Clive Barker's A-Z Horror - Softcover

Jones, Stephen

4.06

1,898 ratings by Goodreads

9780061053672: Clive Barker's A-Z Horror

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061053678 ISBN 13: 9780061053672

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks, 1998

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In this richly illustrated volume--masterfully complied from the BBC television miniseries by Stephen Jones--Clive Barker, the modern master of horror, takes you on a terrifyingly intimate tour of his personal sources and secrets. Here is the unspeakable stuff of which Barker's vision was formed: a wonderfully eclectic and wide-ranging collection of nightmares from the literature and film. Meet serial killers and serious authors, outlaw directors and rebel artists, legendary monsters and movie stars from Psycho to Silence of the Lambs. From exorcisms to zombie dances, chaos to cannibalism, Lovecraft to Elm Street, Dracula to Deuteronomy, discover the dark and grisly world of Clive Barker.

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Review:

This splashy, high-concept book with glossy pages (designed to accompany a BBC-TV series) is not so much an encyclopedia, as a color scrapbook of Clive Barker's horror obsessions. After an introduction in which Barker examines such questions as "What is horror?" and "Why does it fascinate us?," the book takes the form of 26 heavily illustrated historical essays about assorted topics in the genre--one for each letter of the alphabet (e.g., "B is for Beelzebub"). The pictures include numerous paintings and drawings by Barker, stills from movies, movie posters, author/director bio inserts, and photographs of all types. A partial list of the topics covered: serial killers, H. P. Lovecraft, Dennis Wheatley, John Carpenter, H. R. Giger, Grand Guignol, makeup, killer clowns, killer kids, body horror, Japanese monsters, Barbara Steele, Shirley Jackson, fairy tales, and sculptor Franz Messerschmidt. A fun toy for horror buffs!

About the Author:

Stephen Jones is the winner of three World Fantasy Awards, three International Horror Guild Awards, four Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Awards, and eighteen British Fantasy Awards, and has also been nominated for a Hugo Award. One of Britain's most acclaimed horror and dark fantasy writers and editors, he has nearly one hundred books to his credit, including Stardust: The Visual Companion, Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide, The Essential Monster Movie Guide, Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror, and the poetry volume Now We Are Sick: An Anthology of Nasty Verse, coedited with Neil Gaiman. Jones lives in London.

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