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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59725 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

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

From Publishers Weekly
Published last year in Britain as three paperback originals, these short narratives garnered impressive reviews. This edition, Barker's first hardcover appearance in America, gathers together 16 stories in one volume as the author originally intended and contains eerily effective illustrations by fantasy artists J. K. Potter and Harry O. Morris. The tales are of varying quality and will please mostly readers who like their horror bloody and graphic. An occasional reliance on hokey set-ups and deus ex machinas, and the frequent shifting of intention in mid-story are jarring qualities, however. Further, a pervasive misanthropy colors the narratives and makes them unpleasant in a way the author probably didn't intend. The best entry, "Human Remains," about a male hustler and his doppelganger, isthe only one in which the author actually seems to like his protagonist.Also good are the almost dreamlike"New Murders in the Rue Morgue," "Scape-goats," about an island that is an altar to the drowned, and "Son of Celluloid," which generates a full complement of chills. Ramsey Campbell has contributed a lavishly praiseful introduction. November 15
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Barker launched his best-selling career in 1984 with the Books of Blood trilogy, which are published together here as a single volume. In addition to the numerous short stories contained in the Books, this edition also sports a new introduction by the author. Bloody good fun.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Would have been great before the numbing of society
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 my numbness to horror stories and the fact that everything is so overexposed now. I had to remember that these stories were old. These stories predate pretty much all horror stories out there today. So, I moved on...

It was when I reached the third story "The Yattering and Jack" that I began to lose heart. This story was also...cute. Though it was a little more fun than "Midnight Meat Train" what with the attack turkey and all, it still left me craving scariness and fright. "Pig Blood Blues" was kind of dorky...I mean, a flesh eating pig? Come on...that's as bad as attack sheep. "Sex, Death, and Starshine" deserves a good nod though. This story was actually fairly interesting and maybe slightly eerie. The last book of volume one "In the Hills, the Cities" was difficult for me to grasp. This story was pretty much strictly blood and gore. Maybe I just have trouble figuring out the mechanics of, and imagining, hundreds of people tying themselves together to create one moving giant. Maybe it's just me...

The second volume did improve. Maybe Barker began to find his voice and talent with this set of stories. Of course, it did help that the volume started out with "Dread" my absolutely favorite story in the entire book. Though, not a horror story per se, it was definitely psychologically chilling. The entire book is worth owning for this story alone.

We move on to "Hell's Event" where the characters are literally running for their lives...in a race no less. "Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament" was basically about a woman scorned. However, having the ability to make a man fold in on himself would be a nifty talent to have. "The Skins of the Fathers" makes a person think twice about child abuse. And "New Murders in the Rue Morgue" deserves a read for naught but the remembrance of our beloved Mr. Poe.

Volume three was definitely full of more goodies than the first two. "Son of Celluloid" was a treat to read. Film lovers would enjoy this tale of a haunted movie theater that begins killing its employees. "Rawhead Rex" was delightfully gruesome, neither priest nor child was safe from being ripped to shreds in this account of a nine-foot monster released from its imprisonment by an idiotic farmer. "Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud" is another story that is a little far fetched for my taste. Can you really take a killer sheet seriously? I sure couldn't. "Scape-Goats" is certainly worth perusing. Who can pass up a story about fools on a haunted island that leaves you feeling giddy because there is really no hope for any of them? The final story, "Human Remains" brings the book full circle. The first story in these books of blood was about human sacrifice and we end in a similar fashion.

All in all I thought the book was...cute. No other word really describes my take on these stories. But again, maybe I am just numbed to the culture and society in which I have been raised. Not much can scare me any more. Though, when reading these stories (my first venture into short story collections) I tried to remember that these were written before the true horror genre exploded. Clive Barker was one of the innovator's of the field of terror and these stories were written prior to the publication "Hellbound Heart" and the production of "Hellraiser." Therefore, I believe that this book is a must read for any lovers of the art of fright if only to pay homage to one of its masterminds.

Bloody good fun!
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 who is obsessed with death and human dread. An obsession that will deeply change or take both of their lives.

Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament:

A few other reviewers have said that this is one of the weaker stories but in my opinion I will have to disagree. This is a beautifully written story about one womans newly acquired ability to manipulate her environment and those within her environment. What she does with this new power and where it takes her is very entertaining. Barker writes female characters very well and this is a very sexual story but as stated above beautifully written.

Cofessions of a (Pornographers) Shroud:

I really liked this tale of a conservative accountant who gets involved professionally and personally with shady customers that ends up costing him his life. He ends up possessing a shroud at the morgue and we are off on a bloody good revenge tale.

Human Remains:

I think this one has to be my favorite. A male gigalow comes in contact with an ancient sculpture that has the ability to mimic and impersonate with perfection any person it desires. Unfortunately the desired person ends up losing something in the process.

These are just a few that stand out in my memory but I think anyone who fancies horror and scary stories will get a good kick out of the majority of the stories written here. I will definately read volumes four through six.

Books of Blood: Volumes 1-3 By Clive Barker
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 who comes to work at a school, one of the first thing that happens is a fight or sort of a slaughter, Redmen finds out that a few boys are beating up another boy whos named Lacey, Lacy later tells Redmen the story of Henessey, a boy who's gone missing at the school.

Sex, Death and Starshine: This is a pretty good story by Barker it tells the story of a theter predution and it's actors that are going to preform there last play but when a man named Mr. Lichfield arrives and says his wife will be prefoming the lead things change fast.

In the Hills, the Cities: In The Hills, The Cites is one of the best stories in the collection because of how strage it is. When Mick And Judd go on a vaction they find that the rual area they go to in Yugoslavia has something very strage, something that will cause quite a lot of people to die.

Volume Two

Dread: which is probably my favorite story out of Volume two. Tells the story of Steve, Steve soon meets another student named Quaid, Quaid who is a smart student knows (As Steve will soon find out) what people Dread

Hell's Event: Hell's Event tells the story of a man named Joel, Joel will soon be running a race, but this race counts for a Hell of a lot more then Joel knows.

Jacqueline Ess: Her Will And Testament: When Jacqueline trys to commit suicide, she finds a strage power inside her, a power thats actully quite deadly.

The Skins of the Fathers: When Davidson's car breaks down in the Arizona desseret, he dosent know that he will soon stumble on to something very strage something or somthings that will stop at nothing to get a very special boy.

New Murders in the Rue Morgue: when Lewis (a Descended of the great dectective C. Auguste Dupin) comes to Paris to see a friend thats been convicted of Murder he will soon see that Dupin wasent the only one in the family to find a strange murder. . . a Pretty good take off "The Murders in The Rue Mourge" a Short storry by Edgar Allan Poe, It might be a good idea to Read (If you havent already) Murders in the Rue Mourge before you start on this stoy.

Volume Three

Son of Celluloid: One of my favorites out of Volume Three tells the story of a convict who dies behind a movie screen and later the strage things that happen soon after.

Rawhead Rex: Rawhead Rex was a Monster that was sort of put to death but when a farmer unearths the stone that he's been under, he's unearthing hell.

Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud: Ronnie dosent know excalty what he's gotten into, he thought he had a good job but what he dosent know is that what he's doing is very wrong and now he has to die.

Scape Goats: When four people get shipwrecked on an island they soon find out that there lives wont ever be the same. And some of them will have to die.

Human Remains: a young male prostitute is hired by an archeologist, but what he dosent know is that somehing very strange will go on in the Archeologist's house.

Overall "Books of Blood" is a very good shot story collection it will keep you reading though the night and maybe give you a few nightmares in the process. 5/5