Forgive me for name-dropping but we got into a conversation on his blog not too long ago and Brian told me that this was the book that ultimately got him interested in wanting to be a horror writer. Another example of the nationalism that often imbues Catalan ' modernisme'. House on the Borderland by William Hope Hogson was actually recommended to me by the author Brian Keene. While there, they discover in the ruins of a very curious house a diary of the man who had once owned it.

The ceramic panels surmounting the façade refer to the patriotic symbols of Catalonia. William Hope Hodgson (1877 - 1918) In 1877, two gentlemen, Messrs Tonnison and Berreggnog, head into Ireland to spend a week fishing in the village of Kraighten. The brickwork on the façade blends with the wrought-iron on the balconies, designed by Manuel Ballarín, the neo-Gothic style sculptural reliefs by Alfons Juyol, and stained-glass windows by Eduard Amigó. He gets haplessly carted about the universe to witness the end of time, which never really ends, is always at the edge, nearing an asymptote, on the borderland. The exterior delights anyone who goes to take a closer look. The House on the Borderland tried to conceive of exactly this a century ago. The nickname, ' Casa de les Punxes', comes from the conical roofs, which end in a spike. His project, which was completed in 1905, resulted in an imposing triangular structure which rises up like a grand medieval castle with six turrets. Josep Puig i Cadafalch was commissioned to redevelop the buildings and linked them together on one site behind a vast brick façade. The Terradas sisters owned three buildings standing between the Avinguda Diagonal, Carrer Rosselló and Carrer Bruc. On the third day of their stay, they stumble upon the ruins of a strangely shaped house on a large lake.

Tonnison and Berreggnog make a fishing holiday to the remote village of Kraighten in rural Ireland. The 'Casa de les Punxes' (House of Spikes) is really a residential block built in the shape of medieval castle which is one of the most recognisable modernista landmarks on the Barcelona skyline. 'The House on the Borderland' (1908) is a supernatural horror novel by William Hope Hodgson. A 'large Gothic castle' standing in the middle of Barcelona's Avinguda Diagonal catches the eye of any visitor to the city.

The house on the borderland