
The Boats of the Glen Carrig is a traditional survival and adventure story that is tinged with a little bit of supernatural horror. It is written in a somewhat archaic style, and the prose tends to move very slowly. There is no dialogue. To accentuate the eerie beauty of the prose I have mixed the reading with dark ambient music. The result will not be to everyone's tastes. The episodes are long, and the text is long-winded. But if you are patient, and like melancholy, creepy stories that build very gradually in dramatic tension, you should enjoy this project!
Hodgson was a writer of nautical adventure, horror, supernatural, and science fiction stories around 1910. His work is now out of copyright. He was a very prolific writer and was published in some of the highest-paying magazines of the day. Hodgson died tragically in World War 1, at a relatively young age, and is now largely unknown except among fans of early science fiction -- his single best-known work is a novella called The House on the Borderland. One of my goals in recording his work is to help revive interest in his work.
Earlier this year I read and made available a number of Hodgson's stories, including a couple of his Carnacki the Ghost Finder supernatural detective stories. However, I was not really satisified with the sound quality I was getting, so I have started over, and I'm serializing Hodgson's first novel The Boats of the Glen Carrig. (There is some debate about whether this novel was written first, but it was his first novel published).
The sound quality is still not as good as I would like it to be -- I am currently using an inexpensive Logitech USB headset -- but it is about as good as I can get it with the time and money I currently have available to put into the project. I do also have a BLUE Snowball USB microphone, but it is in for repair. When it gets back, if I can get it to yield good results, I may try using it instead. A painfully dull account of my troubles with the Snowball microphone can be found in the archives on my other weblog Geek Like Me Too.
The Boats of the Glen Carrig is a traditional survival and adventure story that is tinged with a little bit of supernatural horror. It is written in a somewhat archaic style, and the prose tends to move very slowly. There is no dialogue. To accentuate the eerie beauty of the prose I have mixed the reading with dark ambient music. The result will not be to everyone's tastes. The episodes are long, and the text is long-winded. But if you are patient, and like melancholy, creepy stories that build very gradually in dramatic tension, you should enjoy this project!
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