Clive Barker

Author profile

born

October 05, 1952 in Liverpool, The United Kingdom

gender

male

website

http://www.clivebarker.com/

twitter username

realclivebarker

genre

Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult

About this author

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Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker now lives in Los Angeles, California with his partner, photographer David Armstrong, and Armstrong's daughter from a previous relationship, Nicole.

In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. Thi...more Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker now lives in Los Angeles, California with his partner, photographer David Armstrong, and Armstrong's daughter from a previous relationship, Nicole.

In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.

Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat.

Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.

Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.

Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.

A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid, Hokum & Hex, Hyperkind and Saint Sinner.(less)

combine editions
Books by Clive Barker

Average rating: 4.04 · 127,741 ratings · 5,308 reviews · 303 distinct works

	The Great and Secret Show 4.00 avg rating — 8,146 ratings — published 1988 — 27 editions	My rating:
	The Thief of Always 4.14 avg rating — 9,136 ratings — published 1992 — 37 editions	My rating:
	Abarat (Abarat, #1) 4.05 avg rating — 7,664 ratings — published 2002 — 45 editions	My rating:
	Books of Blood 1-3 4.10 avg rating — 6,835 ratings — published 1984 — 14 editions	My rating:
	Weaveworld 4.07 avg rating — 7,155 ratings — published 1987 — 39 editions	My rating:
	The Hellbound Heart 3.95 avg rating — 6,730 ratings — published 1986 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Imajica 4.10 avg rating — 6,303 ratings — published 1991 — 25 editions	My rating:
	Cabal 3.83 avg rating — 4,733 ratings — published 1988 — 24 editions	My rating:
	The Damnation Game 3.74 avg rating — 4,664 ratings — published 1985 — 32 editions	My rating:
	Days of Magic, Nights of War (Abarat, #2) 4.21 avg rating — 4,051 ratings — published 2004 — 30 editions	My rating:

More books by Clive Barker…

Series by Clive Barker

Books of Blood (6 books)
by Clive Barker

4.05 avg rating — 18,079 ratings

Abarat (4 books)
by Clive Barker

4.10 avg rating — 12,453 ratings

Book of the Art (2 books)
by Clive Barker

3.97 avg rating — 11,290 ratings

Imajica (2 books)
by Clive Barker

4.17 avg rating — 2,319 ratings

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Collected Best (3 books)
by Clive Barker, Larry Wachowski

4.15 avg rating — 1,012 ratings

More series by Clive Barker…

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Quotes by Clive Barker

“I dreamed I spoke in another's language,
I dreamed I lived in another's skin,
I dreamed I was my own beloved,
I dreamed I was a tiger's kin.

I dreamed that Eden lived inside me,
And when I breathed a garden came,
I dreamed I knew all of Creation,
I dreamed I knew the Creator's name.

I dreamed--and this dream was the finest--
That all I dreamed was real and true,
And we would live in joy forever,
You in me, and me in you.”
― Clive Barker, Days of Magic, Nights of War

tags: inspirational , love , poetry

530 people liked it

“any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.”
― Clive Barker, Days of Magic, Nights of War

tags: art , inspirational , love , redemption , sadness

462 people liked it

“After a battle lasting many ages,
The Devil won,
And said to God
(who had been his Maker):
Lord,
We are about to witness the unmaking of Creation
By my hand.
I would not wish you
to think me cruel,
So I beg you, take three things
From this world before I destroy it.
Three things, and then the rest will be
wiped away.'

God thought for a little time.
And at last He said:
No, there is nothing.'
The Devil was surprised.
Not even you, Lord?' he said.
And God said:
No. Not even me.”
― Clive Barker, Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War

tags: death , love

213 people liked it

See all Clive Barker's quotes »

Polls

General Fantasy Poll for July/August:

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

13 votes, 28.3%

Sabriel by Garth Nix

7 votes, 15.2%

Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

4 votes, 8.7%

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

4 votes, 8.7%

Watership Down by Richard Adams

4 votes, 8.7%

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

3 votes, 6.5%

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

2 votes, 4.3%

Jaran: The First Novel of the Jaran by Kate Elliott

2 votes, 4.3%

The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay

2 votes, 4.3%

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

2 votes, 4.3%

The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari

1 vote, 2.2%

Weaveworld by Clive Barker

1 vote, 2.2%

To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust

1 vote, 2.2%

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

0 votes, 0.0%

46 total votes

1 comment

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Clive Barker

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combine editions
Books by Clive Barker