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Any Clive Barker fans?

Try Galilee or Sacrament.

Galilee begins thus:

At the insistence of my stepmother Casaria Barbarossa the house in which I presently sit was built so that it faces southeast. The architect - who was no lesser man than the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson - protested her desire repeatedly and eloquently. I have the letters in which he did so here on my desk. But she would not be moved on the subject. The house was to look back towards her homeland, towards Africa, and he, her employee, was to do as she instructed.

It's very plain, however, reading between the lines of her missives (I have those too; or at least copies of them) that he is far more than an architect for hire; and she to him more than a headstrong woman with a perverse desire to build a house in a swamp, in North Carolina, facing southeast. They write to one another like people who know a secret.

I know a few myself; and luckily for the thoroughness of what follows I have no intention of keeping them.
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Sacrament begins thus:

To every hour, its mystery.

At dawn, the riddles of life and light. At noon, the conundrums of solidity. At three, in the hum and heat of the day, a phantom moon, already high. At dusk, memory. And a midnight? Oh then then enigma of time itself; of a day that will never come again passing into history while we sleep.
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When I think of the two, I would probably recommend Sacrament over Galilee as the latter contains a mythos that Barker is due to deliver a second novel to complete. Sacrament, on the other hand, is a finished article.
 
Thanks for this recommendation, Stewart, I wouldn't have know where to start otherwised. Already checked at my library, and they have it, so it's now on my list.
 
Imajica is the only Barker work I have read but it will probably stay as my most favorite. Just picked up Galilee, Weaveworld and The Great and Secret Show all for a buck a piece because of a local library sale I went to. Cannot go wrong for that price.
 
Well, I just finished the first section of Sacrament. Enjoyed it so far, but it's too early to know if it's my kind of thing or not. Looking forward to reading some more tonight.
 
Just about halfway through now. Yes, liking it. This is probably the first adult book of this type that I've read, so it's all new to me. There's a lot more depth there than I was expecting. Oh, i really want to change my user name on this forum to Lord Fox... :)
 
Finished this now. Yes, interesting protagonist - not encountered anyone like that before in a book. Well, not in so much detail, anyway. Interesting theme there, with Jacob's "mission" - don't want to say what it is on here - spoilers and all that.
Yes, I'll be checking out more of Barker's stuff. Thanks for the rec.
 
CDA said:
Finished this now. Yes, interesting protagonist - not encountered anyone like that before in a book. Well, not in so much detail, anyway. Interesting theme there, with Jacob's "mission" - don't want to say what it is on here - spoilers and all that.
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You could use the [SPOILER] [/SPOILER] tags. ;)

I'll be checking out more of Barker's stuff. Thanks for the rec.
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You are welcome.
 
I have all the Books of Blood volumes - brilliant horror short stories.

I made the mistake of reading some of them when I was camping. So there I was in the middle of the night, alone, in my tent, with my sleeping bag, my flash light and one of the Books of Blood. Now *that* was horror.

*shudder*

Barker really manages to write just enough to make clear (enough) what's happening and little enough to not become blatant and overdone and that really sends chills down my spine (which is normally quite difficult)

I'm most definitely a fan.
 
So far the only one I've read is The Thief of Always, which I enjoyed very much. I have a few of his others I've collected here and there, just haven't read them yet.
 
I've read most of his novels, except for the Abarat books and The Damnation Game. Couldn't really get into them enough at the time to want to finish them. My first was Weaveworld, which I found a used copy of in the mall. I loved reading it, and enjoyed Immacolata and Nimrod in the story. It's still my second favorite of Barker's works after Imajica. Also some of his short stories are appealing as well. The one about the man who builds the palace to Satan freaks me out a little though.

Yes, Clive Barker is my favorite author.
 
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