A House-Boat on the Styx (1895) by John Kendrick Bangs is a comic fantasy imagining Hades as an elegant resort where history's famous dead gather. The ghostly elite—including Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Doctor Johnson, and assorted literary and mythical figures—reside aboard a luxurious houseboat club on the River Styx, managed by Charon. When the underworld community is stirred by the arrival of newcomers such as Sherlock Holmes, scandal, rivalry, and witty banter ensue. Culminating in Captain Kidd's audacious hijacking of the houseboat, this satirical novel gently mocks celebrity and literary legend with dry Victorian humor and inventive charm.
