Clive Barker

[Steve Dekorte]

Some of my favorites:

[Ligeia]

[Odalisque]

I saw Clive Barker (I'm sure it was he) on television last night. Reviewing last night's viewing, I think that it must have been in a programme about picture books for older children.

[Masonwire]

Not related to Clive Barker's (visual) art, but I was wondering what people here think of Barker's upcoming novel The Scarlet Gospels.
The last time I read something from him was in the mid-nineties, so I'm not quite sure how I feel today about him.

[orwell84]

The Scarlet Gospel's is the long awaited sequel to 'The Hellbound Heart', published over 25 years ago. That was the inspiration for the original Hellraiser movie, which was also directed by Clive Barker. Stephen King and Barker often get mentioned in the same breath solely because they are both horror authors and also because they are both popular. But they are completely different writers. I have read them both avidly but I find Barker's imagination incredibly more vast and his language far more poetic than King's. His creativity shines though in novels like Weaveworld and Imajica. On the front cover of Ligotti's 'The Nightmare Factory', there is a quote from The Washington Post that refers to Ligotti as 'the most startling and unexpected literary discovery since Clive Barker.

[waffles]

I am looking forward to reading The Scarlet Gospels. I've always liked his short stories and novellas (especially The Hellbound Heart) and this novel will also bring his detective Harry D'Amour (sp?) into the mix. I think it will make a great summer book.

[Lord Jim]

I'm looking forward to reading it as well. I'm a sucker for the Hellraiser mythos. The newer comics from Boom! by him (and others) are fun as well.

[miguel1984]

I still remember the first time I read something by Clive Barker. It was the short story The Body Politic and it made quite an impression on me; it was terrifying, smart and funny all at the same time.

[Souphead]

Going back to the original question, does anyone know if Barker did the artwork for the underground caves/catacombs in his Nightbreed film from the original Cabal book? Even if he didn't is there anywhere in the Internet that has that artwork?

[xylokopos]

I was very skeptical about the end result when I first heard that Barker was revisiting Hellbound Heart/Hellraiser. Now that I have read the opening pages of the Scarlet Gospels I know it was a god awful idea.

The book opens with lighthearted banter between a resurrected magician and the colleagues that have brought him back. It reads like comic relief for the entire chapter. Someone mentions that Pinhead is 'goddamn clever'. Another character exclaims 'sweet Jesus' [ I imagine with an Eddy Murphy early stand-up kinda voice]. When Pinhead appears, he quotes Whitehead on Plato. The ten pages or so that are available at Amazon are like a novelization by the late Terry Pratchett, or a script treatment involving sparkling vampire teenagers. Apparently being a Cenobite is not enough and Pinhead has some sort of masterplan, like a nineteenth century Prussian strategist.

The Hellbound Heart was a masterpiece, a brilliantly concise narrative that hinted at a broader mythology while unfolding as a horrifying, Faustian parable. The intro was fantastic, setting tone and atmosphere with economy and lyrical prose. The Scarlet Gospels' intro is massively disappointing by comparison. It is as if all his Hollywood years have ruined Barker's capacity or appreciation for literary writing.

It saddens me to write all this, I have loved his early work and reading him in the early nineties solidified my love for supernatural horror. There was a time when Barker was interested in writing horror stories. That time is now long past. I am not certain he is interested in writing for adults anymore as well.

I do hope I am wrong and the book is massively better than its opening chapters. But what I have read embitters me.

PS. I think it was in one of the later films that when asked what he was or what he wanted, Pinhead said, I am exquisitely empty. That was a perfect summation of his character. This 'demon with a cunning plan' notion is ridiculous.