Customer Reviews

The Essential Clive Barker: Selected Fiction

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The Essential Clive Barker (019529-0) will prove important to any who are avid followers of his various horror and supernatural scenes and writings. For over twenty years Barker has created distinguished and vivid horror scenes: this provides a range of his writings, from early works to recent literary novels. Excerpts from plays and short stories are included within thirteen themes which examine his works.

I'll admit, I was pretty dissapointed at this book when I first cracked it open. It's a rather thick hardcover with excepts which mostly come from his novels, which I'd already read. "Why don't I just go read the novels?" I thought.

Clive himself gives us a good reason in his introduction. The idea isn't to read it straight through, it's to open the books and drift around to whatever catches your interest. In effect, it's the sort of book you read when you're not sure what to read.

And, to be honest, Clive Barker's writing lends itself particularly well to this format. His novels often drift off into self-contained vignettes, easily appreciated on their own.

New readers are better off getting either one of the full novels, or an actual short-story collection, but for someone who has read a sizeable chunk of Barker's work and simply wants to relax with some of the best passages from it, this book is perfect.

A book that lets readers experience bits and pieces of an underrated, misunderstood master. Merely teasers or appetizers, that wet the palette, and succumb the mouth to salivation, in insatiable desire for more. Read this, but have a full Barker novel near by. Or else face the consequences of wanting more, just like a life long Barker fan who waits for more from him everyday. An enchanting read! with a brilliant and personal introduction by Clive, worthy to be essential!

This is a great book for old and new Barker fans. If you have not tried any Barker fiction before, buy this book. But the problem then will be deciding which full length Barker novel are you going to buy first! I would recommend IMAJICA, a true masterpiece. But all of Barker's books are worth reading and the Essential Clive Barker proves that. (Contains pieces of Clive's fictions up to 1999 only,no Coldheart Canyon,Abarat.)

This is an awesome collection of dreams and nightmares. A must read

i love clive barker, but he should stick to writing books and not just pick through his old books and put bits and pieces of them all in a book just to make a dime. if you want to read some of barkers works read the actual books! i am sorry to inform the other four dimwits who reviewed it but this book is not good at all. i had to force myself to read it it was so dull. and if you are wondering why i bought it, i didn't i recieved it as a gift and that is the only excuse i can think of for owning this book.

European imports Clive Barker & Neil Gaiman have spoken of their dislike of Tolkien in print, Barker whose initial fame has worn thin over the years mistakes political correctness for depth (like his fellow "special interest" fantasist Ursula Le Guin) that his literary themes will soon parallel theme parks in Disney Land just confirms the superficial nature of much of his writing. Gaiman billed as one of the top post-modern writers reveals the cut & paste method of character development and his works are ideally suited for video game developers and Quentin Tarrantino. Both are limited to the London rave scene and U.S. equivalents in their appeal. And both lack the numinous "extra literary" qualities of Tolkien & C.S. Lewis and their successors like Stephen R. Donaldson or even Stephen King.