The Dream of X and Other Fantastic Visions: The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Vol. 5

This final volume of works by English author, disillusioned sailor and bodybuilder Hodgson (1877–1918) presents 31 strange and unsettling visions of fantasy, horror and future worlds both terrifyingly close to and infinitely removed from our own, including several condensations and alternate versions of Hodgson's best known works. Despite some labored archaisms and obtrusive dialects, the emotional depth of the poignant “Valley of Lost Children” and the searing “Judge Barclay's Wife” exemplifies Hodgson's penetrating insight into the abuses society masks beneath its supposed values and ideals, while the eerily Swiftian “Date 1965: Modern Warfare,” written in 1908, foresees the horrors of the trenches. Today's readers will find it a struggle, but one worth undertaking. (Sept.)