Status
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Description
EVERYBODY IS A BOOK OF BLOOD; WHEREVER WE'RE OPENED, WE'RE RED. � Clive BarkerFew authors can claim to have marked a genre so thoroughly and personally that their words have leaked into every aspect of modern pop culture. Clive Barker is such an author, and the Books of Blood marked his debut - his coming out to the world - in brilliant, unforgettable fashion. Crossroad Press is proud to present Clive Barker's "Books of Blood" in digital for the first time.The Books of Blood combine the ordinary with the extraordinary while radiating the eroticism that has become Barker's signature. Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist.Never one to shy away from the unimaginable or the unspeakable, Clive Barker breathes life into our deepest, darkest nightmares, creating visions that are at once terrifying, tender, and witty. The Books of Blood confirm what horror fans everywhere have known for a long time: We will be hearing from Clive Barker for many years to come.This fourth volume contains the short stories : "The Inhuman Condition," "The Body Politic," "Revelations," "Down, Satan," and "The Age of Desire," as well as a new introduction by author Al Sarrantonio.… (more)
User reviews
The book includes 5 short stories:
The Inhuman Condition
A group of delinquents beat up an old homeless man for fun. But when one of
The Body Politic
A fresh take on the horror trope of hands that turn against their owner.
Revelations
A preacher, his wife, and their assistant check into a haunted motel, where the ghosts may be trying to get things right, but the living are still prone to getting things wrong.
Down, Satan!
An evil tycoon, ignored by god, decides to re-create hell, on earth.
The Age Of Desire
Illicit scientific experimentation leads to the creation of an "aphrodisiac" that runs out of control.
"Revelations" and "The Inhuman Condition" were by far my favorites, but the whole book is worth reading.
And I ended up feeling like it was somewhat uneven. The stand-outs in the collection are "The Body Politic", "Revelations", and, to a lesser extent, "The Age of Desire". The two novella-length pieces, "The Inhuman Condition" and "The Age of Desire" felt somehow frenetic and over-packed, and I have to think that either could have been fantastic if allowed to flower out into a full novel, but lost some of their power in this form. One of Barker's undeniable talents is characterization--his writing is brilliant, is concepts are horrifying, and his plotting is spot-on, but it's his characterization and the masterful way he brings characters to life against such a larger background as he paints that really makes his work so powerful. In these two novellas, plot and atmosphere were prioritized over character, and I think they suffered for it. At the same time, they're still great reads, and I have to think that my high expectations of Barker led me here to feel a bit of disappointment, where I would have been impressed otherwise. Still, those other stand-outs I mentioned, shorter as they may be, blew the longer pieces out of the water.
No doubt, Barker isn't for everyone--I'm a hardened horror reader and writer, and it takes a lot to make me flinch, but I cringed at a few spots while reading this collection. He has a way of bringing gore and horror to life so that they feel real--like you're glimpsing a true nightmare rather than wandering into a story--and it's hard not to love that if you're a horror fan. Barker's particular brand of horror also brings in the sacred and profane, religion, and even ethics and free will. The mix, against his gorgeous prose, makes for some wonderfully uncomfortable reading.
In short, I'd absolutely recommend this collection to fans of horror short stories, but I'd caution long-time Barker fans to temper their expectations in comparison to some of his longer works.
But The Inhuman Condition is just frigging brilliant, and it points to where Barker would take his writing in years to come.
I