Rediscover the true meaning of fear in this collection of horror stories from New York Times bestselling author Clive Barker—now with a new Afterword by Grady Hendrix! “The most provocative tales of terror ever published.”— The Washington Post Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red... With the publication of Books of Blood , Clive Barker became an overnight literary sensation. His tour de force collection of brilliantly disturbing tales demonstrated a genius for dark invention that rivaled Poe and Sade. 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. It is his powerful writing style and arresting imagery that have made Books of Blood a classic—and Clive Barker a cult phenomenon. INCLUDES AN INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY GRADY HENDRIX, WITH ADDITIONAL PRAISE FROM THE HORROR WRITING COMMUNITY, INCLUDING VICTOR LAVALLE, MICK GARRIS, ERIC LAROCCA, ALMA KATSU, SARAH LANGAN, PAUL TREMBLAY, JOHN LANGAN, CYNTHIA PELAYO, AND HAILEY PIPER. "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 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. Praise for Clive Barker's Books of Blood “Our most accomplished purveyor of horror fiction.”— The New York Times Book Review “He scares even me...What Barker does in the Books of Blood makes the rest of us look like we've been asleep for the last ten years. Some of the stories were so creepily awful that I literally could not read them alone; others go up and over the edge and into gruesome territory...He's an original.”—Stephen King “Barker's dark, powerful imagination—and his skill in pacing to keep stories surprising—make the horror grisly and effective.”— People “Barker's eye is unblinking; he drags out our terrors from the shadows and forces us to look upon them and despair or laugh with relief.”— The Washington Post “Mixing elements of horror, science fiction and surrealist literature, Barker's work reads like a cross between Stephen King and South American novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He creates a world where our biggest fears appear to be our own dreams.”— Boston Herald “Clive Barker assaults our senses and our psyche, seeking not so much to tingle our spine as to snap it altogether.”— Los Angeles Times Born in Liverpool in 1952, Clive Barker has written and produced a number of plays, including The History of the Devil and Frankenstein in Love, which are as diverse in style and subject as the fiction he has written since. His volumes of short fiction, Books of Blood, earned him immediate praise from horror fans and literary critics alike. He won both the British and World Fantasy awards, and was nominated for the coveted Booker Prize, Britain’s highest literary award. His bestselling novels include The Damnation G