WHO THE HELL IS CLIVE BARKER?
The following information compiled by Phil & Sarah Stokes who run Clive Barker’s official website
www.clivebarker.info
Hellraiser
appears… but is there more to the man than just a one-hit gore-fest of a film? Oh yes...
The man once announced by Stephen King as ‘the future of horror’ has evolved into a Master of Horror, a mini-mogul of books, films, video games, art exhibitions- and even soft toys... Although he’d prefer to be known simply as ‘an imaginer’ this self-professed purveyor of the fantastique has been translating the inside of his head into the nightmares of his audience for more than 20 years.
Stephen King:
"I think Clive Barker is so good that I am literally tongue-tied. He makes the rest of us look like we’ve been asleep for the past ten years."
First hitting the radar in 1984 with a series of horrific short stories, his Books of Blood, it was
1987’s Hellraiser movie and its sequel
the following year that cemented his reputation as a gleeful, eloquent
splatterpunk."I think Clive Barker is so good that I am literally tongue-tied. He makes the rest of us look like we’ve been asleep for the past ten years."
‘We have such sights to show you,’ said Pinhead, Barker’s iconic sadomasochist in black leather with nails hammered into his head, and it seemed the posters were spot-on when they suggested there really were ‘no limits’.
Recipient of 1985 and 1986 British Fantasy Awards, a World Fantasy Award in 1985, inductee of the Fangoria Hall of Fame in 1987, World Horror Convention Grandmaster in 1995, honoured as the 1996 Living Legend by the International Horror Guild, a Bram Stoker award in 2005, the Lifetime Achievement award at 2006’s Screamfest and a 2006 International Horror Guild award, the New York Times’ Bestseller author Clive Barker continues to be recognised by his peers whilst pushing his audience to ever wilder and more grotesque visions.
Armistead Maupin:
"Nothing is off-limits to this free-range fabulist. He can fold a dusty Persian carpet into the contours of the world itself and wring delight from every lustrous thread."
Originally a resident of Liverpool,
England, he moved to London in his mid-20s with an experimental theatre
company called the Dog Company,
mounting self-penned productions such as Frankenstein in Love, The History of the Devil and
The Secret Life of Cartoons before fame beckoned. He moved to Los Angeles, his current home, in 1991 and currently lives in the Hollywood hills with his husband, the photographer David Armstrong. Ah yes, he’s openly gay, a sensibility he believes to have informed his worldview of celebrating the marginals, the outsiders and the monsters, subverting rather than supporting the status quo and the world order.
"Nothing is off-limits to this free-range fabulist. He can fold a dusty Persian carpet into the contours of the world itself and wring delight from every lustrous thread."
Horror has remained a constant theme in his work- who would dare speak the Candyman’s name five times into a mirror or wish the Tortured Souls line of models he produced with Todd McFarlane to come to gory life?
JG Ballard:
"A powerful and fascinating writer with a brilliant imagination... an outstanding storyteller"
His fertile imagination has translated into
Nightbreed and
Lord of Illusions
for the cinema screen, into the nastier touches of EA Games’ critically acclaimed
Undying
and the fantasy of more than fifteen cult books including
Weaveworld,
Imajica
and, most recently, the first two volumes of the
Abarat
quintet for young adults.
"A powerful and fascinating writer with a brilliant imagination... an outstanding storyteller"
The horror has underpinned other themes in media as diverse as young adult fiction, TV shows, movies, comics and large scale oil paintings.
China Miéville:
"Barker is one of the few writers who has altered an entire field: more than anyone since Lovecraft, he has changed the shape, the corporeality of horror."
His free use of different media is driven by his great hero, the polymath
Jean Cocteau and his freedom of imagination reflects that of another touchstone,
the artist and visionary
William Blake.
He cites painters as influences as often as he does great film-makers and authors.
"Barker is one of the few writers who has altered an entire field: more than anyone since Lovecraft, he has changed the shape, the corporeality of horror."
Clive Barker:
"I want to be remembered as an imaginer, someone who used his imagination as a way to journey beyond the limits of self, beyond the limits of flesh and blood, beyond the limits of even perhaps life itself, in order to discover some sense of order in what appears to be a disordered universe. I'm using my imagination to find meaning, both for myself and, I hope, for my readers."
"I want to be remembered as an imaginer, someone who used his imagination as a way to journey beyond the limits of self, beyond the limits of flesh and blood, beyond the limits of even perhaps life itself, in order to discover some sense of order in what appears to be a disordered universe. I'm using my imagination to find meaning, both for myself and, I hope, for my readers."
Selected Awards
►
Screamfest- Lifetime Achievement, 2006
► Bram Stoker Award- Work for Younger Readers, 2005
► AILF- Honoree, 2005
► Davidson/Valentini Award- 2004
► Prix Imaginaire- Best Translated Novel, 1998
► Lambda Awards- Sci-Fi / Fantasy, 1997, 1999
► International Horror Guild- Best Film, 1995, Living Legend, 1996, Graphic Narrative, 2003, Art, 2005
► World Horror- Grandmaster, 1995
► Silver Scream Award- 1990
► New York Times Bestseller- The Great & Secret Show, Abarat
► British Fantasy Awards- Best Short Fiction, 1985, 1986
► World Fantasy Award- Best Collection / Anthology, 1985
Audio downloads
DigitalTrends.com interview with Clive Barker "Can video games be art?" [.MP3]
Clive Barker reads a chapter from "Abarat- Days of Magic, Nights of War" [.MP3]
Listen to a chapter from the book "Abarat" [.MP3]
Text excerpts from Clive Barker's books
A chapter from the book "Abarat" [.PDF]
A chapter from "Abarat- Days of Magic, Nights of War" [.PDF]
Links:
www.clivebarker.info - The Official Clive Barker Resource
Excerpt from the book Abarat:
"Three is the number of those who do holy work;
Two is the number of those who do lover's work;
One is the number of those who do perfect evil
Or perfect good."
www.thebooksofabarat.com - The Book of Abarat"Three is the number of those who do holy work;
Two is the number of those who do lover's work;
One is the number of those who do perfect evil
Or perfect good."
www.harpercollins.com - Clive Barker's books available as hardcover, paperback, audio or e-book
wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Barker - Wikipedia: Clive Barker
www.hellraiserthemovie.com - Hellraiser The Movie Online
Clive Barker and Clive Barker's Jericho Fansite by
Slavinskas.com
"To call Clive Barker a 'horror novelist' would be like calling the Beatles a 'garage band'... He is the great imaginer of our time. He knows not only our greatest fears, but also what delights us, what turns us on, and what is truly holy in the world. Haunting, bizarre, beautiful. These are words we can use to describe Clive Barker only until we invent new, more fitting adjectives."