AUTHOR-Clive Barker
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Free,was a gift.
I have owned at least 5 copies of this book. From the various US published paperback editions. To at one time a very nice UK published hardback that contained every volume of the Books of Blood. Well I lost them all over the years. So last year for X-mas I got this UK hardcover as a gift. I love how Barker did the dust jacket artwork.
After an introduction from Ramsey Campbell,we get the first story.
The Book of Blood,where a fake psychic gets attacked by spirits and has a bunch of stories carved into his skin. This is fairly short. And in the final Book of Blood we get a sequel to it. And these 2 stories were the inspiration for a halfway decent film adaptation a few years back.
The Midnight Meat Train,When I first read this story back in the mid 80s I was shocked. It feels like Barker wanted to write a splatterpunk style story. And he wrote a damn good one. Quite a few years ago this story was adapted into a damn good movie.
The Yattering and Jack,Set around X-mas. This is one of Barker's mixtures of horror and comedy. A lower level demon has been assigned to torment Jack. But keeps failing. Pretty sure this was made into an episode of Tales from the Darkside.
Pig Blood Blues,is a fun story set at a bordering school. Which reminds me a bit of Evilspeak.
Sex,Death and Starshine,goes back to Barker's theater roots. And has a nice EC style twist at the ending.
In the Hills,The Cities-My second favorite story in the books of blood. A couple is off in Eastern Europe. They get lost and stumble upon two warring villages. But instead of normal modern warface,the villagers strap themselves into 2 giants.That fight each other.
Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1 gets an A.
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