Clive Barker

[slave2thewage]

I could've sworn we had a thread on him already. Maybe it was just on the old board. Anyhoo, I love most of his stuff and am about to start a re-read of The Great and Secret Show and Everville.

Also, Clive just stated on his Facebook page that we have to wait until he's finished with Abarat until he finishes off The Scarlet Gospels. Boo.

[Jinsai]

Weaveworld is one of my top five favorite fantasy/horror/sci-fi books of all time... if not my absolute favorite. So much so that I was actually tempted to purchase that $1500 version that's limited to 15 copies (http://www.earthlingpub.com/cb_weaveworld_a.php)

I still have every intention of buying one of the $250 versions before they sell out.

[Maul]

I always wanted to get into this guy's work. Any suggestions?

One day I was gathering some data about him and found this sweet ass treat.
http://www.spawn.com/toys/horror/barker/agonistes/images/barker_agonistes_photo_02_dp.jpg

[nemesiswontdie]

Looks like one of his figures from McFarlane Toys. No idea what it's from though.

EDIT: Never mind, I got it. It's Agonistes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Todd-McFarlane-Clive-Barker-Agonistes-12-inch-Tortured-Soul-Figure-/300930919798?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4610e16d76

[frankie teardrop]

weaveworld and imajica were always my favorites, but the great and secret show/everville have some really fond memories attached. i love clive barker, always have. i kind of forgot about him for a while, and anyone who loves neil gaiman should check clive out just to see how much gaiman was inspired by/ripped off barker. (*cough*coraline*cough*).

i couldn't get into much of the abarat series or mister b. gone, but really everything else is amazing.
Maul - start with the first three volumes of the books of blood, generally bound together. "in the hills, the cities" is one of my favorite short stories of all time, and "dread" is no slouch, either. you might recognize a pivotal line lifted from the text of "in the hills..." in a certain track seven from a certain 1989 debut.

[Highly Psychological]

Some of Clive Barkers material is really disturbing. I always found his writing far darker and slightly more terrifying than anything by Stephen King. I notice there always seems to be this constant presence of a looming dark sexual menace this sort of malevolent perverted air that's lurking somewhere. Favorite writing by him has got to be The Books of Blood specifically the story In the Hills the Cities also have a love for The Forbidden which turned into the brilliant underrated Candyman film from 1992. Also love Cabal. Im a big fan of his artwork too.

[slave2thewage]

Just watched Nightbreed for the first time. I'm sad that the film or Cabal never got a sequel, even though it's apparently in his to-do list.

[elevenism]

Some of Clive Barkers material is really disturbing. I always found his writing far darker and slightly more terrifying than anything by Stephen King.

My sentiments exactly.


I always wanted to get into this guy's work. Any suggestions?

Depends on what you're into. The Hellbound Heart is just about the roughest, meanest, nastiest, most deliciously disturbing things i've ever read. It's very short, but good lord, it's twisted. I couldn't read shit like that every day though.
By that same token, however, i wasn't able to get into the tamer stuff.

[slave2thewage]

Bit late with posting this but:

The Scarlet Gospels has been handed to the publisher's. IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING. No release date, but apparently "over a year" from now, according to Clive on Facebook. I think it'll be October/November next year.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/42f220605aea048a1bff6b98e1fa89f8/tumblr_msvfwqfhA61rhd1xfo1_500.png

[frankie teardrop]

interesting... i hope both this and king's doctor sleep are suitable sequels. it always weirds me out when they do movie or book sequels so long after the original...

what i am more excited for (and who knows how far along it is, if at all), is the third book of the art...

[DF118]

interesting... i hope both this and king's doctor sleep are suitable sequels. it always weirds me out when they do movie or book sequels so long after the original...

what i am more excited for (and who knows how far along it is, if at all), is the third book of the art...

Is that even happening? Great and Secret Show was wonderful. I hated Everville (although I liked the twist in the protagonist couple's relationship that the second book took).

I'm holding out hope for The Scarlet Gospels, however the Clive Barker of today is a very different writer to the Clive Barker of 25 years ago.

[slave2thewage]

Is that even happening? Great and Secret Show was wonderful. I hated Everville (although I liked the twist in the protagonist couple's relationship that the second book took).

I'm holding out hope for The Scarlet Gospels, however the Clive Barker of today is a very different writer to the Clive Barker of 25 years ago.
Art #3 is apparently the next book he's working on, according to his online posts.

[Jinsai]

Barker also mentioned recently that they were in discussions to do a film adaptation (either miniseries or theater) of Weaveworld. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's my favorite Clive Barker novel, and I can't imagine them getting it right.

[Louie_Cypher]

Got to meet the guy and sign my copy of Hell Bound Heart, super super nice guy, makes you wonder how he can be so dark and twisted in what he does. I didn't care for Everville as a follow-up to Great and Secret Show, maybe it was the long gap between them, might try reading them again back to back. B.Gone was so so, although funny story, after reading the first paragraph a minor earthquake happened, How'd you do that Clive?

[aggroculture]

http://io9.com/dear-clive-barker-please-give-hellraiser-to-this-guy-i-1480532186?utm_campaign

[slave2thewage]

Amazon is listing the release for The Scarlet Gospels as May 19, 2013. Clive just confirmed it as accurate on FB.

YASSSSS.

[Fractal04]

Hey, did anybody read Next Testament? I did. I really liked it.

[tony.parente]

EDIT: I'm bad at this. NVM

[slave2thewage]

"This is a whisper - but I'm actually, and I don't know when I will be able to start this because of scheduling, but I've started to structure the third book of The Art... It should be a whisper because it's a while off, but the fact that I have the narrative in place and I know where I'm going on it you know is useful."

Excuse me while I flail on the ground.

[mrselfdestruct94]

Very excited for The Scarlet Gospels. It's going to be a long six months.

[Marie]

Just finished reading Weaveworld and it made me want to read more of his work.

[Uneven Stephen]

I picked up a copy of Everville in my local thrift store the other day. How necessary is it to read the Great and Secret Show first? I mean, will I be totally lost if I just jump straight into Everville?

[Jinsai]

Just finished reading Weaveworld and it made me want to read more of his work.

Weaveworld is my favorite Clive Barker book.

I'm also pretty excited for the Scarlett Gospels, which is supposed to be a true sequel to The Hellbound Heart / Hellraiser, right? They recently unveiled the American and UK cover art.

[mrselfdestruct94]

I'm 200 pages into The Scarlet Gospels and I'm enjoying it so far. It moves at a brisk pace, happy as hell to have Pinhead and D'Amour back in the literary realm, the story's intriguing and I'm eager to get back to it. It's a page turner for sure. I'm hoping to nab the audiobook and the limited edition hardcover in the next few weeks for collecting purposes. Anyone else get a chance to pick this one up yet?

[slave2thewage]

I just finished it. I really enjoyed it for the most part, but I thought the ending section was a bit weak. Norma's death had me in bits.

[mrselfdestruct94]

I just finished it. I really enjoyed it for the most part, but I thought the ending section was a bit weak. Norma's death had me in bits.

I agree about the latter hundred pages or so being weak. It doesn't ruin the story by any means but the final act could have been a lot stronger. Overall, an immensely enjoyable, dark, twisted, disturbing and fun read with a finale that can't quite live up to what's established throughout the beginning and middle of the book. Definitely worth buying though, and it's Clive Barker's best book in quite some time. I'm looking forward to reading it again, and getting my hands on the limited edition.

[Jinsai]

I'm fifty pages into Scarlet Gospels, and while I'm liking it, I'm repeatedly surprised by how perversely graphic this one is. So far all of the violence has been gratuitously drawn out in vivid detail and loaded with sexual elements that seem thrown in to add to the shock in an uncomfortable way. I've read almost every Clive Barker book, and I know he doesn't shy away from practically anything, I just don't remember him being so gratuitous.