Clive Barker
Paperback | Pages: 507 pages Rating: 4.17 | 24015 Users | 587 Reviews
Present Of Books Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood #1-3)
| Title | : | Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood #1-3) |
| Author | : | Clive Barker |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 507 pages |
| Published | : | October 1st 1998 by Berkley Books (first published 1984) |
| Categories | : | Short Stories. Fiction. Horror. Fantasy |
Chronicle In Favor Of Books Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood #1-3)
"Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red." For those who only know Clive Barker through his long multigenre novels, this one-volume edition of the Books of Blood is a welcome chance to acquire the 16 remarkable horror short stories with which he kicked off his career. For those who already know these tales, the poignant introduction is a window on the creator's mind. Reflecting back after 14 years, Barker writes:
I look at these pieces and I don't think the man who wrote them is alive in me anymore.... We are all our own graveyards I believe; we squat amongst the tombs of the people we were. If we're healthy, every day is a celebration, a Day of the Dead, in which we give thanks for the lives that we lived; and if we are neurotic we brood and mourn and wish that the past was still present.Reading these stories over, I feel a little of both. Some of the simple energies that made these words flow through my pen--that made the phrases felicitous and the ideas sing--have gone. I lost their maker a long time ago.
These enthusiastic tales are not ashamed of visceral horror, of blood splashing freely across the page: "The Midnight Meat Train," a grisly subway tale that surprises you with one twist after another; "The Yattering and Jack," about a hilarious demon who possesses a Christmas turkey; "In the Hills, the Cities," an unusual example of an original horror premise; "Dread," a harrowing non-supernatural tale about being forced to realize your worst nightmare; "Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament," about a woman who kills men with her mind. Some of the tales are more successful than others, but all are distinguished by strikingly beautiful images of evil and destruction. No horror library is complete without them. --Fiona Webster
Be Specific About Books Concering Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood #1-3)
| Original Title: | Books of Blood: Volumes 1-3 |
| ISBN: | 0425165582 (ISBN13: 9780425165584) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Books of Blood #1-3 |
| Setting: | New York State(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (1985) |
Rating Of Books Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood #1-3)
Ratings: 4.17 From 24015 Users | 587 ReviewsRate Of Books Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood #1-3)
Looking for good horror? Look no further... My favorite horror novel, ever. Erm... short story collection. Technically.Wow, wow & WOW! Barker is undeniably unique, a few steps above Stephen King (at this point) in the whimsical world of the macabre. All fifteen of these tales are incredible-- & incredibly wicked--anecdotes, all wonderful drafts for damn-good horror flicks (bettering "Hellraiser," surely) that could become classics as quintessential as Carrie, Pet Semetary or The Shining.A horror classic. Clive Barker hit the ground running with this amazing collection of unique dark fiction. This was the book that made Stephen King call Barker 'the future of Horror.'I really wish Barker would write some horror again, as his Abarat series does little for me story wise (though the paintings are beautiful) Honestly I've had my fill of sweeping fantasy from this author, especially since with each series I have to learn a whole new complex mythology.Really I'm just dying for Barker
As with all collections of short stories, some are a lot better than others, as is the case here.In my opinion, Pig blood blues and Midnight Meat Train are the clear stand-outs. Fortunately, none of the other stories are terrible, merely not as great as these two tales.
I've heard all my life that Stephen King's genius as a horror writer is making the familiar terrifying. Clive Barker's genius as a horror writer is making the terrifying familiar. This collection of short stories, tenuously held together by the precept that they are the stories carved into the flesh of a fake medium by vengeful ghosts, has no part of King's familiarity. Instead, it plunges the reader headlong into the multiple worlds of the unfamiliar and horrific, but brings the unspeakably
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **So short a time to lose so many treasured illusions.Since day 1 of connecting and developing a friendship with Gavin, the mastermind of Kendall Reviews, hes been on me to read all things Barker and specifically Books of Blood.Ill have a Clive Barker feature coming up on the site where Ill discuss discovering Mr. Barker, but growing up where I did I didnt have access to much horror and what I did have access to read, certainly wasnt Clive.Ive
4.5 stars - A couple of things about a couple of stories in volume 3 stopped this being a perfect collection, but its damn close!!!
One hit wonders I usually think of such oddities as Nena (99 Red Balloons, UK No 1, 1984) or Aneka (Japanese Boy, UK No 1, 1981), or even Sir Mix-a-Lot (Baby Got Back, US No 1, 1992) a No 1 hit and then nothing, nothing, nothing. But of course you do get one hit wonder authors the toppermost one in that list will be Harper Lee. OMG can you imagine the advance she would have got for her second novel? And it could happen, shes still here, 87 years old. We remember it took Henry Roth 60 years to
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