William Hope Hodgson

The book was a milestone that signalled a radical departure from the typical Gothic fiction of the late 19th century. Hodgson created a newer and more realistic/scientific cosmic horror that left a marked impression on those who would become the great writers of the weird tales of the middle of the 20th century, particularly Clark Ashton Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft. David Pringle rated The House on the Borderland three stars out of four and called the novel a «frightening tale». Reviewing the book, Neil Barron called it «An imaginative tour de force whose power transcends its patchwork construction; the cosmic vision sequence makes it equally interesting as a scientific romance, but it definitely strikes what its admirer H. P. Lovecraft sought to define as «the true note of cosmic horror».