Thus, a framing story is created around the anthologies.

The UK editions of Volume 6 close with a story, 'On Jerusalem Street', that features a man who pursues the fake psychic in order to skin him and take his Book of Blood.

This makes him a 'Book of Blood' and the narration then invites the reader to read these stories. The detective went on to appear in more of Barker's writings, the Hellraiser comic book series from Boom! Studios, and the movie Lord of Illusions (1995) (based on 'The Last Illusion' and adapted by Barker himself).Ĭlive Barker's tagline for Books of Blood was: 'Everybody is a book of blood wherever we're opened, we're red.' The opening story, 'The Book of Blood', introduces the premise of the anthology series by revealing that a fake psychic is attacked one night by genuine ghosts and spirits who decide to make him a true messenger by writing stories into his flesh. 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.'īooks of Blood Volume 6 is significant for its story 'The Last Illusion' which introduced Barker's occult detective character Harry D'Amour. The Volume 1–3 omnibus contained a foreword by Barker's fellow Liverpudlian horror writer Ramsey Campbell. Each volume contains four, five or six stories. Originally presented as six volumes, the anthologies were subsequently re-published in two omnibus editions containing three volumes each. 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. Books of Blood is a series of six horror fiction anthologies collecting original stories written by British author, playwright, and filmmaker Clive Barker in 19.

The forbidden barker