Clive Barker - The Best of British Horror and Fantasy

Although Clive Barker lives in America he a British novelist.When we talk about horror movies that changed the face of horror as we know it we inevitably think of Hellraiser. It's one of those few films, when released, sent people running to the toilet about to puke up their dinner. Certainly not a film for the faint of heart and many would suggest it's rubbish but for me they fail to see the imagination behind it.What annoys me in today's world is when they hand out these awards to writers for war stories or intimate love stories and while there's nothing wrong with those stories I fail to grasp how they can hold the author up on a pedestal exclaiming how good a writer they are? I'm in no way saying they don't have talent because if you have a book published you must have talent in some form (although even that is hugely debatable). What gets to me is that these writers haven't exactly thought of anything new. They've taken an old concept of love and war and crafted a new st
ory around it with fresh characters and they've run with it. There's no imagination in my eyes...just observation.To me that's the big difference. Clive Barker writes stories that challenge the imagination and takes us to new places we've never seen before. And probably places we'd never have thought of only he wrote about them. And I say that seriously as if the places actually exist one way or another. For a story to grab you and take hold the narrative has to be flawless and the places real, at least in our imagination. For Clive Barker in Hellraiser he took the simple notion of Pandora's Box and turned it into something completely different. Only in Clive's world, all hell really did break out.How many literary awards have we seen dished out to Barker? You see my point.'I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker.' Those were Stephen King's words when Clive burst onto the scene with the Books of Blood and he's gone on to write some of the best books on
the market today. One of my personal favourites is Coldheart Canyon where an actor undergoes cosmetic surgery to keep his youth. Of course it goes wrong and not being able to face the media or the rest of the world he buys and stays in a house called Coldheart Canyon. He isn't alone in the house.If you think it sounds original you couldn't be farther from the truth. The concept itself may sound original but you forget an original concept in the hands of Clive Barker can turn into something completely different.If you haven't already tried Clive's work I can only recommend that you do. He's an author that in my opinion, is up there with the best. I only wish his punched out more books.

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