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based upon the evidence of Books of Blood 1-3, Clive Barker sprung into the literary horror world fully-formed, a writer all grown up, already past the awkward growing pains of an adolescent period that other writers of his stature and widespread appeal suffered through before reaching their full powers. his ability to construct and sustain an intriguing narrative, his resonant themes, his stylistic flourishes, his use of irony and dread and gore and comedy, his strength at detailing truly real
Woooo!That was unexpectedly great. And gory. And transgressive as hell. Reading this book made it clear to me why Clive Barker (who I hadn't read before) is considered an iconic writer. The man is not only a master stylist, but he has this narrative obsession with tearing reality apart. Sometimes a form of religion or systematic afterlife is involved like in The Midnight Meat Train or Hell's Event. Other time, it's just off the wall wild and imaginative like In the Hills, the Cities. My favorite...
Only reread a few selections, but I can confirm this is still great stuff. 🌝
3.5⭐️Only loved 2-3 stories. Enjoyed over half. Some were boring. Others I really didn’t care for.
Highly inventive and innovative, and chock-full of delightfully concise, clever turns of phrase. I came across this when I was about twenty, which is probably a good age to so do.
Here is an introduction of Clive Barker's movie brilliances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL-cB...
4.5 stars - A couple of things about a couple of stories in volume 3 stopped this being a perfect collection, but it’s damn close!!!
Clive Barker's Books of Blood is a collection of short stories. This edition collected the three Books of Blood into one edition. Clive Barker, though not as well known as Stephen King, is well known for his Hellraiser stories. As with any anthology the end result is determined by the stories therein. The Books of Blood does not fail, for the most part, to deliver some truly gory (Barker seems to relish in the more blood and guts aspect of horror) and downright bizarre horror stories.The volume
Brilliant. Bloody brilliant. Clive Barker writes horror that truly terrifies; his stories aren't cheap thrills, but literary-horror blends that make you think as well as pull the covers over your head. Sex and death almost always go together, as do thrills and disgust, curiosity and foreboding. These stories, with all their gore and existential musings, will forever be imprinted in my soul.Favorites:"The Yattering and the Jack""Pig Blood Blues""Sex, Death and Starshine""Hell's Event""Confessions...
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. Barker
One of the best short story collections I've ever read.Barker is an expert at capturing your mind and drawing you into the crazy worlds and concepts he creates.It's superbly written, darkly imaginative and makes for highly addictive reading.My favourites from these first three volumes are:The Midnight Meat TrainDreadRawhead RexSon of CelluloidHighly rated and highly recommend.☆☆☆☆☆
"Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red."Comprised of insane and downright horrifying tales from Clive Barker, Books of Blood is a strong debut release which led to King referring to him as "the future of horror". This edition contains Volumes 1-3, a grand total of fifteen stories (sixteen if you include the intro) - a large number of which have been subsequently adapted into movies.Having already been blown away by The Hellhound Heart, I was excited to get into more Cliv...
This collection of the first half of Clive Barker's Books of Blood short story collections is jaw-dropping in the amount of high quality content, very graphically violent and not for the squeamish, but extremely well written and interesting, a must-read for any fan of the genre or of dark fiction in general. Below you will find a list of the stories including in this collection, along with a rating for each story and song lyrics which you may find entertaining or diverting, or not: VOLUME ONEThe...
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, she’s still here, 87 years old. We remember it took Henry Roth 60 year...
I’m fully expecting to receive boos and hisses for not liking these short stories but I’m prepared for it. I just could NOT get into any of them. I dreaded having to pick up the book and read and every time I did I had this pit of dread in my stomach, and not a good pit of dread. I thought I might actually DIE of boredom while I was reading these stories. This isn’t my first read by Barker, I’ve ADORED everything else I’ve read by him, but Volumes 1-3 of Books of Blood was just NOT for me. I fou...
This Scream Press edition was the first compilation of Clive Barker's Books of Blood tales under one binding (the first and original three volumes). This was the way Barker meant them to be presented and for good reason. These 16 horror tales were revolutionary in their lack of sentimentality and their gruesome realism making way for the next generation of horrors writers including the splatterpunks and the bizarro writers. Every story is a classic but special mention goes to "The Midnight Meat
This book was recommended to be by a friend and at the time I just kind of passed it off but I kept coming across the name Clive Barker not realizing that he is such a huge horror Icon.I had a bit of a hard time tracking it down but when I finally found it and started it, it grossed me out right from the first page. That's a huge plus for me as I find a lot of horror novels very blah and I will catch myself skimming some paragraphs.I couldn't get enough of these stories.Barker took these words a...
Awesome... simply awesome. I am sad it took me thirty years to read this. Dread, The yattering and Jack, Rawhead Rex, and Human Remains were all beyond 5 stars, most of the rest were 4 or 5 stars, and Pig Blood Blues and In the Hills, the Cities being the only not totally awesome tales for me.Great read. Highest recommendation. Not just tearing and carving skin like I was used to from Barker, but there's plenty of that, too.
Fuck... masterful... amazing... off the hook! An insane introduction to an absolute horror genius.
These are a fabulous collection of short horror stories, and they can and do bite indeed!Suffice it to say that I'm a sucker for short stories, and I did grow up having as my literary mentors' people like Mr. Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Dan Simmons and on top of it the obligatory classics by Edgar Allan Poe...Now you understand that I had to read Clive Barker, and gosh, am I happy that I did!All the ingredients that makes a good short story collection are here available...I won't go into the stor...