Description:

Review

A collection of a writer's prefaces and random prose pieces often feels like the mustard-stained bread crusts on a child's plate after lunch. Nutritive quality? Low. Value? Marginal. Overall response? Ugh. That verdict, fortunately, doesn't apply to all collections, especially one by Clive Barker, a writer perhaps best known for his Hellraiser story and Abarat saga. His thoughtful musings on horror and culture have been collected in Clive Barker: The Painter, the Creature, and the Father of Lies. The energy and candor he brings to these pieces make this collection hardly an afterthought. In fact, it's a provocation to read him if you haven't and surrender yourself. --LOS ANGELES TIMES --Los Angeles Times (Aug 10, 2011)

This landmark retrospective comprises twenty-five years of essays and incantations from a modern mastermind of the horror genre. A chance viewing of Jean Cocteau's The Testament of Orpheus as a child planted a seed in Clive Barker that grew into a lifelong obsession with escapism;altered states; and a fetish for all things forbidden. Mysterious by nature, Barker's eloquence transcends absurdity thanks to the editorial expertise of Phil and Sarah Stokes who divided the book thematically into two sections. Barker's brain is sensationally splattered throughout the first half in articulate meditations and critical essays on censorship and taboo. Here the editors include Barker's introductions, forewords, and afterwards sublime compositions in their own right, each revealing another piece of his puzzling mind. The latter half of the book cites influential figures in his life, from fellow authors Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman, to an unflagging fervor for such luminaries as Francisco Goya and William Blake. An early endorsement from Stephen King and the cult success of Hellraiser thrust Clive Barker into the mainstream; this volume explicates his notorious motives for eschewing the 'commercial route,' refusing to compromise artistic integrity and endeavoring to 'invent anarchic alternatives to the wretched banalities of life'. --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY --Publishers Weekly

Clive Barker has already earned his place amongst the masters of imagination but THE PAINTER, THE CREATURE, AND THE FATHER OF LIES confirms him to be not only a truly gifted but honest writer who has now become a master of the HUMAN and INHUMAN condition... --FANGORIA MAGAZINE --Fangoria magazine