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[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Wes

It's been many years since I last read a Clive Barker novel (probably Weaveworld), but a recent screening of his experimental short films has led me back to his books again. I picked up Imajica on Saturday and have been dipping into it every chance I get...

I love a great deal of Clive Barker's writings, but have never read Imajica. I must check it out at some point...

[Wes]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

I love a great deal of Clive Barker's writings, but have never read Imajica. I must check it out at some point...

Anything to recommend post-Imajica ? I think I broke from him in the mid-90's around the time of Everville. I watched a Clive Barker-South Bank Show Special on youtube last night and Barker looks shockingly boyish and handsome compared to how he looks these days. The march of time and all that, but the chisled face and that croak of a voice suggests a man who lived a rather hectic life....

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Originally Posted by Wes

Anything to recommend post-Imajica ? I think I broke from him in the mid-90's around the time of Everville. I watched a Clive Barker-South Bank Show Special on youtube last night and Barker looks shockingly boyish and handsome compared to how he looks these days. The march of time and all that, but the chisled face and that croak of a voice suggests a man who lived a rather hectic life....

I'm sure some of the "life" may be down to the band Coil. I seem to remember they claim to have introduced Barker to the gay S&M scene when they were working with him on the HELLRAISER soundtrack. Coil, as I recall, say there was not so much leather, rubber and chains in Barker's original script until after a few weeks of clubbing with them. How true this is, I don't know.

[trebor8273]

Complete works of edger Allen Poe

[troggi]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Complete works of edger Allen Poe

I recently found a beautifully illustrated edition of it, it's one of my pride and joys!

[Linbro]

Finished the horror novel 'Last Days', by Brit author Adam Nevill. Absolutely loved it - highly, highly recommended.
About to start 'The Haunted Book', by Jeremy Dyson, then another by Adam Nevill - 'Apartment 16'.
Lincoln.

[Wes]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

I'm sure some of the "life" may be down to the band Coil. I seem to remember they claim to have introduced Barker to the gay S&M scene when they were working with him on the HELLRAISER soundtrack. Coil, as I recall, say there was not so much leather, rubber and chains in Barker's original script until after a few weeks of clubbing with them. How true this is, I don't know.

I'd say Barker really embraced Los Angeles and all it's hedonism when he moved there in the 90's - I mean a lot of characters in his books are the very same - seeking out those strange exotic pleasures. I remember a gay friend of mine telling me amazing stories about the underground clubs in NYC, and I imagine LA would be similar - so I suspect Barker did his fair share of hellraisin' over the years...

I think the Coil story is largely true as well. John Balance in an 1992 interview spoke about their involvement with Hellraiser: Clive Barker was writing a screenplay and he came to our house and took away a load of piercing magazines and things. Which is where they got all the Pinhead stuff from. In fairness though, Barker's 1978 short The Forbidden has plenty of scenes of sharp objects puncturing flesh and there are some prototype Hellraiser ideas explored in in.

And word has it that Coil were pretty intense hedonists as well, so much so that an exhausted Steve Thrower bowed out during the Love's Secret Domain sessions...

[troggi]

Originally Posted by Wes

I'd say Barker really embraced Los Angeles and all it's hedonism when he moved there in the 90's - I mean a lot of characters in his books are the very same - seeking out those strange exotic pleasures. I remember a gay friend of mine telling me amazing stories about the underground clubs in NYC, and I imagine LA would be similar - so I suspect Barker did his fair share of hellraisin' over the years...

Maybe, maybe not. You're probably right in saying that Barker "embraced" L.A. but how much did he actually immerse himself in? Was it a case of testing the waters or diving in head first?

Neil Gaiman, on Sunday evening when asked by a lady in the audience if he had made any "sacrifices" to become a writer, said that he had made no particular "sacrifices" as such but found himself an observer on his own life (I am paraphrasing here as I cannot remember his exact words). He explained that at the scene of an accident part of his mind would be saying "so that's how the blood looks on the glass," and at the break-up of a relationship, "so that's what it's like when your heart breaks, okay I might use that later!"

Now, I know that not all artists work in the same way but there must be some sort of "detachment" there as a safeguard against "psychological harm" unless, of course they are "psychological self-harmers"!

[Wes]

Yep, interesting stuff... And if we were talking about Stephen King I might agree with you on the use of that detachment when writing his books, but with Clive Barker I think he might have performed that high-wire act without the comfort of a safety net - and that's not a comment on his sexuality or anything, it's from what I've read of his books - which brim over with strange esoteric desires, that's he's a sensation seeker and probably one who, to borrow a corny line from Hellraiser, is an explorer in the further regions of experience...

[troggi]

D'you know, I hope you're right! it would make him so much more interesting!