Books : Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1-3
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780425165584
ISBN: 0425165582
Label: Berkley Trade
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 528
Publication Date: October 01, 1998
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Sales Rank: 19119
Studio: Berkley Trade
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
With the 1984 publication of Books of Blood, Clive Barker became an overnight literary sensation. He was hailed by Stephen King as "the future of horror," and won both the British and World Fantasy Awards. Now, with his numerous bestsellers, graphic novels, and hit movies like the Hellraiser films, Clive Barker has become an industry unto himself. But it all started here, with this tour de force collection that rivals the dark masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe. Read him. And rediscover the true meaning of fear.
Amazon.com Review:
"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
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
these short stories were the original source of clive barker's success and earned him recognition as a mainstream author and a competitor for stephen king. they posess a brutality and a simplicity that resonate long after they are finished. in each story clive barker expresses his skill as a writer and an artist.
Rating:  -
I must say that I was more than excited to read this book. I had been eyeing the book for many years. One, because it was Clive Barker...duh, and two, because it had a creepy, yet extremely cool, cover. I began to get serious about my relationship with this book when I read a review about it on Amazon.com. The review talked about how scary the book was and gave the first story "Midnight Meat Train" a stellar appraisal. I mentioned on my myspace page that I was beginning the book and received numerous exaltations from friends claiming it was a fantastic and terrorizing read.
I began my journey into the Books of Blood in early October, thinking that October was the perfect month for such a frightful endeavor. I read the introduction and was thrilled to learn that Clive Barker is gay. I also learned that this was his initial foray into published writing. Barker was quite young when he wrote these short stories and the book was a risky undertaking for the publishing company.
The three volume set of short stories opens with a somewhat cheesy line about people being books of blood because we are red when we are opened. The first story "Book of Blood" was a clever introduction to the book. This is the story that explains the title and the concept of the books of blood. Okay...I was intrigued and very eager to move on...
"Midnight Meat Train" was next on the agenda. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, I thought the story was...cute. Maybe it is ... Read More
Rating:  -
I purchased this book after reading Barker's "The Hellbound Heart" which was the book that Clive's directorial debut "Hellraiser" was based on. It was a short and sweet novel the showed Clive's ability not just to describe but to intimately visualize horror in great detail. Upon completing that I had high hopes for his greatly praised "Books of Blood." I was not disappointed.
First off I do want to say that there are a couple of dud short stories in this collection which is why I gave it four stars instead of five. I agree with one of the previous reviewers in that I feel "New Murders in Rue Morgue" is without a doubt the worst story in this collection. For some reason it felt as if an ambitious ten year old decided to write a sequel to his favorite horror story with the end result being a absurd retread of the original story. "Pig Blood Blues" and "Skins of the Father" are other stories for whatever reason either lacked Barkers' usual writing flair or ended to quickly for my liking.
With that said I really loved the following stories:
The Yattering and Jack:
A darkly funny story about a demon summoned from hell to break a man on earth who's soul has been promised to them. The battle of wits that ensues between these two is great fun and is the definition of dark comedy.
Dread:
A disturbing story of a young man at a college campus who begins a very bizarre friendship (if you can call it that) with another student ... Read More
Rating: -
Clive Baker, some call him the master of horror even Stephen King Called Barker "The Future of Horror," And someone to call him a master or the future wouldent be too far off. Clive Barkers "Books of Blood:Volume 1-3" were my first attempt at Barker, and I couldent have loved them more. Volumes 1-3 are in here there are five stories in each voulme.
Volume 1
Volume one had to be my favorite out of all three.
The Book of Blood: The book starts out with, well I guess you would call it the cover story or the frame story it's a short one only about 15 pages, but it is a good 15, it tells the story of Mary Florescu who has employed a medium who's a fake, she's hired him to investagate a hunted house. McNeal (The Medium) Fakes the visions at first but then they become all to real and Simon McNeal becomes a living Book of Blood
The Midnight Meet Train: When a man named Leon Kaufman falls asleep on a New York subway he dosent know that his life will never be the same. He wakes up to a living nightmare.
The Yattering and Jack: Jack is an avrage man but theres something in his house something called the Yattering, The Yattering is a demon and this demon will stop at nothing to make jack notice him, He will make jack's life a living hell doing whatever he can just to fullfill a promise made by his father.
Pig Blood Blues: Pig Blood Blues is one of my favorite stories out of the collection. Redman is a retired policemen ... Read More
Rating: -
This was my first venture into the world of Barker's short stories, and although I was very excited to read the book, I found that it was as many short story books are, hit and miss.
The book opens with a story titled "The Book of Blood" which I suppose would be an intro, though it is almost a short story in itself. It is a good intro, drawing the reader in lots of ghosties, a haunted house, paranormal phenomenon and lots of blood. Excellent intro to amp up the reader and get them ready to dive right through the book. I'd give this short 4 of 5 stars.
The first story is "Midnight Meat Train." I wasn't overly impressed with the title but what the heck, it was a good story. A serial killed of the most disgusting kind, an unwitting accountant who finds his way into that serial killers world, and then bam, strangeness abounds as the supernatural makes its appearance. Excellent story again, 4 of 5 stars.
The second is "The Yattering and Jack." I would in no way call this a horror story... it's closer to something you would find in a Christopher Moore book, in fact I think he based the entire book "Practical Demonkeeping" off of reading this short. This story was a humorous tale of a lesser Demon sent to torment a man to insanity... the problem is that the man just doesn't seem to care about anything the Demon does... including exploding a few household pets. I found myself giggling through this story. I don't felt that it fit all that well with ... Read More
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