William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) was born in Essex but moved several times with his family, including a stint in County Galway in Ireland - a setting that would later inspire The House on the Borderland. Hodgson made several unsuccessful attempts to run away to sea, until his uncle secured him some work in the Merchant Marine. His association with the ocean would unfold later in his many sea stories. After some initial rejections of his writing work, Hodgson managed to become a full time writer of both novels and short stories, which form a fantastic legacy of adventure, mystery and horror fiction.