Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood, #1-3)

by Clive Barker

507 pages

English language

Published Jan. 31, 1998

ISBN:: 978-0-425-16558-4
Goodreads:: 32626

(30 reviews)

Books of Blood is a series of six horror fiction anthologies collecting original stories written by British author, playwright, and filmmaker Clive Barker in 1984 and 1985. Known primarily for writing stage plays beforehand, Barker gained a wider audience and fanbase through this anthology series, leading to a successful career as a novelist. Originally presented as six volumes, the anthologies were subsequently re-published in two omnibus editions containing three volumes each. Each volume contains four, five or six stories. The Volume 1–3 omnibus contained a foreword by Barker's fellow Liverpudlian horror writer Ramsey Campbell. Author Stephen King praised Books of Blood, leading to a quote from him appearing on the first US edition of the book: "I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker." Books of Blood Volume 6 is significant for its story "The Last Illusion" which introduced Barker's occult detective character Harry D'Amour. …

2 editions

LemmiSchmoeker reviewed Books of Blood, Volumes 1-3 by Clive Barker (Books of Blood, #1-3)

Worlds apart even from Stephen King, let alone James Herbert or Shaun Hutson

5 stars

This is a brilliant collection of horror stories originally written in the early eighties, but much, much better than anything all of the other big-name horror writers have written in years. For one thing, his writing style is worlds apart even from Stephen King, let alone James Herbert or Shaun Hutson. In addition, his trademark mixture of sexuality and violence works on a completely different level than the tired “raunchy” scenes you've come to expect in modern horror. This is something visceral that works directly on the body: some of the evoked pictures are so disturbing they stay with you for a long time. And, in the end, that's his real talent.

Coalford reviewed Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three (Books of Blood, #1-3) by Clive Barker

Review of 'Books of blood' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Fairly decent series of stories. In my opinion 'Scape-goats' is the only sub par story in the mix.

Barker does a great job of making characters likeable, even if there... really isn't much to like about them. I personally enjoyed 'Confessions of a Pornographer's Shroud' and 'Human Remains', likely because both centered around one main protagonist.