The first book I’ve read for the Project Gutenberg Project is William Hope Hodgeson’s The House on the Borderland. This is a very strange, oddly compelling, and frankly bizarre novel in which two fellows travel to a remote village in Ireland for a fishing holiday. After a few days they run across a creepy old ruin perched precariously over an immense pit where a river is roaring far below. Whilst poking about the ruins they come across an aged manuscript that is largely still legible, and the rest of the tale is told within that dilapidated old book.

I chose this book because its title reminded me of “Keep on the Borderlands“, one of the first Dungeons and Dragons modules I (and most everyone my age) ever played. The novel, of course, has nothing at all to do with the game, but it doesn’t matter — once I started reading I could hardly put it down. Even when I thought I was done with it (there are a few draggy bits in the middle) I kept reading, drawn to continue turning the pages to find out what ever happens at the end of this absolutely bizarre story.

I liked this book at lot, and I think anyone who likes horror, scifi, or anything in between will enjoy it as well. It is strongly reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft, so if you’re a fan of that master of nightmares, you might give this one a go as well.