William Hope Hodgson (1877–1918) was a British writer and a pioneer of fantastic horror and early weird fiction. A former sailor and enthusiast of bodybuilding and photography, he infused his work with experiences of the sea, the unknown, and the cosmic, creating stories marked by unsettling atmosphere and metaphysical vision. The author of novels such as The House on the Borderland and The Night Land, he died young during the First World War.